Forest Arc: In a 'Dire' need for training

The night had passed and the morning came anew, outside in a clearing two individuals stood arms apart from the other - Sven was bringing up his arms and emitting an orange tinted sphere whilst Claire was beating down on him, with one roundhouse blow from Claire it sent Sven hurtling backwards as the orange sphere shattered and then disappeared into twinkling particles.

"Ugghhh..." Sven grumbled as he rubbed his arm where her blow had connected. Claire smirked down at him as she cracked her knuckles.

"Stop your bitchin' I barely hit you. Come on, up you get." She started to shadow box and it was at this moment that Sven started to regret his decisions. He was on hardly any sleep, having tried his best to sleep in his rickety chair. He wondered if his gentlemanly notions were squandered on someone like Claire, or whether she wouldn't have minded at all if he had laid next to her.

The morning grass was wet with mildew as Sven reared himself off of the ground. Getting back into his stance he focused on what she had taught him; manipulating his breathing and focusing on where his conduits felt densest - pulling from within felt alien to him at first but now he was getting the hang of it, it was almost like teaching yourself to belch on command, it took time and practice but would soon become second nature like moving your arms and legs. An orange glow projected from his forearms and soon covered his whole body in a sphere of honeycombed design, it was fainter now than before despite him really clenching to pull more from within.

"That's your limit? I guess it's your first time and all." Claire waved her hand signaling Sven to stop, doing so the shield dispersed and Sven collapsed onto a log to catch his breath. Despite the shield being somewhat ethereal in nature, it took a lot of stamina and concentration to maintain. "I don't know how you've been able to survive all the way deep into the black woods but kudos, you must be pretty smart if you're this weak." She said with a chuckle, Sven made no move to admonish her - it was true, he had survived off of his wits not off of his strength, but that's because until last week he had lived his life as a godless forest brat, a non mystic peasant.

"Don't look so glum, you're too old for mystic gems now I'm guessing?" Claire continued when Sven nodded. "But your refinement doesn't stop there, gems are just the foundation, serums and artefacts are the building blocks of any Mystic worth a shit. I take it nobodies ever taught you any of this, going off your expression?" Claire asked with a knowing smile, Sven hadn't realized this but he was looking pretty enrapt in her words and had given the game away, what would she think if she knew him to be this clueless?

"Don't worry, I'm not about to pry into your personal life when you, you saved me after all. Ahem." Claire cleared her throat as if ridding herself of some distaste left in her mouth for having uttered those words, it still seems she wasn't comfortable with the notion of having relied on somebody else yet.

"Anyway, despite your Dire not lasting very long, the color is very strong and your defenses were pretty tough to crack through - which is always a good sign." She reassured him. "Unfortunately I can't help you too much with training until you can last long enough for me to strengthen your defenses." Claire began to project her own dire and presented it to Sven. "You see, the longer you hit on my shield before it breaks, the stronger it becomes. If you never break my shield it never improves, and if you break it in an instant then I don't progress very much at all in strengthening it." She explained, letting the shield dissipate. Sven looked down at his forearms in understanding, so that was the bottleneck slowing him down - Claire and Sven were simply incompatible as sparring partners.

"So what you're saying is that, in order to benefit from your help I need my Dire to last longer?" Sven asked, Claire gave a resounding nod happy that he was picking up what she was laying down.

"Exactly that pup, unfortunately for you right now there's not much I can do to help. It would be best if you trained on your stamina first before we continue onto the next part. How about this; I leave you to train for a week and return once you've gotten the hang of things?" Sven furrowed his brow at that, could he really be ready in only a week? How would he even go about training without a partner? Would she keep to her word and really return? He shook that last part from his mind, she seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't run from something she had committed to and he felt guilty for having even considered the thought.

"A week, I'll train like crazy so feel at ease leaving this to me!" Sven said confidently making Claire grin. "Only one thing before you go, how do I train this 'stamina' as you put it?" To which the harpy's grin turned into a laugh.

"Hahaha! Well pup, you run around the yard like a mad dog until you can't run no more. Your Dires power is a reflection of your physical capabilities, but so is simply using it for extended periods. I want you to rotate days, day one I want you to train your physical stamina by long distance running, and day two I want you to practice exerting your Dire until you physically can't no more." Sven's eyes lit up at that, it was truly that easy? Just run around and project his shield? It all sounded so easy, but the catch came as a dampener to his thoughts - running until he couldn't anymore in the black forest? He would have to be careful and keep to a narrow perimeter of his home just in case, only take the trails he was knowledgeable of and always keep aware of his surroundings, day could turn to night very quickly and monsters could behave in very unpredictable manners sometimes. As if sensing his concerns Claire dragged him out of his thoughts by chiming in.

"A smart thing like you shouldn't worry so much." She said whilst pointing towards the entrance of his house that stood only a hundred feet away, pointing specifically at the garlic that hung from his door. "A couple cloves in your pockets should be just fine, and if not then you better pray you have the strength to make it back into the house in time." She said with a somehow reassuring laugh, Sven laughed nervously in response hoping she was right. Still, it was a risk he was willing to take, he couldn't stagnate like this when his life was only beginning to flower - to progress he truly had to push himself or else he would never change.

"Actually, there's a couple more things I'd like to ask you before you go." The harpy who was getting ready to leave turned back to him. "Why are you out here anyway? And how do you know so much about Dire and stuff?" Sven asked, the harpy looked away a little as if the question brought up some bad memories.

"I'm looking for an academy to train me but got caught by some blowpipe wielding snake-things who thought of me as dinner, and I'm also a mystic if it wasn't obvious already." She said lifting up her shirt revealing a sensually defined 6-pack, the sight was so captivating Sven almost forgot to notice the tattoo like mark just above her abs. "I'm a Vassal Saint, and you're an Eldritch right?" Sven nodded but then blushed as he realized she must have looked at his naked front whilst they were showering this morning. The harpy had no shame and simply moved on from the topic without acknowledging how she knew he was an Eldritch Mystic.

"And the reason I know about Dire and even some Vassal Saint abilities is because I, well I spied on my... Well on a group of people I used to live with, a part of my life I don't really feel like talking about right now. They knew how to do this stuff and I learnt from example, nothing else to it really." She seemed a little standoff-ish and Sven knew not to pry further, he would show her the same respect she showed him in not prying and leave it at that for now.

"Anyways pup, seems like you've got this handled here. I'll see you in a week, yeah?" She said in a deliberately teasing manner, Sven nodded as he picked himself off of the log and extended his hand to her. Hey eyes widened at the gesture and hesitatingly took it, they shook and she looked off with a small blush on her face before taking off to the skies. "Try not to die on me Sven!" Came her muffled calls as she flew further and further into the forest until the trees swallowed her up and she was gone from sight.

"One week" Sven repeated to himself as he now found himself alone once again, as he had been for almost all of his life. It felt like he was missing a part of himself now that she was gone and wondered why he felt that way, it was all so confusing to him. Looking around him the trees whistled as the wind began to pick up sending leaves dancing up in the canopies, the grass at his very feet flattening in the direction of the wind, a chill going up his spine. Cold winds were rising and if he meant to stay warm, hard work and exercise was surely to combat the changing temperature.