The Homeseeker: An Elemental Adventurer LitRPG

Chapter 15 - Training

Zalan woke the next morning before the sun had even risen above the horizon. He felt alive, lucid, and powerful, especially compared to his state the afternoon before. He breathed in deeply, flexing his arms and reaching for his phone in his pocket, not quite having given up the habit yet. He patted his empty pocket and scoffed to himself before sitting up. The sight before him caused his mouth to drop wide open.

A few hundred feet where they camped for the night, Fran was blasting giant balls of fire into the air trying to pull them back down after emitting them. She looked frustrated and constantly ran the exercise of throwing a flame and failing to pull its entirety back down, only grasping a tiny fraction of what was created by her power.

Not far from her, but also away from the camp, was Gorb sitting cross-legged on the sand, watching Fran closely. Every few tries, Gorb would offer her a suggestion. She would take the advice seriously before her next attempt. In the meantime, Gorb was emitting a massive blast of air from below him, trying to levitate off the ground with little success beyond a second of suspension in the air. Zalan squinted, not quite understanding what his training was supposed to accomplish.

"He is trying to fly," Yelsa said, appearing next to him and seemingly having read his mind.

"How long does it normally take to learn how to do that?" Zalan asked, lowering his voice midsentence when he realized that Rep was still fast asleep near the fire pit.

"We do not know if it is possible at all. Certainly not at his Level. He lacks the raw power to hold up hundreds of pounds of weight constantly, though he can make people jump considerably higher," Yelsa explained. "And some temporary flight is known, but he wishes to fly across the land without touching the ground to rest."

"Looks like he can fly in the air for a moment," Zalan pointed out, watching Gorb's face contort in concentration as he tried to ascend once more.

"That moment is like throwing something in the air and claiming you can make it levitate. It is not enough. Especially for him," Yelsa intoned.

"Because he's so big," Zalan agreed, noting Gorb's massive frame.

"I meant because he is not satisfied with his level of ability," Yelsa said, amused.

"Right," Zalan pulled at his collar, embarrassed, then quickly tried to recover. "What Level are you?"

"Have you not been told it is rude to ask someone's Level?" Yelsa asked sharply.

"No. It's rude?" Zalan said, further embarrassed.

"It can be. Especially for those you do not know well," Yelsa answered, a small, knowing smile growing on her face.

"Oh, sorry," Zalan said.

"Fran is Level Six, and Gorbonifus Level Four," she offered, making it clear she would not go on to reveal her own.

"Oh... thanks," Zalan said.

The two of them watched Fran throw a fireball larger than a truck in front of her, the effort making her topple backward in exhaustion and roar loudly at the sky in frustration.

"I am awake, I am awake," Rep murmured drowsily, clearly still asleep.

"Why did you want an Air Elemental power, specifically?" Zalan asked. "Or is that rude to ask, too?"

She eyed him warily.

"Are you really not of this world?" she asked.

"I don't know how to prove it to you, but I'm not," Zalan said, presenting himself with his hands.