Hope

"Take this sword so I can teach you your first magical technique," Fuyu instructed, handing the sword to Ryoshi.

Ryoshi accepted the sword eagerly.

"Good! Now, the first ice magic technique is Ice Tip," Fuyu explained.

"Ice tip?" Ryoshi repeated, intrigued.

"Yeah, you put 100% of your ice magic into the tip of your sword, which not only increases the power of the sword but also gives it the ability to freeze almost anything," Fuyu elaborated.

"That's cool and all, but I don't understand the concept of magic," Ryoshi admitted.

Fuyu launched into an explanation about mana and destiny magic, detailing how mana is distributed throughout the body and how it manifests into magical abilities.

"So what you're saying is, destiny magic is a randomized magic someone can get?" Ryoshi clarified.

"No, it's someone's first magic that can even be passed down through a single bloodline," Fuyu corrected.

"Oh, okay. But how do you know that I'll have the ice destiny magic?" Ryoshi asked curiously.

"You can change destiny magics by teaching the person a different magic," Fuyu explained.

"Okay, can we get to the magic learning now, please?" Ryoshi requested impatiently.

Fuyu chuckled. "Yeah, focus hard now. Think about coldness, think about power, feel uncomfortable."

Suddenly, Ryoshi found himself frozen into a solid block of ice.

"Oops, I forgot to tell you that you need 100% control over all your magic. Things like igniting your body or electrocuting yourself don't happen," Fuyu admitted, tapping the ice block and instantly breaking it.

"Thank you so much for getting me out of that block!" Ryoshi exclaimed gratefully.

"No problem!" Fuyu replied casually.

"Okay, let's get this over with. Ice magic: Ice tip!!!" Ryoshi exclaimed, focusing his magic on the sword's tip.

"Woooah, this is cool," Ryoshi remarked, impressed by the glowing tip of his sword.

"Yep! Ice magic: Ice wolf," Fuyu commanded, summoning a giant ice wolf.

Ryoshi was taken aback. "What the hell!?"

"Go easy on him," Fuyu advised as the ice wolf attacked Ryoshi.

Ryoshi managed to dodge the ice wolf's attack and swiftly decapitated it with his sword.

"That was maybe too easy..." Fuyu mused.

"What the hell, man! Are you trying to kill me or something?" Ryoshi protested.

"Nah, I was just testing your reflexes," Fuyu reassured him.

"What if I didn't dodge that, though?" Ryoshi questioned.

"It wouldn't have killed you. It didn't have its claws out, but you would have gotten knocked out if you didn't dodge that," Fuyu explained.

"Well, that's better than dying, I guess," Ryoshi conceded.

"We need to hurry this up. I have to verify you to the Grand Ones. I'll teach you one more technique and the last two later," Fuyu announced.

"Last two?! Come on, man!" Ryoshi protested.

"You need to be one rank higher for me to teach you the stronger attacks," Fuyu clarified.

"Okay, fine. Let's just get this over with," Ryoshi relented.

"Okay, next technique is ice sword. It's similar to ice tip, but this time you cloak the entire sword in ice magic. It's a weaker technique than ice tip, but it's easier to hit," Fuyu explained.

"Got it," Ryoshi replied determinedly.

As Ryoshi attempted to execute the technique, he ended up freezing both of his arms instead.

"Shit—how long do we have?!" Ryoshi exclaimed in frustration.

"We have exactly 5 hours," Fuyu replied calmly.

"Why are you in such a rush then? It's only 5 hours," Ryoshi wondered.

"The Grand Ones go in and out of their building at random times. They are there all day, but from my experience with them, they're all there within these 5 hours," Fuyu explained.

"Oh, why didn't you say that earlier? Now, I'm going to use this time to master this technique!" Ryoshi declared with newfound determination.

Fuyu observed Ryoshi's intense training efforts with both admiration and concern. As Ryoshi tirelessly practiced the technique, Fuyu left to attend to some other tasks.

"I'm back! Are you... done... yet?" Fuyu asked, noticing the frozen ground and Ryoshi covered in blood.

"What happened here?!" Fuyu exclaimed, alarmed.

"I had to unfreeze myself so many times, but I think I finally mastered the Ice sword!" Ryoshi declared, panting heavily.

Fuyu realized with a sinking feeling that Ryoshi had tapped into a sacrificial ability fueled by his blood.

"I must stop him before it's too late," Fuyu thought to himself urgently.

"Ryoshi! That's enough for now. You've unknowingly unlocked one of the many sacrificial abilities!" Fuyu called out, rushing to Ryoshi's side.

"Sacrificial... abilities?" Ryoshi repeated, confused.

"Yes, sacrificial abilities are based on your destiny magic. Once the user runs out of mana, your Genji starts to fill itself with random stuff from your body. You're using blood ice right now! Blood ice is significantly stronger than ice, but it's at the cost of your blood. If you don't stop, you might die," Fuyu explained urgently.

Ryoshi dropped the sword and collapsed, weakened by the strain of his exertions.

Fuyu realized the urgency of the situation. "Shoot, I'm too late. Well, it's now or never. I must bring him to the Grand Ones right now," Fuyu resolved.

With that, Fuyu picked up Ryoshi and disappeared, reappearing in a large dark open room before the Grand Ones.

"Great Ones, I have a new member here, but he's unconscious due to blood loss," Fuyu informed the assembly.

"No worries, Hinansho. We'll give the boy time," a reassuring voice responded, calm and composed.

"Time?! Hinansho said he lost blood, and by the looks of it, it's around sixty percent. We should call in a medic," another voice chimed in, laced with concern.

"I'll call some over," a third voice offered, already taking action.

Fuyu, weak but conscious, managed to say, "Thank you, Great Ones."

The second voice replied graciously, "No need to thank us. You've helped us out a lot in the past years."