Masters and Student's

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POV: Astaros

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I lay in bed thinking over recent events. It has been two days since the guild incident and the massive mana pressurization was whispered about all the while. Kali had apparently covered it up as an experiment with magic items. I hadn't heard from Christine nor had we been contacted by the guild, even though we could no longer hide behind the Hollow being private property.

I felt soft objects wrap around me and two mounds rub against my chest. I opened my eyes to the sight of Fillia wrapping her tails and arms around me as we lay in bed together. She was a lovely sight in the morning light, the sun being cast upon her beautiful skin and shining upon her orange hair. Her eyes fluttered open and green pupils slowly came to meet my silver ones. She brought her face up to mine and kissed me.

"Mmmph, Morning buckethead." {Fillia}

I received a light chop on the forehead before she sat up and stretched. She interlocked her fingers and strained her palms towards the wooden ceiling as she puffed out her modest chest.

"So why am I getting hit first thing in the morning? Do I look like an M to you?" {Astaros}

She jumped out of bed and stood up as I did the same, putting on some pre-placed articles of clothing while I simply armored up.

"I can't seem to enjoy your smug face so early in the morning." {Fillia}

I turned to look behind me as silver alloy crawled across my face.

"Of course I would get smug when I can wake up to such a beautiful woman in the morning." {Astaros}

Fillia reddened as she turned away from me and placed on some leather armor.

"It's a real waste~"

"Hm?"

I heard her say something but I couldn't quite make out all of it.

"What was that?" {Astaros}

Fillia began to steam a little before speaking.

"You hide all that eye candy under all those lay~... AAAAAAHHHH NEVER MIND" {Fillia}

I was honestly surprised she actually managed to say something like that. Maybe I was rubbing off on her?

"I hide it so it has more impact when I show you. Otherwise I'd just be another hot guy." {Astaros}

I said that quite in a lax manner but I really was happy to hear she was thinking such things about me. Still gonna wait till certain things are in place before I begin putting it to use though.

"You know what you're really vexing you know. A real nuisance. I don't know what to do with an annoying person like you, you... you walking mirror!" {Fillia}

I chuckled at the beginning of the verbal siege and began to move quickly towards the door.

"HEY are you running from my rant? That's it." {Fillia}

I opened the door and closed it behind me rushing away laughing as Fillia chased me with a red face.

I ran down to the main floor before stopping at the table Dryis was sitting at. She was busy eating when I came rushing down so I slid and took a seat. Fillia came rushing down as well to continue the conversation but the main floor was crowded. Instead she glared and mouthed:

'I will get you.' {Fillia}

I gave her a thumbs up and she scowled as Katia came waltzing around the corner and sat down.

Her and Fillia were going to go on a quest while me and Dryis were going to go and train for a couple months or so.

We had a lot of work to do if we were going to buy my island and settle down.

You heard me right, I am going to buy that island for me, Fillia and the others. To do that though I am going to need massive amounts of funds. Nikky has become a waitress at the guild and Oadry has become a church hand as they were lacking.

We would all pitch in to make this dream true. For all of our sakes.

…

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POV: Dryis

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Fillia and Astaros spent the morning bickering and teasing each other, respectively before the latter turned to me.

"Alright enough of bothering Fillia." {Astaros}

"HAH? So that's a pass time now ya tin can?" {Fillia}

He coughed into his fist and continued.

"You and I will head into the forest and begin your training now that I know what you need. We will be out there for three months so be prepared." {Astaros}

Katia stopped before looking up.

"What exactly will you be doing for food?" {Katia}

He sighed and looked over.

"It's really all about food with you ain't it. Whether it's your own or someone else's." {Astaros}

Katia either taking no offense or simply not caring responded.

"It's an essential thing for me." {Katia}

He chuckled and leaned back.

"I can indeed see that. Lupus's pack will hunt for us and really and truly it'll be Dryis catching most of her own game so I'm not too concerned." {Astaros}

Fillia then looked down and spoke.

"That's a long time to be away. Especially after all that happened." {Fillia}

The table grew quiet as those words sunk in. I then spoke up.

"Don't worry Fillia, both me and Astaros can take care of each other. We will be fine." {Dryis}

"Dryis" {Fillia}

She looked at me with appreciative eyes.

"But if that was true then why do you need training?" {Katia}

Everyone turned to look at Katia who bit into her toast and shrugged.

"Alright that's enough being sappy let's roll Dryis." {Astaros}

Astaros stood up and beckoned me to follow.

I turned to follow and waved goodbye to Fillia and Katia who waved me on. I wonder what kind of training awaits me? I can't wait!

…

Astaros and I left the city gates after paying and looked out upon the grand forest which greeted us. I could see several pairs of yellow eyes staring out at me while a larger pair hovered above the rest and stared at Astaros's shadow.

I watched in shock as the surface tension of the shadow broke and out came a wolf with a black back and blue eye's. It ran off to join it's compatriots while Astaros began to speak.

"Do you remember what I said you needed to work on?" {Astaros}

I smiled and turned to him.

"YES I DO MASTER SYSTIN!!"

He sighed and looked down at me.

"What was it I told you to focus on specifically?" {Astaros}

I frowned slightly remembering my experience with the assassin. He had me cornered and I had barely been able to keep up.

"You told me to be situationally flexible, integrate my elemental arts better and work on my power and speed." {Dryis}

He looked forwards towards the pack as the giant forms of Lupus and The other one stalked between the tall trunks and ducked under the high branches, their mass causing some of the trees to adopt an angle as they brushed up against them.

"I'm gonna drive into you everything you need to know in these three months so I hope you're ready." {Astaros}

I was ready to take in everything he taught and become just as skilled as the others. I am done being a chain that ties others down or a damsel in distress.

When all is said and done I want to stand as tall and proud as Astaros one day.

…

We reached a clearing in the middle of the forest not to long after midday. It was here he began to explain his plans for me. He drew his blade from his chest in a massive flash of scarlet light, before stabbing it into the earth. While I took off my charm and allowed my ears to be viewed in their full lengthy glory.

"In the first month I will teach you how to be flexible and spend as much time as we need on this subject for you to get it. That's the most important thing we need to get done." {Astaros}

He began stretching. Swiveling his waist and then touching his toes before reaching to the sky.

"If we get past that I will then begin to train your body to its maximum extent, breaking it down and rebuilding it from scratch if need be." {Astaros}

He began rotating his left shoulder, clasping a hand upon it.

"If we manage to get through all of that I guess I'll teach you to integrate elements into your attacks." {Astaros}

He finished speaking and pulled his sword out of the ground, placing onto his shoulder while preparing to... swing?

"Alright let's get started." {Astaros}

'Wait what?' {Dryis}

He then blasted forward as I drew my own blade to defend myself. I barely had it out of the scabbard before the slash hit me, knocking the longsword out of my hand and sending me skipping across the ground before I rolled and grinded to a halt.

I struggled to stand as I looked at where my sword landed. I then looked for the massive metal monster that had charged me out of nowhere. Where was he?

"You should go get that." {Astaros}

'Abo-' {Dryis}

I barely rolled out of the way as he came whirling down, his blade smashing into the ground and the air pressure tossed me towards my sword. He slowly got up and looked at me pointing his giant sword at my chest.

"The best way to improvise is to be forced to improvise, improvising is learned through having to think quickly while moving with instinct. So I will attack you semi seriously while you improvise your own survival." {Astaros]

Before I could say that was a crazy idea, he reared his arm back and flung the massive sword with his right hand, wind and fire element enveloping it as it blasted towards me.

Maybe I should have chosen another teacher.

…

Thus the attempt on my life for an entire month began. It was one barrage of attacks after another as he tried half-heartedly to kill me. If he managed to catch me he would beat me within an inch of my life, before giving me a healing potion and then giving me a minute's head start.

The night was no safety either as instead the black wolf Val Systin would hunt me down. He had a dark element and amazing tracking abilities. It was terrible, and at one point I felt like killing Astaros and running but he simply told me to try it, and I failed miserably. Rest was apparently for the dead and never before had I envied the fallen so much.

The forest was a terrifying maze of shadows and large canopies where my opponents could come out at any time, while the open spaces simply meant Astaros would start using large scale attacks, burning away anything and everything if it came down to it.

And so slowly but surely I became used to this cycle of defeat and rejuvenation, my body beginning to recognize ambush points and acting with caution. I also began to use my wind element to check my surroundings, allowing me to have a slightly advanced warning, though Astaros caught on within the first 3 hours and began to use his own wind element to distract me and create decoys.

After 33 days of this living hell he finally walked up to me and said the words I had been hoping to here for the past four and a half weeks.

"Congrats I think you got the gist o- oi wait don't fall unconscious yet wer~" {Astaros}

His voice faded away as I took solace in the fact I was finally safe.

…

I awoke two days later on the back, of Lupus. He had been my only reprieve during those hellish days as he would come with food and for fifteen minutes I would be left alone, three times a day at first before it would slowly go down over time as I was forced to hunt for myself.

To be honest I don't think I'm suited for these conditions even after all this time. I was exhausted mentally even though I just woke up. My body was in terrible shape as well, though I had begun to develop a little muscle mass during my time being hunted.

A metal finger hit my forehead and I woke up to the sight of Astaros standing over me.

"I'm not done with you yet you limp noodle." {Astaros}

I sighed and stood up, my body and mind telling me to stay down as they screamed in unified pain.

"I understand Master Systin." {Dryis}

He looked me up and down before laughing.

"You look terrible. Wanna do it again?" {Astaros}

I then surprised myself with my own retort.

"When I stand as your equal we will see how this goes." {Dryis}

The air was silent as the wind blew and bent the grass to it's will.

"You'll have to wait a long time before you can ever stand before me and call yourself my equal. Longer that you have to live." {Astaros}

His cold flat tone surprised me. I had never heard him this serious before. Usually he would laugh something like that off. I had no time to think about it though as he then began rubbing his hands together.

"Alright with that out of the way it's time to make you fast and strong. How do we do that? With muscle training of course!" {Astaros}

I simply nodded and prepared to be demolished once again, while Astaros tried his best not to betray my expectations.

…

He started making me run for half the day and do different forms of lifts during the other half, stoned and tree trunks being the weights I used. On the last two days of the week he would allow me to rest before restarting again. As this went on he would also begin to work in small sparring sessions as we trained together. It wasn't as bad as the improvisation training but still tough. He was surprisingly knowledgeable about everything that he taught, his teachings being short and concise, while he also paid attention to the smallest mistakes in the form and techniques I used for both exercising and fighting. For the first time I began to wonder. Who was Astaros Systin? What had he done before coming to Elden? How was he so skilled and powerful? Where had he come from? Exactly how old was he, to be so knowledgeable and achieve such a mastery of swordsmanship?

As the days melded together I pushed myself to my limits to learn as much as I could and strengthen myself to try and reach my maximum potential. He slowly began to teach me how to wield my air and light elements together with maximum efficiency, my new situational awareness and ability to adapt to an evolving situation allowing me to improvise my own moves. It was an experience that was truly worth all the suffering I endured. Why? Because I could now at the very least fight Astaros and hold my own. Unlike my older self who would have lost in seconds once he caught me, I could now actually trade blows.

Thus my grueling and hellish training in the Elden forest came to an end. I was confident in myself now. No longer will I be a damsel in distress.

I can wait a bit before I train like this again though.