Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

Chapter 133 – Boss Lady

“Okay, is this everyone?” Anlesa asked; they knew it was, but it felt right for a stranger to ask.

Ella saluted, “Yes.”

“This is not a military drill.” Syrus waved to signal for Ella to put down her arm.

Today was the promised training session, which the children were very excited for. They didn’t know too much about Syrus, as they only knew she was the benefactor who had helped them out and was a cool hunter.

There was also the rumour that she was related to Anna… Saying it was a rumour might be a bit much, but for the children, even though Elly had mentioned she was related to Anna and they had heard some conversations, it was still hard to comprehend. If a relative of Anna could be here, why couldn’t Anna be here instead? It was the thought of many of them.

“Okay…” Syrus looked over all fourteen children; it was funny that some were technically older than her. These were people Anlesa grew up with, and now their positions in life had shifted dramatically. “Today we will be going over a few things, basically a super crash course on a lot of basics, but I will give extra tips to anyone who has their attribute and some generic attribute tips for everyone who hasn’t awakened theirs.”

Anlesa had thought about not doing any individual stuff, but based on their experiences, they felt confident enough to at least give some worthwhile advice to the kids on how to use their attributes. 

“But the basics will be first. I will be teaching you simple exercises you can do, what to do when you're in a fight with people your size or bigger, and most importantly, how to run away.”

Billy asked, “Run away?”

“Yes, if you are alive and free, you can do anything; if you're dead and captured, well, your choices on what you can do dramatically decrease.”

There was a quiet mutter; it wasn’t that the kids weren’t convinced. They knew running away was important, but was it the most important?

[Sigh… the only people who should stay on a battlefield are the ones who had the choice to leave.] (Syrus)

[Wise words.] (Luna)

[Thanks, credit goes to my coworker.] (Syrus)

Syrus stuck to her words and began the training. She taught them exercises to do and when to stop, what it could mean when certain muscles were hurting, and when not to push them to prevent more injuries. It was definitely a bit much for the kids, but with fourteen of them, they could help fill in each other's gaps over time.

She then taught them to play dirty, which the kids knew all too well how to do, but Syrus had more surprises on how to fight extra nastily.

The stops to hit to immobilise the opponent, to create openings, and what they could grab off the street and mix together to create painful powders to throw at people’s faces.

This took nearly half the day, and everyone was tired but still had energy to keep going. 

Now it was time for the part that the children were most excited about.

“Now, I'll let you guys decide this.” It was time to discuss attributes. “Would you prefer I take one of you off to speak with you individually, or rather have the whole group hear everything?”

The children turned and began mumbling.

“You have plenty of time to decide; this is also your break from the exercise.”

Ella got the children and formed a group discussion to begin some voting.

Learning how to use one’s attributes was something most people found exciting. It was a power that most couldn’t explain, and for the kids, it was something cool. When someone awakened theirs, it was always a celebration, and everyone was excited to see what it could do. When Anna had ‘unlocked’ her Fire, all the kids wanted to see her use it.

Anlesa had asked a few questions during the training and found that Leah wasn’t the only one to have awakened their attribute during the time apart.

That wasn’t too surprising considering the age range and trauma involved, but it was disheartening to think about.  

The kids had finished deciding, and it was unanimous that everyone would listen together.

“We will do this from oldest to youngest, and once they are done, I will give some generic tips about the most common attributes and a few of the particularly important ones.” Syrus clapped. “That will not just be important for those who haven’t awakened their attributes but also for everyone else, as I will try to go over how to counter those attributes.”

Billy raised his hand.

“You may speak.”

“Can you go over the explanation for each attribute when a corresponding person comes up?” Billy was asking if Syrus could give the explanations along with the personal teachings when a person came up, instead of giving the generic tips at the end.  

Syrus paused. “Sure, and if anyone has a matching attribute with the current example, come forward so I can give you personal tips together.” It seemed like it could save time, and after a quick internal talk, they agreed. If there were any common attributes that were missed, Anlesa decided to discuss them at the end.

Starting from the oldest, Ella. 

Ella had already awakened hers as Earth, and she had no physical changes; her eyes and hair had stayed brown. Another child on the younger end of the spectrum also walked forward 

“Earth can be a tricky one.” Syrus started the discussion. She grabbed two rocks she had dug up earlier and gave one to each of them. 

“I assume you have tried to experiment with it on your own time without much success?”

The little child, Samantha, nodded, and Ella spoke. “That is right…” She closed her eyes solemnly. Ella had her attribute awakened for a long time but had never found a proper way to use it. There weren't many people with an Earth attribute in the village either, and the ones that did couldn’t break past their initial roadblocks. The one who had the best understanding was Jen, but she wasn’t keen on teaching a child about the combative elements of the attribute. Even then, Jen’s knowledge was mostly in the theoretical, as that was what she found interesting. Ella, who looked back on it regretfully, gave up on asking Jeny after not getting instant results. 

“Unlike Wind or Fire, where you can generate the element without much issue. Creating Earth is substantially more difficult.”

“So we have to control stones, rocks, and the mud around us,” Ella answered. She heard something similar many times when she looked for help, but even that was difficult.

Her response got Syrus to smile. “Yes, but also no.” She picked up a third rock. “People didn’t just kill beasts with stones; they found the sharpest ones and made traps, spears, and weapons.”

Syrus pointed to the two stones the children were holding. “Start pouring your mana into the stones.” 

They did as told. 

“Now, something you will learn, and that will be made easier with more practice. Is that the more you pour your mana into a stone, the easier it will be to control.” Syrus explained.

“You would see that the more common proper combat usage of Earth is to make weapons. These can be things like swords, but more commonly they are arrows, knives, and other small weapons. With training and time, you make yourself very sharp, dense, and/or durable. Starting with soft dirt or clay, you can shape these weapons however you wish and harden them, and then, with time, you will be able to modify hard stone immediately.”

Syrus’ explanation was a lot different from every other lesson Ella had received, but it was working. Something about it just made sense, and Syrus pointed out how it might feel to the best of her abilities.

There was the obvious issue of Syrus not having the attribute, so she could never give perfect details, but she had worked with many people who had used Earth attributes. There were some who had managed to do the more ‘magical’ application of the attribute, like moving large pieces of ground, but Syrus had no idea where to start with that, so she taught them what was realistic.

Syrus spent a few minutes teaching them, giving pointers, and answering questions they and the other children asked. Everyone was excited as Ella morphed the soft stone into a crude knife.

After that was done, they continued with the next group of children. Syrus discussed Water, Wind, Fire, Sharpness, Lightning, and Sound.

[Some rare ones here.] (Syrus)

[Sharpness still eludes me…] (Eva)

[Technically speaking, the names of attributes are human creations.] (Luna)

[I’m not referring to that name… but that is also confusing…] (Eva)

Thanks to a combination of Eva and Syrus, they were able to answer the questions about those two rarer attributes. The child, Susan, was the one with Sound; it was her second attribute, along with Wind, which was a good combination. 

Sound had two areas of exploration based on Luna’s understanding. The creation of sounds and the hearing of sounds. Syrus ended up writing a list of tricks on how to differentiate sound for Susan to read based on her own experiences. 

Sharpness was the attribute that was annoying Eva. The simplest way to describe it was that it made the flow of mana sharp. This intrigued Eva as she wondered if she could replicate the effect with Manipulation, but Syrus put an immediate stop to that. Syrus had a bad memory of someone with said attribute creating too much Sharp Mana inside the body, which cut them from the inside. Of course, Syrus gave the child a lot of warnings about utilising it on the outside of the body or on weapons. It was similar to Manipulation in a way that it was easier to control and spread over weapons.

The Lightning attribute was held by Jerry, who had another attribute as well. They just weren’t sure what it was. He was able to explain that it made him aim better, but that was about it.

[Could it be Sight? Nah, there would be other obvious signs.] (Syrus)

[I believe we should just leave that one alone, its effect is only beneficial at the moment.] (Luna)

[I think we should investigate it thoroughly.] (Eva)

[We don’t have the time for that.] (Syrus)

“Okay, next up.”

Finally, there was one of the youngest children.

“My turn.” Leah walked forward, alone.

“Ice, huh…” Leah’s attribute was Ice; it was an interesting attribute. It was on the rarer end of the elemental catalogue but decently more common than Sunlight and Moonlight. 

“I was told by Elly it was rare, but I haven’t been able to make much use of it.”

“Let me guess, you’ve been able to make things colder and not much else?”

“Yes.” Leah nodded, with a little bit of hope appearing in her eyes. If Syrus understood her problem, then maybe she also had a solution?

“Okay, well, good thing we started with Earth. Because, like Earth, the best use of Ice is to utilise existing material, in this case, water.” Syrus began her explanation. “This will require a while to train, but pour your mana into bowls of water to figure out how to properly freeze it. Once you do that, you will quickly understand how to rapidly freeze it.”

Leah nodded.

“Look, this will be difficult. Ice is an attribute where it can be easy to use more water or mana to solve problems. With more mana, you don’t have to try hard to rapidly freeze something, and with more water, you might not want to learn how to freeze effectively.” Ice got exponentially better if the person had Water and Ice attributes, but Syrus had seen many times that people who had both were never that efficient with Ice.

Syrus looked deep into Leah’s eyes. “But Ice is a powerful attribute; with enough practice, you can create ice structures many times bigger than the water used. That might sound crazy, but it can be done. Only a few drops of water are needed to create shards of ice that can be shot or only require a water sack to freeze someone in place. Those are the end goals, so remember to build up towards them.”

There was, of course, the other use of Ice, directly freezing things the user touched. There was no way around the physical restriction of that ability, but it was also an advanced ability that required the training Syrus had previously mentioned and even more training. Syrus only knew one person who reached the level of freezing people where they stood. They were a nasty opponent. Syrus did explain that as well but also stated that it was extremely hard and required a firm understanding of the basics.

After more time of training.

Syrus clapped. “Okay, I think that is everything.” It had gotten pretty late after all the discussions and examples. “Any questions?”

Billy replied, “None, Boss Lady.”

Eva paused. “Huh?”

“Thank you, Boss Lady!” The children yelled in sequence 

Syrus scratched the back of her head. “You buggers planned that…”