The Next Day
The entire territory was doused with renewed energy for training after it was popularized that Althea had awakened an element!
Before, only the closest ones, particularly the barracks, were aware of it, but such big news naturally couldn't be contained.
The previous night, during one of the nightlife parties in the territory, someone got drunk and mumbled how nice it would be to awaken an element like Ms. Althea.
This news was passed on from person to person, naturally injecting another douse of inspiration for everyone to work hard!
After all, rather than the talented soldiers who arrived months prior, someone who transferred with them had awakened as well!
Who knew? Maybe they could really be next!
At this time though, this aforementioned source of inspiration was kilometers away from the territory with her husband.
This time Althea took a break from the Training Hall and her experiments, deciding to stay outside the whole day.
She couldn't do anything about her lack of knowledge in arrays except self-studying, but she didn't think she would be able to get too far on her own. This was very worrying because she knew how stingy local people were with their expertise.
Anyway, Althea didn't wallow in depression for too long, and just decided to focus on the other skills she ought to train more.
For example, her elements.
She and her husband were currently in a rare clearing they found after some exploration. It was a large space with sparse trees, likely a product of some erosion a long time ago.
They chose the least demanding element to train this time—Earth. The element simply needed to control the elements already available and ready to use around them, unlike water which she still had to condense from the air as there were no water sources nearby. They also announced she could use wood and earth, leaving water behind in order not to be too unusual.
"Have you chosen which direction you hope to take?" Garan asked and she nodded to tell him her choice.
"Aggressive."
As mentioned to her many times, Elementalists also tend to focus on a certain type of techniques to activate. For instance, if one chose aggressive techniques, they would most likely only learn such, at least not until the element had been mastered to a certain degree. Similarly, auxiliary techniques would inspire the same.
For wood, she had chosen to use the auxiliary aspect of it so she wouldn't be able to learn the more aggressive techniques for a while. She didn't need to.
As for water, because of her predispositions, she would be more likely to choose auxiliary as well. She'd be learning more from people like Turbo than Ryo, who used water aggressively. Anyway, she was also an archer so she could focus her attacks there.
For Earth, there didn't seem to be a lot of differences between auxiliary and aggressive skills, primarily due to its stable nature. However, she would still focus on attacking skills to balance things out.
Garan had learned what he could from Gill and Mao to teach his wife.
As for why he didn't just ask an earth elementalist to go with them, it was naturally so he could bond with his wife.
Gill was also very busy. Besides, those other men couldn't talk straight with Althea and just gape at her.
Very annoying.
Not to mention, their children stayed with them most nights, and combined with their busy day schedules, their alone time had been greatly discounted.
What if his place in his wife's heart lowered because he hadn't been satisfying her enough lately? Last night, they only did it thrice!
(If Althea could hear his thoughts, she'd glare at him. Although they didn't do it as often, their sex life was still very active, okay?)
Fortunately, Althea had no idea at this time so she was just very eager to learn.
"Husband. Teach me!" She said, very excited for what she would be learning.
Although she had a short introduction back in the barracks, she still had a long away before actually using them to the degree that they could be used in battle. She couldn't bear take the guards' time either.
"Let's start with what Gill and the others call Geokinesis, the art of shaping the terrain," he said, moving behind her to give her a place to practice in front of them.
Garan, of course, didn't forget to take a bit of an advantage and settle nicely behind her. A step back and she'd be resting on him.
Althea felt his large hands on her waist as he spoke. "Focus on the earth beneath you." He told her, very close, and she could feel his warmth as he spoke. "Imagine a piece of clay, ready to be molded."
Althea closed her eyes and extended her hand towards the earth, channeling energy. It took several minutes to get a decent hold on to the earth elements.
"Feel the connection between your energy and the Earth's all around," Garan said, his hand on her waist caressing ever-so-gently. Garan wasn't even trying to seduce her now. He was simply trying to keep her still, as the earth seemed to require a lot of stillness from their user as if they were part of the rocks themselves.
Althea concentrated harder, and she started to sweat as she tried to manipulate the earth as she imagined.
Garan looked concerned and wanted to wipe the sweat off, but was afraid he'd distract her.
"Go away. You're distracting me."
"..."
It was now he realized his hands had crept just below her breast.
He cleared his throat and stepped further away. He waited patiently at a distance as she tried over and over. Many minutes trickled by and the ground beneath her began to change.
The surface shifted a little, and the barren soil had become small hills that could trip people.
It was very tiny, but it was a change and she immediately went to hug him, a radiant smile gracing her face.
She practiced for a few more hours until she made a bigger bump as well as larger potholes. It wasn't enough to trigger an actual skill, but it was enough for now.
"This is amazing! When I master this, I can dig an entire field in a couple of minutes!" She said. Obviously, she didn't choose auxiliary skills, but she still connected them to her gardening nevertheless.
Her smile was so bright that Garan had to his throat, trying to focus on the lesson at hand.
But, he wanted to ask.
"Do you want to continue? You worked hard, you deserve to rest."
"No, more!"
He cleared his throat. "Next is the seismic vibration lesson."
Althea watched eagerly and her apt attention with tinges of admiration distracted Garan a bit, wanting to do inappropriate things.
But Garan had very strong self-restraint (when it was needed) and knew that his wife really wanted to learn some earth techniques.
He manifested a fork and made it ting. "Earth users can apparently sense vibrations within the ground used to detect dangers ahead of time."
Although she wasn't manifesting anything, this skill also took some mana.
This skill was to attune to the Earth's subtle movements.
Garan hit the fork and Althea tried attuning to it. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the small rhythm of the soil. It was hard and she felt her mana draining.
Garan's help was also limited because he wasn't an earth elementalist himself, but he did study it well enough that he could try.
Fortunately, eventually, Althea did, and it was like a mental x-ray map.
[Learned! Earth Mapping (D)! Level 1: Able to feel vibrations at a radius of 2 meters. Lasts for 1 minute. Mana: -10]
"I finally got a new skill!" She said with a smile. It was upgradable too and she wondered how far a high level could go.
"Congratulations," Garan said, and Althea quickly jumped on him, placing several pecks on his cheek.
"It's all thanks to you!" She said with a smile. At this, Garan's eyes darkened.
"How will you reward me then?" He asked, hand creeping on her curvaceous waist, to somewhere else.
She gasped. "We're outside!" Outside the territory, no less!
"Didn't you always say you were curious?" About making love outside?
"I never said that!" He definitely dreamed it!
Garan did, indeed.
To her surprise, he manifested metal spikes around them creating a fenced area of about fifty square meters.
To think he'd use his powers like this!
"I know you have a tent in your space."
It was a very good tent he commissioned himself. Large and comfortable, bought it since she had the space for it anyway.
She pursed her lips. She didn't have any mana left to practice any more, and the sky was still high up.
Garan saw his wife was softening to the idea and leaned down, licking her lips to part them.
The atmosphere heated up between the couple, with Garan's misbehaving hand crawling under her shirt.
Althea's soft hand held them in place before he could go inside.
It was still embarrassing in the end though!
In her embarrassment, she ran away.
A little cheesy game of tag between lovers and Althea unconsciously used what she had learned.
For instance, she used the bumps to help propel her forward, over and over because she really didn't want to be caught by him. Unexpectedly, after some time, a soft ding sounded in her head.
[Learned! Earth Spring (D) Level 1: Increases Agility by 4 points, lasts 5 minutes. CD: 5 minutes. Mana: 10]
Eh, flirting could give birth to such a good thing?