Reaper(Cradle #10)(26)

Jai Long was immediately torn. On the one hand, he might have a chance to learn from an Overlord and a Sage.

On the other hand…well, Jai Long had been the one to cut off Lindon’s other hand.

Kelsa stood up immediately and pressed her fists together, bowing to him. “This one would be grateful for your attention, Overlord.”

Lindon’s cheeks colored. “Please don’t do that.”

“If you’re going to train me, then I need to treat you as my teacher.” Kelsa wasn’t playing around, and Lindon knew that just as well as Jai Long did.

But Lindon adapted in an instant. “Then I’ve decided that the title you should use to address me is my name.”

“You’re the highest-ranking person on this ship. We have to keep a clear—”

“Are you questioning me?” Lindon asked quietly.

Lindon still hadn’t released his veil, but every muscle in Jai Long’s body froze up as though he were staring down the jaws of a massive beast.

Kelsa straightened her spine. “No, sir!”

“Then my name is Lindon.”

“…fine.” Kelsa blew out a breath and scratched the back of her neck. “I can’t win against you at all anymore, can I?”

The tension had vanished like an illusion, and Lindon gave her a sheepish smile. Orthos was the one that answered.

“Of course you can’t. A hatchling shouldn’t try to bring down a whole flight.”

Little Blue crossed her arms and gave a ring that somehow managed to sound smug.

Jai Chen grabbed Lindon’s arm and pulled him forward, which seized Jai Long’s attention. When had they gotten that close?

“You said you could teach all of us at once, right?”

Lindon coughed. “Ah, actually, that was Little Blue who said—”

“Come on, I know you can do it!”

He glanced from Jai Long to Kelsa, looking uncomfortable, but Kelsa looked intensely interested.

When he saw that, Lindon sighed. “Okay. Everyone go sit by a different wall and start cycling, if you don’t mind.”

Kelsa and Jai Chen ran off immediately, leaving Jai Long standing alone. This was stupid. Even tips from someone more advanced than him wasn’t worth this. This was just giving Lindon a chance to show off.

Lindon looked to him again, and Jai Long suddenly thought that he didn’t have anything better to do anyway, so he might as well follow instructions.

When all three of them were cycling, with Lindon standing in the center of the room, Lindon’s veil slipped. Just a little.

His spiritual perception filled the room like an overwhelming tide. Jai Long’s whole spirit shivered, but only for an instant.

“Jai Chen, you’ve been focusing on using your techniques with your contracted spirit as a medium. You don’t have to do that; not all your madra is taken up by him anymore. I’ll give you four basic techniques you can work on, and you can refine them on your own, but for now start cycling your madra separately from your dragon.”

Jai Chen looked startled, but Lindon had already turned to Kelsa.

“You’re practicing the techniques I gave you correctly, but you’re too slow. Don’t learn to walk by taking one step and stopping to evaluate. Walk. You could spar against some clan elders, but for now…”

He whispered something to the blue spirit leaning against his neck, and then Little Blue hopped down from his shoulder and walked up to Kelsa.

“…she’ll be your opponent.”

Little Blue put hands on her hips and whistled a challenge.

Kelsa looked like her brother had told her to kick a baby off a cliff. “Uh, Lindon…”

“Blue.”

The spirit shoved her palm forward. A Forged blue-white handprint manifested in front of Kelsa’s body and slammed into her midsection, driving the air from her lungs and blasting her back into the wall. Her spirit was disrupted at the same time, and Jai Long winced. He’d been on the receiving end of that technique before.

Kelsa’s body crumpled to the ground and she groaned.

Little Blue gave a deep flute note of concern.

“She’s fine,” Lindon said. “Just wait for her to get up. Now…”

Finally, he turned to Jai Long.

“Why haven’t you advanced yet?”

Jai Long stopped himself from saying something he would regret. Lindon could talk like advancing to Underlord was so easy, but it was a barrier that stopped virtually every sacred artist in the entire Blackflame Empire.

“I have not received the necessary insight,” Jai Long said stiffly.

Lindon didn’t scan him with spiritual perception, but Jai Long felt as though he were being examined thoroughly nonetheless. “What have you tried?”

“Tried? I have isolated myself, I meditate on the nature of my madra every morning, and Jai Daishou ran me through a number of personal trials.”

Lindon nodded as though he’d expected as much. “He didn’t know what the Underlord revelation was, did he?”

Jai Long didn’t even understand the question. Everyone knew that every Underlord’s transformation was triggered differently. It had something to do with insight into your own Path, but some people achieved the knowledge in battle while others needed isolation, or even conversation.