The New Elemental God

Nothing could describe the boy's happiness and excitement. He was feeling strong, powerful, and capable. After glancing at his audience, he bolted to check the impact hole.

It was about three meters deep and fifty centimeters wide. Emanating from it, the heat stopped Adam from getting closer; otherwise, he was ready to put his head inside the hole.

"That was very good." Shu's voice indicated satisfaction. "I see you used physics to add power to your shot. Congratulations."

"I can feel it, the power of the Earth," Adam said while rising to meet his companions. "It's heavy."

"Think of it as an extra muscle. The more you work the stronger it will get." Calder said in between smiles.

The youngling was a bit distant from him, but he knew the reason was the traumatic experience they had been through together. He was happy Cal was there to see him.

"Yeah! I didn't know how it was supposed to feel, that's why it was so hard to do it the first time." Jumping like a boxer, he was also throwing jabs in the air, making Shu giggle.

"Should we take a break?" The Fire Goddess suggested.

From a short distance, Adam was able to take a look at Hikari's daggers while she addressed the group. Curiously, she was using curved ones.

They were less than thirty centimeters long. The blind side was a straight line, but the blade edge started straight, then developed a curve that narrowed the blade before curving out at the point. It was audacious, something Adam did not associate with the Goddess.

At the base of the blade, there was something carved, but she put them away in simple bamboo sheaths before he could see what it was.

"No, we are just getting started." The Earth God was the only one to protest.

"Adam, we've been here for hours."

Looking at Shu, the speaker, the Playboy did not understand. For him, it felt like only minutes, an hour tops.

"The Monks want to serve us dinner at the Temple. We should change into more appropriate clothing."

The Fire Goddess's clothes were really torn up once she mentioned it. All the running and scraping hits had really messed with her vestments, but her skin was flawless—not a single bruise.

"I'll go in a bit."

No one moved, but they exchanged looks among themselves.

"I'll stay with him. We'll meet in the temple later."

Together, Calder and Adam watched the others leave in silence.

Once alone, the Playboy became restless, knocking his fist on his other palm and looking around like he was searching for something—but he wasn't. Adam couldn't bring himself to apologize for his insensitive behavior earlier.

"I have to say I'm sorry for letting you down back there." Interrupting the young man's internal debate, Calder started, looking down. "I was responsible for you and all those souls, and I failed." He lifted his gaze and looked deep into Adam's eyes in the most sincere way. "I'll do whatever it takes for us to find your mother. I promise you, son."

It was hard for the boy to deal with such intense emotion. All his friendships were about pranks, partying, and money—not a lot of deep conversations happened sober.

"I know…" There was more Adam wanted to say but was too timid to do so. "Merlin."

Calder cracked a smile and shook his head. Leaving the tense atmosphere behind, the old man grabbed Adam by the neck and pushed him down as a joke.

"Let's get to work then."

They positioned themselves face to face in the middle of the arena. Eager to start throwing things again, the boy was restless while Calder made the usual suspense.

"Should I pull out the biggest rock I can get? Or make a building so I can shoot it down?!"

Adam was sounding like a mad dog; the Water God couldn't stop shaking his head in disbelief.

"Did you see me and Hikari exercising?"

"Yes! It was insane!" The God was waving his hands, trying to imitate the octopus attack Cal used to trap Hikari.

"Did you notice what kind of fighting style we used?"

"You are a medium-range cast mage, and she is an assassin—which really suits her…" He spit out without hesitating, then got distracted thinking about the woman's speed and deadly close-range hits.

"Exactly. What about Shu?" Interested in the boy's precise analysis, the wise man got the impression he would be a fast learner.

"Long-range shooter." Adam was not paying much attention to the question. In his mind, he was still trying to remember if he saw Hikari use her Element at any time. "Why didn't the Fire Lady use fire against you?"

He couldn't understand why someone with such a powerful gift would not use it. She seemed very skilled; Adam was sure it would not be hard for her to do it. Unless she really didn't want to.

"I can't talk about her preferences..." Everyone was very agile in deflecting from questions they did not want to answer.

Seeing he wasn't going to get the explanation he was looking for, Adam dropped the subject for the time being.

"But I can talk about mine. Until you find your fighting style, we'll teach you all we know so you can have a vast amount of repertoire to get inspiration from."

"Less words, more action, grandpa."

As preparation, Adam rubbed his hands together, then closed them in tight fists. The older god ignored the boy.

Ready to start, Calder materialized fresh water out of thin air. It flowed from nothing, forming a circle in front of him that kept moving in place while he talked.

"For your defense, it's always good to have help. To protect a blind spot or to close a flank, sometimes we need a new set of eyes."

Changing as if it had its own will, the water circle started expanding to take a new form. With a medium-sized thin center first, then it stretched to the sides, creating pointy shapes. At last, a humanoid head popped out at the top.

A water creature.