Chapter 23: Gift Training
Talon opened his eyes, drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding in his throat. The world around him spun uncontrollably, the disorienting sensation persisting for what felt like an eternity.
"How are you holding up? Asked Damian with a sympathetic smile on his face, "The first time is terrible for everyone, but you need to get used to this, or it will never get better."
"Wait, I have to endure this again?" Talon asked in terror, which only made Damian smile the same way again, "Yes, every time you evolve your gift. Your potential is black-rated, but your current gift is weak, green-rated. But now that you know its name, you can truly train and master every aspect of it."
"Was it this bad for you too?" Asked Talon, still in disbelief.
"Yes, the feeling of cold never left me… But you probably felt something else becouse this feeling is unique for everyone. Paul for instance said that he was getting overloaded with information while gazing at the world from ten different perspectives. So I have to ask, what was it like for you?"
"If I really think about it in perspective, nothing much. I just heard my own voice tell me that I should be dead." Said Talon, as he slowly regained his composure.
"Well, that couldn't be that pleasant either." Chuckled Damian as he walked to Talon and put his hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner. "But anyway, did you manage to learn the name of your gift?"
"Yeah… it's Mistborn." Said Talon, seemingly deep in though. 'I don't think that I should tell anyone about Church of the Other Side being a unique gift, unrelated to Mistborn…'
"Mistborn, huh. Sounds interesting, But it's time for us to train that gift" Said Damian with a smile on his face as he walked in front of Talon and activated his own gift, conjuring ice from nothing and shaping it into a dagger.
"Training your gift is like a muscle, you strengthen it by continuous use and rest. That's what we'll do today." Said Damian as he began creating more and more ice from nothing without a visible change in expression.
With a determined nod, Talon stood up from his sitting position and began focusing on his gift, red mist oozing out from his body, surrounding Damian's training ground in a mere moment.
"That's it, Talon, your gift is still green rated, but the more you use it, the higher you will go, making it way easier to fill a small place like this with fog and we are still not talking about unlocking other parts of this." Said Damian with an almost a proud expression.
'Thank god, being able to spread red mist sounds lame, and to think that I'm being feared and sent to die for owning such a weak gift… has to be a sick joke.' Thought Talon as he rolled his eye.
"Now Talon, you can't forget the real purpose of a gift, use it as a tool to defend yourself, or as a weapon… Now, show it to me, how do you plan to utilize it." Said Damian as he grabbed his ice made dagger tighter and threw it towards Talon who was barely visible amidst the mist.
Talon narrowly managed to dodge the ice dagger as he shouted, "What the hell Damian, you just threw this at me without saying anything in advance."
"What? Are you expecting your enemies to warn you in advance about a surprise ambush?" Laughed Damian as he conjured another dagger made from ice while wasting no time as he threw it at Talon.
"Go on Talon, if you don't use your gift to defend yourself, those daggers will hurt like hell I tell you!" Shouted Damian while laughing as he began creating more and more daggers.
In his panic, Talon began to envelop the whole room in an even thicker red fog, while somehow, it didn't disturb his own vision, it made Damian's job to target him with the daggers way harder.
"Good, your gift will always be ready to use, there will be times when a weapon is not available for you, but your gift will be there, use that, but don't get overly reliant on it, using it will just drain your energy, you have to be versatile, while it is your greatest tool in your arsenal, it can't be the only one." Said Damian, as he threw an ice dagger at Talon's direction for the last time, as the fog made it close to impossible for him to pinpoint Talon's location.
'This lunatic could very well kill me if I'm not paying attention… think of something, anything.' Panicked Talon as he looked around at the training room, as his vision wasn't obstructed at the very least by the fog.
But Damian left him no time to think, as he stomped on the ground, spreading a thin layer of ice all over the floor, and as Talon's feet made contract with the ice, his weight managed to crack it.
"Found you!" Said Damian, this time, he created a staff from the ice as he rushed at Talon's direction, unleashing a crushing strike at the ground, close to Talon, and where his staff struck, spikes of ice shot out, nearly stabbing Talon as he narrowly dodged, jumping away with one spike grazing his hand.
"What the hell Damian, this is just a spar, right? Why are you trying to kill me then?" Shouted Talon as he ran away from Damian, using the fog to hide away from him, still trying to find something against him.
"You have to take every spar seriously, otherwise, how do you expect to survive on the front?" Said Damian while he surveyed the fog, searching for Talon.
"I can understand why the others run away from your 'teachings', this isn't a spar, you are aiming to kill me!" Shouted Talon, as he suddenly spotted a weapon stand on the wall, he began to rush towards it to grab a spear.
"How dare you say those things to your teacher?" Damian feigned hurt, tightening his grip on his staff, focusing on the direction of Talon's voice.
'Got it.' Talon seized a spear from the wall, but the noise betrayed his location. Without hesitation, Damian rushed toward Talon, striking the wall with his staff, creating ice spikes that grazed Talon's shoulder.
This time, Talon didn't retreat. Utilizing the fog to his advantage, he circled Damian, awaiting an opportunity to strike. Damian stood still, smiling.
"You're doing well, Talon. When facing a superior opponent, use every advantage. However, there are foes you can't defeat—" Talon attacked when Damian's focus shifted to teaching, attempting to stab him in the side.
"Not bad," Damian chuckled, spinning his staff, striking Talon's jaw and knocking him down.
'Damn it!' Talon cursed, quickly getting up and condensing the fog to make it harder for Damian to locate him.
"Not a bad idea, Talon. But can you use your gift to that extent yet?" Damian inquired, noticing Talon's panting.
Taking advantage of the fog, Talon rushed at Damian again, aiming for his leg this time. To his surprise, Damian used an underhanded tactic. "You have to be kidding me, Damian!" Talon exclaimed in disbelief.
Circling around Talon, Damian stuck to his left side, exploiting Talon's missing left eye. Before Talon could turn around, Damian kicked him in the back, causing him to fall to the ground. Damian pointed the staff at Talon's head, declaring his victory with a wide grin.
"Before you complain, remember that your enemies will exploit your weaknesses. Get used to it and find a way to overcome this," Damian advised.
"What do you propose? Suddenly regrow my left eye?" Talon complained.
"Don't worry about that, every weakness can be addressed. Your case is special. You may have lost an eye, but your other senses are intact. Work on them," Damian assured.
"I understand. Thanks for the spar," Talon said, rubbing his chin in pain as he headed towards the exit.
"What are you doing, Talon?" Damian asked with genuine puzzlement.
"Going back to the barracks?" Talon replied with a shrug.
"Don't be foolish. Our training has just begun! Do you seriously think that with only a single spar we are done? No way, we only have two months for you to train, my aim is to get your gift to grade blue. So we still have a lot of work to do." Said Damian as he bent down to pick up the spear that Talon previously used and tossed it to the boy.
"You said it a couple of times, what do I achieve when I'm developing my Gift to higher rates, and how does that exactly happen?" Asked Talon, somewhat curious, but mostly trying to buy time so that he can catch his breath before Damian attacks him again out of nowhere.
"Well, every time your gift goes up a rate, it will undergo an evolution, gaining a property that it didn't have before. And how to develop it? By training it endlessly, and when the time comes… you will know exactly when that is, you can focus on your gift in solitude, just like when you learned it's name." Explained Damian while he began to conjure a short sword from the ice.
"You know everything you need to know at the moment, now… Began!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone