The Seven Demon's Tamer

"Come with me," Akira signaled to them as she began to walk towards the edge of the platform.

"You see, in the Red Eastern Guild, everything is arranged in a pattern and an appropriate procedure," she explained, her voice reaching all of them clearly despite the wind that had begun to blow around them.

"In order to be able to learn a new stage of the teachings here, you must have mastered the old stage," Akira continued, pausing to let the wind whip through her long black hair.

The four companions exchanged glances, and Brok couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Why does everything in this guild have to be so... delayed? Can't we just skip to the good stuff?"

Mara elbowed him sharply in the ribs—well, as sharply as she could despite thinking the same thing. "Because that's not how learning works, you impatient bull," she hissed. "You can't build a house without laying the foundation first."

"To be frank," Akira said, either not hearing their whispered exchange or choosing to ignore it, "if you had known how to perform the techniques of the Luo district properly, adapting to the seemingly oppressive pressure here would have been as easy as clicking your fingers."

This revelation hit them like a heavy wave. Brok's jaw dropped slightly, and Mara felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. They had struggled for hours, endured pain and humiliation, crawling around and earning their nicknames as puppies.

Brok faced the worst among them all—suffering through waves carrying shocking lightning—all because they hadn't properly utilized the techniques they already possessed earlier.

"Wait, wait, wait," Leo interrupted, holding up his hands in a gesture of disbelief. "Are you telling me that we could have avoided all that torture if we had just... used the techniques we already know? You mean the sole purpose of the punishment you made us go through was just so we could implement the technique!"

Akira nodded with a wicked smile. "Exactly. The Luo district techniques are specifically designed to help summoners adapt to any conditions and pressure, including natural changes in atmosphere. They're foundational techniques for a reason."

Brok sighed. "So you're saying I got electrocuted... for educational purposes... when I could have just used a technique earlier on?"

"Well, to be more accurate," Akira replied cheerfully, "you got electrocuted because you broke the drama you were creating at the worst possible moment with bodily functions that should remain private. I know everything that played out."

Mara burst out laughing despite herself, and even Ryder couldn't suppress a chuckle. Brok's face was instantly covered with shades of red in embarrassment.

"I was watching you all the whole time while you tried to ascend to the clouds," Akira continued, her tone becoming more serious. "And surprisingly, only Brok implemented a technique—though not the right one, and not at the right time, and certainly not with the right accompanying sound effects."

The memory of Brok's "explosive" moment caused another round of suppressed chuckles from his companions.

"I really, really wanted you all to implement techniques," Akira explained, "but you all found your shortcuts one way or another to get to the clouds. Mara discovered her own internal awareness through some sort of meditative breakthrough, which was actually quite impressive. Ryder relied on his familiar's shared capabilities, which is resourceful but not technically mastery. Leo manipulated external gamma energy, which demonstrated advanced understanding but wasn't the intended lesson."

She paused to look at each of them individually. "I appreciate your effort, but only Brok did the right thing."

"All that was expected from you by me was for you all to perform the Charge Rush technique," she concluded. "It's one of the most basic techniques in the entire Luo. If you had used it properly, you could have been floating on those clouds within minutes of arriving here."

"So," Ryder said slowly, "we basically chose the hard way because we didn't think to use the easy way that we already knew?"

"Pretty much," Akira confirmed with a nod.

Looking down from the edge of the floating surface, Akira took a moment to observe the ground properly, allowing the wind to blow through her long black hair in a way that made her look like some sort of big shot.

The sight was actually quite striking. It was the kind of image that would have looked perfectly at home on the cover of a martial arts movie.

"I will be helping you master several relevant techniques you learned from the Luo district before teaching you how to harness your familiars' affinities," she announced, her voice carrying clearly despite the wind. "I would have given you another test, but I cannot predict what other ways you'll use to bypass the purpose of the training."

Ryder didn't jump; he fell purposefully from the sky while the others leaped upward, joining him with cheerful laughter as their bodies sliced through the wind.

"But first," Akira said, and there was something in her tone that suggested another challenge was coming, "we need to get down from here."

Without any further warning or preparation, she jumped down from the surface, heading for the distant ground with the same casual confidence she brought to everything else.

Ryder smiled as he turned around to stare at the others, only to see the same smile on their faces as well. There was something different about their expressions now—a confidence that hadn't been there before.

"I guess we no longer have puppies with us now," Ryder observed with satisfaction.

Instead of jumping with careful precision like Akira had done, Ryder simply let himself fall purposefully from the sky, his body relaxing from his previously standing position. The others leaped upward first, adding unnecessary flair to their descent, joining him with cheerful laughter as their bodies sliced through the wind.

*Thud!*

The noise of their heels hitting the ground reverberated across the landscape, accompanied by clouds of dust that rose from the ground at the impact. But unlike their earlier landing attempts, this one was controlled. They had landed exactly where they intended to land, exactly how they intended to land.

Akira kept her head forward despite the noise they were making—laughing and chatting as they trailed behind her. She hid her expression carefully enough that they couldn't see the grin she was bearing, the look of pride that came from watching them exceed her expectations in their own way.

'These four are anomalies for sure,' she thought to herself as she listened to their cheerful noise. 'Master Sung's choice of allies is not a waste after all. Even the two seemingly extra members are extraordinary in their own ways.'

She tilted her head slightly to the side to glance at the crew behind her, then halted in her tracks with a suddenness that caused them to nearly bump into each other as they tried to stop their forward movement.

"We have arrived at our destination," she announced, gesturing around them at what appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary land expanse—a grassland.

The area they stood in was beautiful, in all honesty. The grass beneath their feet had the same sort of barely noticeable glow as most others in the Tian district. It was magical.

Colorful flowers dotted the landscape, swaying gently despite the absence of wind on the ground at that moment.

The foursome all exchanged glances, the same thoughts going through their heads, until Ryder eventually voiced what they were all thinking.

"Right here on the ground?"

"Yes," Akira responded, settling herself cross-legged on the grass with fluid grace. "I will be training you on mastering seven relevant techniques amongst the seventy-seven techniques of the Luo district right here on the ground."

"Everyone sit," she ordered, and they all obeyed without hesitation, arranging themselves in a rough semicircle facing her.