Entering the training room, both Yori and Noboru adopted a serious fighting stance.
They didn't exchange just a singular word before they began their training.
Noboru stood his ground firmly, keeping his guard up and himself well protected from incoming blows.
It was exactly what Yori had taught him. His offense was his strong point and had always been his strongest suit. However, his defense was lackluster. In order not to be critically injured during a real battle, he had to keep a defensive stance at all times and only counterattack.
That way, he would still be able to use his offensive skills while decreasing his chance of dying prematurely.
Yori, contrary to him, was staying light on his feet, ready to attack at any moment.
His stance perfectly combined agility with readiness to deliver a heavy blow.
"Wouldn't you care to know my primary element before we spar, master?"
"No. Surprise me with it. In a real battle, I wouldn't have the luxury of being warned about my enemy's primary element either."
"Fair enough."
These two stood there facing each other for minutes. Yori kept on trying to make small advances, attempting to close the distance.
His attempts weren't met with success. Noboru kept his distance and successfully kept his composure without giving Yori any proper chance to strike.
At some point, Noboru became fed up with this unproductive stare off and simply went in for a quick liver strike.
His agility, strength, endurance and durability have all easily been increased tenfold, making this strike fatal and incomprehensibly fast for most mortals and some weak rank 1 Enlightened too.
Despite the strength of this attack, Yori easily summoned a rock exactly in the trajectory of Noboru's strike, blocking the attack.
Without thinking twice, he kicked Noboru in the stomach with such force that he flew back a couple of metres, coughing a small amount of blood.
Despite this, his gaze remained gelid and calm. It wasn't in his interest to stop sparing yet at all.
"You are too impatient, Noboru. Your enemies will have patience. They will wait days for the perfect opportunity to strike if they must. If you are not able to wait just a few minutes, then you'll certainly die."
"I understand. I will work on my patience diligently."
As Noboru got ready to continue, Yori started becoming aggressive, trying to force Noboru to use his primary element.
The only reason that this sparring match is occurring is that he must gain experience in using his primary element.
Although there was more to perfect when it came to his martial arts, they were only of secondary importance.
Noboru was no longer able to keep his distance due to Yori's constant pressure and harsh strikes.
Eventually, he was forced to use his primary element to create more distance from Yori.
He created a cloud of dark mist on each side of his body and attempted to solidify it while shooting it at his master simultaneously.
This turned out far harder than he originally thought it would be.
Not just creating and sustaining the primary element but also controlling it and keeping the correct state of matter made it incredibly difficult for Noboru to control his attack.
In the end, his cloud of dark mist became an uncontrollable mess. As he shot it out to deal a significant blow, it started changing its own state of matter randomly. Every atom seemed to have a different state of matter, making the attack easy to counter and very useless.
Both were equally appalled. Noboru because his attack was so useless that he was able to grasp just how weak he was in comparison to Enlightened such as his master and Yuna while Yori was appalled because of his primary element.
Yori had only ever seen this primary element once before. Noboru's father had the same one. Apparently, all the descendants of the Ogawa family were most compatible with this unique primary element.
Its strength didn't only lie in its unpredictability and versatility, but also in its uniqueness. No matter who an Ogawa faced, they had never experienced this primary element before. It was an element reserved only for the Ogawa family.
The appalment that Yori felt dissipated quickly and once it did, a small and content smile creeped onto his face. It was pleasing to see Noboru turn out like his parents when it came to cultivation. Talented and mighty.
"That element… I can't say that I'm very surprised, but I also can't say I am not. Do you know anything about it, Noboru?"
"No. Not a single bit."
His voice reflected his confusion. It became evident to him that there was something more to it than meets the eye.
"I can't tell you much about it either. Only one thing is certain. It is an element reserved solely for your family. There has never been a person from another family who could wield this element. Use your primary element with pride."
"I see."
Noboru didn't care much about such a thing at all. This information was satisfying to him only because he knew more than before. Whether his primary element was considered an honorable one or not wasn't one of his concerns.
His primary element is satisfactory to him because it serves its purpose and is compatible with him. Not because he can carry it with pride and honor.
"Noboru, I want you to keep on using your primary element against me. Stop fighting with your body for the time being. This training has a vastly different purpose."
"As you wish."
Normally, Noboru would be the one to defend himself against Yori's onslaught of attacks. The roles were reversed now for he had to train his offensive when it came to using his primary element. He could no longer rely on his physical skills.
Due to the upcoming war, his training needed to be hard and frequent so that his skills would develop greatly in a short time.
Seconds, minutes and hours flew by as they trained vigorously. Yori would defeat Noboru without breaking a sweat every time he attacked, despite his agonizing pain. He smiled gently and laughed plenty during this training.
He wasn't mocking Noboru. Instead, he was overjoyed at his rapid progress.