With the Martellos keeping her busy with their silly missions and the need for her to pick up random quests from the town’s bulletin board in order to pay her rent, Michelle had been neglecting her training for the past few days. Furthermore, after she fell for that stupid prank by the local witch, she had a lot of pent-up anger that she needed to vent. Even though she hated emotions and would love to be rid of it, she wasn’t foolish enough to think she was a master at it. After all, she was human like everyone else.

Waking up very early in the morning, Michelle decided to get away from the civilization for her training. Her first choice was obviously the Haunted Lands, but she quickly discarded that idea. She had heard that the place was filled with monstrosities; and not to mention the Phantom Lord members who frequent there. There was no chance she was going to get the peace she desired. So, instead, she decided to go the complete opposite way, towards the rocky outskirts of the town. She was sure she would find a small, secluded cave she could train on, which she did rather easily.

What she called a cave was less of a cave and more of a huge dent on a big rock. But this was perfect for her. It would give her shade when the sun rises, and she doesn’t have to worry about being ambushed any animals that were residing deeper in the cave. Happy with her choice, she sat down with folded legs, back straight, and hands on her lap, ready for meditation. She closed her eyes and began her long breath cycles, each breath calming her mind and relaxing her muscles. For about twenty minutes she meditated and then got up to train.

After her routine stretches, she worked on her punches and kicks against the cave walls. The rough, uneven walls were not the most ideal compared to her sand bags, but she wasn’t one to complain. Once she was done with the basics, it was time to mix them up with her magic. That day, she decided to try something new; something that she had been planning for a very long time.

A few weeks ago, when she was training under her master, she heard him mention something about her becoming one with the wind, literally. He told her he would help her accomplish such a thing the next time they train together. Michelle wanted to try it herself, and surprise him with her prowess. After all, the young woman lived to please her master, and what better way to do it than prove to him that she was useful. So, she stood at the middle of her small cave, closed her eyes. Making her usual hand sign, she focused her magic and sent it coursing through every part of her. While pushing her magic through any part of her in short bursts came very naturally to her, channelling them constantly at a steady rate was a whole different ball game.

It took her almost two hours just to get the channelling right, let alone the control over the air around her. But once she got the first part, the rest came easily. First, she gathered the air around her, and attempted swirling it around her; this was the easier part. Once she was comfortable with that, she then slowly began converting her physical form to something similar to the swirling air around her. Of course, at first she couldn’t achieve it even in one limb; but after several hours of non-stop training, she finally managed to convert her entire self. After a full transformation, she lifted her hand in front of her, and she realized she could see through her hands partially. While this partial invisibility was not going to grant much during the day, she was sure she can utilize the stealth factor during the darker nights. Besides, this wasn’t the ultimate goal she was trying to achieve through this training.

The true power of this conversion relied on her ability to infiltrate while in this form. Being one with the air meant she could go anywhere air could go. Walking out of her cave, she looked around for any large holes that she could try her technique on first, before attempting it on smaller ones. In case she things didn’t work as planned, her survival rate was higher with a larger hole. Luckily for her, immediately outside the cave, there was a hollow trunk. It was just small enough for her to get stuck and not die, if the spell failed. However, the spell was a success. Michelle went through the trunk in her windy form without a hitch.

It was then time to test it out on a smaller hole. Looking down on the ground, she found a trail of ants going towards the rock next to her. She noticed the ants going through an extremely small crack on the rock and then coming out on the other side. Smirking, Michelle braced herself for the next experiment. This was surely a drastic jump from the hollow trunk, but she was confident her spell would work; and it did. She can now infiltrate any place that isn’t completely air-proof; and that was a deadly tool for an assassin.

895/750
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