A few more days passed, and the group didn’t hear any information about attacks on other port towns. At the same time, they only heard small reports about the activities of the enemies on their new base. The wait was pretty annoying...

At the same time, Raiden wasn’t making that much progress with his training, maybe it was because the joints in his legs were different than his arms. He could use some of the experience from the previous training, but not all of it.

"At least the wounded had time to be treated..." Raiden thought when he realized that he saw a lot less people with their bodies covered in bandages.

"Hey, Raiden. Can you help me a bit with my training?" Ruth suddenly said after she approached. "You are using the path of agility first, right? I need someone like that to work as a target."

"So, you want to use me as a guinea pig?" Raiden asked. "You sure have... guts to ask me of that."

"What was that pause for?" Ruth furrowed her eyebrows. "Anyway, are you up for it? I need you to dodge my attacks instead of blocking them."

"Why?" Raiden asked.

"It consumes less energy that way, so we won’t have to take many breaks to recover energy," Ruth explained. "My attacks don’t have any weight yet, so you don’t have to worry about damage."

Ruth touched the ground and then she made the sand move around her hands. Now Raiden could understand what she meant by that. Ruth’s control over sand was a result of her mastery over Aura Force manipulation. She can shape and move the sand within a defined area by channeling her energy into it. This ability allows her to use the sand for various purposes, such as creating barriers or launching attacks.

However, the stability of her control was delicate. When the sand is subjected to external forces, such as physical attacks, strong winds, or other forms of disruption, the energy she has invested in maintaining its shape and movement becomes unstable. The force exerted on the sand disrupts the alignment she has established, causing her control to falter. This leads to the dispersion of the sand and a loss of the carefully maintained energy.

While looking at that, Raiden felt that he had seen someone using the same type of technique, but he couldn’t recall where and when he tried, the old headache came.

After moving away from the area a bit, they faced each other to spar, but Raiden furrowed his eyebrows since he saw a lot more sand with Ruth than the surroundings should have. It looked like she could gather them from several spots and keep controlling them for a while.

"For how long you can keep the technique active?" Raiden asked.

"Depends on the amount of sand, the more, the shorter the time," Ruth explained. "I am thinking that I should use some sort of container to keep some of the sand with me all the time, but it will be heavy."

"Can you only control sand?" Raiden asked.

"I tried with other things, but it is easier to control large groups of small things like this," Ruth explained while making the sand spiral around her.

The warriors from the village were interested in Ruth because her sand manipulation technique was something they had rarely seen. In their world, techniques like Ruth’s are uncommon and strikingly different from the standard combat methods they are accustomed to. The ability to control sand with such precision and use it in various ways is not only impressive but also quite unique.

Given that Ruth’s skill set is a rarity, it naturally draws attention and curiosity from those around her. The warriors, being seasoned fighters who are used to conventional combat, are intrigued by the novel approach Ruth employs.

They are likely fascinated by the potential applications of her sand manipulation, wondering how it could be used in combat or other situations. Their curiosity showed the novelty and extraordinary nature of Ruth’s abilities, making her an object of fascination and admiration among the village warriors.

"Here I come," Ruth said.

Ruth waved her hand around, and then a wave of sand flew toward Raiden. He jumped to the side and avoided it with ease, but soon the sand moved in an arc and followed him.

"Moving away would be easy," Raiden thought. "But I guess it is better to approach to improve her reaction time and fine control over the sand."

Ruth also had her double spears, so helping her use those with the sand would actually help her a lot, so Raiden soon stepped in toward her. The sand gained speed as it got closer to Ruth, so Raiden slowed down and began to run around her.

Ruth created a spinning wall around her, but soon she fired it a wave when Raiden suddenly stepped in. He jumped to the side in a hurry, but the sand followed him. He touched the ground with his hands and used Lightning Spear before making his body spin and propel himself upward as well.

Before Ruth could react, he landed behind her, and she raised her arms. He was forced to use his technique, but it had been a good test as well.

"All right, I won’t use Aura Force this time," Raiden said.

"That kind of pisses me off," Ruth’s eyebrows twitched.

Ruth didn’t say any more than that... time was running out, so she soon attacked Raiden again. In the end, she could keep her technique for ten minutes while using around five kilograms of sand. It wasn’t bad... if she concentrated that much in a single spot and attacked an enemy, she would cause a lot of damage, but with some training, things would be even more efficient and deadly.

"Thanks, I will use this experience as a reference for my training," Ruth said while showing a tired smile.

"Don’t try anything fancy," Raiden said. "If you want my opinion, focusing on simple moves for defense, long-range attacks, and short-range attacks will make you show a lot of progress. One move for each type would be enough as a goal for now."

"Oh, that makes sense," Ruth said and then nodded while thinking of some new moves. "This kind of manipulation is pretty diverse, after all."

True... it even made Raiden consider learning the path of manipulation next, but he wanted to focus on another path that could reinforce his path of agility. The most obvious one was the path of strength.

In any case, thanks to her skills, a lot of people congratulated Ruth when they returned to the camp. She thanked them back while blushing a little. Regardless, before she could start her new training, a messenger arrived in the camp with some bad news...