Nothing. Marcus tried to relax, but he could feel his muscles tensing up. He released the air in his lungs and opened his eyes. The training room was completely dark, besides a few emergency lights. The second day was nearly over and they had found nothing. His last attempts of meditation and visualization had been as successful as his attempts to somehow gather 'power' and to cause some kind of explosion. Funny yes, productive no.

Marcus felt a rising frustration inside of him. Time was running out, if he couldn't find something soon he would have to return to his clan and to the upcoming confrontation. He also could no longer waste Ye-jun's time. The man was busy and he had cleared his schedule for two days just to help him. There was a limit to how much Marcus could impose on him.

The door opened and bright light invaded Marcus' tomb. "Any progress?" Kim walked in and Marcus could tell by the spring in his step he was in a very good mood. Ye-jun had left Marcus alone to meditate while he had spent some time with Jura. From his body language and overly liveliness Marcus concluded the two had done more than just talking. Marcus suddenly missed Azaa.

"You look tense," Ye-jun said with a concerned look on his face. "I'm not making progress, in spite of your great help. I need to leave soon," Marcus said. "You know, the world continues to turn even without you," Kim said and smiled. "You saving Amelia was already more than enough for this conflict. Your actions in the defense of Cerberus' HQ were a bonus on top. Do you really think somebody out there demands from you to go even further? Are you aware that there are a lot of people with level 100+ on Earth?" The Paladin said. Marcus groaned, Ye-jun made for too much sense. "Sitting around and achieving nothing isn't good enough," Marcus lamented and Kim offered him a hand in reply. "Time to get you in a different mood." Marcus took the offered hand and allowed his friend to drag him away.

"This reminds me of my time in the Philippines," Marcus said, walking barefooted over the wet sand on the beach. "I was so focused on my own problems, I forgot I was on a tropical island." The sun was about to set, and the sky was colored in a wide range of yellows and reds. "You aren't the only one who suffers from this problem," Ye-jun said, kicking water in Marcus' direction. A short and bloody water war ensued, which Kim won easily. Marcus was wet all over, but he felt better now. "Thank you for bringing me here," he said, and looked along the beach near the giant tower made out of steel and glass.

Only a few people were on the beach. One couple was playing with a dog and one person was using the evening draft to fly a kite. Ye-jun was right, Marcus never took the time to enjoy his life.

Fheg be blessed for you noticing.

I don't think you are one to talk. I am pretty sure you were worse than me in this regard.

All true, but I was ancient and you are young. At your age, I was fooling around with girls all the time. That was before I became a Sorcerer.

The idea that Xeen had ever been young amused Marcus for some reason.

"Come on Marcus! Let's get rid of that pent up stress!" Kim said with a smile, took a deep breath and then let out a massive shout towards the sea. Seagulls flew excitedly around, but the rest of the world took no further notice. Marcus laughed and took a chest full of air and screamed his frustration into the world. Water and sand erupted around Marcus flying away from him with explosive force. The incoming wave was broken and for a short moment he drove back the ocean. The water returned washing the feet of the dumbstruck Marcus

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"What just happened?" He muttered, while Ye-jun came running to him laughing like a child, "DID YOU SEE THAT!" Marcus did, but he had no idea what just happened. "You shouted and you caused some kind of shock wave!" Kim explained with a red face. "I did that?" Marcus still felt lost. A shock wave scream? "What ever is going on, we finally have something to work with. Try again!" Kim said.

So there he was, shouting, screaming, trying all kinds of things and eventually after fifteen minutes of losing all dignity he was able to replicate the first event. This time he was able to see it better himself, and he had to agree it looked like a shock wave. "But a power scream feels off. This would fit a Ravager far better. I think we are missing something," Marcus said, with a red face from all the screaming. "Most likely, but at least we know we are on the right track. Now try to remember how it felt the last time. We need to be able to replicate it better," Ye-jun said, and Marcus closed his eyes, concentrating on the next shout.

He needed a mental picture. He imagined the sound wave of his shout traveling from his mouth through the air and how he was pushing it forward. No effect. This time he imagined it to be filled with red energy. No effect. He imagined being angry and putting his feelings into the wave. No effect. On and on it went until the sun had set and darkness covered them. "Okay, short break for some food and then we go to the training room. No sleep until we got this figured out!" Kim danced around him, and Marcus only now remembered how intense Ye-jun could become.

They had dinner with the usual suspects and the news of progress was celebrated like the birth of a child. Marcus couldn't help and be infected by the mood and by the time they got back to the training room he was full of energy. Dozens of tests later he managed it again, causing a small burst of wind in the middle of the room. "I think it is a timing thing, like with Impulse Hammer. Just trying to push power in doesn't work," Marcus said, and took a chocolate bar and some water. Kim had some good ideas for different timings and also rhythms. After another hour Marcus was successful one out of three times. With a higher success rate came more observations, and soon the amazing duo worked out that he needed to imagine a spike in power in the right moment and with the right focus.

Marcus was breathing hard and needed a break. "This is definitely draining me quickly. Whatever this is, it demands a huge amount of endurance," He explained to Ye-jun. "That is good. That means it has a high power level. All strong abilities eat through your resources like mad. Look at Fireball or my Light's Mercy. That needs to charge up for over 24 hours," he said and his comment gave Marcus an idea.

In his next test he didn't start by shouting, instead he imagined to condense red energy in front of him. Like a spring that is pressed together, more and more. Then he shouted and released the mental spring with the timing he had tried before. The room shook, the lights broke, training machines and various objects flew around the room at dangerous velocities. Darkness fell over the room.

"Marcus?" Kim asked in the dark. "Aha?" Marcus moaned, lying on the floor. "That was awesome!" Kim giggled and opened the door to let in some light. People came running and soon the full extent of the damage became obvious. The room looked like a hurricane had moved through it. The area around Marcus was the epicenter and showed the most damage. The floor and the ceiling was torn, cables and pipes were revealed. Something was leaking.

"Sorry, I think I fucked up your training room," Marcus said with a weak voice. He had been drained before that shout, but now he felt empty. His vitality was working hard to get him going again, but that shock wave had taken all his endurance in one go. Kim leaned over Marcus, who was still lying on the floor, and only now Marcus could see that Kim was bleeding from a head wound. Ye-jun saw his concern and waved it away, "Jura will be here any second. More importantly, we made some huge progress today. It seems you were right about the core of your class. Force." Marcus smiled upon these words and felt like he had made a huge leap forward. Such power, if he could learn to control it, speed would no longer be enough to elude him.

Of course Marcus recovered in record time and watched Jura heal Kim. Who, in all honesty, would have healed naturally in minutes anyway, but seemed to enjoy her taking care of him. "Boys!" She said, before leaving them again, but not before she gave Ye-jun a kiss. They decided to stop for the day, it was already after midnight, and to continue in the morning fresh and fully concentrated. The old Kim would have gone all night, but Kim today went after Jura, and Marcus was happy about it.

Marcus crawled into the large bed in his far too large suite and finally rested. His body was fine, but his mind was done for. Hours of concentrating took their toll on somebody with no intelligence crests. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Xeen observed Marcus as the young man slipped into sleep. He felt immensely proud of Marcus. Certainly there had been luck involved, Xeen thought. But to be able to make so much progress in so little time, without any manual or proper master, was nothing short of amazing. Of course Xeen knew exactly what Marcus was about to unlock. It was the true foundation of Ooru'Mtar's power. Shen knew that too. That cunning man was already working on binding Marcus to his blood and his people. And then there was Janette… Xeen'Nagar.

It was an exciting time, for sure.

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