"First, you have to study and memorize the formation." Kael walked in front of them, his boots making no sounds on the hard stone floor. "I want you to study it now."

Azaroth looked down at the formation, lines made of looping curved and straight lines. He narrowed his eyes, how was he supposed to memorize this?

An idea came to him then, if he could draw it out without looking isn’t that memorizing? "I need a pen and blank papers, Captain Kael."

Kael turned to him. "Pen and paper? For what?"

"To better study this. I want to write it out after studying." Azaroth gestured to the formation.

Kael tapped his mask in concentration as he looked down at the formation. "You might be up to something."

Kael walked to one of the shelves that lined the wall and took out several blank papers and pens. He then placed those papers and pens in front of all of them.

"Now, study it and write it out as much as you can," Kael said.

Azaroth stared at the formation. He went still and took the formation in, line by line until he got it in his head. When he was sure he had it, he started drawing it on a blank paper.

He didn’t get it on his first try. He missed several circles but all he did was study some more and then copied it down. It went on like this for a while till he could now write it perfectly.

"This is hard!" Alex grumbled, trying unsuccessfully to draw a circle. He finally gave up on writing it off his head and looked at the formation. "Why are there more than two circles? There’s a small circle inside two circles! It’s difficult to remember all this!"

Stallus sighed. "Will you stop your shouting? You are disturbing my drawing!"

Alex looked at her drawing and snickered. "You call that drawing? Why are your circles like triangles?"

Turns out Stallus wasn’t good at drawing and she soon gave up on trying, she focused on looking at the formation. Tracing it with her hands and muttering to herself.

"Finally something she’s not good at and I’m better than her at!" Alex mumbled to himself and got back to his drawing.

Catena was doing surprisingly well, he drew the strokes perfectly without making any mistakes and he surely took his time as he drew.

When Catena had drawn like three more he leaned back and rumbled. "I think I’ve got it in my head."

Azaroth had been trying to decipher the formation for a while now, not to memorize but to know how it was drawn. So far he couldn’t make head or tail out of it, he felt like he was looking at another language entirely.

His suspicion grew then. What if the Inferno Legion let them train with self-destructive formation, how would they know? He had to know how to read this formation. It was a must.

"That’s good Catena! And that was super fast too, took some time before I even mastered mine then, and don’t even talk of advanced formations!" Kael shuddered.

Catena shrugged. "You just have to take it one line or angle at a time. Just take it slow."

Azaroth raised his brows. Take it slow? Coming from a fight...duel addict? But then again Catena had always been slow and sluggish unless he considered the situation exciting.

Alex frowned as he missed a line connecting the circles. "Take it slow! This is just too complicated for me!"

"If this is complication what about your skills? This light formation is one of the most simple to memorize and easy to hold in your mind," Kael said.

Stallus looked up. "Hold in your mind?"

Kael ignored her. "Are you all done?"

Everyone nodded except Alex.

"Wait! Just let me...do this...yes! I think I’ve got it now." Alex punched the air.

"You think or you do? Nothing more dangerous than learning a wrong or defective formation," Kael warned.

"I got it," Alex insisted.

"Good. Then let’s proceed, the first thing you want to do is imagine the formation in your mind. Make it complete as if you are looking at it in your mind. Don’t leave anything behind, imagine the whole formation," Kael said.

Azaroth relaxed and did as Kael said, he imagined the formation he memorized and surprisingly it popped into his mind. It felt so real, it was as if he could touch it with his hand, it just hovered there in his mind.

"Done that?" Kael asked.

They all nodded and Azaroth saw the awe on the others’ faces, so it happened to all of them. It was like the formation was imprinted in their minds.

"Now I want you to gently touch your cores with your mind," Kael said.

And this was where the problem began. Holding the formation in your mind and trying to touch your core with that same mind was like fighting with a sword and an arrow at the same time. It felt impossible.

"I know how you feel but your mind is more vast than you think. You can hold more formation and still channel with your mind. You are doing well for first-timers. Now continue!" Kael clapped.

His mind screamed as Azaroth stretched it, he narrowed his eyes and concentrated hard on not letting go of the formation and trying to reach his core with that same mind.

Pain exploded behind his eyes as Azaroth made contact with his normal core. A link between the two snapped into place and the formation felt more solid. It was as if a link between the formation and the core was always there but he just couldn’t see it until now.

He channeled a little bit of essence into the formation and it lit up in his mind. Outside, something hissed like water on fire before a small red energy ball popped into existence just above Azaroth.

Azaroth stared at it. His very first step in moving forward.