9 Chapter 9: Initiate Training 4

I will try to keep to a once a month publishing schedule and 5000 words/chapter, but we'll see how things go IRL.

I'm also considering a 2nd Quasi-Gamer story, like HP, ASOIAF or a Manga of some kind but it would be back-burner to this and serve as relief from SW overload and if posted will not be regularly updated. Any preferences about which to attempt?

…

"It's not fair! Why can you learn it but not us?" Jaeman complained for about the 100th time since I'd told Dragon Clan about the orders of the Council of First Knowledge; and it been less than a day.

"The Council stated it was dangerous." Darihd stated clearly, and loudly enough for others not at their table to hear. "We must respect the Council's decision." He glanced at me and winked, since he'd come to see me late last night to check the exact wording of the Council's order. Serra had asked me quietly about it just before breakfast, where we were sitting now; me having joined Dragon Clan unofficially. Even Sia-Lan was being nice, though that may be more because I had not only set the fastest time at the obstacle course yesterday; I'd also set a new Temple record at 1 minute 5 seconds; and I thought about 30 seconds of that was me being cautious at the beginning and taking time to examine the chasm before I teleported.

"Still, saying we can't even attempt to learn it ourselves until we are a Jedi Knight? That's not fair!" Jaeman countered, referring to the mandate the High Council had established this morning. I'd woken to find a notice on my Jedi datapad stating that self-research into phasing and teleporting using the Force was banned to all under the rank of Jedi Knight as the powers were dangerous if improperly used.

I guessed that my other powers helped negate the inherent risks, so I understood the Council's mandate; yet the loophole about me teaching it to anyone who was a Padawan or above still existed; which was why Darihd and Serra were not as bothered by the mandate as the others. And maybe why Sia-Lan was being neutral to me.

"Let it go Jae," the girl in question said quietly but firmly. "Just take pleasure in the fact we destroyed the other Clans."

"That's only because of Cam," Serra mentioned, giving me a small smile when she spoke my name. "Is that why you like him now?"

"I don't like him, unlike some!" Sai-Lan sent back, making Serra's head drop back to her bowl, before she turned to look at me. "I just admit I may have been, overzealous, in my initial opinion of Shan."

'Someone else figured out that I can teach Padawans and is playing nice to maybe get that chance.' "Well thank you for the apology." I said with a smirk before turning back to Darihd. "What's this about beating the other clans?"

"You didn't know about that?" I shook my head and the Togruta boy tapped a few buttons on his datapad before sliding it over to me.

I looked at it and saw the final timing for the obstacle course. My time was at the top, nearly four minutes ahead of someone called Dlurs Virtiell from Katarn Clan, though I couldn't put a face to the name even after months of on-and-off classes with Katarn Clan. Indeed, outside of Dragon Clan, I couldn't place any of the names on the list to the four clans I'd spent time with over the last month.

What caught my eye however, was that beside my name, it stated Dragon as my clan.

I looked down the top 20 and was impressed to see Aayla, Serra, Sia-Lan and Funt were all listed. Further examination showed that the top 20 was composed of only half-dozen clans, all but one of which I had spent time training with at various times over the last half-year. Darihd swiped his finger across a part of the screen and the table was replaced by one that showed the average time for each clan, with Dragon a full 30 seconds clear of anyone else.

"Why am I placed with Dragon?" I asked as I handed the pad back to Darihd.

He shrugged, making his head-tails bounce upon his shoulders. "No idea, but I'm not complaining. Last year we were fifth of ten as a clan, and the older members were taken as Padawans since then. Honestly, I was expecting us to struggle a bit his year, but Serra and Aayla did great. Your time just pushed us over the top."

"He shouldn't be allowed to compete. He's not an Initiate." I turned to see a boy, at least a few years older than me, approach with others. His eyes burrowed into mine as he spoke. "He's used his supposed status to worm his way into the Temple."

"The High Council confirmed his story Jon. He's one of us." I had to fight off the shock at hearing Sia-Lan defend me, but it seemed she was really trying to play nice now; whether that was because she hoped to learn to phase/teleport once we were Padawans, or she just liked that Dragon was top of the time standings, I couldn't say. Nor was I complaining as she continued. "If you and your clanmates had done a better job of accepting him, maybe he'd be with Katarn instead of Dragon."

Jon glared at Sia-Lan, though the girl just ignored him as she returned to her meal, then shifted to me. "You will not be so lucky today." He stated slowly. "Katarn has won the push-feather the last three years running, and I do not expect you to be able to stop us."

"Good for you." I said calmly, turning away slowly. Frankly the childish drama of competing clans was beneath my care. I simply wanted to do well enough to succeed at the related quest and find a way to get out of the Temple.

I heard him growl a touch at me ignoring him, but him being angry just meant I'd have more of a chance of beating him if we faced off.

"Is there a problem?" I looked up and saw an older man standing on the other side of the table from me, looking at were Jon was standing the last time I bothered to look at him.

"No Master. I was just informing Initiate Shan that things will not be so easy in the following trials." Jon replied with a tone-neutral voice, and I bit my tongue to not retort.

"Ah, so this is the child of Revan, how interesting." The man's eyes were of a darker shade of green than my own, while his hair was black with large streaks of grey making me think he was at least in his 40s, though I had no idea if the Force slowed aging, so it was but a guess. His expression was calm, yet I felt as though he was examining me carefully as we held each other's gaze. "I know only one other Jedi with the ability to both phase through objects and teleport, though her teleport has a purple tint, while from what I saw of your obstacle course run, it can be noted that yours has a grey, almost silver tint."

All of that was news to me. I'd yet to hear of anyone who could Phase or Teleport, and now I discovered there was one woman who could also do both, and that my teleport had a different colour than hers; and I hadn't even known in had a colour to it.

"If you say so sir." I replied, which drew a wry smile from the Jedi.

"Ah, I have forgotten my manners. I am Master Tholme and the young man speaking to your clanmate is my current Padawan, Quinlan Vos." I turned and saw that Aayla was talking animatedly with the same man with the yellow facial marking from yesterday. Clearly the 2 knew each other from somewhere.

"Cameron Shan sir." I replied, extending my hand and shaking his. The small smile on Tholme's face grew at my reply.

"I see Master Drallig was being truthful about your addressing of your superiors." He raised his hand as I opened my mouth to explain. "He already told me your logic and I understand, even if others within the Order may not."

"Master Tholme, how much longer until Quinlan can attempt his Trials?" Aayla blurted out as she stepped closer.

"I imagine no more than 3 or 4 years Aayla." Tholme said as he turned to her, releasing my hand as he did so, with a small smile on his face. "Do not worry yourself. Once he completes his Knight Trials, he will take you as a Padawan. Everyone in the Order knows this to be true. Even if some are uncomfortable with the bond you 2 already share."

Aayla nodded, though I noted her smile slipped a fraction at the time needed until Vos' Knight Trials. "Yes Master."

"Quinlan Vos," the Padawan in question said as he shook my hand. "I would love to learn how you did what you did yesterday."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the bluntness of the statement. After dealing with more subtle comments from Padawans, Knights and a few Masters yesterday until I'd retreated to my room to train privately for today, it was nice to get someone being forthright in their reason for saying hello.

"You and most of the Order." He smirked at that. "Perhaps once the week is over we can talk. Aayla trusts you, and while she's not a friend yet, she's certainly been nicer to me than others, so I'll trust her judgement on you." 'Plus, the only time you appeared in the Clone Wars you were fun.' I explained to him when his brow rose at me saying we could talk. Sia-Lan rolled her eyes at my comment about Aayla being 'nicer to me than others' but said nothing.

"I would like that. How do you expect to do today?"

I shrugged. "Survive. I've been at this for 6 months; everyone else for years. Honestly, I only expect to maybe win 1 duel today." OK, I was aiming for at least 3, but no need to seem arrogant or over-confident.

"Hmm, then may I offer some advice?" Tholme said as he rubbed his chin and I nodded. "While this trial is all about your ability to use the Force to move objects, in this case your opponent, simply pushing and pulling is not all what you can do with this ability."

"Thank you, sir." I nodded slowly as I thanked him. I'd already considered that, based off the description of the Force Power – each power/ability had a description on what it could do – it was nice to have a subtle confirmation on that fact. While using the Force to choke someone was out, not matter how much fun it might be to do so, there were other body parts I could grip with the Force.

Once I'd retreated to my room yesterday afternoon, I'd spent close to 12 hours almost non-stop training my TK. That had gotten me a further 3 levels in the power, but I doubted the improvement would matter much. I'd then spent the last few hours this morning before breakfast going over combat scenarios, and what Tholme had just said meant many I had considered iffy to be allowed to do were possible; and his comment gave me an out if I got into trouble for doing something unexpected.

"I see you already understand my words." He said as our hands parted, a smile dancing on his face. "Just be careful not to go too far. These Trials are nothing but friendly competition."

I lowered my head, making myself bow a touch even though I was still sitting. "I understand." Indeed, unlike every other Initiate, I had fought and survived real battles – though ones without the Force or energy weapons – and understood that when in battle, the most important rule was survival, while in training it did not matter if you lost, only that you learnt from it.

"Come Quinlan. We have time before the Push-Feather Tournament begins and I wish to discuss your opinion of the events of our last mission."

"Yes Master." Quinlan said, though before he left, he took a final look at Aayla and gave her a smile.

…

A couple of hours later I was stepping into the sparring circle for my first match of the push-feather tournament. Like Aayla, Serra, Sia-Lan, Funt and the other top 20 of the obstacle course, I'd received a bye in the first round for this tournament.

While I was happy about that in some regards, it just made me winning 3 duels that little bit harder to accomplish. Still, I had my ideas and Master Tholme's words had given me a few more to consider.

"Initiates are you prepared?" Master Bondara from the side of the circle and I brought my focus back to the Rodian across from me. Judging from his height – which may be a mistake, but I had no other guide to work with – he was around me age. Well, my body's age as technically I was nearly 4000 cycles old.

We both nodded, and I noticed his hand twitch a fraction.

"Begin when the gong sounds." Bondara stated and I went over the rules quickly in my head.

You can win one of three ways; taking an opponent off all his feet, knocking them from the circle or rendering them unconscious. The last one I'd only learnt when I'd seen Jon from Katarn Clan smack Jaeman with a blast to the back of the head that knocked out the younger boy before he hit the floor.

The rest of Dragon clan were furious as Jon hadn't needed to be so aggressive and I'd seen Master Drallig speaking to him after the spar while healers tended to Jaeman.

My thoughts were brought back to the present as the gong sounded and I flicked three fingers on my left hand, sending three small TK blasts at my opponent's shoulder. While this was three attacks, it was judged as one by my Player Powers/Interface as after I reached Adept 1 I could lift multiple objects or imitating a number of smaller TK pushes; the number of which were determined by my current level.

My opponent lifted his whole hand quickly and blocked all three attacks, and I noted his antennae twitch as I side-stepped his retaliation attack.

I sent another set of small pushes at him, this time aimed at his arm and chest while I clenched my right fist; using the Force to grip his shoe.

He blocked four of my smaller attacks but the fifth clipped his arm, making it fail backwards. He snarled, and I grimaced at the smell I detected coming from him. He threw out his hand at me and I instinctively rolled to the side, keeping my fist clenched.

As I finished the roll, I saw him prepping for another attack and pulled my fist backwards, taking his foot out from under him. As he hopped in confusion I pushed the fist out and threw a full-strength TK push at him.

I watched in shock as he was lifted clean off the floor and sent flying backwards; out of the circle. The energy net that surrounded the circle flared to life; catching him easily and preventing the Rodian from smashing into the wall.

"Winner, Shan." Bondara said as I took a breath and got control of my shock.

Standing, I walked over to the Rodian and extended my hand. "Sorry, about that. I didn't think the push was that powerful."

The Rodian's eyes focused on me as his antennae leaned forward. I left my hand out until he sighed and took it; allowing me to help him stand.

"It is fine." He said slowly as he allowed me to pull him to his feet. "I was unprepared for the push when my leg failed me. I knew you had a hold of it, but I had not expected the yank you gave it as you finished your roll. That was my mistake."

I smiled even as I wished there was a way to block off the smell coming from him. It wasn't that bad, but it was still off-putting. "If I didn't have that hold you'd have gotten me with your next attack." I replied.

It was true. Once the match was finished, I noticed that my roll had taken me to the edge of the circle, meaning another roll or a small push would've taken me out of bounds.

The Rodian gave me a slight nod off acceptance and I left the circle, only to be accosted by my new clanmates.

"You won!" Serra said with a smile as they gathered around me.

"Don't sound so surprised." I retorted with a smile of my own.

"She's not. She's just happy you won as now she doesn't have to clean our dorm for the next few weeks." Sia-Lan grunted out and I chuckled at learning they had taken bets on my match.

"Isn't gambling for money against the Jedi Code?" I asked, though from what I understood for 6 months of boring ass lectures on the Code and the role of the Jedi, I knew it wasn't. More a grey area as the Force could really help if used correctly for certain forms of gambling.

Serra looked down even as Darihd chuckled. "Technically, yes. But we keep our bets to cleaning duties. It's a way to make our spars more interesting. Thanks for the ideas by the way."

I shrugged. It was no big deal to me about the bets, though I really didn't want to have to clean the boy's dorm

"Who's up next?" I asked, changing the subject before anyone asked any specifics about how I'd won. Sure, they could all probably do better than me, but I need 2 more wins to complete this stage of the Trials quest, so I wasn't willing to reveal anything until it was over. 'Huh, have I become that person now? Only interested in finishing a quest?' I wondered as the clan turned to Darihd.

"Me. I'm against a member of Heliost Clan. He's good, finished second last year, easily beating me in the process and he's pushing the limit for getting selected as a Padawan." His head-tails – I really needed to learn the correct name for them, but I'd been far too busy to research it and I felt asking might come across as ignorant – rippled as he spoke, and I turned to see an older Human boy, just shy of being a teenager at a guess, enter the circle.

I leaned closer and whispered to him. "Go for his groin. It's dirty but it's not dark and winning equals survival."

When I leaned back I saw his eyes widen until he smiled, exposing a row of sharp looking teeth. "Sweet." He muttered as he stepped into the circle and I moved outside the range of the safety nets.

"What did you say to him?" Sia-Lan asked, and I noticed she was glancing between myself and Darihd.

"Just gave him a pointer my grandfather told me years ago after I go into a fight at school." I replied as I watched a Jedi Master with dark brown, almost leathery looking skin stepped to the edge of the circle to begin the spar.

My mind, however, was already on my next fight.

…

As I stepped into the sparring circle for the third time that day, I found myself facing a boy who had stood behind Jon of Katarn Clan that morning when he'd mouthed off. From what Sia-Lan had told me just before I entered the circle, the boy question was a few years older than me and was regarded as one of the favourites for this event, having lifted one of the Muntuur Stones, which from the way she spoke was impressive. Though I had no idea as to what she was talking about.

As I looked over at him, he smirked back, and I realised he expected to curb-stomp me.

'Fine then. Gloves off.' I thought as I readied my attack. Whatever these Stones were, lifting them must be hard, so he could probably bring a lot of force – no pun intended – to bear. Meaning I'd have to fight a little dirty and push the rules if I wanted to win.

"Initiates are you prepared?" Master Drallig asked, earning nods from myself and my opponent. "Then be ready."

It was a minor difference from what Master Bondara had said in my previous 2 bouts, but the meaning was the same.

As the gong sounded, I raised my hand and pushed as hard as I could with TK. The other boy stepped back a fraction, his brow rising in shock at my attack, but I didn't let up. As he continued to block my full-force TK push, my other hand sent a Force Blast – technically not illegal in push-feather, but not something that the various Councils would approve of – at the floor where he was standing.

To both of our amazement, the floor visibly cracked at the strike, but I hadn't let up my TK push, whereas he slipped for a moment, losing his Focus and allowing me to send him flying from the circle with enough speed that I was seriously concerned I'd killed him as the energy net kicked in a slowed his momentum.

"Winner, Shan." Drallig said and I instantly rushed over to my opponent.

"Is he ok?" I asked the Jedi who were tending to him as others approached.

"He will be fine in time." The female Jedi who was running something over him said calmly. "The net did its job and limited his velocity safely and the Force will accelerate the healing of his bones."

I gulped at how easy it had been to break someone with a full-powered TK push and said a silent prayer to the inventors of the energy net. Without it I would be up on charges of murder and this whole new life would be over before it had begun.

"What the Frag was that?" I turned to face the voice and saw Jon from that morning approaching, his eyes narrowed dangerously and focused on me even as his hands clenched into fists. "You tried to kill him."

"I tried to win." I replied quietly, wishing I could put on Player's Mind but knowing that saying that now would be a problem. "I was told he could lift some stones and it sounded impressive so I…"

"So you tried to kill him!" Jon stepped closer still and cocked his arm backwards.

"Enough!" The healer ordered, turning her gaze to Jon. "Control your emotions now." The words were said without aggression, but the tone was clear in the threat that if he didn't, Jon would be in just as much trouble as I was.

Jon said nothing, but he continued to glare at me as more people came over.

"How is Initiate Kirkhey?" Asked a voice that made me cringe. I turned and saw the same older Jedi master who'd met me with Yoda and Giiett when I'd first arrived on Coruscant and who seemed to despise me being allowed to even stay in the Temple. How he felt about my participation in these Trials I could only guess, but I seriously doubted he approved.

"He will recover Master Belfarr, however, he will not be taking any further part in the Trials." The healer replied and I was both glad he would live and fearful of the next words from the Council Master's mouth.

"Then Initiate Shan is also disbarred from further activities this week." Belfarr almost growled out and I didn't look up at him even as I felt my anger growing at his decision.

"That is not your decision to make Master Belfarr," I heard Master Windu say calmly and turned to see him approaching with High Council members Plo Koon and Yaddle. "The Council of First Knowledge control the training of Initiates and Younglings, not the High Council and thus the final decision to allow the Initiate to continue is theirs to make." He paused and turned his attention to me. "Initiate Shan, for now, you are removed from the push-feather tournament. Your next match, if the Council of First Knowledge grants you permission to continue, will take place after first meal tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." I reply, not really caring if I am still in the tournament or not. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked the healer.

She gave me a soft smile and placed a hand on my shoulder. "While I thank you for the offer, I believe I, and the other healers, can handle this."

I nodded in acceptance and stood. Ignoring the sneer Jon was sending my way – and the look of disgust I caught on Belfarr's face – I walked away, heading for my own room.

"Hey Cameron, wait up!" I slowed at the familiar sound of Darihd's voice, but I didn't stop walking. "Seriously wait. We need to talk."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and I spun to face him, Jaeman and another boy from the Clan whose name slipped my mind for the moment.

"Fuck off!" I pushed his hand away. "Don't follow me." I stated as I marched away.

I need time. Time to think, to clear my head at almost killing a child.

Yeah, I might be trapped in the boy of one, but my mind was that of a 10-year military veteran who'd seen far too many dead children. Dealing with the idea that I almost killed one myself was too much and after storming through the temple I entered my assign dorm and smashed my hand hard into the wall.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." I said, marking each word with another punch of the wall, then followed it up with another 3 or 4 punches.

Suddenly I felt weak and stumbled back to my bed even as my emotions came under control.

WARNING!HP under 25%Player's Mind auto-engaged....

I frowned at the message. "List stats." I whispered and noted that my HP was now down to 22; which was less than 25% of the 120 total I had. "Seriously? 7 punches do that much damage? Damm." Though I noted that my Physical Damage Resistance had gone up a level. "Wait, you mean that punching a wall can help me level up my PDR? And I can use the Force to heal myself afterwards. That is… exploitable. And I could do that with Energy DR with a lightsaber or blaster at low settings." I shook my head as I realised that I had a way of making myself partly immune to any damage by intentionally hurting myself. While it seemed wrong, I could definitely see myself doing so.

'Maybe I can get my DRs high enough that I could even hold a lightsaber or take a blaster shot to the face and not die.'

Quest Alert!You Can't Hurt Me. [User Defined]Time to be (almost) unhurtable.Rating: BObjective:Raise each of your Damage Resistances to Professional 1 by the time you are 15.Bonus: ?Bonus: ?Rewards:350XP [x6]Penalties:Your Damage Resistances become frozen for ten years at their end of the quest level if less than 3 meet the objective.Accept?:Yes/No...

NOTE:The penalty for failure is increased as the timeframe to the quest complete is long.Shorter timeframes quest carry lower risks for the same reward....

I pondered the quest mentally for about a minute before accepting.

Raising Physical and Energy DRs would be easy enough but those were currently the only 2 DR skills I had. I had considered what the others might be and came up with chemical, biological and electrical as possible DRs. It should be easy to test the theories later and discover what the other one was.

As I used Force Heal to restore my HP, I pondered what else might be exploitable in such a way and my mind turned back to the main Trails quest. I had met 2 of the 3 main objectives, leaving just the lightsaber duels, and there I felt lacking. However, I had almost 2 days to train for them, more if I was out of the push-feather tournament, during which I could focus solely on lightsaber skills.

Though there were only 2 Form available to me, I already knew that Form II was the way to go. It was designed to counter a lightsaber wielding opponent and I knew that Form I relied on speed, something I seemed to be seriously lacking, so perhaps there was a way to get my Form II up quickly as a quest?

Quest Alert!Trainee Duellist [User Defined]Time to put your money, or XP, where your mouth is.Rating: CObjective:Get Form II to level Adept 1 by your first lightsaber duel.Bonus: ?Bonus: ?Reward:1000XPPenalty:-250XPAccept?Yes/No...

I smirked as the quest appeared as I realised that I could exploit this massively to climb levels by dedicating myself to a task or 2 at a time, and I accepted the quest.

I figured that, thanks to Serenity and only needing to sleep once or twice a month at most, which I had done the night before the Trials began, I could spend all of tonight and tomorrow night training nothing but Form II. That should hopefully get me through the main objective and to 1 of the bonuses, which I postulated could only be to reach even higher levels in the Form II.

I was considering other quests to create for once the Trials were over when the doorbell chimed.

"Player Mind off." I whispered before raising my voice. "Enter."

The door opened to reveal Darihd and Dragon Clan; even the younger members who weren't taking part in the Trials.

"At least you're being more civil now." Darihd said with a smirk as he led his Clan into my room; making it very crowded.

"How come he gets his own room?" A girl who I had seen around but never spoken to, her name escaping me for a moment, asked as her grey eyes taking in my room.

"Because he's not a proper Initiate." Replied Sia-Lan with a sigh. "And an arrogant laserbrain." A few other clan members stared at the girl, but she kept her eyes locked on me. "You think you're the first to seriously injure someone during these Trials? Well you're not. So get over yourself."

I chuckled at her bluntness. "Well thank you for that pep-talk Sia, its already working."

"Dumb Kriff." She muttered as she turned away.

"While Sia-Lan lacks subtlety," Darihd began, proving he had already mastered the Jedi ability for understatement, "she does have a point. There're usually 1 or 2 nasty injuries every year the Initiate Trials take place. There's even more in the Padawan tournaments, but those aren't as severe." He shrugged at that comment. "I guess its because they've got more training than we currently do."

I nodded a touch and stood from my bed. "While I am happy you all came to see me, I'm fine now." I paused and glanced to the small window as I considered how to explain away my calmness after less than 30 minutes. "Honestly, I don't think it was that I hurt him, more that I had flashbacks to killing the Sith apprentice to escape my former home." That should cut off a lot of questions.

"What was it like? Fighting the Sith I mean?" the young girl – Jyl, that was her name – probed. "Was it scary? How did you defeat him?"

I chuckled at the girl, even as Sia-Lan and Serra both gave her glares to be quiet. Though the way they, and the rest of the clan, tried to look at me without looking told me they all wanted to know. I had been avoiding that for a while now.

"Scary. Very, very scary. My grandfather was already dead, as was a Jedi Master and his Padawan. I'd already killed 3 of the people with the Sith, but the apprentice chased me into the ship.

"I, uh, distracted her while she choked me and got her to turn away long enough for me to pull the Jedi Master's lightsaber from my pocket and stab her with it twice when she turned back to face me." I sighed and looked up art the roof. "I was very, very lucky."

"Understatement." Sia-Lan muttered.

"Changing topic," I said, making clear I didn't want to talk further about that. "What are these Stones of Mantar."

"Muntuur. Muntuur stones." Serra corrected with a small smirk. "I swear, you did that on purpose."

I smiled back at her, but neither confirmed nor denied her accusation.

She shook her head. "Come on. The room is good for meditating and I think you could do with that."

The other elder members of the Clan agreed and I walked with them to the room in question, whistling at seeing the 7 large stones that said in a semi-circle around the far wall of the room.

"Most Jedi can only lift 2 or 3 of these things, though they say Master Yoda has managed to get 6 up and moving at once." Jaeman explained. As I looked at each of the stones in turn. At a guess, each was over a ton in weight. "Though its rumoured that a Jedi Master named Snee once lifted all 7 and went for a walk through the Temple district."

"Saven, that's the boy you beat earlier, is the only current Initiate to lift even one of these things." Trudie added. "You think you can lift one?"

Quest Alert!Stones of MuntuurBe the first Jedi since Ferleen Snee to lift all seven Muntuur StonesRating: S**Objective:Lift all 7 Muntuur Stones simultaneously before the Start of the Clone Wars.Bonus: ?Rewards:6000XPPenalties% based on the overall weight lifted at once when the quest ends. [50 tonnes]Telekinesis is permanently locked at the quest end level.Accept:Yes/No...

I looked at each stone slowly as I pondered the quest. The reward was massive; the 2nd highest I'd gotten, but the idea my TK would be limited so badly if I failed had me pausing for a moment. Still, TK was already at Professional level, and at current lift ability, I could manage about 15% of that total weight when TK maxed out; and that was if the lift weight limit didn't increase as it had done when I'd reached Adept 1 and Professional 1.

"Yes. Yes, I think I can give it a try." I answered both the quest and Trudie's question and extended my hand, focusing on what looked like the smallest of the Stones.

I grunted as I felt the weight I was trying to lift and increased the effort, trying to work out the weight of the Stone until, as I was using what my interface said was a TK force of just over a ton, the stone began to raise slowly.

I ignored the gasps coming from those around me as I lifted the stone to the roof before lowering it down even slower than I'd lifted it.

"That was awesome!" someone said, and I turned to see a group of younglings had just entered the room with Master Yoda.

"Impressive, that was. More useful than raw power, however control can be." Yoda said with his ears twitching upwards.

"Yes sir." I replied with a smirk creeping onto my face as I realised that because I'd shown myself to be that powerful with TK, my next opponent – if I had one – would expect me to attack in a similar manner, thus going small or using blasts might be beneficial.

I turned to the members of Dragon Clan. "Hey, how about a few quick spars?"

"Why not," Darihd answered with a shrug. "Save for you, me, Jaeman and Sia-Lan, no-one else is still in the push-feather."

"Eh, why not. Beating you never gets old." Serra added with a grin that made me promise to one day beat her in a spar.

Quest Alert!Wipe that Grin off Her Face [User Defined]One day you have to beat Serra Keto in a lightsaber duel.Rating: CObjective:Defeat Serra in a spar before either of you becomes a Jedi Knight.Bonus: ?Rewards:600XPPenalties:Lightsaber skills become locked for 5 years at quest end levels.Accept?Yes/No...

"Yes, laugh it up but one day I will trounce you." I replied waving my hand madly around my head. "Victory shall be mine!" I added with a mad grin, making the members of Dragon Clan chuckle, and drawing a few giggles from the Younglings as we left the room.

"You're such a laserbrain," Sia-Lan muttered as she shook her head, though I thought I saw the hint of a smile trying to creep onto her face.

…

About an hour later I stepped out of the sparring circle, a frown marring my face as I looked over at my opponent.

Once again, I had lost to Trudie, a girl nearly 2 years younger than me and it was staring to get on my nerves.

How could I be so good at using the Force but suck so much at learning to wield a lightsaber?

"How did you do that? I mean, there was no way you could've seen the second saber, yet you ducked instinctively and then rolled away from my attack without ever seeing it coming." I asked her as we moved over to where the rest of the Clan was gathered, Sia-Lan and Jaeman stepping into the circle in our place.

"The Force told me." Trudie replied in a why that must have been totally logical to her but sounded like a pile of horseshit to me.

"What Trudie means is that we learn to trust the Force when it gives us warnings. It's ones of the first thing…" Darihd's voice trailed off for a moment before he slapped his forehead. "Right. You were never a Youngling.

"Well, one of the first things they teach Younglings to do when given a lightsaber is to allow the Force to help guide you to a target. It feels like you know what is going to happen before it happens."

I looked at the older boy in a combination of shock and annoyance. Shock that I hadn't realised that there was more to lightsaber combat than just blade skill and made a mental note to review my Force powers and see if one fit the role of pre-cognitive abilities. And annoyance at the fact none of the Masters had seemingly realised that I might have missed some basic Force training by not sitting in on a Youngling class or 2.

"Yeah, that makes sense." I said slowly, already taking a step away from the group. "Um, I think I need to go and think on this a bit." I said before I jogged, then ran across the Temple and up several flights of stairs – annoying more than a handful of older Jedi – until I reached my room.

"List Force Powers." I stated as the doors closed and browsed the short list until 2 jumped out at me. I tapped each in turn and read their descriptions.

PrecognitionNovice 5A combat-based power that helps to predict and anticipate attacks.[Due to your status as the Player, these are displayed as white notices above your combat log]Cost:50FP + 5FP/secAuto-engage in Combat: Yes/No...Bullet TimeNovice 16Grants the ability to effectively slow down the world around you, allowing you more time to deal with a situation.Cost:237FP + 15FP/SecAuto-engage in Combat: Yes/No...

As I read each, I felt a giant urge to scream at the wall at realising that my level in Form I might not be the issue with my losses in the last 6 months of spars as both were set to not auto-engage in combat. They also would've come in handy today during the Push-Feather duels.

"Player's Mind," I managed to growl out and instantly felt the anger/annoyance/fury die away.

I checked each of the 26 current powers I had and found that 6 others – TK, Breath Control, Detection, Speed, Sight and Enhance – all had options to auto-engage in combat. I set Precognition and Bullet Time to auto-engage in combat, figuring that just those 2 would give me a major boost; even if their levels were very low.

"Fine, then I train up at least Bullet Time and Precognition while training Form II until the lightsaber duels. If I get back into the push-feather tourney, I'm fine as I've made the main objective there, so anything else is a bonus."

A glance at the chronometer told me it was about 30 minutes to dinner time, which meant, if I could get back her and practice without interruptions, I had about 12 hours tonight to train. I'd have the same tomorrow night and at least 6 hours during the day, taking out time for meals and keeping Dragon Clan out of my hair.

I laughed once as I realised that while I'd almost killed someone today, without doing so I might not have realised how to exploit my powers for quick and easy quests, or why I was possibly struggling so badly at duelling.

Though even if I improved enough to make the free-for-all, I wouldn't train any further after that. I didn't want to fuel any hype that I was the Chosen One and run the risk that the High Council assigned me a Master who stayed at the Temple all the time.

...

Honestly, I expect the Initiate Trials and their aftermath to take another 2-3 chapters, depending on a few scenes I have planned.

After that is still in flux, but I am leaning to keeping him in the Order for now.

...

And I think that once I've made the final plans I'll have to see about getting a Beta. I know there's mistakes in this, but I canne see them... :(