8 Locating

"Elder Jao, I just received word from those stationed on the watchtower. Carriages and beasts bearing our School's symbol were seen 100 kilometers east. They should arrive in about 2 hours…"

"What? They're back already? Isn't that a bit too quick?"

Elder Jao was currently seated in the headmasters room. He was leaned far back in a velvet chair by an enormous window which overlooked the entire School. He had a frown on his face as he chatted with one of his closest subordinates.

"Those clowns, once I get my hands on that rhinestone in village 3, I'll breakthrough into 3 stars and leave this lousy school."

He thought of that shoddy kid he helped 10 months ago. Someone that weak looking, no one would suspect him if he wandered off into that cave to get him that rhinestone. He looked over to his trusted subordinate.

"Millard, I'll have to task you with finding that red headed kid I told you about and force him into that cave. Tell him his time's up. If he already has the stone, bring him to me."

"Yes!" Without any delay, he left the room with utmost urgency and dashed off in search of Chung.

Elder Jao's lips curled up into a massive smirk. Millard was the subordinate he prided himself the most on. To him, he was someone all the good deeds in his past lives bought him. So far, no job given to him had gone undone.

Turning the velvet chair around, he looked at the gorgeous artificial scenery, the disciples practicing, the massive Yard of Reflection and various other facilities.

He then stood up and left the headmaster's chamber to take one last stroll through the School before the headmaster, elders and first rate disciples returned.

…

The School of Initiation's living quarters were split into three different sections, namely 1 star, 2 star and 3 stars. Those who only possessed a single star, could only live in the 1 star territory and so on.

Kaiden currently sat atop a bunk bed within the 1 star section with his eyes closed, seemingly visualizing a certain technique. Two other disciples were at different corners of the room meditating. These two were actually sparring at the Yard of Reflection earlier, but left when Elder Jao arrived. Now they could only meditate in their quarters. 1 star disciples had to share rooms since there were so many of them. If everyone got a room to themselves than there would just be too many rooms, the cost of materials would bring the school into bankruptcy.

Kaiden's eyes abruptly opened. He leapt off the bunk bed, the sound of his landing waking the two others from their meditation.

"I feel I'm nearing the second stage of[Rock Fist], so I'm going to head out to the practice grounds." He looked at the two others before walking towards the room's entrance.

"I wish you luck on your training, Kaiden."

"Rock fist isn't easy to train, if you reach the second level, you might be the only one to do so other than Kase."

Kaiden walked out of the room and stood in front of the door. The evening sun shaded his eyes, the only thing able to be seen was his deep frown. The reason his core power was so mediocre was because he spent all of his time training[Rock Fist]. This was the technique his father used before he died.

Years ago he got in a brawl while outside of the School and had his token snatched away. Without a token, he had nothing to sustain Kaiden and him so they had to resort to hunting back in village 2. While hunting he would always sit and wait in case another School disciple ventured out, so he could rob a token from them. One day, his patience paid off. A young disciple left the School grounds to practice his techniques against the beasts near the border. Kaiden's father followed him, and when the young disciple was fighting a wild beast, he ran to strike using his favored move,[Rock Fist]. However, he greatly underestimated the young disciple.

"If I, Kase, could be sneak attacked, I would have lived my life in vain."

Kaiden's father's eyes constricted as a massive fist filled the entirety of his vision. A force, almost like a boulder struck his face. His head flew back faster than his body could keep up with, resulting in his neck breaking, and his spine fracturing. Just one move paralyzed him, but that wasn't the end. Kase walked up and stomped on his already pummeled face, however at that time Kaiden's father was already out cold. After stomping on the man's face a couple times, Kase looked at the beast he was fighting and pointed at it.

"My[Rock Fist]has already reached the second level, so here's a free meal for you, take it." With that, Kase turned and headed back in the direction of the School, leaving a confused beast with a fulfilling lunch.

A small Kaiden watched as the young disciple left and the beast gnawed on his father's body. He shook as tears fell from his eyes, his fists clenching so hard his nails penetrated his skin. He ingrained the young man's face into his memory. He would pay him back with interest.

…

Looking towards the direction of the practice grounds, an irreconcilable grudge could be seen in Kaiden's eyes.

'Kase! I will defeat you with the same move you killed my father with!'

With long strides, Kaiden made his way to the practice grounds.

________________________________________________________________________________

"W-what...where is this..?"

Enzo quickly sat up and took in his surroundings with confusion. Everything was pitch black except for the floor, which was simply a shade of gray.

What is going on?

He started to panic. Running forward, he tried to search for an exit, however he soon realized that this place was boundless. No matter how far he ran, he never felt that a way out was in reach.

Just what is this place?

Slowing to a stop, he decided to sit down and think. What happened up until this point?

"...That's right! I was trying to find my Core by Lucid Lake!" A slight look of joy suffused his face however it went away as quickly as it came.

"Then what is going on here!?" Looking around again, it was complete blackness with no end in sight.

"Could this be, my subconscious? Has the lake done something to put me here?" After thinking of that, he convinced himself that that must be the case.

He started to do a few tests.

"My main goal is to find my Core, based on what Reid's manual said, if I can't sense my Core, then I'll never be able to guide its energy."

Enzo stood up and outstretched both of his arms to the front of him. He then shouted with utmost passion and intensity,

"CORE…..APPEAR!!!"

"..."

Nothing happened.

Enzo had a look of puzzlement on his face. He put his index finger and thumb to his chin as he pondered the inner workings of why that didn't work.

"Hmmm…"

Suddenly a bright, light blue mist appeared and began to swirl with increasing vigor. Enzo nearly tumbled over by the sudden sight before him. He instinctively backed up despite knowing this was his own mind. When the cyclone of mist dispersed, what was revealed brought shock to his face.

"Another me!?" Hurrying over, he examined what was before him.

It was a glowing mist of cyan in the shape of a figure that looked exactly like him. The figure was ethereal, as though a spirit. Enzo could to see right through him.

"Can I…?" Enzo closed the gap between them and went to touch the spirit-like version of him. As his hand punctured the spirit figure, the mist dispersed around the area. Startled, Enzo quickly pulled back his arm, only to find that the mist already returned to the figure and mended itself.

Suddenly, the spirit's eyes opened, shining a bright blue. Enzo was slightly taken aback and quite nervous as well.

Still seated in a cross legged position, the spirit figure slowly looked up.

Enzo stood with buckled knees, slightly frightened at what might transpire. When his gaze connected with the spirit figure's, a bright beam of blue light instantly shot out at astonishing speeds from it's eyes. Enzo tumbled onto the ground, shaking and shuddering like a car driving over rocky terrain. His hands were to his head in pain. He wanted to scream out but his mouth was sealed shut. Images started to surface in his mind. These images were not of him but of others. They were of kids, slightly older than him, some tall while others short. Some of the kids looked to be of a different race entirely. Some had pointy ears while others had limbs that were much longer than a humans. They each stood before their own ethereal cyan figure. Suddenly they mimicked the figures posture, and with a pillar of light, the images ended. His head stopped aching, and he lied there weakly.

After some time, Enzo slowly stood up and faced the spirit figure. He walked to the front of him and sat down in a similar cross legged position. He took both of his hands, and mimicked the figure's hand sign. He sat as upright as he could and looked into his glowing blue eyes. As though satisfied, the spirit figure separated his hands and pointed up, causing a pillar of blue energy to engulf Enzo. He evaporated from the spot, rising up into the beam of light. The spirit figure turned into a mist and rose up as though following him.

…

Enzo materialized with a look of awe and excitement on his face.

"Is this...my Core!?" He stood before a ball of purple energy the size of a golf ball. He wanted to go over and touch it but was stopped by the spirit figure. It looked at Enzo as though telling him never to touch your Core.

"I-I understand." He stammered out. He was still a novice when it came to all of this, how was he supposed to know not to touch it? However he was slightly surprised, what was this spirit figure thing? Why did it look identical to him and why was it acting like a personal trainer? Does everyone get one to help you learn the basics? It did show him some images of other people who had one. Oh well, at least it helped me find my Core!

The spirit figure floated behind Enzo's Core and took a seat in a cross legged position. His hands moved up in front of his chest and made a unique hand sign.

"Is this like before?" Enzo walked to the front of his Core and sat down, trying his hardest to mimic him. When Enzo finally thought he had it perfect, he looked into the spirit figure's eyes and a bright blue beam shot out from the figure. It flew over top of the Core and right into Enzo's eyes. His head started to ache again, but it wasn't as bad as before.

Memories from a time and place he never knew entered his mind. It depicted an aged old man with a refined disposition. He wore a light blue scholars robe and stood before a massive crowd that stretched so far you could never hope to see the end of it. He was giving a seminar on Core Guiding. His arms would move from his stomach, then slowly to his head then outward. His mouth moved, but Enzo could not hear anything. The old man's movements were captivating, it made the observer want to instantly go and imitate him. The images abruptly ended and switched to a woman in a green dress. She stood in the center of a lake. The sun was setting which contrasted greatly with her green attire. Her delicate hand moved slowly from her stomach, then gradually up to her forehead.

Enzo was enchanted by the movements but was also paying close attention. He recognized these movements, they were previously performed by that old man who stood before the crowd.

When her hand finally reached the peak of her head, like lighting, she flung her arm outward. A massive wave was formed from the lakewater. However she didn't look satisfied. Holding the wave in place with her right hand, she used her left hand to do the old man's motions again. When her hand reached the peak, she let loose towards the wave and it grew even larger and more imposing. She took a step forward and the wave erupted forth.

The image looked like it was about to end, as it skipped over many different scenes. However one scene caught Enzo's eye. It was a short series of images, however it was pretty interesting to Enzo. It showed the same girl from early who did the waves. The old man from earlier appeared in the middle of the lake as if complimenting her performance. She shyly bowed and the image cut off.

So she was one of his students? Who is that old man, to have such impressive disciples!

After watching those scenes, Enzo was pumped up. He couldn't even be bothered with the pain in his head as he stood up and stretched his legs. He was ready to try those movements! However, unexpectedly, the spirit figure stood up and walked over to Enzo.

Enzo, who was pumping himself up suddenly blacked out as the spirit figure touched him.