1 Preparation

Kantan gasped as he fell to his back in the sand pit of the training yard, his balance being stolen out from under him. He had put too much weight onto his front foot and his grandfather was quick to capitalize on his mistake. It was not the first time that he had found himself forcibly watching the clouds from the training yard ground, and he could feel his competitive spirit rustle as he was bested once again. His breath was coming rapidly, while his grandfather stood above him with a maniacal grin and his hand out.

"You know not to rely on your front foot! You must really like cleaning sand out of your clothes with how much time you spend rolling in it." his grandfather let a chuckle out, further elevating Kantan's frustration. In an attempt to trick him, Kantan took the proffered hand and tried to twist it over his shoulder to take the old man down. Instead of feeling the weight of the man resisting him, it felt like his grandfather weighed nothing as he rotated.

As he moved to finish the throw, he felt the hand shift rapidly without letting go. Kantan's stomach did a flip as he found himself rotating at a dizzying speed. Once again he tumbled through the sand, this time landing a few feet away. Sand filled his mouth, making him sputter while his grandfather released an amused laugh. "That was good, but you have got to be faster than that!"

"It's hard to be faster than you when I don't have chi. You're basically cheating!" Kantan pushed himself up to a standing position, wiping sand from his hands and face.

"The demons you will face in your trial will be able to utilize chi, so you will need to know how to handle yourself against someone with more speed and strength than you." His grandfather was insistent on training Kantan for the upcoming trial, which would pit him against the demons in the clan dungeon. "While they won't be as strong or as fast as I am, they will still be stronger and faster than you. Tell me what we do when we face a threat we cannot defeat by strength and agility alone."

Kantan rolled his eyes and repeated the lesson his grandfather had been ingraining in him since he was a child. "We outsmart them."He moved toward the inner part of the ring, resetting to his defensive fighting stance, the first step to fighting an opponent of greater strength.

"Good. A defensive stance gives you time to seek out weakness, and ensure you live long enough to act upon it once you find it." His grandfather moved into a neutral stance to keep his intentions hidden. Kantan almost moved into an aggressive stance to begin his assault anew when he waited. His grandfather was the one who wanted to train him, while he thought that he was ready. He was two ranks below his grandfather, who was at the sapphire soul rank. While maintaining his stance, Kantan began to edge away from his grandfather. This caused the old man to narrow his eyes, and a small smile to crease his lips.

"A smart cultivator takes risks in his quest for immortality, while a wise cultivator knows when to retreat in the face of overwhelming odds." His grandfather took on an offensive stance and pressed forward toward Kantan. The old man blurred from existence for a moment before reappearing in front of Kantan with his finger and thumb an inch away from his grandson's head. Before he could react, Kantan felt a light tap on his forehead. "You will do well in the trial, I know it to be so."

"Not if they move like you do, I couldn't even see you that time." Kantan shook his head while rubbing playfully at his forehead. He could feel his nerves bunching up despite his outward bravado. While it was called a trial, the main goal of going into the clan dungeon was to awaken one's chi. Kantan was considered unranked currently as his core contained chi, but it was never used or replaced. By going into the Astaire clan dungeon, he would expose himself to a very high density of chi for an extended period of time. If he was destined to become a Soul Warrior in this life, he would find out in a weeks time when he entered that dungeon.

"While they will be swift and strong, they are not unbeatable. Demons do not tend to plan or think out their actions. As far as their species go, only incredibly powerful demons are found to have sentience. The demons in our dungeon are kept in check by our clans warriors. You should be capable of dealing with anything you find in there as long as you keep a level head." Kantan still felt some of his nervousness in his stomach, but a sense of determination solidified in his mind. He had trained for a large portion of his life to complete this trial and his grandfather was the wisest person he knew. If the old man believed in him, then he owed to the man who had trained him to believe in himself.

Kantan felt his stomach rumble ominously, reminding him that with exercise came ravenous hunger. Taking a moment to face his grandfather directly, he bowed deeply in gratitude. As each of them stepped out of the training field, each turned and bowed deeply once again in thanks to the land. "Let's go home and make some dinner, you will have a busy week with the clans pre-trial training."

"You took the words from my mouth before I could speak them." Kantan spoke playfully.

"With that loud stomach of your's I'm sure the whole village knows you're hungry." His grand father retorted with a sly smile on his face. Kantan chuckled lightly while feeling the last of his anxiety fade from his mind.

Later that night, Kantan watched the stars in the sky through the window near his bed. He was thinking about his spar with his grandfather earlier, trying to solidify the movements he had been able to see. Eventually he let out an exasperated sigh before chalking it up to the raw power difference. As someone who hadn't awakened his core yet, there was never a situation where he could even escape from his grandfather if he were truly an enemy. Since his grandfather was a sapphire ranked warrior, he had not only undergone stone rebirth and reforged his body, he had even unlocked his aura.

Having a stone body alone would make it almost impossible for any normal human to actually harm his grandfather. Even if they managed to take him by surprise it wouldn't work, as they just couldn't produce enough force to damage him without special artifacts or crushing him with something like a giant boulder. When one considered that he had his aura as well, it would be even more impossible. If an enemy didn't have an exceptionally strong stone body, they wouldn't even be able to resist his grandfather's aura anyways due to the pressure.

Kantan realized that the main goal of the sparing was to train his mindset, but in the face of true power, what could a normal human like him even do? It was obvious really, the answer was nothing. Even if he was the smartest man alive, he could not even see someone two levels above him move. Deciding that training for that was useless, as he couldn't really do anything anyways, Kantan slowly drifted off to sleep.