26 Master Bufan

"But I'm ready?" Savyrran said for the umpteenth time, a smirk on her face. As usual, they were in Master Bufan's unbelievably large training grounds in his house. She would come here at 3:00pm everyday once she returned from the academy. Their training would last for the next four hours and when they were done, she would without fail, ask her teacher when he planned on ever using his soul armos.

Savyrran had defeated every single student in the school. None of them were her match even though they were using their essence and soul armos. Savyrran was never affected by one's essence, and thus, no matter how great the pressure was from her opponents' oppressive essence, she could not feel a thing. Even against the orange users, she was fast enough to keep up with their speed. Thus, fighting with her was like fighting another person with a soul armos and an essence when in reality, she possessed none.

"You are not ready for me yet." Master Bufan replied. She may be strong, but she needed to understand that there were people stronger, and he wanted to teach her the virtue of patience.

"But I am able to keep up with you during our sword fights. You go all out on me without even giving me a chance to think at all. Are you saying you have been holding back all this while?"

Master Bufan chuckled. Holding back? Where? When they first began their training five years ago, he had planned to hold back, but he soon regretted his decision. Even though Savyrran's sword skill was terrible then and very rough, the strength with which she swung her sword was powerful. Master Bufan had to use all of his physical strength to keep up with the girl's insane barrage of unrefined attacks. The only reason Savyrran could not match up to the old man was because she knew nothing about sword fighting.

But so as not to overwhelm the child, Master Bufan never used his essence nor his soul armos. He only began to use his essence when Savyrran had refined her skill. Once Master Bufan started using his essence, Savyrran could feel that the man had become even stronger and faster than he used to be. In the beginning, Savyrran could not even land a single hit on the master.

Even though Savyrran had once clashed with a yellow user a few years back, Master Bufan was in a whole other level. He was the strongest person Savyrran had ever fought. Within the first year of their training, the old man wiped the floor with her. Master Bufan never repeated his mistake of being lenient on her when training was involved. But after a few months of enduring the beatings of a yellow user, Savyrran's stamina began to improve. After another year, she was as fast as the old man and her sword skills had become even more fearsome.

Still, Savyrran did not believe she was strong enough to defeat the old man if he decided to go all out on her, soul armos and all. Thus, she had been pestering the master to use his sword soul armos instead. Master Bufan never listened and always claimed she was not ready. And now, she was ten years old. When exactly was going to be the right time?

"Have you forgotten how difficult it was for you to even land a blow on me the first time I used my essence? All those injuries on your body when I beat you into oblivion."

Savyrran laughed heartily recalling all those depressing moments. That was certainly the first time she had actually felt truly overpowered since Ayoro Basam. How could she ever forget?

"How could I forget? But eventually I became better, right? Well yes, I may not be able to beat you immediately if you started using your soul armos. But the more we train, the better I will become. And then sooner or later, you will not be able to keep up with me."

The playfulness with which Savyrran said these words might be taken as a complete joke by someone else. But Master Bufan was not someone else. He was someone who had been training this child for five years now, and he believed every word of it. Savyrran was not the type to quit. Every time she was beaten, she would get back up no matter how close she was getting to becoming unconscious. In every single training, for the past five years, it was Master Bufan who had had to end their daily training session. If he did not, the child would simply keep going and going until she finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Thinking about that, he felt that perhaps, it was not a bad idea then to start training her using his soul armos. If they began now, by the time she was fifteen, she would be a force to be reckoned with. After all, Savyrran had always wanted to be enrolled in the combat school in the capital. This would certainly be a good form of preparation.

"Alright then. Go get some rest, we will start on Monday." Master Bufan finally gave in.

Savyrran's beautiful eyes shimmered with joy upon hearing the news. Or perhaps, she had misunderstood this news. "You mean you will start training me while using your soul armos?"

The usually stoic expression on the man's face softened at how happy the child was. How could someone so young be so enthusiastic about hard training each and every day? Even he did not remember himself being so eager to train when he was younger.

"Yes, Savyrran. I will start training you while using my soul armos. But we will only start on Monday."

"But what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday. Don't you have other important things to do on Saturdays and Sundays?"

"Oh, yeah. I was so excited I forgot. Well, then, thank you for the training today, Master Bufan. See you on Monday."

She clasped her two hands in front of her in a prayer form as she paid her respects to the man she had come to regard as a grandfather. Master Bufan nodded his head in acknowledgement, and then Savyrran went back home.

….….

By the time Savyrran got home, it was almost 8:00pm. Her parents were both in the living room chatting happily with each other. Wikka's eyes lighted up towards her daughter when she saw her enter the room. Her Savyrran was growing up in beauty and in grace. Even though the girl had a masculine energy around her, she was still incredibly beautiful. Her shiny black dreadlocks had grown longer and draped almost close to her waist.

"Savy, you are back." Wikka said.

"Yes, Ma."

"Are you hungry? I left some food in the kitchen."

Savyrran smiled sweetly at her mother. Wikka knew her child had already eaten at Master Bufan's house. The old man always made sure Savyrran was well fed before she returned. But Wikka always worried that perhaps, her daughter was not eating much. With how much Savyrran trained, Wikka hoped she was eating as much.

"I'm okay, Ma. Where is Ovan?"

"He's in his room. He returned only about an hour ago."

Savyrran nodded in understanding.

"So how was it today?" Fani asked. He was talking about her training with Master Bufan. Seeing how in one full piece she was, Fani deduced that the training had gone a little easier. In the beginning, there were times the girl had to be attended to by physicians due to her countless injuries.

Wikka had been horrified at the level of hardship her little girl was going through and had wanted her to stop it. But the girl was too stubborn to quit. Savyrran only replied that this was the only way to get stronger, and one could not become stronger if they were not already bad in the beginning. Eventually, Fani and Wikka had to let it be, since the child herself was not even complaining.

"Master Bufan promised to start training me using his soul armos." Savyrran revealed. The joy on her face was enough to light up the cosmos and her shiny black eyes twinkled like the stars lightning up that cosmos.

But Wikka's face had warped in horror. When had she heard something like this before? Oh, wait, about three years ago, when Savyrran had come home to happily announce that Master Bufan would be training her the next day while using his essence. Wikka and Fani had been so happy for her. Little did they know that that crafty old man never held back with Savyrran. Hence, the child got thoroughly trashed by Master Bufan and she was bedridden for three whole days.

Thankfully, Master Bufan was the Principal, and hence, Savyrran missing school was not an issue. But this did not mean that her parents were pleased. And now, here she was, claiming that soul armos was coming up next.

Savyrran saw the obvious concern in her mother's face. However, Fani did not seem too concerned. For a long time, he had come to accept how strong her daughter was so he believed she would be fine.

"Don't worry. I am a lot stronger than I used to be when I was seven. That old man would not know what hit him." She chuckled. Then she got closer to her parents and kissed each of them on the cheek. "I'm going to bathe and then go to bed. I have a big day tomorrow."

Once she got to her room, she saw her brother already tucked in bed fast asleep. He truly must be exhausted. Just as much as Savyrran was perfecting her physical training techniques, Ovandarrak was also learning mental training techniques. As Fani had promised when they were a lot younger, Fani had convinced Doctor Avor to train his son. When it came to mental training techniques, Doctor Avor was the best in the town. Even Mayor Danjo and Master Bufan did not have as strong a mental resilience as he did.

In addition, Ovandarrak had been learning a lot about medicine from the doctor and though he still had a lot to learn, he had learned a lot from the good old doctor. To focus on his studies, he stopped going to academy and instead concentrated on learning from Doctor Avor.

Moreover, even though in the past he had said that he was not interested in physical training because he did not like fighting, he had long since changed his mind ever since their encounter with Ayoro Basam. Ovandarrak had learned the hard way that not seeking a fight did not mean it would not come. He could not always depend on his sister to fight his battles. He also had to be strong so he could protect her as much as he protected him.

Thus, when Ovandarrak did not have to go to Doctor Avor, Fani would teach him attack and defense techniques. Fani would also show him how to utilize his green essence while fighting an opponent. Over the years, Ovandarrak had become a better fighter and combining it with his green essence made him quite the formidable opponent. However, Ovandarrak had always known that he was not as physically strong as he was mentally. But that did not really bother him. That was never his goal anyway.

Savyrran watched her sleeping brother, a loving smile on her face. He had promised to go to Ahn Bayari with her tomorrow. It was the first time he was coming with her and she was very excited.