27 Training With Soul Armos (1)

Saturday and Sunday passed in a jiffy, and soon Monday took over the baton. As usual, right after coming home from school and changing into her training attire, Savyrran rushed off to Master Bufan's. Her attire consisted of loose leather pants and a vest that exposed her strong well-defined arms. Her dreadlocks were styled beautifully in a pattern that stopped them from getting into her face, and instead fell on her back. She tightly held Badisk in her right hand over her right shoulder.

Badisk might look ordinary compared to other swords, however, to Savyrran, this black sword was perfect. It was neither too heavy nor too light and when she swung the sword, it felt like it was simply an extension of her own body. It seemed the old master had carefully had this crafted for her. The first time Fani wielded it, he had had to use his two hands. Fani had been shocked at how heavy the sword was. Badisk did not look heavy at all. In fact, it was relatively thinner and longer than most swords. How could such a weak looking sword be so heavy?

For Savyrran, it was the perfect weight so much so that she usually forgot she was actually carrying it.

It was still in the afternoon and a lot of activities were ongoing in the town. There were people walking about leisurely, either returning from their various workplaces or attending to various errands. Whenever anyone saw Savyrran, they would wave at her and she would cheerfully wave back. By the time she got to Master Bufan's house, she felt like she had spoken to everyone in the town. She smiled to herself at how silly that thought was.

Master Bufan was waiting for her in his porch. He was relaxing on a lazy chair and his eyes were closed. The porch was not too far from were they usually trained.

Savyrran did not wake him up and instead, went straight to the training grounds. She began her warm up which involved her skillfully swinging her sword with the finesse of an expert . Her skill was not only efficient but it was also very beautiful to watch. It was like she was gracefully dancing to the call of a siren.

After thirty minutes, she was done with her warm-up. By then, Master Bufan was already sitting up, watching her every move. His eyes were cold as ice, and yet, there was a hint of acknowledgement in his stare. She had come so far in her swordsmanship. But today he was going to crush her and give her a new goal to reach when it came to strength. He did not want her being complacent just because she was stronger than all her of her peers. The world was larger than Coast Town and there were unimaginable powers lurking outside their very small town.

Thankfully, Savyrran never showed any signs of slowing down when it came to her training. It was like she was her own biggest critic, and to her, there was a lot more to learn. He was going to make her learn an important one today.

"Hello, master." Savyrran cheerfully greeted the old man as he approached her with dignified steps. Master Bufan looked every bit of the imposing man he truly was and Savyrran always felt lucky that she was being trained by him.

The old man nodded at Savyrran as a reply to her greeting. It was always like that, and Savyrran had become used to how serious he was when they were about to start a training session. He only became a lot approachable once they were done for the day. Most people were intimidated by Master Bufan's demeanour and overall calm temperament which felt cold. But not Savyrran. How could she when the true Ice King was her own brother?

"Soul armos." Master Bufan began, his eyes focusing on the girl with piercing sharpness. Once Savyrran heard him, a large smile began to grow on her face. Finally. "You always hear this term. But what is it really? Under normal circumstances, you are to learn about this topic when you are fifteen and promoted to the awakened rank. But since, you have no essence, and it is unlikely that you will awaken a soul armos, teaching you earlier wouldn't make a difference."

Master Bufan paused meaningfully for his words to sink in the girl's head. He closely watched the girl's expression to see if she was upset about not ever being able to awaken a soul armos. But the happy smile on Savyrran's face never once faltered. Come to think of it, there was never a time he had not seen the girl in a cheerful mood. She was the direct opposite of her brother who was always so serious and cold.

"I have already told you about the three classes in which all seven forms of essence fall under. In the same manner, every soul armos falls under one of these three classes. The soul armos of the red, orange and yellow users, all fall under the common class. Green and blue soul armos fall under the rare class, while the indigo and violet soul armos fall under the legendary class. Are you following?" Master Bufan had noticed over the years that even though Savyrran was always eager to learn from him, she was actually more interested in the practical aspect rather than the theory. There were times when she would even be too lost in her thoughts while he lectured. Thus, he found it imperative to keep bringing her attention back to the lesson.

"Of course, Master Bufan." She replied, running her left hand through her locks. She had hoped they would start practicing immediately, instead here they were. She should have known this sly old man was up to something the moment he agreed to teach her about the soul armos.

"Is that so? Then tell me. Since I have yellow essence, what class would my soul armos fall under."

"The common class. I'm listening, Master." Just because she was strong, people thought she was not as intelligent. She may not be the brightest tool out there, but she was not dumb either. Probably, this stereotype people had about her was because comparing her to her brother made her look dumb because of how incredibly intelligent Ovandarrak was. In her defense, Ovandarrak was not only smarter than her, he was smarter than most people.

"OK then. The higher one's essence rank, the higher the class, and therefore the more powerful a person's soul armos. Soul armos fall into two broad types. The weapon type and then the beast type. With the beast type, the soul armos usually takes the form of a beast. Beasts could be common or rare or legendary. The same division can be applied to the weapon type soul armos."

"Have you ever seen a legendary beast?" Savyrran asked.

"No. But I have seen a legendary weapon. That was a very long time ago."

Savyrran's eyes twinkled with joy. A legendary weapon? How exactly legendary was it? Thinking back about how powerful Master Bufan's weapon was when it was only a common class weapon, then wasn't a legendary weapon going to be… legendary?

"Really. Was it that amazing?"

Master Bufan smiled at the girl's wide eyes. His reaction when he first saw that powerful man's soul armos had been even more dramatic.

"Yes, indeed. But you need to understand that people from the Second Dimension are neither born with indigo nor violet essence. Anyone who is born in this dimension with these forms of essence is definitely not from from around here."

Savyrran remembered the time when her father had talked about the other dimensions but she did not fully understand what he had meant. All she knew was that people in the First Dimension had neither essence nor soul armos. Did this mean that the indigo and violet users were from the Third Dimension or perhaps a Fourth Dimension? How many dimensions were there though? A thought suddenly came into her head.

"Are you saying that the legendary weapon you once saw belonged to someone from a higher dimension?"

Master Bufan had to admit to himself that Savyrran was really listening to him. But things were not as simple as she was making them. "No. He is from the Second Dimension. In fact, he has no connection whatsoever to the Third Dimension."

Now Savyrran was thoroughly confused. If indigo and violet users were from the Third Dimension, then how is it that someone with one of these was from the Second Dimension? This made no sense to her and the dilemma showed on her face. Master Bufan could clearly see the girl's frustration and so began to explain it.

"He was born with the blue essence. But he eventually advanced to the indigo essence after almost two centuries of training."

"What!" Savyrran almost lost her footing from this shocking revelation. Her father was not joking when he had claimed that advancing from one essence to the other was a nightmare. Training for about two centuries just to advance to one essence higher, how committed exactly could one be?

"Compared to the other forms, there are not many people from the Second Dimension with indigo or violet essence. Those who do stand at the apex of power and are not to be trifled with. Do you know why I am telling you all this?"

Savyrran shook her head in the negative. This was only a lesson to her after all, but if the old man had an even more profound reason, then she could not possibly guess what it was.

"I want you to understand the what you are really up against. If you could not even keep up with my common class soul armos, then forget about going to combat school. Forget about becoming a soul guardian. You say you want to be the strongest of the strongest? Forget it all. There are dangerous people, criminals and sadistic wretches who have no problems with killing the innocent. If you think Ayoro Basam was scary, then those people would be your eternally worst nightmare. Your first step to true strength is defeating me at my greatest power. If you don't think you can, you have no business going to combat school."

Once Master Bufan finished his speech, the pupils of his eyes transformed from orbs of brown to a bright golden colour. Endless streaks of golden light surrounded his entire body like a sun god who had descended from the heavens. Then he outstretched his right hand at about forty-five degrees angle by his side. Instantly, a long and monstrously large sword wrapped by golden flames materialized in that hand. His long white hair danced with the wind, completing his mysterious divine look.