29 Training With Soul Armos (3)

Master Bufan casually walked towards the bleeding child. Maybe they should call it a day. She had been entirely useless in fighting back, but he was still impressed with how even without an essence, this child could hold her own. She had the potential of being very powerful. This was their first training where he had used his soul armos, thus, he did not want keep it up for so long lest the child became too overwhelmed. But before he could suggest they end today's lesson, Savyrran began to fire questions upon questions towards him about what had just happened. Her small curious eyes hid nothing at all.

"In a battle, underestimating your opponent would be your greatest undoing. Since I'm wielding a sword, you assumed I could only attack you from close range. But you need to understand that Weiraga is not an ordinary sword like Badisk. It is a soul armos. Not really understanding an opponent's soul armos can be disastrous. And for the celestials sake, little one, stop charging blindly like some mad bull-lion."

"Weiraga? Is that your sword's name? That's a strange name to give to a sword. Also, what do you mean it doesn't only attack at close distance?"

Master Bufan sighed. Of course that was the most important thing she took from all the warning.

Without saying another word, Master Bufan began to demonstrate. He moved a few steps back, then got into a simple formation, his right foot two steps in front of the left. He slowly moved the sword in circular motion. Savyrran watched in shock as Weiraga became as fluid as the motion. It was like the sword was a golden spiral of water moving at the whim of the old man. Then he increased the speed of the motion making it impossible to see the sword at all. The motion stopped abruptly and the sword returned to its original solid state. Once it did, Master Bufan used both of his hands to hold the sword, and then vertically swung it such that whatever attack came from it would be directed to the sky instead.

Savyrran looked up in that direction and then saw a larger and longer form of the golden flamed slash shooting up in the air. It looked like it was parting though the air and whenever it passed through a cloud, it was neatly sliced in two.

"I don't need to be close to my opponent to defeat them. I could slice you in two and you would never know where the attack had come from. In a battle, don't expect your opponent to wait for you to recover. They will not. In fact, they will strike you as soon as they see you hesitating."

Savyrran nodded intently at Master Bufan's words. It was something he had repeatedly told her and she had internalized that teaching. But facing Weiraga today had been so overwhelming to her that she had had to stop to catch her breath over and over, which was quite uncharacteristic of her.

Savyrran was lost in her thought, perplexed by something. How was it that Master Bufan was so much stronger than Ayoro. Well, Ayoro had beaten her a lot, but at least, she had managed fight him back squarely and even landed some hits. But why was it so hard with Master Bufan? Come to think of it, Ayoro's essence looked like what a yellow essence should be, just yellow. But Master Bufan's essence was pure gold. Yet, Master Bufan called it a yellow essence. She finally decided to speak her mind.

"Master Bufan," her small adorable voice called out. "Why are you so much stronger than Ayoro Basam?"

Master Bufan chuckled at the girl's question. Of course he was stronger than Ayoro. That man was a coward and a weakling who resorted to evil to make himself stronger. How could Master Bufan lose to someone who was interested in a short cut to gaining power? Even though Master Bufan would like to tell Savyrran this, he knew that was not just the reason. In fact, there was an even more concrete explanation and perhaps, it was time to explain it to the child.

"Do you remember Kasko Ajoni?" He asked. By now, his golden eyes had returned to normal and Weiraga had disappeared back into his soul. Using one's soul armos was a tedious task that drained one's energy. Being a strong man did not mean he was immune to the exhausting from over exerting himself.

"Of course, I do. He is one of my best friends." Savyrran wondered what Kasko had to do with Master Bufan being stronger than Ayoro. Still, she waited patiently to hear the master's explanation.

"Do you know why I advised his father to enrol him at Royal Dream Academy?"

Was it not because Kasko had always wanted to be a soul guardian, and Royal Dream Academy had one of the best combat schools in the kingdom? It was said that many of the kingdom's most powerful guardians were alumni of Royal Dream Academy. Was there perhaps another reason then?

"What was the reason?"

"Because Kasko had uncovered a potential that would only be left untapped if he stayed right here in this town. When Kasko awoke his soul armos, he did not just awake it, he also evolved it from its primordial state."

What in the world did that mean? An evolved soul armos? A primordial state? Why did all these sound strange to her?

"Don't be too baffled by this. What you need to understand is that the reason I am far stronger than Ayoro is because my soul armos has evolved and his has not. My evolved soul armos is even strong enough to clash with a green user whose soul armos has not yet evolved. The original state of a soul armos when it has not yet evolved is the primordial state. So you see, with my evolved soul armos going against a primordial soul armos, Ayoro stood no chance."

A smile grew on Master Bufan's face. "You said Weiraga is a terrible name to give to a sword. The thing is that I did not name my soul armos. He told me. People usually name their primordial soul armos, but once it evolves, it will tell you its real name. With the evolution of a soul armos comes its sentience. It does not matter if it is a weapon-type or a beast-type."

This whole thing was incredible. This old man was this strong? He was even strong enough to keep up with a green user. How amazing. But how do soul armos evolve? How was it that Kasko's had evolved so quickly? Was it not as difficult as advancing from one essence to the other? But if that were the case, shouldn't everyone in the town, especially her father, have an evolved soul armos? Instead why was Master Bufan and Kasko the only ones to have evolved soul armos? There were so many questions brewing in Savyrran's young.

Master Bufan could see how inquisitive the child was becoming and actually decided to end the lesson.

She was still bleeding, and though she may have a strong body and a higher tolerance to pain than most people, she could still collapse from losing too much blood. He assured Savyrran that they would continue their lesson once her wound had healed.

Then he led her back into the main house to have one of his disciples tend to her wound.