13 (12)->THE TEST-1

" " - Dialogue

' ' - Thought

---(Location)---

--(POV)--

-(Time gap)-

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---BACK MOUNTAIN, TATSUMA MANOR, OKINAWA---

--Author-san's POV--

-2 weeks later-

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It has been a week since the Tatsuma couple returned from Musutafu City after settling their daughter in her accommodations and making sure that all of the procedures regarding her admission were completed. And now it was time for Seiya's training to begin.

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A week later, early in the morning, two hours before sunrise, two people in workout clothes, could be seen trekking up the small mountain behind the Tatsuma Manor. These two figures were Seiya and Ryoma, who were going to meet with Seiya's new teacher.

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Seiya: "Otou-san, why am I usually not allowed here?"

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He had wanted to explore these back mountains a while ago but found out that he was not allowed to do so as this was a restricted area, accessible only to the clan head. Hearing his question, Ryoma smiled and replied

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Ryoma: "That's because the one who lives here does not like visitors. Also, the danger posed by the wild animals in the wilderness, made it necessary to restrict the access to this place. Currently, only I and your mother have access to this mountain.

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Seiya: "But how come this person gets to live here all by himself? Didn't you say that he isn't one of the clan members?"

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Ryoma: "That doesn't mean he isn't affiliated with the clan itself and it was your grandfather who gifted him this place as a reward for all that he has done for the clan and will continue to do so until his dying breath."

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Unknowingly, his father's words increased Seiya's admiration and respect towards his new teacher, a man who dedicated his entire life to the well being of his clan, manifold.

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Seiya: "So the one who will be training me is the person who lives here?"

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Ryoma: "Yep. From now on, every morning, you will spend two hours here before going to your classes and remember, you are not allowed to skip on them nor am I going to reschedule them just for you. If you want to become a hero then you have got to work for it as well. Now observe your surroundings carefully and take note of the path we are taking. This will be the only time I would be accompanying you. From tomorrow onwards you will have to come here all by yourself."

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Seiya: "Don't worry, otou-san. If there is one thing I am unafraid of, it's hard work and I am pretty sure I am good with directions."

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Ryoma: "Ha Ha Ha, is that so? That's good!"

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Laughing, Ryoma ruffled his hair and moved on through the narrow trail in the wilderness. Twenty minutes later, after passing through a clearing and a waterfall, they finally reached their destination - A small dojo at about two-thirds of the height of the mountain, hidden deep within the woods.

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Seiya: 'It takes half an hour to reach here from the manor therefore a complete round trip will take an hour which means that everyday I would have to come here three hours before my classes start. But this place is worth it with it's breathtaking beauty.'

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Lush green grass covered the ground, and along with the lake visible behind the dojo, presented a very vibrant scenery which had a soothing effect on one's mind. All in all, it was the best spot he could have chosen to train.

Meanwhile, Ryoma was inwardly praising his son's resilience. Not even once, during the entire trip, did Seiya mutter any word of complaint and trekked the entire way at the same pace as him. Despite constantly absorbing energy from the outside, most of it was used up in the maintenance of his 'dragon' quirk. Not to mention, even if did have all that energy, the fatigue and exhaustion of his body would not just disappear.

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Ryoma: 'Such resilience and patience would surely help him in the future during his time in training and as a hero.'

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But the both of them were interrupted from their thoughts by the opening of the dojo's door.

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Bang: "So you guys are finally here. I was getting kind of impatient, waiting here. We were supposed to meet half an hour ago, you know."

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The one who came out was none other than the 'Protector' of the Tatsuma Clan and Ryoma's old friend, Bang. His appearance being the same as it was three years ago and did not seem a day older.

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Ryoma, as usual, tried his best to keep calm and appear unfazed by his friend's reproachful words and replied,

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Ryoma: "I was just giving Seiya a tour so that he could get around from tomorrow onwards. Seiya, meet Bang, your new heroics teacher. And Bang, I present to you your new disciple, Seiya."

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Seeing Bang giving him a look over with his keen gaze, Seiya came forward and bowing down to him, as a student should, he said,

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Seiya: "Greetings Sensei!"

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Returning him a nod in approval, Bang turned back and said,

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Bang: "Follow me."

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Complying with his new teacher's wishes, Seiya followed behind him while Ryoma stayed behind, unmoving from his original spot observing the pair with an inexplicable expression present in his eyes.

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Inside the dojo, Bang led Seiya towards the storage room at the back where he pointed towards a closed closet and told him,

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Bang: "There are several gi inside this closet. Change into one of your size and come out."

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Seiya was then left alone in the storage room to change. Opening the closet, he found karate gi of not only different sizes but different colors as well. After going through the various gi of his size, he finally found one to his liking - a red colored half-sleeved gi with a black belt.

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Seiya: 'Ha Ha, I wonder if this counts as having the black belt.'

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Shaking his head at his own foolish thoughts, Seiya quickly dressed up and came out of the dojo only to find a note waiting for him by the door with his father and sensei nowhere to be found. Picking the note up, Seiya gave it a read. It said - "This is your first test as my student. Through the path, other than the one you travelled to come here, venture deeper into the forest following the marks placed to reach the cliff of this mountain and hurry for if you pass a certain time-limit, you will no longer be considered as my student."

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---CLIFF OF THE BACK MOUNTAIN---

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At the same time as Seiya was reading the note left behind by him, Bang along with Ryoma, had already arrived at the peak and started waiting for Seiya to make it there.

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Bang: "How long do you think he is gonna take to get here?"

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Ryoma: "Depends on what your mood was while arranging that course. If it was good, then half an hour, I guess. If it was quite the opposite, *sigh* then Seiya might not even make it here."

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These were his honest thoughts. Even though he had not seen the course set by his friend himself, he knew him enough to have a guess at it's level of difficulty and though Seiya was certainly 'special', in the end, he was still too young.

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Bang: "Hoh! Is this all the trust that you have in your son."

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Ryoma: "Unlike you, I haven't forgotten the fact that my son is only 6-years old and that I still consider that he can pass through one of your tests is more than enough to show my trust in him."

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Bang: "Heh, you don't need to worry too much about it. The purpose behind this test is to find the limit of Seiya's physical and mental endurance, at least until the final hurdle anyway so I made sure not to make it to 'too' difficult for him."

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Hearing Bang's words, Ryoma felt sorry for Seiya but his thoughts immediately turned towards the 'final hurdle' his friend mentioned.

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Ryoma: "And what is different about this final hurdle?"

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Bang: "You will have to wait and see the rest for yourself. All I will say is that it will be the most dangerous hurdle with almost no chance of him passing it."

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Arrows fell through the trees as Seiya traversed through the trail marked by his sensei with great difficulty. Despite the inability of his <Aura Sense>* of not being able to detect inanimate objects, the transformed state of his eyes, nose and ears were enough for him to sense the arrows coming as soon as they were launched but once again, the limitations of his still growing body were highlighted as his body struggled to follow his senses.

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Seiya: "What the hell! Is this supposed to be a test for a 6-year old!"

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He dreaded to think how a normal 6-year old might have fared against something like this. Unbeknownst to him, however, was that Bang had designed the course according to the data that had been compiled on him thanks to his constant monitoring throughout these years, while keeping his attack night performance in mind.

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There was no other way to cross this section of the trail either due to the thick foliage that surrounded him on both the sides. The idea of disarming the traps did come to his mind, but other traps covered them instead. While Seiya could disarm them too, the time needed would simply outweigh any gains that such a tactic awarded.

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Running, leaping, diving and crouching, he maneuvered himself through the rain of arrows. He might have had an easier time if he had just used his quirk but he decided against it, not knowing the length of the entire course. Seiya finally made it to the other side, taking almost 5 minutes from start to finish.

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Continuing on, Seiya continued to run with a steady pace while keeping an eye out for any oncoming dangers. The terrain soon shifted to a rocky one with the trail becoming steeper as time passed. The trail led him to a mountain cave where the second hurdle awaited him.

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In front of Seiya lay a lake, whether natural or artificial he did not know, but it's depths were not visible to him. His attention, however, was taken in by the stone slabs spread across the lake. Stretching his eyes to the limit, he then scanned the cave for any other clues but could not see the end of the lake within sight. With no other way forward, he once again turned his attention towards the slabs. Soon, he noticed the spacing between the slabs seemed non-uniform with the least spacing being close to his maximum leaping distance with transformed legs and the only ones he could get across.

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Seiya: 'This can't just be a simple coincidence. Could it be a... puzzle?!'

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The more he thought about it, the more Seiya felt his deduction to be true. The next step obviously was to solve this 'puzzle' itself. Making a mental map of the paths available to him, he started connecting all those slabs that were accessible to him based on the spacings and where they eventually led, his experience of exploring dungeons in Ixphoria proving it's worth. Unfortunately, since all the slabs were not visible to him, he could not make a path which he was sure of would not lead him to a dead-end.

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Without wasting any more time, Seiya moved forward to scope out the further slabs which involved scouting and mapping of them, which in itself included tracing his steps back whenever he hit a dead-end. It took him 10 minutes to finally figure a way across the lake, on the other side of which lay the exit of the mountain cave. Coming out of it, Seiya continued on his way without any rest, having spent so much time getting across the lake.

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(P.S. Read the author's thoughts below, please! Especially the poll part.)

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\\Author's Thoughts//

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So a much shorter chapter than my usual ones (only about 2000 words) but I had a feeling that shorter chapters are much easier to read than a longer one. In addition I will also release the next chapter by tomorrow or day after tomorrow by most. I have already written most of it (since I initially planned to release them together) so you guys will not have to wait for much longer.

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*-> Now I know some of you might say that Aura Sense as I have defined it should be able to sense the difference in the energies that occurs when an arrow is shot or something like that. The answer to this is that it is not 'tuned' or sensitive enough to detect such small changes in the surroundings. (Remember he could not sense Bang or his interference during the attack night.)

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Another thing I want to ask you all about is whether you want Seiya to have elemental powers or not. Please VOTE:

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>[Yes] {If Yes then also mention whether it should be single element or eventual multi elements}

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>[No]

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Please comment, review and vote. See you next time. Slán!

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