The Path of a Refiner

A weeks time passed since Kai's resolution, he had been regularly training with Sir Illinor, but that didn't help his predicament.

Whack! Kai was pushed forward with a strike to the back, but he didn't fall this time, he endured the pain and turned in time to avoid the next strike.

Illinor had a faint smile on his face as he continued to walk in circles around the dummy and the boy who was persistently striking at it.

Kai's strikes had improved, he had been repeating this action for a week consistently, and now he seemed more comfortable in his stance.

Any faults, and Illinor wouldn't hesitate to correct him. The two continued this exercise for an hour more, before Kai inevitably fell to the ground, his back was covered in sweat and dirt, and his breathing was rapid.

"You still haven't managed avoiding my strike for the set time period. Use your head boy, there is more to protecting yourself than simply dodging. Do I have to spell it out for you?" Illinor remarked casually as he stepped back and sat down crossed legged on the ground.

For a Knight of the Kingdom, he cared little about the condition of his clothes.

"I… am… trying sir. If only you'd ease up a little…" Kai spoke haltingly as he recovered his breath.

"You would be sorely mistaken if you believe I haven't been taking it easy on you. Now take your break boy, and ponder what you can improve on, silently." Illinor closed his eyes as he spoke. A faint golden glow began to spread from his skin.

Kai stared silently at the man sitting in front of him, he was quite fascinated by Sir Illinor's refining method.

He understood that surface refiners tempered their skin to become as if it were an impenetrable shield. But the glow coming from Sir Illinor was extremely faint.

'He's probably a low surface refiner, I wonder if he could take the strike of a sword with his bare skin?' Kai thought to himself.

A tempting thought surfaced in Kai's head after the excruciating week of training he'd endured. He looked at his sword, and back up at Illinor.

'One strike and he won't even see it coming. Expect the unexpected, his words not mine.' Kai had a mischievous smile on his face as he thought about striking the relentless teacher for a change. But, his father's words were still firm in his mind, he still wouldn't dare to disrespect the Knight. Moreover, he had a question that he'd been meaning to ask for a while now.

"Sir, if I may ask so, how does one go about becoming a refiner?"

Illinor frowned as he opened his eyes, the faint glow receded until his skin returned to normal. He looked at Kai.

"Refining doesn't concern you boy, you are not capable of enduring the pained process of it, neither are you wealthy enough to afford the necessary resources. Now don't bother me and continue your much needed reflection."

Kai frowned hearing Illinor's words, they were true, but harsh nonetheless. Moreover, he wanted to become stronger, and body refining was an avenue he was deeply interested in.

"Please sir, consider it a lesson in learning to deepen my defences, perhaps this could lead to me learning to refine my own body. And, if not that, it will also help me in understanding the various foes I'll face in my life."

"Wasn't it you who said." Kai cleared his throat and tried his best to do an impression using a hoarser voice, "You must ascertain the mentality of your enemy boy, whether it be a knight, bandit or soldier."

"But surely sir, a refiner counts as well." Kai spoke with a smile.

Illinor's frown deepened, "You're awfully chatty today, did I not beat you enough, or would you like me to go harder on you."

Kai's expression turned helpless, but he continued to look at Sir Illinor with expectations in his eyes.

"Hmmm. Fine, I can't refute your argument, but listen closely, for I will not repeat myself."

Illinor took a deep breath, he then looked up at the sky. His expression was serious "Kai, this world of ours, it is full of fascinating phenomenons. There are many elements we find ourselves surrounded by. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the fire we warm ourselves with and so on. But there is one element more arcane than others. Its very existence remains a mystery to those of us on this continent."

"It is said that our ancestors learned to harness this element hidden in the world among us. They deemed this element to be some sort of energy the can be used for the benefit of the living, the 'world energy' they called it. It can be found all around us, sometimes in minuscule amounts, but present nonetheless."

"I myself have tried to understand its nature, but much to my dismay, I've barely scratched the surface… The Kings of the Lost Empire, through years of coarse experimentation, conceived of methods to refine one's body using this energy. If not for refiner manuals surviving the fall of the Empire, refiners would not exist today. Nowadays, the general methods have mostly remained the same, the brutality of this continent made it hard for refiners to share such valuable knowledge with each other, hence further research became limited. But, every Kingdom has their own modifications in refining, in addition there is the added variance of the different refiner manuals, even though we all inherited the same original methodology, most refiners differ from one another in some way."

Kai had been listening intently to Sir Illinor's every word, this wasn't common knowledge, and in many ways Illinor was favouring Kai by revealing such information to him.

"To become a refiner you must be able to achieve two things. The first is becoming one with the world energy around you, this too increases with each refining stage. After you have achieved resonance with the world energy around you, to a necessary extent, you must begin assimilating it."

"It begins with the bones boy, every bone in your body uniformly absorbs this world energy. The energy penetrates your skins and organs like thin and invisible needles until it reaches your bones, the core of your body. It feels as if your bones are being turned to dust, a truly excruciating process, once your bones recompose completely, it results in their primary nature evolving, possibly transforming into a near unbreakable material." Illinor's expression was a bit sombre as he stared into the ground, he was recounting a painful experience.

"It sure hurts a lot, many cannot stand the pain, and if you can't stand the pain, then you can't prevail in sensing the energy consistently, it is quite the wretched cycle, and the reason why so many fail despite so desperately trying to achieve it. It only worsens as you step into the later stages of refining…"

Illinor looked up from the ground his eyes were glued to Kai, there was a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "Prevailing through the pain, hmmm, I wonder if you can handle it?"

Kai didn't shy away from Illinor's stare, he was already determined. "If you shall grant me the guidance sir, I shall give it my best."

For the first time, Illinor laughed, "Hahahahaha boy, I don't want you to merely give it your best, I want you to give it your all, only then you have hope of making it through. I must say though, I have keen eyes for potential refiners, and you're not it boy. So, I'd suggest you give up now."

A hint of disappointment surfaced on Kai's face, "I don't mind failing, but it'd be a shame to never even try." He spoke clearly, there was no hesitation either.

Illinor smiled, he seemed pleased by the recent changes in his student, the first day he trained Kai, he felt unmotivated to continue training this unwilling and timid boy. It would be fine if he lacked talent, but lacking will was where Illinor drew the line.

But this past week, he had seen an entirely different individual train under him. The boy was persevering despite his talentless nature, it was something Illinor appreciated.

"Alright boy, you'll have your chance, only if you can persist. Otherwise we'll exclusively train you in the art of the sword. What say?" Illinor waited patiently for Kai's response.

Kai was stressfully pondering his options, he wanted to attempt refining no matter the outcome, but he couldn't immediately agree, "Sir, if I may, how expensive is it to afford the necessary supplements for me to be able to sense the world energy?"

Illinor was happy to see Kai was regarding all factors. "I see, well, you'll be needing origin stones to help you resonate with the world energy. In simple terms, these stones originate from countless years ago, singularly positioned in high density areas of world energy."

"After a certain point of time, the stones nature evolves, and they become a sort of ore of the much coveted energy. We haven't been able to research them much, since they are quite rare, and in high demand, but there are often small fragments present in the rich merchant houses in the capital marketplace. Once you familiarise yourself with the nature of this origin fragment, your chances to sense the world energy increase greatly. They do serve other purposes for refiners as well, but for beginners this is the primary and most coveted feature."

Kai's expression turned sombre when he heard about the rarity of these fragments. His parents were already bound to paying Sir Illinor more than they could afford, and this, it was simply unacceptable for him to burden them with such a plight.

Illinor noticed the conflict on the young boy's face, he naturally didn't have any expectations for Kai to become a refiner, nor did he believe Kai could afford such a luxury. But there was still a hint of curiosity in his mind.

Illinor slowly got up and dusted himself, he looked at the pondering boy and spoke, "If you can continue to impress me in training, I'm willing to gift this fragment as recompense for your efforts." Illinor removed a tiny, crude, fragment, which was shaped like a rhomboid, and purely silver in colour from his pocket. It had a faint hue to it, and just staring at it left one slightly mesmerised.

Kai's eyes shined as he unabashedly stared at the piece of origin stone in Illinor's hands. He too picked himself up. Without even bothering to wipe the dust of his clothes, he spoke with a determined look, "I will give it my all."