The Training: Part I

Later that night, in bed Hunter couldn't stop thinking about the time where he had touched the orb and everything went dark. At first he thought of it as being something scary such as being trapped in a room that had no doors or windows and was completely black. There was nowhere to go but the more he thought about it the more he realized that is the way his life had become. The old man named Ramport might be his way out of this room that he was in and make a better life for him. Hunter also wanted to know the meaning of the orb becoming black was his skill on par with a low tier or was higher than that? He remembered the face of the old man when he saw the orb turn black. His face had turned completely pale and was very afraid. Could that mean that he was a high tier. There was no way right. He hadn't had the time to ask the old man all of these questions as he walked very quickly away after telling him to meet up at the same location next morning. With these questions in mind Hunter went to sleep.

That same night Ramport sat at the edge of his bed thinking about the color of the orb. He said to himself "Is that even possible? The orb turned completely black was the child evil or was he something else" Ramport had never seen or heard of the orb ever turning black. But his curiosity still got the better of him and he wanted to see how powerful a black orbed user was, With that he went to sleep.

The next morning, Hunter got up early and left the orphanage without eating any breakfast as usual. He went to the same spot that he and the old man had met the day before. As he waited all he could think about was Malco and how he was doing. Malco was more than a friend to him; they were as close as brothers.They both had stolen together, shared secrets with one another, and they always fought together. So he had made sure that he did his best and he knew he was going to become a high tier.

The old man appeared out of the woods carrying a large bag within a few minutes. He told Hunter to follow him into the woods and to carry the bag. They kept walking for about 10 to 15 min. Just as Hunter was about to ask how much longer it would be till they reached their destination they came to a clearing and the old man stopped. He told Hunter "You will come here everyday to train."

The old man continued to go to the middle of the clearing and start to dig. Hunter was confused as he saw this. Then he saw the old man putting a circular item in the hole that he had dug and he covered it up. He asked the old man out of curiosity "What does that do"

The old man stood up and went to the bag and started rummaging through it. Hunter asked the same question again. The old man annoyed answered "It's a barrier orb it will make anything inside the clearing invisible to the outside person. We don't want to be showing anyone our tricks now do we."

Hunter had another question "How do you know that the orb will cover the entire clearing. I don't see any markers."

The old man sighed and said "The markers would be a dead giveaway that someone is here. Depending on the size of the orb it will cover that much of area. The larger the orb the larger the area it will cover. We can also tell how far the barrier goes from our end."

Hunter was pleased with the answer but he had more questions as he was about to open his mouth to ask another. The old man held up his hand and said "First lesson: No more questions until I say otherwise. "

Finally the old man had found the time that he was looking for. He pulled out a small black cube. Hunter looked at the item as confused again. What was he supposed to do with this item? The old man walked in front of Hunter and put the cube down. He then asked Hunter to pick it up. Hunter bent over and tried to pick it up. It was a lot heavier than it looked. He couldn't pick it up with one hand, he had to use two hands to lift it off the ground about an inch. He tried to lift it higher but it felt as if his hands were about to rip off and he let it go. It fell to the ground with a huge thump. It caused a small in the ground. The old man spoke "That box is made by herricha skin".

Hunter looked at the old man with confusion. The old man sighed again and said "Herricha is like a rhino with two horns that come from the nose area and scale like skin that could increase its weight and also harden to become like a ball of pure metal. Looks like you don't have knowledge on what beasts roam our forests. Lets see if you know about the tiers. How many tiers are there and how do you get to a higher tier?"

Hunter was embarrassed that he didn't know about the monsters but he did know about the tiers. Hunter replied "There are 6 tiers unknown, low tier, mid tier, high tier, nobles, and royals. The only way you can be made a higher tier is by beating someone from that tier."

The old man said "Yes and no. Each tier has 10 levels except nobles and royals. Doesn't matter what power you have. Even if it is a strong one if you aren't able to control it you will be in one of the lower tier levels. I will teach you how to control your power but first you must train your body to a certain point.You must be able to pick up this box a foot off the ground and hold there for 1 minute. I want you to work out your arms and prepare your stance for this"

Hunter didnt know why he had to do all this but we didn't question the old man because of the first rule.As Hunter was about to start to work out his stomach rumbled loudly. The old man looked at Hunter and laughed. Then he said "They don't feed you well at the orphanage well do they? Here eat it is high in protein"

The old man(Ramport) handed Hunter a large piece of meat from the bag. Hunter immediately took the piece from Ramports hand and smelled it. He had never seen anything like it before. He then bit into it. It tasted amazing. It was smooth on the inside and had a nice strong taste. He looked at Ramport and said with his mouth full "whaa ias thim." (What is this)

Ramport was clearly annoyed but understood Hunter. He looked at the Hunter and said "Don't talk with your mouth full. Close your mouth and eat. Don't you have any manners? It's meat from the Trasez bird which is common to this area. Have you never tried it?"

"No, we can't afford meat" Hunter said as he continued to eat.

After Hunter looked at Ramport for more. Ramport looked back at the boy and said "Get back to training. I didnt bring you here to eat."

He started to do push ups, situps, pull ups, etc. He continued that till his arms hurt. He knew that he was going to be sore for a day for two after this work out. As if reading his mind the old man walked over and handed Hunter a small glass cup filled with a green liquid. The old man told him to drink it. Hunter could smell the wretchedness from the green liquid. He immediately declined. The old man then said that this would cause the soreness in his muscles to go away within a few hours so that he can train once again. The old man then stated "Do you want to save your friend or not?" Hunter knew this was the only way he could get stronger within a short amount of time. He drank the green liquid and he could feel huge amounts of pain all over his body but then he started to feel the pain go away and he felt rejuvenated. The liquid had worked better than the old man had said and Hunter could work out again. Seeing what Hunter was about to do Ramport grabbed his hand and said "After you drink this liquid you cannot work out until a few hours or your muscles will tear and they will not be able to heal for quite some time. Go home and rest now."

Hunter was shocked to hear about the side effects of the liquid. He walked back to the orphanage before it got too late. He repeated this for a week. At the end of the week he had met the requirements to start training. Hunter thought Now the real training begins.