Chapter 184 Training

Smoke pillars rose high in the sky over a massive battlefield. The pillars reached so high they almost touched the Stars above. Horns were blown, signifying the end of the fight. The barbarians had been pushed back once again.

Another victory for the Empire, the supporters back in the capital were certain to be elated, and every citizen would be glad to see those monsters go back to where they belonged. That was the general trend of course, there were always exceptions.

The war brought a lot of destruction, this time for example, a smaller village was obliterated in the fight. Not a single house escaped unscathed. Fires were everywhere, giving the eternal night under the Stars an eerie glow. 

The Emperor slowly walked forward, his foot stepped on something creating a squishy sound, like stepping on a piece of wet meat. Only when he looked down, did he realize what it was. The guts of one of his own soldiers. The insides seeped through his sandals, staining his already bloody toes in a fresh coat of blood. The blood had already lost its warmth. 

Wiping his eyes for a moment, he noticed the irony smell. It was then that he noticed that his entire face was covered in blood. During the fight, he had been so focussed on his battle, he lost track of the details. With the only goal to kill in his mind, everything that didn't aid him in battle was negated. His fists were covered in blood of so many people, yet it wasn't an uncommon sight. 

His face unchanging, he stared forward, the smoke pillars in the distance and the pile of corpses of both his friends and enemies all piled up together to form a sea of blood. Faces he recognized as friendly people, some farmers, some unknown, all reduced to a pile of rotting meat. He stood there, waiting for something to happen.

It didn't occur during every fight, but sometimes he got lost in his own thoughts. Was he doing the right thing, was there even such a thing in the first place? He killed thousands of people, men and women, all succumbed to his power. When pushing the front lines, villages of Barbarians were caught up in the mix. The blood of dozens of innocent children were on his hands.

All these thoughts started to float in his mind until they formed a whirlwind. Entering a trance, the man lost sight of his surroundings. 

There was a strange feeling in his heart, describing it felt impossible. As he started to space out something slowly brought him back to reality. It felt like a slow awakening. Someone was beating his chest, or at least trying to.

With his physique only the best of Mana weapons could pierce his skin, even the best Tier 2 warriors had trouble landing a hit, let alone dealing any damage. And yet, here he felt it, it hurt more than the weapons that grazed his skin. That fist, of a lone woman covered in blood who tried her absolute best to punch him, made him feel something

Looking down he found her weeping as the tears in her eyes streamed down her face. Like him, her hands were covered in that familiar red, yet he didn't recognize her as a soldier. He couldn't hear her words even though her mouth moved. 

She was sobbing while desperately trying to go against the ruler of the Empire. As sound started to come back to him, his generals found him and pulled the woman away from him. Grabbing her by her arms, she was pulled back. 

"Your majesty, we apologize that you had to see such a sight. This woman is the wife of one of the traitors, being an accomplice and accusing the Emperor of crimes while trying to sabotage a war mission, she deserves the death sentence."

Without waiting for his approval, another general summoned his Mana sword and decapitated her without hesitation. 

"Again, my apologies, I didn't expect there to be traitors among our citizenship, you should've never seen such a sight.", the others agreed and nodded. 

All the while the Emperor still wasn't fully there, looking at his surroundings, the destruction around him washed away as he heard a strange sound. There was a derelict house not far away. Seeing him stare at the building, one of the generals took the initiative.

"I believe that's where she came from, my Lord, I'll go check it out if you want me to."

Leaving no response, the Emperor slowly walked towards the building as the only thing he could hear drew him closer. The faint noise of a crying child made him enter the broken down house. 

A man was lying on the ground with a gaping wound in his chest. Was this the traitor the generals mentioned? The Emperor didn't care as all his attention was focussed on a corner in the house. A small boy with brown hair was poorly hiding from it all. Seeing the fear and sadness on the face of such a young child that barely reached his knee when standing up did something to the Emperor.

The generals joined him and saw the child in the corner. "Your majesty, this is the offspring of two traitors, give your command, and I'll take care of it in a flash."

All the generals were extremely loyal to the Emperor, his strength and leadership made them who they are now. They would gladly sacrifice themselves for the Emperor. Any dirty work they had to do in the shadows was seen as righteous, even the killing of a child. 

If they let him go, he would either starve on the battlefield, become a slave or even worse, another traitor to the Empire. The Emperor didn't respond as he crouched near the child. "Will you come with me?", a voice so calm and normal would make anyone relax, yet in this situation it only scared the child further.

He reached his hand out towards the boy, covered in blood of how many people, the child could only cry and tried to hide himself. 

"Are you planning on leaving him in an orphanage, my Lord?"

"No, I'll take him in myself."

The generals were all surprised to hear such a thing. After he lost his children they wouldn't dare think the Emperor would ever involve himself with another child. Still, it wasn't their place to doubt their fearless leader, they could only follow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walking through the town, the many stares started to make Lucas feel annoyed. He just wanted to some privacy, yet it was clear people would follow him here wherever he went. Having only a single arm also piqued a lot of people's interest. Since he was walking behind Carian, many were thinking Carian was the one who got the Starborn under his control. 

It didn't take long before they got to the training ground. It was mostly an empty courtyard with a bunch of dummies set up. The surprising thing was the fact that there was a large rock in the center of the courtyard. 

At first, Lucas thought it was some kind of falling Star that they worshiped, but then he saw people punching the stone as hard as they could. They looked like ordinary people and right after they hit the rock their hands hurt like crazy. Waving them around, trying to shake off the pain, nobody found it strange.

'What the hell are they doing? What's the fucking point?'

'Perhaps a ritual or something?'

Destroying the rock wouldn't be a problem for almost any Tier 1, let alone Lucas or someone like Carian. All the people who punched the rock were ordinary people, not a single Tier 1 bothered themselves to do it. 

Carian noticed the look of Lucas and smiled to himself, "Hahaha, you might find it a bit strange, but this is all training. You see, the first trial is the easiest, but simultaneous extremely hard. The reason is that people that haven't stepped in the Tiers are just normal people. Yet they have to succeed in a grueling trail to gain power."

"That still doesn't explain the rock thing."

"Oh, yes, like I said, you won't have any issues in the Trail since you're already powerful enough to handle every test. There's only a single test that I believe you'll want to train for."

"And that's the rock?"

"Yes, the final test of the first trial is a test of determination or as some scholars see it, recklessness. The trail asks you to punch a rugged and sharp stone as hard as you can. The trial doesn't measure your power, but your willingness to give up your hand."

"I don't fully understand, you have to punch a rock as hard as you can, but your power doesn't matter, only how determined you are to sacrifice your hand?"

"Exactly.. I know it sounds quite strange, but the generally believed theory is that in order to gain power, one must not be afraid of confrontation and sacrifice. That's only one theory though, there are tons trying to explain it. There is no concrete proof for anything."

Hearing that Lucas did wonder how he could train for such a thing. He had already given up an arm and during fights would sacrifice his hand every once in a while to get a surprise attack in. Looking over the courtyard, some were punching the rock as hard as they could. The pain and consequences of doing so were inescapable. 

"Can't you break your hand doing such an act?", Lucas could imagine himself punching the rock, but he had magic. Healing his hand right after wouldn't be much of an issue since everything was already there, just broken, he didn't have to create an entire bone, just put the pieces together and the bone would heal itself.

"Absolutely. I asked the Emperor once how he fared, and he told he simply smashed his hand into pieces.", hearing the enthusiastic reply, Lucas didn't know what to think. "After the trail, you'll be healed of any impurities in your body. Many people failed the trial miserable, but healed their disease or regained their limbs as a result. So they never cared for the power."

"But training here would result in you losing your hand."

"..Yes, but like I said, the trail doesn't test your power, only your willingness, so even if you have a broken hand, you can still succeed."

"I see." Lucas only had his left hand left, which was a bit annoying since it wasn't his dominant hand. But on the other hand, he didn't have to be strong for this trail, so he would only have to train on his technique. 

"What are the other tests?"

"Oh, there's a test of intelligence, and a few combat related tests where you have to defeat as many opponents as possible. Those are easier, so you shouldn't have any issue. You can train here if you want. We're planning on resupplying and resting for a bit before moving forward. The next town on our path will give you the opportunity to take the first trail."

"Then I'll start training, if something comes up, send someone."

"Sure, we'll be ready in a couple of hours. I'll leave Thurin to you.", since there wasn't a day or night, people in the outskirst of the country didn't have a clear sleep schedule, it was always somewhat dark. Only the capital and the big cities had residents that had a uniform sleeping schedule due to Lighthouses that acted as a barrier.

Forgetting that Thurin was behind them, staying quiet, Lucas gathered some energy to approach him in a friendly way. He must've still felt pretty bad about his fathers passing, so Lucas tried his absolute best to seem helpful. Why he tried so hard, even Lucas didn't fully understand. 

"Do you want to train with me for a bit? Venting your feelings through punching things works really well.", while crude, what he said held a nugget of truth, how you acted upon it was something different.

"I'll heal you when you're hurt, like this.", Lucas took a stance and punched his left arm forward. It didn't go so well and the balance was off. Still, it landed on the rugged stone and instantly made his hand bleed. The pain was visible on his face for a split second. He showed his hand to Thurin before healing. 

"See? Nothing to worry about.", Lucas gave a relaxed smile..

Yet Thurin shook his head. What kind of stress relief is hurting yourself? He didn't get it, but understood the good intentions behind it. Not wanting the situation becoming awkward, Lucas started to focus on the rock in front of him. The first thing he needed was a good striking position. 

His balance was off, making his punches weaker, which was fine since he wasn't specifically looking for power. Still, he wondered how he could determine whether or not he would be ready to take the trial. The stronger his punch, the more willing he would be, no? Yet Carian said clearly that it wasn't power that was tested. 

Placing his legs a bit apart, he took a steady stance. With only a single arm, he needed to turn his body in order to gain momentum. Staring at the stone, he realized how many sharp-edged there were. The rugged rock would hurt just by placing your hand on it, yet now people were trying to hit it.

Taking a deep breath, Lucas punched the stone. Right as his fist almost hit it, he flinched and held back, the collision with the rock still hurt quite a lot. He didn't use any magic power, purely his own muscle strength, yet the pain was a lot bigger than he imagined. 

Healing it instantly, Lucas took another deep breath and tried again. Right as he hit the stone, he imagined all the cuts and bruises on his hand. There wasn't a single good reason for him to hurt himself so, his own instincts were telling him to stop. Once again, he held back, still causing a lot of pain in his hand.

After another healing effort, he tried again, he needed to remove his fear of getting hurt. During fights, he didn't have that problem since his life was on the line, the adrenaline always pushed him forward. 

He tried again, held back, healed up, tried again. This cycle kept going for a long time that the people around the training hall started to stare at him. Despite the fact that he was a Starborn, his dedication to continuing his training was incredible. Most people saw that test as the hardest since the training was immensely painful and couldn't be done a lot or their hands would be done for. 

People were amazed at first, but after the first hour, many people started to move on, they still had lives to be lived. Only a few remained as they kept staring and taking mental notes. Lucas gave off a strange aura, dissuading anyone from approaching. 

Standing there, he tried again and again without rest, seeing this determination Thurin felt inspired to see how much effort Lucas was trying to put into his training. Lucas on the other hand had steadily begun to hate his instincts, each time he almost hit the stone, something pulled him back. 

'Argh, what is it? Is it the fear of getting hurt? We hurt ourselves during almost every fight, why can't I do this?'

'Who knows, for all we know they don't know how the trial works. Is it really determination or are those scholars just so egotistical they can't think they're wrong?'

'I just don't get it, hey, you try it.'

Lucas had been getting a good grasp on how to perform his punch, during a fight he might mess up, but in a controlled environment, he was fine.

'What? I just need to punch the rock?'

'Yeah, I need a break until I figure out how to do it correctly.'

Switching places, Lucas took the same stance as before, the only change was the look in his eyes. They lost certain emotions and gained a strange glint.

Thurin had been staring at Lucas for a few hours now, seeing him so dedicated made him admire Lucas. He remembered his own training when he grew up in the palace. The way all his teachers tried to force him into another powerful soldier just because he was a child of the Emperor.

Reflecting back on those moments, he hated all the teachers the Emperor brought before him, it was only when Carian arrived that something changed. He listened clearly to what he said, he didn't hold any prejudices against him. Carian was the one who pushed him forward, not for anyone else, but his desire to see Thurin grow. Punching a rock similar to that, Thurin smiled thinking back on it. 

Most people tried once or twice and then quit, yet there he was, hitting it hundreds of times without resting in the slightest just to perfect it. It solidified the place Lucas had in his heart. 

The slight change that Lucas underwent was unnoticeable to everyone around, but not to him. It was subtle, yet drastic in a certain way. Lucas took a deep breath before punching the rock with all his strength. 

The distinct sound of bones being broken ambushed everyone's ears. Thurin looked at Lucas with wonder in his eyes, His hand was covered in cuts and bone was sticking out, but he simply shook it a bit and healed into one piece. His face didn't flinch in the slightest, as if he didn't feel the slightest bit of pain. 

"Done."