Beginnings (2)

I went back to my room. It was small, only enough for a bed and a desk to fit in. It couldn't be compared with my old place, but after two months, I got used to it. I put the bag with awakening stones on the desk, I only kept one piece in the palm of my hand.

This amount should be about one-third of what is needed for one person to awaken, on average. But it is still worth a few thousand officially, and probably more on the black market. It was cold in touch, and like gold, it could be deformed with just your fingers.

Except for the size, it was the same as the one in the university. I remembered the time I searched my soul for the first time. They had a piece of awakening stone the size of a football, with that amount it took me around ten minutes to find my soul, and another five to search it.

But this will be many times more difficult. And the awakening stone poisoning, it will be hard to focus on anything. It is known for as long as the humanity was able to mine the awakening stone, the miners would inhale small particles of the awakening stone, it would slowly sip into their bloodstream, then it would get attached to the pain receptors… they would suffer for hours, with every inch of their bodies in pain.

And now I need to do this to myself.

There was no need to hesitate.

Feeling the bead passing through my throat, my body shivered. Wasting no time, I started to concentrate, trying to focus on where the bead should be.

With my eyes closed, I imagined myself, my soul, this was the way to search for the soul. The soul looks the same as we see ourselves, and to find it, all that I must do is imagine myself in front of me, and at one point, it will change… it will become more real.

At that point, I can start to interact with my soul. Search it, extract the soul essence, or in my case move the soul over.

After ten minutes, I realized how difficult it will really be to focus and find the soul, the amount was tiny comparatively. But I continued, trying to find my soul.

About thirty minutes passed since I started, I felt my toes go slightly numb, followed by pain as if someone started to poke them with red hot needles. It hardly started, but I couldn't help but let a cry out.

With every second I felt the pain climbing up, and soon my whole body was in unimaginable pain. I grabbed a pillow from the bed and started to bite on it, trying not to start screaming.

---

Listening to the screaming of the kid coming from upstairs, I couldn't help but smile. That smart ass will learn now. When it comes to awakening the soul arts its unlike anything that a person can experience.

But he will have to go through it if he wants to accomplish anything.

But he evidently is determined, no matter what I threw at him he just kept going. All the exercise, and pain from it he would endure it all, ordinary people would break after a week.

Tenacious would be the right word to describe him. He has strong motivation, but for some reason, he is keeping it secret. Whatever it is, it propels him to the extreme.

It was… twenty years ago? I had to go through the same thing. It was a cycle of pain and training, without a break for three months.

Getting used to the pain, was the first step. The awakening stone connects to the pain receptors, but it won't damage them, so the excruciating pain, you will never grow too dull to it.

He needs to learn how to keep his mind clear under the pain.

Then the fighting training, he can't stop it even for one day. The awakening stone that is still in the body will 'activate' under high stress, that will bring the soul 'closer'. And if he can keep it up, it will make it easier for him to find the soul.

Not to mention knowing how to fight is a necessity in the society he will become a part of. Right, I guess I need to explain to him how all of it works as well. But I can do it tomorrow.

Then there is the moving of the soul, but that… well, maybe I shouldn't tell him about that? It would be a distraction I guess.

Meh, we'll see.

---

Waking up I felt the pain in my body, it was not as bad as yesterday but still…

I don't remember how long I was able to stay conscious, but it was rather quickly that I passed out from the pain.

I dragged my body to the bathroom, in the mirror I could see that there was no real damage, I could find some small bruises here and there, probably from when I was rolling on the floor.

My eyes, were completely red, actually mixing quite well with my blue irises. I got my hair into shape, washed my face, and got ready.

'BUMP!!!'

Looking at the clock, it was 7:59, the training is supposed to start at 8, but his watch is off by two minutes.

I rushed downstairs, and out of the house, there Master was already waiting, looking at his watch with a dumb expression on his face.

"You're late. Let's add 10 min of running."

Running, push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, squats, sit-ups, all the basic, but Master pushes them to the extreme, making me do more then it should be physically possible.

Hours later, physically exhausted, I collapsed onto the floor.

"You can rest. For thirty minutes, then we can start with fighting training."

"Yes… Master. Can you tell me something?"

"What is it?"

"I tried to awaken yesterday. And it didn't go the best. I wanted to know if there is any trick to it or something."

"There isn't any. I know what you are feeling, but you just have to power through it. Rest, I will teach you how to fight soon."

The thirty minutes passed far too quickly.

"Get up. Tell me, what do you think fighting is?"

"Huh? Well, punching, blocking, evading, there the fighting techniques, karate and like that. Martial arts as well."

"Right. That's what most people think of when it comes to fighting, and well, they are not entirely wrong. But fighting is something that most people don't do, in how many fights have you been? How many times have you punched someone?"

"Well… none."

"Makes sense, today normal people usually don't fight. But you, since you want to learn soul arts, you will become a part of society that is different, a lot different then what you think is supposed to be normal."

"What do you mean?"

"You will learn, in time. But for now, all you need to know is that being able to fight is a need if you want to go down this path. Back to fighting, you mentioned karate and Martial arts, I will not be teaching you anything of sorts. Martial arts, in particular, they are just flashy and honestly useless. Especially for you. What I will teach you is the most efficient way to defeat your opponent. Now… Attack me."

Attack? Sure.

With my guard up, I slowly closed the distance, looking at him I paid attention to every small movement of his, where his eyes were looking, whether he seemed confident. I tried to predict when will he attack so I could block and the counter.

His right!

I saw it move at an incredible speed, I raised my left hand to block it, and when the punch was about to arrive… his palm opened, inside was sand it hit my hand, then my face and eyes. It was too fast, I could stop myself and my eyes shut.

'Bam!'

Feeling the heavy punch to the stomach my legs bent and I fell to the ground.

"This is your first lesson, there are no rules. Everyone learns this at one point, some die because they didn't know better. Remember this."

'Bam! Bam! Bam!'

He didn't stop there, his foot landed on my face. I curled up sluggishly, trying to protect my head.

"Get up, if you don't want to die, you need to kill your enemy. This is lesson two, for the enemy, there is no mercy, he will kill you if there is a chance, so do the same."

I opened my eye, looked the man that was supposed to teach me but was just beating me up. Master took few steps back and was now looking down on me with his arms crossed.

Listlessly I raised my body.

"Attack me."

Is this what he meant? Is this going to be like this if I keep going down this 'path'?

I rushed forward and threw a punch which was blocked effortlessly by him. He smiled.

This was the moment, with my lungs full of air I blew the sand the was in my mouth at his face. Immediately followed by a kick to the crotch. You wanted me to be ruthless to the enemy? You are the enemy right now.

'Thump!'

The pain came through my knee as if I kicked a metal plate, followed by a palm strike to the chest that sent me flying.

'cough, cough, cough.'

I opened my eyed slightly too see light surrounding master's body when my vision cleared a bit a saw it in its full splendor again. Like a crystal armor, it covered every inch of his body, this was the only reason I was still here.

The only reason that I agreed to learn from him.

It was when I first met him, he showed it to me, the power that it can give.

Power to crush mountains and split seas.

All in a simple form of an armor…

"Well done kid, that surprised me. Now you just have to get up and attack me again."

"…"

"Kid?"

"…"

"Did I overdo it?"

'Splatter.'

The cold water running down my face was more than enough to wake me up, I don't think there was any need to pour it on me twice.

"Are you awake kid?"

"Yes."

"Good. Get up now, how is your chest? I don't think I hit you too hard."

"It hurts, but it is bearable."

"Good, Good. That's good. You did ok, I must give you credit for that…"

"Thank you, Master."

"Ok. Listen, kid, what you experienced the past few weeks, especially yesterday and today, this is only the tip of the iceberg, pain, and suffering will become your norm. With some luck, it will continue for a month, maybe more. I don't know what is it that it propels you forward, and it honestly, I don't need to know. But now you know what it will take to do it."

"You are asking me if I changed my mind? No, I did not."

"That's good. Well then, you can go back upstairs for today, eat, try to search for your soul. Tomorrow you will start the 'real' training."