Chapter 5 - Improvement

A month passed after that day. The boys' routine continued unabated, but they worked with even more eagerness if that was possible.

Sylvester had turned 10 a week earlier, and the day after his birthday, under the astonished gaze of his classmates, he achieved something that many other people do not achieve in their lifetime, becoming a true Master Warrior, by getting his Qi up to level 10. His muscles became stronger, although strangely enough he also became much fatter. He also became more boastful, but all the children congratulated him, including Nerun.

The sun was shining brightly over the courtyard. Maikal decided to organise a small tournament among the children to visualise their progress. He drew a circle in the middle of the courtyard, and all the children stood around it. Only 16 of the children would fight, the other 4 were still under 5 years old, and although they also participated in the exercises, their bodies were not yet used to it.

The winner would receive a prize, a full meal: with soup, a meat dish and dessert. None of the children had ever eaten anything, in their minds, so luxurious. In addition, Father Maikal promised to teach a secret fighting technique to the first, second and third-place winners.

Most people are usually born with a minimum amount of Qi and Mana, level 1. From then on, with their mere existence, people throughout life will cultivate one of the two energies according to their personal constitution, which is what generally determined whether it was better to dedicate oneself to the way of Qi or Mana.

The absorption of the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth is not a simple matter. The Academies and the major clans had secret teaching methods, the so-called Martial Models. These guided their members on how best to absorb the energy of heaven and earth.

Without these methods, natural absorption is too slow and there may be adults who in their entire lives would never reach level 10 in any of the energies. These people constituted the vast majority of the population in the world: the ordinary citizens.

For instance, finding a true level 10 Qi master in a regular village has a chance of around 1 for every 10 regular people. For every increase in Major ranks after that, it was once again 1 in 10. This means that there might be a one in a billion chance to find a level 90 Warrior in a Major Territory.

Apart from that, each person, as he or she progressed well along the way of Qi or Mana must choose a personal path or "TAO", according to his or her talents, disposition, character, tenacity, understanding of the natural world, degree of closeness to the world essences. This is what allows each person to advance on either path, however, most have limits to how far they can go.

This, however, does not imply that there are few warriors or wizards on the continent, after all the population of the world is gigantic, and each of the Major Territories had hundreds of millions and even billions of citizens, not counting the smaller surrounding countries and regions. However, true powerhouses, with high levels of Qi and Mana remain the minority throughout the world and are the true backbone of each region.

Sylvester had the first fight against Landa, another of the older boys, aged 9. Landa rushed at Silvester with great agility and threw a big punch at him, but Silvester stood still and took the blow to his chest without moving. He then smirked and threw a slap that sent Landa flying through the air, bleeding from the mouth and with a broken nose.

"This is unfair," said Landa as he sat down with difficulty. "Sylvester is already a Qi Master, how are we supposed to beat him. He has a huge advantage over us, his Qi has strengthened his muscles, and he can also use it to reinforce his attacks. There is no comparison between us." He complained bitterly.

"You know very well that life is not fair. Or do you think you will always face people of the same level as you? What if you are pursued by multiple people at once during a battle? Will you then say that the battle is unfair before you die? And that kind of death will be truly foolish. There are many people, more talented, more resourceful, and way more powerful than you. You are orphans and you have nothing, but here you are training to change that. You have to face all kinds of battles, all kinds of struggles to keep growing and getting stronger or else even the little you have will be taken away from you. You all have great potential. If you think it's unfair, train harder and become stronger," Maikal said, looking at him sternly.

All the children fell silent as they ruminated these words in their heads.

The next battle was between Brandon and Luka, who were each 8 years old. In this case, the fight was much more even. Both children had Qi strength levels 7 and 8 respectively, and were quite agile and fearless. Brandon decided to give it his all, so he started throwing multiple punches quickly, at a rate of 3-4 punches per second like a machine gun.

- ra tatatatatata -

Luka was a little more agile, however, and managed to dodge the vast majority of the punches, defending himself from the few he couldn't avoid.

Brandon finished his attack, breathing heavily. Luka took the opportunity to approach Brandon and hit him in the abdomen. Brandon doubled over in pain and as he was almost out of air, this was the coup de grace and he ended up defeated on the ground.

Luka was very happy to have been able to defeat Brandon and approached Sylvester, sitting next to him and waiting for the next bouts.

The next 3 fights were between 6 and 7-year-olds. They all had a Qi level of around 5 - 6, which was the normal level that most people would reach in their lifetime. It was commendable that they had already reached this level as children, and it was all due to the training provided by Maikal. The winners were Karol, Misha and Senna. Maikal was smiling as he watched his children's improvement.

Nerun was looking forward to the fight, and finally, it was his turn. He needed to fight Adam, an 8-year-old boy with curly red hair and a lot of freckles on his face.

Adam was also quite eager to fight and said to Nerun: "I know you are very strong Nerun. But I have also been training hard for this last month, and I have managed to reach Qi level 8, while you have only reached level 6. This time, I will be the one who wins."

The battle was not long in coming. Adam rushed towards Nerun, wanting to take advantage of his higher Qi level and finish Nerun off as quickly as possible so as not to give him a chance. Nerun assumed a relaxed stance, one foot in front of the other, minimising the area of contact Adam could see and strike.

An unremarkable glint crossed Maikal's gaze when he saw Nerun's stance. 'The boy has assumed a natural defensive stance. I didn't teach him that... Could it be that he has your talent too?' Maikal wondered.

When Adam came running at him like a bolide trying to knock Nerun down with outstretched arms, Nerun's gaze was fixed on Adam's feet. Just as Adam's centre of balance shifted right as he was about to reach his opponent, Nerun suddenly jumped up and threw his arms over Adam's shoulders before he could react. Using his arms as a foothold, he somersaulted and kicked Adam in the back.

Adam lost his balance and fell face-first to the ground. At that moment, Nerun rushed at Adam and did not let him get up while punching him repeatedly in the head and back. Maikal declared Nerun the winner of the fight.

"Hehehehehehehe. Looks like victory is mine, Adam".

Adam was disappointed, because he knew that he was physically stronger than Nerun, not to mention that he was also older than him. He wanted to excuse himself and go back to fighting, but before he could say anything, Maikal looked at him and said severely:

"You have no excuse whatsoever, Adam. You may be physically stronger than Nerun, yes. But strength is not everything. Technique and skill count too. What good is having the mightiest sword in the world if you can't use it properly. Any soldier, even if he had only a Qi level of 4 could have defeated you, for the sole reason that you don't know how to use your power. I have seen you only worrying about your physical strength this month, just lifting rocks and doing strength exercises like Sylvester. It is not bad to increase your physical strength, but it is even more important that you know how to use and control said strength. On that point, Nerun is way ahead of you".

All the children listened attentively to Maikal, and several of them could not help but bow their heads.

Nerun was smiling, until Maikal gave him a sidelong glance, and he immediately stopped his provocative behaviour and sat down on the winners' side.

The seventh bout ended quickly, with no major surprises, Andrew, a 7 year old boy with a Qi level of 7, winning. The last of the fights was between two girls, the only other two apart from Miriam and Maya, aged 7 and 8. Their names were Alexa and Malina respectively. They didn't really like to fight much, preferring to help Maya with the housework, but Maikal was just as strict with everyone and forced them to participate. He knew better than anyone that in this barbaric world, if a woman was not strong enough to defend herself, or depended on someone to support her, her future could be the most cruel and merciless.

Alexa and Malina were quite agile, and although they were quite young, their coppery, sun-tanned skins, as well as their small, well-developed muscles from exercising, made them look like beautiful, healthy girls. Despite their reluctance to fight, they were born acrobats, and their fight was one of the most eye-catching.

Still, Maikal couldn't help but frown when he realised that the whole so-called battle was nothing more than window dressing, whereupon a small growl came out of his mouth.

When the girls heard the growl, they shivered, and Malina reached over and shoved Alexa hard, who, when no resistance was put up, rolled out of the ring and lost the fight. Malina smiled at Maikal in an attempt to dissipate the latter's anger, who could do nothing but sigh.

'These girls don't understand that they need to learn how to defend themselves'

Maikal thought to himself. He glanced at Maya, who, with her gaze, gave an understanding that she would talk to them.

That was how the first 8 fights ended. The winners, Sylvester, Luka, Karol, Misha, Senna, Nerun, Andrew and Malina, stood in front of Maikal as the next round was to be decided by drawing lots. The children who had lost were a little disappointed but quickly became happy for their friends and began to cheer them on with smiles on their faces.

"You can do it Nerun".

"Don't you dare lose, Malina. Show that we women can do it too," said Miriam with laughter.

"Sylvester, you're the greatest. You better beat everyone, or I'll lose the bet I made."

Brandon said. He had bet the chores they had to do next week with the rest of the kids, who were backing who they thought would win.

The second round was about to begin.