Frustration

Tian-Han and Kazuki are now on the training ground. Kazuki waits for any instruction from his master. Tian-Han stopped moving. Suddenly, the atmosphere feels heavy. It is like air was made out of rock, crushing Kazuki's shoulders. Kazuki is even forced to put a knee on the ground. 

The young boy looks up to his master who starts raising a hand with palm facing in front of him. The whole mountain, where the domain stands, starts to shake. The ground makes a raging roaring as it moves, letting multiple layers of stone emerge on a side of the training ground. Even the air starts shaking. 

Kazuki looks at his master with a mix of admiration, choc and fear.

"W-what happened?" 

Tian-Han looks at his student with a mysterious smile. Everything abruptly stops shaking.

"-I simply moved part of the mountain.

-W-what do you mean..? All of that for.. Some rectangles made out of rock? 

-No. Not any rock. Rock from the deepest part of the mountain. I made a hole in the mountain to make it come up and closed it behind to not alter the mountains too much. 

-But.. Why ? 

-Those rocks will be tougher and handle your spiritual energy easier than normal rock."

Tian-Han shows him to follow him and he guides Kazuki to the layers of stone, standing straight and vertically.

"It's time for the most difficult part. I hope you are ready because it won't be an easy stroll."

Kazuki nods as a sign of him being ready. Tian-Han shows the first moves to learn, which consist of putting one of his feet against the rock's vertical surface and bush with it. The movement of the leg is similar to the one of the legs when they jumped, however this time it is vertical. 

Kazuki passes this exercise without too much trouble, despite sometimes losing his balance. He proceeds to do the same with the other leg. Once it's done, Tian-Han takes an old mattress, which he might have brought from the temple, and puts it on the ground just next to the rock's surface. The old man looks at his student. 

"- Now that you got the thing, I'll need you to use it to jump. Do you remember the prior training from this morning? Put it to use on this wall of rock. 

-How?! 

-Think about what I just taught you, Kazuki. It has a purpose. I trained you to replicate the movement of your jumps but vertically. Now, all you have to do is to jump in the air, turn 90° on your left and push with your legs like you are jumping. Without Art, of course. 

-Without Art?!"

It seemed impossible in the eyes of the young boy. However he was determined to try it and to finish it with success. If Tian-Han gives this exercise, it might be because it is possible and because Kazuki could do it. Why would he otherwise? He puts himself in position on the mattress. He crouches and jumps in the air. He tries to move at an angle of 90° on his left, but he doesn't go very far and falls back on the soft mattress. 

The young boy gets back up and looks at the deep rock. He puts himself in position once more. He crouches. And he jumps, but this time he throws his body behind him to get some more kinetic energy and.. Goes too far. His legs are above the target. He keeps rolling a bit during his fall and ends up on the mattress, laying on his belly. He gets back up.

"Again..?" 

Kazuki starts to sense the difficulty of this task. He doesn't yield. He tries again. And again. And one more time. He keeps trying, under his master's gaze. Sweat pours on his skin. He repeats the same thing. He jumps. He turns in the air. He fails to aim at the wall. 

The sun is already in the middle of its descent through the sky. The young boy seems exhausted already. Tian-Han puts a hand on Kazuki's shoulder. 

"It is time to go back to the temple."

In the mind of the young boy, something ringed. He sees the black figure and he remembers that he wanted to be as strong as it. But yet, he is not even able to do beginner's training. He 

makes his mind. He won't stop here. He stands up one last time. He jumps, turning in the air. His feets touch the stone. He senses the hard surface under his toes. Finally, he did it. He touched the wall. And as he tries to push himself with his feet, he feels his body falling. He reached his limit. There is nothing he can do.

He stands there for a few minutes, not moving. He just realizes that he failed. He wanted to succeed so much that he ended up falling with no way to try again. He can't understand it. This feeling, it doesn't understand it. He wants to do it so badly but he is unable to. This feeling takes form in his body. His teeth are clenched in a grimace distorted by anger towards himself. His face tightens, freezing his aversion onto his features. He closes his fist and hits the mattress once. And twice. And another time. He curls up on himself, only intensifying his facial expression. From his grimace, he emits a growl of rage. Rage against himself. 

A soft hand caresses his back. Tian-Han talks with a firm tone.

"I see that you don't want to stop here. You want to progress. But overdoing yourself will only degrade your body and your mind. However, I'll allow you to continue at one condition. Takes some rest. Then, I'll let you train until the sun fades in the horizon."