Training

I try and relax the last day away but I'm to excited about tomorrow to rest properly, an hour in to just laying on my bed I sit up and begin meditating. Like that my third day in this world passes with minimum problems and me freshly cleaned up. Next morning Lucien enters my room and taps me awakening me from my meditation, I can see a less then pleased look on his face most likely due to me not sleeping. 

Getting up and putting on the workout clothes we had bought for me yesterday, a pair of athletic joggers and a sleeveless workout shirt along with a pair of high top workout tennis shoes. I follow Lucien downstairs to eat, no one is in the kitchen this time and a bowl of grits and two sausages are sat on the table. 

Eating it in ten minutes Lucien then takes me to the practice room I had seen before but not gotten a good enough look at due to being tired and falling asleep after advancing and eating last time, looking around I can see the children training weapons we had bought yesterday sat on a rack right by the door. There are ten separate mats sat around the gym with 15 different doors 5 on each adjacent wall leading to a most likely separate individual training rooms, with basic physical workout machines placed in the back of the room along with 20 separate benches dotting the walls around the room.

"You are to young to truly spar with us as we often do battle royal style of all vs. all but you can do separate workouts while we spar and we will train you individually to see who style fits you best. With many elements and a decent muscle frame you are a person who although not the best in any particular area will make a great allrounder, but the spear will probably be your best bet meaning I'll be your main trainer most likely." Lucien says.

He gets me set up on the tread mill first, it looks the same as the ones in my world but the turn on button is a purple gem while the turn off one is the clear gem, Increase the speed you input more mental energy while to slow down you put in less. Lucien said it is to practice using ones mental energy while performing physical labor.

After only ten minutes of running I begin to struggle as I usually only use mental energy as it's own separate energy when I'm cultivating, but this machine requires me to use only mental energy not the transformed mental energy in my energy veins. Although simple at first I had begun to slow down while running causing Lucien to point it out, then to prevent it I began to add to much energy once more being reprimanded.

After thirty minutes of up and down the other doors opened and the others come out with sweat lightly on them, although definitely having trained hard they still have plenty of energy left. Being distracted by them coming out  I slowed down again and got reprimanded again. Trying to focus on just the machine I have trouble not listening and paying attention to them, I had only gotten reprimanded every five minutes or so but now it's every two minutes.

After an hour of running with speed up and slow down I am quiet tired, although I walked a lot in the slime cave it had always been consistent and steady pace with little running except in small sprints. Now I was going up and down causing me to get tired rapidly.

"That is enough running, although plenty of mental energy your control is most definitely little at best, you are clearly used to using either small amounts of it or a large amount with little experience in the in-between. How you can control a water ball with such limited control is impressive but ultimately not what we are looking for. You need precise control so as not to rapidly deplete your mental energy while fighting." 

I was confused at this statement as I use no mental energy when I fight but my energy veins energy, but it may be that the fighting style of this world is simply different and therefore may require a different amount of energy usage.

  "Next we will start up on battle stances and fighting style, you said dagger so I suppose you are most accustomed to that, although I do not know your fighting style it does not mean I can't tell if it is good or not based on how much stamina and damage you would take when fighting like that." Lucien then goes and gets the practice dagger from the rack and hands it to me before leading me to a mat.

"Go through all your forms and then I'll give a practice spar while you use energy and me not using any." So I go through my forms slowly so as not to make a mistake. "You appear to follow a high stamina and a high damage fighting style with all your force focused on attack and hurting others with little defense and a high stamina output." 

Stepping up on the mat he then gets into a battle position without any weapons, seeing as he said he won't use energy I am confused on how he intends to harm me or pin me down. "I'll let you attack first, the spar will last 10 minutes as you have already expanded a decent amount of mental energy and stamina just now. You can attack at any time to begin the spar" Lucien says.

Surprised I hesitate to attack him unarmed and with him using no energy to defend himself, but if he said it he must be confident in himself to dodge and block so I let go of my reservations and  I put up a low end shield and a thin coating on my dagger while pushing the energy into my muscle to increase the strength and capacity of what I can do.

Like that I dash to Lucien only to see him step out of the way slightly as though that is all that is needed to avoid the attack, unfortunately they both realize to late that whatever he had been thinking was not what he got as he stumbled and barely held his footing against the attack.

Seeming surprised at the force and strength of the attack Lucien does not let the surprise last on his face long before immediately jumping back and raising his hand in a stop.

"What did you just do right then?" Lucien asks, clearly there type of fighting is far more diverse than either of them had thought. Panic filled me as if my fighting style is to drastically different he may begin to suspect something is wrong with me even more then he already must.

"I used my energy veins to coat myself and increase my strength and stamina capacity and defense, it is what allows us to use the style we do." I don't bother lying as doing so would just make it worse, I had already revealed a drastic difference in myself if I hide it, it may seem to suspicious and get them on guard against me, they may even hand me over to their government if that happens.

Thinking of what would most likely happen if a foreign person not of my world showed up I can imagine what would happen to them if discovered, tortured for all available information then disposed of so as to cover up what they did.

Shivering slightly my thoughts appear to have distracted me to much as Lucien tapped me on the shoulder once more to get my attention back on him.

"I have never heard of a energy manipulation style that does physical enhancement like this, it is usually a type of buff put on others and not applicable to ones self. You said everyone can do it in your tribe?" Nodding my head in answer I can see the others are also now paying attention to our conversation.

"Usually mental coating like that would just increase ones reaction speed and senses so you can feel the area around you better, physical enhancement comes with realm advancement. I think it best to head to a private training room to properly talk." Lucien then indicates to follow him, nervously I enter the first training room on the left behind him.

"I am already aware that you don't originate from this world, no need to be nervous or lie." Is the first thing he says after we sit down on a bench beside the door, tensing at those words I can't help but wonder how. It's not like you look at a child and think he is from another world just cause they are different.

Apparently he understood my confusion so continued with, "You see although unsure if they exist where your from their are a species known as elves here and their racial trait is their mental sphere is able to communicate with plants. Although Maylen is only half elf she can still communicate and talk with plants." My plant was the reason they knew, a certain feeling of betrayal went through me at it selling out my information so easily, but it owed me nothing and I couldn't know for sure why it had done that.

Looking at the floor all the different problems this could bring began sprouting and panic swept through me, I could feel my chest get tight and my breathing become shallow, I was having a panic attack.

  I can Lucien rubbing my back and a murmur near my ear where he was likely trying to calm me down but to no success, darkness encompassed my vision and I passed out due to fear.

Lucien P.O.V 

Going to wake the boy ten minutes after training began so as to get some one on one training on the first day, I have already prepare some grits and sausage for the boy when I entered his room to see him meditating. Tapping him on the shoulder I try and hide my dislike of his cultivation from my face. 

The boy immediately gets up and puts on the workout clothes we had purchased yesterday, a pair of athletic joggers and a sleeveless workout shirt along with a pair of high top workout tennis shoes. I head downstairs to the kitchen for the boy to eat.

After he eats we head to the training room I tell him, "You are to young to truly spar with us as we often do battle royal style of all vs. all but you can do separate workouts while we spar and we will train you individually to see who style fits you best. With many elements and a decent muscle frame you are a person who although not the best in any particular area will make a great allrounder, but the spear will probably be your best bet meaning I'll be your main trainer most likely."

I get him on the treadmill first to test his control on mental energy while he is active without distraction, his control is abysmal with either to high or to low. The fact the boy can manipulate an element as well as being able to make a water ball is impressive with this control.

Thirty minutes of reprimanding him every five minutes the others come out of their personal training rooms to start the sparring match, the boy goes from bad to worse hardly able to keep focus and constant up and down has made it so the two hours I had planned for this run was cut down to only one hour.

"That is enough running, although plenty of mental energy your control is most definitely little at best, you are clearly used to using either small amounts of it or a large amount with little experience in the in-between. How you can control a water ball with such limited control is impressive but ultimately not what we are looking for. You need precise control so as not to rapidly deplete your mental energy while fighting." I can see a flash of confusion on the boy before it fades away quickly.

"Next we will start up on battle stances and fighting style, you said dagger so I suppose you are most accustomed to that, although I do not know your fighting style it does not mean I can't tell if it is good or not based on how much stamina and damage you would take when fighting like that." Getting a practice dagger from the rack I give him it and lead him to the practice mat closest to the treadmill.

"Go through all your forms and then I'll give a practice spar while you use energy and me not using any." Slowly the boy goes from one to the next clearly trying to perform them as perfectly and properly as possible, the style is a stamina eater with no defensive capability what so ever and little better than for taking out an enemy alongside ones self.

"You appear to follow a high stamina and a high damage fighting style with all your force focused on attack and hurting others with little defense and a high stamina output."  How the boy survived with minimum scarring from the slime dungeon with such a combat style is a complete achievement, I think darkly. No matter how I view it, it looks like a cannon fodder fighting style meant for kamikaze soldiers.

Stepping up to the mat I know that I have to get him out of this fighting habit as fast as possible to try and help him in the future, the best way to do that is to humiliate him so as to show just how weak the style is. With no weapon and no energy losing to me will upset the boy but he needs it to get out of habit.

"I'll let you attack first, the spar will last 10 minutes as you have already expanded a decent amount of mental energy and stamina just now. You can attack at any time to begin the spar" I say knowing it will make the boy hesitant. He needs to know an unarmed attacker can be just as dangerous as an armed one, if he hesitates against an enemy aiming for his life just cause they are unarmed it could mean his life.

Hesitating like I expected the boy releases energy and then shoots at me, I step aside to easily avoid the attack only to be surprised when the attack still lands somewhat. However the greatest shock wasn't from the attack landing but that I could barely withstand it despite only getting hit with the edge of the attack, I immediately jump back and lift my hand to stop.

"What did you just do right then?" I ask, I can see a certain amount of fear and nervousness take over his face. He realized that the attack he just used was to different to our attacks to be written off as something anyone can do.

"I used my energy veins to coat myself and increase my strength and stamina capacity and defense, it is what allows us to use the style we do." That makes no sense, coating ones self in mental energy just makes your reaction speed quicker and senses stronger, the only time a physical enhancement will occur like that is with foreign energy enhancing you not to ones self like this.

"That is not usually how coating ones self in energy usually works," I start but the boy is slightly shaking, so wrapped up in his worry to listen properly. 

Tapping him on the shoulder I start again once his attention is on me, "I have never heard of a energy manipulation style that does physical enhancement like this, it is usually a type of buff put on others and not applicable to ones self. You said everyone can do it in your tribe?"

Seeing him nod I realize that the drastic difference in fighting style is precisely because of this, no need to defend or worry about stamina when their is literally a back up well of it in your body that can both defend and enhance ones self.

"Usually mental coating like that would just increase ones reaction speed and senses so you can feel the area around you better, physical enhancement comes with realm advancement. I think it best to head to a private training room to properly talk." I continue, before indicating him to follow me.

Sitting him down I rip the bandage off so to speak, "I am already aware that you don't originate from this world, no need to be nervous or lie." I need to know the difference between him and us so as to help him hide the oddities and he needs to be as truthful as possible for me to be able to do that. I can see confusion on his face most likely wondering how I came to know of this, Elves most likely don't exist where he is from as it would be easy for people who know of them to figure that out.

"You see although unsure if they exist where your from their are a species known as elves here and their racial trait is their mental sphere is able to communicate with plants. Although Maylen is only half elf she can still communicate and talk with plants." I explain.

I can see a hint of hurt on his face before fear and panic over take it, the boy appears to have trouble breathing and is unresponsive when I ask, "Are you okay?" No response and ever rising breathing pattern has it clear, the boy is having a panic attack. Slowly I place my hand on his back and rub up and down trying to soothe him talking of anything I can think of trying to distract him, nothing works when the boy slumps over I sigh.

He had passed out due to the panic attack.

I lay him down and assure his breathing has returned to normal, unwilling to leave him alone in his current state I drop the ward and speak. "He is unconscious it is best he is not left alone for the time being, I will be taking him to the meeting room to talk some more. Continue practicing but do not ask him any questions of his world until he is willing to talk of it."

Waiting for him to awaken I know this will be a hard conversation for him, after all I will have to remind him of a home he can most likely never return to.