Dangers of the World

Sana woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw her mother crouching over her with a smile on her face. The strange mood her mother was in the previous 'day' was gone.

"Come, get dressed," having said that her mother left the tent. Sana stood up and stretched, her muscles feeling cramped after her short rest. She put on her clothes, noticing the cool feeling the leather armor gave off. Her mother had already enhanced them.

When Sana emerged from the tent she noticed that a lot of the tents had already been packed up. Her mother was waving her over to the now extinguished campfire. After an equally bland breakfast they packed up, returned to the road and continued their trip.

After nothing happened the day before, Sana was a lot calmer this time. Keeping watch over her assigned area. For some reason, she didn't feel bored at all; she was simply calm, almost like when she was meditating.

"So...," Sana began a few hours into their renewed trip and continued when her mother glanced in her direction, "I've heard uhh.. 'yesterday' that the Martial Lord stage comes after the Martial Knight stage. Does the Martial King stage come after that?"

"Now that your father isn't here, you ask that when he wouldn't answer before?" her mother asked back with a teasing smile. Sana blushed but steadied her nerves and nodded back firmly.

Aria's smile shifted to a softer note, and she said with a shake of her head, "Your father wouldn't tell you more simply because it's tradition. But, personally, I don't hold much stock in that. What's the use of hiding something that is useless to people who can't do it? And those who can use it will know it eventually anyway."

Her mother sighed and shook her head again, "Anyway, yes. Martial Kings come after Martial Lords. When a Martial Knight can reinforce their entire body, they reach the peak of their stage. To become a Martial Lord you must learn to pierce and reinforce your skin with Primal Qi without harming yourself. That is how I can reinforce objects by simply touching them. I slowly draw the Primal Qi through the skin of my hand.

"To do this you need to refine the Primal Qi in your body, allowing it to nurture even the inner organs. That makes Martial Lords incredibly durable, their skin cannot be pierced by blades and, because of the organ reinforcement, they are resistant to blunt forces and falls from a great height. All of that makes them practically unable to be harmed, even within their own stage.

"To become a Martial King you need to... refine your use of Primal Qi in reinforcing objects. Not simply strengthening their structure but reinforcing the specific use an object has. The sharpness of a blade, the force of a blow, the protective ability of armor. With further refinement you can even extend the cutting edge beyond the actual size of the blade."

Aria once again smiled, seeing the excitement on her daughter's face. But she quickly lost it, hearing her daughter mutter, "... the peak of Martial Arts."

"It's not." Sana was startled by those words and looked at her mother, who had a scowl on her face. "Martial Kings aren't at the end of the road. I know of one more stage after that."

She looked into her daughter's eyes intensely, "If you ever feel the Primal Qi around you growing colder and distorting, becoming chaotic, you immediately run away. As fast as you can, for as long as you can."

Sana felt the importance her mother put on those words and nodded. But she still had to ask, "Why?"

"Because those are the signs a Martial Emperor is around. Someone like that can kill a Martial King in seconds. I know of only one and he lives in the Twilight Lands. From what I gathered since coming here, no one has ever become a Martial Emperor in the entire region, so many people probably think Martial Kings are the peak of Martial Arts."

Sana couldn't help but shiver at those words. Someone who could defeat her parents in seconds. She couldn't even imagine that kind of power wielded by a human. Her heart beat rapidly, and she had to stop a grin spreading over her face.

Suddenly, a shout pierced the solemn mood. Her mother simply commanded her to follow and dashed to the front. The wagons gathered together and the Martial Students arranged themselves into a defensive formation.

She and her mother gathered together with the Martial Squires next to the caravan leader. He was looking into the forest to the right of the road. He looked at her mother and explained, "A herd of deer ran right through the road, even between the wagons."

Aria nodded and commanded, "You'll stay here, protect the caravan with one of the Squires. Two will take either flank, with five Students as backup. Sana and I will take the center."

"You heard her, go go go!"

Aria was already striding forward into the forest, Sana keeping pace. They walked deeper into the forest until they couldn't see the caravan anymore and even a bit further. Her mother stopped and removed the spear from her back.

Sana did the same to her sword and waited. Before she could ask, her mother explained, "For a whole herd of animals to be bold enough to run straight through a caravan, something must have spooked them. Something moving fast, so probably spirit beasts and from the howls, probably wolf-types."

Before she could ask, Sana heard something at the edge of her perception. That something quickly became clearer as it grew louder. Howls, more than a dozen different ones, overlapping.

"You'll go right, and I'll go left until we can barely see each other," her mother commanded, and Sana quickly followed. Her heart sped up again in anticipation. Again, she had to fight against a grin that wanted to spread on her face. She even had to choke down a giggle as she almost trembled in excitement.

Thankfully, before she completely lost control, she could hear the stomping of beasts sprinting in her direction. A few seconds later she could make out dark green forms weaving between the trees on their way towards them. Her first, real fight. And she could hardly wait.