Chapter 8

Title: Training PT. 2

Rize Academy Arc

The wind was blowing hard against the white hairs face. In high elevations temperatures drop and drop while air pressure rises, not a great place for taking a hike if you aren't used to it. Ren started to think Mei must hate his guts for sending him all the way up in the mountains of Buranda. The average peak is high enough to top two-thousand feet making it insanely difficult to go up.

"Guess I'm not so good at things huh?" Ren said while panting. Ren stopped at the seventy percent mark and took out his map, "Huh?" Ren said as a message onto the scroll started to materialize.

It read,

Ren Sato! You are the third to reach the defined location. I thought it would be difficult for you guys to train on your own without knowing what you need to work on, so I decided to write a pre written message for the each of you.

"Ah maybe she doesn't completely hate me-"

In short, you're slow.

"Nevermind."

You wield amazing destructive power, so much so that I considered not letting you into the school. The way your body works is it constantly condenses access energy inside of you, meaning overtime it becomes harder and harder to contain. However you have shown the ability to contain this intense energy build up for years, and because of that letting you into the school held more pros than it did cons. But you don't have the speed to back anything up, if someone were to catch you off guard you'd simply have no chance. Not to mention you aren't really that proficient in martial arts. We train soldiers here at Rize, but you, you feel more like a nuke. Someone should arrive shortly that will try to increase your reaction time and overall skill in the arts. I wish you good luck!

On cue, a man appears from the shadows. He had a tall figure with very light skin. Pure green eyes with short white hair. His most distinctive feature however, was his cat like eyes. They were almost purely vertical like staring at its prey.

"Scary..." Ren whispered under his breathe.

•••••

•••

I then decided to come back from to the ocean & headed back up the top of the mountains of Buranda where my log cabin is there with a bucket of Catfish. When I am closing in, I then see a young man near the path of where I was heading. I then approached them until I heard a word as I looked at the young man.

"Appearances can be deceiving, young man." As he said it in a calming voice. "So, why are you here?" With curiosity as he raise his left eyebrow.

The fellow responded timidly, "Ah yes sorry... Uh I'm Ren Sato and I a am here to get stronger for a specific program at Rize Academy. I don't know if you heard about it but my Principal said I would meet someone at this location that knows about martial arts and could possibly help me."

Kyle is surprised to hear about Rize Academy. "My wife works there as a teacher for 2nd year students. She & the principal did told me that a boy was coming. So, besides Martial Arts, what else could possibly help with?"

"Hmm. Well I didn't think it was possible to necessarily "train" traits, but my reactions are below average compared to my peers. Who are you anyway? I mean for them to send me here to learn from someone, you must be great."

"Oh forgive me for my late introduction. My name is Kyle Cooper. I am a Mystic Martial Arts Teacher. I have a lot of students that learn their ways of the Mystic Martial Arts." Kyle then see two papers in Ren's hand. "Is that a letter in your hand?"

"Err, yes it is. It told me how to get here and my weaknesses, however it'd be a bit embarrassing to show you if you weren't experienced. Though it does sound like you are so," Ren extends his hand with the scroll to Kyle.

Kyle then grab the scroll from Ren as he unroll it & started to read it. "Let's see... Destructive power... condense access energy... OK." Kyle roll up the scroll as he then looked at Ren. "We will be focusing on the main thing on you: Speed, as well as your reaction, & your ideal Martial Arts. Let's head to my cabin so we can take the magic teleporter to my dojo." Kyle then started to continue walking.

Ren face lit up in excitement, "Woahh you have a teleporter?!?" He said as he follows Kyle.

"It is the main reason I go from my cabin to the dojo. Besides, the dojo is far for travel." Both he & Ren then made it to his log cabin as the place does looked like a couple's place. Kyle then went to the empty spot to lift the floor board to show his mystical Portal.

Ren was amazed by the transporter, "Woah! So how many places can you go with this? Or is it only to where you set another teleported?"

"Definitely the latter. I don't often use my transporter if I wanted to improve my fighting style, or if my wife decided to drag me & beat the living hell out of me." Kyle then stand on his transporter as it then takes him inside his dojo.

"Hmm, small place you got here. No one else comes?" Ren questioned.

"No. Besides, we are in the sparring area. There are a couple of rooms where you will sleep, eat, & rest. Plus, there is more outside this dojo." Kyle then open the door to let Ren see outside.

Ren peaks over the balcony, "Mmm this is relaxing isn't it? No one to bother you, just nature by your side. All these rooms and views... But I'm not here to rest sadly."

"I know. But when your body hits that limit & won't work with you, You NEED to rest. A strong body & a strong mind must work together." as he said with a little stern in his voice. "Now let me tell you about this place. This world, or should I say Realm, works differently than the world we live in. Time move differently here. Compare to our world, one day there is one year here." Kyle then walked outside his dojo.

Ren's face contorted with shock, "You're telling me I could get a decade worth of work done here in just a little over a week?!"

Ren followed Kyle outside, "How was this place created anyway?"

Kyle then turn around to Ren's shocked face. "Pretty much. As for the second question... No one knows how it was created. Maybe the gods have something to do with it. However, I do know how it was discovered. Follow me." Kyle then went to the stairs on the side of the mountain & head down.

"So what's this?"

"A field where we will start to train." as Kyle made it down, the air is a bit dense, but due to the waterfall creating the steam fog, it started to feel a little hot.

Ren rubbed his eyes and said, "It's kinda tough to see is it not? You sure it's possible to do anything here?"

Kyle then turn around to face Ren with his arms crossed. "You don't need to think about the environment or your next opponent. You need adjust & adapt to them. You need to utilize your other senses." Kyle then drop his arms down as he then went to Ren's level. "Ren. We are not only going to work on your reaction up in the dojo, but also put a training regime for you to use your destructive power & skills of the right Martial Arts for you. However, I do not want you to kill your opponents or enjoying the pleasure of seeing them in pain. Do you understand?"

With a serious response Ren said, "Ive always understood that, there's always a better alternative to murder." He pointed his finger at Kyle's chest, "I promise that anything I will learn from you will only be used in the pursuit of perfect civilization. Now how would you like to get started?"

Kyle then smiled as he is now seeing a determined & serious Ren. "I'm glad that at least some of this new generation respect the old. I will be using a method to help you access a little of your energy here. That way, we can focus on which Martial Arts Style will be comfortable for both you & your energy."

"How exactly will you help me do that? I understand I need to learn the martial arts I resonate the most with, but does that kind of thing take learning every single style."

"Not every fighting style has to be learn, you know. Some people prefer learning one or two Martial Arts & perfected it. Some users prefer a different version of the Martial art they were teach, so don't let that idea fool you. It is depending on the person in general. Now, instead of the traditional way, I have a Method to bring out the energy that is within you.

"What do you mean?" Ren questioned.

"I found a way to manipulate the essence of all things. This including energies. All I have to do is turn your condensed energy into its good condition for you to use. Are you okay with that?" Kyle questioned with concern.

Ren thought for a moment, "Shouldn't be too much of a problem, are you confident it can work on energy of any level?"

Kyle did not say anything, but then put his hand on Ren's stomach. Kyle then started to generate clear blue energy around his hand show. It flows within Ren to grant him access to his energy. The clear blue energy then disappeared as Kyle removed his hand. "Try channeling it now."

Ren began to attempt channeling the condensed energy he's been building up for a few years now. Usually just trying to do this would be massively destructive, however this time it rapidly began degrading into all purpose energy. A type of energy that is not limited to the destructive state it was before, but more akin to a state of lingering potential energy.

Kyle then see the lingering potential energy. He then smiled as he believed to trust Ren. "Alright. Let's head back into the dojo. I will probably tell you what I do know this world. I am getting hungry."

Ren looked are his hands feeling a large burden was lifted from him. "How do you even get food here? Ah whatever I won't question it." Ren said, following Kyle back.

Kyle then secretly looked at Ren following him as it did reminded him as a father with two daughters. "I believe that Ren can pull this off. If he does, he might be able to prove his academy he can be a Martial Artist." as he thought in his mind.

Meanwhile, Wander was standing over a large terrain of molten rock and lava and for some reason it seemed like this place was calling to him "....Hmmm If I was a betting man I'm gonna guess that the temple is this way" he said as he began walking onto the molten land tho one thing was on his mind...how did that priest know his name and knew what he truly was "..." He tried to shake the thought out of his head "Cmon wander focus...you gotta do this first then you can worry about everything else.." He then realized...he was the only on there as he smiled "I just got a wonderful idea!" gripping the blackened ground he ripped a large enough chunk out from the earth as he spun around,"HIYAH!" He said throwing the ground into the air as he ran after it jumping up landing on the flying land "Hehe!" He smiled as wind blew through his hair.

However his happiness was short lived. A line appeared that was shown to move across his body from head to toe. With less than a second to react, Wander knew he was in instant danger.

OH SHIT-" he quickly rolled away from the line and off the flying rubble as he began falling down from the sky looking back up at where the line was at "!!!!!!!"

The stroke that Wander has just avoided gleaned a dark blue color before exploding, ripping apart the matter around the area. Just then, several more threads came along Wander next location, each appearing faster and activating sooner than the last.

While still in midair he saw all the threads pointing to his location making his eyes widen and his pupil shrunken ".....oh shit" the second he landed on the ground he slammed his fist into the land as a volcanic wall emerged protecting him.

The strange attacks all went off at once leaving the area in smoke. A few seconds later when Wander's vision cleared up, he could see a mysterious figure walking closer. It- No. She started to speak, "Still alive after that? I guess this job won't be as easy as I thought."

Wander got into a defensive position wondering who the hell attacked him "..." the marks on his body began to glow showing that he was charging up his magic "Who the hell are you...?" he called out making sure to keep an eye out for anything of those threads.

The girl paused for a minute, allowing Wander to get a good look at her appearance. She was very light skinned with a slender body formation, maybe seventeen years in age. Her hair, black as night, formed into a pony tail that began to change to crimson red the farther Wander looked down it. The top half of her body was dressed with a long sleeved dress that fit right around her body. Her chest area was reinforced with a white patch of cloth held by two bands. The dress formed into an even tighter composition around abdomen, leaving just a little skin exposed before the black fabric reached her hips. She was wearing a blue figure-hugging bottom that didn't even cover her upper thigh before abruptly stopping. Finally, the most distinctive detail was the women's glowing heterochromia.

The girl said assertively, "I'm afraid I can't let you near this temple. You simply learned too much at the church for me to allow you to dive deeper into the depths of your history."

"Nothing within the church, simply a line stated by a vermin working inside of it. We've made sure that will never happen again. This temple though? I can't let you go any further, leave now if you value anything." The air temperature began to drop despite the increased plasma particles in the air, any normal person would feel terribly sick.

Luckily for Wander he was not a normal person "....heh" He lightly chuckled getting ready to fight as his fist glowed like lava once more "All you did was just give me more of a reason to get in that temple..." he glared at the women getting ready for a fight.

"Tch, imprudent savage. Fine have it your way."

The area's temperature turned to absolute zero before hundreds of plasma strokes began appearing near Wander once again.

The second the area froze steam started to come from wanders body from the mixture of his heat and from the women making the area freeze "Bring it..." he said rushing towards her, seems like he already has a plan.

Small white particles appeared in front of her to hinder Wander's assault. At the same time the strokes from earlier exploded, attempting to corner her opponent.

Seeing this he would quickly jump back only to get hit by the ones from before as he flipped back to gain some distance as he threw a punch mid air sending out a ball of lava "Doesn't seem like she can do any hand to hand combat I need to see if I'm right."

She motioned her hand forward at the shot of magma. The air around the fiery sphere instantly froze, however no matter how much the temperature dropped, even below the universe's limit, the attack would not come to a complete stop.

"..." The girl settled for avoiding the lava, positioning herself ten meters to the left of where she was before.

"Hmmm...." He smirked cocking back both his arms "Well if I can't get close by avoiding attacks" by both began to glow as the lava on his fist harden in his knuckles "[Metal Knight Arts: RAVU~AGATORINGU]" he yelled throwing a barrage of punches as lava in the form of fist flew towards the women.

"Tch-" Poles of plasma began stabbing through the magma based attacks, ramming them into the floor before exploding once again. Before the smoke could clear, the women slammed her foot into the floor which cause the ground to look like a grid board full of freezing plasma. The lines began to light up, splitting the earth below it. The end result made the battle field covered with twists, turns, cover, and more.

"You're projectiles caught me off guard, but that's all they are, projectiles. My attacks are autonomous, they don't need to travel a certain distance to reach its target. Yours however have to deal with obstructions!"

Soon the line of the the freezing plasma vanished into thin air as if it was nullified by Wander but it wasn't. Small steps could be heard walking between the two, the feeling of dread and despair surrounded the area of the two as if the Grim Reaper has been right next to them the entire time. A little girl who looked to be Yin's height stopped her movements as her smooth, wavy white hair was flowing with the breeze of death, her death piercing red eyes staring at the two. Her skin pale, almost as if she was a demonic vampire looking for blood. "Why are you two fighting here..?" she spoke in a soft tone but the amount of mana that surrounded the girl made her one of the most dangerous beings in Eolorial. She wore a royal black and white dress with grey combatant boots that reached her knees. They already knew the battle had to end due to death being here to question them.

Meanwhile back at the Southern Hemisphere, A surge of energy made Yin snap his eyes wide open, sweat dripping down his face. It wasn't his father power he was sensing from, it was very close to two energy sources. Wander and someone who was stronger but a red aura surrounding the being that approach the two. He never sensed something with this much malice before in his life. "Amani, I'm leaving out for training!" he said bluntly making up a something to get him out of the kingdom.

Back with The hetrochomic women who immediately froze, her 'employer' had warned her about someone like this. Someone who you can't fight. You cannot run from. Your only chance is to get lucky...

However this time, she thinks she's seen something, something groundbreaking, something special within a certain someone. She whispered to Wander, "Hey, I assume you can see it? The power? Neither of ours can compare to it alone, and running isn't an option. Do not reason with them, I'll attack first when needed."

Wander nodded his head in affirmation, he didn't sense any aggression from the women he was fighting before. "Say, ice girl, what's your name?" Wander asked. She responded soundly, "Astraea, that's what you can call me, now focus." They stayed silent waiting for the danger in front of them to act.