Chapter 4 - Preparation
Vanvari fell on the ground as she panted heavily. The rest of the group stopped as well, dropping to the floor or slouching over. This was right after their training session. To the relief of most, their 50 minutes of body breaking workout was over. It was a hard exercise as it made them bench four bags of dirt, squat two logs, lift and drop a huge rock, and run over 10 miles. It doesn’t help when it came to benching that they had to stabilize the moving wooden bar while pushing it up. They were forced to do this until failure. Thankfully, it was all over now because if they were forced to do more, they would probably die.
As if the gods were giving mercy on them, they took advantage of the break and relaxed on the ground. Some that were able to move started to head over to Vanvari’s direction. One of the boys greeted her, “Yo, can’t believe we made it out alive.”
“Same, I thought I was going to die back there.”
“I know right? It isn’t fair the adults are forcing this onto us. We’re not as strong as them, and they expect us to do the same as them. Like c’mon! Felt like I was dying.”
“Could be worse though. At least we did it. Do you feel the pain?”
“Yeah, no shit?”
“Good, that means we're gaining progress. Like our chief said, ‘there’s no gain if we don’t pay it with pain.’ And it kinda feels good, like a comfy pain y'know?”
“Yeah, I know whatcha mean, but it's gonna be hella stiff tomorrow.”
She giggled, and she winced in pain doing so, “Hehe yeah, I don’t think I can move at all. Mum's gonna be so mad at me.”
“Well, whatcha think gonna happen when you push yourself that far huh? Oh yeah, how the fuck did you do that?”
One of the others joined in as well, “How did you beat us?”
She slowly turned her head away while scratching her chin. She laughed nervously, “Haha, well y'know… with practice and hard work?”
“BULLSHIT,” they said in unison.
“You shouldn't have lifted that much when you’re barely fourteen like the rest of us!”
“B-but what about our chief?
“He’s different.”
“Yeah, he’s THE chief. You know… the one who killed the dire wolves and one of the biggest predators we had ever seen. When he walked in the front gate, everyone was horrified that a giant black panther was attacking us. As it came closer, we saw the chief was under the damn thing! He was carrying the big monster all by himself. Did you know how big it was! It was like two and a half tall as me and as wide as the front gate. It was so terrifying. I don’t think I could have stood at all if it was alive and staring at me!”
“True, it was like staring at death itself. It looked like it was made for killing.”
“Nahhhh, really now? No shit, none of us could survive if that thing attacked us. Did you see those limbs? It was so big!”
They weren’t wrong. She recalled during the events that one of the children was being ambushed by a giant panther. Yet it wasn’t fast enough as Lazas rapidly took into action. The next thing they knew, he was carrying a black animal with two big fangs hanging out of its mouth and two lifeless golden eyes. Not to mention the claws from its legs were sharper than any weapons they have ever made. Of course, several of the gatherers followed behind him through the front gate as the villagers surrounding them gawked in awe. Maybe she did as well, but no one needs to know.
When the excitement was settled, they explained what happened and scolded the boy. Apparently, the panther took the opportunity when it saw a kid all alone. He got lost, but Lazas quickly found him through his enhanced hearing. When the rest of the group finally caught up to him, the beast was already dead, despite the hunters’ vigor for battle. Of course, they were glad the boy was safe, but they were mad that they had lost him. They thought they could redeem themself through battle and blood, yet it was for not. At least, they took in the pride that no one died… because it could’ve been way, way worse. It would have taken all of their effort just to have a small chance to bring it down.
“Right, our one arm chief is the strongest. When he came in all bloody and all that, he was so damn scary. He looked so angry for some reason.”
“I would be too if I had to fight that thing while trying to save a stupid brat.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Hey, don’t call him that. He just got lost. And maybe Lazas was mad because of the pain from all of the panther’s attacks.”
“Fine, fine. Anywho, back to the topic at hand, how in the Lucifer’s grace did you do that? You bloody woke up and decided to lift more than the grown-ups.”
“Yeah, you ran to the finish line like hella fast. We were barely over the halfway mark and was so damn tired. How ya do that?”
“Ahem, well do you boys remember our weekly sermon? During the lesson, they taught us about how each person has an individual talent. Like actual physical talent.”
“Oh, didn’t they talk about the chief’s talent? It was fighting right?”
“Yes, it lends him a greater ability to fight while other people have more of a non-combative type.”
“Hmm, neat. You sounded like one of the adults for a moment.”
She giggled, and he continued, “Let me guess, your talent is that you’re strong? Like superhuman strength?”
She shook her head and replied, “No, I don’t think so. I’m not as strong as a gorilla. But it is easier for me to train for some reason.”
“Then, I guess it’s your talent to become stronger,” a voice suddenly interjected.
The calm voice was Lazas. To the surprise of everyone, he leisurely strolled up to the training ground. He did tell them that he was coming over, but he guessed they forgot due to the harsh exercise. Then, they just stared at the chief for a while, taking in the information.
“Chief!”
All of them quickly got up from the dirt floor and stood in attention as if they were never exhausted in the first place. He just chuckled, “Haha, at ease. I’m fairly sure I said I was joining soon so there’s no need for such reactions. My feelings would be hurt you know?”
Suddenly, his expression dropped into a deadpan face. There was a brief moment of silence like if they just had offended a god’s apostle. Oh wait. “Oi, stop being mean to them!” Vanvari loudly cried.
“I’m joking, I’m joking. I’m just teasing with y’all. Bahahahahaha,” he laughed, changing his demeanor in an instant. “My bad. So, how are you all doing?”
“Good,” one of them stiffly said.
“Mhm, what he said.”
“Wait, didn’t you boys just complain like a couple of seconds ago?”
“Hey shut up! Ya gonna ruin my image.”
There was a pause until all of them burst into laughter. He looked stunned by the reactions, then he quickly pouted. The awkward tension that was there just a few moments broke, probably due to them being unable to hold in their sniggering. “You? You have an image to maintain? Hahaha, no offense but no one gonna care.”
“Shut up. Whatever,” he grumbled.
“Well, it’s okay. Hah,” Lazas said, “Right, glad you see you guys so energetic and healthy. Speaking of which, y’all look stronger and tougher than a couple months ago.”
“Really? Thanks! Dad said the same as well. Probably because we have been working really hard.”
“Oh, where is he by the way?”
“Dad went to Mr. Sewolk if he needed help getting any materials.”
“Hmm, oh well. I was going to teach him, too, but I’ll do that later. Or maybe you guys can help since I’m going to teach you guys anyways,” he spoke while snapping his fingers together.
The ten trainees and the one supervisor, who was standing from a distance, gave him a questioning look. “Oh right, forgot to tell you guys why I came here,” he coughed, “Ahem, during the time that I have been cultivating my mastery over Ki, I’ve learned a few things. My biggest find was being able to enhance my body. Using the natural energy of my aura, I messed around and devised some new techniques we could use.”
“For example, I was able to enhance my eyesight by messing around with my vision. It hurts my eyes, like a lot, but it’s fine with the regeneration and all that. Then, I just did some tweaking with the blurriness and focused the Ki around it. You know how you're able to make your surroundings go blurry? Just do that and wrap the energy around it. It’ll make everything become very clear. Next, whatcha wanna do is just relax your eyes and release the tension that was holding the blurriness. When it came back to normal, it enhanced my already clear vision to the eye of an owl. Everything became… more concise and extra detailed. It was so exciting when I first figured it out because it’s like more information going inside my head. This was such a big discovery for me as it let me do things I wouldn’t even have considered,” he rapidly spoke with passion and excitement.
They stared at him. The look on their faces was one of horror and part star-struck by what they just heard. First of all, it’s very dangerous to dabble with Ki in general, let alone to do it around the eyes. To take one’s energy out of their aura is not advised for a good damn reason. It’s like taking gas out of a jerrycan and pouring it in a plastic bag. If something happens to that bag, it would not be ideal to put it kindly. At least, he got 110% of their attention now.
He glanced around and awkwardly continued, “I mean, ahem, sorry I got a little side tracked. You guys aren’t gonna learn it of course. And there’s no need to worry, I was fine. Although, it took a bit to heal back my popped eyes, but, just like my spine and organs, eventually it got there.”
This, in fact, did not help relieve them of their horror.
“Like I was saying, I’m going to teach you guys how to control your Ki and how to enhance parts of your body.”
The kids and the supervisor, as well, turned to each other, then they turned back to Lazas for confirmation. He nodded. They met each other’s gaze once more and saw they were just as shocked as themself. It was because passing the one’s technique outside of their family was very sacred, not to mention passing it outside the chief family is even rarer. But maybe he’s doing this because of their decreasing population… ever since they left over a century ago. Or so they guessed.
“Wait really? I thought it was really dangerous,” Vanvari’s concerned voice ranged out while the others nodded along agreeing with her.
“True. And that’s why I’m going to teach you guys how to better control it. And maybe make it less dangerous to use it of course.”