Standing behind the creature’s severed body was Kirveas, his arm stretched out holding his blade. He’d killed the monster in one attack, like it was nothing more than a small annoyance. He sheathes his blade in the scabbard on his waist survey of the area.

In front of the dead creature was Yuga lying on the ground, slowly trying to get up, each little movement causing him to grimace.

Yuga finally gets off the ground. His body was aching from the continous tossing and slamming but he was mostly fine. At least this time he wouldn’t be unable to walk, just in a lot of pains but he’d manage. Could’ve been worse.

He turns to look at the dead body of the monster. It had stopped spasming now, both halves of its body lay still and lifeless. Funny to think a few minutes ago he was battling for his life against this monster.

With his hand on his knees he tried recalling the battle. He didn’t think he’d performed too badly. If Kirveas hadn’t intervened it was hard to say how the fight would have ended but looking at everything before that, he had held his own against the beast. And that was saying a lot considering it was his first time fighting one of those things.

"I assume me saving you in the last moment counts as luck." said Kirveas.

Yuga turned to face Kirveas. He was walking towards Yuga, carrying his usual air of indifference.

"Like I said before, there’s a lot more dangerous things than just warring voyagers out there.” lectured Kirveas. “That was a raimeh, it’s one of the weaker beasts around here so they usually travel in packs. This one must’ve been lost.”

One of the “weaker” beasts?

That changed the entire assessment. From impressively handling himself against a beast that strong to struggling and nearly dying to one of the weaker beasts in the area. If he met anything a little bit stronger, he'd die.

Yuga touches his head and his body. He was alive, for now. But he didn’t need a way to be alive just for the moment, he needed a way to stay alive permanently. Kirveas said he was a voyager, "just like him" but he'd killed the monster in one attack, and casually at that. There was a clear difference between the two of them. It really was dangerous in this snow land and if he was going to survive, learning what exactly voyagers where and could do would be essential.

"You said you're a "voyager" too. What is a voyager?" asked Yuga."If we're both voyagers, does that mean I can get stronger too? As strong as you, if you teach me how to use this power.

"And why would I do that?" asked Kirveas.

"Who knows, I might show you something impressive." replied Yuga with a shrug.

"Something impressive...." muttered Kirveas in response. He stares at Yuga, contemplating the young man's request.

"I'll grant your request," Kirveas says finally "there's things I'd like to confirm too. Follow me." He turns around and starts moving away with Yuga following behind.

They leave the village, going back up the slope to the area where the house was and move towards the forest. Kirveas suddenly stops walking just clear of the forest causing Yuga to equally stop in his tracks. He turns around to face Yuga and starts with an explanation, "Voyagers are those who traverse the stars, that is our original purpose."

Stars? "Do you mean you travel space?" asked Yuga.

"Yes."

Can I do that too? Is that how I got here?

"But to you, a fledgling, that description does not apply." Kirveas adds.

Guess not.

"Every human has something called 'drive' flowing through their bodies. Voyagers are those who possess drive beyond a certain threshold. At some point those with the potential go through their 'first sail' and awaken as voyagers. You cannot tell if a person is a voyager or not before this process. This awakening also allows voyagers to weild drive, something normal humans cannot do." explains Kirveas.

Drive... That's what made him feel so powerful Yuga thinks while clenching and unclenching his right hand.

"With the ability to weild drive we are able to achieve far greater feats than a human can ever imagine." said Kirveas.“With drive energy you can enhance your physical abilities, like speed for example.” At this statement he vanishes from Yuga’s sight and appears behind him, causing Yuga to jump back and put up his guard. All this before the sound of the last word even reaches Yuga.

"Your senses are heightened far beyond the limits five organs. You're able to perceive far more than usual, capable of easily detecting hidden enemies like the raimeh hiding in those trees.” said Kirveas pointing to the left. He stomps his foot in the direction he pointed and a tremor travels through the earth, causing several of the monsters to jump out. They were six of the bizarre looking monsters.

"Your strength high enough that creatures like these are trivial.” Kirveas says as he turns to face them. The raimeh attack him all at once, swinging their tails and slashing with their claws as they shrieked in that characteristic agonizing tone.

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All their attacks make contact but its not enough to move Kirveas even an inch, he remains completely unscathed.

His turn to attack. But unlike Kirveas, the raimeh weren’t as durable. It takes nothing more than a single hit to kill each of them. In a flash, all the raimeh have their heads bashed in. So quick and effortless he didn't even have to draw his blade.

Not far behind was Yuga, with his guard up as he watched the display. He'd sensed the raimeh in the trees but couldn’t tell exactly what they were at the time, or their number. While Kirveas faced the raimeh, Yuga tried following Kirveas’ movements but could only grasp small bits of the quick “battle”. Massacre was more like it.

"Strength, speed and senses, those are the basics of physical enhancements that any voyager should be able to perform." said Kirveas standing next to the dead raimeh. "All of this is achieved with the utilisation of drive. With training you can also survive the depths of space and go for long periods of time without eating. But those are basics, there are many other techniques you can learn that go beyond those, regarding physical enhancements.”

"Is that all?" asked Yuga as he slowly dropped his guard.

"No. We’ve only talked about using drive energy to enhance the body. On to the next thing." replied Kirveas. "Move back or you might get harmed.” he warns sternly.

Yuga jumps back tens of meters in compliance, keeping his distance from whatever it was Kirveas was going to do next.

"Drive energy isn’t used within the body alone, it can be utilized outside of it, emitted into the surroundings. Watch. ”

Kirveas puts out his right hand, palm faced up and concentrates. An energy that gave off a vile aura starts to pool in the center of his palm. It gathers and grows for a few seconds till it’s the size of a ball and remains stable at that point. But this stability doesn't Iast longer than a very short moment before the energy goes wild.

The ball of energy zips around frantically across his palm and subsequently explodes, releasing an intense shockwave that ravages the ground in a sixty meter radius around Kirveas, just short of where Yuga is standing.

Yuga puts up his guard once more to shield from flying debris and plants his feet firmly to avoid being blown away.

Once it’s over he looks in front of him and sees the newly formed crater. He peers over the edge of the crater and sees Kirveas standing in the center, looking out of it. Kirveas just continues the lesson like didn’t just blow himself up.

"When drive energy is emitted from the body it becomes ‘mal energy’. Mal energy as you saw is inherently chaotic and destructive. Not long after mal energy is formed it goes haywire and causes damage on standing. Every technique that utilizes mal energy is harmful or destructive in nature. But mal energy left as it is isn’t useful to anyone. For it to be used in battle, it must be weilded properly.”said Kirveas.

Just like before, Kirveas holds out his right arm, concentrates and gathers energy in a ball. But this time the energy doesn’t go haywire, it sits still in his palm and maintains that stability. He waves his palm with the ball of energy at Yuga who is watching from above.

Kirveas stops waving and faces his hand at the wall of the crater to his left. The ball of energy fires off his palm and blasts through the earth that formed the crater’s walls, massacring trees rooted in it and forms a chasm shaped like a rectangle

The path of destruction this time was relatively small, it spanned thirty metres in length and wasn’t notably wide at around six meters.

Once the dust settles, Kirveas begins narrating an explanation for what he'd just done. "What you just saw is called 'mal control'. Simply put, it is controlling raw, chaotic mal energy and utilizing it for a more specific purpose. It’s generally harder to perform than physical enhancements but affinities are a factor in how proficient you are with either. Mal control also allows you to limit damage to the surroundings while still being able to damage the opponent to the same degree.”

"You can come down here now, this final part won’t kill you.” said Kirveas in a passive tone. Yuga jumps down into the middle of the crater and lands right next to Kirveas who once again had his hand stretched out, back faced to Yuga. "I’m not too good at this so the effect will be little. But pay attention to what happens.” he says.

For the third time now, Kirveas gathers energy in his palm. It forms a ball as expected and once again, there's a difference in what happens. The energy gathered begins to change. Slowly, the vile feel of it subsides and is replaced with a soothing aura. It now felt like an entirely different thing.

Kirveas sends off the energy towards the damaged trees. At first, Yuga doesn’t notice any difference but as he looked more closely he realizes that the damaged trees were.... healing. New leaves spurt from the damaged parts of the trees and they regain a bit of their life.

"That is Aias energy. Unlike mal energy it isn’t destructive in nature. It’s used for skills like healing, creating barriers and binding techniques.” explained Kirveas. “People who are very proficient in it are very rare. When you transform mal energy into Aias that is called aias transmutation."

With the display of Aias energy, Kirveas was done with his explanations and he turns to face Yuga. "Those are the fundamental aspects of voyager abilities, is there anything that isn't clear?" he asked.

Everything Kirveas explained was clear enough but Yuga's question lay outside of the explanations, "Your sword. How does that work?" asked Yuga, his eyes focused on the red blade. No normal blade could've killed a monster as tough as the raimeh, let alone in one swing. It had to be related to the ability of voyagers.

"My sword utilizes drive energy. When I wield it, it becomes like an extension of my body. But you have no weapon so I won't speak on it.” answered Kirveas.

Yuga nods in understanding.

"Beyond the two energy controls is malaias fusion but as with weapons, it's unlikely that you possess the skill. If you intend to train you should begin with wielding drive and physical enhancements. I'll be instructing you on how-" Before Kirveas could finish his sentence, Yuga jumps out the crater.

Kirveas follows after him, landing just behind Yuga and he asks in an inquisitive tone, “What are you doing?”

Yuga had his right hand stretched out facing the open air and just like Kirveas, energy had begun pooling in the center of his palm. “Mal control” Yuga replied confidently.

"You’ll likely damage your arm." said Kirveas.

"At least I won’t die" replied Yuga. He forms a ball of energy, putting all his focus into it, willing it to be calm. He keeps his hand steady and the energy remains undisturbed. Kirveas stood behind watching with a slightly surprised expression.

Yuga waves his hand to check for stability. It was fine so far. Now for the next part. Firing. He focuses harder and attempts to fire it off but he wasn’t as successful this time. The ball of energy flies only a little bit into the air before exploding violently, sending him flying in the opposite direction, landing head first into the snow.

Kirveas looks to see where Yuga landed. He might’ve not had executed the whole process perfectly but he was able to stop it from exploding on his very first try. That certainly was worthy of the word impressive. This might be more worthwhile than he’d imagined. Before Kirveas walked over to where Yuga was he’d already gotten himself out, dusting off the snow.

"Let’s begin."