Eian was laying back for a quick five, Alex was nursing his recently bruised shin.

He was perhaps a little too rough that last time, he might have cracked the bone, this training stuff was really hard to pull off.

Both girls had been lying down under than coma-like experience everyone went through to get a spirit upgrade.

Stretching some after getting up, Eian felt his back crack deliciously and he took a deep breathe.

'Ahh...That felt good.' Eian smirked.

"LAIR!!!!" Jessica's voice resounded the entire cave, echos pounded Eian's ears.

Turning he caught sight of Jessica hurling a punch at Alex's face, Eian winced seeing as she hit him square in the jaw.

Alex for his part tumbled to the floor like a bag of potatoes, Eian snickered that was kind of funny.

Then he frowned as he saw Jessica blindly charge him, Eian side-stepped and tripped up her feet.

She went tumbling to the ground, doing a funny little roll, it brought a genuine smile to his face.

Yelling incoherently she got up and charged again, Eian sidestepped, it didn't work her punch flew to his face, dodging instinctively last minute he then retreated quickly.

His brows tightened and he watched her glaring at him, she moved forward, Eian moved to the left and she was there, moved to the right and the same applied.

'Huh. So that's how it works.' Eian watched her move as he evaded, it was like dancing with his own shadow.

She lunged and the only time he wasn't close to getting hit was when he retreated backwards or with overwhelming speed.

A major factor in his favor was she was so slow, she couldn't hope to catch him moving at that speed, plus he wasn't afraid of her little punch, he was confident in his body's strenght.

Persistently she moved roughly with little skill, sometimes even tripping herself in her hurry to hit him.

Preparing to grapple then subdue, he saw her suddenly retreat and he frowned, that was an annoying ability.

"What the fuck's up with you?" Eian frowned, this was overly weird behavior, he knew she was crazy, but this crazy?

Howling incoherently she bull-rushed him, catching him slightly by surprise, still he moved backwards.

She tripped on a loose stone and went down in a tumble, instantly Eian grabbed both her arms behind her back and held her in place as she struggled feebly in his grasp.

An errant headbutt bounced off him harmlessly, eliciting a yelp from Jess and she screamed out impotently.

'The fucks up with her?' Eian tightened his grip and waited out the storm.

She struggled against his grip and screamed out furiously, she thrashed violently, but she was so weak Eian held her down with little trouble. She kept trying to kick him with the back of her feet, still nothing she did could hurt him. Eventually she stopped struggling and broke down into sobs, tentatively Eian let go and scrambled away from the crazy bitch.

"I just want to go home." Jessica sobbed curling into a ball.

Eian fidgeted uncomfortably, Alex would be the better person to hear this.

Shrugging he went to check on Alex, he was rousing himself and seemed dazed on the floor.

Alex had propped himself up on one arm and was looking about with lost eyes.

"You alright?" Eian looked at him as he cradled his face.

"What happened man?" Alex seemed out of it.

"Your crazy girlfriend just whacked you out of nowhere." Eian smirked, it was kind of funny remembering it.

"What?" Alex's face scrunched up, it was as if he were trying to comprehend rocket science.

"Jessica punched you. In the face." Eian spelled it out to him, maybe he turned into an idiot now.

"Why? That doesn't make any sense." Alex frowned and rubbed his face then got up.

Eian shrugged as he watched Alex go over to Jess, she made some feral noise and backed away from him.

Alex himself looked lost and came back over to Eian, he looked angry.

"What did you do man?" Alex looked to be gearing up for an argument.

Eian's smirk died, he didn't like the tone Alex had on, he glared at bit and Alex matched it.

"I didn't do a damn thing. She just woke up crazy and hit your puppy-ass face." Eian felt a sudden urge to punch Alex in his face, he didn't know how but he reigned it in.

"I...What do you mean? That doesn't make any sense?" Alex lost the aggravated look and now seemed worried, he turned to look at Jessica.

"Fuck if I know, I'm going over to my room. That's your problem." Eian snorted and marched off to his room.

Apparently Alex realized his mistake.

"Hey man! Look, I'm sorry okay?!" Alex's apology came a while later, just as Eian entered his room.

Eian ignored Alex's problem outside as he looked at his glowing tattoo's.

It was a little early, but he still had plenty of food and time, besides he wasn't in the mood to train Alex right about now.

He selected Body, it glowed brighter, Eian closed his eyes expecting the worst.

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*****

Opening his eyes Eian was in a typical modern training dojo, really eerie.

Blinking in confusion he looked around the dojo, eyeing several old style weapons on the walls, everything from daggers to chains to war-hammers.

What was strangest was that there were plenty of modern weapons as well, speared muskets lined just after a variety of pistols.

Then came the more modern equipment, bullet-proof body armor, SMG's, Glocks and even what he thought was a taser.

The next area completely shook Eian off his charts, Sci-Fi looking guns, and well as what looked like an advanced body armor, it would fit a human from head to toe in black.

"Admiring my training gear?" A voice appeared behind him and Eian retreated quickly.

Turning to look he saw someone that would probably stand out anywhere.

A tall bald tanned man, his skin was more tanned than Eian's and he was stood at attention.

He was perhaps seven feet tall and compact, not bulky but his muscles were taunt and clearly held power.

He wore no shirt, revealing perfect chiseled muscles, as well as a multitude of thin faded scars and his lower body was covered in a slim black training pants.

His eyes stood out and were glowing rings of gold, it reminded Eian of a hawk.

"Well? Name?" The man inquired.

"What?.....Oh. I'm Eian." Eian blinked away his confusion.

"I'm Brak." The man, Brak, shrugged.

They stood there just eyeing each other, Eian filtered information and remembered something Ul ha said a while ago.

The core forms at seven, this obviously had something to do with that, but how exactly he couldn't tell.

"I'm here to instruct you more on Qi." Brak broke the silence.

"Qi?" Eian knit is brows as he tried to process what was happening.

"Qi is the bodies natural energy, it is normally refined and expanded over time. Right now it is happening due to your kill selections." Brak nodded.

'Kill selections? He's probably talking about the tattoo's? Refined? Expanded? Wait!' A sudden thought sparked in his mind.

"Wait, wait. You...I think you're saying it... I mean, I can get stronger without killing things?" Eian's eyes widened at the thought.

Brak eyed him sharply and gave him a slight nod.

"Like most things you can train it normally. I remember a long time ago, training was the only way to grow stronger. Now. Now everyone has it easy, at least at first~~" Brak shrugged.

"How? How do we get stronger that way?" Eian's eyes sharpened, maybe they didn't have to kill things to go home after all.

Brak smirked and shook his head at Eian.

"While I admire your determination. You don't know the monumental difficulty of what you're asking. Compare your physical growth in this short time. How long would it normally take you to get there? Normal training is like that, it'll take very long for minimal gains." Brak kept his smirk.

"You didn't specify how." Eian frowned slightly, he wanted to know.

"No I did not and I won't either. It'll be a waste of time, it'll take you close to half a year to get your next upgrade that way, and that is if you're talented and hard working." Brak shrugged.

Eian closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, there went that idea.

"Look, I'm just here to explain a few things then off you go. Can I start?" Brak folded his arms and begun tapping his foot.

Eian scratched his head, he didn't know what to do really.

"Fine. Wait, you're not going to teach me how to use Qi?" His eyes stared at Brak.

"No. Your principle guide will help you along your path, usually you're stuck with one principle guide and the others just explain a few things. I'm one of the latter." Brak shrugged uncaring.

'Fuck! That means I'm stuck with Ul?!' Eian caught a bout of goosebumps, shivering at the thought.

"Either way, I'll start now. As I've said Qi is internal bodily energy. For the most part it circulates within your body and enhances it naturally, but a stage after the core forms you can learn to willingly exert it to do other more exotic applications." Brak took a moment to let Eian process that.

Eian scratched his head and though that over, so far all he'd seen Body upgrades do is make him physically stronger.

"Exotic applications? What kind?" Eian cocked his head slightly along with the question.

"The simplest applications are temporarily boosting you're physical attributes, focus on practicing those on the next upgrade. In short, you gain a surge of strength, run like the wind, or strengthen you're skin for an instant, so long as you've the energy." Brak was cool and steady, as if he'd gone over this many times.

"Yeah and how do I do that?" Eian frowned.

"I already told you it's a stage after your core forms. Next time you get a Qi upgrade just ask your teacher to teach you for practice." Brak rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you also supposed to teach me?" Eian had the idea that was how it worked.

"If you were my student, sure, but you're not." Brak shrugged.

Eian took a moment to look at this weird bald-guy.

'Well at least I won't get my ass handed to me this round.' Eian shrugged and the thought brightened his mood considerably.

"So is that all?" Eian quirked an eyebrow, if so this was kind of a waste of time, he didn't learn anything.

Brak sat down in a meditative position.

"Nah kid, I got a few more points to make." Brak shook his head in denial.

"Okay? So?" Eian stayed standing, he was waiting for thim to go on.

"Alright, listen up kid, Qi is different from spirit." Brak put his face on his right hand and leaned slightly to the right.

Eian thought as much, but he supposed he should pay attention, it was probably important after-all.

"I can sense you've an earth spirit, that's a bit tough, anyways expended Qi doesn't recover naturally like spirit or Psi over time." Brak continued.

"It doesn't?" Eian startled, slightly alarmed.

That might be a problem, how would he ever fight more than once if his Qi was gone.

Brak must have seen his face because he smirked.

"Relax kid, it can recover, just not naturally. You just have to forge it and place the energy in you're core." Brak's smirk grew a bit.

"Fuck, just say that next time." Eian released a breathe he had held, his taunt muscles also relaxed.

"Watch your mouth kid, your mother should have washed it more when you were a kid." Brak frowned and shook his head.

'Who does this guy think he is? Telling me what mom should have taught me.' Eian's lips formed a thin line as the thought crossed his mind.

"We had more important things to worry about." Eian frowned, he didn't like talking about this to some random person.

"Manners are important anywhere you go. Take it from me, you don't want to piss off someone powerful or overly rich." Brak shrugged, the latter brought a sneer to Eian's face.

"What do you know? You haven't lived my life." Eian huffed and folded his arms to restrain himself.

Brak's eyes sharpened like razors and glared at Eian.

They both stood there, angry expressions written on each other's face.

"I'll finish so you leave, you're not worth more of my time." Brak closed his eyes and took a deep breathe.

A moment later he began.

"More advanced forms of Qi can be used to walk or run on completely vertical surfaces, strengthen equipment, hide your presence, guide projectiles, and even stop, deflect or slow blows before they hit. There's a lot more, but ask you're guide about it." Brak snorted.

Without further explanation, the world washed away.