A young boy just passing the age of eleven pushes open a wooden door and darts outside with a bucket.
“Kaiel make sure to be home before supper ok?”
“Okay dad!”
“Hehe, finally they let me out after all of those boring classes. I wonder where I should go today? I think Lao is still training in the courtyard so I shouldn’t go visit him. I’ll go explore the forest again, that’s always fun!”
Full of excitement the youth reaches the forest and starts to look and point around.
“That area had fresh wonder berries, that area had sprout flowers and that area had good spring water. Today I feel like eating berries and drinking spring water so I’ll go in between those two areas.”
Relying on his sense of smell Kaiel had been able to locate his favourite berries and gather them up into his bucket. Noticing the bush beside them he squints his eyes and inhales.
“I’ve never smelt or seen these berries before… This forest is full of wonders!”
Pushing his hand into the bush he pulls out a group of berries and throws them into his bucket. He sniffs around and harvests as much berries as he can before the bucket started to overflow.
Noticing that the bucket is full, Kaiel heads over to the small spring full of water and sits on his favourite rock. Looking at his bucket he begins to separate the berries into groups, ones that taste bad, mediocre, good, great and the unknown. After sorting he takes his bucket and scoops up water from the spring. These had typically been his snacks for the past year since he had started to explore the forest.
Eating berries and drinking spring water, normally kids would grow tired of doing this since they would rather spend their time training. Time was crucial for kids around Kaiel’s age. Ten to Twelve was when the capital would visit each village and test the aptitude of the children. Therefore, each child would work hard and strive to get into the prestigious warrior school. This school only accepted around 30 out of the 200 children from this village.
Kaiel also strived to enter the warrior school, however after entering the forest he had begun training less and eating more. After having his fill he would usually train for a couple hours until it was time for supper.
Kaiel began to eat his berries and drink his water. For some reason eating would bring indescribable pleasure to him. When he was nearing the end of his berry supply he glances at the unknown berries and then to a big rock that had been his training partner for the past year.
“Mercel just you wait, after eating these berries I’m going to finally break you today, I can feel it!”
However, as he averted his attention a shadow appeared out of a nearby bush and charged at the youth.
“Grrarr Grrarr!!!”
Hearing the sounds behind him the youth looked back and was greeted by the sight of a wild boar running directly at him. Unable to move out of it’s path in time he decided to take the blow head on and crossed his arms in front of him.
Crash!
The boar collided with the boy sending him backwards. The boar looked down to it’s side and started to eat the unknown berries.
Kaiel stood up and shot a glance at the boar feasting on his berries.
“A stone-armoured boar? No it can’t be, it’s stones have barely started to protrude out of it’s body. That means it must be a young stone-armoured boar.”
He started to assess his current situation. He glanced down at his left arm and saw that it was broken. He started to move his right arm and realized that it only felt slightly uncomfortable. Happily he looked back up at the boar.
“The school said that armoured boars grow up to be beasts of the fifth sealed class. Since it appears to be young it should be around the second to third sealed class.”
Kaiel himself wasn’t even a first sealed class the last time he was tested however, he began to shake with fear and excitement.
“Perfect! I was tired of training against a rock, it’s time for a real training partner!”
The boar looked up noticing movement from human he just hit.
“Grraarrrr!”
The boar turned his body to face the human and started to charge again.
“I probably can’t take another one of those hits so I’ll have to dodge.”
Watching the boar run towards him Kaiel remained calm. He knew that he had to dodge right before the boar hit him and then launch an attack while he dodged. The plan was simple.
The boar was moving closer and closer, the thought of getting hit flashed through his mind and fear took over his body.
“Now!”
Kaiel ducked to the side and started the motion to hit the boar. He lifted his head to look where to strike.
Crash!
A figure was sent flying next to Kaiel’s training rock. Kaiel fearfully looked up. In the last moment he moved too early and the boar was fast enough to react to Kaiel’s movements and he hit him head on, causing several ribs to be broken.
Panic.
Kaiel’s head was full of fear and panic. He sluggishly moved himself behind the rock. This rock was the only thing separating him from the boar. He looked up to see the cracks and holes he had put into the rock. Was his training going to end here? He didn’t expect his life to end so soon. Over what? some berries? The boars voice echoed through the ears of Kaiel once again.
“Grrrraaaarrrrrrr!!”
Footsteps. One after the other. Getting closer and closer. Every second felt like an eternity. He closed his eyes.
Thud!
“Squeal!”
Opening his eyes Kaiel looked around the side of the rock. The boar was several feet away from the rock shaking it’s head. He looked up to the rock and noticed a very small crack on it.
“What? The boar was only able to inflict so little damage to this rock? How is that possible?” His mind was full of questions but he knew he had to act now. He would engage the boar head on. He was able to inflict greater damage to the rock than the boar had, so this gave Kaiel a sliver of confidence in his decision. It was one that he was betting his life on.
Calming his nerves and his mind he entered into a tranquil state. Every time he would hit the rock he would enter this state beforehand. He would concentrate all of his power into the single motion of hitting. It was the first lesson they taught in the school. However, Kaiel put his own twist on it. In school this motion would require you to utilize your body weight to put power into the sword you were swinging. For Kaiel after eating and remaining in the forest for so long his spirit had began to grow as well. Unknowingly, Kaiel could add his sho (spirit energy) into his attacks thinking it was a regular weighted attack.
Kaiel walked to the side of the rock and made eye contact with the boar.
“GRAAARR!”
Enraged, the boar had begun to charge Kaiel once more. This time the boar had charged faster and the stones on his head had protruded even more and formed a small helmet.
Kaiel turned his body to the side, causing the right side of his body to move further away from the boar. Since his left hand was broken he would have to strike with his right hand. He closed his eyes and imagined a rock in front of him. Sho started to flow into the right half of his body. Hearing the boar move closer he pulled his right hand back and formed a fist. As he stepped forward with his right leg sho from the lower right side of his body rushed up into his fist. He extended his right hand forward with his right leg. In a split second and in one whole body motion all of his sho had been stored into his right fist.
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The boar seeing this charged faster. As the boar entered within a meter of the human however he felt strange. Even for beasts, when faced with a power greater than their own they tremble and fear. However, it was too late. It had charged faster than before, thus could not turn and dodge the incoming punch. It would have to face it head on.
Kaiel opened his eyes and watched as his fist collided with the boar’s stone covered head.
BOOM!
Stones and blood flew everywhere. Kaiel’s eyes were fixated on the headless boar. The hole left from it’s head being exploded showed the heart of the boar. Kaiel could directly see the heart. His whole body felt numb and an unexplainable hunger took over his body.
He reached into the corpse and pulled out the heart. Before he could even see the amount of seals on the heart he started to eat the heart. His eyes filled with desire and gluttony. All of his rational thinking was gone as he continued to eat. After devouring the heart he looked into the rest of the body and pulled out arteries and veins. He began to suck in and eat the arteries and veins like pasta. After he ate the heart, arteries and veins he returned to normal.
Kaiel could barely walked over to the spring. As he reached there he fell to the side of the spring. He reached down to drink water to wash down the taste of death he had in his mouth. As he looked down to the water he noticed his appearance. His hair had turned black from its usual blonde colour and there was a slightly yellow tint over his blue eyes. There was blood all over his face and clothes. He slowly started to wash his face from blood and he slowly came back to reality.
He just killed a potentially second or third sealed class beast! As for his physical changes Kaiel began to think about how to explain it to people. Then he thought about how he had eaten the heart, arteries and veins. He decided to not pay it any attention. People ate beast parts all the time, he just ate some raw. He couldn’t possibly think anything bad could happen. That is, until he remembered a lesson he was taught in school. Beast meat had to be cooked prior to eating because it could affect a person’s stomach. There were countless cases of people eating undercooked beast meat and being bedridden for days on end, some even dying.
He began to question himself. Was he going to die? Why did he feel the need to eat the beast after killing it?
Kaiel remained at the side of the spring deep in thought until the sun shined directly into his eyes.
“Why is the sun setting already? Wait the sun is setting? I’m going to miss supper!”
Looking at his reflection one more time in the spring water he noticed that his physical features had returned to normal.
Excited that he no longer needed to make excuses for his sudden change in hair and eye colour he grabbed his bucket and hurried back home.
“Kaiel, why are you so late for supper? Why are your clothes bloody, what happened my son?!”
“Father it’s ok I’m alright, I just killed a green toothed rabbit to test my abilities and some blood splattered on my clothes. Oh! also while hunting one I fell and broke my left arm see?”
Kaiel raised his left arm in the air for his father to look at the damage and bruises done to it.
“Young man do you think joking about breaking your arm will lessen your consequences for hunting and staying out this late?”
Kaiel paused. He looked over at his arm and saw that he had lifted it in the air to show his father. It was broken before, how could it possibly have been healed in such a short amount of time? Kaiel slowly lowered his arm and chuckled.
“Haha… I guess you’re right father. I’ll accept any punishment you have for me.”
Kaiel’s father looked hard at Kaiel.
“After school you are to either train only in the courtyard or come straight home, no more going to the forest until after testing day.”
Kaiel sighed and looked away.
“Yes father.”
“Now let’s go inside, your mother is waiting for us.”
At the supper table Kaiel talked with his parents and explained how he had killed a green toothed rabbit and had blood stained on his clothes. His parents’ expressions eased and they soon began talking like a regular family after Kaiel’s explanation. His father told him to take a shower and give him the blood stained clothes to wash it off, Kaiel listened and went off. When Kaiel left the room both of his parents looked at each other.
“Bernin hand me the clothes.”
The man who appeared to be around forty years of age handed the bloodied clothes to his wife, a woman who looked like she was around thirty-five. This woman smelled the blood and her eyes sharpened.
“It’s a second sealed class beast. When did Kaiel rise to this level? Could he have awakened? Bernin I told you to tell me when this would be happening!”
“Clarissa, he hasn’t awakened yet, trust me I would’ve known. What he did here was a result of his own ability.”
“You’re telling me this boy who’s not even a first sealed class can kill a second sealed class beast? This is completely unheard of! We need to go talk to our son and get some answers darling!”
“Clarissa settle down, even if he hasn’t awakened it is still possible, maybe he has the heavens’ luck on his side.”
“Fine, I won’t question him. I trust that you will not let him get into any trouble before the testing day?”
“Of course, I also trust that you will prepare all the necessary materials for that day.”
“Hmph, how long do you think we’ve been married for Bernin?”
“Haha too long my dear Clarissa, too long.”
The lovers looked at each other, a smile appearing on both of their faces as they resumed their household duties.
Kaiel finished his shower and went to go sleep. As he laid on his bed he kept recalling the events of today. Broken ribs, broken arm, the sight of the corpse, eating, the feeling striking the boar and most importantly the feeling of releasing sho from his right hand. Kaiel lifted his right hand up to look at it.
“Looks pretty normal to me. If I can inflict such strength with my fists then why can’t I ever use this strength with swords? I’ll try it again tomorrow in class.”
Kaiel kept mumbling and fell asleep.
What happened next was unheard of. Inside of Kaiel’s body something began to grow. Near his stomach a smaller organ appeared which attached to his stomach. Another smaller stomach began to grow inside of Kaiel.