Probably my longest chapter yet. I didn't know when to stop, so I decided to finish this short training before stopped. Currently I'm half-asleep as I type this, so please excuse any mistakes I made and point them out in the comments and I'll fix them immediately. Without further ado, thank you for reading and please enjoy.
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Floating endlessly in a black space, Hiro was currently wondering how he was supposed to connect his consciousness to his Astral Body. Once he began the meditation, he had quickly entered into the ethereal state within his consciousness. Not matter how hard he tried to enter his Astral Body, the end result was him floating once more inside his consciousness.
“Agh!” Hiro pulled at his hair in frustration. “How am I supposed to do this?!”
He had been at it for what seemed like days. Amazingly enough, Mini-Sib had somehow disappeared and left him to meditate in silence. Though he had heard that the desert was supposed to be hot and dry, he didn’t experience any of it, leaving him to meditate in peace.
[*Fuuwaa* Good morning Hiro.] Tenga said.
[Finally awake now?] Hiro asked coldly. He was in no mood to converse.
[Woah! What’s gotten into you boy?] Tenga asked defensively.
[Nothing, I’m just in the middle of doing something.]
[So what has happened while I was away?]
[What do you mean? After saving Lynn, we returned to the AA and now I’m here.]
[What in the middle of the desert? How did you get here? Don’t tell me, you flew?] He asked sarcastically.
[Haha. No, this is a special room that mimics whatever you want.] Hiro’s mood was slowly lightening up after chatting with Tenga.
[I see… and you’ve been here for almost 3 months?]
[Huh?] Hiro asked with a confused look on his face.
[I’ve been slee—*Kohun* meditating for almost 2 months now to regain my life energy. Don’t tell me that all that’s happened so far only amounts to this much.]
[I don’t understand… I’ve seriously only entered this room the day after I saved Lynn…]
[Hm… I see…] Tenga thought out loud. [Wasn’t the tournament going to start within the next few days when you entered this room?]
[Yea… So what?] Hiro was beginning to catch on.
[I’m sure you’ve thought about it. You’ve been tricked, possibly the person who did this didn’t want you to participate in the tournament and locked you inside of this room.]
[B-but… why?] Hiro stammered.
[I’m not sure. I know that it should’ve taken me over a month to recuperate and regain my energy. So you have been locked in here for over a month now Hiro…]
Hiro’s face began to sink as he processed what Tenga had just said.
[How cruel…] He clenched his ethereal fists.
[Don’t be angry Hiro. Once we’re out, we should hear what the person that locked you in here has to say. If he did this out of malicious intent, then I’ll kill him for you.] Tenga coldly said, without any hint of lying.
[Okay…]
Hiro continued to meditate, only this time he also tried to pay attention to his surroundings. He wanted to find Mini-Sib and asked the cartoon-like character about Siberus’ real intentions.
It was a strange thing to do. The act of meditation was to look within oneself and yet, Hiro was trying to look outside. It was as if he was staring at a mirror, not to look at himself, but to look at what was behind him. However, because of this, he began to catch on to something. Out in the corner of his consciousness, he could feel something moving about. Only appearing for a split-second before disappearing from his senses.
[Tenga what’s this feeling? Sometimes I feel that something was just out of sight, even though I’m meditating.]
[I’m not sure, I can’t see anything.] Tenga replied. In truth he really couldn’t see anything, since he was stuck in a soulstone. The only way he could ‘see’ something was through his magic sight, which senses anything that has magic, whether it be magical wards or items or magic beasts. The room was entirely made up of magic, which blocked out his magic sense.
[Alright…] Hiro accepted, before returning once more to practice this new method of meditation.
After a while, he had somewhat began understand the new method.
‘There it is again.’ This time, he could clearly sense that something was moving and it was under the sand.
*Rumble*
‘!!!’
Quickly opening his eyes, Hiro jumped up and out of the way as soon as the thing underground clawed up underneath him.
“Boo!”
“…”
“Did I scare ya?”
It was Mini-Sib. The whole time Hiro was practicing the meditation, Mini-Sib was hiding underground.
“What are you doing?...”
“Testing you.” He laughed, “And you passed!”
“Really? What was the test?” Hiro thought it might be one of his pranks again.
“You sensed me didn’t you? I felt a brush of your aura.”
“!!!” Hiro was alarmed, “What do you mean?”
“Eh? Don’t tell me you did all that without knowing?” The child-like Siberus pouted.
“I…Have no idea what I did…” Hiro admitted.
“What?! Are you stupid or are you a genius?” Mini-Sib yelled out in disbelief and began to laugh hysterically.
What Mini-Sib had felt was the aura of an Astral Body. Once a person is able to consciously connect to their Astral Body, they would be able to use it to achieve different things. One of those was the ability to send out an aura around the person and detect any living thing within the aura.
The whole time Hiro was practicing his new meditation method, he had unknowingly connected to his Astral Body and was projecting his aura out. After that, it took him a while to slowly grow out the aura and finally, once he had reached a two meter radius, he finally detected Mini-Sib.
[Hiro, is this the guy that tricked you?]
[Yea.]
[Hm…] Tenga studied the foot-tall person in front of Hiro. [He doesn’t seem like he is planning anything…] Tenga was a good judge of character, that’s why he allowed himself to be found by Hiro. Using his judgement, Tenga could tell the Mini-Sib in front of him was just an eccentric prankster who loved to have fun.
[Want me to ask him why he trapped us in here?] Hiro asked.
[No. Ask the real person, not this clone.] Tenga didn’t want to risk angering the person behind the special room until they were safely out.
[Alright.]
“Hah Hah… Hiro, you are a funny person! I haven’t laughed this hard since… Wait, this is my first time laughing this hard. Hahaha!” Mini-Sib continued to laugh. Truthfully, he never existed until the room was created by Siberus, so it really was his first time laughing like that.
Waiting patiently, Hiro crossed his arms. Finally…
“Are you finished?” Hiro coldly asked.
“Hah~ yea…” Mini-Sib wiped off a small tear, “To be able to do that unconsciously takes skill.” He was referring to the detection ability.
“So?” Hiro didn’t like the way Mini-Sib was complimenting him. In a way, he felt that Mini-sib was also insulting him.
“Haha, forget it. I guess people learn differently.” Mini-Sib waved the matter aside. “Hm… Hiro, try to do what you did earlier. Except, this time don’t meditate.”
“Hah?! You want me to do the same thing, but not meditate?” Hiro repeated the demand. He had only achieved the aura skill by concentrating whilst in ethereal form in his consciousness. To enter his consciousness, he would have to meditate. Though it was possible to enter it without the meditation, it was easier and smoother when he meditated.
“Yep!” Mini-Sib cheerfully said.
‘Grrr.’ Hiro suppressed a growl.
He kept standing as his mind slowly drifted off. He had done this in the past, when he had desperately healed Lynn. His minded drifted off as if he was daydreaming and he would feel the barrier. After so many practices of shattering the barrier, he could do it without entering his consciousness. It only took a bit more concentration to shatter the barrier without entering his consciousness.
Instead of the consciousness coming to view, Hiro felt something entirely different. It was strange, as if a different person was there. He felt his real body, yet at the same time, he could also feel someone else inside him.
“This…” Hiro began to say.
“Hoho! Looks like he found it men!” Mini-Sib screamed out. “How does it feel?”
“I don’t know how to explain it…” Hiro slowly moved and could feel the other person within him move along, it was surreal.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Now you’ve taken the first step towards learning the first stage of my movement skill!”
“First step? I thought this was Step 5?” Hiro questioned.
“Was it?” Mini-Sib lightly asked, “Ah well. It doesn’t matter!” He laughed, pissing off Hiro.
‘If I haven’t made it this far, I would’ve killed him already.’
“What is the next step, you said something about the sand right?” Hiro pointed down.
“Huh? Oh!” Mini-Sib acted like he had just realized something, “We’re done here. I just wanted to play in the sand Hahaha!”
‘I will kill this bastard once I’m out!’ Hiro angrily clenched his fist.
“Come on! Let’s go! Onwards!” Mini-Sib pointed at a door that magically materialized a few ways away.
*Tweet Tweet*
Some reason a whistle appeared at his mouth and he began to act like a crossing guard. As if ushering Hiro towards the next room, Mini-Sib waved his hands in an ushering motion while blowing his whistle. If it wasn’t the annoying Siberus, Hiro would way that he looked cute while in child form, but since it was the eccentric old man, he silently went forward.
They arrived in a blank white area where nothing existed. Similar to Hiro’s consciousness which had nothing but darkness and empty space.
“Oops!” Mini-Sib yelled out. “Nothing to see here!” He quickly snapped his fingers and another door appeared.
He quickly pushed Hiro towards the door and pulled out a sign from out of nowhere. Slamming it down onto the blank while ground, Hiro could barely catch the words on it.
‘Under Construction… What?’
“Hehe, you didn’t see anything.” He frantically closed the door.
Now they were in a garden full of brightly colored butterflies. They seem to constantly fly around looking for a flower to be free.
“Why are we here?” Hiro questioned, while looking at the peaceful scenery. It was a mysterious place, as far as the eye can see, there was a garden of flowers and butterflies. The only thing out of place was the door at the end of a small path, leading out of the place.
“This is your next training.” Mini-Sib pointed to the door at the end of the path, “Try to make it to the other side. That’s it.” He shrugged.
Knowing that this training wasn’t as simple as it seemed, Hiro cautiously crept forward. He was ready for anything that my jump out from under the bushes of flowers. However, not even into his second step Hiro’s body instantly froze.
“!!!”
Only able to move his mouth, Hiro yelled out, “What’s happening?!”
“Hahaha!” Mini-Sib laughed, “Use your Aura Detection.”
“Hah~” Hiro took a deep breath to calm himself down and slowly grew out his aura.
‘!!!’
“A butterly?” He asked, his aura had barely just covered his body when he noticed that a butterfly had landed on him. The strange thing was, not only did he sense the butterfly, he could also feel some sort of glow from the core of the butterly.
“Ding Ding! Correct!”
“A butterfly is causing this?” He asked incredulously.
“Believe what you want, but that’s the reason.” Mini-Sib chuckled. It was becoming annoying.
“So? How do I get rid of it?”
“Brush it off?” Mini-Sib grinned.
“If I could do that, I would’ve done so already! Now quit playing and tell me how to get rid of it!” Hiro yelled, annoyed at the playful tricksters jokes.
“Hm~…” Mini-Sib just kept smiling.
“…”
“I’m sorry… Now can you tell me how to get rid of the butterfly?”
“Hm~… What’s the magic word?”
“Abracadabra? I don’t know!”
“Close. I was thinking along the lines of: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
“Super what?!”
“Nothing. Hahaha.” Mini-Sib rolled on the floor laughing, “To get out you need to use your Astral Body.”
“And do what?”
“Release a small explosion of energy.” Mini-Sib nonchalantly answered while cleaning his nails.
“Hah?!” He had just found out how to feel his Astral Body, and now the stupid-looking cartoon wanted him to do something strange with it.
“Good luck!” Mini-Sib yelled as he jumped into the garden of flowers and butterflies while laughing.
‘Grrrr…’
Reigning in his annoyance, Hiro calmed down and once more felt around for the Astral Body. He could feel the second person within him after a few moments had elapsed.
“Alright… Now what?”
Whenever he tried to move, his body refused. He kept trying to move, hoping that while consciously connected to his Astral Body, he would be able to break free from the strange insect on his shoulder. After what seemed like an hour, he noticed a small thing. If it weren’t for his slowly growing frustration, he would’ve noticed it sooner.
‘Did my Astral body just twitch?’
Struggling once more, while paying close attention, he found out it was true. Though miniscule, not even moving a millimeter, he could feel that the Astral Body did indeed twitch. Hiro quickly calmed down, he felt that he was going to once again have a breakthrough.
‘An explosion…’ Hiro thought back to Mini-Sib’s words, ‘An explosion of energy…’ Feeling an idea forming in his mind, Hiro tried to test it out.
Focusing once more on his Astral body, Hiro calmed down his real body. Slowly, he began to build up force. Similar to how a track sprinter braces for the signal to spring out at full speed. It was that same feeling, Hiro began to feel as if he is going to violently burst out and move wildly. Though this feeling kept building up, Hiro kept control and tried not to move at all. Finally, once he felt like he won’t be able to keep the feeling bottled up any longer, he suddenly let everything loose. The result? Well…
*Whoosh!*
A small ripple escaped from his Astral Body, disturbing the butterfly and scaring it off.
“Bingo!” Hiro smiled at himself triumphantly. Without another breath, he was about to run forward when another butterfly landed on his other shoulder.
‘…’
“I haven’t even taken a step yet and there’s already another one…” Once more, he built up the feeling of an explosive burst and let it out. Not letting himself have time to celebrate, he quickly ran towards the next door.
*Kchk!*
His footstep froze instantly on the gravel path once more.
“Fuck!” He screamed out as he felt a couple butterflies land on him with his aura.
‘This is going to take a while.’ Hiro admitted.
---
A While Later
“Finished! WOOT!!!!” He screamed as he stepped foot into an area that strangely had not butterflies flying within.
“Oh you made it!” Out popped the foot tall child-like cartoon of Siberus. He was all scratched up and had some blood on his clothes.
“What happened to you?” Hiro raised an eyebrow in interest. Seeing the Mini-Sib in a roughed up situation had improved his mood.
“Let’s just say: I didn’t know there were thorns included with the flowers.”
“Haha. Idiot!” Hiro called out.
“Whatever. So how was the training? Must be amusing seeing yourself be beaten by a couple of insects right?” Mini-Sib teased.
“Shut up.” Hiro replied and quickly opened the door and walked through.
*DOOM!*
“…”
“What?”
“What is this?!” Hiro screamed while pointing at the mechanical automatons strewn over the room.
“Your next training. Now quit being a pussy and get to the other side.” Mini-Sib grinned evilly.
The next door was up a flight of stairs that were about 50 meters out. Though pretty close, seeing the unmoving automatons standing in place isn’t really comforting. Hiro could tell that they will attack him with their giant hammers as soon as he walks out from behind the line that said: ‘Do Not Cross’.
“Of course I’ll go. Just as soon as you promise that I won’t die.”
“I promise that you won’t die!” Mini-Sib raised a palm up. “*Kohun!* Youwillonlygethurtalotandwishyouweredead.”
“What was that?”
“What was what?” He smiled.
“That thing you said at the end.”
“It was just a cough.”
“Riiiiight…”
“Fine! I’ll give you a hint!” Mini-Sib caved in once more.
“That’s better.”
‘I’m getting the hang of this, hehe.’ Hiro chuckled inwardly.
“In this training, you’ll have to get across this room without garnering their attention. These machinations were tasked with preventing anyone with an Astral Body from passing, so basically everybody. Currently they are not set to kill, so you’ll be fine. Now here’s the hint: If the Cogmen, that’s what they’re called, attack Astral Bodies, simply just get rid of it.”
‘I’ve never heard of removing an Astral Body… I thought all humanoids have them?’ Hiro was confused. He had thought back to the time when recruiters from the capital came to Torin to test all the children for their magic capacity. At that time, he hadn’t known anything regarding Astral Bodies, only that everyone had it. Thus, he wasn’t sure what would happen if he were to remove his Astral Body.
He sat down right there and started to meditate. One more entering the daydreaming state, he slowly expanded his aura. The feeling of his Astral Body trembling from the previous training room was stuck in his mind. He remembered how the Astral Body moved ever so slightly when his body had refused to respond. Knowing that, he concluded that it was possible to separate himself from his Astral Body, but he didn’t know the consequences. He had no choice, but to listen. After all, if it’s part of the training given by Siberus, it couldn’t be that bad, he thought.
“Mini-Sib, open the door back to the Butterfly room.” He commanded. He needed the help of the body-paralyzing bugs in order to try something out.
“Hah? Why? You don’t need to go back there to make it through here.”
“Shut up and do it.”
“F-fine!” Mini-Sib stammered.
Soon they were back in the butterfly training room.
“Now don’t bother me until I say so.” He said while walking past the line and sitting down. Soon a few butterflies landed on him and prevented him from moving.
“Alright alright. Sheesh, what a boring person.” Mini-Sib turned around and went to frolic in the flowerbeds.
‘Now…’ He suddenly forced himself to try to move. He paid close attention to how the Astral Body was trembling after every effort.
“*NGH!*” He clenched his mouth. Trying once more to force his Astral Body out, he could feel the trembling within his limbs growing stronger.
‘It’s working!’ He found a procedure to follow. First he would try to wildly thrash around, causing his Astral Body to tremble. Then he would focus on one area, which ever area was trembling the least, he would try to move the limb until it matches the amount of movement the rest was doing. Finally he would rest and stop the testing. Though he didn’t look tired on the outside, because of the butterflies preventing him from moving, he was actually at the point of falling unconscious.
“Hah~ Hah~…” Hiro clenched his teeth. He had been resting for about 20 minutes now. After every rest, the Astral Body would move more and more, however, it had also taken longer to rest up. He didn’t feel any pain, but his limbs were oddly tired after every try.
After who knows how long, he had finally managed to move his Astral Body’s limbs freely. It was a strange feeling, although he wasn’t doing it with his real body, he could still feel air resistance with his Astral Arms when he swung them around. The final step was to force his torso and head to move away from his real body too. It should be easier now, with his Astral Arms and Legs free, he could use the arms to pull at the head. Of course this wasn’t an easy thing to do, he felt like he must’ve sat there for a week in order to get to where he was at that moment.
“Finally!” He pulled his head out. All that’s left now was the torso. Sending out a burst of energy, he scattered the dozens for butterflies that had landed on his body and stood up. To separate his torso, he would need to be in a standing position. Posing as if he was about to run, he let the butterflies descend on him once more.
“Grrr!” He furious forced his Astral Legs to kick at the ground.
*Rip Rip Rip!*
He could hear some sort of tearing in the background has he strained as hard as he could to force the last bit of his Astral Body free.
*RIIIIIIIIP!*
*Boom!*
He suddenly broke free, as soon as that happened, his actual body fell down and his Astral Body nearly tripped.
“What?!” He screamed. At that point, both his real body and Astral Body moved, the real body got up and sat down, patting himself. The Astral Body, looked down and saw that it had turned into a real body too.
“”What’s going on?!”” They both screamed out while pointing at each other.
Noticing the strange commotion, Mini-Sib finally came back from frolicking and saw the strange sight.
“W-w-w-what the hell?!?!” In front of him were two youths with black hair and a handsome face. Though the face was colored with confusion on both of them, they still have potential to break many girls’ hearts in the future.
“”I don’t know!”” They turned to the cartoon, “”You told me to remove my Astral Body, so I did! You better explain to me what this is all about!””
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“WHA?!!” Mini-Sib was stunned, his jaw hung low and he couldn’t find a reply to the youths’ demand.
Hiro noticed that after he separated himself, the effects of the butterflies stopped. He could move freely and so can his Astral Body. Though they move seem to do the same thing at the same time.
“Haha…ha…ha...” Mini-Sib laughed strangely, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“”Don’t tell me you don’t know!”” They both said angrily.
Snapping back to reality, “I-I-I don’t really know what is happening…” He twiddled his thumbs nervously. What Hiro had accomplished had never been done before. His training for Step 7 was for Hiro to mask his Astral Body and hide himself, however, the youth misunderstood and achieved anomaly.
““What?!”” The two Hiro started panicking, quickly the Astral Body ran back to the real body.
*Bam!*
“Ow!” They knocked their heads together.
‘I guess that doesn’t work.’ Hiro thought as both his bodies clutched their heads.
“Uh…” Mini-Sib was lost for words. He had thought one was just a spectral form; it wouldn’t be able to interact with physical things. However, he was wrong. Seeing how they both just knocked into each other proves that they’re both real.
[Tenga. What’s happening?]
[Hm…] Tenga began to think. Never in his life before now, had he encountered such a strange phenomenon. Back then, there was no such thing as Astral Bodies, so his knowledge about them is just as much as Hiro’s. Though that was true, his great wisdom and knowledge in the arcane was useful in this matter.
[Tenga?]
[I’m not so sure. I’ve heard of godly items that can split the soul, but this wasn’t caused by that. Since you are a total amateur when it comes to magic, I’m sure you didn’t cast a spell or anything. I didn’t feel a surge of life energy from you, so I’m sure it wasn’t magic…] Tenga began to ramble on, trying to figure out the mysteries behind the two Hiro’s.
[True, I didn’t cast any magic.] Hiro could also feel that his real body was really tired. It felt really weak compared to his Astral Body which was right next to the real one.
[Hm… I have researched about the forbidden magic, where one creates a duplicate and transfers his soul into the duplicate…] Tenga muttered, [Or…]
Tenga used his magic sight to scan both the Hiro’s. [Hm… They are both real bodies…Strange…One doesn’t have any ounce of life energy…]
[What?] Hiro perked up.
[I’m saying that one of you doesn’t have any life energy, but is made up of magic. While the other has life energy, but doesn’t have an ounce of magic.]
[What does that mean?] Hiro asked.
[It means that somehow you’ve managed to separate your magic and life.] Tenga paused a bit for it to sink in, [In my time, there was no such thing as magic within our bodies. The only time our bodies are charged with magic was when we release the life energy to cast a spell. However, ever since you brought me out, I’ve noticed that everyone around us has a hint of magic within their bodies at all times.]
‘He must be referring to the Astral Bodies!’ Hiro thought.
[I guess so…] Tenga read his thoughts, [Now that you’ve separated from your Astral Body, I can’t detect any hint of magic within your body. Let’s try this, breach the barrier and release your life energy.] Tenga’s greed for knowledge was peaked.
Hiro quickly complied and soon broke through the barrier.
[Yes! Right now your real body is charged with magic, now it’s just the same as the Astral Body!]
Hiro could also feel his weak limbs beginning to recover. Soon he was back in top form and could feel the life energy receding back behind the barrier. The strange thing was, there was less life energy than before and he could feel his Astral Body within himself again.
[Interesting! Very interesting!] If Tenga had a body, he would’ve been salivating right now. [Hiro, try to split again!]
[Again?] Hiro replied reluctantly. He hated the feeling of becoming weak, it was a tired feeling.
[Yes! Now hurry!]
[Fine.]
“”*NGH!*”” Both the Hiro’s clenched their teeth.
*RIIIIP!*
*Bam!*
Another Hiro tore free from the other and came crashing out. Mini-Sib just kept staring incredulously at the strange sight in front of him. He had just seen a person come out of another as if their soul tore free, of course he would be questioning his sanity.
“”“Hah~ Hah~ Now what?””” All three Hiro’s asked out loud.
[Hiro, you’ve stumbled upon something amazing!] Tenga giddily answered.
[Amazing? How?]
[Don’t you know? You are able to create an exact copy of yourself! Imagine the possibilities of this skill! You could amass a whole army, there would’ve be any need for anyone else. Although it seems you currently can’t control them separately, I’m sure with practice you can…] Tenga began to mumble once more.
[Why would I want to amass an army?]
[Ignore that. I was just saying, there are endless possibilities with this skill! Hiro, try to focus on lifting your left hand, though don’t do it for your actual body.]
‘Left hand…’ Hiro pictured that left hand moving. Slowly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two Astral Clones lift up their left and to look at it.
“”“Woah!!!””” All three of them screamed out.
“Huh?!” Mini-Sib finally returned to reality, “What’s so amazing?” Mini-Sib went closer to look at the Astral Clones’ left hand.
“””Nothing!””” All three of them yelled and quickly put down their hands.
[Hiro, I would like you to try one more thing, before we try to dispel these copies.]
[What is it?]
[I want to know if you’ll still be weak and tired after splitting if you release the life energy while splitting.]
[I’ll try it.]
Quickly releasing the life energy, he felt himself well-up with energy and forced himself free once more.
*RIIIP!*
This time, catching himself before falling, Hiro did not feel the same lethargic feeling after he tore his Astral Clone free.
[No tiredness!] He answered, while all 4 Hiro’s move around in unison. Though he said that, he could feel some fatigue from using up so much life energy to replenish his Astral Body.
In the background, Mini-Sib was once again questioning his sanity.
[Great.] Tenga answered, satisfied with testing his theory. [Now try to focus on your clones. It should be similar to how you controlled them. Will the clones to return back into your body.]
[I tried that remember? It left me with clutching my foreheads in pain.] Hiro thought back to how he tried running at himself.
[No, focus on that clone right in front of you.] Hiro looked at the first clone he made. [Try to focus and look through his eyes. That should teach you how to control this skill more appropriately.]
[I’m just curious. How do you know so much about controlling another body?] Hiro imagined Tenga mind-controlling another person.
[Heheheh. It’s not what you think Hiro. Mages of my time were able to control their familiars. They were able to transfer their thoughts into their familiars and see what their familiars see. In the past, I’ve also used familiars to send messages or explore places, it’s much safer that way.]
[I see…] Hiro felt embarrassed for doubting Tenga.
[Don’t worry about it. Haha! Now back to dispelling the clones.]
It took Hiro a while, but he soon got the hang of controlling the clones. Though it was miniscule, he could see through the clones’ eyes and move the clones. However, he couldn’t make them do complex moves, such as running, without losing control of his real body. Also, whenever he tries to look through a clone’s eyes, he would lose sight through his real eyes. It soon became troubling, since he wasn’t sure which eyes of which clone he was watching through. While this was going on, Mini-Sib seemed to be broken down and started rocking back and forth.
‘Okay… To dispel them…’ He decided to try it out on the first clone. He switched his vision over to the clone and felt around. He could feel the clone’s energy with his aura, its energy was much less than how it used to be. It turned out that clones have a fraction of the ability to draw in magic energy from the surroundings. If the clone doesn’t rest long enough, the energy drained would be too much and render the clone useless and given enough time, it would dispel itself. That was the case for the first clone. While using his aura to measure the clone’s magic energy, he had unconsciously released the aura for the clone as well, depleting the rest of the clone’s magic energy.
“””I guess that’s one way to do it.””” The remaining Hiro’s muttered to themselves.
Trying once more on the remaining two clones, Hiro finally managed to find out how to dispel them.
‘It seems all I have to do was concentrate of the link between my Astral Body and the Astral Clone.’ The concept was the same as attaching a part to an existing one. By willing the two parts together, they reconnect and became stronger. After successfully dispelling the two clones, he could feel stronger than he used to. In actuality, it was because of the temporary boost of magic energy from fusing the Astral Clone with his Astral Body, after a certain time, the excess magic energy would diffuse into the surrounding.
“Fuu~” Hiro slowly breathed out as he finished dispelling the clones. They seemed to slowly fade when he drew out the magical energy from them. Opening his eyes and feeling refreshed, he strolled on over to the rocking Mini-Sib.
“This is a dream. A very bad dream. A nightmare. I’m not crazy. Two Hiro’s. Three Hiro’s. Four Hiro’s.” Mini-Sib quietly mumbled to himself.
“Oi~!” Hiro tapped the head of the foot-tall cartoon-like kid.
“Huah!!” Mini-Sib quickly jumped up and frantically scrambled away.
“You’re finally awake!” Hiro decided to play it off as a bad dream. “After playing in the flowerbed, you had fallen asleep and started sleep walking…” He scratched his cheek.
“Really?” Mini-Sib slowly lightened up.
“Really.” Hiro nodded.
“Ahahaha!” Mini-Sib did a whole U-turn and started laughing once more, “I dreamed that you had gone crazy and started multiplying! It was so weird! Good thing it was only a dream. I was like: ‘Oh no! Hiro’s are going to take over the world!!!’ Hahaha!”
‘I guess the mind is really resilient. It’ll make someone believe something if it wanted to.’
“Why don’t we go to the next training room?”
“Yea. I was starting to get bored of the flowers. That must be why I fell asleep.” Mini-Sib chuckled. “Oh by the way, you only have 3 more day before the room’s magic ends.”
‘Finally! Then I can finally get some answers. I’ll make that man regret trapping me in here for over 2 months!’
“Really?” Hiro tried to act surprised and sad that the training was ending.
“Yea. You are almost done with the training. After Step 7, Stage 1 will be finished and you’ll be able to use my skill.”
Hearing that, Hiro’s eyes lit up. His determination flared up, he didn’t want to miss the tournament and waste his time for no reason. If anything, he’ll take the movement skill as a consolation for missing the tournament.
“Let’s hurry then!” He grabbed the door and flung it open. Soon he was back in a familiar room fool of inanimate robotic men. “Hurry tell me what I need to do to get past these guys!”
‘Since Mini-Sib seemed so lost when he saw the Astral Clone, I guess that was the wrong thing to do.’
“*Kohun* The point of this training is for you to learn by yourself. If I have to tell you how to do everything how will you—“
“Tell me what I need to do!”
“Imagineyourauraburrowingdeepintoyourbodyandathinshellsurroundingyourastralbody.” Mini-Sib blurted out in one breath.
“Once more, but slowly.” Hiro growled.
“Alright! Sheesh! Imagine your aura receding deep into your body. It’s the opposite of sending out an aura to detect your surroundings. Then after that is done, you have to form a thin layer of magic that will mask your Astral Body, this requires strict control over your Astral Body.”
“See it isn’t so hard.” Hiro grinned evilly.
“You are a meanie!” Mini-Sib crossed his arms and pouted.
Spreading his feet shoulder width apart, he began the process of drawing in this aura. It was quite easier than before, ever since he fiddled around with his Astral Clones, his control over his Astral Body has improved significantly. If he wanted, he could split and create a clone right there, but he didn’t want to freak out the nearly broken Mini-Sib.
Soon, he could feel his aura fully retracted and hidden deep inside his Astral Body. The only thing left was to consciously force his Astral Body to create a thin layer of magic that will obscure the Astral Body, and masking it from the Cogmen.
“Amazing!” Mini-Sib shouted. “I thought it would’ve taken you at least two days to figure how to do it. It seems I’ve misjudged you.”
Hiro smirked, he was glad that he took his time to figure out how to control the clones. If it weren’t for that misunderstanding the hint, he would’ve never found out that amazing skill. Secretly, he thanked the annoying Mini-Sib in front of him and quietly walked past the 2 meter tall Cogmen.
The Cogmen only reacts to Astral Bodies. Currently Hiro was masking the Astral Body with a think veil of magic. Though it would work on some things, the ability of hide the Astral Body could be seen through by those observant enough. For the Cogmen, which were only low-leveled security golems, his concealment was enough.
*Step 7. Complete.*
*Click!*
Hiro smiled as he heard the usual clicking that meant the door was unlocked. Looking one last time at the room of automaton that stood no chance, he proceeded on to the next floor.
He appeared in a small grassy hill. The wind of rippling his shoulder length hair. He could feel the cool breeze as it flowed past is shrinking clothes. On the hill he was on, there was a tree overlooking the hill and underneath that tree was a table. Sitting at the table, sipping tea was Siberus.
“Come. Have a seat.” He gestured towards the chair across from him.
Hiro silently made his way and sat down.
“So you were watching me the whole time?” Hiro glared as he asked.
“Aye. Something that you don’t know is: The person who created the world needs to be within the room for it to stay as it is. If I were to leave, the room would’ve reverted back to the mist-like state. Though I haven’t really been watching you. I’ve been enjoying my time relaxing within this room.” Siberus said, as he poured Hiro a cup of tea.
“So? Why did you keep me locked away for over two months?” Hiro clenched his fists under the table. Depending on Siberus’ answer, Tenga would kill him or spare him.
As if shocked by Hiro’s question, Siberus stopped pouring the tea.
“So you’ve found out, heh. Of course it was obvious, but you didn’t show any outward reaction to the time you spent in here.” Siberus laughed at himself.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Hiro, do you want to know another secret about this room?” Siberus smiled, showing no indication of malicious intent.
“Sure.” Hiro cautiously answered.
“The pedestal within this room is the source of all of this. Embedded in the pedestal is a meteorite that I found decades ago. This meteorite strangely had the ability to distort space and time at the cost of magic energy. Can you already guess it?” Siberus smirked.
Hiro couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His eyes widened in shock and his heart skipped.
“Ah but, it requires too much magic energy. Just to use this room for 1 week has spent 100,000G worth of magic crystals.” Siberus complained.
If Hiro’s eyes could widen any further they would. With 10 Gold an average family could live a full year with no difficulties. Hearing that the amount of magic crystals Siberus had use amounted to that much, Hiro couldn’t help but feel admiration for the man.
‘To think he spent so much just for me…’
“Thank you very much!” Hiro bowed deeply.
“Haha, don’t worry about it. If it means saving Lily’s life, I would gladly give up everything I own.” Siberus shook his head, “Hiro the time you spent in here will only amount to 7 days within the outside world. By the time you get out, you would only have about a day to prepare for the Bronze Divison. Right now I need you to finalize and combine everything you learned from what you’ve done so far.”
“Combine everything?” Hiro thought back to all the training rooms, then he suddenly remembered something, “Wait! If you’ve been with me ever since you created this place, wouldn’t that mean you haven’t registered me for the tournament?”
“Hahaha, what did you think I was doing while we were waiting for the priestess to arrive?” Siberus chuckled, slightly reminding Hiro of the Mini-Sib.
Hiro began to think back and remembered the old eccentric filling in sheets of paper on his desk. “I see.” He smiled.
“Anyways. You have less than three days to learn this skill.”
“You’ve been saying that, but I haven’t even see this skill that you’ve talked so much about.” Hiro replied.
“Want me to demonstrate then?” Siberus got up and walked out into the open.
Hiro couldn’t help but curiously watch the old man stood in the open. Suddenly, as if by magic, the old man disappeared and reappeared a few meters away.
“!!!”
“Hahaha!” Siberus’ voice came from beside him. In the time it took for Hiro to react, Siberus had already disappeared once more and arrived next to the youth.
“What was that?!” Hiro asked amazed.
“I call that move [Shunpo]. Though I’ve only showed you what it’s like at the first stage, once fully mastered you will become unstoppable. Also another thing to keep in mind, this skill requires lots of magic energy to use and shouldn’t be used carelessly.” Siberus warned.
“Understood.” Hiro nodded and got out of the seat and into the open. Siberus had already sat down and began drinking tea once more. The old man loved his tea.
‘Combining everything I’ve learned into one step.’ Hiro said to himself. He remembered the bogus Step 1, how he ran in a circle. Step 2 taught him to use explosive leg strength to jump in any direction. Step 3 taught him to keep moving. Step 4 taught him to control his footing. Step 5 allowed him to connect with his Astral body consciously. Step 6 taught him to release a burst of magical energy to ward off the paralyzing butterflies. Step 7 taught him to conceal his aura and Astral Body.
“Fuu~” Hiro let out a long breath. Digging deep into his mind, an idea began to form. He combined the parts of each step that seemed to go together.
‘Explosive burst. Footing. Precision. Control. Finally, Concealment!’ Hiro concluded as he began to build up magical energy within his foot. He planned to release a burst of energy in his foot to boost himself forward, while at the same time making sure of where he was going to land. Once sure, he suddenly released the pent-up stress and felt himself fly forward. Too far forward in fact.
“Wahhh!!!”
*Blam!*
He landed face first 10 meters away from where he wanted.
“Kahaha!” Siberus laughed hysterically from the table, spitting out some tea.
“Grrr!” Hiro got up and tried to do it once more. This time, he tried using less energy. The result? He was able to perfectly get to where he wanted, however, it wasn’t nearly as fast as what he had seen Siberus did.
Gritting his teeth, “Hey old man! How am I supposed to do it?”
“Ho?” The eccentric’s ears perked up, “You want more help? Even after all that I’ve shown you?” Truthfully, he loved teasing the boy. This was just another ploy to irritate Hiro.
“Grrr…Yea.” Hiro growled out.
“Haha~ There’s one step you’re forgetting.” Siberus answered.
“What step is that?”
“Think of it like this: Shunpo is the act of leaving behind the world and returning to it. When you kick off, you have departed from the world and when you land, you returned. What you are currently doing is taking off and leaving the world, what you aren’t doing is returning to it.”
‘Leaving and returning…’ Hiro thought. The act of pushing off with his feet was the same as leaving. So the act of landing would be entering. This was what Hiro was missing. He was so focused on leaving that he had forgotten to return.
Finding out what he was doing wrong, he thanked the chuckling old man and once more began to practice.
‘Explosive burst. Footing. Precision. Control…’ He built-up the energy. Instead of using less energy, he let it continue to build up.
“Leaving!”
*Boom!* He charged forward at incredible speeds.
“Concealment!”
He hid his Astral Body. To anyone watching, it looked like he disappeared. His high-speed combined with his concealment skill have combined and created the illusion of teleportation.
“Finally, Returning!”
*BLAM!*
His foot struck down hard and slid to a complete stop just a few inches away from his destination.
“FUUU~” He let out a steaming breath.
“Excellent.” Siberus smiled with a glint in his eye.
Hiro had traveled over 10 meters in the blink of an eye. He had learned a skill that would’ve taken a year to learn within 2 months. If anyone were to find out about this, they would be filled with envy and jealousy. Not only was Hiro a genius who learned quickly, he had learned the skill that had made Siberus famous. The man known as Siberus of the Lightspeed, had finally passed on his skill that had made him famous throughout all of Arcadia.