Chapter 20 - A Master and his Disciple
Since the calamity of Planet Yuba, a total of 312 days had already passed. It was now the 6th May of the year 20535, Erka Period.
The International Galactic Time is the standard time measurement officially recognised by the human empire. A galactic year is composed of 360 days, split in twelve months of 30 days each. Each day is composed of 24 hours, which divides again into 60 minutes per every hour.
Marcus and Kane were presently hopping from one planet to another. They had no time to chat, because as soon as they emerged from a portal, Marcus would instantly use his ‘Teleportation Spheres’ technique for multiple consecutive times, until they arrived before another planetary portal. At that point, Marcus would instantly pay the fee and then they depart the particular planet, restarting again the process.
After twelve different planets, Marcus was now visible fatigued. “One more planet Kane, and we will arrive at our destination. Then we will begin the training, but I need to take a rest first, because the energy of my cultivation centre has been almost completely exhausted!” Upon hearing this, Kane nodded eagerly without replying.
At last, Marcus arrived in front of the planetary portal, as he instructed the portal keeper. “Please send us to planet Giji!”
This portal keeper was a very old man. He began inspecting the portal and slowly muttered, “Planet Giji… let me check if I can find it… here it is… good, it is within the portal`s range. You must pay…”
Marcus impatiently interrupted, “I know! I know! Here, take your 2k Piras.”
The portal keeper grabbed the sack of money and immediately started counting the money within the sack, and whilst he was calculating, he softly uttered, “That kid with you… is he a servant from some minor clan? If yes, I wouldn’t recommend travelling to Planet Giji, since the gravity of that planet is higher than normal, and can leave undesirable physical effects on his body.”
When Marcus heard this warning, he just replied in a happy-go-lucky way, “Just send us already, I am tired and in need of a rest now! Don’t worry about this young chap, his tougher than he looks.”
“If you say so…” The portal keeper coolly responded as he started adjusting the portal construction. “Ok, the preparations are done. Have a safe Journey.”
Kane was lost worrying about this gravity affair, but was unexpectedly grabbed and thrown with force into the portal by Marcus. “Geez, I told him that I was tired, and he just kept staring motionless…” Marcus whispered irritated whilst he entered the portal.
PLAK~~~
When Kane emerged from the portal, he ended up falling stupidly on his face. “Ouch!” He groaned, as he held his hand over his face in pain. Shortly after, the carefree Marcus appeared as well.
“Hey! What`s the big idea for throwing me like that! That hurt me!” Kane replied totally pissed off, still facing the ground.
However, Marcus ignored him and kept his cool, as he chanted the Teleportation Spheres technique again. “Urghh!” Kane complained, but it was all in vain; all he could do is see himself getting teleported again by the spherical winds.
After the teleportation, they ended up on an open flat land, near various hills and mountains. Two yellow stars were shining low in the sky, and the weather was mostly clear, albeit a little windy. There were no signs of any living humans in this region.
Marcus then carefully inspected his surroundings, “This location doesn’t seem that bad…” he said whilst nodding his head in satisfaction. “Ok! I`ve made my decision! This will be our resting place for the time being!” He then opened his storage device, and from it came out two separate beds.
BANG~~~BANG~~~~
The two beds descended onto the ground, and Marcus instantly jumped on one of them as he prepared to take a rest. During all this time, Kane remained glaring at him, totally perplexed. “Why did you take out two beds in the middle of here?”
However, Marcus kept ignoring him as he casually uttered. “Kid, I am going to take a rest now. Don’t even dare to wake me up; I will be waking up by my own! Goodnight! Oh…! I almost forgot that there is no night on this planet! Good rest then!” Marcus expressed before closing his eyes.
“Hey, wait a second Master!” Kane instantly exclaimed, but the only reply he received was that of Marcus’ snoring. The dumbfounded Kane frowned comically, “The hell?! How is he able to fall asleep so fast?!”
Kane, contrary to Marcus, wasn’t in any mood of sleeping. However, Kane was physically tired, so he decided to sit down instead. He sighed, as he prepared to walk slowly towards the other bed. It was only now that he noticed that his physical movements were somewhat slowed down, and even simply taking a step required a greater deal of effort than normal. “Damnit, what the hell is this weird pulling force?! Is this the gravity thing that the portal keeper had warned us about? Urghh!” He struggled to arrive to his bed, and when he did, he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Kane then spend his time observing the surrounding environment. “The landscape and vegetation of this planet is very alike to that of planet Yuba. Even the green vegetation is strikingly similar to the vegetation that surrounded Hillfort village. The only difference I can see is the yellowish sky, and the two suns…” Kane was lost comparing his past memories with this planet.
He unwillingly rekindled his memories about his past life on planet Yuba. He recalled the time spent in Hillfort Village with his family, friends and neighbours. Kane`s eyes slowly welled up with tears, “Father, I really miss you now…” He paused for a while, lost in his own thoughts, gently raising his head upwards, “Look at me father! I am still alive; safe and sound! I have made new friends, and even found a master who is willing to take care of me – although I would like to add that he seems a little odd. I will soon start my own training, with the hope of becoming a powerful fighter. I am sure if you were still alive, you would have been very proud of your only child!” He kept crying alone for a while, but slowly recovered his mental state, as he patiently waited for Marcus to awake again.
Bit by bit, a whole two hours had passed, and the two yellow stars were now slowly setting down, creating a bewitching sight. Kane was totally immersed watching a double sunset for the first time in his life. “This is incredible. A one star sunset on planets Yuba and Magenta was already outstanding, but this is truly something else!” Kane voiced in admiration.
Gradually, the sky turned redder, whilst at the same time Kane felt his back becoming warmer. When he turned around, he opened his eyes wide open in amazement; two reddish stars had just appeared on the other side. “Wow! How can this be possible at all?! A double star dusk and a double star dawn!” Kane shouted in complete astonishment. This was just too spectacular! Unfortunately, this scene lasted for just a few minutes, as the yellow stars completely disappeared below the horizon shortly after.
“Puki! Puki!”
Suddenly, a sound of a chirping bird was heard, originating from high above. Kane immediately turned his inquisitive gaze towards the sky. There he could see a small colourful bird descending rapidly downwards, until it arrived and rested on Marcus chest. “Puki!”
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The bird stared curiously towards Marcus face, seemingly attracted by something. The bird then moved its beak closer to Marcus’ face, then started softly preening his barely visible moustache and lips. Marcus still sleeping, began making hilarious facial expressions as he unconsciously pronounced, “Hmmm... come on… slow down… ohhh… careful my honey bunny… ahhh… you`re scratching me Miranda… uhh...”
The colourful bird was apparently enjoying this, as it now bit Marcus even harder than before. The dreaming Marcus moved his shoulders and lips funnily as he uttered excitedly, “Hmmm… no Miranda… you`re going way too hard now… ohhh… no need to be this rough Miranda… no, not like that… huhu, your tickling is so amusing…”
The joyful colourful bird then paused for a while, as it let out a far reaching cry, “Puki!” In the space of a few breaths, a flock of multi-coloured birds appeared in the sky. They rotated gloriously together, as they descended like arrows, thereafter landing and totally covering Marcus’ body and bed. The leader of the birds then turned and raised its head, and afterwards it proudly commanded, “Puki!” All the birds’ eyes shone with desires, as they started biting mercilessly on Marcus’ body.
However, their delightful moment was short lived. They were interrupted by a sudden enraged aura that emerged from Marcus’ body. The birds quivered, as they flew away completely terrified, seemingly fleeing for their lives.
The now infuriated Marcus woke up and fumed aloud, “You little pests, how dare you do this to me?! Why you had to come now of all times?! You interrupted my fascinating dream!!” He stared at the fleeing birds totally infuriated. “Where do you think you`re going you freaks of nature?!” He then grinned evilly at them, preparing to kill them with his aura. However, he then paused to think of a more flashy method to dispose of them. He quickly made up his mind, and instantly enchanted, “5th Major art of the soul, Tornado of Doom!”
Suddenly, a large tornado formed that instantly engulfed the whole flock of birds. They tried their best to avoid the tornado, but their pitiful efforts were all for naught. In the end, all they could do was to let out miserable shrieks. The tornado then carried away the now crying birds high up into the skies, before disappearing from sight. This was followed by a rain of colourful feathers that slowly descended over the surrounding areas.
Marcus then frowned, as he brought out a bottle from within his storage device. On the bottle there was written a caption: ‘Women sensual attraction cream. Any woman will be instantly left captivated by the aroma of this cream. For best results, it is recommended to apply it two times daily, in the morning and in the evening.’
“Seriously, this cream was supposed to attract women, not birds! What a waste of money!” He looked totally pissed off, as he threw away the product.
During all this time, Kane just watched this whole scene in embarrassment, without saying anything. However, when he noticed that Marcus had calmed down, he instantly asked excitedly, “Hey Master, are we going to start the training now?”
Marcus then looked at him and nodded in agreement. “Yes, we can now start the first stage of your training. It will be quite boring at first, but it is imperative that you keep focused and master this phase as soon as possible.”
Kane responded curiously, “What does the first phase of training consist of exactly?”
“Before completely mastering the power of your cultivation centre, you first need to be able to visualise it. So far, you have been using it unconsciously, without being able to control it. That is not the correct way. In fact, it was only possible for you to utilise the power of your cultivation centre because you had the aid of a power crystal. Without a power crystal, the current you is totally vulnerable.”
“Visualising the cultivation centre usually doesn’t require a lot of effort. However, in your case it will be much harder. For some odd reason, the power of your cultivation centre is restricted only to your right hand, making the rest of your body no different than that of a cripple. Most probably, the reason for this is because your magnetic core is very weak. Once it becomes stronger, it should be able to cover your entire body.”
“You should now calm yourself and start meditating. Remember, focus your own mind on the power hidden inside your right hand, and try to visualise it. Once you succeed, you will be then able to immerse yourself within your cultivation centre. Only then you will be capable to observe the properties of your cultivation centre, and properly utilise its powers.”
“All of this is hard to understand with just words. However, keep in mind that there are trillions of fighters in this galaxy, and they all have managed to visualise their cultivation centres. Some just needed a few days, whilst others needed several weeks. There is no reason for you not to be able to succeed.”
Kane smiled in agreement. He then searched for an ideal place to meditate in peace; a spot under a small cliff. He sat crossed-legged meditating, as time slowly passed by. Kane remained like this for days, only occasionally interrupted by his personal needs. Meanwhile, Marcus read several books to kill his time, at times stopping to observe Kane`s progress.
It was on the 16th of May, when Marcus sensed a sudden change in Kane`s aura. Marcus smiled in excitement as he turned his gaze towards the meditating Kane. “Looks like he finally succeeded in visualising his cultivation centre… I am very curious about the makeup of his cultivation centre… this is going to be quite interesting!”
Kane was presently completely lost in a trance. He felt himself being dragged into another world, and when he opened his eyes, all he could see was complete emptiness. He searched around him, carefully exploring the place. After a while, he paused, trying to figure out what to do next. He kept pondering, until he sensed something calling for him. His eyes glowed with excitement, and instantly flew towards the source of this mysterious attraction. He kept moving for some time, until he arrived before a small black ball.
“What is this ball? Is it my cultivation centre?” He asked curiously to himself whilst the small ball rested over his right hand. Shortly after, the ball gave the impression that it was expanding itself. However, in reality it wasn’t the ball that was becoming larger, it was Kane`s body that was becoming smaller in size. Kane`s body gradually shrunk, until finally stopping a few moments later. The situation was now completely reversed. Kane`s size was presently miniscule when compared to the large spherical ball in front of him.
He then reached out his right hand and slowly inserted it into the sphere. Ripples formed on the surface of the sphere, as Kane`s body was gently being dragged inside it. Kane then closed his eyes in anticipation. After a while, his entire body was absorbed inside the black sphere.