“Damn,” Thorne grumbled as he rubbed his head. He maneuvered out of the cramped pod and found himself back in the bright arcade.
Zal, who was already out of his pod, nodded to him while smiling; “That was a good choice.” He said, “Dueling is always fun.”
“Yeah,” Thorne muttered. His head was aching in pain; the image of the dead man smiling was constantly replaying itself without Thorne’s consent. ‘Am I hallucinating? Thorne asked himself, ‘It’s just a game, right? It’s probably…. a bug or something.’ He thought as he took several deep breaths.
“You okay, Thorne?” Zal asked while looking over at him, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Thorne replied, “Just got a headache; never been in one of those machines before.”
“Oh, alright.” Zal laughed, “So the great wilderness survivor can’t handle a little VR huh?”
Shaking his head, Thorne smiled slightly; “I guess not.”
A hissing noise sounded around him, and upon looking around, Thorne saw that Lyra, Procka, and Moravian were all exiting their respective pods.
“Hey, guys.” Zal said with a toothy grin, “That was fun, wasn’t it.”
Moravian nodded, “Yes, it was…enjoyable.” A dark smile played across his face when he said that, causing Thorne to recoil slightly.
Procka simply nodded, while Lyra looked more reserved and acted as if she couldn’t hear Zal.
‘That makes sense.’ Thorne thought as he watched Lyra’s nervous disposition, ‘She got beaten up pretty bad.’
“Well, that’s good.” Zal smiled, his eyes crinkling in mirth, “So, since you all enjoyed my choice, that means I’m the leader, right?”
“NO,” Moravian shouted while glaring at Zal, “I didn’t even like it too much; it was mediocre.” The undead huffed.
“Oh, sure.” Zal chuckled, “All right, we should go,” Zal said while checking a watch-like device on his wrist, “It’s already really late; we have to get back from sparring.”
Nodding, Thorne followed Zal and the rest out of the bustling arcade and into the city. ‘That…was interesting.’ Thorne thought, ‘I need to explore it more. If there are more battles from Earth, I could learn quite a bit.’
Zal led the way back to the academy while Thorne—enraptured by his own thoughts—walked in the back of the five-person group.
‘If I can view more religious battles that would be perfect.’ Thorne thought, ‘For some reason, the Muslim army seemed a lot more inspired than the Quraysh.’ He sighed, ‘The past is so complicated.’
“Thorne.” A small voice squeaked.
“Huh.” Thorne glanced around as his immersion in his own thoughts was broken. It was Lyra, the blue-spectrum girl, who had spoken.
“Yes, " he said, knitting his eyebrows together. ‘Why does she want to talk to me?’
Upon hearing Thorne respond, Lyra averted her eyes and looked down at the concrete road below them, “I just wanted to say…thank you.”
Thorne squinted at her. “Why?” he asked, genuinely confused by the girl. Wasn’t she acting arrogant earlier? Why in hell would she be thanking me?’
Her face scrunched in discomfort as she continued speaking in a quiet voice, “For helping me. I know you were exhausted, and I was a burden.”
Thorne gasped in realization. “Oh, all right. Just try not to be a burden in real life battles, " he grunted, looking directly into the girl’s ocean-blue eyes.
“I won’t.” She huffed, a hint of her previous arrogance returning as she glared at Thorne.
“Sure.” Thorne chuckled.
----------------------------------------
“That’s good.” A loud voice boomed, “Have structure with your energy. The Amber spectrum is a machine, not a beast!”
Thorne’s face hardened. Sweat trickled down his face as he concentrated on controlling his amber energy. ‘Structure. I need structure,’ he repeated over and over in his head. It was his mantra, a ritual instilled upon him from the hours of constant beatings from Master Graald.
In the three days he had trained, Thorne had made mountains of progress In his amber spectrum control.
“There we go, boy.” Graald grinned as he swung his massive pole right at Thorne’s leg, “Protect yourself; your energy is a shield, not a bandage. Use it as so.”
Thorne grimaced and focused his stream of amber energy to circulate faster.
BAM!
The pole connected, and Thorne recoiled back, but he didn’t collapse or scream out like he would a couple of days ago. Instead, he layered his amber energy to reinforce the area where he had been hit. The first layer of energy reinforced the leg and reduced the burden of the damage when it was hit. The second layer absorbed as much of the pole’s force as possible. This layer was the most important; it was a literal sponge for the damage to be absorbed into. The third and final layer was the least critical. This layer consisted of only spare energy; this energy was employed to quicken the healing process of the damaged leg.
“All right, that’s enough.” Master Graald shouted. Thorne panted heavily. Soreness attacked him as he bowed to Master Graald, but he didn’t care. Soreness was nothing after all; It was just an annoyance.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Thank you, Master Graald,” Thorne said as he bowed to his teacher.
“Of course.” Master Graald smiled. I’m glad you were able to endure the torture, boy.”
“Barely.” He winced, remembering the first two days in particular: ' Not fun at all.’
As he walked away from the training area, Thorne willed his system interface to materialize.
Name Thorne Kramer Age 25 years Race Human (Grade 1) Class N/A Titles None Cultivation Status Level 73<74 (Late Grade 1) Red Spectrum Status Level 80 Amber Spectrum Status Level 66<68 Red Spectrum Skills
Phantom Leap, level 4/10
The Red Nova Torrent, Level 3/10
Cross Blade Strike, Level 2/10
Blade Extension, level 6/10
Amber Spectrum Skills
Sword Shield, Level 3/10
Energy Bubble, Level 4/10
General Skills
Everlasting Linguist
Advanced Energy Circulation
Stats Listed Below Strength 83 Agility 85 Constitution 73<74 Intelligence 65 Perception 35 Energy Control 71<75
Thorne smiled upon seeing the long list of numbers and attributes. ‘That’s good progress.’ He thought, contented by the three days of training. He had not unlocked any new skills or abilities—apart from the dual wielder skill—but that didn’t discourage Thorne. After all, he needed to learn the fundamentals, and for only three days, he had done quite a good job at that.
Instead of teleporting back to the dorm room with Zal, Thorne commanded the teleporter to transport him directly to the red spectrum training area. The familiar warehouse-like space greeted him with its glowing red walls, and Thorne strolled past the various training structures.
“There you are, Thorne.” His mentor said as he saw Thorne reach him, “Master Graald wanted to make sure I…was ready.” Thorne grimaced; on this day, Master Graald had been quite ruthless with the severity and frequency of his attacks. It wasn’t too horrible because Thorne had learned to control the amber energy properly, but it was indeed painful.
“That is good.” His mentor smirked, “There isn’t a sparring session today, so I will also have to ensure you are…ready.”
Thorne’s face contorted as he looked up to the ceiling in helplessness, “Oh lord save me.”
----------------------------------------
“All right, Thorne,” His mentor smiled, “Last duel. I do hope that you are ready.”
Thorne bit his lip. Blood ran down his chin as he prepared his blades in a familiar stance. One sword was horizontally placed above his head, while the other was held firmly in front of his waist.
“Let’s go.” He growled. Contrary to many of the previous duels, his mentor made the first move. With his plain short sword, his mentor lunged forward and threw an overhead strike right at Thorne’s exposed shoulder!
‘Is it a feint?’ Thorn questioned, his mind racing, ‘No, I have to commit! He’s trying to play mind games!’ Thorne realized. After all, combat was just as much a mental exercise as it was physical.
Thorne brought his left sword up to block his mentor’s attack. ‘It was a feint.’ Thorne realized as he saw his mentor’s sword spin away from Thorne’s own. Luckily, he was prepared for this possibility, and Thornes swiveled on his heel, dodging the feisty short sword cut.
Using his momentum, Thorne launched himself forward. With his saber available, he felt his strength surge as he swiped at his mentor’s neck. ‘Please just take the bait!’ Thorne begged as he awaited the man’s move.
‘Yes!’ Thorne cheered as he saw his master shimmy his way under the attack, right into the path of Thorne’s other blade!
‘I did it!’ Thorne realized, ‘I outthought him!'
He had planned it all, from baiting out the feint to causing his master to dodge his attack and duck his way right into the path of Thorne’s waiting blade!
“Good job.” His mentor nodded while casually smiling at Thorne’s sweat-ridden face. “This time we both die.”
Thorne’s face fell, “Both?”
“Yes.” His master said, “Look down.”
Doing so, Thorne realized what his mentor meant. The man’s small sword was lightly pressing against Thorn’s heart. With just a simple push, Thorne would die...
“You did well, " his master smiled warmly, You finally learned how to use your head.”
Thorne retrieved his sabers and put them away in his spatial storage.
“Thank you,” Thorne bowed.
“Of course.” His mentor nodded. Turning his back to Thorne, his mentor began walking away.”
“Wait!” Thorne shouted at the departing man, “WWhat'syour name?” He asked.
During the entire three days, Thorne had never learned his mentor's name.
The man turned around, and looked at Thoren with a puzzled expression;.“Why do you want to know?
"Thorne answered immediately, “I wish to duel you when I return. I need to see if I can beat you then.”
The man smiled wide, but Thorne could notice that a small layer of melancholy was present in the expression. “You won’t return.” The man chuckled while turning away.
“What?!” Thorne shouted as he watched the man walk away. He tried to sprint and catch up with his mentor, but his legs ceased to move! Looking down, Thorne noticed that strings of red energy were binding his legs in place.
“What are you doing?” Thorne shouted. His heartbeat raced as he watched the man simply shake his head and stroll away.
“Good luck, Thorne.” The man said as his red eyes bore into Thorne’s own.
“What is going on?” Thorne shouted.
The man strolled away from Thorne and ignored him. Helpless, Thorne could only stare on in disbelief as his mentor stepped onto one of the teleportation platforms; “You already know my name., " the man smirked. A red glow enveloped the man, and with a final nod at Thorne, he disappeared.
Thorne’s eyes burned as he watched on in horror. The red constraints that had bound him snapped, but Thorne did not move. “H-How.” He stuttered, his lip quivering. Just as his mentor had teleported, Thorne saw something; his mentor had changed; a red glow had enveloped the man as he stepped on the teleporter. His form as a human had melted and changed to something else. Something larger, something stronger, something metallic, and covered with mysterious runes.
Thorne stared dumbstruck at the now empty teleporter, “Master Khal.” He whispered.