Orrin reserved a special training room for our training. Walking into the room, I could feel the ambient chakra permeating and concentrating in the area. The room itself was twenty-by-twenty-by-twenty meters and had several soft meditation mats in the center. Leading us to the mats, Orrin sat with his legs crossed and facing us, gesturing to Haze and I to do the same.

I sat where he gestured while Haze walked over to the right wall and leaned against it with her arms crossed, her eyes glaring daggers at Orrin, who ignored the stare. “Now let us begin,” Orrin began, and I nodded, “First, let’s start with the basics of cycling and refining.”

Raising an eyebrow, I said, “I already know how to do that.”

“True, you know the common way to do that, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s more you should know. For starters, you can’t use your spirits for control chakras.”

“Why not?” I asked, cocking my head, and Yuki mirrored my movement.

“Well, you are trying to control one singular aspect of your chakra. Spirits will only be made of two chakras that complement each other, like your Storm chakra made of force and lightning. Those complement each other, so they create a spirit. Whereas your Shield chakra, made of force and earth, don’t complement each other. Earth is stable, sturdy, and unmoving. Force is wild and unbridled movement. So a Shield spirit could never be made. The same goes for your Healing and Ice-claymore chakras. But that also makes those three cores perfect for practicing control.”

I nodded along with his explanation and asked, “So what would happen if I used my spirit cores for whatever you’re about to teach me?”

“To put it bluntly, it would be equivalent to me ripping you limb from limb.”

“Yeah, don’t do that to us,” Fengbao said in my head.

“That would be unpleasant,” Apollo agreed.

“Agreed,” Crucible also agreed.

“Okay, so I’m limited to my Shield, Ice-claymore, and Healing chakras.”

“Correct. Now let us begin. Start by—” Orrin began to explain what I needed to do. I needed first to cycle the core I wanted to use. I decided to use healing because it would be the safest. Then once I got it cycling, I had to try and split the chakras. That turned out to be more difficult than it sounds. I had to ensure they didn’t come in contact with each other after separating. Otherwise, I would have to start over.

I luckily had a solution for that. Since I have dedicated channels for each of my cores, I could split them into separate channels. This would mean I can move them in the same direction and not have them cross each other. The way Orrin suggested it was to have the chakra mirror each other and come out separate halves of the body. Which sounds hard, but to him, it’s effortless.

My first attempt was a failure. I couldn’t get the chakras to separate. So I tried again and failed. Three more times, I tried, and three more times, I failed. Opening my eyes in frustration, I grumbled, “This is harder than you make it sound.”

Orrin smiled, “Well, I never said it would be easy.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, no shit. How do you separate it?”

“By cycling and moving your chakra as fast as you can. You can’t move it as you normally do.”

Scowling, I nod and begin cycling again. I take long deep breaths and feel my chakra move faster and faster with each exhale. Then I tried again.

Ding

Skill: Quick Advancements lvl 9. Level up.

Skill: Quick Advancements lvl 9 has reached level 10

Skill learned

Chakra Separation lvl 1

Skill learned

Monster Tamer lvl 1

With that notification ringing in my ears, I felt my chakra split into two separate parts, and water pooled in my right hand with a soft mist forming over it. “I … I did it,” I said in disbelief.

“So it seems,” Orrin said, then clapped his hands, “Well done, that only took you one hour. Most impressive.”

“How long did it take you?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Five minutes,” Orrin answered with a smile.

“Of course, it did,” I said and opened my stat screen to look at the new skills I got.

Skill: Chakra Separation lvl 1. Separate one chakra core at a time.

Requirements to reach the next level: Separate chakra twenty times. 1/20.

Skill: Monster Tamer lvl 1. Create a lasting bond with monsters.

Requirements to next level: teach your monster to obey you. 0/1.

There are level requirements to meet to level up? And I only just now got the monster tamer skill when I’ve been with Yuki for so long? This piqued my interest, and I looked at my other two skills to look at their descriptions.

Skill: Quick Advancements lvl 10. Advance your cores three times as fast.

Requirements to reach the next level: Advance a core to level seven within six hours and learn a new way to use your chakra cores. Time Remaining 2hr 15min. And learn a new way to use your chakra cores.

Skill: High Pain Tolerance lvl 2. Withstand up to 9,000 dols of pain.

Requirements to reach the next level: Withstand a total of 900,000 dols of pain. 629,710/900,000.

This is awesome! I have quests to complete! Sort of … but still, I have goals. “Are you listening to me, Zeana?” Orrin asked.

I shook my head and focused on him, “What? I – yes?”

Orrin sighed and said, “It is your loss. I won’t recount the story of my barber and I on our grand adventure across the world.”

“That’s fine. What do I have to do next for—”

“It was a dark and stormy night when we left for our first adventure—” Orrin began to retell his story, but I quickly interrupted him.

“Orrin! Focus! What’s next?”

“Oh, all right. You wanted to know how to control chakras and what chakra would be best for a control chakra. Correct?” Orrin asked to confirm, and I nodded. “We’ll start with a mock battle between you and your master using only control chakras.”

I looked hesitantly over to Haze, who smiled evilly. I gulped and stood, depositing Yuki on the ground, and hurried off after Orrin, who was getting out of our way. Haze pushed herself off the wall and cracked her knuckles and her neck in one fluid motion, “Let’s get some real training in. And be sure to keep your chakra sight going, kid.”

“Y-yes, master,” I said and began cycling my Shield core to separate and power my sight. Once I felt my chakra separate, I nodded, and Haze shot forward with a burst of speed and an explosion under her feet. I sent my force chakra outside my body and felt it shoot out in all directions, pushing Haze back and making her stumble, and I cursed. That wasn’t what I wanted to do.

Haze stopped stumbling and repeated her attack while I tried again. I pushed the force out of my body and held it there, but I could feel it moving and writhing around like an intangible tentacle monster. Haze got closer to me than last time, and I saw her cores within my short range. I could see pure white energy flowing through her body and saw it heavily concentrated in her right fist. I stepped back, hoping to dodge her attack but was too slow. Her fist ignited in flames, and she landed a punch to my gut. But her fist bounced off my body and sent her reeling back. At the same time, I, too, got pushed back. So far back that I impacted the wall behind me with a loud boom.

Crumbling to the ground, I gasped for air, and Orrin walked up to me with a broad grin. “Well done. You almost had it. A brave choice to use Force chakra as a shield,” Orrin commended.

I rolled over to look up at him and said, “Thanks, I—” Then I stopped talking as I saw him through my chakra sight. He was a mass of pure white light. I couldn’t see him or his cores. It was like he was exuding chakra from every pore in his body.

Orrin’s smile widened, and he asked, “Having trouble seeing me?”

“Yeah,” I said, asking, “Why is that?”

Putting a finger to his lips, he said, “That is a secret. Now do you know where you went wrong?”

I shook my head, “I didn’t move in time.”

“That is part of it but not all. Force chakra is movement and power itself. So, you can’t hold it still. Try again, and this time don’t let the chakra stop moving.”

Nodding, I got back up and returned to the center of the room, moving my chakra again. “You saw what my chakra did? Right kid?” Haze asked, and I nodded, “Good. Most fighters tend to telegraph their attacks like that. So keep an eye out for it.” Haze added and readied herself again.

I moved my force chakra around in a constant slow flow, and Haze shot forward with an explosion of speed. This time when she punched at me, I didn’t move. Her fist hit an invisible wall of force, and I felt the flow of my force chakra speed up. Haze’s smile broadened, and she began punching me with a flurry of punches. With each strike, I felt my chakra speed up faster and faster. Until I almost couldn’t control it. When I was about to lose control of the chakra, I punched forward, and my fist connected with Haze’s flaming fist.

An explosion of energy shot out from the point of contact, and Haze and I were thrown back to the walls opposite each other, colliding with the stone with a loud boom. We groggily got back to our feet, and Orrin clapped his hands. “Well done, Zeana. How’s your chakra right now?” Orrin asked.

I shook my head and closed my eyes, feeling for my Shield core. It was mostly empty. Maybe ten percent was left within. I looked up at Orrin and said, “It’s almost gone.”

Raising a finger, Orrin said, “That is one of the drawbacks of this technique. You use your chakra faster. Take a minute to cultivate, and we’ll try again with the same chakras.”

I nodded, “How long will we be doing this?” I asked.

“Until five-thirty. I have a dinner party scheduled with all the important people watching the tournament at seven. So, get to work. I don’t have all day.”

I nodded and went over to Haze, who sat with her back against the wall. She looked up at me and said, “What is it now, kid?”

“Master, I was wondering if you could tell me how to unlock my next core. What are the blockages?” I asked, politely.

Haze groaned, “You’re planning to get two more cores and the chakras for them, aren’t you?”

I nodded sheepishly, “Yeah.”

Sighing, Haze answered, “You need to believe in yourself and have confidence in whatever you do. If you doubt anything about yourself, you will have that blockage forever. Now get to work.”

I nodded again, returned to the center of the room, and sat. Closing my eyes, I began to meditate and refill my chakra while I pondered what I doubted about myself. I needed to be strong. I needed control. I need to win this tournament. After I learn all I can from Orrin, I think – no, I know I can win. I know I will be strong enough to win. That I have no doubt about.

***

Ding

Blockage 2/3 complete

***