Chapter 4 - Training

I rested on the bed and let the water around me nourish my body. Now that I had passed through this trial, my mind felt even clearer and even the tiniest of the details could be seen by me now.

Something inside me had changed in that valley, something in my soul. Although I still couldn't use magic, the clarity of my mana sight was as even better than before. I laid in the bed for two days before I was totally healed. The woman came to my room sometimes to re-cast the magic that was healing my body, but didn't say anything more.

Seeing that my strength had come back, I got up from the bed and left the room. after getting out, I saw that I was in the middle of the valley. Surrounding the hut I was in and another bigger wooden house close by, there was no mist. It was as if some force was keeping it out.

I went to the front of the bigger house and called. "Fìor, I am healed." I waited for an answer, and only after 10 minutes she left the house. She was still using the same robe from the first time that I met her. She looked into my eyes and said. "Wait by the side, I will left in a few minutes to test you." she entered the house again.

I sat on a trunk that was on the ground and waited. After 30 minutes, she left the house with a white orb in her hands.

she came close and said. "Now we will test your soul aptitude. If you have the talent, I will train you in consideration of that Dionach's elder." She made the orb float mid air and said. "Now, put your hand on the orb."

I got up from the trunk, hubbed my hands against each other and reached out to the orb.

"AHHHH." A scorching sensation came through my hands, entering my body and spreading over every inch of it.

I felt as if I was being cooked alive, but soon after the sensation stopped and a refreshing feeling took over.

The orb glowed in a beautiful azure color and emitted a soothing light. My body felt the light and free, as if my shackles were released.

"Hm… It seems that you have what it takes to learn from me." She waved her hand, and a stone chair came out of the ground, as if the nature itself had changed to comfort her. I didn't sense the use of mana and my eyes opened wide.

"Ho… how did you do that without using mana?" This was the power that I was after my whole life, everything resumed to this.

"Do not worry, in time you'll learn. Now, site down again and hear to what I have to say." She waved her hand and I was pushed down by a mysterious force.

"Do you know how the mages and warriors are classificated?" She asked me.

"Yes. There are nine circles in which a mage can be classified. The higher the circle, the more powerful the mage, even though there are nine known circles, it has been centuries since the last nine circle mage has appeared. Warriors are also classified in the same nine level, but not in circles, but in life force, they use the mana inside of themselves to temper their bodies initially to generate life force from where the mutations are born."

"What are the circles and mutations?"

"The circles are the concentrated mana inside a mage, in which they concentrate and gather in a system that allows them to use it more proficiently. The mutations are innate powers that are slumbering inside the bodies of all humans, and through tempering and stimulations it manifest once the mana reinforces the body. The stronger the life force, the stronger the mutation becomes."

"Yes, that is all correct. It seems that at least you have the basic knowledge about how the classifications are done." She said. "Now, let's begin with something that is not known to all humans. There are other powers that can be used or accessed instead of only mana and lifeforce. The other ones are soul power and Nature force. their classifications are different from what warriors and mages use, after all, they are completely different in essence." She waved her hand and four projections of humans appeared. "First mana." the projection of the right began emit the mana inside of itself and suck the energy surrounding itself and gather it inside of his body. "Mages use the natural mana in the atmosphere reinforce their own natural mana and develop the mana circuits inside themselves, it is almost as if they are plundering the mana for themselves. In this way, the mana became integral part of themselves and they have complete freedom with what they do with it."

The second human projection began to circulate the mana in its body to strengthen the body, after some time, another energy began to appear from all over the projection, after that, the mana and the other energy fused and another powerful energy was born. "The warriors use the natural mana inside themselves to strength the body so that the lifeforce can be cultivated, after the life force is born, they fuse it with their own natural mana to create ki, an energy that is much stronger them mana or life force alone."

The third projection began to use the natural mana inside of itself to "resonate" with the natural mana surrounding it, after some time, the mana inside its body began to fuse with the natural mana and even its color changed, the body began to blend with the mana of it's surrounds. "Nature force is born of the fusion of inside and outside. The internal mana resonates with the natural energy and is naturally reinforced by it, this leads to the fusion of mana and natural energy, leading to the birth of Nature force. The more in synch you are with the concepts of nature, the more you can access it and become more powerful. For example, a Nature force user can begin to resonate with a forest first, after reaching a certain level of fusion with the natural energy in it, they can go to a desert and temper their Nature force with the natural energy from a desert, and so on. The more places you temper your Nature force from, the more powerful a nature force user becomes. In theory, a Nature force user can temper his Nature force endlessly. There are also nine phases from which they can be classified, they are known as the nine concepts." She had obviously gone more in detail with the Nature force users, after all, I didn't know anything about it.

"There are other variations to these three basic ways to power. Most of them are held by sects or factions, but some are quite limited in what they can achieve. One thing that these three ways have in common is that once you embark in one of them, the others become impossible to be cultivated. If you plunder the mana from the nature to reinforce your own natural mana, the nature rejects the fusion with it making it impossible to generate nature force. When you fuse your own mana with the natural energy and give birth to Nature force, if you try to plunder the natural energy to reinforce your own mana, the rejection will be so strong that the person will die without knowing how they died. And if you fuse the internal mana with life force, ki is born, and it became impossible to use the other ones."

"So, these forces restrict the other ones… And how about Soul power?" I asked.

"That is where things get interesting." The fourth figure began to emit a power that enveloped all its body. The power affected the surrounds and began to affect the natural energy around it. The figure controlled the natural energy around it and began to make "magic" with it. the figure splitted into three different ones and began to simultaneously use soul power and the three other ways. "Soul power can be used together with the other three ways. usually, it is used to reinforce the way the other ones are used. With magicians, the soul power is used to accelerate the rate in which they plunder the energy from their surrounds, making the advancement of circles much quicker. With nature force users, it can make the fusion much faster. And finally with Ki users, the way in which they control their ki becomes much more refined, making the process of tempering their bodies and mutations easier."

My eyes were shining after knowing the uses of soul power. It was an amazing thing. it's uses were many, but most important, it could be used on it's own!

"How does one train soul power?" I eagerly asked. The other ways couldn't be used by me, after all, I didn't have internal mana. But soul power was different, by what she said, its cultivation didn't make use of internal mana at all!

"Do not hurry boy. Cultivating soul power do not require any other thing besides aptitude. You will have a hard time to do it, but it will be rewarding." She said.

My eyes were shining with with enthusiasm and I felt renewed by this fact. I could finally aim for more. I had trained my whole life to achieve some power, but due to my circumstances, it was almost for nothing. Now, I will train and achieve something.

"Now, let's begin with the basics." She took a deep breath and looked at my eyes. "The first thing you have to do is wake up your soul aptitude. But you have already done so in the valley. Now, the hard part comes, you will have to use a technique to temper your soul. You will have to stretch it out of your body."

"What? But isn't the soul blinded on the body?" I had a disbelieving look in my face.

"It is born that way. But you have to force it out. The pain will be huge in the beginning, after all, you will be doing something that is not entirely natural, but you have to free your soul from its bindings so that it can grow. There are other ways to enhance your soul power, but this is the quickest and better way."

"How do I do it?" I asked.

"The first thing you have to do is realized its existence. Your perception must have been enhanced by your soul awakening. Use this perception to look inside of yourself, and after that, try to move your soul inside of your body."

"Ok, I will begin." I sitted on the ground to begin the process.

"No, not here. I will take you to a place where the effects of your training will be better." She got up from her stone chair, and begin to walk to the forest direction. After she left, the chair entered the ground and disappeared.

I got up and followed her. Entering the forest and being enveloped by the mist again, I felt a pressure in my soul. But this time, it was almost nothing, this little pressure could not affect me anymore.

After walking for a bit, I saw a stone bridge at the distance. The bridge was constructed over a lake. The waters on it were transparent and clear. The pressure on my soul began to get stronger the closer I got to the lake. I insisted on getting closer to the place, but after some time, I could not take one more step. I looked at Fìor and saw that the pressure was not affecting her. My mind was throbbing and the pressure was constant.

"That is enough, sit down and begin the process that I described to you."

I sat on the ground and began to look inward. My soul was in there, I could feel and see it. It was like a second body that was laid over my own, my split image that was inside of me.

I moved my hand and felt the the soul moving together with it. Thinking better, it was not moving together with it, the were moving at the same time. My soul was just like my body, an integral part of me. Just like my body moved with my will, my soul also did.

This mysterious will was the integration of my soul and body, when they were together, will was born, and both the soul and the body could not exist without the other.

The process of reaching moving the soul without moving the body was hard. Humans were used to move the body and the soul at the same time, after all, they were part of a whole. The pressure was making it harder to control the soul, I could feel it, and even see how it moved with me, but making it moving on its own was hard. The day quickly passe and I was exhausted. There was no results from today training. i couldn't even move it one bit.

"Hey, let's go." Fìor said. "What is your name by the way? If I am going to train you, I need at least to know that. Mine is not Fìor, it's Althaea . The name Fìor was just a nickname given to me by the people from the town a long time ago."

I was startled. How have I forgotten to properly introduce myself to my master. I quickly bowed and said. "I am very sorry master. I was so eager for power that my mind was clouded. My name is Ullach."

She turned away and went toward the forest direction.

"From today on, getting the food will be your task." She waved her hand and a little plant from came out of the ground. It had a silver color and blue specks over its stalk. After taking it out, the roots came out as well. They were pretty big and juicy. "This plant is named anam, from today on, this is what you are going to eat. This kind of plant only grows in special places like this valley, it has enhancing properties on the soul."

She gave it for me to hold and we continued to walk toward the house. Althaea instructed me to boil the roots together with the leaves. She showed me a well behind her house and all the places where I could use. Of course, there were some places in the house that were off limits, and my place to sleep was the wooden hut.

After finishing the anam, we seated by a table to eat it.

I got some pieces and put them on my plate. I looked ahead and saw that Althaea was eating her anam slowly.

I picked the root and ate it. My eyes were wide open and my body was trembling.

What a heavenly taste! Although it was only boiled without anything else, it's taste was amazing. it was a bit sweet and soft.

I began to quickly eat, and after some time, there was a soothing feeling coming from my stomach and spreading all over my body. The headache that I was feeling from the pressure instantly vanished.

It looked like this training wouldn't be so bad!