Alive

Although Ipnak was smiling, inwardly he was very disappointed. When Koren told him his age and level, Ipnak was sure that he would be able to overcome Haruki. Now Ipnak thought that perhaps Koren was fast at cultivation, but due to his young age, didn't have many opportunities to spar.

"I put everything I had in my defense, how did he manage to breakthrough in one hit." asked Koren of the Chief.

"That's because he didn't actually break your defense, rather he just created cracks in key regions of your pillar, causing it to break apart on its own." replied Chief Ipnak.

"You have to remember, we are standing over solid ground, not a sandy dune. This training field was made by transferring earth from the deeper layers, you must learn to use the sturdy earth before you can move to the finer sand" continued the chief.

"Hey old man, you can't give away my secrets, that's cheating" Haruki quickly retorted as he heard the Chief and Koren's exchange.

Koren heard Chief Ipnak's explanation, and nodded. He had put all the concentrated spiritual power he had in that pillar, it should have been indestructible, but his opponent used technique and skill to break it apart and immobilize him in one go.

"I think I know how to defeat him, follow my direction Koren." said Hope with excitement.

"Senior brother Haruki, I'm ready if you are" said Koren as he looked at Haruki who was yelling at the Chief.

"I like you kid, you are right to call me 'senior brother', now if you can teach the pipsqueak to do the same, I may go easy on you." Said Haruki with approval while pointing towards Enri.

"You're going down, chubs" said Hope with a sly grin.

"hah" yelled Haruki as he stomped on the ground, creating a wave of cracks behind him, he then gestured both arms forward, as if he was lifting the ground up. The earth split apart and a boulder large enough to crush 10 Koren's lifted off the ground, floating over Haruki. Haruki made a punching gesture towards Koren and a small chunk of the boulder broke off and lunged towards Koren. Haruki kept throwing a barrage of punches, and rocks the size of a clay plate, kept getting hurled towards Koren in droves.

Koren was ready, he closed his eyes, and listened only to Hopes voice.

Chief Ipnak was confused by Koren's actions, and was ready to interfere if it got dangerous.

"Transfer 10 points to wind" said Hope as she guided Koren.

Koren: Level 3, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(10), Earth(14), Water(0), Fire(0)]

"Now feel the disturbance in the wind, and try to detect the rocks, like a sonar, and dodge" Said Hope and Koren followed suit.

Haruki was flabbergasted, he was sure the fight was over the moment Koren closed his eyes, but then he saw something unbelievable. Eyes closed, Koren was dodging each rock by mere inches apart. Haruki stomped again, causing another large boulder to rise up, and as he punched forward, the rocks this time were even larger.

"Slow down your wind usage, and transfer points to earth, keep transferring till wind is at 5 and earth is at 19. Feel the pulses in the earth, see your immediate surroundings without opening your eyes Koren." Said Hope as Koren kept dodging.

The distance between each rock and Koren was getting smaller, it seemed he would be hit soon.

"Get closer to the rocks, try and touch them before moving away" said Hope and Koren followed.

The rocks were now starting to graze Koren, he started to get small bruises where the rocks would touch, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I can see the earth, its pulsating, like a heartbeat." Said Koren as a colorless world appeared in front of him, with each pulse, this world would become clearer.

"Transfer all point to earth and open your eyes now!!" Yelled Hope.

"I can see you" Said Koren as he opened his eyes. A massive boulder was coming towards Koren. Haruki had sent it hurling towards Koren as he was starting to get annoyed by his dodging. However, this time, Koren didn't even try to dodge, he just held his palm straight like a knife and made a stabbing motion towards the boulder.

As soon as his palm made contact with the boulder, it shattered into smaller pieces and then into sand.

Koren then thrust both his palms towards Haruki's direction, made a grabbing motion, and then spread his arms apart.

"It's over chubs…hahaha hahaha" Said Hope as she started to laugh wildly.

************

Haruki was really getting annoyed by Koren's dodging, in his anger, he tossed one of the massive boulders directly towards Koren. He thought Koren would try to dodge again, but instead he directly attacked the boulder. He was sure the fight was already over, so he decided to throw the remainder of the first massive boulder away.

Just as he was about to, he saw Koren shatter the boulder, but before he could even decide his next move, Koren spread his palms toward his direction and made a grabbing motion. Haruki felt something grab hold of his feet, and before he could react, Koren spread his arms wide, and as a result, Haruki performed his first perfect split. For a moment all the blood from his body rushed towards his loins, his eyes opened wide and he started foaming from his mouth, before the world went dark.

************

Ipnak was expecting to see a good sparring match, but never in his dreams did he expect such an outcome. He ran towards Haruki and pushed away the boulder about to fall over his head. He looked over to see Little Enri holding her mouth, trying to keep her laughter contained. And Koren over on the other side, with his eyes closed again, as if revising the battle that just took place.

Koren was standing still. The sparring match pushed Koren to test his limits, to try to understand what It means to 'see' through the earth. Koren could see himself, he could see Enri, Haruki, Chief Ipnak and even some of the immediate structures surrounding the training field.

"Not a bad view, huh" Said Hope, seeing through Koren senses.

"Yes, I never knew the earth was so 'Alive'" said Koren as he opened his eyes.

Koren looked towards Haruki, and finally realized how mean his actions were. His face flushed red with embarrassment as he sprinted towards Haruki.

The chief, who was holding Haruki, looked at Koren. "That was masterfully done Koren, did Kafai teach you to dodge like that?" asked Ipnak.

"Yes!, he did" replied Koren as if someone was standing on his tail.

Ipnak looked at the passed out Haruki and sighed. "Well this is what happens when you let your arrogance guide you. Haruki was clearly the stronger one in this fight, and I was expecting a close match or a draw. This was an unexpected surprise." Said Chief Ipnak as he sent a slap across Haruki's face, making him wake up.

"Rafa Pie!!" Screamed Haruki as he tried to bite the chiefs hand off.

"You lost brother fatty, Koren beat you, just like I said so" said Enri as she barely managed to contain her laughter.

"I'm sorry senior brother, I got caught up in the fight, and didn't realize…" said Koren before being interrupted by Haruki.

"Its fine kid, I'm not a sore loser, I accept my defeat. But next time I will win, or I will stop eating for a week. Well maybe not a week, let's make it a day, just in case." Said Haruki with a chuckle.

"Well, now that your all healed up down there, lets continue the training." Said chief Ipnak as he let go of Haruki.

"Ahh, I think the pain is coming back, I need to go and rest" retorted Haruki, flailing on the ground like a fish.

"OK, ok, no training for you, but you still have to stay for the whole session, you can't avoid it." Said the chief, finally giving in to Haruki.

"Enri, now its your turn, come here and show me what you can do" said the chief as he turned towards Enri.

Enri blushed, this would be the first time, that she actively tried to use her earth spiritualist abilities, after that incident with her brothers. She looked over at Koren, who gave her a thumbs up, and smiled. She stomped on the ground, watching it crack, and with a simple gesture, caused the earth to encase her legs and start to pull her in.

"Um, that's all I know. Please teach me more" Said Enri with her nose tilted towards the sky.

Ipnak smiled, he had heard how she had almost completely buried her brothers, it seems she knew what she was doing.

"Well that's very impressive for your first time Enri, you have a lot of potential, I'm sure that in time you will become very strong." Said Ipnak encouragingly.

"I just want to be strong like Koren and Uncle Sappa" said Enri gleefully.

"OK now, Haruki, you will teach Enri the basics while I teach Koren about the finer details of Spiritual cultivation." Said the chief as he patted Enri on the head and gave Haruki a glare.

"Sure, sure. I can be a role model too. Hey pipsqueak, if you want to be strong the secret is eating lots of yummy food… uhh I mean lots of hard work." said Haruki as he saw the chief stomp the ground with his foot.

"Follow me Koren" Said Ipnak as he walked toward the far end of the training field.

"I wonder what he's going to teach me" Said Koren excitedly as he followed on with Hope quietly floating over his head.