Book 1 Chapter 6: The 5 brothers in training

4th bro opened the door with a push and pulled Z inside.

Three heads quickly turned from a wide circular table set into very large room. The room itself was a large circle, with windows on all sides except for the space beyond the door with stairs leading to the door. Other then this, the windows were panoramic with a clear view of the top of the entire ship and sky around them.

"Good view…" Z muttered as 4th bro pulled him to sit at the table.

Z set down his shield and silver essence bamboo rod, and pulled a seat out to sit in. His but sank down comfortably but it would seem the chairs were meant for people his age, as he was still the right height for the low hanging table.

"Hey newbie haha, you were probably filled in by 4th bro so we can skip the hub bub…my name is Jax Yan, I am a practioner of qi with my choice being Yang Energy. I'm going to be a knight of light!"

"Hey man I'm Verzi Velio… I plan on training in the use of the bow, and have an affinity for water"

"Hello, I am Arthur Field… uh…I have the spirit of a dragon…fruit heh, I don't know what I want to be but my family were alchemists so"

Z raised his brows, "Wow…those are some awesome choices!"

The three gave proud and aloof smiles, but also curious gazes to what he wanted to be. They saw the shield and bamboo silver pipe looking piece he put on the table, but still had their guesses.

"These if you're wondering were gifts from my parents haha…I have the spirit of bamboo or at least that's what I know so far…I hear it might be a shifting spirit as well. I plan on training in the use of the sword, spear, and I guess shield now? I don't really know what I want to train in…but definitely those."

Jax rubbed his chin, "What did you have an affinity for?"

Z rubbed the back of his head, "Well I guess nature and metal…but I think that's because of my spirit, he didn't give me much time to say I saw other lights when he was testing me."

"How many did you see?" 4th bro asked with a page already in his hand.

"Hey whats your name first 4th bro" Z was curious, 4th bro has skipped over it for some reason.

4th bro sighed, "Pay Ge"

Z's eyebrows locked together as he held in a laugh, "So why not just call you Page 4th bro, I know it's a pun…but it also fits you pretty well?" Z was serious about saying this part.

"Because…in context its my parents making my name a joke, it isn't fair even if it makes sense. You can call me Page sure." 4th bro waved his hands.

"My Name is Zephyr Zhu, Spirit of Bamboo with a spirit affinity for nature and metal…I also saw red lights, blue lights, dark green lights, and yellow lights."

"4? He saw the 4 primaries" The 4 at the table around Z opened their mouths.

"4 primaries?" Z asked confused.

Page slid his glasses up his nose, "The 4 primaries…Earth, Water, Fire and Air…they are called the 4 primaries, as they are the most abundant and intermingled of the elements of the known world. The more most practiced, and the 4 most common….you may have already been told this and don't remember. Lightning, Nature, and Metal are all catalytic elements…with light and darkness being polar elements. Thus, the 4 primaries, the 3 catalysts, and 2 polars… all for a total of 9 elements in the field of energy. However in qi, there are far more obtuse things in dao… yang, like what Jax wishes to train in and push his qi towards…is similar to light, yet an energy from within rather then without"

"I see…" Z nodded his head.

"For you to have a spirit, with an intermingling of 2 catalysts that very unusually do not come together is rare but not unheard of…to have an affinity for 4 energies, means either your spirit can easily control the 4 primaries in time…or you innately have a good push towards the elements.

Either way, together it is considered rare. Quite lucky Z…." Page wrote down as he spoke, strangest thing was that he did it without even looking at the paper.

"I was told a little bit about all this from some friends I made at the examination place I went to…but I still know very little, please over time open my eyes more to the world as it works" Z gratefully thanked Page.

"There is a lot to learn…even I am not omniscient" Page smiled and waved the page in his hand away into bits of dissipating energy.

Z was curious as well, "What affinities do you have Page?"

"Oh…the 4 primaries, and Darkness." Page waved his hand again making a page appear out of thin air. On it were were a bunch of statistics, numbers, and titles related to him.

"Page: Affinities for Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Darkness.

Strong attachment to light weapons, exotic weapons, and control style offense.

Directive: Train in Enchantment, Transmutation, Knowledge, Manipulation, Conjuration, Craft, and the magic technique of "-------" "

"Whats the blank space?" Z asked looking at the last line.

"You cannot see it because my clan does not disseminate such things…only I can see it as I created the page" Seconds later the paper disappeared from Z's hands.

Jax nodded, "As it goes for my clan as well…qi techniques are not like magic and must be passed down from person to person…however, in the world of magic there are also techniques that some clans possess."

Page nodded, but Verzi and Arthur sighed.

"Did you guys have a special technique?" Z asked the two.

Verzi shook his head "I don't even know who my parents are…the island I came from is a remote one, when they found me they found my exceptional affinity for bows and water as useful. I left without regrets."

Arthur kind'ove nodded, "My island not far from his specializes in all sorts of alchemy as a whole, my dad actually trains in dragon qi and my mother has a food spirit. When I was born somehow the qi and her spirit intermingled or so they said… and gave me a dragon fruit spirit. They don't have techniques to pass down to me, my father cant pass me on his techniques towards qi because it requires I don't have a spirit…my mother couldn't give me knowledge of how to use my spirit because we don't have the same one…so they sent me off with love to try my best to learn what I was capable of"

"I see…my parents were kinda the same, we haven't had someone with a bamboo spirit in the family in a long time, so they sent me off when they learned I had an exceptional spirit level, affinity, and aspects towards the spear and sword."

Page eyed Z, "Exceptional spirit level…who examined you?"

"This old man…he was quite a nice fellow too. He said I think if I caught it right…he was the dean, but I don't know"

The 4 simultaneously raised their brows and spoke simultaneously "and what level of examination on spiritual pressure did you reach…"

Z looked at their bewildered eyes "Uh…I think 4 or 5?"

"My god…a bamboo spirit of that level? It must an inherent quality of your spirit as you didn't mention a special physique… strange…" Page made a paper appear in his hands, scribbling something down quickly before dissipating it again.

"Wanna see it?" Z asked while trying to think of what having such spiritual endurance meant in relation to his spirit.

"Yes" the 4 said simultaneously.

Z lifted his hand, and slowly segment after segment of a bamboo pole came forth from his hands until a 7 segment piece landed in his two hands. It was over 7 feet tall, with each segment being about a foot long.

Page's eyes shined "Interesting… I know not this type of bamboo. It could be a variant spirit…"

Everyone nodded, the strange black etchings and metal sheen that the bamboo gave off made it have a mysterious yet beautiful look.

"Strike me" Jax leapt up from his chair and walked around till he was at Z's side.

"Eh?" Z looked at him confused.

"Come on, we brothers have trained together in our free time, I can take it…there might be a special quality to it, to find out the use of arthurs spirit we all ate it."

"I… okay" Z gave him a nod and stood up, backing up from the table after pushing his chair in.

*Whoosh*

The Bamboo bent as it sailed through the air in a haphazard and direct way.

"Hmm…" Jax raised his hand and from it a barely visible sheen of light covered his arm before blocking the staff completely.

Z felt his hand buff back after impacting that faint bit of light that emanated from Jax's arm. It didn't hurt, but it certainly felt strange to have the bamboo vibrate in response to the attack he made.

"Anything?" Page, Verzi, and Arthur asked curiously.

Jax looked at his arm without a thoughtful expression, "i… I don't know, I cant say it felt anything different then a staff? What about you Z?"

Z was still looking down at the staff in his hands, "Hmm…Again"

*Whoosh*

Z let out a flurry of strikes at the fastest he could possibly muster. Each strike created that same backwards vibration in his hands, transmitted from the bamboo into his palm. Jax grew surprised right off the bat, when Z had first swung at him it was infused with hesitation but now he was full heartedly swinging at him.

*Bam whap bam*

"I do feel something" Z said after a while.

Jax was waving his arms back and forth, not being harmed in the least as the thin protective barrier covering his arms diffused each strike let loose onto him.

Page was watching intently and slowly began to realize what Z meant in context.

"Ah…Verzi he's like you" Arthur slapped his forehead.

Verzi nodded, "He has a natural talent for the staff"

Z wheezed and tapped the bamboo onto the ground while his other hand rubbed his side.

Jax nodded "You really do pick it up fast, you haven't even been formerly trained but your brain is already worked to perfect the use of the staff."

"Mm… it could be because its my spirit, I felt this little pull each time to move the staff in a certain way but it was so vague I lost it after each swing" Z sat down and threw his staff to the side, causing it to dissipate in a cloud of silver and green energy.

Pages eyes lit up "You have a innate ability…oh my, you wont reach the ability to use it, but it would seem…that it might be related to that metal affinity of yours. Maybe that's how you pull it out…hmm."

"Ohh…that makes sense now" Z smiled wide; he didn't actually truly understand but the context that Page put it in made him feel like striving to learn more about that feeling from before.

*Knock Knock*

Everyone turned their heads to the only door in the room when several knocks sounded out, rhythmic but without hurry from the other side.