Flesh Tempering

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The sun is rising in the horizon, marking his appearance for the day. The sunlight, shines on a vast forest land, with thick trees. Although it's dawn, if someone where to try and listen closely to the forest, they would hear terrible echoes and moans, that seemed to come from unnerving monstrosities.

In the part of the forest with the least trees, under the flowing sunlight, a small shadow passes through at tremendous speed. He runs hastily, sometimes jumping from tree to tree. That small shadow was, of course, Iono, who was now four years old, and old enough to explore the surrounding of his village on his own.

He was dashing through the forest, with an excited and tired look on his face. It has been two years since he entered the Foundation stage, and was now training diligently to enter the Flesh tempering stage. It was an arduous process, that as the name suggests, has to do with repeatedly tempering his flesh with energy, so his flesh becomes stronger and more resilient.

Today was the first time that he was allowed to leave the house. He has been waiting for this for a long time and he was trying to savour every moment... "Ahhh this is happiness!" he said with a blissful grin, while laughing stupidly.

After a while he stopped, and took a deep breath. He then stayed in horse stance for half an hour, strengthening his body's core. His eyes closed, absolute silence befell for that half hour, in the otherwise loud forest. If one could see through Iono's clothes, he would discern, the complex structure of energy channels in his body, that were illuminated because of the sunlight.

The channels were rapidly beating, and from small gaps, that were present in the intersection of said channels, energy constantly escaped. The energy left the channels traveling through bone and organs, to hit the muscles and flesh from the inside, tempering it. The pain was nothing to scoff at, but it was manageable for someone who had once lost all his limbs, or ruptured his organs.

Each time the prana left the core, through the medium, to the channels, and from there all over his body, destroying small pieces of his flesh. It then returned to his organs, to provide the energy and nutrients to regenerate those pieces. The new pieces were stronger, more resilient and also smoother, making his skin look pristine.

"With this rate of growth, I will reach Flesh Tempering in the next month. I am still young so there is no rush. My parents will most likely send me to an academy, so I need to be at least at the Channel rebirth when I get there.

I might be wasting my time going there, but the resources I'll acquire, are miles ahead, from everything I can acquire outside. I also have the deadline with the f*cking moron of a jester. I should stop thinking too much about it, there is no point in worrying for something I can't do anything about.", and so he continued his training, destroying his flesh and regenerating it. The pain was starting to get to him, and so he took a break, sat down and looked at the sky.

"The pain is not that bad, but it's not as if I can shrug it of either. ", he said with a sign. After a moment of silence, he realized something, that he had missed for all this time.

"Wait a minute! Pain? What do you mean pain? I am supposed to be in some kind of lucid dream right? How can you feel physical pain in a dream? Kyomu where the f*ck have you brought me!? ", he said as he looked at his chest and called the dagger outside.

" I didn't think about it until now, because I was so used to pain, I found it natural. Maybe this isn't a dream. All these were my speculations but, maybe the truth is far from it. Kyomu, please I need answers! ".

Unfortunately for Iono, there was no answer, and the only thing he could hear, was the so called "gibberish", that kyomu emitted every time it was called upon. After a long sigh, he said, "I don't have any knowledge of what's happening, and my only clue and partner is ignoring me... Man I'm pissed!", he said while clenching his teeth.

"Wait! Maybe I'm not strong enough. Maybe Kyomu can't speak to me, because I can't handle it's spiritual pressure if it wants to talk to me. I felt some of it when it spoke for the first time, but it was concealed, kind of like kyomu was doing his best to hold back, not to crash me. I thought nothing of it, but it could be the reason we can't communicate. If that's the case I've been way to ignorant. Sorry buddy.", he said looking at the dagger.

Their relationship hasn't been long, but given that kyomu saved his life, not once but twice, and also gave him chaos, Iono had taken quite the liking to the dagger. After the memories of both lives connected, he knew that he and kyomu, where fated to one another. He was aware that kyomu had sentience, since he could feel it from their bond. It's just that he could not interact with it, due to his lack of strength.

After a long rest, he pushed kyomu back to his chest and started one more round of Flesh tempering. His body was aching, but he powered through it, and stayed there until the sky left the canvas of the sky and entered it's slumber.