Training - Part 2

After what seemed like forever, Leezy finally exhausted himself and laid on the floor breathing heavily.

Reyes just stood next to him, grinning. He suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve and was surprised to see the bartender's little sister standing next to him.

"Hey mister, thank you for saving me. I could see clearly through my eyes but I couldn't control my body. I'm sorry for attacking you."

Tears began welling up in her eyes while she looked up at Reyes.

He didn't have any kids, so he felt awkward as he reluctantly decided to pat her on the head while he spoke.

"It's okay little one, my brother over there and i have come here to train. You should go back through that door and wait for us. I don't need you getting hurt, kid. I doubt your sister would let me off the hook if something happened to you while under my care."

Nodding, the little girl did as Reyes suggested, looking back at him as she walked back through the door while closing it behind her.

"Now that the little one is out of the way, let's commence with your training. I am master Solomon. Odin told you two about Ki and Mana already, so with that already dealt with, what i want each of you to do is meditate. You should see your Soul within the darkness behind your eyes. Once you see it, visualize yourself reaching out and touching in order to connect with it."

Reyes sat down beside Leezy, crossed his legs, and began meditating with his eyes closed. After sitting like that for what seemed like hours, he finally noticed a red orb of light in the darkness.

When he saw it, he quickly did as instructed.

He could feel a connection beginning to form, which caused a red sharp aura to envelop his body. The same thing happened to Leezy who sat beside him, but instead of a red aura, his was blue.

"Good, now that you two have formed that connection, you now have full access to your Ki, Mana and Spirit Energy. For starters, i want to briefly explain each..."

With open eyes, they sat before him listening to every word of his explanation.

"Ki is the latent energy that exists within all beings. It can be raised through training the body and ties directly into ones aura. Ki serves a variety of different uses. From serving as basic armor to being used as weapons, the more one practices their Ki control, the more potential applications one has access to. It can also be used to increase one's strength, speed, or any one of the 5 senses."

Pausing to let that sink in, Solomon continued.

"Mana is the manifestation of the elemental energy attributed to the soul. By training the mind, one can increase their Mana. Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Nature, and Arcane energy make up the basic elements. When combined, various sub-elements become available to the user such as Space, Time, Chaos or Lightning. There are many sub-elements but the ones i have mentioned are the only ones i have seen be used in my lifetime."

"Last but certainly not least, we have Spirit Energy. Spirit energy is essentially one half of a person's life force generated by the Soul. As a person's spiritual energy increases, so does their Mana and Ki. The primary method to increasing this energy is by absorbing Soul Gems, but there are other materials, items and resources that can increase spiritual energy."

As they listened, the next thing he said really surprised them.

"Once raised to a high enough level, one can enter a state called Soul Form. The limit of one's Mana and Ki determines how long they can maintain this form. Spiritual Energy, on the other hand, is the only thing that actually determines how strong this form is."

With everything he had heard, Reyes had a few burning questions he needed to ask.

"So then what exactly are Soul Gems and how does spiritual pressure tie into all of this?"

"Good questions. The Soul is the other half of one's life force and exists as a separate energy. Spirit energy, Ki and Mana simply cannot exist without the Soul. Upon death…the Mana, Ki and Spirit energy that exist within the soul combine together. It then crystalizes and is left behind along with a portion of the Soul. The Soul itself is an entity that has it's own form that becomes a broken Spirit after death, hence the existence of the Spirit Realm."

Seeing the satisfied look on Reyes's face, Solomon moved on.

"Spiritual pressure is gauged by your level of spiritual energy and only effects those whose spiritual energy is lower than yours. I want you two to start circulating Ki around your spirit. The energy should cause your aura to envelop it and change."

Reyes did as he was instructed and watched as his spirit began to glow red. Something felt odd though, as he could see a black speck glowing inside his soul. It was only for a split second that he was able to notice it, but as he did, he began to feel power begin to swell within his spirit which stole his attention.

Heavy pressure began to radiate from both Leezy and Reyes, grinding the pebbles that were left over from their sparring match to nothing but dust.

"Now stem the flow of Ki to your Soul to suppress your spiritual pressure."

Doing as they were instructed again, the pressure faded and they opened their eyes as their ki aura subsided.

"Now i will teach you mana sense and ki manipulation."

Landing on the ground in front of them, Solomon suddenly exploded with a bright orange aura.

Holding out his hand in front of them, the aura condensed into his hand and extended outward like a sword. Swinging his hand next to him, he left a giant gash in the marble floor.

"This is a more advanced version of Ki manipulation but this is an example of what i said earlier. All you need to do is focus your ki to a single point, then envision the shape you want it to take. I want you two to focus on condensing your ki into an orb on your finger, once you have done that, throw it and control it while it is in the air. After you have done this, we will move on to Mana sense."

Nodding, Reyes and Leezy began to try focusing their Ki to their fingertip. Aura began to envelop their finger, making it look sharper and darker in contrast. Eventually they both were able to form a small, solid orb that floated just above their finger.

'Now, time to focus on controlling it.'

Thinking to himself, Reyes tried flicking it off of his finger. The orb completely shattered when he did so.

'Maybe if i increase the power i focus into the orb, it wouldn't be so fragile.'

He increased the power output which caused the orb to double in size once the power condensed. Aiming his finger like a pistol, he fired the orb into the air. As it flew, he held his hand out as if reaching to grab the orb and as he did, he grinned because he achieved the result he had hoped for.

The orb came to a halt in midair and as he closed his hand, the orb exploded in a way that was similar to a grenade.

"Well done Reyes, looks like you learned that pretty easily. Your brother over there isnt doing so hot though."

Solomon said, looking at Leezy intently.

He had been trying to form a ball of ki onto his finger for some time now. Every time though, his orb would just detonate as soon as it began forming into a ball.

"What the fuck man, this shit is so stupid. What am I doing wrong?"

"Take a look at his Mana, Reyes. Focus your Ki into your eyes and you should then be able to sense the changes in his mana."

Solomon whispered to Reyes, staring at Leezy in amusement.

Doing as he was told, he could see blue veins coursing throughout Leezy's body. As he was condensing more ki into his fingertip, Reyes noticed what he was doing wrong.

"You are pushing the ki through your finger rather than condensing it above your finger."

Reyes said, patting his brother on the shoulder.

Nodding, Leezy did his best to focus his Ki above his finger. After a few minutes, he was able to form his own blue orb with a black center above his finger that was the size of a basketball. Casting it from his finger in the same manner Reyes did, it exploded with a bright flash.

"Good, just like I told Reyes, in order to sense mana one must direct Ki into your eyes. This will make the Mana and Ki resonating from someone visible, you should also be able to sense it around you as well."

Nodding Leezy did just as Reyes had and was successful, unlike his first attempts with the Ki orb. As he turned to look at Reyes though, he frowned.

"What is up with your spirit my guy?"

"What do you mean?"

Solomon turned toward Reyes and began inspecting him. Surprise eventually worked its way across Solomon's face.

"Looks like you have something inside of your Soul. Maybe we can draw it out to find out exactly what it is."

Walking over to Reyes, Solomon put his palm against Reyes's forehead and dove deep into his Soul.

Inside, he saw a giant chamber that was made of red energy.

In front of him, Solomon saw a black figure that was devoid details. Putting his palm to its chest, Solomon forced it out of Reyes, which caused a huge explosion of energy that threw him away from Reyes.

Leezy looked at his brother in shock.

His brother's aura was now black, twice the size it normally was, and completely enveloped him which made him look like the black figure Solomon had seen. Powerful shockwaves blasted the air around him as he stood facing them.

"Bro, you alright man?"

Leezy asked as he approached him.

Suddenly a large claw swung at him, made entirely of aura as he stared coldly at Leezy with glowing red eyes. It was so quick, Leezy barely had enough time to react. Bringing his sword up, he managed to block the strike but his sword completely shattered. The impact sent Leezy soaring through the air.

Before he could strike the floor, Solomon appeared behind him and caught him. They both stared at Reyes as a heavy pressure filled the entire chamber.

Before them, he had slowly began to float up into the air with open hands. Huge spheres of pulsating dark energy had begun swiftly forming in them, glowing like a pair of black suns.

With no remorse, once they were fully formed he threw them in their direction with ferocious speed…