Pain of being a newbie's teacher

"Do you guys know who that guy was?" Kaya asked in one of her rare breaks from practicing her chant.

It wasn't that she was slacking. There was simply a limit to how long she could keep up her practice.

In theory, just humming some tunes while exercising wasn't all that harder than what she was doing over the past few days. She got enough practice to keep her breathing patterns correct. As such, while a bit of a drag at first, adding a chant to her practice wasn't anywhere as challenging as she anticipated the cultivation to be.

Still, using the chant put a strange kind of burden on both her body and her mind. Every word that would escape from her mouth would wear down her concentration and ability to keep on chanting. And so, in order to optimize her efforts, she would take a short breather every two or three sets of the different exercises.

The rest of the group developed their own patterns of training, each suited right for their situation, preferences, and constitution. The only exception to that rule was Luo and Hugo, both of whom didn't dare to take even a second of a break, too focused on pushing themselves to the limit.

"I have no idea who he is exactly," Tiana replied as she raised her eyes from her own scroll. "But he was wearing different robes than the rest of us."

It was only a small detail in the eye of an outsider. But seeing how they were all wearing exactly the same kind of robes as their master, it was quite obvious that whoever donned a different outfit had to outrank not only them but even their master.

"He didn't look that strong," Narid joined in as he put his weights away and brought his sleeve to his forehead to wipe the sweat away. "Sure, he was big, but that's about it!"

Kaya turned her eyes to Narid, struggling to believe what she just heard.

'Does he really think our master would waste time on people that are… weak?'

In the last few days, Kaya's opinion of her master changed from one extreme to the other. From how she perceived him to be some sort of a monster during the selection, to a sadist during the first few days of their training all the way to some sort of an unheard-of genius when their practice started to show results.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tiana barked. "Didn't you see how the teacher was acting towards him?"

Kaya looked at her fellow girl right as she rolled her eyes.

"Save the bravado for when you are about to drop from exhaustion," she advised only to avert her eyes and slightly bite down on her lips, "You never know when you will need just a tiny bit more of your strength!"

'I guess we can't count on Luo to share his insights,' Kaya thought as she turned her eyes to the brain of the group. '

Ever since his strange behavior at the selection, Luo gained his moniker and stayed true to what it depicted. He would never oppose or even comment on Theo's methods, always using that brain of his to seek the deeper meaning.

Right now, however, with sweat pouring down his face and soaked into every last inch of his clothes, Kaya doubted his brain would be of any use.

'His instructions were clear. Train so hard you won't be able to think about anything but training even more,' she thought before releasing a deep, long sigh.

Kaya then turned back towards her own weights, picking them up and getting into the position.

After pushing her abdominal muscles to their limits, it was time to work some more on her shoulders and arms.

By the time Theo returned to the Inn, all of his disciples were back in a perfectly focused state… or dying from exhaustion when it came to the two who had yet to advance.

Theo stood in the doors, taking a moment to cast a quick glance at the insides of the main room. His stare lingered only for a second on each of the first rankers, only to last for well over a few seconds on both Luo and Hugo. Then, as if he didn't have enough, Theo turned his eyes back towards Tiana and stared at her sweaty back for a few more seconds.

"Haaa…" Theo released a deep sigh before getting behind the now-renovated counter of the inn. And just like twice before, he picked up the pen and paper before taking some time to scribble down a page's long chant.

Yet, rather than passing it over right away, Theo took another piece of paper before covering it with only a few lines of text. Then, as usual, he threw a fistful of special sand on the still-wet ink before waving the papers in the air to hasten its drying process. Then and only then did he glue the bottom end of the paper to a simple stick. Theo then waved the paper again, giving both the glue and ink some more time to dry up before moving behind the counter and toward the middle of the main room.

Clap!

Theo forced everyone out of their focused state with a simple clap of his hands.

"Luo," Hugo," he mentioned the names of the two disciples of his that remained at the mortal stage.

But, judging by the pattern of the events, it wasn't the case anymore.

"Congratulations," Theo said with a smile. He approached Luo and passed over the scroll with just a few words. "What you lack is the ability to focus on a single thread, single topic. With so many thoughts going through your head at the same time, you need to learn how to cast all your thoughts aside."

Theo waited for the kid to take the scroll before nodding his head and moving over to Hugo.

"You are Luo's exact opposite. Not only you are allowing your emotions and beliefs to sway you, but you also commit the sin of simplifying reality too much. There is nothing wrong with getting sidetracked every now and then, but refusing to look at the situation from a broader perspective might become the greatest obstacle you will ever face."

A small rustling from behind caused Theo to glance over his shoulder.

And there it was. An insanely uncomfortable expression on Tiana's face coupled with hesitation and doubt that likely stopped her from asking for help with whatever bothered her.

'It's my first time teaching, I'm changing my methods as I learn how to teach you guys better…' Theo thought, taking a deep breath as he guessed the reason behind the girls' unsettled attitude. 'Can't you cut me some slack?'