Gradual improvement

Kes was currently outside. He stood on the sparring field behind the academy building and was facing off against Nash.

Their brown robes were fluttering in the wind as they started throwing punches at each other.

Kes quickly focused on his Flow and tried to use it to strengthen his body.

He slowly felt his body gain power, feeling his body becoming lighter making it easier to move.

But while Kes was still focusing he already saw an arm flying towards him.

He quickly used his increased agility to sidestep the punch and tried to counter attack.

His arm flew towards Nash, powered up by the Flow it quickly approached him.

But Nash simply blocked the punch.

Nash grinned. "Is this all you've got?"

He quickly retaliated with his other arm while Kes was defenseless from the punch he had just thrown.

He hit him hard on the head effectively ending the fight in just a couple moves, it was an embarrassing defeat for Kes. But it was alright, their martial prowess was just leaps apart.

Over the last couple weeks at the academy Kes had studied, trained and meditated like he had never before.

But yet it was still a humiliating experience. Ade and Nash were embarrassing him in every spar or Flow reading game they did.

Even though the amount of Flow a person possessed was not visible with the eyes, it was something someone could sense.

Skilled Flow users usually tried to suppress their Flow as much as possible so it became hard for others to get a read on the amount of Flow they possessed. But really skilled Flow users who were really skilled at detecting another person's Flow would be able to see through this suppression and notice how much Flow someone truly possessed.

And so because Ade and Nash were not yet skilled in Flow suppression, Kes too could sense the seemingly insurmountable gap between them. 

The prior training these two had gotten was not something Kes could overcome in just a week or two, but he was making improvements nonetheless.

The improvement Kes showed in controlling and strengthening his body with his Flow was nothing to scoff at. If one ignored the two insanely talented students with prior training, Ade and Nash, he would be considered the best in his class in the area of Flow control.

But he was not overwhelmingly ahead of the pack, he was just barely making it into the top three prospects of the academy.

This was if you only counted Flow control of course.

He was overwhelmingly ahead of the class when it came to all other subjects, just because of who his parents were.

Kes felt increasingly thankful for his mother pounding languages in his head when he was younger. He basically spoke three while his classmates were still struggling with their second one.

Kes still was not very familiar with the geography of the world, but these classes had not started yet. Right now the lessons focused on language, Flow control and Flow strengthening.

But all of his talent still was not making Kes feel any better. Right now Flow was all that was on his mind and all that he cared about.

He sat there defeated looking at the ground, his longish sand brown covering his eyes. While Kes was still sulking about his defeat he saw the person who had just dealt him the defeat approaching.

"That really was a nice fight wasn't it? You even managed to avoid one of my punches and counter this time. Maybe in a couple of months I will be able to get another good sparring partner besides Ade." Nash seemed cheerful

Kes was still looking at the ground while his friend complimented him. "That's easy for you to say, you're not the one getting beat up every time."

Kes was used to taking a beating now, it started hurting less and less.

Even though he could tell Nash and Ade were improving too, at a pace that might not be slower than his own, he was getting used to the pain.

Before starting at the academy a couple days ago he had been in play fights at most. Maybe a brawl for some good food or just purely for fun.

He had at most gotten some scrapes on his knees from working in the fields, or bruises when he tripped or bumped into something.

But now he was taking hits, and he was taking hits badly. Every hit he took felt painful, but the more pain he took the more he was learning how to deal with it. In short, his pain tolerance was reaching a higher level.

Nash stretched out his arm and offered his arm to his friend. "Stop sulking, you will get better over time."

Kes suddenly grinned and slowly looked up at his ashen haired friend. "Is that all you got? Huh. I bet you thought that sounded so cool. And Ade isn't even here to watch you."

Nash's face suddenly turned a bit red. "I have no idea what you could be talking about."

Kes took his outstretched arm and got up on his feet. "Sure, sure. I'll make sure to perform even better next time she is actually watching.

Nash smiled softly. "I knew I could count on you Kes!"

"Oh so you do have something for Ade." Kes replied in an inquiring tone.

Nash suddenly dropped Kes who he was pulling up, resulting in Kes falling backwards.

"Maybe I can't count on you after all."

After their spar Nash and Kes each went their own way.

Kes still did not really get why Nash was so infatuated with Ade. It might have been because he was a late bloomer, or so he was often told.

He was reaching puberty later than most people his age, he was 14 years old as of right now. This was also why he had not grown very tall yet despite his parents both being relatively big. He was still around the average height for his age but he was expected to be a lot taller.

He was starting to feel himself growing now but not as much as Nash and most other children around his age, the ones in the academy right now, had been for the past couple years.

Nash, who was born half a year later than him, had already grown to about the same height as him and much more interested in girls. He also was a lot more muscular, but Kes believed that was just because Nash enjoyed working out a whole lot more than he did.

Kes was headed home to meditate and Nash said he was getting taught martial arts by his father today. His father, Cantor, was the strongest hunter in the village so it was great for Nash to learn as much from him as possible.

Nash also told Kes that if he managed to achieve better control over his Flow he would ask his father if he could participate in the training too.

So for Kes all he could do for now was sit still in his room, focus and meditate.

And that he did, he sat still in his room trying to feel the Flow enter his body, trying to strengthen himself and trying to control that strength within him until late at night when his parents called him for dinner.

After eating dinner and talking to his parents for a while he got Flow control lessons from his father. Yosen was no slouch either when it came to Flow control, he was not as good as Cantor was but he came very close.

Despite his strength not being in the top five of the village his Flow control was surely there. He just was not a person who really liked to fight. His martial arts and fighting style against other humans was lacking. He specialized in creating traps to hunt with, not in fighting against other humans.

Their training together had certainly bore fruit. It could be said that the only reason Kes managed to stay at the top of his class, besides the two outliers, was because of his fathers excellent tutelage.

Kes was very thankful for this training, he knew his father was a busy person trying out new traps and hunting all the time. But he could also sense that his father was having a lot of fun teaching Kes how to better control his flow.

He had asked his father to teach him before, back when he was younger. But according to his father he needed to have; "a developed brain", before actually learning anything. Bad habits could start forming and Yosen did not feel motivated to teach a child, so he promised he would start tutoring when the academy started.

Yosen and Kes were sitting next to each other while meditating, focusing on their Flow when Nora suddenly walked in.

Their concentration was immediately broken.

Kes looked up with a scowl on his face. "What?"

Nora showed a surprised look on her face. "Oh wonderful it seems you too are starting puberty, Yosen be glad he's still cooperatively training with you while you can."

Yosen sighed. "Yes I'll be sure to remember that. But I think I agree with Kes here though, was it really necessary to barge in while we were meditating."

Nora started apologizing. "Alright, sorry my bad guys. It's just that I got some interesting information from that decrepit old man that I thought Kes would like to know." 

Kes raised an eyebrow. "The village chief? Oh and what could that interesting information possibly be?"

Nora's lips suddenly curled up. "Well according to the old man because most of you have gotten a better grasp of your Flow now then before it will be time to start teaching about innate elements."

"Innate elements?" Kes exclaimed in surprise.

Nora sighed. "I think it's still a bit too early for everyone. Maybe Ade and Nash could make a start by going out hunting, they are strong enough after all. But I'm sure the honorable village chief has a plan for everything. Despite him acting like an innocent old man he isn't fooling me. I know he is hiding terrible strength."

Kes looked a bit shocked hearing this. "Is the village chief really that strong?"

Nora nodded. "The village chief is an enigma, many things about him are mysterious. I don't even know how old that old man actually is. He is somehow great at teaching and knows a whole lot about Flow. He has spent a lot of time outside the village too and is for some reason very interested in integrating outside customs into the village. Most rural village chiefs are not like that at all. They just sit still at home all day, give orders and are very conservative, never wanting to change the village customs. I'm sure that old man has his reasons for everything and as long as he stays a good teacher and does not actively try to destroy the village I won't try to oppose him in his decisions either."

Kes listened attentively. He was now thinking about that old man, Ade's grandfather and his Flow teacher, and seeing him in a different light. But he put it in the back of his mind for now thinking it was not important.

Kes quickly got back on topic. "But what was that about teaching us about innate elements? And why would only Ade and Nash be suited to learn about it now."

Nora focused her gaze again. "Oh, yes. Well just know that it can be quite dangerous to actually explore. The village chief will explain it all tomorrow which can't hurt, but I'm still a bit worried that some idiots will start doing dumb things with the information they just learned."

Kes nodded. "Alright, thanks for informing me."

He was strangely looking forward to tomorrow.