Chapter 14: Developments
The supple pastures were still swaying with the wind, the breeze had grown stronger over time.
In a secluded location, a black haired youth was squatting as he intently stared at the ground below him, particularly the dimly glowing piece of fragment that lay in between the strands of short grass.
'I felt it, I definitely felt it this time… I-I was absorbing something from within the fragment, it was only for a moment, but it was clear as day.'
Kai raised his hand closer to his face, the sensation of extraction still lingered within his fingers.
'This warm-cold sensation, isn't it… world energy, but that's impossible.'
Refiners were known to use origin fragments or complete origin stones to help with the assimilation of the world energy. However, what the young boy had just experienced held a fundamental difference.
'I felt the faint amount of energy cycle from my meridians all the way to the dantians.'
Kai rummaged through his belongings until he acquired the series of parchments Theodan had provided him with.
After thoroughly reading through them once more he began making his assessments.
'World energy, spiritual energy, they must be similar, if not the same. If they're denoted differently, then this chant, it can't be from around here…'
'while I don't understand the true purpose of the chant, its undeniably, a unique technique to absorbing world energy, it can't be scoffed at… it's highly likely wars would be waged if its existence came to be known… war… war!'
The boy looked up as he broke out of his thoughts, a small speculation began to appear within his mind, 'could it be… Leon.'
Kai thought back to the feast held at the King's return, the victorious feast was a memorable one for the boy. Initially he hadn't paid much heed to Lord Vestar's repeated inquiries.
But now, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Theodan wrote to me the next day, could the opportunity he mentioned, be related to this chant, and in turn this chant to the war with Leon.'
After speculating for a bit, Kai let himself fall on the grass, he lay there in exhaustion, he really didn't know what to make of all this.
'It doesn't matter, Theodan trusted me… I'll just consult with him the next time we meet… For now, I'd rather focus on resonating with the world energy.'
The boy raised his hand and waved it through the gentle breeze, he still couldn't feel an ounce of sensation similar to that of the fragment on the outside, but within him, the sensation was still clear.
'Perhaps if I continue to absorb from the fragment, I'll eventually achieve resonance.' Kai sighed after thinking for a bit.
He had tired himself out, and would rather rest for now than push himself any further.
The young boy quickly gathered his belonging, he carefully picked up the origin fragment, there was no reaction this time. He safely placed it within his pocket and proceeded to head home.
A day later, Kai made his way to the training grounds. The clouds had covered the sky today, most expected rain to arrive soon. But the slight tinge of heat could still be felt in the air.
As usual the black haired youth made a delayed arrival, however, before he could traverse the crowded grounds, he was stopped by a young dignified voice.
"You there, Damien's son, what brings you here?"
Kai turned to spot the source of the voice, his eyes gazed past the various people passing by only to stop on a young boy. The boy wore circular glasses, and had rough dark hair.
The boy stared at Kai with a subtle smug smile, there wasn't an ounce of indetermination in his demeanour. "If you're here to train, then good, you need it."
Saying as much, Ian Grier turned around and strode away, presumably making his way to a more private section of the grounds, reserved for the noblemen and their offsprings.
Watching him walk away, caused Kai's expression to strain, he wanted nothing to do with the Grier family, but his anger hadn't subsided since their last encounter. Despite his ever timid nature, he was unwilling to remain quiet.
"Watch yourself, and watch that foul mouth of yours!" Kai yelled back.
It was apparently effective, the confident Ian stiffened in place.
He slowly turned to face Kai, however, the smug smile on his face had only widened.
"Care for a duel cousin? You seem very confident with your words, I'd like witness the same vigour in your actions as well." Ian spoke comfortably, almost as if he were hoping for this opportunity.
A sense of hesitation soon appeared on Kai's face, he seemed unable to reply. But before he could speak a word, Ian interjected, "or would you rather go and complain to the peasant cook of the Keep instead. I heard Damien had always been weak, guess the same is to be expected from you."
Kai's eyes grew cold, his fists tightened, the meagre hesitation within him vanished. "Fine, follow me…" He turned around and walked towards his usual training section without care for Ian.
Ian was slightly bemused by Kai's change in demeanour, but he didn't think much of it. He silently followed after his cousin, with a smile still etched on his face.
Illinor had begun to grow impatient, but he held it in, right now his focus was diverted towards refining instead. A faint glow permeated as usual from his exposed skin.
Eventually, the sound of footsteps rang in his ears, the Knight easily recognised them, however, they were soon followed by another set of footsteps.
Illinor immediately opened his eyes to observe the entrance.
"Apologies for the delay sir, I happened to run into a cousin of mine, you may have heard of him-"
"Ian Grier is it? Few knights and noblemen haven't heard of your little cousin here, primed to be a bright refiner and swordsman of the Kingdom. I imagine you've joined Kai to train along, I'll allow it." Illinor spoke without hesitation, as he picked himself up.
The Knight's words caused young Ian to chuckle, "I mean no disrespect sir, but training with him is more demeaning than beneficial for me. I'm only here to duel, to show him the capabilities of the brightest of the Kingdom."
Illinor didn't respond to Ian, nor did his expression change, he simply looked towards Kai, expecting a response.
Kai looked back at Illinor, and nodded with affirmation. The Knight could discern the cold look hidden within the boy's eyes.
'This should be interesting'
"Very well, the rules are simple, the first to reach three successful strikes wins. I will be monitoring the duel, so no funny business." Illinor crossed his arms and stood at the end of the section.
Both fighters positioned themselves. Kai tightly gripped onto his wooden sword with both hands, his legs were spaced shoulder length apart, as well as diagonally placed, while his back was slightly bent.
Ian Grier, who'd safely removed his glasses, stood straight with the sword gripped in one hand, he was patiently waiting for Kai to attack.
Illinor observed the two as he spoke, "begin."
Kai didn't hesitate to move forward, he raised himself on his toes to gain momentum, he did not underestimate Ian one bit, if anything he had to be extra cautious.
As soon as he reached within striking distance, Kai swung diagonally down on his opponent.
Waiting for this moment, Ian swung against Kai's momentum. The wooden swords met in the middle, the impact pushed Kai's hands back in the direction he swung from.
Ian instead used the momentum to strike Kai's right leg, which was positioned forward. Ian's movement was swift, and struck Kai in an unavoidable way, even if Kai lifted his foot, he'd simply loose balance and fall.
"Strike Ian." Illinor calmly spoke.
Kai stumbled backwards, his calf which had bared the brunt of the force, was throbbing persistently, but he nonetheless focused himself.
This instance, Ian moved forward, he didn't rush in, but rather walked towards Kai, one step at a time.
However, as he was about to take his sixth step, a minuscule smile appeared on his face, his foot which was ever so slowly touching the ground suddenly dug deep, propelling him forward.
His movements were light and fast, which made it much more difficult for the young Kai to observe where the next strike would originate from. Kai felt a hint of nervousness return to him, but he remembered his training.
He breathed deeply and waited, waited for the strike to close in. Like clockwork, Ian's swung in from the right, it was fast, but Kai had witnessed the speed of the Knight himself, so how could it compare.
Kai stepped back and dogged in time, Ian wasn't surprised, he immediately reversed his swing as he stepped forward, causing Kai to step back once more.
Ian swung again diagonally this time, causing Kai to step back yet again, Ian smirked, as his swing ended, he twisted his wrists to allow the wooden sword to directly point at the black haired youth. A bold smile appeared on Ian's face, he was going to thrust it straight into Kai's abdomen.
However, Ian's smile immediately faded as he moved himself backward instead. He barely managed to avoid Kai's kick, which was aimed directly at his lowered body.
"You'll have to do better than that cousin. Perhaps, I'm going too easy on you." As soon as the words exited his mouth, Ian launched himself at Kai.
His speed was faster, and his swings were firmer. Kai focused on dodging again, waiting for the right chance to strike, however, despite Kai's evasive abilities, Ian didn't allow a single opening, or at least not one Kai could make use of.
Whack! Eventually Ian managed a strike, causing Kai to stumble to the ground. Kai held onto his left arm as he felt a throbbing pain permeate through his muscles.
"Worthless…" Ian spoke only a word as he collected himself once more.
"Strike Ian." Illinor's expressionless voice resounded through the training section.
Kai tried to calm himself, but his frustrations ran deep, and anger slowly made its way to the surface. He coldly stared ahead. There was no holding back, or he'll assuredly loose here.
The two opponents stood against one another, Ian sped into Kai once more, he had no intention of going easy.
Kai expected as much but rather than move backwards he slowly moved forward. As Ian reached closer, he swung down diagonally, but, Kai simply twisted his waist sideways, causing the swing to barely miss his torso.
Ian was slightly surprised by the risky dodge, but his instincts had been trained over years, and he immediately attempted a follow up, but Kai had other plans.
Kai swung down on the Ian's wooden sword before Ian could rectify the trajectory of his previous swing. The swords clashed in an awkward manner, thanks to Ian's training he avoided letting go of his sword completely, but it still left him in a vulnerable position.
Unfortunately, Kai didn't have time to swing, kick, or punch, so he decided on something else. He pushed his shoulder into Ian's torso with all his force.
Ian stumbled backwards with a frustrated expression as he fell to the ground. There was a slight embarrassment on his face, that soon transformed into anger. "How dare you?!"
"Strike Kai." Illinor calmly spoke from the side, except this time there was a minute smile on his face.
Ian turned his attention to the knight as he picked himself up, the anger on his face intensified. He was about to speak in protest, but he noticed the calm Illinor shift his eye-line to besides him.
Ian turned around and exclaimed, "Ah!" he barely dodged as a wooden sword was flung straight at him. Before he could recover properly, Kai came close with the swing of his fist, Ian just barely dodged once more. But his movements were becoming sloppy.
"You idiot!" Ian yelled as he swung down on Kai, but Kai unexpectedly raised his left arm and blocked the impact from striking his body.
He stared into Ian's eyes with his cold gaze, causing Ian to freeze for just a a moment.
Kai held the pain of the strike at bay and swung right at Ian's face with his other fist, this time the smug prodigy of the Grier family had no response, the punch landed straight on.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone