Chapter 13: Chapter 13
Age 749 August 10th, sometime during the very early morning.
Kaz was currently practicing his newly recreated technique. He had been practicing it every night for the past year or so now, and he had made massive progress with it. But this new technique came at a cost. Kaz hadn't really taken care of himself a whole lot in the past few years as he was laser-focused on training, and as a result, his hair had grown out to reach his shoulders and was no longer spiky like it used to be. Luckily his healing powers prevented him from getting sick or getting infections from not cleaning himself, and his magic Gi repelled dirt so he was never dirty for long anyway.
Another result of being so focused on recreating this technique was that he stopped paying attention to his surroundings and failed to notice the large, white cat man standing in the corner.
Korin had originally accepted Kaz as his student because he was interested in the kid's weird personality and mental state. He had tried to read Kaz's mind many times before, but he was never able to see anything before he woke up in the forest. Not only that but a lot of the thoughts and memories that he could see were distorted in some way, preventing him from making out what Kaz had been thinking about or doing at the time.
At first, he had been a little suspicious, thinking that the kid might be an evil being of some sort that was trying to either kill him or get to Kami. However, after spending just a week with him, Korin quickly realized that he was mistaken. The kid was definitely not an enemy, he was just an overly nervous kid with amnesia and the ability to see the future. That sounded pretty weird, but it wasn't too outlandish in comparison to the stuff Korin had seen in his eight hundred-year life.
After a month or so when Kaz had finally gotten used to talking with Korin and let his guard down a little, Korin was finally able to read the kid's spirit. What he found confused him greatly. Almost every part of his Ki was different from other people. His Genki was strange in that, while a normal person Genki slowly decreased as they got older, causing them to age, Kaz's seemed to increase instead. His Yuki was also weird as, most of the time it was slightly above average, but whenever he had to talk to anyone it would decrease dramatically, making his chi a lot weaker. His Shoki had the same problem as it got significantly weaker whenever he had to talk to people.
(If you're wondering what he's talking about, read the second change described in the auxiliary chapter.)
Then there was his Chi. It was extremely weird. Kaz's Chi was like the opposite of normal Chi. Instead of being able to destroy, it could only heal. And on top of that, it had no identifying trait. Korin was pretty skilled with sensing Chi, and he could normally tell almost everything about a person by it, including their species, gender, personality, and even their appearance to some extent if they were close enough. This was because their Chi would naturally mold itself to mimic the mind and body, creating a set of traits that are special to that person. But for some reason, Kaz's Chi didn't do that. His Chi felt more like a plant, which was the only other living being that didn't have any identifying traits for their Chi. This resulted in Korin barely being able to detect Kaz's Chi.
Think of Chi like the geography around you. A stubborn person would have a Chi akin to a rock, or metal and an evil person would have something like poisonous gas. But plants (and now Kaz) have Ki like the air with no identifying traits. You cant see the air as, if you could, you wouldn't be able to see anything else (also light doesn't bounce off of it). When a person sensed Ki they saw an identifying trait as color, and anything without one was basically invisible, like air.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to see anything, Korin gave up on looking through Kaz's spirit. After that day he stopped being suspicious of Kaz entirely and actually started viewing him as his student. He started taking training seriously and taught Kaz to the best of his ability, intending to both relieve his boredom and help the kid in case King Piccolo actually returned.
For the past few months, he had been watching Kaz train, amazed at his progress. He noticed that Kaz was training to create a new style, and at first, he thought that it was a waste of time, thinking that a kid with very little martial arts experience would be able to do so. But to his surprise, he was able to actually make progress after a few weeks.
Curious, Korin tried looking into Kaz's thoughts again and, to his surprise, was actually able to see what he was thinking. What he saw was a muscular old man performing the same martial art that Kaz was doing but with better proficiency. After seeing that, Korin understood. Kaz wasn't creating a new technique, he was trying to mimic one that he had seen another martial artist perform. While that was still a great feat, it was much easier to accomplish than creating an entirely new style, especially with the knowledge Korin had given him.
'Alright, I guess it's time. I'll probably get pretty bored after he leaves, but I can't keep him here forever.' Korin thought as he watched Kaz finish his training.
"Hey, kid." Korin called out to Kaz and walked up to the second floor. Kaz stopped and turned around.
"Y-yes master?" Kaz asked nervously. He had gotten a lot better and normally wasn't that nervous anymore when they talked, so Korin figured that he was acting like this because he thought he had been caught.
"Do you know how long you've been here?" Korin asked and walked to the middle of the room, picking up the jug of water and dumping it out.
"Uh, almost three years now right?" Kaz said uncertainly, still a little apprehensive about Korin finding out.
"That's right, and during that time you have mastered almost every aspect of martial arts that I am capable of teaching you." Korin confirmed as he took out a cup of water and poured it into the jug.
"Y-yes?" Kaz said while he curiously watched Korin, wondering why he was changing out the water. He hadn't done it before since he had come here, so it confused him a little.
"But there is one skill I have yet to teach you. And upon learning it, you will have graduated from your training." Korin continued and sealed up the jug again, hanging it up on the end of his staff.
"That skill is the ability to predict your opponent's movements. This will be your final test, and upon completing it I will no longer have anything left to teach you." Korin walked up to Kaz, showing him the water jug on the end of his staff.
"Your final test is to get this jug from me. It is filled with Ultra Divine Water, special water that will increase your power exponentially. Normally I wouldn't give this to anyone as nobody in history has drunk this and survived, but with your power, healing ability, and your special Ki, I am confident that you will survive." He explained and took a step back.
'I see, so it's finally time for that, is it? Well, too bad for you, I have been preparing for this since I got here, observing your every move.' Kaz thought and all of the nervousness disappeared, replaced with confidence and excitement at getting to fight.
"But I warn you, unlike what I did with my last "Student" I will not be going easy on you. I will be fighting with all of my power, I will attack you using both martial arts and Ki, and I will be changing my fighting style every once in a while. If you are still able to defeat me despite this, you will graduate, and you will have earned the right to call yourself a master of martial arts. With your current strength, you have a decent chance at winning too, but, just to be safe, you should probably use those two techniques you've been working on." Korin finished, saying that last part with a smug expression, instantly making Kaz panic again.
"Wha-no, H-how did-" Kaz started stuttering again and just as a metaphorical ton of guilt and nervousness was about to fall on his shoulders, Korin spoke again.
"Don't worry, I won't ask you where you saw those techniques, I don't really care. But if you are going to spend over a year working on those techniques, you best put them to good use." He said, calming Kaz down a little, but that didn't stop him from feeling guilty.
"I-I'm sorry master." Kaz said while he looked at the floor with a red face. He felt guilty about living here and relying on Korin to teach him martial arts and then using that knowledge to do things behind his back. Korin just rolled his eyes at this, he was starting to wonder if he should keep Kaz here a little longer to teach him not to overthink things to such a degree.
"Don't worry about it. And stop overreacting to everything! If you do that during a fight, it'll be easy for an enemy to trick you and you could end up dying." He told Kaz, then got into a fighting stance. "Now, let's start. Oh and, you aren't allowed to use that breathing technique to get extra stamina, you have barely gotten any physical increase in power in these past three years, and we are going to have to make up for all of that within just this month."
"Yes master!" Kaz replied and refocused his mind on the battle at hand.
Kaz made the first move, dashing forward, aiming to grab the water. Korin easily dodged and was going to kick Kaz to the side, but just as his leg was about to connect, Kaz's hand moved in front of it, followed by a trail of bluish energy. He deflected the force of the kick back at Korin, causing Korin to be the one to be sent back a few meters. But he landed back on his feet easily.
"Fist of flowing water, crushing rock." Like any good protagonist, he said the name of his technique as he got into the same stance as bang. Blueish energy trailed behind his hands whenever he moved.
"Hmph, here I am saying that I won't go easy on you and yet still underestimate you. I guess I'll have to be a little more careful." Korin said as his eyes narrowed and he actually got serious.
This time he attacked first. He was going to kick Kaz in the stomach, but just as Kaz went to deflect it, he was kicked in the side instead. This time he was sent flying back, and as he was still much weaker in strength compared to Korin, he was knocked off his feet.
He got back up and attacked, only to be blocked and bonked on the head by Korin's staff. They continued to move at high speeds and exchange blows like in any Dragonball fight. Kaz was losing at first as Korin attacked his blind spots in order to take away any chance of Kaz deflecting the attack back at him. But then Kaz finally used his second technique.
Kaz took a step back and got into his fighting stance once again, but this time he put his hands in front of him, moving them in a circular pattern as he prepared himself. 'Finally, after all of this time. The technique I have been working toward ever since I first reached Korin tower and started training with Bora. Let's test its metal in a real fight.'
His Shoki suddenly spiked as he went calm and continued to move his hands in a circular motion an invisible barrier appeared around him. He then said in a calm voice,
"Seikuken!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone