Chapter 2: Pre-Trial Training
Soft light crested over Kantan's sleep crusted eyes as the morning sun began its trek through the sky. Sleep fled from his consciousness with the sun's arrival, and he slowly arose and began his morning routine. He had spent the past five days training with his grandfather and studying up on soul theory in order to prepare for the trial tomorrow. Kantan cleaned himself in a bath of water his grandfather had prepared in their bathroom, the water luke warm and foaming with soap.
The weight of what it would mean to become a Soul Warrior had set in on his shoulders. If he was able to awaken his core tomorrow, he would be considered a valuable member of the clan. A home would be given to him to cultivate in and he would have to leave his grandfather's comfortable residence. Kantan felt a bit of dread when it came to the thought of being on his own, especially since he had been with his grandfather for as long as he could remember.
As far as he knew, his parents had both been Soul Warriors who hunted demon beasts for the clan. Since their clan was the only one with a demonic affinity dungeon, they had been breeding warriors to hunt beasts tinged with demonic essence. Demonic beasts are spirit beasts that have been infected with demonic Chi which was toxic to Soul Warriors. Kantan and others of his clan had grown a resistance to the tainted Chi over generations of exposure, which made them perfect as demon hunters.
He had spent most of his life learning the inner workings and classifications of different demons and demonic beasts, so he felt prepared intellectually to fight them. The problem with demonic beasts though is that most are crazed irrational creatures that attack without caution. This made them hard to predict and surviving a demon beast attack required quick feet and even quicker thoughts. His grandfather had been training him to fight against an opponent that could use Chi to better prepare him, but he was nervous that he wouldn't be able to adapt in time.
Realizing that he had spent enough time in the bath for it to get cold, Kantan quickly got out and dried himself. He finished grooming himself before making his way out into the main area of his grandfather's home. Moving to the far wall he took a kneeling position in front of the small shrine that housed a few small possessions that had been recovered after his parents deaths. After a few moments of silence, he bowed slightly and returned to his feet. As he turned to head toward the kitchen, he jumped in surprise to see his grandfather just behind him with a sorrowful expression on his face.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. It hit me that this is likely one of the last times I will see you paying respects like this." His grandfather let out a shuddering sigh before his lips turned up into a tight smile that his eyes echoed. "While it saddens me to know you will be leaving soon, I am also reminded of how proud I am to see you striving toward success." Kantan felt his heart twist at the sight of his grandfather getting sentimental, tears threatening the corner's of his eyes.
Refusing to cry, Kantan sniffled and put on a winning smile. "If you think you can get rid of me that easy, you got another thing coming old man. How else am I supposed to clean myself if no-one will prepare such amazing baths in the morning?"
"Oh I would hope I raised you well enough to maintain basic hygiene. No woman is going to want you if you smell like the back end of a pig now are they?" His grandfather chuckled and grew serious for a moment. "Your parents would be nothing but proud of you, I'm sure they wish they could be down here with us in more than just spirit."
The drying tear in the corner of his eye quickly refilled itself and threatened to spill over at the mention of his parents. He could never explain it fully, but whenever he thought of them, there was an intense longing that flared up in the center of his chest. It seemed to tug on his very being that he could not be with them. With a sniffle and a quick rub of his eyes, Kantan nodded. "I'm sure they do." He put on a strained smile, refusing to let the sorrow take hold of him on his last day as a normal man. "With all that said, I should get going. I am meeting up with Lyra at the school for our trial teaching."
He checked the light outside and his eyes grew wide, "Oh no, I am running behind. I have to go or I'll be even later." Kantan dashed around the room, snagging his bag and an apple before stopping in front of his grandfather. "I love you old man." He bowed deeply, before dashing out of the house in the direction of the school.
Kantan ran along the worn dirt path toward the inner section of his clan's town at a brisk pace, not wanting to tire himself out too much before he got to the clan's school building. As he ran by of the local animal pens he threw what remained of his apple into their feeding trough, earning a snort from the beast. He had passed the Faerin farm on his way to school every day as he grew up, making his feeding of the pigs there a routine. "Can't stay to chat boys and girls, got a test to prep for." Despite the pigs' nonchalance toward him, a wide smile crept along his lips as he continued his run to school.
He arrived just in time to see everyone grabbing their seats on the small mats spread across the classroom. The school was essentially one large room that took up the whole building and had no walls. Its roof had a pointed center with sweeping edges casting shade onto the floor underneath it. Lyra sat upon the stone stairs leading up to the raised stone floor of the school, holding her hair against the Autumn breeze.
Kantan felt a moment of anxiety at the sight of her, and his heart rate rose against his chest rapidly. Without meaning to he found himself standing still at the end of the block and staring, her beauty seeming to narrow the world around him. Her soft auburn hair was shown with brilliance against the early morning light. He realized that he had stopped when she noticed him and flashed him her trademark smile.
It was the kinda smile that drew you in and electrified you, at least that is what he imagined happened to everyone she smiled at. He shook his head slightly and resumed his jog toward the school.
"If you had stood there any longer we would have been late. Come on!" Lyra grabbed his hand as he reached her and pulled him up the steps. His skin tingled at her touch, but he managed to keep his head. They each found their seats and got into the Astaire clans cultivation position. Thankfully Kantan noticed a few other students running down the path and took a moment to calm his nerves. He moved through the cultivation exercises his clan used, but could only imagine the flow of chi for the time being. Until someone awakened their cores, they would be unable to sense or feel chi in any capacity. A group of cultivators long ago had found that aspiring humans who practiced a cultivation technique before they awoke their cores had a better chance of reaching the higher ranks.
Closing his eyes, Kantan took a deep breath and began to slowly let it out over the course of a few seconds. He repeated this a few times while imagining a flowing force coursing throughout his body, visualizing the process he had been shown on the clan's diagrams. Slowly but surely his heart rate crept to a slow and steady pace. According to the technique he was supposed to have his chi condense around his dantian in the shape of a sphere. This was supposed to focus on gathering as much raw chi as possible to work toward reaching the stone rank. It takes a lot of energy to be reborn, so his clan had practiced and studied a way to gather as much chi into the body as it could.
He had just gotten into the rhythm only to be brought out of his meditation by a stern cough from the instructor. Kantan opened his eyes and trained them on his teacher. A serene focus blanketed him as who he recognized as Elder Zho began to speak.
"Today is perhaps the last day of your mortal lives." Zho wore a refined air, his age showing not in his features but in how he carried himself. Soul Warriors could become potentially immortal with a high enough cultivation rank. Zho had reached the Sapphire rank, the second rank one could achieve after awakening their cores. This made him one of the most powerful Soul warriors the clan had, only the head elder bearing a high sapphire cultivation rank. "Tomorrow, if you are worthy of it, you will be reborn a proud warrior of the Astaire clan."
Weekly Power Status
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