After enjoying a meal together and getting to know each other further, they spent the rest of the afternoon training. Once again, Zaya took the role of a teacher and instructed Casmir on something unfamiliar to him.
Casmir still had one form of training he needed to complete if he wants to stand a chance against the ferocious beast.
Casmir needed to be able to utilise his Qi energy.
Casmir already understood how to cultivate and grow his Qi energy but he didn't have much experience in using the Qi energy he had cultivated.
Cultivators can use their Qi energy to reinforce, strengthen and nurture their bodies at Qi Grade 1. This is it's greatest use at this stage, only after reaching Qi Grade 2 is Qi energy strong enough to be released by the body and adapted for a near infinite amount of uses.
Zaya started the afternoon instructing Casmir to infuse his Qi energy into his legs to enhance his muscle's and achieve a greater agility and speed, however as Casmir attempted this he began to run into some obstacle's...
"Come on Casmir, move those legs!" Zaya shouted as she watched Casmir sprint across the training field.
Casmir was moving at a much faster speed than normal, every time his feet touched the ground they would create deep imprint in the muddy grass however after only a few dozen steps Casmir legs started moving erratically and he fell over.
Casmir's training clothes were quite muddy and full of grass stains after having fallen over so many times, Elena would surely berate him for getting his clothes so dirty...
"Casmir, what are you doing? Are you a kid? You can barely run across a short field.." Zaya chastised him with a frown on her face.
As Casmir heard her he could only put on a helpless smile, using Qi energy to strengthen his body was much harder to adjust to than he thought. Every movement he made became more powerful and harder to control because of the influx of power to his legs, Casmir simply couldn't adjust himself.
"Alright Zaya, don't bite my head off... It's hard trying to adjust.." Casmir protested somewhat weakly, he didn't want to rouse Zaya anger, he had made that mistake before.
Zaya wanted to berate him further but she realised it would be fruitless, Casmir was clearly putting in a lot of effort to run just these few steps, he wouldn't be able to adapt his legs to this new speed quickly enough to be useful in combat.
"Ok, ok... We'll just have to focus on your ability to strengthen and reinforce your body. I hope that you can at least strengthen your upper body so that you can block and thrust with your spear, otherwise we might as well give up now." Zaya said in annoyance, she was clearly displeased that Casmir was unable to adapt quickly enough.
"Let's rest for 10 minutes.." Zaya said as she sat down.
Casmir similarly sat down to rest, however he couldn't help but feel unsatisfied and weak as he heard Zaya. Casmir hadn't noticed it yet but whenever Zaya chastised him he would put in more effort the next time.
Even now, he had already decided that he wouldn't go home before he could properly strengthen his body with Qi energy, he wanted to see a satisfied smile on Zaya's face otherwise he would feel impotent and useless.
After a few minutes of rest Casmir impatiently got up, grabbed his practice spear and shield before he stood before Zaya, his eyes shining with fighting spirit.
Zaya who was still resting was slightly surprised but the smile on her face led one to believe that this was all a part of her plan, Casmir was too easy to manipulate but more importantly he never wanted to give up.
"Oh you're ready so soon? Good.. lets see if you can take some of my strikes then." Zaya said as she picked up her short sword and began to infuse her body with Qi energy.
Suddenly, Zaya charged at Casmir and struck his shield.
THWACK
It held under her strike causing Casmir to smile, but he didn't let his guard down, he knew that Zaya wouldn't give him a chance to feel satisfied yet.
THWACK, THWACK, THWACK.
Zaya struck at Casmir from different angle's causing Casmir to have to manoeuvre his shield around his body to block her strikes.
Casmir felt his opportunity appear as Zaya completed her third strike, he thrusted the spear in his right hand forward... only to hit nothing.
Zaya had moved too quickly, Casmir hadn't manage to infuse his right hand with Qi energy quickly enough meaning his spear moved far too slowly to reach her.
Before Casmir could even retract his spear, Zaya had moved to his now completely open right side and struck his back heavily with her wooden short sword, breaking Casmir stance and causing Casmir to fall forwards onto the floor.
"Agghh... Damn it!" Casmir cried out, however he wasn't in much pain nor was he angry at Zaya's strike, he was annoyed at his own impatience.
Zaya stood over him as she said calmly, "Do you realise your mistakes?".
Casmir reluctantly stood up, looking at Zaya he nodded as he explained.
"I committed too much to my strike and left myself open to you.."
Casmir had immediately realised his mistake but it was too late, he needed to taste some pain before he could imprint on his mind and body, the correct actions.
Zaya nodded but also added, "That was one mistake yes, but you also failed to properly use your Qi energy, your stance was ruined by your over commitment and you didn't keep your eyes on me."
"For now, forget about attacking, just defend yourself and observe me.." Zaya instructed.
Casmir nodded as he prepared himself once again.
This was going to be a long day...
They spent the rest of the afternoon focusing on these basic movements like spear thrusts, blocking with his shield and creating solid stances.
Zaya would use her Qi energy to enhance her body in order to block his strikes and attack his shield. After all, Casmir's physical strength was on par with hers, if not for her higher cultivation that granted her greater strength when she utilised her Qi energy, she could be injured by Casmir's strikes and wouldn't be able to push him back.
The pair also took frequent breaks because of their limited Qi energy, Casmir could only maintain his Qi energy for 5 minutes as he trained intensely with Zaya.
Thankfully after 6 hours of tough training Casmir finally got the hang of using Qi energy, he couldn't use it to perform any fancy moves but he could at least stand his ground under Zaya's attacks without being knocked down and even cause her to grit her teeth as she took a few of his powerful spear thrusts.
Eventually the evening crept closer and their training came to an end, it was time to report back to Instructor Redfire to be dismissed.
======
Casmir's clothes were covered in mud and grass stains and his face looked quite ragged. Fortunately there was still a slight smile on his face, he could feel how much he had improved today and that was enough for him to feel satisfied
Contrary to his appearance, Zaya looked very calm and natural. Her clothes were ruffled and her hair was slightly damp with sweat but that didn't retract from her slender and provocative appearance.
As they walked through the university, some of the students looked at Casmir weirdly, his messy appearance was a stark contrast to Zaya's pretty yet vigorous look.
The older students didn't care much for their appearance however, many Qi studies students would have similar appearances at the end of the day, so it wasn't a strange sight however even to them Casmir did seem a bit overly messy.
Another reason for the smile on Casmir's face was that as they walked back, Zaya took the time to compliment Casmir's persistent hard work today, she did feel a bit bad for chastising him all day.
However this was all to motivate him, it was how she was trained and she knew it worked but she did feel that if she didn't give him any positive reinforcement her tough training might ware him down.
"I still don't understand how your endurance is so good though. Are all human's like this?" Zaya asked out of curiosity.
"No, no. I think it's just because of my physique.." Casmir said brushing her questions under the rug.
Zaya watched Casmir's reaction, she didn't believe it was so simple but she didn't want to pry into his secrets.
Zaya simply didn't see the need to.
As they talked Casmir suddenly remembered something, he needed to get the advancement materials today so that he could breakthrough to Qi Grade 1.1.
"Oh right! Do you know where I can get some advancement materials from the university?" Casmir asked Zaya.
"You can get them from the central faculty building, it's just round the corner. Make sure you breakthrough today, the earlier you break through the better for low level cultivators." Zaya said as she walked ahead to lead Casmir towards the building.
Luckily the main faculty building was nearby so Zaya didn't mind taking a short trip out of her way.
Zaya lead Casmir to a large 5 story building, it was made from hard Redstone bricks and the structure wasn't very imaginative, it simply looked like a large red brick full of windows.
One of the distinct points about Heldan Academy was these odd looking buildings, at the time the academy was built this type of stone was readily available and so most of the main buildings resembled this type of structure, barring later modifications.
As they entered the building Zaya lead Casmir to a busy area full of students, this was the resource allocation area, most of the students were here to buy, trade or sell cultivation resources.
Fortunately the area designated for Grade 1 Qi resources only, wasn't busy.
Casmir soon walked up to an available counter, it was attended by an older middle aged human lady with grey hair and a stern countenance.
"Good afternoon miss, I would like to withdraw some Grade 1 advancement materials. My name is Casmir Sing, this years Qi Studies class." Casmir explained.
The middle aged lady nodded before she used a Qi chip to authenticate his identity, the Qi chip contained images of the students and information on the resources they had been allocated. This lady didn't even take notice of Casmir's messy appearance, she had seen a lot through her years at this place and Casmir didn't look particularly odd.
What surprised the lady was that according to the Qi chip Casmir had a high level access equivalent to a normal teachers, this allowed him to exchange a variety of resources as well as giving him access to certain area's. He also had over 2000 academic credits that can be used to withdraw Qi resources, this was enough to withdraw even a few Qi Grade 5 resources.
Academic credits were rewards for students that can be traded with the academy but each credit was worth a pure Grade 2.5 Qi crystal and they could not be bought with money.
The middle aged lady assumed that Casmir must have a special backing or be one of the best new students this year, her stern face faded into a pleasant smile as she spoke to Casmir.
"Good afternoon Casmir, what resources can I help you with today?" The lady said pleasantly, her eyes roamed across Casmir's body as she tried to penetrate his identity.
Casmir didn't notice that this lady was being very polite to him, he hadn't met many other people from the university faculty and wasn't aware of their normal stern and cold behaviour.
"Is it possible for me to withdraw Advancement materials for all five advancements in Qi Grade 1 right now? If not, I need the first advancement materials please." Casmir explained.
The lady was surprised that Casmir wanted advancement materials, she had assumed that he was a top student that had already reached the peak of Qi Grade 1.5.
"You can withdraw them all now, no need to wait." The lady confirmed after thinking about his potential backing.
After checking Casmir cultivation and confirming it to be Qi Grade 1.0, she soon confirmed Casmir's order and went to retrieve his items from the warehouse inside the building.
Soon enough the lady returned with a small package in her hands, she passed it over to Casmir before speaking.
"There are 5 Qi Crystal's in here, each one contains a pure source of Qi energy from Grade 1.1 to Grade 1.5. Is there anything else you need? Oh and you don't need to worry about the cost, these resources are free for Qi studies students." The middle aged lady reminded him.
Casmir nodded back before he left saying, "Thank you very much, there's nothing else."
The middle age lady watched as Casmir left, oblivious to how Zaya was looking at her.
Zaya who had stood next to Casmir as he talked to the lady looked at him strangely. When she had visited this place recently she had seen the same middle aged lady, when the middle aged lady served Zaya she was stern and cold throughout their exchange.
However when the lady spoke to Casmir she seemed to smile a bit too much and her voice seemed to grow more pleasant, Zaya even saw the lady openly staring at Casmir's body.
Zaya didn't understand why this had happened but as she thought about it more, her thoughts turned stranger and stranger until a certain idea appeared in her head.
In her head, Zaya now saw this stern middle aged lady as someone with a particular interest in Casmir, one which Zaya couldn't help but shiver at the thought of.
Casmir was of course oblivious to the slight change in Zaya gaze, he wasn't aware that Zaya was now looking at him as if he were a temptress to middle aged women....