While I can only bulge my eyes to the old man, he calmly is positioning my body to sit cross-legged on the floor with my back lean to the wall.
"You should calm yourself," he lectures me.
I want to shout, "I can't!" but all sound I can produce is a groan.
"You said something ?" he asks I respond with another groan.
He smiles at me then pats my cheek couple of time. "If you behave I will let you speak."
i let another groan. "Well ?" he asks.
I stare his eyes deep and long before I finally agree by soften my sight.
"Good," he utters then knocks his finger on a spot on my neck.
"Who are you ?" That is the first sentence that came out of my mouth.
"It should be me whom asked you that question," he responds after flicking his fingers on my temple.
"I'm Long .."
"Yi Hao," I cut him. He is the priest I wanted to meet in the first place.
"What a rude young man," he rebukes me then flicks my forehead again.
"I'm Bennet. I need to see Han to help me.."
"With your speed.." This time he is the one who cuts me.
"Well.. yes. How can you.."
"Han can't help you. He can't even keep up with your speed."
"But you can!" I exclaim excitedly once I finally realize this man has the same speed as I am. "Are you as fast as me ?"
He shrugs. "It depends. I'm just absorbing your energy and adjusting my speed to yours."
"Adjusting ? You can do that ?"
"Of course. Once we can tell our brains who's the boss, we can tell it to do whatever we want."
Master Long chuckles to see my face. "You wanna learn ?"
"You bet !"
He giggles then holds my hand. "Come on."
With one pull he helps me stand. I am so amazed by him until I forgot that I am supposed not able to move, until I turn my head and see my body is behind me, exactly in the same spot and position.
"Wait! what ?!"
"You're not dead. You just separate your spirit from your body."
"Isn't it the sane ?"
Master Long just laughs while shaking his head. Totally ignoring my question, he walks out of the room which forces me to follow him.
He leads me through a long hallway that is dark and narrow, up until the end of it then tears open a curtain that becoming an entry way to a room. The room is, well of course, dark and full of incense scent.
I see a silhouette of someone, or maybe something sitting on a thin bed on the floor across the room.
"Who.."
"It's me," Master Long cuts me before I finished my question. He turns his head to me. "I was meditating when you barged in the temple," he continues his explanation as if it will clear everything. Which of course is not. How could he fought me without his body ? And how could he separate me from my body ? This man.. is too freaking scary but I admire him at the same time.
Master Long stops in front of a circular door.
"What is it ?" I ask him again.
"Behind this door is my training room," he says. "Before you open the door, you must say what is the goal of your training."
"Okay.."
"So.. ? Say it !" Master Long urges me when I didn't say anything after couple of seconds.
I clear my throat before finally say, " I want to be able to control my speed."
Master Long raises his eyebrows, but doesn't say anything. He opens the door and enters it. I follow him.
"What is this place ?" I ask in confusion. The room is big and space-like empty.
"Just let me prepare for a moment," he says then go to a wall that has panel installed on it. "Are you ready ?" he then asks.
"Sure," I tell him in confident. He push a button on the panel. At once, a collar suddenly tighten my neck.
"Hey !! What the hell.. ?!?!" I shout in disturbed. I try to take the collar off, but it doesn't want to be taken off.
"You said you are ready. It can only be taken off after you finish your training," Master Long says.
"What kind of training is this ?"
""This ..." Master Long says while spreading his arms wide. Following his arms, the room's atmosphere is changing into some kind of a horse racing field and I'm on one of its track. Next to me is a ... fighter jet?
"I need to DECREASE my speed, not INCREASE it," I say in confusion. Master Long wave his hand from a far, and somehow the back of my head is being slapped.
"Just let me explain first," he rebukes me. "Your goal is this ... you have to run as fast as you can, but at the same time, you may not be more up front that this jet," he says.
"What ?!?!"
"On my mark... Get set.. Go !!"
The plane is suddenly flies at full speed. Seeing me only standing dumbfounded, Master Long slaps me remotely again. "RUN !!"
Out of reflex, my feet start running. I thought I would never catch the fighter jet, so I run as fast as I can. To my surprise, within a second, I already in parallel with that jet, and the next second I am up front of it. Suddenly, I got electrocuted from the collar on my neck.
"AAARGH!!" I shout in pain while my body is cramp in instant.
"Oh yeah.. I forgot to tell you.. that will happen if you fail to do it," Master Long has already stood in front of me. Still in prone position, I stare at him angrily. But the old man just laughs. He then stretches his hand to me to help me stand.
"Again !" He says enthusiastically once I stand on my feet. The fighter jet is moving at its full speed again. "RUN!" he orders.
I run, but now of course, I don't do it at my full speed. This is a stupid training. All I need to do is lacking then of course I won't be able to beat the ...
"AARGHH !!"" I shout again when another electric shock hits me.
"No.. No.. No.. !! You can not cheat, Mr. Bennet !!" Master Long shakes his head while helping me to stand again. "You have to run as fast as you can. No lacking."
"How can I lose then ?"
"That's what you must order to your brain. You must convince your brain that you are not as fast as the fighter jet," Master Long lectures me with a tone as if I was so dumb not to understand that simple thing. The problem is, that simple thing is not simple at all.
I snuffle. "Okay, I will try."
"No. You don't try. You DO. Try means you hesitate that it will work. Bad word, You must order your brain to do it. Show it, who's the boss."
I don't utter any word to say back to him. I prefer to prepare my self. "I'm ready."
I thought I can just order my brain that easy to lose from the fighter jet. After all it is X-15, the fastest fighter jet in the world. But boy, I have never been this wrong before. It is only after more than dozen of electric shocks I received that I finally manage to run slower than the jet. I'm not sure whether its is because I am finally able to control my brain or my body is just exhausted from all the run and pain.
"Good.. Very good, Mr. Bennet," Master Long praises me while clapping. I'm too busy evening my breathe to respond to him.
"So, I succeed ?" I ask him.
"Next level.. Bullet train !" Master Long totally ignores my question. I bulge my eyes. Before I can say anything, he shouts, "Go !!"
So the fighter jet is only level 1. After the bullet train, I still have to compete with other fast things and animal, but the higher the level the slower my competitor is: commercial jet plane, missile, racing car, falcon, cheetah, lion, and dog. Since this is in spiritual world, the 'physical' tiredness and pain is only a mindset. I don't know how long I've been in this room. Maybe weeks. and I don't get starving or even thirsty.
"Excellent job, Mr. Bennet !!" Master Long's voice is echoing from somewhere when I finally lose from and old limp man.
"Thank you,: I say. Finally, I can have a normal human speed in control again. "So, the training is done, right ?"
"One level left.."
"What ?!" Next to me, there is a sloth. "You gotta be kid,,"
"Go !!"
To have a normal human speed is already a struggle for me. Now I have to be slower than a sloth ? So of course, even before I completely put my first step of run, I am already electrocuted since the slot hasn't even move. SHIT !! How can I be as slow as a sloth ?!?!