'Move.' Gideon and Victoria chanted silently while they meditated. They were now barely able to stand and slightly shuffle their feet forward.
Through gritted teeth, they both managed to slowly raise their legs and take a step, and another, and another, all the while ignoring the horrible pain in their minds. They had been at this for a day.
"Okay, that's enough." Sia said and the two of them nearly collapsed while clutching their heads.
"You did great. You two will now advance to the next stage of the training. Don't worry this one is less painful." Hearing this, the two of them felt elated.
After they had rested their minds, they had once again sat in a cross legged position,this time Sia sat silently behind them.
"Alright, now this is what I want you two to do. As you absorb astral energy, I want the two of you to constantly condense the newly absorbed energy somewhere in your chest." Hearing her instructions, the two of them nodded before entering their deep concentration. Like Sia said, this was much less painful than the previous training.
As they absorbed the energy, instead of simple leaving it in their bodies to be used later, they slowly guided it towards the center of their chests.
At first, nothing seemed to happen and it just looked as if a large amount of astral energy had gathered there, but the two of them didn't stop and condensed the energy more.
Unconsciously, they had lost track of time as they were fully immersed in the act. And after a while, something happened.
The areas with the energy had shrunk to about the size of a grape and amazingly, it started to take on a solid form. The two of them marveled as they felt a strong affinity with the orbs
*HUMM*
The orbs began to vibrate lightly and without the two of them doing anything, the orbs started to absorb the astral energy in the air like a vacuum and as time went on, and eventually, the orbs completely formed.
*BANG BANG*
Gideon and Victoria felt their bodies shake when the orbs formed and immediately knew that the orbs were completed.
They inspected the orbs and they realized that the orbs were filled with a staggering amount of astral energy. Not only that, but the orbs seemed to passively absorb astral energy, albeit very slowly.
'Amazing.' They both exclaimed in their hearts. Before finally waking up from their meditation.
They both stood up and stretched their bodies which produce numerous popping sounds. They felt as if they had just come out of a hot spring and we're very comfortable.
'Wait a minute.' It was also at this moment that they realized something shocking. They had advanced to the next rank. Gold for Gideon and bronze for Victoria.
"Seems like you woke up." Sia's blank voice brought the two of them out of their shock and they turned towards her only to see that her face was completely devoid of any emotion.
"One day, it took you two two days to completely form your astral cores." Her voice sounded almost robotic as she uttered her sentence, this caused the two of them to feel nervous. Did they take too long?
"It took me three whole months to form mine, and that was considered fast." Sia's voice began to tremble.
"Two days. You're monsters, you two are monsters." Sia said repeatedly as she stared at the ground while shaking her head causing the two siblings to look at each other. Did she loose it?
'Well, we did just completely ruin her world-view.' Gideon thought with a wry smile.
"Just who are you two?" Sia finally regained her bearings and asked the two of them in all seriousness.
"We're earthlings." Victoria answered simply and Gideon nodded.
"Haa~" Sia took a deep breath causing her bountiful chest to rise before she said.
"Eight years, this will be fun."
"Oh right. As I mentioned before, you two have successfully formed your astral cores. As for what they are, think of them as batteries or power storages. They store about 4 times the amount of astral energy that your bodies contain. Though it varies for some people. They also slowly absorb astral energy. This was also why I needed you guys to learn how to move while meditating because if you had formed the cores earlier, then although you still wouldn't be meditating consciously, it would still impede your average movement" Sia gave a brief explanation and the duo's eyes widened in astonishment. Wasn't this just a cheat?
"Hold on, so if we're in an environment that's rich which our respective elements, then doesn't that mean that we'll have an endless supply of energy? Gideon asked quickly.
"Pretty much, though if your energy usage surpasses the rate of absorption then, well you know what happens." Sia replied and the duo felt ecstatic. In other words, as long as they maintained the balance, then they could fight for as long as they wanted as long as they were in a suitable environment.
"Okay okay. Let's get on with your next stage of training." Sia's face suddenly became solemn as a terrifying aura gushed out of her body cause dust to fly about and her hair to whip around her head.
Her tails swayed slightly as bright orange flames manifested around her body carrying scary temperatures.
"I want you two to attack me with everything you have, do not hold back anything." Sia said as she instantly appeared a few hundred meters backwards.
Gideon and Victoria nodded as they both unleashed their skills simultaneously. A bright green light enveloped Gideon as he manifested his poison avatar and condensed it to just a bit around his body giving him an exquisite glow which extended to his daggers which were already spinning fast enough to create small tornadoes. And with the addition of poison aura and poison overdrive, his combat prowess was boosted to an insane degree.
Victoria on the other hand summoned her gauntlets and her purple aquafire turned into countless strings which began to wrap around her body and very quickly, a purple suit of armor was woven unto her body. Only her eyes could be seen. She called this purple goddess mode and she had been creating it ever since she had created the aquafire and was eager to tested it out.
"Come." Sia said softly which served as a trigger, they attacked.
Gideon immediately released two poison wheels before dashing towards Sia with Victoria closely behind.
The poison wheels reached her in an instant, but she simply waved her hand and a seemingly little amount of orange flames touched the two attacks, but the moment it did, they shattered like glass.
Gideon and Victoria had also arrived at this moment. Gideon's hand blurred and instantly, hundreds of sharp green lights approached Sia.
Sia didn't move but one of her tails swayed and a thin screen of orange flames appeared in front of the attacks and fended them off with ease. One should know that just the wind pressure brought about by the attack were causing massive damage to the ground, yet she blocked them effortlessly.
Suddenly, a purple dragon head flew towards Sia with tremendous momentum. Victoria used this opportunity to sneak attack. It was also at this moment thousands of near invisible green threads that were sharp enough to slice apart steel with ease surrounded Sia like a dome and shrunk rapidly. Although they hadn't fought with each other that much, their mutual understand made the sibling's coordination to be quite smooth.
"You guys really are monsters." Sia's voice suddenly sounded and Gideon's whole body suddenly became hot while Victoria's body pretty much screamed at her.
*FWOOSH*
The bright orange flames surged outwards and whether it was the threads or the dragon head, they were instantly vaporized.
"I said use EVERYTHING. Exhaust your astral cores into a final attack." Sia's voice was stern and at the same time, Victoria reappeared at Gideon's side.
'Everything huh?' They thought at the same time before looking at each other and nodding.
They both took a deep breath and immediately, all the astral energy that they could muster from their bodies including their cores was mobilized.
Green and purple surged outwards as the two of them prepared their final attacks. The aura from the poison avatar vanished from Gideon's body and covered his daggers and it shone brighter as it was constantly being pumped with energy. He also surrounded them in the ever destructive poison flames causing their power to soar.
Victoria on the other hand dispersed her armor causing it to unravel and all the threads covered her fists creating a pair of exquisite looking gauntlets. A deep purple color and a bright green color illuminated the area as the two of them prepared to launch their attacks.
No words were needed as like arrows released from bowstring, they both shot forward leaving a green and purple trail.
Gideon spun his daggers allowing their their momentum to reach their absolute peak while Victoria's muscles bulged as they were prepared to release a terrifying amount of force.
Sia's lips curled into a faint smiled as she was met with the two attacks. What an impressive duo they were.
Finally, they had reached her. Gideon swung both of his daggers and Victoria punched outwards with both fists.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A terrifying explosion that made nuclear explosion look away in shame erupted. Purple and green intertwined as a mushroom cloud two hundreds of meters rose up into the sky. Just the shockwave uprooted the trees and flatted a few nearby mountains like they were playdough.
After a minute or so, the blast had finally settled leaving a creater that was a few hundred meters deep. And there figures could be seen standing.
Gideon and Victoria still had their weapons and fists outstretched, however the previous lustrous light they gave off had already faded.
Meanwhile, Sia had her palm forward and a small barrier of orange flames just big enough to block their weapons and fists formed. Their attacks did absolutely zero damage to her.
"Well, without a doubt, you are an amazing fighter." Gideon said weakly before him and Victoria lost consciousness. But just as they were about to hit the floor, two fluffy orange tails suddenly caught them.
"And the two of you will become even more incredible." Sia said with a faint smile as the two of them curled up and slept soundly on her tails, unaware of how much of a privilege they had received.