After about 4 months of rigorous training with my mentor, karina, I've reached greater limits than I ever thought possible.
I've nearly mastered the ability to enhance my physical capabilities with ki. Karina also taught me a very valuable lesson about the element of surprise. Being able to predict your opponent as well as being unpredictable yourself can make even a novice seem like a master.
another ability I've gotten better at using is something called whisper step. the ability consists of me concentrating all of the ki in my body to my legs, Then shooting my ki out all at once into the ground to give myself a massive speed boost.
While Whisper Step can be very useful when used right, there are quite a few dangers I was not aware of until testing it out. For one, the amount of control you have over your body during that time is very miniscule, as your only able to move in a straight line, due to how much speed you pick up.
The biggest problem I've come to realize however, is how hard it is to stop. Karina told me to wait until the very last second and put my legs forward, then imbue ki into my legs like how I activate whisper step to stop myself.
Another big difference I've noticed is my ability to form different weapons from ki. Most people are only able to form one to two weapons most of their life, as they tend to have a hard time mastering only one, let alone two. however, I'm now able to use any weapon that comes to my mind, and as long as I have a clear picture of it in my head, the weapon always ends up being very powerful.
most of the time however, I've been using two daggers for nearly all of the tiresome training she put me through, but Karina thought of something unique, something that better suits me.
One of the most important lessons she taught me however, is how to read my opponents movements to predict what they're going to do, as well as how to use their predictability to my advantage. With that little bit of advice, I've found myself in a much better position for actual combat.
As I was deep in my thoughts I heard an excited voice call out to me from the exit of our house "Come on Goya, we're gonna be late to your exam!"
"Coming!" I shouted back while grabbing the hoodie my mother got me as a gift a few months back. Every time I put the hoodie on, I feel a dorment power from within me being awakened.
Sadly I haven't been able to make use of that power, as Karina told me to wait until the exam to give it a shot.
When we got to the academy, everyone was grouping around something at the top of the stairs leading to the main entrance.
I tried walking up to the large group of people, hoping to see what was going on, but I was greeted by a short girl with long black hair and blue eyes who decided to step in front of me.
She wore a long black dress with a ruby colored katana laced in gold string at her hip. "Hey there!" She shouted enthusiastically while jumping up and down like an excited toddler. I stared at her for a few seconds before responding "Do you need something?" My words laced with confusion.
"I was wondering if you wanted to be my partner for the third part of the exam?" her voice still full of excitement and joy.
Confused by what she meant I asked "what do you mean, partners?" Footsteps approached us as someone from behind me sighed with a hint of disappointment "I thought I told you that for the third part of the exam, you need to pick a sparring partner."
The short girl tilted her head to the side to see who was behind me. As I turned around to see karina walking slowly towards us with her hands in her pockets, I spoke quietly. "I don't remember hearing you say anything about that..." I rubbed the back of my neck In embarrassment.
The petite girl behind me started giggling but stopped abruptly when I turned around to look at her. "Sorry," She chuckled. Just as I was about to accept her invitation to be her partner, a thought popped into my head.
Just as I was about to say something however, someone spoke.
"THE EXAMS ARE ABOUT TO START!" A raspy voice announced. I turned to the stairs to see a man dressed in a brown cloak that covered his face along with every inch of his body. He was using some sort of wind spell to project his voice across the whole crowd of students gathered around the stairs.
As the announcement ended, everyone started cheering and ran towards the entrance of the arena like a bunch of children. They were pushing each other and tripping over each other until they all finally got inside.
We ended up being the last ones to get inside as I didn't want to get trampled like the rest of those poor bastards. Before we even fully got in and sat down, the same cloaked man spoke again. "The first part of the exams will now begin." There was a slight pause until he spoke again "Will examinee Ikari Takamatsu please come to the ring."
As I began to glance around, I couldn't help but be amazed at the sight of the ring we would be fighting on. It looked as if it was made by a legendary material you would only find in story books. It was a glossy black slab that was standing on top of gleaming white sand. I couldn't help but notice that the sand was shaped like some type of very distinct egg...
After I was done admiring the ring, I began to glance around for the person who just got called to the arena. As I continued searching, my gaze fixed onto a young man with blazing red hair, and black eyes that looked like gems. It seemed as if he was royalty. He carried a regular looking spear besides the runes that layed perfectly on the pointed head.
Runes are used on weapons to help people control there Mana better. They can also be used to store certain types of spells inside of the weapon that you can release at any time. What makes them even more convenient is that you only need to imbue a very miniscule amount of Mana into the rune in order to release the spell.
There are two downsides to these types of runes however... The first being that you can only use the rune twice until it disappears, and the second being that you can only have one rune on your weapon at a time.
I chuckled a little bit when I noticed that the short spear was a few inches taller then he was, granted... he was kind of short. I continued to stare at him as he stood up elegantly, and made his way down to the arena.