POV Tsuitame. (Maybe I should've always specified the POV)
I was in the kitchen drinking some fresh water out of the freezer watching Forren training from the window.
'Lately Forren has been acting weird, he doesn't seem as focused. He makes a lot more mistakes during the training sessions and lately the times I caught him lost in his own thoughts has also increased.'
"Has he finally gone crazy after all this time spent on the edge?"
'Maybe we should've rushed the stages to gather a bit more points.'
Hannis: Maybe the dark force has already polluted his brain!
'Hannis! It's not time for silly jokes.'
"He's just happy, don't think too much about it." Said Diego before opening the fridge.
Naturally I immediately turned over to see what he was doing, he was taking out a bottle of water with a sticker with his name written on it.
"What do you mean he's just happy."
He chuckled a bit and then went to open one of the many cabinets next to the fridge and took out a small green container. Then started searching among the many drawers in search of something else, he took out a spoon and a funnel.
"He was always a little weird since we were kids, he didn't talk too much, usually kept his thoughts to himself and often got lost in his own thoughts when thinking of happy stuff. You know… Kids things." he said while setting the funnel on the bottle of water.
"Kids do not usually behave like that."
"Well, most kids were like that where I grew up so that makes it the standard in my world. He can talk back now and express himself a bit more openly and honestly but still retained that cute habit." He said after taking out the funnel and drinking some of the water in the bottle.
'What kind of world is theirs? No it's likely he was just brought up in a shitty place, their difference is huge.'
He then put the funnel back on the bottle and opened the green plastic box, with the spoon he started putting in some sort of gray-ish mixture that quickly turned the water inside a dark brown. He put in about four generous spoons of the mixture then he threw everything else in the trash bin, closed the battle and started shaking it.
"So what am I supposed to say to him then?"
"If you really want to piss him off you can call him B-34I, he doesn't really like it when others call him that way."
"What kind of name is that?"
"Well it's a long story you see, unlike most other kids, we were created for being tools of war and just like a tool, you don't give it a proper name. The B stands for the quality, the number stands for the generation, and I stands for the variant. His brothers that did not have any other uniqueness to them were just B-34." he said this while with a normal smile on his face.
"Do you find this funny?"
Hannis: Don't trigger him, he's stronger than you and has a lot more weapons.
His smile got wider and wider, to the point that he didn't look like a human anymore, he was a monster with a human face.
"Not really, I'm just curious if you'll use that name or not."
"You're a sick man." I said while getting up.
"Hey, you asked for a possible solution and I gave one to you, no need to be this aggressive about it."
I refused to look at him any further and started heading out.
'I should've just kept this to myself, how can my older brother ever trust him.'
Hannis: I don't know either, he probably has realized it a bit too late and now he is forced to team up with him, at least until you can find better teammates.
'I hate this!'
Hannis: You just hate him, are you planning on convincing Valis to also leave with you once the opportunity arises?
'Of course, we came close to dying twice because of him.'
Hannis: But you have to admit, without his powers you would've died a long time ago, he managed to get rid of your chasers, secure a safe place and had already planned out to end the stage while you were doing… whatever that was.
'We had no Idea we were being monitored.'
Hannis: I can probably accept that from you or your brother, but those three… from what I gather their civilization should be as advanced if not more than us, they should've known better.
"If you need other tips on how to properly use him or put him in his place you can come and ask." He said in a cheerful tone while giving me a thumbs up.
'This fucker…'
"I'll be willing to answer that type of question anytime." He murmured before taking a sip of his drink.
Hannis: He's a creepy one.
'You said it right, he is surely someone I will never trust again.'
Dubir: Master, your facade is breaking apart.
I noticed my face had become distorted so I quickly recomposed myself by clearing my throat.
"I noticed, lately it has been such a bore, I can't do nothing but train and do math to count where I will spend my next points."
Fury: And I even pitied you, how cruel of you to-
'I never once asked for your pity, I'm perfect.'
Frey: Master, have you made any progress in mastering aura?
"Honestly, I think I've mastered the basics now, whoever came up with the idea of the "training of the dead" was a genius."
Dubir: I know.
I took a sip of tea and then headed outside.
Forren was still diligently training, Tsuitame was checking he was making progress and sometimes I would catch him giving me a mean look before turning his head back to Forren.
'Maybe I teased the little kid a bit too much.'
I headed towards the mini beach we had in front of our house, set the bottle of tea in the sand, threw away most of my clothes and then I dived in the floating ocean.
This was by far the coolest method of training I had ever received. Apparently some fishermen hunt in this way on some faraway planet. They are accustomed to being on water all the time and have developed some pretty unique ways of using aura underwater. It allows them to hit their targets with either ice or a weird version of solidified water, they can also move around underwater as fast as the fastest fish and keep their breaths for hours at a time.
'At least that's what you said.'
Dubir: Was I ever wrong about something?
'How old are you to retain this much knowledge within you.'
Dubir: I don't know, after the third century I simply stopped counting.
Today's training consisted of trying to apply the fire solidification technique on water in order to make it solid without transforming it into ice. After that I will be sparring with Forren, the main objective is to make the techniques I learnt applicable, I will try to use both my abilities as well as aura techniques in rapid succession. The main objective is to reduce as much as possible the time needed to switch between using ability and aura.
The final goal would be to then learn to walk on water and do all of the above there. Only then will I start mastering the outer techniques.
Dubir: Aren't you a little too confident in your abilities, usually learning the outer techniques is the priority for most hunters since you rarely will ever use your real body to fight it unless your weapon has some kind of special effect that makes the risk of getting killed worth it.
'I don't need ranged techniques, I already have the best weapons. If I really need some range I can always buy some firearms. It's not like I'm going to take more than a year to learn this anyway.'
Dubir: You're crazy if you think you'll be able to achieve all of that in under a year, the amount of concentration required to pull that off is too much for most people to handle.
'You're forgetting that I'm no ordinary man.'
Dubir: Then let's see you figuring this by yourself.
To make the flames solid there are various methods, merely compressing the aura is not enough to sustain my weight. I could create a strong current to keep me on the surface but that would require too much aura over time. There is also the spinning method but that would end up damaging my shoes or my feet.
'Let's start off easy by freezing.'
I created what looked like a square of roughly 1 meter square and then put myself on top of it. I made it very thin so it took a lot of concentration to keep it whole once I got uo top. It was also very slippery and that made it much harder for me to stand up. I've fallen a dozen or more times trying, I've broken the thin ice platform around 100 times just that evening.
In the end I've failed, I couldn't figure out a way to stand in water or stand on a thin ice platform created using aura.
When I returned the sun was setting down and everyone had already returned back into the house. Most of them were sitting watching a live action action packed tv series, while Folarin was busy preparing dinner.
I could hear chopping something on the wooden board
"Forren, can you follow me for a bit?"
He seemed hesitant to respond, he was flustered for some reason.
"I'll wait for you outside, if you make me wait too long I'm going to punish you."
I didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes before he came out of the house.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"We're sparring, I still haven't mastered this power."
"Can we rest for today?" He asked while taking an upright stance.
"Nope" I answer while taking a more relaxed stance, hands down making very little movements.
"Don't pull your punches cause I won't pull mine." I said as he leaned forward.
I took a step forward and he immediately threw a left hood.
I let it pass through with my ability, he followed immediately after with a sweep with his left leg in an almost seamless transition.
But I was faster than him, I tried to use the compressing technique to land a fast and powerful punch to his guts, what I got instead was just an extremely fast explosion of flames that sent him flying away from me.
'It can be this powerful even when it fails.'
Dubir: Concentration!
As expected Forren came out unscathed, he was still massaging the part hit but that was more than likely just phantom pain.
He got up rapidly and then slowly got closer and closer while staring directly at my eyes.
This time instead of just leaning he made a step forward with the right leg, I then raised my front left leg and he immediately used his aura beneath his feet to slide in closer. Not only that was incredibly fast of him, but I never saw that technique being used before. It was as if he was sliding on ice.
Instead of kicking him I stomped the ground creating a spiky wall of ice in front of me that he promptly destroyed with a single punch.
He then used the fire under his feet to slide to my right side and with his fist still covered in icy spikes he tried to land an uppercut to the body.
I had to use my ability to escape that situation and create some distance between us.
'Hey, it's not fair if a mountain of a man like you starts suddenly moving that fast.'
He then started making deep breaths, his body was becoming more and more red as it started to sweat more and more.
Dubir: What a crazy guy, he's preparing everything for one last extremely fast blow.
'Then I've got to match his resolve.'
I started expanding the aura all around my body, catching as many magic particles as I could to create as much aura as possible only to then compress it to extreme degrees.
Dubir: This isn't a good idea, you're only going to lose.
' I can do it.'
I closed my eyes to concentrate better on feeling the aura in my surroundings.
Then I felt his first step forward, it was loud and fast.
The second one was just as fast but not as loud as if he suddenly had lost most of his body weight.
I didn't hear the third one but by that point he was close enough for me to feel his aura.
Then as soon as I felt he was in my striking range I unleashed all the aura I had compressed to land my fastest punch thus far.
When I opened my eyes I was laying on the ground naked covered by a familiar fog, Forren on the other hand had just his right arm broken and dislocated.
I immediately got up but before I could make one step further Dubir stopped me.
Dubir: It's over Diego, you lost the match.
'We are training, there's no way we spar just one time.'
Dubir: He can't fight anymore, he used too much aura and his body right now needs rest. You also lost more energy than necessary with your stupid little stunt.
"But!"
Fury: Dubir is right, your body loses too much energy when doing the reset, can you really focus when your body is this tired.