The time had come for the children of the main line to be called together and each of them were lined up as they stood waiting for the old man to speak.
The head of the family had a serious look on his face. "From now on you will all be attending a regular lesson a week so that you can train your bodies up to the families standards. That means that your free time is no more and you are not allowed to slack."
Maximillion showed a face full of despair while Milo had looked a little disgruntled but the other two three girls had stood obediently as they listened to the old man.
He continued. "From now on you will learn the Meridian families martial arts that only those of the main line get to learn. If you pass this outside then the family will punish you harshly so do not betray the families trust in you. It is nothing all that special but the essence of the techniques are related to the Meridian line that rotates from the north pole towards the south pole and continues as it returns to the north pole. The technique requires precise steps, precise slashing techniques using a sword or your claws and an agile body to perform more difficult techniques. Imagine that a pole starts where your sword is currently pointed, the sword will travel around in a half circle and cut anything in its path until it reaches the opposite point. You can make the circle area as big as small as you can make it with the simpler techniques once you have mastery over it but the straight and diagonal slashes will be more difficult as they require you to practice your jumping and flips so you can complete a half or full rotation slash. To gain a better understanding here is something that will help."
He threw out some metal balls at their feet which had two markings on them so everyone had looked at them carefully.
A thin line had moved from one marking and then passed through it as it had continued onwards back to the original place.
The old man smiled. "Of course, if you understand the essence of the technique and can grow much stronger then you should be able to gain enough control and precision to complete more than a full rotation. When used with your Electro and speed, you will be able to slip into a crowd of enemies and cut up many of them in a single slash."
Pixel was standing with the ball in her hand and understood the essence of the technique. 'So if I change the angle and positioning of the markings or what he calls the poles, then the meridian line will be what my attack path would follow. To be able to accomplish such a precise cut that will return to the original position will be difficult and I am sure that there will be techniques that will move in a half or full circle slash and then move and slash in reverse.'
Many of the Mink movement were very linear as they moved quickly in a straight line so it was difficult to find one that relied on footwork and jumping to work in conjunction with their Electro but it was very suited to an agile type of Mink like a cat.
It was another reason why the Meridian family placed importance on their bloodline because it required the jumping, climbing and landing on the feet abilities of a cat to perform the more difficult acrobatic techniques.
The children of the main line had all started to slowly get used to the steps that were taught and then they were made to run around and lift things until they were worn out.
The old man occasionally demonstrated the use of the technique with his sword and his claw as his middle claw or the sword tip had returned to the same position as before after he completed a single rotation. "Keep practicing, I hope to see some good results from you all within the next couple of years."
Cleo was struggling to find the right foot placements and paused occasionally which had displayed her lack of confidence which made the old man frown. "Cleo, you will have more lessons with me. You need to build up your confidence again from scratch, I cannot bear to see you continue like this."
Cleo lowered her head in embarrassment and timidly answered. "Y..yes grandpa."
He then turned to Milo. "You need to stop with your little petty grudges, if you want to be head of the family then you fight fairly for it. Do not use your sister as your own resource and destroy her future because of your own greed."
He had seen that Cleo did have some talent but she lacked too much confidence in herself to make the steps according to the timing and correctly.
Her self doubt was causing her to misstep and hesitate so the old man was unhappy with how she had been raised.
He hoped that she would gain a little confidence and grow into her own person if he took her away from her brothers side.
Milo lowered his head in shame but for a brief moment, he had looked towards Cleo with a spiteful look before quickly hiding his emotions.
The old man continued. "Felice, you have made good progress but you are still behind your youngest sister in terms of talent for this so I hope that you will work hard."
Felice nodded seriously. "Yes grandfather!"
He then turned to Maximillion. "To be honest. From your last display, I thought you may fail to meet my expectations once again but I was wrong in my thinking. Max, you should think for yourself more and be more hardworking. Only then can you be your own man and be able to compete with your siblings. It is good to listen to others and rely on them but you must have your own mind and abilities if you even wish to take the position of family head."
Maximillion grit his teeth and suppressed his embarrassment. "Yes grandfather.."
He then turned to Pixel and sighed. "It is a shame about the family rules but the family will continue to support you your whole life and even arrange you a marriage when you have grown up. However if you work hard enough then you can gain a place in the family or you can build your own power but that will mean that you will have to do it all on your own without the families help. You have potential and I do not wish to see it be buried so try to think things over carefully."
They had finally reached the end of the lessons which had made the old man send them home as each of them had an aching body with the exception of Pixel who had been through much worse.
The days would continue like that for a very long time and each time they appeared in front of him, they would be judged based on their rate of improvement.
Maximillion was scolded a lot in the earlier stages for being lazy while Cleo was improving rapidly as she was spending less time being influenced by her brother and mother.
Felice was receiving some praise but she quickly showed that she was not so perfect in everything as she had fallen behind Pixel, Maximillion and Cleo who had a faster learning speed.
Felice always had a perfect image and had to be skilled at everything but she had found something that she was struggling to stay near the top with so it had frustrated her.
Milo was the worst among them all as he had constantly been scolded for not trying hard enough and trying to rely on cheap tricks and loopholes to help himself achieve better results so his mood was becoming increasingly worse while the old man had a growing bad impression of him.
Pixel had started moving from the steps and she had started practicing the movements and techniques along with her own moves which were Tail Slam, Tail Whip, and Power Whip but also the Iron Tail move.
She found that through constant practice of the technique; her attacking precision, foot movement and acrobatic abilities had improved greatly.
For some moves she had focussed on using claw moves but others that allowed a stronger tail strike, she made use of her tail moves.
Her show of improvement had impressed the old man greatly and he had become much warmer to her than before but he knew that she would face many difficult decisions in the future.