The first day of many had begun, waking up to a rooster, getting dressed, making food, and waiting for MIchem to wake up. Considering it was the middle of the summer, William didn't need to collect wood as often. William waited for MIchem to wake from his sleep so they could train him in the element of surprise and work a way to increase his power. As Time passed, William heard a loud noise outside. He ran out as soon as fast as he could. The tree that stood outside their house fell.
"Finally, you woke up. What were you doing? I have been out here for hours?"
Michem said with a grin.
"I waited for you to wake up for a while. So what do you mean you have been waiting for hours!!!"
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you about your new training. It's gonna be completely different from your previous training."
At this moment, Michems face became stern.
"So here is how it's going to go down. You will wake up before the sun rises, train till you can't stand, and train more. I will teach you All you need to know and more. You will be put through training that will almost kill you. If you mess up on the training, you will be beaten till you can't stand, and you will stand through it and continue training."
"Yes, sir"
I'm glad you understand. In today's training, you will learn the element of surprise by hiding your senses. If you perfect this, you can become invisible hours. We will make you faster.
Michem hopped on his horse and told William to jump on too. Michem rode an hour away to a massive forest.
"Ok, William, so here is what we are gonna do. You will start here before counting to one hundred. If you start running too early or too late, you will be shot by an arrow. Your goal is to run through the forest to the horse. If I hear you make a noise, you will be shot at. Remember that I can accurately shoot up to 500 meters and will not go easy."
As soon as he said that, the horse was gone, so was Michem, and William began counting.
"1… 2… 3…, 100"
He began running, and an arrow came whistling through the air at the spot William was counting.
"That almost hit me,"
William yelled as he ran behind a tree adjacent to the arrow's trajectory. As soon as the yell rang out, a hand flew towards his head, causing William to duck. He began running, leaves and sticks crunching every time he stepped. Through the woods, with every step, arrows came flying, barely missing. Fearing for his life, he ran under a bolder, stopping to gather his thoughts. "If this training aims to hide people's senses, I must sneak past his hearing, sight, and smell. It's not like he can taste or touch me." Then from the surrounding forest, a yell erupted,
"I have taken it too easy on you, so I'm going to increase the arrow speed and quantity. Forgot to say, you must finish this test before the end of the day. If not, you will be forced to run home."
Hearing Michem says he would have to run home gave him the motivation to finish the test quickly. William hopped around the bolder before running as fast as possible while avoiding making noise. Each stick he stepped on caused him to be met with an arrow close to his face. He ran through the forest to witness animals being shot, flying, or laying dormant. While traversing into the woods, animals were found more prevalent, but each one was met with death causing blood to rain from the sky and flood through the rivers. The corpses that littered the forest showed Michems blood lust and trust that William would be able to dodge his arrows.
The arrows flew through the sky, covering his path behind him. There wouldn't be a break for him. To slow down would be death. There would be no stopping or thinking, or he would get hit. Thinking to himself,
"How will I eliminate my sound and sight? I smell like sweat, so no hiding that."
As he was thinking, he saw a tree fall over a ravine. Running under the tree, multiple arrows were heard with a thud on the tree's wood. Catching his breath before running again, he knew he had to do something, so he crossed his legs. He slowed his breathing and concentrated on his surrounding to try and increase his senses to avoid obstacles. Meditating for an hour with his eyes closed, breathing slowed. He looked inside himself, then it clicked.
He sat up from his meditation opening, his eyes where he saw a dark red fire surrounding him. He rose, slapping his skin where he saw the fire spots trying to extinguish it, till he realized it wasn't hot. More arrows flew above, hitting the tree above. It scared him, distracting him from the fire that covered spots on his body. A yell echoed around the forest along with the hands that rained around him. "It's been almost six hours of running and hiding, so hurry up?"
He came from under the tree and began running. Each step started feeling so slow, having adrenaline flow through his veins. Weaving through the forest between the sticks and leaves, each step landing on the soft grass and dirt. The arrows continued to rain from the sky, although less accurate than previously. The precision of each bolt flying through the sky came closer with each draw and release of the bow. After ten minutes of sprinting, he finally makes it outside the forest. He was greeted by Michem, who appeared as if he was always standing next to his horse. "Congratulations, you made it out in six hours and thirty minutes. To be honest, that was a long practice. Enjoy this moment. After we get home, you will have no free time."
Walking through the forest on their horse, a priest and an entourage, composed of a priest, four semtain deacons, ten slaves, and a crusadin. The crusadin turned around, looking at William and Michem, then suddenly the priest Exclaimed. "Hello, my dear travelers, how are thou" "We are doing quite well. What about yourself," Michem said as he and William rode by the entourage. With enormous vigor, the priest yelled towards the high heavens, "Exaldera has made this day, and so this day is wonderful, and I shall take joy and love it. God bless." The entire entourage yelled again, and so did William and Michem, "God bless!!!"
Michem looked down at one of the donkeys a slave was walking next to.
"Hey, how long have y'all been walking."
"Sense sun up. We are on our way to the town of stagsbourn, where I will become a priest."
"Interesting, no wonder why your mule is thirsty. May I give it water?"
"I would graciously accept your kindness."
Michem got off his horse, taking their water and pouring it in his hand before giving it to their three mules.
"Thank you…"
"Oh, I'm Michem. He is William."
"Wonderful. We hope you both will attend our church."
The priest smiled as Michem hopped onto his horse before riding further down the road to Stagsbourn.
"What are your thoughts on them, Sir Walter?"
Walter ran to the priest's right side to speak.
"Michem, as he calls himself, looks like a soldier who has been in war, with scars on him. His travel companion he called William. I have a feeling that michem has been training him harshly. It looks as if William finally unlocked his Aura, the fire surrounding him, although small and spotty, glows with ferocity. I believe with some more training, he can glow with a bright fire as hot and strong as the sun itself."
"Thank you, Walter. You may go back to your post."
Walter walked back to the end of the entourage, keeping his guard up.
"William, I noticed something different with you during training earlier today. Did something happen?"
"Oh, you noticed. Yea, something did happen. After concentrating and slowing my breathing, flames began to cover my body. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold either. That reminds me, I saw the same thing on a B-rank adventurer in town. What is it?"
"That is called an aura. It surrounds your body and shows your strength. People with a Huge burning aura are stronger than someone with a small burning aura. It's quite hard to see an aura without training, unless someone flexes it or someone sees their ranking flame."
"What is a ranking flame?"
"When applying for a guild that requires strength and skill, they will give you a piece of paper. This will sit on your hand, and it's your job to set it aflame with your aura."
"Ok, I understand now." "Can you see my aura, William?"
"No, I can't see anything."
"I am hiding my aura, that is why. Over time if you stay close to me or anyone with a powerful aura, you will feel a slow radiant heat be exerted from their body. This heat can be felt especially if they are pushing themselves."
Michem rode the both of them through town into the forest that sat atop the mountains, On their horse.
"Time for the next training exercise. Are you ready?"
"After the last one, I'm ready for anything,"
William said as they hopped off their horse.
"Well, we will be working on your punching."
He walks over to a massive tree in a forest of others. Patting the trunk of the tree, *CRACK*, the wood bent in onto itself, toppling the tree. "What I just did is quite different from your training. Your training will involve you punching the tree, not tapping it." He says before vanishing, "Now begin"
William began hitting trees as hard as he could. *Crack* as splinters of wood fly off in all directions, covered in blood and skin. From midday to dusk, wood kept flying. After Bringing down a Tree, he would move on. After four straight days of punching trees through the day before collapsing in the night, he moves on to the next tree,
"Tree number thirty-six."
He close's his eyes and relaxes his neck and shoulders. Breathing in slowly through his nose before punching, he exhales and pivots his weight into the punch. As he punches, an aura of fire erupts from the fist. *POOF*
"I finally did it," he says with an excited grin.
Running down the mountain through the forest, he slams open the door to his home, yelling.
"Michem, Michem, come look"
"Why are you awake so early? What do you need?"
"Come look, I finally did it"
They tracked up the mountain to the woods, where he repeated his punch, breaking it in half.
"Good job, William. You performed it a hundred times faster than I ever could."
"So, what other training do you have for me?"
"Far more training than you think, but I want to gauge your Aura for now."
Taking out a paper from his pocket, he grabs William's hand before setting it on his hand.
"Perform your breathing William, and focus it onto the paper."
The paper erupted in a red fire that abruptly burned slowly, diagonally across the article.
"Good, your aura is pure and robust. It also shows that you can use abilities, so that is what you shall train on next."