Greg agreed to train Chase, under one condition, that Chase would only eat what he himself could procure. Chase, who had Alice look after him all these years, had no clue how to procure ingredients for food, apart from the market but according to Greg's rules, the market was off-limits, so all he could do now was learn to hunt in the nearby forest. Chase remembered the times when Alice warned him never to visit the forest, as the beasts that lived there were dangerous, not only that but Chase didn't know anything about hunting. With that being the only option left Chase left for the forest for his first hunt.
Scared shitless, he didn't know what to do, and he couldn't just walk around brazenly looking for prey, doing that would make him one. So he trailed around the bushes, hiding, waiting for any movement. Soon he spotted a wild boar, the idea of having pork for dinner made his stomach growl and his body act out on impulse, and without giving it much thought, Chase leaped at the boar and went in for a punch. The boar startled by the sudden attack used his tusks to battle off the predator, Chase with his guard completely down was flung to the other side crashing into a tree.
Looking at the state of Chase, the boar now didn't feel an ounce of fear from this wimp of a predator, something inside of him just snapped, making him run towards Chase's direction and then he began to maul him down, relentlessly beating him down with his tusks and his hardened hoofs, putting Chase in a state where he couldn't counter him at all.
"The world's strongest? Dying at the hands, no, hooves of a wild boar?" he asked himself as he readied himself for facing the heavens.
"What a pathetic kid, all I told you was the market was off limits, didn't tell you that I wasn't going to help. Rushing ahead in the forest like an idiot!" yelled Greg as the jumped down the branch, crushing the boar's head with immense force.
Chase felt his body warming up, all he remembered was getting mauled down by a boar, "Ah, is this the warm light of heaven filling me up?" he asked.
"You back to your senses kid? Even god would be embarrassed to accept death like this, so much for becoming the world's strongest. At first, I had my doubts about you being a courageous lad or just plain stupid, today confirmed that it's the latter." said Greg.
Chase got up and had a look around him, they were in Greg's backyard where he had set up a fire with pork roasting over it.
"You healed me up with your Shakti?" asked Chase. Greg's Shakti was a healing one, no one could guess that based on how he looked, Greg was a tall burly old man with grey hair and a beard.
"Can't we eat like normal people, where you properly season the pork instead of plain roasting it with just salt on it?"
"Not another word from your mouth! The one condition I asked of you and you couldn't fulfill that, I ought to throw your ass out of my house, but instead of being grateful for the food that I hunted, you want me to season it?!" he yelled.
Chase was indeed embarrassed about how the hunt went and realized that he had been imposing on Greg too much, truth be told the old man didn't have any good reason to go out of his way to train Chase, he was a fairly loaded man, with a big house on the outskirts of the city, near the forest.
Chase picked up the roasted pork and began to eat, "Starting tomorrow I will teach you how to hunt, without any weapons. Weapons aren't allowed in the ring, you will hunt by manifesting your own Shakti." said Greg.
Chase's eyes lit up upon hearing that, the young Chase had always wondered what Shakti he'd develop, in this world only 35% of the people were able to manifest it, the rest were just regular people, even many of the fighters didn't have it. Even with that ratio, Chase was fairly positive that he'd develop one, and a strong one at that.
The next morning, Chase proceeded with his regular workout adding in a few modifications by Greg, in the afternoon, he'd observe the routine of animals in the forest, where most of the prey and the deadly predators lived, their habits and reactions, Greg taught him about their weaknesses, he even demonstrated it by hunting boars and deer bare-handed, even as a healer, he was able to catch up with fast-paced animals, Chase at the time would only observe. After lunch, Greg taught him actual hand-to-hand combat, and in the evening they would hunt again, Chase learned that the nocturnal prey was completely different, it was mainly the black gobbler, a huge black turkey-like bird. According to Greg, its meat was perfect for gaining more muscle mass. Beasts unlike humans only used elemental Shaktis, them being, water, fire, earth, and air. There existed humans that used the elementals as well but they were rather rare these days. Other than the gobbler, other prey of the night was the Canine-rabbit and the Armored Wolverine, the wolverine could however also be considered a predator, it was considered the devil's pet, with armor harder than iron and claws that could easily tear apart flesh in a swing, not only that but their nature was quite aggressive, Greg said that they until you'd kill them they'd chase you to the ends of the earth, but the delicious meat was said to be worth the risk, even then Greg refused to hunt them.
Finally, the day arrived when Greg would finally help Chase manifest his Shakti, he cleared up an area in the forest, marked dots all around Chase's body, and began instructing Chase.
"First what you do is force open your pores, the dots that I have marked on your body, you need at least this level of control over your body, if even a muscular body like yours can't do it, this isn't for you, some genius babies have managed to do this."
"Shut up with the comparison and tell me what to do next!"
"Once you've opened up the pores, the Urja will automatically flow into your body, now all you have to do is redirect it towards your core, your core will then react to the Urja and we'll learn what your Shakti is. This step is something irreversible, if you succeed you will become one of the 35%, and you will have a mandatory order to serve in the royal army no matter how weak-"
Without letting him finish, Chase began the process, he felt the pores open up and a foreign matter entered his body, the feeling was unnerving yet calming at the same time, even without Greg's instructions, Chase could tell where the core was, and redirected the flowing Urja towards it. He could feel his core lit up slowly as the Urja started pouring in it, only when it was completely full Chase would regain his consciousness, only to find Greg in front of him with an expression he thought he'd never see on his face, he was shocked, to the point where he didn't realize that Chase had already opened his eyes.
"What's up with that face Greg, is it something that sick?" asked Chase but received no response, all the eagerness he had was eating him alive.
"What is it old man, you're kinda scaring me now, say something for god's sake!"
"It wasn't…" Greg mumbled.
"Huh? I can't hear you, speak up! Can't you see that not knowing is killing me inside?"
The next words that came out of Greg's mouth, would change Chase's life forever.
"Your Shakti… it didn't manifest."
The future that Chase had built in his dreams started to collapse, his thoughts started going wild, he couldn't fathom being like the rest, how would he be able to become the strongest? How would he help millions of people like him? Would Alice's only wish go unfulfilled? He didn't want to accept the fact, his body went berserk, and his confused state of mind couldn't sense the physical surroundings he was affecting.
"Boy… calm down… BOY!"
He finally calmed down after Greg embraced him, opening his eyes, he found himself in a crater with Greg holding him tightly, the trees around him completely destroyed, his own body unable to move, and Greg was gravely injured.
"You couldn't… manifest it. You don't have a Shakti, BUT… I don't know how to explain this, your body... can manipulate pure Urja itself without turning it into a Shakti. Though it seems your bones can't handle the immense volume of pure Urja, your body is already in tatters boy, look at all the mess you've made, never have I ever heard of something like this, to think I'd witness a miracle at this old age of mine."