Tian-Han puts some wooden plates at a lot of random places, either on the ground, against something or high up. They are all put on various angles.
"Alright. This exercise was your father's favorite. Some plates are put at random places in a restricted area. The goal is to go as fast as possible from a plate to another and finish the course without breaking a single plate."
Kazuki is getting ready. He takes a breath and slowly gathers some energy. But this time, the flow of spiritual energy is slow. Kazuki doesn't understand.
" It's.. Weak.. There is almost nothing!"
Tian-Han seems to think for some minutes. Then, with a reassuring voice, he comes with a solution.
"It's fine. You had to stretch and understand how Língjī works before doing this. During this time, try to concentrate to accumulate more energy. Once the training is done, you should have enough for this exercise."
As he says so, he grabs Kazuki by the arm and leads him to the middle of the training ground, away from any obstacle of the course.
"This exercise requires you to jump. But you might have experienced the difference when using Art. You have to learn how to use it. So you'll just jump there. Again. And again. I'll show you the right move."
Tian-Han crouches and jumps in the air. Kazuki does the same, imitating him as best as possible. Once they fall back on the ground, they crouch again. They keep jumping like this for a while. Slowly but Surely, Kazuki starts jumping higher as he accumulates energy. He surely reaches a point where the height of his jumps are increasing by one and a half as he is accumulating spiritual energy. Tian-Han also increases the concentration of energy around him to match with Kazuki's jumps.
"Good. You see, you are accumulating energy. Let's keep going until you manage to get the move and the habits of jumping with the Língjī."
Kazuki node. They keep jumping until the sun is high in the sky, chasing every shadow from the training ground with its light. Kazuki and Tian-Han take a break to get lunch, which consists of grilled meat, vegetables and some bread. While Tian-Han, Kazuki sits on the temple threshold. A tiny headache is disturbing him, but he tries to ignore it. He stays outside, thinking that the fresh air might helps gets better even though he has an idea of the pain's origin. He used Art. Everytime he used Art, there was a point where he was having a crisis.
Kazuki starts to think that without his "Art scar", his training would have been easier. He just got the proof of his spirit's extreme points. The first one when he ran, which was like a powerful raging flow. And the other one when he jumped, which was like
something was blocking the flow of the water and reducing the stream of energy. Or even worse, like an almost dry river.
Then, Tian-Han puts the plates on the table. It cuts the thought of the young boy, whose stomach was screaming for food. He runs to join his master with a smile on his face. They sit and eat the lunch voraciously. Once the plates are empty, they look at each other with a smile of satisfaction. Tian-Han gets up and stretches.
"Alright. There is no time to wait. I'll need you to be able to transfer your energy quickly from one point to another, so you'll be able to start training to jump on a vertical surface."
Kazuki follows the old man, however even if it's his father's favorite exercise he doesn't know the point of it. His curiosity is stronger than himself.
"Why do we do this exercise?"
The Art Master looks above his shoulder, turning his gaze on the kid. For him, the answer is obvious. But as he thinks about why he asked this question, he remembers that the student is still a beginner. He might have partially forgotten how to train a novice with time. He turns back his eyes in front of him. They keep walking while Tian-Han gives Kazuki answers.
"- It is an exercise made to train your mobility without engaging too much energy. By trying to move on the plate without breaking into, you reduce the excess of energy used to land and go back at the same speed. There is always a gap between those two moments, where energy isn't necessary. It prevents the excess of spiritual energy from spreading through the surface and causing further damages. And to propel yourself in another direction, you have to induce the spiritual energy in your legs instead of in the ground.
-But I thought our strength came from the ground.
-Your physical strength. Not your spiritual energy. This energy comes from you. By inducing it only in your legs, it prevents the energy from leaking into the surface and also causes damage. The two of those settings can affect most of the surfaces together. Of course you'll have to use the proper amount of spiritual energy to proper at the speed you need and not higher.
-Why?
- It's very practical in populated areas. This way, you'll decrease the destruction of other's property. Of course, there are cases where you won't be able to use this in order to reach the correct speed. It's mostly to travel. In a fight, you can neglect it. However, they are not the only interesting things for you. There is another use. You have a lack of control on your spiritual energy due to the mark. An exercise made to control it in a precise way could help you increase your control over it. And if this scar goes away, your mastery should be 10 times better.
-It can heal?!
-There are treatments to decrease the influence of the scar on your spiritual energy. It is not specified that it will totally erase it. If there is anything which can make it fully healed, I'm not aware of it nor my books are."
And they reach the training ground.
"Alright. Let's get to work."