"Should I tell him," Fen thought with a sigh. A few hours before Alex had woken up, he had made a potion, which he had injected into him. Also he had further carried out research and finally found out the main problem.
:No, it's best if I keep this to myself for now. To think he would also be infected by that. This has given me an opportunity to run some investigation concerning it."
"The thing is... is it safe to continue with the previous plan? I'm sure it also contributed in activating the dormant genes."
"Senior! Senior Fen!"
"Huh? Ohhh! My bad, just take some rest, we will talk later." Standing up, he patted his head before leaving the room.
"What about my training?" Alex voice echoed across the room.
"Your training? I'm not sure you want to be thinking about that now. It's best you rest... it might be the last sleep you get," Fen said with a large grin, his voice fading away.
"It might be the last sleep I get.... This guy," Alex thought lying back on the bed. "The way he said it... it seems he has prepared hellish training for me."
~~~~
The next morning came with Alex walking out to the open field. Stretching his body, he let out a nice long sigh before starting the days activity. "First, need to run round the field."
"This feeling... I feel a lot lighter than before and more energetic." It wasn't long before he completed all his warm ups. After that he settled down closing his eyes and began to feel the energy within. This time around he could feel the large energy in his formed dantian.
Slowly he controlled it spreading it across his body, from the pit of his stomach to his hands down to his finger tips and then all the way to his toes. Suddenly he felt a slight pain in his chest, he continued with the process ignoring it, but suddenly felt another energy, a chaotic one which he was unable to control.
Moving like a raging wave, it slammed his insides causing a lot of pain. Senior Fen who had been quietly observing from the sides quickly headed towards him. "It's truly it, but his is much worse than the previous cases I've encountered."
"The energy if we don't find a way control it... it might hurt him," he thought as he placed his hands on his head casting a healing spell.
"It's best to rest for now, I'll be back just now." Walking into the hut he muttered to himself, "It it seems I have something which would be able to do the job. The potion was only a temporary solution after all."
Alex tried calming his aching body, but he felt the pain increasing by the moment. "What the hell is wrong again?!" Managing to move his head he saw Senior Fen walking out of the hut holding a pair of bracelets.
"My vision... it has improved," he thought amidst the pain.
"Alright... This here is a magical artifact, one which I was lucky to acquire during one of those daring quest." Fen said standing before him.
Squatting down, he sent his mana into it and it began to glow softly. The bracelet made from high quality metal, turned semi-liquid and floated towards Alex.
"What's that?" He couldn't help but ask as it slowly crawled across his hands.
"I call it the brazen bracelet... From my various experiments, I discovered it's made from the parts of an ancient creature along with a special metal which isn't within the walls.
The semi liquid bracelets swirled around both arms and slowly began to harden forming a swirling pattern on both hands, it crawled towards his shoulders and down to his chest forming a sort of armour.
Alex could feel the raging energy finally subduing, his tensed muscles beginning to relax. Also he could feel his body getting weaker, "What's wrong, senior Fen?" He asked as he was barely able to lift his hand.
"That's another effect, they are lot of things, things I don't even know about the bracelet... I believe it's a special artifact."
Alex silently took in all what he said and finally after much struggle managed to get off the ground.
"Remember what I told you, hope you had enough rest cause your training starts now!" Fen said with a wide smile.
"Why does it feels like I'm..."
Thump*
Ouch!
A stone, not bigger than a child's fist struck his head. Turning over, he saw several stone, similar to the one that struck him levitating above Fen.
"I did say your training start now, right?"
"_"
****
"Jump higher! And your steps are slow. Keep up with the flow!"
Alex stood in the middle of the field with the upper body exposed to the sun, covered in sweat. Fen stood over a tree, with little pile of rocks floating beside him.
"Remind... me... why... we are... doing... this again," Alex said, gasping for breath. A week had passed since his training began with each day the task getting higher. His muscles were all sore with his legs about to give out.
He still continued with his usual warm up activity which had become a burdensome task for him. The bracelet had significantly drained his strength which had further made things harder.
A daily training which involved running around the large field - thrice bigger than the one he used for his basic training in the orphanage. Not just running but also carrying large rocks on his back while running around the field.
After that, they would work on his reflex and agility. He still continued with mastering his techniques and currently was in the fourth page of the Iron body technique.
One that required an arduous task in order to evolve his body to the next level and finally get to the fifth page, the last in the technique.
"Master, please let's take a break," he pleaded, falling on the ground.
"A break? Alright, just five minutes, then we would continue."
With a sigh, Alex sat under a tree, "Joining the combat class would have been the only way to avoid this," he thought, resting his head on the tree.
Senior Fen had decided he should quit the academy since his path was a different one. Apart from master Alfred no one knew he had formed his dantian and Fen had warned him not to tell anyone.
He wasn't really part of the academy after all, and had only joined the combat class for the mean time. Alas! He had made things harder for himself after forming his dantian.
"Alright, let's begin!"
"Darn! I can barely move my hands. This is not good."
~~~~
A month flew by since he began his training, during those time, he had continued with the process. Getting injected with mana fluid till it was finally time for the main process.
"If you remember what I told you, the last step involves injecting you with a mana fluid into the heart. Now with your dantian formed the case has become highly dangerous, you might not be coming out alive."
"Tomorrow, we carry out the process, prepare yourself." With that Fen walked out of the room. Alex fell on his bed with a deep sigh.
"So, tomorrow, everything is about to change." He thought. "Don't forget the purpose of all these. Become stronger... strong enough to protect Zoe and avenge their deaths!"
Clenching his fists tightly, he finally closed his eyes and slept off.