On his way to the mountainous region training field, Jaylen remembered a tiny detail Lilith had told him back during his first week.
The academy was on a small planet far from Yonus, not only that but the academy was the only thing on this planet.
This small detail made Jaylen realize that this training field was likely a mountain range nearby and was the most suitable for training students.
This was confirmed upon his arrival at the small station outside the mountain range, thanks to a teleportation array in the training hall.
Teleportation arrays worked like warp gates but had a few distinct differences. First, teleportation arrays couldn't cover large distances like the warp gate.
Another difference was that it had to be charged with mana crystals, unlike the warp gate, which drew mana from the air.
The trek up the mountain felt long, but Jaylen didn't mind. To him, it was a delightful experience that reminded him of his home on the mountain.
The quiet rustle of trees and foliage dancing in the wind. The soft yet comforting crunch of dirt and gravel under his shoes. The only thing missing was the skittering of small animals and birds.
He had heard they had been relocated so the students wouldn't disturb them by coming and going through their homes.
This familiar yet distant environment had a noticeable effect on him. His shoulders, once unknowingly tense, slowly relaxed. His breathing, which had been controlled, now flowed naturally like a gentle breeze.
His furrowed brows softened above his eyes, and his feet glided effortlessly across the ground. as he ascended higher up the mountain.
Before he knew it, he had already arrived at the grove hidden behind the peak of the mountain.
The grove was a simple crater filled with grass, featuring a small pond at its center and a stream flowing from it.
'It's simple, but it'll do the trick' Jaylen thought as he walked through the ravine between the walls of the grove, careful not to step in the stream flowing through.
Wasting no more time, Jaylen retrieved the practice katana, which he collected at the training hall, and began to swing it, focusing intently on the feeling of the blade slicing through the air.
Instead of focusing on the basics, Jaylen believed he should instead just swing his weapon and understand why.
For what reason did he pick up his blade, why does he fight? He probably didn't have all the answers or properly understand why he fought. But if he was going to he needed to put his doubt behind him or that voice in his head would mock him.
With each thrust and swing, he continued to ask himself these questions: Did he do it for revenge, and if so, what would he do afterward? Would he just stop?
Revenge was indeed one of his driving forces; he swore once, and he would do it again He'll find every last one of the bastards involved with Silvaria's death and give them a taste of hell to last their whole life.
But even then, he felt there was more to it than just revenge, but what exactly?
As he continued to delve deeper into his thoughts, he entered a trance-like state; his body moved on instinct, lacking any of the wasted movements shown earlier.
The sensation of the wooden texture of his blade faded from his hand as he moved with it like an extension of himself.
During this state of enlightenment, Jaylen felt it, just beyond reach, something that would push his strength to the next level.
If he stretched, maybe he could reach it. No, that was wrong he didn't want to reach it, he wanted to cut it, to slice it into thousands of pieces.
But the feeling was fleeting, and just as quick as it appeared, it disappeared along with Jaylen's enlightened state.
Even though it seemed Jaylen received nothing from this enlightenment, a small but bright smile spread across his face. Tightly clenching his fist, Jaylen could feel the lingering sensation of how his muscles moved and how he was breathing.
He now had a path he could confidently walk down and an understanding of what to improve to excel as a swordsman.
As he prepared to begin his training once again, Jaylen quickly turned and slashed just in time to cut the projectile flying at him.
Looking in the direction the projectile came from, Jaylen shouted out, "Come out, Now!"
There was a moment of silence before two figures made their presence known as they walked out of the treeline.
"Hey Leonah, it seems him being the first transcendent isn't for nothing" the more masculine figure spoke first.
"Obviously, idiot," The Feminine figure replied while hitting the other on the back of his head.
Jaylen eyes narrowed at the two as they walked towards him.
Hair as white as snow, eyes reminiscent of the blue sky with a twinkle of mischief. A male and female duo who look almost identical.
It was easy to recognize them; he had already seen their picture during orientation, he'd be an idiot if he couldn't recognize his fellow transcendents after a week of school.
They were the twins Leo and Leonah and the only people in the school to use mana guns.
Mana Guns were firearms capable of firing mana in the shape of bullets with higher accuracy than just using the spell mana bullet. They also came with the bonus of changing the elemental affinity of the bullets placed in the chamber.
Fire bullets, water bullets, and even time bullets could be created and fired using the bullet canister and mana of that type from any source.
"What do you two want," Jaylen asked his voice clipped.
"We should be the ones asking you that," Leonah remarked.
"Yeah," Leo added.
"Huh," Jaylen said, bewildered, with his brow raised high.
"This is our spot we found it first," both replied in sync, their expression firm.
"I don't see your name on it, plus, this is a training region, so it belongs to no one but the school." Jaylen pointed out in response.
Leo clicked his tongue while shaking his head before responding, "It's about the principle, if you find a cool-looking ice sickle hanging from someone's home, you're still going to take it even if it's on someone else property"
Leonah couldn't help but slap her forehead in disbelief at her brother's sheer idiocy. With a sigh, she quickly followed up with an apology, "Sorry for his stupidity, what he meant was, we knew you were going to say that, so we challenge you to a competition"
"Alright simple enough, let's get this over with" Jaylen lifted his katana, prepared to finish this instantly.
"Wait, wait, wait," Leonah hurriedly yelled, holding her hands up in mock surrender to stop Jaylen before continuing.
"We don't want to fight. We meant more of a friendly competition, you know something simple like tossing stones"
She clarified with a playful glint in her eye, she illustrated her point by theatrically tossing an imaginary stone into the air, making her explanation all the more vivid.
"Ok, so what do you have in mind?" Jaylen gradually lowered his katana to his side. A question lingered on his lips.
"Swimming competition. The pond here is big enough for two people to swim in it and it should only take 2 minutes" Leonah explained after a short moment of thinking.
"Yep but I'll be the one you'll be swimming against, my sister's beautiful body won't be shown to you" Leo interjected, a smug expression dressing his face.
"Shut up dumbass!" With a playful jab to her brother's side, a rosy blush swept across Leonah's cheeks.
"Huh, Alright let's get this over with" Jaylen agreed swiftly removing the top of his uniform, revealing his chiseled chest covered in scars with the biggest sitting diagonally across his chest.
"Couldn't agree more" Leo said before also removing the top of his uniform, his body though muscular was more lean and smaller than Jaylen's.
Line up at the edge of the pond both of them stretched lightly as they waited for Leonah to count them down.
"Alright 3… 2… 1… Go!" As soon as the words left her mouth, both of them jumped into the water without hesitation. Jaylen's dive was graceful, making no splash at all. In contrast, Leo curled up into a ball, creating a huge splash upon hitting the water.
Jaylen swam through the water with otherworldly grace as if he and the water were one entity, he couldn't help but smirk. It seemed the twins didn't do their proper research before challenging him.
Jaylen was a Dragon and dragons had many sub-species that embody many of their distinct features one such sub-species was the Kings of the Sea leviathan with the greatest swimming ability.
So obviously for Jaylen swimming came as second nature to him being a true dragon. He was already almost at the finish.
On the other hand, Leo could be seen lagging behind, his swimming form was a mess and it was even bewildering he was still afloat. Nonetheless, he was still moving forward.
Jaylen had arrived at the shore and was waiting for Leo, who arrived shortly afterward, breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon instead of swimming a short distance.
"Hah, hah" Leo hunched over, desperately focusing on steadying his breath. He felt the cool water pool in his mouth, teasing his impatience as he swallowed it down.
Looking at Jaylen standing over him Leo in the break between breaths spoke, "You win, Boss"
"Huh, Boss?"
"Yep, This competition was to see if you were worthy of being our boss" Leonah replied hopping over with their clothes in hand.
Jaylen opened his mouth, ready to refute them, but before he could, Leo interrupted him, "If you disagree, we'll just follow you around anyway; you're stuck with us whether you like it or not."
Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Jaylen helplessly agreed, "Fine, but I need to train, so don't disturb me."
Both of them gave a short nod before Jaylen returned to his training but was continuously disturbed by the two constant questions.