Ming Shin was introduced to the team and he is officially now the youngest in the unit. The Spotter unit is located poorly at the far end of the scouting division headquarters. There's heavy forest and it's also located in the down side.
When it rains, the place is going to be all messy and damp. The unit nearest to the headquarters is Li Wei's strategic unit. The next nearest is Rei Shi's Martial unit. A bit farther away from these two is the Relay unit. Nobody except the Chief and vice-chief know the location of the silent unit.
Ming Shin was shown his room where he stayed. He had to share room with two others who were not particularly happy about a third person joining them.
" Oh, Bi Jun and Jin Hao, thank you for letting me stay with you " Ming Shin expressed his thanks. It's the first time in his life to have a room of his own outside his home.
'It sure feels different huh' he smirked while the other two gave the not so enthusiastic replies.
"Junior brother Hai, since you are new here, we shall cook today's dinner. But once you get used to here, you have to prepare the meals for us" Jin Hao wanted to bully the younger and assert his dominance.
Bi Jun though dissatisfied, did not want to get on such a serious note. He just ignored it concentrated on cooking some vegetables grown in the nearby forest.
Ming Shin gave a faint look and said "Fine, as long as we are taking turns".
'This brat, how dare he talk back' Jin Hao was frustrated but did not want to go too far on the first day.
The former suddenly felt something and left the room. Soon he crossed some distance and faintly found a figure within his range standing on a branch and looking up.
Ming Shin tried to be as natural as possible and walked slow as if catching a breath of fresh air. Suddenly he turned to his right as if spotting someone.
"Your senses are sharp" a female voice sounded.
"You jest, Supreme Chief Li. I just felt that someone was watching me" the latter replied humbly.
Li Kui was silent for a moment and said " You have chosen to be in the right group then ". She threw something which the latter caught.
"This jade contains a secret skill of 'Swift move'. It is essential you don't slack off when you are at the fore front. A simple misstep might cost us many lives" she remarked.
"Thank you !! I won't let you down" Ming Shin replied seriously. When he looked up again, there was no one standing there. He could here a faint voice in the wind " Destroy it once you memorize".
"Yes" he was grateful. This is the first ever skill he got and it would help his agility a lot if he practiced this well. He ventured even deep into the forest while sending no one.
There he read the steps for the secret skill and started practicing it. Initially due to lot of trees and being dark, he often tripped over the roots and fell down or thwacked into a tree.
He practiced for nearly three hours when his body could not take such huge fatigue. Especially since he was starting to learn this skill and wasted a lot of energy in useless moves or simple mistakes.
He crushed the low level jade into debris after he clearly remembered the proper steps for the skill. He went back to tis room to have dinner and get some rest. There was no food saved for him, and he could only have some fruits and water.
He saw that there were only two beds and his room mates were fast asleep snoring like pigs. He found a corner and sat while searching for Ni Dan which was given by his mother. This stuff can only be used when you are in Bone Forging layer.
Slowly opening the jade bottle, he found that there were ten pills in it. He took one pill and examined it closely. It seems to emit a faint fragrance and the size of a thumb. He opened his mouth and crushed it with his teeth while ruminating the taste.
'I thought this would be like a candy, but it seems to be bland. Guess it was only smelling nice' he thought and closed his eyes while concentrating on the energy. While he was dissolving the energy and channeling to his bones, his mind seems to be strangely calmed down.
He knew it was the shiny stone doing it's job to make him more focused. Soon, he thought of the earlier 'Swift step' and visualized in his mind while meditating.
He could capture the entire essence of this skill and he tried to create a virtual him perfecting this form. After a while, he felt there was something lacking in this step. Nevertheless, it being an amazing skill with which he can maneuver his body to either retreat or approach the quickly.
After sometime he realized that this move actually uses the wind around him to be a part of the move and help him in acceleration. But wind in essence actually produces noise. Though this step serves it purpose, but he felt that if the sound can be nullified or reduced by a lot, this skill can be even more effective.
Until it was just about be the morning of a new day, did he find out how to prevent any sound in this move. Urging himself to rectify and practice this move thousands of times in his mind, he was finally able to achieve the perfect skill.
Since this is on a completely different level from the earlier skill, I shall call it the 'Silent Swift' move. It is the perfect move for scouting without getting noticed. As he was getting excited, he slowly opened his eyes to find that the sun seemed to be rising and it was the start of a new day.
He quickly finished his morning duties and had a fruit. By the time, the whole unit seems to awake and buzzing of sound can be heard everywhere. Bi Jun and Jin Hao also woke up.
"Junior brother, where were you yesterday? We have waited a long time for you and dozed off. By the way, did you eat properly yesterday?" Bi Jun asked with concern.
"It is only the first day and you are already venturing so late on your own. You have finished the food that we have left for you, right?" Jin Hao looked at Ming Shin meaningfully.
'What a hypocritical man? He seems to be only 16 years old but has such vile mind' the latter figured out that Jin Hao seems to have eaten his share too when Bi Jun slept.
He nodded politely to Bi Jun " Sorry for making you wait. Next time, please don't wait for me. And, thank you for the food" and completely ignored Jin Hao.
'Grass !! You dare ignore me and not give me face' the latter scrunched his face looking at Ming Shin. the latter just left the room and soon reached the center where some of the people are already discussing various things.
" Hey pretty boy, you are up early " Hei Lan commented while walking leisurely with a yawn.
"Good morning vice commander" all of them greeted her. Some of them couldn't take their eyes away when she yawned and her peaks seem to stretch a bit too much and the valley looked any place to just dive in.
"Good morning Vice Commander" Ming Shin also greeted her while noticing that unlike others, her leisure walk seems to be a tad bit faster if you observe closely.
"Alright everyone, start your morning training" she ordered the others while asking Ming Shin to follow her. Moving to the corner of the field, she gave him a simple jade which recorded a breathing technique.
"This breathing technique is a basic skill of the scouting team. This is mainly used to calm the nerves. As we are always the first to spot anything, no matter what we see, be it horrible or crisis of death, this technique will help you in remaining calm and make a rational decision" she solemnly advised him.
"This is helpful. Thank you" Ming Shin thanked her while thinking that he already has a shiny stone which is much more useful. After reading the jade, he sat there for a while and she guided the steps for this technique.
It took nearly two hours to control his breathing to a minimal level. "Wow, you are very good. You only took a mere two hours to learn the skill" Hei Lan sincerely praised.
The latter humbly smiled while looking at the field. The others seemed to be training in some combat, others in breathing exercises, while others are studying the terrain from various maps and identifying the characteristics.
There is even some people who are training their eyes to see fast moving objects and trying to estimate the number of insects flying or ants crawling. Ming Shin was amazed that the spotter unit seemed to be simple but there were so many paths to actually improve yourself.