When I made it to the top of the mountain I noticed that it was dark outside. I was able to see the sky enough true appreciate the stars.
Right in front of me, I saw a massive double door that separated me from the true Temple where I was going to be taking instruction to master my KI and ice magic
"This store is going to require an even greater focused amount of your KI if you are going to open it. Once you make it past the store training can truly begin". The monk said to me as he stood at my left side waiting to see what I would do or say.
All right, then I took a deep breath and allowed the key to build up from inside of my chest before releasing it with the strength of both of my palms, this time all centered towards the right door.
The door, this time, opened almost entirely instead of just slightly.
"Well, it seems that we have a very quick study with us". The monk said as I opened the door.
I quickly made my way inside before it shut behind me and noticed that I had finally arrived at the temple.
The area I was now in was vastly open and I could see a pair of grinders where I saw two separate monks that were grinding a blue pedal into a paste. I also noticed that they were practicing their breathing while they were doing this.
This Temple was made almost entirely out of brick, and it was three stories in height. The thought of what possibly awaited me inside this Temple got me all fired up with excitement as well as worry.
"Good evening to you Grandmasters". Both of the monks that were working the grinders said to the man who was beside me, but he was now in front of me.
Wait did I hear them right? Did they refer to the monk who was walking with me as Grandmaster!?
"Yes, and before you ask me you are not dreaming what they just said. I am the grandmaster of this temple".
As soon as The grandmaster spoke, he opened the doors to the temple, and I saw a group of monks sparring with each other on an open floor.
These monks each wore a variety of different clothing colors as if each color meant a specific thing. While most of them wore white clothes; some of them wore red, blue, or green-colored robes.
As soon as the grandmaster entered the room, all of the students stopped fighting, and they each bowed to him.
"Students!! we have a new arrival with us today.
I do expect each of you to treat him the same as you would any other new arrival. Remember that only through unity and well-spirited competition can we grow stronger. That is all".
As soon as The grandmaster was done speaking he opened the sliding double doors and left the room.
"All of you can watch from the side as our new arrival has a sparing match with me". A monk who did not shave his head, but instead had a buzz cut of blonde hair. His robes were red with a set of white lines throughout it that seemed to shine.
"The master of fire, KI, is going to give us a demonstration of his skill. This is truly going to be a treat to see". One of the students said as he nailed down on the side of the room.
"Yes, I can not wait to see this match". One of the other students said in response.
"Now all that you have to do to pass this exam is land a clean blow on me. During this fight, you can only use magic without a wand, or you can use your bare hands to fight me.
"Yes, master".
Then we both bowed at each other before we got into our combat stances.
My body instinctively moved my arms continuously in a circular motion in front of me. My arms continued to switch between being at the top of the circle to the bottom as I walked around the mat keeping my eyes on my target.
The master seemed to dash around so fast that it was very difficult for me to keep up with these movements. The only reason I was able to locate him was due to the enhanced senses I had inherited from my father helped me locate him, and where was that he intended to strike my body.
I maintained a steady breathing stream as I blocked his attacks, and I noticed that my entire body became enveloped in the ki like a barrier of some kind.
"It seems that you have a more adept feel for the ways that you can apply your KI than most of our newer students.
That being said, if all you do is play defense, you will not win this fight". He said as he seemed to increase his speed even more than before.
This time, when I activated my barrier, he cracked through it and pushed me back with one strong attack with his left fist.
"As I told you, while your defensive skills are impressive, defense alone will not help you win this battle".
"If you want me to be aggressive, then I will be. Trust me, compared to the training that I went through with my father before I left home to come to this monastery, you are not going to be as hard to deal with". I said as I stepped to the right and dodged his next flurry of punches.
"Frost breath". I said before I took a massive breath.
"There is no way that he has an ice spell that powerful as the novice monk he is".
I chose to ignore him and exhaled the massive breath that I had taken in, but this time it was enhanced with my KI.
When I let my breath out it became a steady stream of ice that seemed to cause the entire room to become chilled.
I noticed that everyone except for a handful of the Masters were having trouble moving after I did that; so I lunged at my target and found an opening in the barrier of fire KI.
When I made contact with the instructor's right cheek, everything in the room went back to normal, including the chilling environment that I had created with my frost breath.
"You have my approval for training here. I, Darius, the master of martial arts and fire KI, officially accept you as a monk of this temple".
I then bowed at him out of respect for the fact that he had allowed me to begin my training at this temple.
"Hello I am Jordan, and I am the master of ice KI. I have to say that I found your application of frost breath using both magic and KI to be a very amazing thing to be able to accomplish at your skill level.
I know that training you in the ways of ice KI is going to be a joy". He said as he bound to me.
I returned to Jordan's battle and then made my way to the area where I saw the grandmaster.
"That was an excellent showing, but your true training as a monk of this Temple is about to begin.
Now we are done with the training for the day. I want each of you to get a good night's rest. Tomorrow is going to be a day when we do our next set of personal lessons". The grandmaster said to everyone.
As soon as he finished speaking, all of the students got up and started to split into different groups depending on the color of their robes.
"Come on; you are going to be staying in the ice KI wing of the temple". Jason said with an equal amount of seriousness and joy in his voice.
I followed master Jason to the top floor of the temple, and as soon as we entered the wing reserved for those with ice KI I noticed that the temperature started to drop instead of the deeper I got into our wing.
This insane temperature change must be part of the training regiment for this temple. My body was able to withstand the intense cold thanks to the fact that I was only partly human.
" This is your room. I recommend that you get as much sleep as possible tonight. My special training begins in the morning; also do not expect me to give you any special treatment or make an exception for you just because you are new to this temple".
"Thank you for allowing me to train under you, master," I said as I bowed to him.
"Also, now that I think about it, I know why you were able to do frost breath through the use of your KI. That would be because you are a dragonborn; am I right?" He asked me.
"Yes, I am a dragonborn. I told him the truth since I thought that lying was only done by cowards.
"It is good to have met my very first dragonborn. Training you will be an exciting time.
I will leave you to rest tonight. You have earned it".
Master Jordan closed the sliding door to my room and walked away.
When I was alone I made it to my bed and passed out immediately since both my magic and KI felt exhausted due to the amount of effort I had to put myself through today to make it to the temple.