After Ryuji loses consciousness, one of the five men approaches him and checks his eyes. But as soon as he does, he's struck with a powerful force and is sent flying, colliding directly with the room's wall.
Seeing this, the remaining men are shocked and turn their gaze toward Ryuji. Suddenly, Ryuji's aura intensifies immensely, making the five men feel a pressure bearing down on them. Then they witness a shadowy figure of a person holding a sword emerging from within Ryuji, but the shadow vanishes just as quickly, and Ryuji's aura returns to normal.
The five men are left stunned. It was clear from their expressions that they had never seen anything like this before. But now that everything seemed normal again, one of them gathered the courage to check Ryuji's eyes, which looked completely normal again.
---
Hours later,
Ryuji's eyes open on a bed, and as he rises, he realizes he's inside a lab. There were four people dressed in white around him.
One of them glances at Ryuji and says, "He's awake."
A female voice follows, "Heart rate is normal, and blood pressure is stable. He doesn't seem to have any issues."
Observing all this, Ryuji asks, "What's going on here?"
Just then, a woman approaches Ryuji, removes her mask, and he realizes it's Akari.
Akari says, "Well done, Ryuji. You did it. The ritual was a success."
Ryuji responds, "Really?"
Akari nods, "Yes. Do you feel any changes within yourself?"
Ryuji murmurs softly, "Any changes…?"
Suddenly, Ryuji realizes that his senses—hearing, sight, and smell—have all heightened significantly. He felt an incredible surge of energy within his body.
Standing up, Ryuji goes to a nearby mirror and takes off his T-shirt. In the reflection, he sees that all his muscles have bulked up, his six-pack abs are fully defined, his arms and shoulders have broadened, and his chest has become rock-solid. At that moment, Ryuji looked like a bodybuilder.
Seeing this, Ryuji remarks, "It would have taken me years to build a body like this."
Akari approaches and explains, "Your spiritual energy will always keep your body at its peak limits, meaning right now, you are physically at your peak."
Ryuji replies, "Wow, so I cleared the first step."
Akari confirms, "Yes, but now, you must learn to control your spiritual energy."
Ryuji asks, "How do I do that?"
Akari replies, "Not just yet. You've only just awakened your spiritual energy. You need to rest for now. We'll start your training tomorrow. Mai, take him to his room."
The other woman in the lab, named Mai, leads Ryuji out.
After they leave, two young men approach Akari, and one of them asks, "Should we tell him?"
Akari shakes her head, "No, it won't do him any good. It'll only add to his troubles."
The other man questions, "Do you believe what those five men said about him?"
Akari responds, "Whether it's true or not doesn't matter. Right now, that's the only answer we have."
---
Meanwhile, Mai brings Ryuji to his room and says, "This will be your room from today. Your belongings have already been brought inside."
Ryuji thanks her and enters his room. It resembled a hotel room, and inside was his bag. Ryuji takes out some photos from his bag—pictures of his family and friends. He gazes at them for a while before putting them up in the room. Then, he lies down on the bed and quickly falls asleep.
---
A few hours later,
Ryuji is woken up by a knock. He checks the time and finds it's 4 a.m. Curious about who could be there at this hour, he opens the door to find a young man standing outside.
The boy tells him, "Get ready quickly and meet at the training ground. That's where we'll be training."
With that, he immediately leaves, leaving Ryuji calling after him to find out where the training ground is.
---
Shortly afterward,
Ryuji finds himself standing in a field with seven other young men, thinking, "Well, at least I made it on time, but they atleast could've told me where to go."
Just then, a man steps in front of them. As soon as they see him, the young men stand at attention. Observing them, Ryuji follows suit.
The man introduces himself, "Some of you may already know what happens here, but for the newcomers, my name is Ray ishima, and I'm a senior at this Sleeks hunters base."
Ryuji wanted to ask what a "senior" was, but seeing the others silent, he remained quiet.
Ray continues, "I'm here to train you in controlling your spiritual energy, and this training has three stages. The first is to gather your spiritual energy into a single part of your body to break a stone."
As he speaks, Vivek disappears for a second, reappearing with a large stone, about 1 meter tall and 1.5 meters wide.
Vivek continues, "Like this."
He lightly taps the stone with one finger, shattering it completely. Some of the young men are amazed, but others remain calm as if they were used to such sights.
Ray remarks, "Well, I'm a senior, so it's a simple feat for me, but you won't need to go that far."
He then pulls out a rod, about 15 centimeters long, and says, "The second stage is to transfer your spiritual energy into another object."
He grips the rod, which transforms into a shining blue sword.
Ray continues, "Finally, by spreading spiritual energy throughout your body, you'll be able to perform the technique called… Sohengai!"
At the sound of his command, Vivek's speed increases dramatically, and he moves like lightning between the young men, returning to his original position in an instant.
He adds, "Once you master these three techniques, you'll have learned to control your spiritual energy."
---
After some time,
A 1.5-foot stone is brought before each of them. They are to gather spiritual energy into their hands to break it.
All the young men get to work. Three of them, including Ryuji, struggle to gather energy into their hands, as they had just started training. The remaining four can gather energy but only manage to create small cracks in the stone. One boy, however, is able to break a stone in just two or three strikes.
By the end of the day, the four boys had broken about seven to eight stones, while the one boy had broken 25. Ryuji and the other two boys hadn't managed to gather any energy in their hands yet.
As evening falls, Ray stops the training and sends everyone back to their rooms.
---
The next day, Ryuji tries again but still can't gather spiritual energy into his hand. On the third day, a slight improvement comes as the other two boys, similar to Ryuji, finally learn to gather spiritual energy into their hands.
The training continues for a week, and where the other boys can now break the stone with a single strike, Ryuji has just started gathering energy in his hand.
Since training couldn't be delayed just for him, Ray moves the group to the next stage, where they have to channel their spiritual energy into the rods they were given. Three weeks pass, and the other boys progress to the next level, but Ryuji is still struggling with the first.
Observing this, Ray thinks, "It's hard to believe. His aura is stronger than all seven of theirs combined, yet he's progressing so slowly. He has almost no control over his spiritual energy."
---
A month passes, and now all the boys except Ryuji have learned to control their spiritual energy.
By this time, Ray's training schedule was complete, and since he had missions as an Sleeks hunter, he couldn't leave his duties behind for one trainee.
This realization hits Ryuji hard, knowing his trainer has stopped his lessons. Determined, Ryuji resolves to continue his training on his own.
This news soon spreads across the base. One day, while Akari is working in her lab, two women are gossiping nearby.
The first says, "Did you hear? The new guy still hasn't learned to control his spiritual energy, and now even Senior Ray has stopped training him."
The second responds, "But hasn't he been training for over two months now?"
The first says, "Yes, but he's learned nothing. I heard the Masters are considering sending him to Damage Control."
Hearing this, Akari immediately goes to Ryuji's training ground. She finds him trying to transform his spiritual energy into his rod, but it's not turning into a sword.
Watching this, Akari is astonished and thinks, "He still hasn't learned to control his spiritual energy. With his aura's level, he should be able to do this effortlessly. Could his hidden power be holding him back?"
---
That evening,
Masaki returns from his mission and finds Akari waiting in his room.
Masaki asks, "What are you doing in my room?"
Akari responds, "I need to discuss something important with you."
Masaki inquires, "What important matter?"
Akari replies, "Follow me."
With that, Akari vanishes, and Masaki follows, bringing them to the training ground.
Seeing Ryuji still trying to turn the rod into sword, Masaki says, "He still hasn't learned to control his spiritual energy."
Akari says, "Yes, and that's the issue. For some reason, he is unable to control his spiritual energy, and if this continues, the Masters will send him to the damage control team. If anyone there finds out about his hidden power, it will create a huge problem."
Masaki asks Akari, "What's the issue with him?"
Akari replies, "I don't know; maybe his hidden power is what's preventing him."
Masaki looks at Ryuji intently for a moment, "No, that's not the problem. Don't worry. I will handle this."