During the night, Jin awoke feeling refreshed, he got up slowly and grabbed his tango then walked outside before closing the door behind him slowly not to wake Stella. Once he was outside, he looked above at the forest around and sighed.
"This… this is perfect." Is all he said before going to a certain spot where the trees above formed a perfect circle, pouring the moonlight inside lighting up one place of the forest's floor. Jin sat down and placed his weapon in front of him before starting to meditate.
While meditating, he heard that quiet barely above a whisper voice he heard from a while ago when establishing the contact. "You… Have been slacking off on training, continue and do not disappoint." The voice stopped for a second, but quickly began to speak again. "For such a lowly being, I'll help you this once."
Jin confused thought to himself, "What does that mean?" Suddenly, the surrounding wind began to blow, trees blending within the sound of the wind, lightning strikes down all around the forest. Jin had to unconsciously begin to release his aura, but it was different from the previous times. His aura was calm, yet it had a destructive nature to it. While it slowly turned into a gray color which had spread into the ground beneath him. His aura had small ripples around him before flowing straight up, engulfing Jin, and the sky above was filled with this destructive force. Thunder roared through the wind, lightning strikes could be seen hitting the trees from the small Clan he had left. The wind suddenly picked up a faster paste and continued to blow to the north. During this moment within Jin's mind.
Jin opens his eyes to find himself in an open field devoid of all life. The grass was dead, trees were barely standing, and yet there stood a figure looking towards Jin. "Flowers of ice break, flames of the azure sky burn until the flame vanishes, trees fall watching the world pass by, and lastly… The world turns from a world of brightness to a world filled of hatred, a world devoid of life." The figure looks at Jin and sighed deeply before pulling out his weapon. "If you wish to pass, you must possess the qualities of a warrior."
The figure stopped speaking and only looked at Jin with hatred in his eyes. Having a stance of "Nova Eruption", an ancient stance known for this absolute defense of a volcano and an absolute 100% lethal offense when wielded correctly. This stance will only work with one weapon from the hundreds of weapons, and that was a Bo staff. It may seem harmless but if used properly with the correct training, techniques, and a person who has trained for it… it could be a weapon of mass destruction.
Jin jumped back quickly as he felt the energy being released by this entity. "T-this isn't a human, is it?" Jin thought to himself before taking his tanto out and immediately starts with using his ki to empower himself and his blade. "Shit, I can't win against whatever the fuck this is. I know that information from just looking at him. But what the hell is that stance." Jin looks at the figure standing completely opened with his staff in one hand holding it in the middle on one side, but the energy that was being radiated off this entity was one of complete despair, disregard, and disrespect for all who comes into contact. Jin knew from just looking at this guy that he had absolutely 0% of a victory, regardless of what he did.
Jin, not taking any chances, enforced his entire body with ki and activated his pentagon for complete defense forgetting about going offense.
Suddenly, the figure moved and within a single blink struck Jin in his gut, sending him flying into a fallen tree. Jin eyes widen and coughs blood up, feeling his internal organs were slowly failing with a single hit. "W-What the fuck." Is all he could say about this creature he was facing. Jin forced himself up and dashed at the figure, changing his pentagon position into offense.
Jin manages to get a surprisingly easy hit in his left side with the edge of his tanto. The figure backed off slightly, looking down at its own blood which was a black color. "What the hell am I fighting." Jin asked himself before the figure charged at Jin again, this time going more slow. Jin used his tanto to try to absorb the damage of this guy's staff, but still flew backwards but managed to barely catch himself before hitting the same tree again. He began to charge at the figure again, and it stood there, but this time changing its position with the staff. The figure had his staff placed on his hip as if he were about to use a sword technique. Jin eyes widen and backed off immediately, feeling a dread overcome him. But he forced his way through it, but still stayed back due to not knowing what he was going to do.
Suddenly, the ground around the figure erupted into flames, the sky cracked with the sound of thunder and lightning striking down all around the figure turning the lightning into a dark color, and suddenly the figure spoke.
"Flames of the azure sky burn until the flame vanishes, trees fall watching the world passed by, and lastly… The world turns from a world of brightness to a world filled of hatred, a world devoid of life."
The sky above began caving in on itself, slowly changing from the blue to a complete red shadowing over all. "To a world filled of hatred. This is your wish." The figure said before his staff was surrounded with electricity, the flames that were burning from the ground were absorbed into the staff.
Jin's eyes were widened by the complete sudden and almost instantly change of everything around, "I… I get it." Jin said before closing his eyes.
"This place, no, this is my world. The one within my subconscious that I believe in from revenge. "Flowers of ice break." It's a form of saying no matter how beautiful or pure a flower can be, it'll break if it's made of ice and if pushed too far by others continuous search of power and greed. That goes for people as well." Jin opened his eyes and looked at the figure who had suddenly vanished. Jin, unsure if it actually worked put his ki and pentagon into defense.
Outside his mind currently, the wind has calmed down a bit and the ground had stopped engulfing Jin from his aura. The lightning, the thunder, and the moonlight above continued as this wasn't over, not yet. Through this all, there was Stella, who couldn't even leave the cabin but was awoken by all the sounds and watched Jin closely.
Not sure if her words would have any effect but she tried anyway, "You can do this, Jin!" Stella, not even knowing what was happening believed in Jin more than anyone for that moment.
An hour goes by and everything stayed the same within and outside of Jin's consciousness. Within Jin's consciousness, "… I don't feel his aura or anything anymore. What does it mean, though?" Jin said, looking around confused before he suddenly opened his eyes in the real world. A headache shortly afterward hits him, but it wasn't much to deal with, so he got up and walked towards the cabin.
"Have I really broken through to the hexagon stage?" He asked himself feeling something that had entirely changed within him that whatever that was within him was a trial, a tribulation of his spirit to enhanced to a next stage.
He walked inside the cabin and Stella ran up to him and hugged him, worried about him. "W-what was all that? What happened?"
"Nothing much happened, don't worry. I think it was a tribulation or a trial to achieve the hexagon stage."
Stella lets go of him after realizing what she is doing and steps back a little. "H-hexagon? What's that?" She asked with a confused look on her face.
"Do you not know all 7 stages of ki?" Jin asked, looking over at her.
"I-I know of the first one being circle."
Jin nodded his head and sat down on the floor. "Sit down, and I'll explain the 7 of them to you." Stella sits down across from Jin and listens.
"So, as you know, the first stage is called circle, the second stage is called square. The reason a circle becomes a square is due to the energy formed within one's body. Once you reach a certain point in ki after circle, the body changes the shape to fit the power within a body, and that just happens to be a square. Then, after a square, it goes to pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, and nonagon."
Stella paid attention and somewhat understood but still confused about how it all works. Jin spoke up again, "Or well, that's the theory of my master on why stages are the way it are… he wasn't sure completely so I can't say I know why it happens the way it does."
"Ah, I see… I think this is a little over my head." Stella said, looking up at him, "Uh, by the way, Jin."
"What is it?"
"Have you looked at your body after the trial?"
"I haven't, why?" Jin looked down at his body, seeing his hanfu torn completely from the trial, and sees his muscles have increased a good margin and his overall body looks and feels better than it did beforehand. "Huh, weird. I guess after going through a trial, your body changes to accept the new ki in your body? I'm not sure…"
"I see… alright. So how do I get to the first stage quickly, Jin?"
"The way I did it was from intense training over several months."
"So, I just need to train constantly and keep my body and mind good, basically?"
"To put it simple, yes. That's all you need to do."
Jin looked up and saw the sun slowly beginning to rise. "How long was I in the trial for?"
Stella, who was lost in thought, began to speak again after a moment, "It was around 3 hours you were gone."
Jin sighs for a moment before standing up. "Alright, I'll go ahead and get a few training regulations for you over the next month, you should be able to form a circle effortlessly."
The two sat down over the course of the next few hours, discussing weaknesses of Stella's and her approach to different situations according to her current strengths. Afterwards, Jin used a pen and paper to write a very specific routine for her to follow over the next month.