Arriving at the same place with its ancient trees and beautiful vegetation nestled among hills and mountains, Arion asked Shera, "Actually, I am curious about how vast this place is?"
"Hmmm, good question," Shera replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Probably twice as vast as the kingdom you currently reside in."
"Oh damn, how did you, as an avatar, create this?" Arion exclaimed – his eyes wide with wonder.
Shera shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just part of the realm where the real me lives. You know, the usual creator stuff."
"I see. You mentioned before that you usually mingle with the natives of Vysha'ra. Why the need to create another realm?" Arion inquired, genuinely puzzled.
Sighing softly, she replied, "It wasn't a need. It was a must. As a creator, the Celestials' real self can't do anything except be locked in a place – or risk creating a kind of disaster or maybe a black hole that will consume the realm we reside in. It's a kind of vow, you see. So, all the real me could do was create an avatar, where I live an ordinary life among the people."
"That is… big…" Arion said, speechless, his mind struggling to wrap around the enormity of it all.
"Anyway, you don't need to know about something like that," Shera said, waving her hand dismissively.
"We better focus on your training. Ready?"
"Uhh… wait, let me ask some more questions," Arion said in a panic, trying to stop her.
But Shera, with the urgency of a cat chasing a laser pointer, didn't want to waste any more time. In one swift step, she arrived at Arion's side, attempting to lightly touch his shoulder.
Seeing that, Arion's face turned a pale shade almost instantly as he desperately tried to dodge her touch. Alas, it was too late. Just when Shera's fingers brushed against his shoulder, it soon transformed into a mist of blood and flesh.
"Arrgghh!" Arion couldn't help but take a sharp breath as he knelt in pain, feeling as if he had just been hit by a runaway cart full of bricks.
Even though they had gone through this whole ordeal the night before, where a whole day inside this place equated to an hour outside in the real world – or even a minute, depending on Shera's condition – the pain still made him wince, and tremble from the agony.
After a countdown of 13 seconds that felt like it was a lifetime, the mist of blood and flesh lingering in the air suddenly morphed into a kind of whirlpool, swirling toward the missing part of Arion's body.
It then reformed into his arm and shoulder, as if the wounds had never existed and he had never experienced the earlier gory tragedy.
Tilting her head to the side, Shera said, "It's still not enough. We need to increase your pain tolerance and reflex as soon as possible, or it will take too long to master the art. You are still too weak."
Even though the pain had vanished, Arion still shivered from the traumatic experience. He wondered whether he would truly manage to increase his pain tolerance to the level Shera mentioned, or if he would succumb to madness first from the trauma of the whole ordeal.
"You won't," Shera replied, reading his mind as easily as flipping a page in a book.
She continued with a sweet, innocent smile, "If you do reach that state, don't worry. I will erase your memory. But we will have to start all over again, though."
At a loss for words, Arion couldn't help but scream inside his mind, 'You crazy, old beauty!'
This successfully triggered Shera's nerves, and she continued with her gentle touches, completely oblivious to the chaos she was causing in Arion's mind.
"Now, let's get back to it! I promise it'll be fun, and I'll be gentle too!"
Arion could only groan internally, wondering if he had signed up for a training session or a horror movie instead.
…
Finally, after days of repetitive experience, one way or another, Arion managed to dodge it.
"Huh, good reflex," Shera said, trying another Touch of Grace of hers. And then another.
Arion didn't know what was happening either. It felt as if the vibration of the air, the land beneath him, and every piece of leaf that fell slowly from the trees above conspired to help him move beyond his own limits.
Nature itself seemed to assist him, making him faster as he flowed alongside the breeze.
He dodged the first, the second, and the third touch from Shera, moving just a fraction of a second before each strike. Had he been late by even that tiny amount of time, there was no doubt his shoulder would have become a gruesome mist of blood and flesh.
'He is indeed a genius,' Shera thought, impressed.
"Congratulations! Our first part of the training for you to learn the Seeds of Insights is complete," she announced, her voice bright with enthusiasm.
"And it only took you less than two weeks to pass it. You are amazing!"
After hearing that, Arion couldn't help but let himself fall onto the soft grass beneath his feet.
Laughing jubilantly, he summed up all his feelings from this brutal training into one word: "Finally!"
With that, he promptly fell asleep like a log, utterly drained. His mental state had exhausted him far more than his physique, which always bounced back to being fit as an ox after just a few seconds of breathing here.
Seeing him pass out, Shera approached him, sitting slowly on the grass beside him.
She smiled as she looked at his face and exclaimed softly.
"I'm sorry. This is somewhat cruel to me. But if you knew what kind of tragedy lurked beyond the walls of safety, it might be too late by then. I hope you persevere through this, just like your father and mother learned under me. Or your ancestor who learned under the other Celestial."
…
Waking up begrudgingly, Arion opened his eyes in his room. But something was different this time; he was greeted by the charming face of a woman.
"Huh... you…" he stammered, blinking in disbelief.
And it was Shera.
As Shera lifted her face away from Arion, he swiftly sat up in bed, unable to contain his shock.
"How? How did you materialize outside?" he exclaimed, his voice a mix of confusion and awe.
Smiling charmingly, she replied, "Well, duh… I can always do this from the start. I was just afraid you'd be charmed to death by me, hehehe."
'Are you kidding? You're old. Have some shame,' Arion thought, still not fully awake.
His mind currently was still in a jumbled mess, and unfortunately enough, it accidentally managed to offend Shera, nonetheless.
"You're dead!" she shot back, her smile freezing as she approached him with mock menace.
What soon echoed around the neighborhood was a scream of horror from a man who sounded as if he were about to be castrated, like a pig.
…