by Aaron Oster
Roy contemplated this as he soaked in the tub, making sure to get out after the full fifteen minutes had elapsed. He felt much better as he exited, quickly drying himself and donning a new set of robes before heading into the eating area.
The smell hit him as he left the bathroom. It was rich, savory, and pungent, the mix of warm broth and cooked chicken hitting him like a bolt of lightning. He’d never had a sense of smell this strong, and as he entered the area, he could see the food already waiting for him.
Doragon sat at the table as well, and as Roy took a seat, he motioned toward the food. Roy’s stomach growled audibly as he lifted the pot of steaming broth. If he’d been asleep for some fifty hours and had trained for nearly twenty before that, then it had been nearly three days since he’d last eaten.
Without ceremony, Roy tipped the pot back, the explosion of flavor more intense than anything he’d ever experienced before. He didn’t bother talking the entire time he ate, gorging himself on the entire pot of broth with rice and beef, then moving on to the pot of chicken and vegetables. Only once he’d polished off everything set before him, did Roy turn his attention to Doragon, a bit surprised at his own appetite.
“Okay,” Roy said, eyeing the two empty pots. “What the hell is going on with me? I know I haven’t eaten in three days, but I shouldn’t have been able to finish all that food.”
“How very astute of you,” Doragon said, interlacing his fingers. “As promised, I’ll explain the reasoning behind what we’ve been doing, as well as the Pills and that vial I had you drink.”
The man leaned forward a bit, his red eyes boring into Roy as though he were able to see straight through him.
“We started our training off by awakening the latent bestial power that had been suppressed by your upbringing,” Doragon began. “But forcing that power out didn’t mean that you had the ability to actually handle it. There’s a reason Beasts are so tough to take down, even when they’re at the same level as you, and that’s because of a boosted constitution.
“In order to wield the massive strength they’re known for, their bodies need to be able to handle the strain, and since you were lacking that toughness, I needed to find a way to boost you there artificially.
“The training was the first part. Having you take physical attacks for hours on end, while forcing you to try unlocking one of your Essence techniques was a good exercise. Forcing you to cultivate and try pushing the bounds with just Essence was another. Although strengthening your foundation at the White or Green-Belt levels is no longer possible, it is possible to increase both the potency and density of Essence, which is what the exercise is supposed to accomplish.
“Every night after training, I would have you take a Pill that would help your body to learn and adapt to the punishment, both toughening you up and increasing the purity of the Essence you used. You would bathe in the special spring water I brought in to stop your muscles from tensing up, and I would give you just enough time to eat to get the energy needed for another day of training.
“When you finally discovered your Full-area technique, you were about as tough physically as you could be at this stage, so I moved on to attacking you from the inside. While the Pills I gave you every night might have looked the same, they were specifically targeted to strengthen your channels and Core.
“Once you discovered your Full-body technique, you were pretty close to the peak of your ability as a Base Red-Belt. At that point, it was crucial to pack your Core with Chakra, to prepare for the final stage of your training in this area. Once you were packed full of it, at the peak of Base Red and unable to push any further, I had you drink an Awakening Elixir.
“To put it simply, it is a Pill in liquid form. It was created using the Reiki of a dead Power-type Beast and distilled down to the point where it was potent enough to seal in all of the changes and give you a nice boost on top of that. The Pill will keep you from slipping back to your weaker human self, help increase your overall toughness for at least another full Belt, and will give you the ability to channel more Chakra without hurting yourself than ever could have been possible without it.”
Roy stared at the man, trying to take everything in. All of the exhaustive training he’d been doing had been to toughen him up. Was that why the water didn’t hurt this morning? Still, it wouldn’t explain why his senses were sharpened as much as they were all of a sudden.
“Wait, why do I feel so different then?” Roy asked. “Everything seems so much—”
“Sharper? Clearer? Better?” Doragon asked. “The Awakening Elixir also brings out any remaining bestial potential. In other words, this would be all but useless to an ordinary human. It might give them a little extra toughness, but that would be about it.”
Roy looked down at his hand as he curled his fingers inward. They didn’t look any different. Just then, the first part of Doragon’s explanation about the Elixir he’d drank finally hit him.
“Wait, did you say the thing I drank was made of Reiki?”
“Why else did you think I told you not to let it into your Core?” Doragon asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You could have killed me!” Roy exclaimed.
He remembered well the last time he’d used a purer form of energy before he’d been ready. He’d very nearly shattered his Core and had only been saved because Hermit happened to be there when he’d overextended himself.
“I feel like we’ve already established the fact that this training was going to be dangerous,” Doragon said with a sigh. “Yes, it could have killed you, but you’re not dead. No harm done.”
Roy begged to differ. He remembered just how painful that process had been. It had done plenty of harm. Even if the symptoms were no longer there, he would remember that pain forever.
“Hold on a second,” Roy said, thinking deeper into his training. “If I was really getting tougher every day, how is it that those constructs kept up the same level of punishment?”
“Easy,” Doragon said with a wicked smile. “I just made them stronger.”
“There’s no way I wouldn’t have sensed that,” Roy was quick to say, though he very much doubted the man was lying.
“When you’re as powerful as I am, obscuring the strength of a few constructs isn’t all that difficult. Especially when I’m the one in control of the training Dungeon.”
Roy let out a sigh, already wondering what fresh hell Doragon would have for him today.
“Just how strong were they? At the end, I mean,” Roy asked.
He’d been pretty sure they were no higher than the peak of Purple, but now that Doragon had said they weren’t, he had to wonder.
“How about we head into the Dungeon for a quick training session?” Doragon suggested in way of an answer. “After you’ve finished your first round, I’ll give you your answer.”
Roy wanted his answers now but knew that getting anything out of this man would be impossible until he did as he was told.
Without saying so much as a word, Roy rose from his seat and followed the man outside, heading toward the training Dungeon once more.
42
Roy felt as light as air while he stared down the silver-colored construct that stood before him. Doragon had laid out the exercise quite simply. The constructs were going to come at him one at a time. Each time he destroyed one, a more powerful one would be summoned. The fight would be over once one of them managed to put him on the ground.
There were still a couple of rules, though. He could only physically enhance himself, meaning that he was not allowed to use techniques. However, he was allowed to use Chakra this time, so that was a bonus at the very least. Additionally, he would have no idea how powerful the starting construct would be, so there was no accurate way for him to measure his own strength until the fight was over.
He’d already tried scanning the construct before him with his Spirit Sense and had, of course, gotten nothing.
“Fight starts in five seconds,” Doragon called from his positi
on outside the massive ring.
Roy felt his muscles flex as he prepared himself for the charge. He wondered how weak the first opponent would be. Would he be able to take it out in a single blow? It might be easier to measure them at that point.
The construct shot forward in a blur of movement, closing the gap in under a second. Roy barely had a chance to throw his arms up in a block before its fist slammed into him with bone-jarring force.
Roy grunted as he took a step back, quickly realizing that this thing was no pushover. It seemed Doragon was not going to give him any easy warmups.
The construct, using the momentum of its first attack, spun into a whirling side kick aimed at his ribs. Roy dropped an arm to guard even as he stepped in. Chakra flowed through him in a rush, far faster and in far larger quantity than even he’d imagined.
The construct was fast, and although he threw a heavy punch, it managed to get an arm up to try and deflect. Off-balance as it was, though, it had nothing to brace against. When Roy’s arm slammed into its upraised one, the construct was bodily slammed into the ground. There was a creak from the stone beneath, but it didn’t crack as Roy expected.
He didn’t give the construct the chance to recover, dropping a knee into its ribs and driving his fist through its featureless face.
The construct exploded into motes of silver light and a new construct formed almost immediately, dashing over and attacking before he’d even gotten a chance to set himself properly.
The impact of this one’s attack made his bones creak, which told Roy that the difficulty level of these things was on quite a steep incline. Roy struck back and the construct dodged, slamming a fist into the side of his head.
Roy saw stars as he staggered back a step. But only one step. He caught himself, managing to throw both arms up blindly and catch the construct’s next assault. He felt his knees flex as the flying ax-kick meant to take him in the top of the head was caught between his crossed arms.
Flexing his muscles, Roy shoved back, forcing the thing off balance. He dashed after it, even as the creature turned a backflip, slapping a palm to the ground and regaining its footing. His punch caught it square in the chest, and once again, the power of the blow shattered the construct into a million motes of light.
A third construct was already appearing as he set himself, but instead of charging, it attacked from a distance. A beam of silver flashed for an instant before slamming into the unprepared Roy. He didn’t manage to block, feeling the searing pain in his abdomen as the attack tried to attack him from the inside.
Growling, Roy flooded his channels with even more Chakra, burning away the foreign energy before dashing after his enemy. His enhanced body made him terrifyingly fast, but the construct managed to maintain its distance, firing off powerful beams of energy that tore at his skin and Core.
Finally, after nearly four minutes of chasing the thing around, Roy managed to corner and dispatch it with two powerful blows to the head. The second attack, where its head was caught between Roy’s fist and the lip of the training ground, finally caused the stone to crack, making Roy think that he knew how strong the construct was.
As the next appeared, he guessed that it was likely in the low Reds, perhaps a Dan or so higher than him.
He fared far worse against this construct than the last three. It moved so quickly that he had a hard time keeping up. The thing danced and flitted around him, unleashing powerful barrages of physical attacks, while mixing in ranged ones as well. Limited to using only basic body enhancements, Roy soon found himself being driven back.
Pain flared in his arms, chest, and legs as the thing continued hammering him from all sides. He could feel himself buckling, feel himself giving way, but he wasn’t quite done just yet.
A kick came flashing for his head. It was so blurringly fast that he couldn’t even see it, and yet, as the foot made contact with his ribs with an audible crack, Roy’s arm clamped down on it. The construct looked up — presumably, as its face was blank — into his bloodied and grinning face right before his fist slammed into its head.
Once. Twice. Three times. Four times.
On the fifth punch, the construct’s upper body was ripped from its torso, spinning away and leaking silver energy. It slammed into the wall hard enough to leave a sizable dent, and the leg clutched in Roy’s grip disintegrated.
The last fight had been difficult enough that Roy felt about ready to drop. When the fifth construct appeared, Roy didn’t even bother fighting. When the first attack struck — something he couldn’t even see coming had he been at his best — Roy was sent sailing across the training area, impacting with the far wall hard enough to break several of his bones.
He fell flat on his face, groaning softly, and Doragon halted the exercise.
“Well, how did that feel?” he asked, crouching next to Rot and shoving a gleaming white Pill into his field of view.
“Like a sentient mountain hit me,” Roy groaned, his face still half-planted in the ground.
“I would say that was an apt description,” Doragon said as Roy snatched the Pill and popped it into his mouth.
Roy had to wonder where the man was getting all of his supplies, but decided that it really didn’t matter. This Pill felt quite a bit different than the ones he’d been taking until now. There was no toughening or secrets that needed to be unlocked. The Pill immediately began numbing the pain of his wounds as it stitched him up.
It was a healing Pill, plain and simple.
Roy groaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position, looking around as the area began to heal itself up.
Much to his surprise, Doragon sat down across from him, placing his hands on his knees and watching him appraisingly.
“How powerful do you think that last construct was?” he asked.
“Third or fourth Dan Red?” Roy asked, working his jaw from side to side.
It hurt, but not as badly as he thought it should. Maybe this was a perk of that extra bestial toughness.
“And by that logic, how strong do you think the first one was?” Doragon asked.
This one, Roy had to think about. The attacks had still hurt, but it hadn’t been so quick that he’d been unable to catch it.
“Maybe a strong peak Purple?” Roy asked.
Doragon stared at him for a few moments, slowly nodding his head as though to confirm Roy’s suspicion. But when he spoke, Roy immediately knew just how wrong he’d been.
“The first construct you faced was 3rd Dan Red,” Doragon said.
More than even the pain of his wounds or the explosive impact with the wall, this shocked Roy more than anything he’d heard to date.
“Each construct after that increased their strength by a full two Dans,” Doragon continued.
“Wait a minute,” Roy began. “Are you telling me that the last construct I faced…”
“Was a 2nd Dan Gold-Belt?” Doragon asked, then answered his own question by saying, “Because if that’s what you’re asking, then the answer is yes.”
Roy gaped at him for a moment, unable to believe that what the man was saying was true.
“Are you telling me that I beat a Base Gold-Belt?”
“You did take quite a beating in the process,” Doragon said. “But yes. You beat a construct who was fighting at the level of a Base Gold-Belt.”
It was no wonder he’d been unable to follow its movements. He was shocked that he’d even managed to win. When he’d been punching the thing, he’d thought it had been tough, but now that he knew how strong they really were, he was baffled.
“Wait, how strong were the constructs I was fighting during my regular training?” Roy asked.
“They started at 6th Dan Purple,” Doragon said. “By the time you were learning your Full-body technique, they were at 2nd Dan Red. I figured I’d start this little test off a stage higher, just to show you how strong you could be even without any techniques.”
Roy grinned widely, suddenly feeling flush with confidence. I
f he was this strong now, there was no way the enemy would stand a chance once he made it to 1st Dan, let alone 4th or 5th.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Doragon said. “And I wouldn’t get too ahead of myself. Don’t forget that the enemy is also comprised of Beasts who contain the same massive strength and resilience. Additionally, they will be quite a bit more intelligent than simple constructs. You are far from ready for this competition, and we now only have three months to get you ready.
“From now on, training will increase to twenty-one hours a day. We will focus primarily on your fighting skills, fighting instinct, how to properly harness your strength as a Beast, and most importantly, work on developing your branching Path.
“The training I’m about to put you through will make the last few weeks seem like a tropical vacation. But, by the time we’re done, you’ll be as ready as you can possibly be to go up against the enemy.”
Doragon slammed one fist into an open palm and gave Roy a wicked grin.
“You should be recovered in fifteen minutes. Training begins as soon as that time has elapsed. Prepare yourself.”
“Um…Roy, Geon said, speaking for the first time all day. “You know how I said I wanted to live? I think we might want to make a run for it while we can.”
The fact that even Geon was afraid told Roy exactly what he was going to be in for. But he knew there was no escaping. He could try to run, but Doragon would catch him before he made it even five feet.
For the next three months, he was at the mercy of this monster, and he knew from his experience so far that Doragon didn’t exaggerate.
43
Aika sat in a meditative position, rain and hail the size of small pebbles bouncing harmlessly off her skin and clattering down the steep, rocky slopes of the mountaintop upon which she was precariously perched. Directly above her, the sun peeked through the clouds, shining down on her sodden frame and supplying her with the Light Essence she needed to cultivate.
