Quin stood there in one place, terrified and covered in sweat, focusing solely the monster in front of him. Loud, piercing shrieks could be heard all around the room, but they all slipped by him, due to his mind being in a total jumble. Even remembering those old, painful memories a few years ago when he told it to Leyn were difficult, but experiencing them in real life? He could not bear it, only slowly watching as the creature got closer and closer each moment, reducing the gap between them rapidly. He was faster, he was stronger and he knew that, however he was still petrified, unable to move even an inch.

In the last moment, a huge sound of explosion could be heard, as his instructor appeared in front of him, punching the creature away.

“What the heck are you doing?!” he yelled. “It’s only a Shrieker larvae, you can kill it with a cough, but you’re just standing there and trying yourself at a damn staring contest! This is already the third time! Get yourself together already!” Anger was clearly seen on the face of the Instructor and even veins could be seen bulging on his head, while he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

He knew the boy had a mental trauma -- and he exactly knew the reason for it --, that’s why he told him to come here and practice, but now he was already at his wits ends.

The kid was exceptional, though he had some advantage merely thanks to his unique lightning element, he trained tirelessly and managed to develop his already great foundation to something unequaled by his peers and even by his upperclassmen. Although his total amount of qi was slightly below than average, his qi output rate was the double of the other’s at both the second and third level of the Core Establishment. Not only did he managed to get a head-start with his output rate in the beginning, even after he created his third and final sub-core he maintained his superiority.

At thirteen years old he entered the Qi Condensation Sub-Stage, even a year before the children usually did and now, at the age of fourteen he felt that this kid might be entering the second level at any moment.

To be able to store more qi, the simplest way would be to increase the size of one’s cores, however that was quite a difficult and time consuming task to do. Instead, the people of Ranfel chose to condense their qi, and develop their cores to be able to bear more pressure, this is what they called the Qi Condensation Sub-Stage. Although they were not creating any new cores, they were still improving and modifying their existing ones, that’s why it was only a sub-stage of its main stage and not a separate one.

On average, after its first level the density of the qi would increase threefold, on the second level it would be five times denser and after finishing the last and third level, it would be eight times as dense as at the start. Though not as conspicuous as before, even in Qi Condensation he was above than his peers: he had a Qi Density of five even without entering the third level.

During the past years Quin’s strength skyrocketed, but here he was shivering in fear against a Shrieker larvae, whom someone with just a single Qi Core would be able to deal with. All the three tries they had at it, went down the same route and he still looked like he was being in some kind of daze.

The Instructor planned the whole thing to help Quin get over his trauma, and although during the previous years he started to like the boy quite a bit -- which was rare for him --, and he even considered him as his personal disciple, it was not the only reason. He did it for himself as much as for Quin, he would not delude himself, he knew that he was selfish and egoistic deep inside and his pride was an essential part of him. How much shame would it be, when in a couple of weeks the kids would have to demonstrate their combat ability against these creatures and Quin would be doing the exact same thing what he was currently doing? He would rather drown himself in the Feryan river, or stand still in the Sundering Flames until he is nothing but a pile of ashes.

Lastly, this kid was a martial genius, and thus important to the country: one day he could be among the heroes worshiped by the people and one who could save them from the upcoming threats. He loved his country so much that he was even willing to swallow his pride when needed, and this time what the country needed was him helping this kid.

He knew this would not be easy, and what it meant for Quin, so at the first try he did not even say a thing. After the second try he even tried to encourage him a bit, however after the third time... Well, it was a common knowledge that he was not a patient man, and he has finally lost it and was now thoroughly pissed, yelling at Quin.

Quin snapped back to reality at last, and realized what has happened and what his teacher was currently doing.

“Sorry sir,” he said disheartened and feeling shameful.

“Alright,” he replied, “we’ll try one more time and I better hope you get your shit together! If you’re so scared of it just shut your damn eyes and feel for its qi, then kill it with a ranged attack!”

Quin was shocked for a moment due to his teacher’s attitude, but then realized that this idea might actually be quite useful. Maybe if he could not see it, he would be able to do it? He closed his eyes and sensed for any places where qi was abundant. There was two of them, one of which he easily deduced to be his instructor’s, as it was dense and quite big, so the other one should be his target then, he decided.

Time slowed down as he he lifted his hand and started to gather qi in his right arm. After waiting for a moment to gather the necessary amount, he released it.

“Bolt!”

It was a simple, but effective ranged spell. One had to gather qi in their whole arm to the needed density, being denser towards their shoulder and then release it. Then from their palm, a bolt of lightning would explode out, the rear and the more denser part accelerating it continuously. Though it need about a second to prepare, the bolt was strong, fast and easy to cast as well.

Just as Quin called out the name, a sound of explosion could be heard. He opened his eyes and only ashes and teeth were left behind of the Shrieker.

Finally, he did it!

There was no time to rest or to wonder though, as his instructor called out right away, “Alright, let’s do that again!”

Quin did the same, feeling for the qi, and destroyed the creature again, then he did a third time as well.

“Finally, some progress,” the Instructor sighed. “Okay, now open your eyes when I say so, but don’t interrupt your spell. We’ve got only a couple of more of tries, as there’s only this much of Shrieker larvae we can expend.”

“Now!” he yelled, just after Quin has finished casting his spell. Though he got frightened looking at the monster, he already cast Bolt, so there was no problem.

Afterwards they did it another four times, but each time the Instructor ordered Quin to open his eyes a bit earlier. It could not be said that he managed to do it flawless, however at the end he was finally able to do it on his own, without being petrified or unable to act.

“At last! I was starting to get really worried about you boy!” the Instructor exclaimed, but this time he was undoubtedly more calm and composed. “Alright, I think with this you’ll be fine. All in all I don’t think you’ll have any difficulty in your combat test, since you are way above average and these tests are meant for only them. Until then, keep up with your training, and don’t you dare to slack off!”

“Yes, sir!” Quin replied. Although it had never happened, for some reason his teacher almost always reminded him about this.

With his special training done, he went home to rest and meditate to calm his mind and to process today’s experiences. This day was a great stepping stone in his life, as he finally succeeded in what his goal has been throughout these years. He was not just powerful enough, but also had the courage to fight a Shrieker, the monster he had been so scared of. From now on, he did not have to be afraid of it and maybe even those reoccurring nightmares would stop haunting him as well.

Quin knew that he was truly strong and no one would be able to stop him in the future, thus he went to sleep at night probably being the most content he had ever been in his entire life.

Edited on 2016. 11. 26.