"Thumb on one side of the top of the door frame and pointer and index finger on the other...and PULL!" Zack squeezed his fingers together and tried to do a pull up. His recently enlarged forearm muscles strained and he slowly rose. Then his fingers slipped from not exerting enough pressure and he fell.

Zack laid on his back "Still can't do a pull up in the way Sifu can. Even after four agonizing months of pulling out nails." then he brought his feet up and performed a kip up, landing on his feet. Then left his room for his morning five mile run.

The temple was now full of monks and students. Each meditating, practicing shaolin kung fu in unison, listening to lectures on Buddhist philosophy and torturing themselves in various ways to strengthen their bodies.

His jog brought him past the other training grounds on the island. Akmadouric had been busy reviving various people from the past. The island was now populated by medieval knights, vikings, Shaka Zulu tribesman, spartans and Roman legionaires. All of which were being rapidly taught the intricacies of technology and how they would employ their skillsets in the ongoing interdimensional war.

He passed a man who had a bald head and his face was painted one half blue and one half yellow "Akma, who is that man?"

Akma appeared out of his vortex and said "That is an Aztec Shorn one. An elite warrior that has vowed to never take a step backwards during a battle. He was revived because there are certain skills he can be given which feed off of rage."

The Aztec warrior swung a jagged wooden sword with glassy sharp stones embedded along it's length. His face was distorted in anger and his strokes were wide and powerful. His oval shaped shield had three sharp prongs on the end and he occasionally used it to stab as much as he used it to protect himself. The motions were very unlike that of both European and Asian martial arts styles.

"He's not going to use that weapon on me, is he? The guy looks like he's just barely holding it together. Are you sure he's not dangerous to anyone here?"

Akma said "Additional measures were taken to ensure that he never attacks an ally or anything. Right now he's demonstrating his combat skills to his own Akma."

The ancient man with the painted face glared at Zack who had been staring for too long. And he immediately began his run again 'I'd rather not be ritually sacrificed in case those additional measures decide to fail."

He left and after eight minutes and another mile later he met Hroyd on top of one of the rocky hills. Four long paralell cut marks had been etched into the rock formations throughout hilltop.

Zack said "You've been practicing."

Hroyd stood on his hind legs and slashed with the claws of his left hand. Green ethereal energy emanated from each nail and appeared in the air, traveling several feet before dissipating. Burnt flesh permeated the air as Hroyd held up his hand, the technique charred the tips of his fingers.

Ether claw swipe Description: Focus Spiritual Ether into one's claws and carry it's razor sharp to cut at a distance. Range: 5 meters Willpower cost: 50

Hroyd's gruff voice undulated in a rumbling fashion as he talked "It's a technique that only the most legendary of Kulabv warriors are capable of using. As I am the last, it is fitting."

'No wonder he spent so much time up here' Zack said "You're not the last. You'll see them again when Akmadouric gets around to reviving them."

"Heh, first I would have to clear out every single corrupted consciousness, which is unfathomably huge and very low on the list of priorities. Wait for Akmadouric to gain dominion over it and purify it of corruption. And only then, can I spend favor to revive my people. Of which he will prioritize the warriors." grumbling he then added "Won't even consider restoring our sacred sites."

'You know what the reason for that is. Low-tierman like us need places to gain favor without getting obliterated. But still, it's a tough situation.' Zack bit his bottom lip and said "How long is that going to take?"

"I've been speaking with Kerink about that. There were only hundreds of thousands of her people left after the battle for her dimension, out of a civilization that spanned across many worlds. Since then her people have been collecting favor like madmen."

Zack smirked "Well, all we can do is what we can with the time we have."

"Where did that come from?"

"I've been living at a Buddhist temple for months, listening to the wisdom of the monks. I suppose I've taken a liking to them."

Hroyd shook his head violently and snarled "Just what kind of warriors don't enjoy killing? Well nevermind. It's time we started, we've stalled for words long enough." then the giant bobcat warrior entered the Spiritual Ether. His whole body turned green and wavy. Long thick and claws extended from the tips of his fingers.

Zack said "I suppose we have." then he activated his Eidolan Symbiosis skill for the second time since his surgery to grow his own claws. Unlike Hroyd's, his were straight like long daggers. Stabbing pain shot from his hand as the process completed. A man with less willpower would have easily passed out.

Then he faced down Hroyd. His whole weight rested on his back leg and dagger claws pointed forward. Then began to shuffle walk in a manner that brought the amount of time his feet were off the ground to a minimum. Zack slowly approached the giant of green energy. When he got within twelve feet Hroyd made the first move. Zack's eyes widened in surprise. He had been expecting lunge of some kind but for it to be so quick, low and at such a distance. Zack lifted his forward foot and used a telekinetic burst to push himself backwards but Hroyd's spiritual ether claw still passed through Zack's ankle without causing any harm.

Zack frowned "I thought you said you were only going to use moves that you can use while corporeal?"

Hroyd smirked and bared his teeth "I did. Shall I demonstrate?"

"Please do." Zack summoned Hroyd using the Accelerated Summoning skill so the Kulabv Warrior didn't have to undergo summoning sickness.

Hroyd stretched in his corporeal form, then positioned himself so that Zack could see the move from another perspective "The key to performing the move is to dig into the ground with three sets of claws and squeeze to compact the dirt, giving yourself a better foothold. Then launch yourself at such an angle so that you are as low to the ground as possible. Swipe with one claw and twist so that your opposite hand can grip the ground. From there you have about five more options, but the one I would recommend doing is to push yourself off the ground into a front flip and land on top of your opponent."

Zack looked on at Hroyd slackjawed, not from the movements he performed, but from his own train of thought. As he gained additional eidolans he would also gain additional bodily traits that they had. Each would have their own unique fighting style that he would have to utilize in order to become as effective as possible. The shaolin monks had shown him the feats that the human body is capable of, by successfully smashing rocks with their heads on a daily basis among other things. In the ecosystems of Earth alone, there are animals capable of unbelievable things, like age regressing jellyfish. In the multiverse there are...pink telepathic hippos that travel through time. Although those particular beasts are not eidolans. But still, there are sure to be eidolans out there with great abilities.

'What will I become?' Zack thought, then he remembered the words Akma had said to him; Priotize function over form.

'No. The real question is; How large of an army can I get?'

Zack and Hroyd sparred for an hour. The Kulabv Warrior was a whirling tempest of blades. While Zack grew better at dodging with his minor telekinetic ability and preferring to attack with thrusting motions. Then they stopped as the daily alotted time they had set went up, with Hroyd being the clear victor.

Zack had expected the outcome "How is such a fighting style supposed to be beaten? I couldn't even get close to you."

"It's not designed to be beaten. Get rid of those gaming ideas of balance or expecting a fair fight. This is reality and you want to be in an unfair fight with all of the advantages on your side."

"I know this well. But thanks for the reminder." there had been numerous times in his E-sport career that he had abused a mechanic. He even made the developers nerf a unit once.

Zack was turning to leave so he could spend the rest of the day on some arduous task his Sifu gave him, but then Hroyd said "We should stop by the Samurai's training grounds in an hour, today is the day that they receive the equipment they will use during deployment."

Zack undid all of the spiritual ether augments that he had gotten from Hroyd, the claws retracted and his fingers shrank back to their normal sizes "Ya, that's something I gotta see."

They made their way to the training grounds just in time to see Kerink holding what looked to be a two foot long cylindrical device, her voice was raised to such a volume that Zack could hear her from the other side of the clearing "This is a lightsword. Although it is only called that for it's default setting." she pressed a button on it and a laser beam shot into the sky, then stopped suddenly. Zack had read an article that stated that lightsabers were actually theoretically possible to make. But unlike the Star Wars counterpart, this one seemed more...solid?

Kerink yelled for everyone to hear "It creates a stable energy field so that the area of effect remains within the users control." she pressed a few more buttons and the sword extended to twenty feet long and contracted down to two inches "It can be turned into a variety of shapes and sizes." then the lightsword turned into a wall shield that covered her whole body.

One of the Samurai spoke up "Only cowards use shields."

"Well you're going to have to get over that mental handicap that you've given yourself. With the lightsword you can slice through a twenty foot in diameter energy blast directed at you, but if you find yourself being attacked from all sides, then you are going to want to use the shield setting."

She opened up a crate where there were numerous lightswords "You each can take two, so that's one for each hand. This next phase in your training will include learning how to switch between any one of the hundreds of settings on the fly according to your own personal preferences. You all can get started now." then she walked away.

Zack said to Hroyd "That demonstration just cleared up a few questions I had about melee units in interdimensional warfare, but I'm still not completely convinced."

Hroyd pointed behind Zack and he looked back to see that Kerink had snuck up behind him.

She said "Ah, the lost sheep. Just the person I've been looking to see."

"Ya, I really can't thank you enough for grabbing us and throwing us out of there."

Kerink waved it off "Forget about it, I earn favor from saving and improving the low-tierman underneath my care. And speaking of which, a new mission came in that I think you should go on."

Zack scratched the back of his head "I'm not sure if I'm strong enough for that just yet. I mean I have a semi-athletic body, decent martial arts skills and a handful of eidolan abilities. But I don't think I'm ready to take on another giant tree."

"The dimension for the mission at hand doesn't belong to Ulgroth. The inhabitants of it managed to create a portal, albeit it targeted randomly. They got really lucky when they made contact with a dimension under Akmadouric's control and not a dimension filled intense radiation or something. In short this is a diplomatic mission, so we're not expecting hostilities."

Zack asked "Why do you want me to go?"

"Because this dimension has eidolans and this is a rare oppourtunity for you to add more to your war party with minimal risk."

Zack opened up his body status screen and said "I guess I'm strong enough already for that. Okay. Sign me up."

-Secondary body basic stats

Description: A fully human 27-yr old male body infused by spiritual ether. Capable of growing new bodily traits from eidolans that have anchors within the users consciousness. Strong sinewy and flexible muslces are packed on harder than average bones. Good eyesight and reflexes. Average immune system. Good stamina. 

Mind: 62 Sight: 20 Hearing: 15 Agility: 43 Strength:35 Stamina: 54 Disease resist: 15 Cold resist: 22 Heat resist: 25