Chapter 37: The Beginning of Training

Trip walked towards the temple with his uncle. He was ready to begin training. Even though Alex just left Trip was already incredibly excited to learn a bunch of things about light magic. However the moment he reached the temple the first thing that his uncle said was “Do 100 push-ups, then 100 sit-ups.”

Trip was confused by this order. What did doing physical exercise have to do with light magic? It made no sense to him. Of course he questioned his uncle in this; however he was met with a strong slap to the face. Thinking back to the kind hearted man that his uncle was just a couple of hours ago he was shocked by the change, and slightly scared of what might happen if he did not follow the instructions.

Hours passed and Trip had only been doing physical exercises the whole time. Trip was already much more physically capable than most kids his age, but the things that he had to do where on a different level than what should be done by even adults. He never stopped moving. There was no such thing as a break in Trip’s uncle’s vocabulary. Trip was royally pissed off. Not so much because he was being worked to death, he wasn’t afraid of heavy training, but instead because he did not know what the actual use of this training was. Trip simply could not understand what the connection was between light magic and physical training. Light magic was internal, but physical training only affected the person externally, therefore how could it help him at all? Every time Trip asked his uncle a question he would simply gain another red mark on his face.

3 days passed and Trip had not had a single bite to eat since just before Alex left. He was starved and yet he was still forced to do these exercises. He only got 1 hour of sleep a day, and that was only if he had properly fulfilled all his tasks, which he didn’t do in the last two days, meaning he has been awake for the last 48 hours while constantly having to do exercises. He could barely walk a hundred meters before collapsing and eventually he simply passed out.

Looking at the passed out Trip his uncle smiled slightly. He hated having to act like a harsh teacher to his nephew, but he knew that at this point this was the best way to train Trip. Even though Trip was confused and angry now in a couple of months when everything will be revealed to him he will hopefully understand the significance of his uncle’s actions. At this point it was important for Trip to remain completely focused on simply performing the tasks that his uncle set for him, which is why his uncle cannot tell him anything, as that would cause Trip to consciously think about his actions, which would make delay his training.

When Trip woke up from passing out he saw that he was alone. Looking around himself he saw that he was in a tent with water and food. He quickly ate and drank everything in the tent before passing out again of exhaustion. 2 hours later he was woken up by his uncle shouting at him to continue training. Three days passed and this became the norm. Trip would train until he passed out and then he would wake up and train again. After these three days Trip only knew how to follow orders. He was simply too tired to think about anything, he could only train. Every day the workouts would get harder and harder, and in turn Trip’s body became stronger and stronger.

After two months he woke up from passing out again. He ate some food and drank all the water that he could find. However when he fell asleep he was not woken up by his uncle, but instead he was allowed to continue sleeping. For two days he slept, and when he woke up he was finally able to have some conscious thought. ‘Where is uncle?’ he asked himself. Trip stood up, dragging his hurting body out of the tent. What he saw was a table with some wine on it, two chairs by the side with a man sitting upon one. That man was his uncle.

Trip’s uncle smiled at him and said “Trip! Come and drink some wine!”

Trip had no idea what was happening. Could it be that his physical training had finally ended? Trip was no longer naïve and he immediately considered this a trick by his uncle. He approached cautiously and he slowly sat down on the other chair. His uncle offered him a glass and poured him some wine. Trip never had wine before and he was shocked by the burning feeling in his throat when he drank it. His uncle laughed as Trip began to cough.

“Don’t worry, the training is over.” Trip’s uncle said

Trip looked at his uncle and he immediately knew that he wasn’t lying. There was something about the gentle look on his face that seemed to be completely trustworthy. Of course Trip also had some questions for his uncle.

“Why was this physical training necessary? Light magic comes from the inside, whereas physical training only affects the outside.” Trip said with a look of slight annoyance and anger on his face.

“Does physical training really just affect the inside?” Trip’s uncle questioned Trip’s statement

Seeing the confused look on Trip’s face his uncle began to lecture him. “Light magic comes from the soul, and the strongest part of your soul is within your heart. Physical training does not affect just you externally, but it also makes you healthy. Being in your pure physical peak means that your heart is also at its peak, which in turn makes your soul stronger as well. That is why you embarked on this training. At this point your soul should be much stronger than what it was, which means your light magic has a much stronger foundation, which is the most important part of it all!”

Trip was shocked at this newfound information. He had no idea that physical training could affect the heart in any way. When he actually paid attention to it he also saw that his soul was much stronger than before, however he was worried. He had already started to understand light magic so hadn’t he already passed the foundation stage? However his concerns were no longer after his uncle began to speak.

“Your current strength in light magic cannot be considered having gone further than the foundation. In light magic there are fundamentally different techniques to learn. Instead of having a bunch of individual techniques such as in water, fire, earth, or wind magic in light magic there is one general technique passed down by the family. You are in the Levis family and you have not begun to train in the Levis family technique. However, your light magic might be affected slightly by what you have learned and understood until now.”

Trip’s uncle continued to explain how light magic was different. “Light magic is also not split into three stages like the other types, but instead has 5 stages. These being: Foundation stage, Technique stage, Mastery Stage, Comprehension stage, and Identity stage. I am in the comprehension stage, but there has not been and Identity Stage light mage for hundreds of years.”

Trip was in awe of the reality of light magic. He also felt deep satisfaction in knowing the reason for all the things he was forced to do. However now he knew that it was time to begin training again.

Trip’s uncle decided that he would give Trip a week break, but Trip actually felt incredibly bored with that so in the end he only got a day long break. During this day Trip found Emer and played with him a bit. Emer had already grown to be quite large and was beginning to look rather menacing. Trip saw that Emer was incredibly intelligent and told him to train by hunting small animals in the surrounding area.

After the day they began training again. Now it was no longer physical training, but instead Trip was to learn the Levis family light technique.

“I will give you a mental copy of the information, the moment you receive this you will immediately go to the Technique stage. This might feel slightly strange, but make sure not to panic as then the process might be done badly.” Trip’s uncle said

Trip had no idea what his uncle meant by giving a mental copy, but he was prepared no matter what would happen. His uncle pushed his finger on Trips forehead and signified the beginning of the process. Trip closed his eyes and felt information go into his head at an incredibly pace. However he could only understand a bit of it. What he could understand was simple instructions for a strange series of movements. Before he could look through too much of the information he started to feel weird. There was a tingling feeling all over his body. Trip stayed calm and was ready to go into the Technique stage. Eventually the feeling left and he opened his eyes. When he looked around all he saw was rock and he realised that a massive explosion had taken place.

Trip’s uncle jumped down and his eyes showed immense shock. However when he saw Trip his reaction immediately changed to a simple calm look as he said “Don’t worry; a little explosion is normal when increasing stages. It happens because off an intense release in soul power when going up in level, which means you should be feeling very tired so why don’t you just…” He saw that Trip had already fallen asleep and stopped talking.

He carried Trip back to the temple and put him down. He was shocked. Normally the explosion to go up from the foundation stage to the technique stage was fairly small, but Trip’s was 10 times larger. This indicated that Trip’s base soul power was 10 times more powerful than the average Levis family member. It was truly a terrifying thought, but it gave Trip’s uncle much stronger motivation to train Trip with all his power and make sure that Trip could become strong and rebuild the Levis family.