The next day was met with an early rise. Kyrion and Asela were woken up at the crack of dawn, which wasn’t unusual back home. What was confusing was the backyard they were brought out to. It was surprisingly spacious, with various metal implements strewn about.

Their grandfather was outside in a pair of short pants and a thin tunic. Arms crossed and a chipper expression on his face. His legs were covered in red hair.

“Didn’t even know legs could have hair,” Kyrion mumbled.

“Now that you’re here it’s time to start your training. I have ten days to beat into you a training regime. No more Mr.Nice Grandpa.” Alexander said plainly.

“Were going to get hit?” Kyrion began to take stock of all the exits.

“First, I want you to run around the courtyard for a solid ten minutes, don’t stop moving and pace yourself if necessary.”

“That’s forever!” Asela protested.

“No more interruptions!” Alexander raised his voice.

Both kids got very quiet very quickly.

“After this, I’ll have you do a series of exercises that you will need to practice everyday from then on out. Finally Charles will return with breakfast and then the real training will begin.”

Asela started to say something, but Kyrion stopped her.

“Any questions? No? Now get running.” Alexander said.

The kids stood there bleary-eyed and confused.

“Now get to running!” Alexander clapped his hands loudly, and the kids began to run.

Kyrion was on his third lap when he started to slow down, his body not used to the extended effort.

When he made it back to his grandpa and received a hard slap on his back.

“Keep going. You still have strength left, keep pushing it.” Alexander said.

Kyrion winced out of reflex, but instead of pain, he felt somewhat energized and started to pick up the pace. He made it another three laps before receiving a similar prod again.

Around the five-minute mark, Kyrion noticed his sister got a similar slap every six laps. Her pace seemed to be better than his.

He also noted that she couldn’t do anything like this two months ago.

Time passed, and the two were allowed to stop running and made their way back to their grandfather. Who led them through stretches and a series of jumping jacks, push-ups, and sit-ups, followed by some exercises that Kyrion had never heard of. He noticed Asela was drastically outpacing him to a degree of power that made him want to push harder. They rested for 10 minutes before Charles arrived with a breakfast spread for the exhausted children.

“Decent for kids, horrible for spirit masters but that is to be expected. Kyrion before you eat come with me. We have to attune your spirits. No use wasting food with a growing appetite like yours.” Alexander says as he travels deeper into the courtyard.

Kyrion did just that and made his way towards his grandfather, yawning. “So, what do I need to do now?”

“Remove your shirt, I’ll need your back. I already have the materials ready, you just need to accept them. It should be easy if nothing more than physically draining. Warning, you’re about to get really hungry.” Alexander replied with a grin.

Kyrion paled at the thought of having to eat tons of food and looked back. “I’ll eat it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Charles brought out a second platter of food as though preparing for something.

Kyrion sat down, his back facing Alexander. The symbol of a small fox sleeping could be seen next to the outline of an egg. Under both of them was some sort of seed. Fox seemed to move across the boy’s back as though it was breathing.

“I can’t tell if the people who tested you were blind or if you were lucky to be under their radar? Try not to show anyone your back without that bracelet.” Alexander signed.

“What?” Kyrion said, surprised.

The old man began an unintelligible chant before searing pain entered his back. Kyrion tried to let out a roar as his back grew hotter and hotter, then he tried to stand up only to find that his body had gone rigid. He felt something fundamentally change in his center, and a pain shot through him like a cramp across his nerves. As though something had begun to take root inside of him. He felt the power flow through his body, and his paralysis began to fade.

Next, he felt a cool sensation as something began to flow in his system. The feeling came in from his back and spread throughout his body. Cooling the searing pain and adding a type of clarity to his mind that he lacked previously. As calm as a flowing river. Kyrion was at peace, passing out as everything was finished.

Kyrion awoke to his stomach growling in hunger. When he stood up, the ground felt much further away. His nails and hair were longer. He felt the connection to his mana pool strengthen. He finally felt centered, as though a balance finally righted itself.

“I need food….” Kyrion went towards the door and tripped over his feet, hitting his chin on the floor.

Charles came running in panic. “Kyrion, are you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Foooood!” Was, all Kyrion said, head in-ground and voice muffled.

“Oh dear. Food isn’t a number between one and five.” Charles put down his three fingers and left the room.

Kyrion woke up shortly after to the smell of hot, high-calorie baked, frosted goodness. His mouth started drooling instinctively.

“Stop that. I don’t drool over food.” Kyrion tried to convince himself. But unfortunately, his stomach didn’t agree with the ideals he was peddling.

He then noticed Alexander sitting across from him with the tray holding more pastries, and a mix of anger and betrayal crossed the young boy’s face.

“What did you do to me!” He stood up again, stumbling toward the table, leaning on Charles to stand upright.

“Eat now. Speak later, your body is mad at you right now.” Alexander said calmly.

Kyrion made it back to the table and began devouring the pastries, tray by tray, and after eating his fill, his mind felt clearer and less angry at him.

All the aches and pains were gone. “So. What did you do to me? I feel weird.”

Alexander nodded at the question. “Kyrion, you see, one of those spirits Jala chose, must have been a pretty rare one. Normally when you reach rank one, your body gets stronger to a degree, based on which spirit you obtained. In Asela’s case, she got a little stronger and faster, but her stamina seemed to shoot through the roof, at least from what I can tell. In your case, it seems like you sprouted a little. You went from being short for your age to about average. Any more changes will have to be tested tomorrow. I will explain everything I can then.”

Kyrion nodded as Charles brought out another tray of pastries. He proceeded to finish off that tray before getting up and heading back to the courtyard.

Kyrion decided to walk around for a bit, feeling the changes. His old scars and calluses had faded and disappeared after eating his food, and his teeth felt stronger. When he ran around the track, Kyrion didn’t get tired as fast as he did earlier and noticed his energy recovered quickly, although it seemed to tax something else in turn. He ran for around 30 minutes before he started to get a cramp in his stomach and began to feel awful. Then, he felt the pain recede and felt really drained.

Alexander made his way to the courtyard. “I said to get used to your changes not to hurt yourself unattended. You have the day off of training, go rest somewhere. You can even explore the city if you want. Those noble brats shouldn’t bother you anymore, go and make some friends.”

Surprised by his newfound freedom, Kyrion went on a walk outside, bored and curious all at the same time. He walked to a park he heard was in the noble district, under the fancy benches, a relatively large pond, and another fancy statue of some muscular guy on a horse.

He found tall trees with black leaves and red vines. The bark had a slight red tinge to them as well. The trees called to the boy asking to be climbed.

Kyrion climbed one of the red trees. Upon reaching the top, he was quite refreshed as well. So much so that he began to nod off on the branch he was relaxing on.

An unknown amount of time passed before Kyrion noticed someone was yelling at him.

“Hey weirdo! Why are you in that tree!? Hello! Hey!” It was a high-pitched voice.

Kyrion looked down and saw some blonde-haired girl looking up at him, preparing to throw a rock at him.

“Huh?”

He was too late, the rock hit him on the side, and his body slipped off the tree, strangely though his legs wrapped around the branch before he could fall entirely and hung from it almost as though he was rooted unto the tree.

He hardly noticed the strain. “Hey, don’t throw rocks at people. It’s rude! Good day ma’am!”

“You ok?” She asked worriedly before tensing up. “It’s your fault I was talking to you and you didn’t say anything. It’s my duty to put trouble makers in their place. You can’t just climb the trees! Especially these!” She replied.

“Who said I can’t climb the trees? Trees are for everyone, my big brother told me that.” Kyrion said while pulling his eyelid down. Or well up in this case, since he was upside down.

The girl points to a sign with some odd symbols on it. “It says don’t climb the trees. You’re breaking a law, you know. I could have you thrown in jail for your crimes. Can’t you read?” She said with a smug expression.

“And I should care why? I’ll get down from the tree but what’s this jail thing?” Kyrion began making his way down the tree.

“Jail is where the bad people go after doing something illegal.” The girl stood proud.

Surprisingly her words had the opposite effect as Kyrion climbed even further up the tree in a hurry. “I’m not going to jail! I’m staying up here!” Kyrion had reached near the top of his tree by this point and was holding on for dear life.

The girl pouted and appeared to walk away. “I’m going to get my dad. He’s a Knight captain! He’ll get you down!”

“The brat left,” Kyrion thought to himself. He wondered what he should do next when a flash of genius struck him.

Kyrion went from tree to tree, testing the durability of the branches when he found his match. A rigid yet flexible set of branches were the perfect hiding spot.

Unbeknownst to him, the trees seemed to welcome him as though he was a part of them, branches covering his path, and all noticeable signs of his presence vanished among them. Along with a steady stream of mana and his own blood, something he hadn’t noticed was leaving him.

Around ten minutes later, Kyrion noticed an older man with blonde hair and a beard being dragged back to the trees, shaking his head. The girl pointed at the tree and couldn’t find him; she pointed to a few nearby trees but still couldn’t find him. The man scanned the area with a cursory glance, and Kyrion felt that he was overlooked. The man seemed to concentrate, and a wave of power seemed to pass through the trees. Kyrion thought he had been discovered, but the man seemed to ignore him. Finally, he bent down and said something to the girl, and they left the park together.

After the pair left, Kyrion decided he should find a way back home but couldn’t go the normal way. No, he had to go about it stealthy. After a reasonable amount of time passed, he climbed down the tree and jumped from hiding spot to hiding spot, avoiding sight. Finally, he jumped the fence to the park and began to go back to his house. He found a patch of dirt he used to cover his face with and even added a few leaves to his disguise.

Kyrion made it back to the mansion unbothered, sneaking his way in only to notice extra shoes left at the front door. “Odd…” he mumbled while heading to his room to get changed. But, unbeknownst to him, a trail of mud followed closely behind.

“Kyrion!” Came a voice that vaguely reminded him of Charles, only it was angry, which was a new experience.

Kyrion opened the door carelessly. “Oh hey Charles, what’s the matter?” He saw fire in the butler’s eyes but assumed it was towards something else.

“Kyrion… You tracked mud all over the freshly waxed floor, what do you have to say about that?” Charles asked admonishingly.

“I need a bath? I’ll go take one and then clean up my mess… Now if you want me to do so now I’d only make things worse.” Kyrion revealed his mud-covered body.

Charles begins to look drained. “No time. Kyrion, I’m going to clean you and the hall now. I need you to step into the hallway though.”

Kyrion did so, and the hallway was flushed out with some liquid that came out of Charles’s hands, cleaning Kyrion and the hallway simultaneously. After they were washed, something warm passed through the highway, and Kyrion was also dried off. The butler then groomed the boy’s hair and nails, stopping when he was satisfied. “Now we have some guests here today. So be on best behavior, ok?”

“I don’t feel too well tonight. Mind if I eat in my room? Don’t want to scare anyone. Also, do I need to know how to read?” Kyrion asked warily, coughing into his hand and letting blood find it there.

“If you wish. Training will start early tomorrow morning. You’ll be a day behind, and it seems even further If we need to teach you how to read. No worries though you’re still pretty young.” Charles left and returned with a platter, and night became day.

They began their daily exercises, both managing to get past the gauntlet without excess force, and when they moved on to mana training.

“Asela you can start now, since I gave you your exercises yesterday.” The old man crossed his arms.

“Yes sir!” Asela said as she started trying to meditate.

“Now Kyrion, find the core in the center of your body, and breathe.”

Kyrion looked into his body, finding his core. Something that seemed to fill his entire body. It was as though there was a small storm of power brewing inside of him, waiting to get out. The oddity was the mana trying to get in. It tickled a bit.

“As you do you should notice a tingly feeling in your core. Latch onto that sensation and try to move it into your core. This is a mana absorption technique. Use it when you’re low on mana, and it will help refill your pool faster. It can also help increase the size of your mana pool over time.”

Kyrion drew in mana and directed it to his core, which was already full. A pressure built behind his eyes, and he knew the feeling. Kyrion pushed the mana in his body directly into his fox spirit, causing it to fall dormant.

The pain faded, but he soon found that the fox couldn’t take any more. He tried to feed some to the egg the same way, yet all it did was get redirected. So he fed the seed instead, finding that it took in everything. Drinking the outside mana in as though it was boundless void.

Soon after, Alexander marked that it was time to move on. “Now try molding all the mana you have in your body, and squeeze it down. This will help increase its quality.”

“Why does quality matter?” Asela asked

“The higher the quality, the more potential you will have later on, so it’s important. When you compress your mana to the size of a grape, you’ve reached rank two, and by the time it reaches the size of a pea, you will have reached rank three.”

Kyrion and Asela were a little confused. “What happens at rank four?”

The mana quality you reached at rank three is then set as your new standard of mana quality. With the new standard, you refill your mana to around sixty percent of its natural size. Quality determines how much power, from stronger magical abilities to a better body, depending on what your spirits specialize in. This is why compressions are critical.” Alexander explained.

Kyrion worriedly started trying to compress his mana. When he pushed, the mana moved in that direction. It was malleable and slimy. It seemed to engulf the figurative hands he was using to push. Kyrion tried making the hands bigger, but they slipped through his fingers this time. On his third attempt, he tried to cup his hands around it. It seemed to work until the mana shot out of his figurative hands.

Kyrion felt both physically and mentally drained by the end of the exercise. His body was covered in sweat. He stood up and stretched before eating a big lunch. Eating became more enjoyable as he trained, and for some reason, the sheer amounts he needed to consume seemed to not bother him as much anymore.

Charles approached Kyrion with a book that seemed both old and well used. Kyrion looked at it and slowly backed away from Charles.

“I get the feeling I’m not gonna like where you’re going with this.” Kyrion had a pale expression on his face.

“Young master Kyrion, it has come to my attention that your reading ability was lacking and I brought this to remedy that situation. We are going to start with letters, and move on to basic words. I hope to have you at least able to practice on your own by the time class starts.” Charles dragged Kyrion to a wooden table, and the practice began.

“Kyrion?” Charles asked.

“Yes Charles.” Kyrion replied after going through the preparatory book

“You said you couldn’t read.” He said with a hint of suspicion.

“Yup. I can’t read.” Kyrion said.

“You seem to already have some of the basics down, I’m just wondering if you’re playing us for fools.”

“Oh that. I know a few words. But back when I was learning my head started hurting alot. It happened multiple times. So I was excused from my lessons. I have my letters but that’s it.”

“You could have started with that and not wasted time.”

“Nonsense. I thought I forgot most of them.” Kyrion continued his lessons.

After a few hours of practice, Kyrion went outside to play with Jala, Asela, and Wura. What started out being a light-hearted set of games slowly began to feel like training. Tag was running, Hide and Seek, perception and sneakiness. Even Dodge the rope made him better at dodging things in general. Kyrion had a very early mid-life crisis.

“Everything is training.” He muttered to himself, pounding the ground. “Curse you Mr.Lingar, I will never be able to play for fun again.”

“What’s he doing?” Wura asked Asela.

“Not sure. I think he missed his nap and is a bit loopy.” Asela shrugged.

“Should we play somewhere else?” Wura asked.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two girls moved on to a different game while Kyrion had his moment.

Later that day, Kyrion tried to manifest his spirits. Unlike Jala, however, the egg didn’t seem to budge, while the seed rooted inside him seemed to pulse to no effect. He tried eating a piece of mana candy and feeding the excess mana to his spirits with no luck. The rest of his training was spent trying to use Jala’s shared magic. He had a handle on the mist though he didn’t know what it did. Pure wind control seemed to be hard to get a hold of.

Every day, Kyrion would wake up, exercise, meditate, practice with his weapons, and then practice reading for the majority of the day. After which, Kyrion would play with his spirits.

Over time, Jala’s fur became shiner as Kyrion began training his mana quality. The more he managed to compress, the stronger the link he felt. His other spirits seemed to stay dormant as he tried to coax them into manifesting.

The boot camp ended on day nine, and Kyrion was at a consistent rate of 80% in his compressions. Kyrion and Asela were given packed bags that included a few books and some basic necessities.

“Bye Gramps! Bye Charles!” They waved as they left to meet up with the others.