Chung tries to help her back to her feet, excited for her to try again. "Quick Mei, do it again."

"Okay, I'll try." Mei said while seeking to replicate what she did a few minutes ago. But after a few minutes, to everyone's disappointment, the energy light never returned. "Did I do it?"

"No, but maybe you're tired." Chung said.

"It takes a lot of practice. Don't be discouraged, Mei, it'll come in time. With more practice, it'll become second nature." Kalindil said. "And that goes for everyone. Let's get up and back to work." As Kalindil waves everyone back to the starting position, a collective groan fills the air. Kenji winces in pain as he tries his best to gather enough strength to rise, almost falling immediately.

"Alright, we have to remember the basics. Kenji your kicks could use a minor adjustment and Ito your punching needs work. Chung, can you help Ito while I help Kenji?"

Ito tries his best to hold back his excitement as he sees Chung walking towards him. He checks his breath but unfortunately it still smells from the troll stew a few nights ago. Dang it Lemir.

"Show me what you got Ito." Chung said while smiling at him, making Ito blush.

"Does this look alright?" Ito asked as he threw a couple of punches.

"Try to relax her arm a little." Chung said, as she grabs his arm, then shows him an example. Ito's throat instantly tightens as his heart starts racing. "You only want to be tense right before impact. Try again."

Ito flails his arm forward, keeping his arm loose throughout the entire sequence and turns to Chung, hoping she didn't notice how intentionally bad he did it. "Like that?" Ito asked.

While Kalindil is showing him how to kick properly, Kenji couldn't help but look over at Ito and Chung and shake his head at Ito's obvious attempts.

"Uh no, not quite. Here, let me show you again." Chung grabs his arm once more, as Ito's cheeks blushes immediately.

"Are you okay? Your face is really red."

"Yeah, it must be from working out. Back home, I didn't get much exercise."

"Me too. The only exercise I would get would be from playing this dancing game."

"Dance 300?"

"Yeah! You play it?"

"Yeah, I don't look it, but I almost beat the game on the hardest level."

"Well, I beat the game on the hardest level."

"Wow." Ito said as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, staring at Chung in amazement.

"I know." Chung said while standing with her arms crossed, while looking at Ito sideways with a large smirk on her face.

The group continues for hours, punching and kicking the shadows as Kalindil sets the level of the shadows to a more beginner level. But as the day continues, everyone reaches their limit as they all collapse on the ground, not caring about the manure that lay next to them.

"Hey, stop messing around and get up. If you don't improve, I'm not letting any of you join-" Kalindil stops abruptly, tensing up as he hears footsteps approaching. He motions everyone to stay quiet and whispers not to move while he went to investigate the noise. Kenji tries his best to stay frozen, while he screams silently as his whole body cramps. While Kenji is in agony, the rest, despite Kalindil's instructions, are still laying down, trying to prolong their break as much as possible. Ito turns his head towards Sungwoo and curiously looks at him, confirming that Sungwoo is in fact, snoring.

Kalindil inches closer to the bush closest to the entrance, trying to get a better view of where that noise came from. He stands there getting mentally prepared for an attack, as he peeks through the leaves while gripping the hilt of his sword.

"Aureim." Valier shouted, startling Kalindil, as he almost fell into the bush. Despite a warm welcome from Valier, Kalindil seems even more unnerved, gripping his sword even tighter. As Aureim walks up to the cottage, Kalindil rolls his eyes at the sight of him. A man built like he's been carved from stone and with cheekbones that are so pronounced you would believe it could cut through diamonds.

Curious about who it was, they all walk towards the cottage, trying to get a peek at who Valier is welcoming.

Ito is the first of the group to see who it is. Overcome with excitement, Ito shouts, "It's Aureim, the chosen one."

Startled by the noise, Aureim turns his head and searches where the noise came from. He glances over and immediately turns back to Valier, visibly perplexed, wondering what is happening. "Wait aren't they-"

"I'll explain later."

Aureim nods his head, obviously still confused, but trusts Valier and waits. Aureim turns back to the group, waving his hand and smiling like a politician in the middle of an election. As he spins back to Valier, his golden hair sparkles in the sunlight as he flips his shiny locks over his shoulder.

"Ugh, the chosen one, I hate that trope. I wish stories would do away with the chosen one character. It only takes away from the others." Kenji said.

"His name is not trope. It's Aureim, but I agree with you Kenji. I don't much care for him either. Aureim is as smug as they come. I don't see what the big deal about him is."

"Didn't he achieve a blue aura at the age of 5? Didn't he also take down a tenedraug at the age of 10?" Ito said, annoying Kalindil even more.

"Let's get back to work. Ito, you'll be my volunteer." Kalindil turns around to the training area, snatching Ito by the arm, taking him with him.

"Aureim, thank you so much for helping us." Valier said, embracing him with a hug.

"Of course, I would do anything to help you and Jasmin."

"You're late. You were supposed to be here two days ago." Lemir stood on the porch, leaning on one of the pillars with his arms crossed. He taps his paw furiously and glares down at Aureim with anger and disappointment.

"Lemir… it's so great to see you." Aureim said, appearing exasperated while struggling to get each word out. "When do we leave?"

"Well, we wanted to leave yesterday, but we'll have to make it tomorrow. We already drew up the plans without you, so we need you to catch up and prepare for anything."

"Don't worry about me furball, I'll be ready. It's me after all." Lemir blazes with a bright blue, as he hears the words furball leave his mouth. Valier swiftly jumps between the two, not wanting to rebuild the cottage again.

"Like you were ready when we fought against Rathmal and his army?"

Aureim, enraged, glowing blue, while walking closer to Lemir. "How dare you? I was only but a teen when I fought in that war. I was lucky to leave there with my life."

"Yeah, you sure made that clear when you fled on the first day."

"Enough. We were all ill prepared that day. But what we need to do is plan for tomorrow. Aureim, we talked about you calling Lemir that word. It's highly disrespectful."

Aureim struggles to compose himself, as he stands straight up, while flinging his head, trying to put his golden locks back into place. "Of course, my apologies, Lemir. The talk from the people in town must've made me say it subconsciously. Well, I'll go to my room and meditate. Please provide the plans and let me know when dinner is ready." Aureim turns his head so quickly, it appears to have strained his neck a little. Aureim walks up the stairs with his chin high and arms flailing with every step. He even went as far as walking sideways through the door, to keep his shoulders stretched out as far as possible.

Lemir relaxes his fists and takes a deep breath. He was just seconds away from sending a fireball into Aureim's behind. "After his mission, I think I might kill him."

"What good will that do? Like him or not, he is a valuable warrior to have on our side. He might be even on par with you at that age."

"Hmph, he wishes. I was quite the stud when I was his age. No one dared to mess with me." Lemir said, with his hands on his hips while smiling at the sky.

"Well, stud, let's prepare dinner, shall we?" Valier said as she elbows Lemir in his side. As they both walk up the steps and head towards the kitchen, Valier notices Hiro sitting by himself.

"Lemir, I'll meet you there."

Lemir looks at Hiro and then back to Valier, with a concerned expression on his face, but chooses to ignore his better judgment and heads towards the kitchen.

Valier strolls towards Hiro while he watches the others as they practice until they can't anymore, and that's when Kalindil picks them up and they practice some more, despite their spirited protest. Valier sits down next to him, joining him as they both admire the training session, noticing sadness and envy in his eyes.

"Why aren't you training with the others?"

"You know about that?"

"You would have to be pretty unaware to not notice a group of kids training by your home, wouldn't you?"

"I don’t care." Hiro said as he shook his head, continuing to look at Chung and the others.

"I have the feeling that you do." Valier said, looking closer at Hiro, while he tried his best to hide his face.

Valier takes out her wand and swirls it around, creating spectacles with different elements. Hiro turns and stares in amazement. The light from the thunder, fire and water lighting around them. "What if I showed you a few things? Does that sound like fun?"

"When do we start?" Hiro asked as he looked at Valier with a quizzical expression on his face.

"We can start now if you'd like. I'm sure Lemir can handle preparing dinner."

"Does that mean there's going to be more fur than usual?"

"Unfortunately."