Standing behind the creature’s severed body was Kirveas, his hand stretched out holding his blade. He’d divided the monster in one attack, like it was nothing more than a small annoyance. He sheathed his blade in the scabbard on his waist and took a survey of the area. He finds Yuga lying on the ground trying to get up slowly, each little movement causing him to grimace. He must’ve taken a very harsh beating. But aside his probably aching body he was fine, in the sense that he was still alive. “Luckily”

Yuga finally sat up, his body sore and aching. He had taken a hard beating but he was mostly fine. At least this time he wouldn’t be unable to walk, just in a lot of pains but he’d manage. Could’ve been worse. He turns to look at the dead body of the monster, it had finally stopped spasming, both halves of its dead body lay still and lifeless. Funny to think a few minutes ago he was battling for his life against this monster. He put his hand on his chin and tried to recall the battle. He didn’t think he’d performed too badly. If Kirveas hadn’t intervened it was hard to say how the battle would have ended but looking at everything before that, he had held his own against the beast. And that was saying a lot considering it was his first time fighting one of those things.

“I told you there were dangerous things out here. You’re lucky you didn’t meet something else.” said Kirveas.

Yuga turned to face him. He was walking towards Yuga, carrying his usual air of indifference.

“Like I told you before, there’s a lot more dangerous things than just voyagers out there.” Lectured Kirveas “That was a raimeh, it’s one of the weaker beasts around here so they usually travel in packs. This one must’ve been lost.”

One of the “weaker” beasts?

That changed the entire assessment. From impressively handling himself against a beast that strong to struggling and nearly dying to one of the weaker beasts in the area. If he met anything a little bit stronger, he might die.

He touches his head and his body, he was alive, for now. But he didn’t need a way to be alive just for the moment, he needed a way to stay alive permanently. He needed to learn. Kirveas was already leaving before Yuga spoke out “For a voyager, how strong or weak am I?”

“Weak. Very weak.” Kirveas replied “But that’s to be expected, I could tell that your first sail was not long before I met you.”

Yuga simply nodded slowly at another term he was unfamiliar with.

“First sail is something like an awakening for voyagers.” explained Kirveas seeing his confusion.

“You killed that monster in one attack. Can you teach me? How to get that strong.” asked Yuga.

“Why would I spend my time on that?”

Yuga shrugs. “Who knows, I might show you something impressive”

Something impressive….“Follow me” Kirveas says.

They walk back up the slope, to the area where the house was and moved towards the forest. Kirveas suddenly stops walking just clear of the forest causing Yuga to equally stop in his tracks. He turns around to face Yuga and starts with an explanation. “Drive energy. An energy that flows through every living human being. But unlike other humans, voyagers have drive energy above a certain threshold and we are able to wield this energy, granting us abilities far beyond what a normal person can dream of. You must’ve experienced this yourself already but you’ve barely scratched the surface of using drive.”

Yuga listens attentively, letting all the information sink in.

“With drive energy you can enhance your physical abilities. Like speed for example.” At this statement he instantly moves out of Yuga’s sight and appears behind him, causing him to jump back and put up his guard. All this before the sound of the last word even reaches Yuga.

“Your senses are heightened above the five you’re used to and you’re able to perceive far more than usual. You can detect hidden enemies like the raimeh hiding in those trees.” said Kirveas pointing to the left. He stomps his foot in the direction he pointed and the ground vibrates and cracks up, causing several of the monsters to jump out. About six of them.

“Your strength high enough that creatures like these are not worth an afterthought.” Kirveas says as he turns to face them. The raimeh all attack him at once swinging their tails and slashing with their claws shrieking in that characteristic agonizing tone. All their attacks hit but Kirveas remains unmoved, not fazed in the slightest. His turn to attack. But unlike him, they weren’t as durable. He speeds past them one by one and whenever he passed the result was a quick end. Their heads bashed in and tails ripped off. He didn’t even take out his sword.

Yuga stood there all the while, guard up while peeking through the small spaces in his guard. He was able to sense the raimeh in the trees but couldn’t tell what they were at the time and how many they were. He’d tried following Kirveas’ movements but he only saw a few parts of the quick “battle”. Massacre was more like it.

“Those are the basics of physical enhancements that any voyager should be able to perform. With training you’d also be able to survive the depths of space with no oxygen and go for periods of time without eating.” concluded Kirveas “But those are ‘basics’, there are many other techniques you can learn that go beyond those, regarding physical enhancements.”

“Is that all of it?” asked Yuga.

“No. We’ve only talked about using drive energy to enhance the body. On to the next thing”

“Move back or you might get harmed.” Kirveas warned sternly.

Yuga jumped back about sixty meters in compliance, keeping his distance from whatever it was Kirveas was going to do next.

“Drive energy isn’t just used within the body, it can utilized outside of it, emitted into the surroundings. Watch. ”

He puts out his right hand, palm faced up and concentrates. An energy that had a vile feel to it starts to gather. It gathers and grows for a short till it’s the size of a ball and then it breaks down. The ball moves around in a random frantic pattern on his palm then explodes. The explosion destroys everything just short of where Yuga is standing in a sixty meter radius around Kirveas. He puts up his guard to block flying degree and plants his feet firmly to avoid being blown away by the force of the explosion.

Once it’s over he looks in front of him and there’s a large crater where Kirveas once stood. He peers into the crater from the edge and Kirveas is standing, looking out of it from the center. He continues his lesson like didn’t just blow himself up.

“When drive energy is emitted from the body it becomes ‘mal energy’. Mal energy as you saw is inherently chaotic and destructive. Not long after mal energy is formed it goes haywire and causes damage on standing.” Explained Kirveas.

“Every technique that utilizes mal energy is harmful or destructive in nature.” Kirveas adds “But mal energy left as it is isn’t useful to anyone. For it to be used in battle, it must be weilded properly.”

He once again concentrates and energy gathers in his palm. But this time the energy doesn’t go haywire, it sits still in his palm. He waves his palm with the ball of energy at Yuga who is watching from above and it stays on it unmoving. He stops waving his hand then points it at the wall of the crater to his right. The ball of energy fires off from his palm and obliterates the earth forming the crater’s walls, eradicating the trees in its path in a straight line, forming a chasm shaped like a rectangle. The path of destruction this time was relatively small, it spanned thirty metres in length but wasn’t notably wide. It was as wide as seven men put side by side.

“What you just saw is called ‘mal control’. Simply put, it is controlling the raw chaotic mal energy and utilizing it for specific, desired purposes. It’s considerably harder to perform than physical enhancements ,though affinities also play a role in that. Mal control also allows you to limit damage to the surroundings while still being able to damage the opponent to the same degree”

“You can come down here now, this final part won’t kill you” said Kirveas passively. Yuga jumps down into the middle of the crater and lands right next to Kirveas who once again had his hand stretched out, back faced to Yuga. He starts gathering energy again. “I’m not too good at this so the effect will be little. But pay attention to what happens.” he says.

The energy forms a ball as expected but then something different happens. The energy begins to change. Slowly, the vile feel of it subsides and it becomes an entirely different thing, gaining a soothing feel to it. He sends off the energy towards the damaged trees. At first Yuga doesn’t notice any difference but as he looked more closely he could tell that the damaged trees were…. Healing. Some parts of it grew back and it regained some of its life.

“That is Aias energy. Unlike mal energy it isn’t destructive in nature. It’s used for things like healing, creating barriers and binding techniques” explained Kirveas. “People who are very proficient in it are very rare. Transforming mal energy into Aias is called Aias transmutation” Kirveas explained.

“That is all you need to know in general. Any questions?”

“What about your sword, how does that work?” asked Yuga.

“My sword. It utilizes drive energy. When I wield it, it becomes like an extension of my body.” answered Kirveas.

Yuga nodded in understanding.

“There is something called malaias fusion but there’d be no point in talking about that. If you intend to train you should begin with wielding drive and physical enhancements, focusing on speed, strength and-” Before he could finish Yuga had jumped out the crater. He follows him up and asks in an inquisitive tone “What are you doing?”

Yuga had his hand stretched out facing the open air. And then he started gathering energy. “Mal control” Yuga replied confidently.

“You’ll likely damage your arm”

“At least I won’t die” He forms a ball of energy, putting all his focus into it, willing it to be calm. He keeps his hand steady and the energy remains undisturbed.

Kirveas was watching with a slightly surprised expression.

Yuga waved his hand to check for stability. The energy remained undisturbed. It was fine so far. Now for the next part. Firing. He focused harder and attempted to fire it off but he wasn’t as successful this time. The ball of energy flew only a little bit into the air before exploding violently sending him flying in the opposite direction, landing head first into the snow.

Kirveas looked to check where Yuga landed. He might’ve not had executed the whole process perfectly but he was able to stop it from exploding on his very first try. That certainly was worthy of the word impressive. This might be more worthwhile than he’d imagined. Before Kirveas walked over to where Yuga was he’d already gotten himself out, dusting off the snow.

“Let’s begin.”