The next spirit beast to materialize in front of Maddox and Buffy the squirrel was a fox whose tail was on fire.

“Ok Buffy come on back,” Maddox instructed to everyone’s surprise. With a glow from his command crest the Chidi bead bracelet in his hand glowed and soon the rock turkey walked out of a glowing green hole that appeared in front of him. “Ok Sweet pea, you’re up.”

“Why would he change out his Chidi beast? The squirrel is fine.” Instructor Von’Leafe, asked.

“No idea,” Sha’Carri responded with a shrug. “It seems like a wasteful use of his Chidi though.”

Sweetpea the Rock turkey walked steadily towards the fox after nodding towards Maddox. He couldn't help but think that the large turkey that looked like it rolled around in pebbles seemed to act with very human characteristics, much like Buffy.

Without warning a fireball shot from the fox’s mouth and struck Sweetpea in the face, but with a shake of her feathers the turkey just gave the fox a look as if saying “how dare you strike me.”

For whatever reason Maddox looked ecstatic. “Yes, I figured Sweetpea wouldn’t have a problem against this fire fox.”

Both instructors nodded in acceptance. “So he was taking the attribute of the spirit beast into consideration.”

“Hmm, he has been asking me a lot about attributes, but for whatever reason he keeps trying to categorize the spirit beasts in types,” Sha’Carri mused.

Back in the simulation, Sweetpea was charging towards the fox. It continuously shot fireballs from its mouth, but the rock turkey looked little worse for wear. With its head lowered Sweetpea ram right into the poor little fox, sending it several feet away.

“Sweetpea use your spurs while it's down.” Maddox instructed and with a hint of malice his rock turkey was more than happy to comply. After several strikes from the turkey’s dagger-like spur the firefox faded away in a stream of bright particles.

Maddox was having success by swapping between his two Chidi beasts, defeating two more monsters with this strategy, but his luck might’ve run out against the fifth spirit beast.

“No Sweetpea!” Maddox shrieked. The Spirit in front of them was a wolverine that stood on its hind legs. It stood a head taller than Maddox and looked like it weighed three times as much as Sweetpea. Sweetpea wasn’t no bitch, and tried her best to stumble back to its feet even after taking a savage beating from this spirit beast's claws.

‘This spirit beast doesn’t look like it has an element type. It's just big and strong.’ Maddox thought. ‘I could try to weaken it with Sweetpea then use Buffy to hopefully finish it off, but…’ Maddox's plan was good, and one that anyone who played the games he had in his youth would’ve done the same thing, but as he thought more about it the images of the spirit beasts he defeated vanishing into particles of light filled his head and he couldn’t bring himself to do that to his poor Sweetpea.

‘Sweetpea’s been such a badass, I can’t do that to her.’ Maddox pointed his fist holding the Chidi beads towards his poor rock turkey. The poor bird was barely able to stand. “Good fight Sweetpea, get some rest.” Sweetpea slowly disappeared from in front of the wolverine.

Buffy the squirrel made a move to get off of Maddox’s neck, expecting it to be her turn against the large beast, but it was surprised when he patted her head and held her in place.

“Instructor, I'm done.” He shouted as loudly as he could, hoping somehow his mother could hear him. He kept his eyes on the wolverine spirit beast in front of him, but to his surprise it never moved. Standing completely still.

‘Man if this was real there’s no way we would’ve gotten out of this without getting hurt, or worse.’ The thought made his dark skin turn a little pale. ‘If this was real I could’ve died…again.’ With the realization of how dire his situation could’ve been his body finally started to disappear, exiting the simulation.

Maddox started to twist his neck, and roll his shoulders. He always felt stiff after sitting in the lotus position. When he finally stood up he wasn’t surprised to see both instructors there.

“How do you think you did, boy?” Sha’Carri asked. Her arms crossed and her foot tapping.

“It went well in the beginning, but I had no answer for that wolverine monster. I couldn’t imagine facing that thing in the wild.” Maddox had given his situation some thought and decided to be honest with his instructor. Sha’Carri might’ve been a bit mean, and pushed him a little too hard, but he felt like it wasn’t coming from a place of malice.

Her eyes softened. She had expected him to focus more on his earlier successes. She was ready to reprimand him for his arrogance, but there was none. He stood in front of her with humility. “Sometimes it's hard to believe you’re ten years old when you show such maturity.” Sha’Carri turned away from him before speaking again. “Now I feel kinda bad for having Von’Leafe make you fight that Fury Wolverine.”

“Wait, what!” Maddox's brain had stopped working for a second there.

The older female student that was sitting behind the counter walked up to them, stopping Maddox before he could yell at Sha’Carri.

“Smart move leaving before the Fury Wolverine got going. Nothing’s wrong with knowing when to do a “tactical retreat” I always say.” The student wore the robes of a senior pupil. She had porcelain skin and a chubby face, and her hair was covered in fluffy wheat blonde hair. She gave both instructors a bow before handing Maddox an orange and green coin with a halo on it.

“Thank you for your diligence as always pupil Von’Hare,” Instructor Von’Leafe praised the girl. “That coin is your placement for your current trial. Next time you come here you can start right where you left off.” Von’Leafe's words made Maddox pale once more at the thought of having to face that damn wolverine again.

“Buffy,” Maddox said with a bit of surprise when his squirrel patted him on his head and gave him a nod with determination in its eyes. “You want to fight that thing again huh.”

“See, your little rodent has the right spirit!” Sha’Carri’s laughter rang through the large open room, and to Buffy and Maddox’s surprise she even patted her on the head.

“That was a really good show for someone lacking a decent defense and Chidi art,” Von’Leafe praised Maddox.

All three of them had exited one of the many elevators into the lobby of the Battle tower.

“Defense, Chidi art?” Maddox looked at them both with confusion.

“Yeah he doesn’t know what any of that is.” Sha’Carri stated, and Von’Leafe finally just face palmed.

“I’m surprised he got as far as he did. He would benefit from seeing a Chidi Battle. It would give him better general knowledge.” With those words Von’Leafe had sealed his fate.

“I think a demonstration of a proper Chidi Battle would be educational in deed.” Sha’Carri agreed while giving a predatory grin aimed towards Von’Leafe. She was more than annoyed with the instructor in charge of the battle tower and didn’t mind smacking him around a little bit. The fact that Maddox could get something out of it was just icing on the cake.

“I don’t think the pupils would care to see us spar,” he attempted to weasel his way out of it, but somehow the Senior pupil Von’Hare was now behind the counter on the lobby floor rather than at the counter on the training floor where they had just seen her.

“Oh if the instructors are going to exchange pointers with each other I’ll put it up on all the viewing screens!”

“Wait, what.” The usually well spoken Instructor Von’Leafe was speechless at the student’s plan.

“I think that's a great idea,” Sha’Carri smiled from ear to ear. Enjoying the flustered look on his face too much.

With a deep breath pupil Von’Hare shouted as loudly as she could. “Hey everyone, Instructor Sha’Carri is going to trade pointers with Instructor Von’Leafe!” Everyone’s ears perked up after hearing that.

“Are you serious!?” A student asked excitedly.

“Hell yeah I'm serious! I’m going to set it up and put it on all the viewing screens in the tower. Go tell everyone!" Von’Hare got from behind the counter and placed a sign on it before she turned towards the elevator. The sign read: “Be right back, got more important things to do.”

“But wait, Pupil Von’Hare,” Instructor Von’Leafe attempted to chase after the curly haired girl, but a firm grip on his shoulder and the toothy grin on Sha’Carri’s face made it clear that he wasn’t going to get out of this. Much like a man walking into his own execution Von’Leafe followed the Senior Pupil into the elevator along with Sha’Carri and the quiet boy that she had taken under her wing.

//////

Emma Von’Kiernan had just finished running laps in one of the many open fields within the school. Her usual academy robes weren’t on her and instead she wore shorts with a sleeveless top. Her hand on her knees not only to catch her breath, but to also slowly take in the small specks of Spiritual energy she could finally see. Like most of the first years she wondered what grueling exercise had to do with cultivating, but as her comprehension had grown from her studies over the past few days, and her body had begun to tone up and build muscle. She slowly caught glimpses of the strange specks of energy in the air. Even now, after a few breaths she starts to feel better, more at ease.

‘I wonder how close I am to reaching the Forged Breath Realm?’ The thought made her giddy with excitement.

“Hey Instructor Sha’Carri is going to trade pointers with the head of the Battle Tower.” Her thoughts stopped abruptly by the words of another student running around screaming. The other students who were using the field for one reason or another stopped what they were doing to run towards the Battle tower. Emma was no different.

“Man, we get to see Instructor Sha’Carri fight!” Multiple kids spoke with glee.

"It's not everyday you get to see someone in the Supreme Realm fight," some other kids stated. Every one must have felt the same way because it seemed like the entire school was headed in the same direction, towards the Battle Tower.

/////

Maddox was in awe of it all. The fact that they were on the 18th floor of a tower that only looked to be ten stories tall was ridiculous to him. ‘Who needs science when you have Rune Formations,’ he mused. Even now he stood in what could only be described as a coliseum capable of holding probably a thousand spectators. Still the sheer size of this absurd room wasn’t the most mind boggling thing. In his opinion it had to be the bright sunny blue sky up above the coliseum. Truly if he didn’t know any better he would’ve thought that the elevator had teleported them somewhere else. In the end Maddox could only stroke his non-existent beard and say with a scrutinizing squint of his eyes, “Ahh yes, more cultivator magical bullshit I see.”

“What’s magic?” Von’Hare asked, glancing over her shoulder at the younger pupil. She had a scroll open and was sliding her finger over certain sections of those strange rune symbols. As a section glowed with her touch and insertion of Chidi something would change in the large room that seemed like it spread out for miles.

Through this scroll she made what looked like a hundred fireflies floating around the two instructors on either side of a large stone ring. Her finger slid across another line of runes only to have a large mirror appear above the coliseum. The mirror’s surface rippled and soon the faces of both instructors showed upon it, much like a jumbotron screen at a sporting event.

So with a scoff Maddox replied with, “This! This is magic!” His hands flailed around. Fellow pupil Von’Hare just scratched her cheek after tucking the scroll away in a small pouch under her robes. It wasn’t lost on Maddox that there was no reason how that scroll could fit in that small pouch.

“No this is just Rune Formations. Well a formation this large is actually considered a Rune Array. You know a bunch of formations tied together.” She pointed up to the sun-like orb in the fake sky up above their heads. “The sun up there actually is the rune array. It's all pretty great isn’t it.” Maddox did agree that it was all pretty cool, but he wasn’t about to admit that.

‘The more I hear about this stuff the more it all just reminds me of string code, or using unity. I could probably learn to use this too.’ Von’Hare just watched him for a moment while he was deep in thought. She thought it was cute how he would stroke his chin whenever he was thinking about something, almost like he was pretending to be an adult.

“Don’t think too hard about it kid.” She ruffled his hair. “The academy will teach you the basics of runes, for now let's enjoy the match.”

Maddox just stared at her appalled that she would treat him like a child. Then he remembered that he was stuck in the body of a ten year old boy. His thoughts about the similarities between rune formations and computer programming caused him to forget his current situation. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” He huffed after looking at Von’Hare’s chubby cheeks and tuft of fluffy blonde hair.

“Aww aren’t you cute, but you’re too young for me I'm afraid. When you're older I might take you up on it though.” She winked at him playfully. Maddox blushed, choosing to ignore her and watch down at the arena instead.

Von’Leafe was tapping a gaudy paper fan against his hand while staring daggers at the grinning Sha’Carri on the opposite end of the arena. All around him he heard the cheers of the students that filled the coliseum on the 18th floor.He was surprised at how quickly it filled up. Even some of the other instructors were floating on numerous enlarged items so they could get a better view of the coming exhibition match. It's not like he didn’t understand everyone’s excitement, but why did he have to be the one that incurred the wrath of this hot-tempered immortal.

‘All I did was ask a few questions.’ In his mind he couldn’t figure out what he had done to get on her bad side…go figure.

“Aren’t you going to pull out your Chidi apparatus?” he finally asked her.

Sha’Carri just kept on grinning. “Nah, I’m not gonna do that to you. If I used my apparatus you would lose even quicker so I'm gonna go bare handed.” She flexed her right arm, showing off her chiseled muscles.

Von’Leafe felt the corner of his lips twitch as the vein on his forehead bulged. ‘Is she calling me weak?’ The DISRESPECT of it all!

“Let’s not drag this out for too long. I’ll let you use two chidi beasts to my one. That should give you a fighting chance.” Sha’Carri thought she was being gracious, but between the arm flexing and the hearty laugh she came off as boastful, more than anything.

“I don’t need such a handicap!” Von’Leafe spoke in anger. He looked like he wanted to say more but was frozen in silence by the Violent Intent that Sha’Carri released. It not only affected Von’Leafe but also the other instructors watching in the coliseum.

“Don’t be a fool child,” Her words seemed harsh, but with the gaze in her eyes Von’Leafe felt the gravity of her words. “I may have chosen to pick on you but I do intend to trade pointers with my Junior. This “handicap” as you put it is so I can at least have time to see what you’re capable of.”

With that said Von’Leafe could only bow towards her in admiration, realizing that her words were spoken with the weight and the experience of not a long lived Chidi Trainer, but an Immortal. “I apologize to senior sister. It seems that even though I have eyes I failed to see Mt.Tai”

Sha’Carri being a gracious soul waved him off, and contained her intent once again. The students couldn’t even comprehend what had happened, but the other instructors simply nodded, taking the conversation to heart. “Now do not dally, let us begin this match and award our pupils for their patience with a good show!”

A bracelet of jade mantra beads(known as Chidi beads), in different shades of green appeared on Von’Leafe’s wrist after the ring on his finger flashed for a brief moment.. A specific bead glowed with the color of his command crest that appeared on the back of his hand when he pulled the Chidi beads from his spatial ring. “Fervent Treeant!” With his call and a bright flash of his command crest. A massive tree rose from the arena floor. It had two long branches that seemed to be as long as the entirety of the tree.

With a nod Sha’Carri went next. She took her right arm out of her robes to reveal not only her bright sky blue command crest that was the head of a tiger, but the heavily stylized tattoo that led up her arm that looked like the body of a tiger. The tattoo looked like it was made out of thousands of small crystals or gemstones that were arranged on her arm to be an intricate tattoo. The front half of the tiger could be seen running up her arm while the rest of the image was hidden within her robe. There was a small ‘Popping' sound and a long set of 100 Chidi beads, a multitude of colors appeared on her right fist. Usually when a Cultivator used a spatial ring there was always a small flash of light, but that didn’t happen with Sha’Carri, as if her spatial storage wasn’t tied to an object but something else entirely.She wrapped the Chidi beads around her fist twice before pulling it up her arm and over her neck. One bead in particular began to glow like the crest and tattoo on her arm. Then like it was under the arena all along a massive crab the size of a cement truck dug itself out of the ground with a large mountain on its back.

“Royal Mountain Crab.” was all her brisk voice uttered.

““Wow!”” was said by every student watching the arena. Even those who had to stand in front of the Battle Tower and look at the match on a large viewing screen felt the majesty of the Chidi beast Instructor Sha’Carri commanded.

‘I wonder if I could raise a Chidi beast like that someday.’ Emma wondered with a look of whimsy on her face, but she wasn’t the only one. Other students looking at the larger than life crab had a fire lit in them, each determined to someday have such a strong beast under their control.

Maddox looked at the dull green glow and simple image of his command crest while petting his squirrel. He couldn’t help but feel like he was lacking, but inspiration soon struck him. “We all start somewhere,” He was unaware that he had whispered it, but Von’Hare heard him.

“Yep, kid. You gotta crawl before you can walk, and Instructor Sha’Carri is already soaring. Baby steps right?” She patted him on the back and he nodded back in agreement.

In the coliseum Sha’Carri stood there tapping her foot with her arm crossed. It was only moments ago when she summoned her Chidi Beast and Instructor Von’Leafe hadn’t made a move yet, to her annoyance. “If you’re not going to make the first move I guess I’ll start things off.” All it took was a wave of her hand to send the massive rock that just so happened to have a crab under it towards the equally massive tree.

The Royal Mountain Crab was a serene yet devastating creature to look at. It looked like an Alaskan king crab but with a massive mountain on its back, with trees and dirt at its base and even a river around it. The Chidi beast stalked its way towards its opponent. Each of its six legs, covered in crags and shrubs. One of its claws resembled the skull of a dangerous reptile sporting a horn on its giant maw with two equally large horns atop the skull and in between the pincers that made up this skull like claw were rows of jagged teeth. The other claw looked like a regular crab claw, but longer than it needed to be. Since crabs walk sideways, the image of a massive reptilian beast with its long claw-like tail easily filled the minds of everyone watching.

The crab got within a certain range of the large tree when the floor of the arena started to glow green. A large glowing circle around the crab pulsed and broke apart into a million speck of lights, right before a multitude of vines attempted to hold down the crab. As it struggled it seemed futile as the vines became more numerous, and only then did the large tree it saw as its enemy began to stir.

The knots and holes at the front of the tree now formed a sadistically smiling face and the two very long branches now looked like arms as fingers sprouted and the tree began smacking the shit out of this majestic crab with the scenic view of a mountain getaway on its back.

“Look at you being cheeky,” Sha’Carri smirked, only to flex her right arm in a simple gesture, yet the smile on her face spoke volumes. The crab began to stir. The multitude of vines breaking away from the rugged mountain beneath them.

Von’Leafe motioned his hands in various ways, very swiftly. The numerous hand seals he used caused the vines to multiply. The beads of sweat on his forehead showed the amount of stress he was under just trying to contain the massive beast, but it was all for not. Sha’Carri’s movements were rigid and forceful. Each hand seal she performed looked like a punch that could knock down anyone who stood in front of her. With the last hand seal made and another straight punch in the air. The sky blue glow of her fist looked like wisps of air blowing into the wind. That wind picked up, swiftly traveling towards the back of the crab. It looked like just a strong gust of wind except for the strange sky blue color that ran through it. It passed over the vines, much like a saw the vines begun to snap allowing the crab to shake itself free.

“Ah what's with the Naruto hand signs?” Maddox inquired while stroking Buffy’s fur.

“Naruto?” Von’Hare gave him a puzzled look. “Well hand Seals are just a means for activating some of your Chidi arts. The hand seals tell its own story, and that story helps us control our Chidi which controls the spirit energy around us. Like a captive audience dancing in the palm of your hand.” She had the palm of her hand act as a stage while two fingers from her other hand walked across it. Then she flashed the boy a smile that took his breath away. Sure it was innocent enough on her part, but it had an effect on Maddox that he would remember for the rest of his days.

‘She’s really pretty,’ he couldn’t help but think.

The crab was finally free of the vines, and with a swift motion its skull-like claw snapped at one of the arms ready to strike it. A resounding ‘Crunch’ echoed throughout the arena as the treeant’s arm broke off in the crab’s claw. The creature bellowed as it flailed around in obvious pain.

“Put that thing out of its misery. ‘Grand Rapids.” Sha’Carri waved her hand as if shooing a fly away, and with the crabs open claw a torrent of water spewed from the skull as if it was shooting water from its massive maw. The blast of water struck the tree in its face and after a few seconds blasted a hole straight through it. The Chidi beast known as the Fervent Treeant ceased all movement. It slumped over then slowly disintegrated into particles of spiritual energy.

Von’Hare couldn’t help but laugh at the look of horror on the poor boy’s face. “It's not dead. The soul, the spirit, the essence of a Chidi beast is held in its trainer and the Chidi bead it’s contained in. The instructor’s creature is fine, but the same can’t be said for Instructor Von’Leafe.”

Maddox took a moment to look at the instructor. He was clutching at his chest and sweating profusely. Maddox looked back towards Von’Hare, who was ready with another answer. “You really need to pay attention in your classes,” but not before chiding him a little bit. “When a Chidi trainer draws out their beast we use the Chidi we've refined in our ‘Spiritual way, so its defeat takes away that essence of us that was used. The stronger the Chidi beast summoned the harder it hurts when it's defeated.”

It all made sense to Maddox. He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that this wasn’t some video game he played as a child or a dream. This was now his real life that he had to deal with. He was once again stroking his non-existent beard when he looked over at the older girl with a fluffy head of wheat blonde hair smiling at him. “What?”

Von’Hare thought the motion was cute, and just ruffled his head and said “Nothing.”

Back in the arena Sha’Carri waited for instructor Von’Leafe to compose himself. By the way he took the blowback of his treeant being defeated, spoke volumes about how much Chidi it took to form it. So with a sigh that seemed to take the wind out of her sails, Sha'Carri decided to end the match there. The Royal Mountain Crab’s claws kept snapping together. The sound reminiscent of a howl as the beast slowly sunk back into the arena floor.

Still clutching his chest Von’Leafe looked at Sha’Carri with bewilderment, but as she turned to walk away from the arena he understood she was allowing him to save face. “I can tell that you put a lot of care into your beast, but you must be wary of the amount of Chidi you use during combat.” She spoke without looking back at him, exiting the arena.

Later, after the students left and the excitement of the match had worn off Maddox was walking alongside Sha’Carri. He couldn’t help but stare at her in admiration. She wasn’t used to seeing her son look at her like that and didn’t quite know how to deal with it. “Hey you got something to say just spit it out!” In the end she didn't handle it well.

“Nothing. You were just really cool today.” he uttered while looking away in embarrassment. “Do you think I can be as good as you someday?” He felt her stop walking next to him and so turned to look at her, only to get a strong flick to the forehead. “Oww, what was that for!”

“You’re a hundred.” She put up a finger, then another. “No two hundred years too young to think you can be as good as me.” Then with her hands on her hips she laughed maniacally.

‘Why do I even bother,’ Maddox shook his head in disappointment. He started to walk away from her when he felt arms wrap around him. It was pretty late out and their way was illuminated by some street lamps that worked by gathering the ambient spirit energy around it.

“You did really well today boy,” She praised him in a whisper. “Keep it up and hone your skills. Find a style that works for you.”

With a smile he took her words to heart. Under the light of the full moon and the lamp post there stood under he resolved himself to becoming a great Chidi Trainer someday.