I woke up early in the morning, so early the sun was still rising. Owlbiet slept silently on the old lady's lap as they rocked back and forth infront of the window. I quietly left the small hut with the blade in my hand.

I walked around the small village looking for a market place I could buy food. 'Where could be open at this time?' I thought. 'I've gotta leave this place as soon as possible.'

As I continued walking through the village, I stumbled across a marchent carriage. It seemed in quite a bad condition, not to mention one of the wheels looked like it was about to fall off. A horse, sound asleep on the floor was connected to it through two thick lines of rope. There was a door at on the side of old cart.

I walked up the three old and weak stairs before knoking on the door. "Hello?" I said "Is any one there?" But no one answered.

I slowly opened the door, but, I heard the noise of a small bell above me. 'Must be for intruders... or customers.' I nonchalantly thought.

"Yes? Hello?" A female voice came from behind a counter. Behind this counter, was a well decorated curtain that hid the rest of the carriage. It was a couple of feet infront of me. "I'll be right with you" the voice said. "Just let me..." as soon as I heard her say this, the loud crashing of bottles on the floor grabbed my attention.

'What the hell?' I thought as I walked up to the counter. "Hey what's the hold up, I dont have all day."

"My apologies" she replied as she opened the curtains revealing her face...

She had long white hair that was tied into a pony tail, her dark skin was a lighter shade compared to most, Violet eyes and horse like ears... She was a bit shorter than I was and wore what I saw as a bracelet.

From the way she dressed, I could tell she was still quite Young. "Are you the owner of this carriage?" I asked.

"Ohh no no no haha." She replied with a bright smile. "I'm just holding the fort for the time being."

I brought out a list from my pocket. "Here, I need these things. And be quick about it."

She takes the paper from my hand "Oh alright."

The woman read the list... but there was one small problem, she kept reading. I waited for a few seconds before speaking again. "Are you gonna do anything? Or should I be on my way."

"Sorry, but Umm... I don't know what any of these things are..." She said still going through the paper. "What's ink dust?"

My eye twiched. 'Are you Fucking kidding me!' I thought before snaching the paper from her.

She pouted her lips. "Hey, manners!"

"Thanks for wasting my time, I'm not surprised, members of your clan are always stupid."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let me spell it out for you. YOU'RE A MORON" I taunted.

"You could be a little nicer y'know?" she calmly replied

"Yeah whatever, no brain." I walked away from the counter.

"Hey!"

As I was about to leave the carriage, an explosion was heard. I paused in my tracks. "I can't catch a break... can I?"

....

I was taken to a room within the cave where I was told to train. Arl walked ahead of me before stopping to open a door. The room very well lit and was clatered with weapons on the floor.

'They couldnt even bother to clean up once in a while?' I thought.

Arl Looked at me with disgust. "Can you fight?"

"Uhh, yes?" I replied with a shakey voice.

He begins walking forward to my direction. "Then let's begin!"

"Wha- Like now?!" I asked petrified.

He dosen't answer and proceeds to punch me in the gut soo hard, I flew a few dozen inches in the air before landing on my back."Hey!"

Arl sighed. "I thought you said you could fight?"

I stood up. "I can but, you're a bit too quick. And I wasn't read-" I replied

"Shut up and get ready then!"

We fought a few more times... "Your fighting style is too defensive. And you're not using any chi abilities."

"I- was trained- in phoenix- style." I explained. My breathing was sharp from exaustion. "And I don't really Know how to use chi..."

Arl looked shocked at the revelation. He shook his head calmly before releasing a big sigh "What a waste of time..." He looked annoyed but was the calmest I ever saw him. "Do you know how chi works?"

"To a degree yes..."

He sat down infront of me. "Explain what you know then."

"Chi is meant to be an energy within you... like a life force of some kind?"

"It is your life force." Arl explained."And There are six different properties of chi that gives a person different abilities in the world. You know them?"

I nodded in agreement. "Power chi, Soul chi, Time chi, Reality chi, Mind chi, and Space chi."

"Correct." He said. "Most clans have only one chi property with the only two exceptions being the Phoenix and dragon clans... is that correct?"

I hesitantly nodded. "Y-Yes."

"Do you know the attributes of chi?"

"No... I wasn't taught." Mainly because I never asked or went to school...

"The phoenix clan... always soo lazy."Arl said with a sigh. "There are four things that affect the power and efficiency of ones chi. two of these are inherited, while the other two require training to increase." Arl explained "The first is called your 'Chi Reserves'. Its in essence the amount of chi you posses from birth to death. 'Chi Concentration'. Which is how thick one's chi is. The thicker your chi, the more powerful and dangerous your techniques are. These first two are more genetic than anything else." He said before taking a swig of water from a cup. "The other two, are Chi power and Chi control. The first has to do with the output of that chi, how hard and how fast it's released, while the other lessens the amount of chi you will need to expend."

"I don't really understand."

"Seriously, you're dumb."Arl thought for a moment. "Look at this cup of water. Chi reserves is how much water there is within the cup, Concentration is how acidic the water is, control is how much you can release in a certain quantity per time, and Power is when I do this." He splashed the water on my face.

"Hey!"

He remained straight faced. "Get up, and let's continue."

'I can't catch a break... can I?' I thought.