Master took me to a separate room in his office, it was a hidden door on the right wall, quite unbelievable really, he pulled a lever and a door opened on the black obsidian wall, the room was a rounded room made out of stone, it had a high density of mana once inside, you could even feel the temperature warm up in the room due to the friction caused by the hitting of element particles forming mana, the room had formations of magic spells all around, on the ceiling, walls and floor, it looked strange but intriguing at the same time.

“Zepp, this is my teleportation room, It took me 140 years to build and the formation teleports me to my wanted destination, however the only drawback is that the place where I want to teleport to must also have this formation on it, the place we’ll be going is in the barren wilderness of the east continent, It is full of magical beasts and ferocious monsters, we’ll be training there from now on, we’re going there because that place has the roughest terrain on the continent, boiling hot temperatures, impenetrable cliff faces, deep chasms and massive valleys, not many know of this place because it’s far away from civilisation but it’s nicknamed by warriors and mages as ‘The devil’s playground’’ due to it’s horrible terrain, scorching temperatures and the ferocious beasts that inhabit this place. you my boy, will be training here, let’s get going.”

This sounds like an absolute nightmare of a place, If anything will get me stronger I suppose It’ll be training in this wilderness.

I stepped into the room and Master started to chant a string of words, instantly, the room glowed a blinding blue and the next thing I knew we were in a cave with the same markings as the room, Master walked along the the tunnel that must lead out of the cave and we reach a clearing within this place, the cave entrance seems to be locked by Master’s magic, he waves his hand and the barrier of obsidian disappears, through this entrance we walk out and I witness for the first time a scenery that literally took my breath away.

As soon as we walk out and the light from the sun first hits my skin I feel the temperature of the air spike dramatically, the heat is hotter than a desert and the heat itself knocks air out of my lungs and replaces it with hot, stale air.

I instantly feel the mana in this place is a lot higher than that of the places I’m used to, the air is rich with mana and you can even feel it add to the heat of the air.

We are standing on a cliff where the cave entrance led to, the cliff overlooks the surrounding area, as far as the eye can see there are impossibly deep chasms, impenetrable cliffs, huge landscapes and mountains that seem to tickle the heavens with their peaks, I took a deep breath inwards, the air was fresher and almost purer in this desolate devil’s playground, I look the my side and Master grins at me and begins to talk,

“Let us begin.”

Master suddenly jumps down the cliff and floats down to the floor which is hundreds of meters below the cliff face, he must of used some kind of magic to do that, maybe wind magic?

all of a sudden I hear a voice boom out from below,

“You’ll be getting down there purely by using your physical body alone!”

Master right off the bat asked me for the impossible, this was a cliff face with no routes down other than jumping and the drop is hundreds of meters, that would be an instant death If I were to do that, Masters voice telepathically cuts through my thoughts,

“IF YOU WANT TO GET STRONGER, DO IT! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY FOR A WEAKLING LIKE YOU!”

I strengthen my resolve once more, Remember why you're doing this Zepp, this is for Mother luu, Sena & Sina! If you carry on like this will you be able to protect them in the future?! The answer is no! we shall never complain, we shall never back down, we will do the impossible, we will break our self and be reborn!

After strengthening my resolve for this seemingly long, and impossible path I nod my head and slap my cheeks with my hands, “I LIKE THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYES BOY!”, Master shouts from below, I grin and start my descent of the cliff face.

10 minutes later I’m still on the first few meters of the cliff, my only lifeline is the foothold I have in these seemingly frail, crumbling rocks, every so often when I move downwards my foothold slips a little and the rocks crumble down into the area below, I carry on my death seeking pursuit down the cliff.

30 minutes later every muscle in my body is burning, the toll from keeping up my own bodyweight and the precise movements of trying to tackle this cliff face is taking it’s toll, I’m not even a tenth of the way down and I’m already breaking, I once again tell myself why I’m doing this and press on, every fibre of my muscles feels like it’s on fire, I scream to try and release this pain, “ARHHHHHHHHH I WILL DO THIS!!!”, I concentrate my mind in full focus and lose myself in completing this.

8 hours later.

“I-I’ve….. Done… It…..hahhh… hahhh…. hahhh”

I lie on the floor and breath in and out trying to grasp onto every bit of oxygen I can, my body is a mess, my hands and fingers are full of cuts and are seeping with blood, my legs feel like they’ve been set on fire and crushed and my whole body is almost on the verge of collapse, but I did it… I did a task I deemed impossible… I take a look up at the cliff I just descended from using only my physical strength, it must be at least 500 meters tall, it’s a straight drop down with only a narrow face of rocks to climb.

“Zepp get up this instant! THAT WAS A WARM UP! Now climb back up and down 5 times by 10pm, this is your first day, don’t disappoint me, weakling.”

F-F-Five t-times? I once again remember my most precious peoples faces,

“Hahhh… Yes s-sir!”

I answer him through a weak but willful voice, I prop myself to my feet just barely and stagger to the cliff.

-

This cliff climbing training carried on for 2 weeks, Master didn’t let me have breaks or any days off and every day he increased the amount of times I have to climb up and down to 3 more, the most amazing thing about this hellish training was the meditation at night, I realised after a while that when I’ve mediated I don’t even need sleep, I feel better and more refreshed than any amount of sleep can give me.

The meditation has improved my body by a lot, the mana particles seem to fuse more easily with my body when I’m in a broken and sorry state, I’ve also noticed that the mana particles fuse with every fibre of my being, the muscles, brain, cells, organs, skin and so on are all being strengthened through this miraculous cultivation technique, my body and mind are evolving ever so slow through this training, I can feel it.

-

On the 3rd week of training, Master brought with him strange clothing, before we started our usual routine he stopped me and said,

“Boy, I have a present for you, take this clothing, I have to use magic to carry it properly it’s that heavy, this is clothing specially made by me and reinforced my magic, the material is condensed steel put into fabric made by my magic, the clothing is trousers, boots, a top and a helmet, all of this weighs 150kg, you’ll now be doing your normal training wearing this”

He passed me the clothing and as soon as he let go my hand almost got crushed under the weight of the clothing, it hit the floor and made a little crack in the stone, it was super heavy, weighted clothing.

It took me half an hour to put it on with his help and when I finally had it on it felt like I was wearing a boulder, I could barely stand never mind climb, it was flexible clothing but even moving a finger was like moving a mountain .

I ever so slowly moved towards the cliff and attempted to ascend it, it was impossible, but I had to do it, I’d come this far there's no way I’m backing out now!

By the end of the day I’d climbed the cliff twice in this weighted clothing, my bones were creaking and every fibre of my being was burning from the physical workout, I couldn’t even speak, my hands were almost shredded to the bone from the sharp rocks and my arms were numb to the core, my whole body was in agony and I couldn’t even think straight due to the pain that was assaulting my body, this….will… be….. increased….tomorrow? I struggled to even think to myself.

-

A month since Master gave me weighted clothing to train in, the routine had changed slightly from just climbing the cliff face and now I was running insane distances in the scorching heat to boot, at 4:30am I’d start climbing down the cliff, afterwards I would run distances marathon runners would pale at and then I’d be tasked to climb again, the weights never felt any lighter throughout these weeks, my body was gradually changing and I was noticing It myself, the meditation in the night was getting easier and more in depth, I was discovering things I never knew was possible, It seemed the meditation also healed my body at an accelerated rate so it was healed for the morning and gave me the refreshment and nourishment I needed.

-

A full year had passed since I, Zepp Alkery had become Masters student, the training Master put me through was not short of calling it hellish and impossible, it was worse than I ever thought was possible, it broke my body over and over again and if I was weak in the physically or mentally for even a second my mind or body would of gave in.

In this past year I have been keeping in touch with Yamu and Omil, we talk every night through our mana boards, however, they haven’t seen me due to their different schedules and my full focus has been on training.

I was on my way to his office as usual this morning and when I arrived he was different than his usual demon instructor mode, instead he was smiling and sitting in his chair,

“Zepp, you’ve been doing this training for a year and a month and you’ve developed in ways I thought was never possible, you’ve exceeded my expectations and crushed my doubts, just looked at yourself, you’re body could be classed as my masterpiece”

Master provided a mirror and I took a detailed look at myself for the first time in a year, I’d been so concentrated and busy that I didn’t even notice my growth, every muscle in my body is defined and detailed, my abs are like a 9 pack and they look like deep valleys between each ab, my body is lean like a panther and with one look anyone could tell it was built to fight, I knew I was stronger than I looked through the meditation, my bones were now harder than steel, my skin was flexible and hard to even cut with a knife and my muscles were developed heavily by the fusing of mana, I also noticed I was much calmer and my mind was faster, sharper and more intellectual than before due to the evolving, I was now 190cm tall and looked healthier and better than ever before.

“Boy, You’ve done training not even the toughest or hardest warrior would be able to complete, you’ve strengthened not only your body but also your mind, You’ve earned the right to call me your Teacher.

I'm sure you’re comfortable wearing that weighted clothing now seeming as you haven’t took it off in a year, oh, and I forgot to mention that the clothing is special in another aspect, I can increase the weight without touching it through magic alone, every day i’d increase the weight, right now you're wearing 1000 kg of weights, quite unbelievable right? you move with it on like it’s apart of your own body, let’s teleport to the Devil’s playground and there you can take it off, test out your new found strength which you earned through blood, sweat and tears”

We arrived at the bottom of the cliff face and I did as instructed and took my weighted clothing off behind a rock and wore some garments Teacher gave me wear.

As soon as I took it off I felt an immediate difference, my body was as light as a feather, I tried jumping as high as I could, my knees bent and I put as much force as I could into this jump, under the force of my jump the ground cracked and splintered, two small feet sized craters formed under where my feet were as I jumped 50 meters into the air, I was instantly amazed at how high I jumped, this wouldn’t be possible if my body didn’t evolve through the cultivation method Teacher created, in my heart I was eternally grateful for what he did for me and I vowed to pay him back some day.

“Boy! I know what you’re thinking! This wasn’t my hard work, it was yours! You even did better than my expectations, I expected results, but nothing this good! The pain and suffering you went through wasn’t for nought, you earned it, be proud Zepp!”

Teachers voice boomed across the surroundings, the instant I heard this speech I felt warm inside, he’d took me in, trained me and given me more than I could ask for, Teacher really is kind I thought to myself for the third time today.

-

Back at Teacher office me and him were talking about the new school year,

“Zepp, In 6 days is when the new school term starts, your class will be second years, you’ll be joining them again starting from then, I remind you that everything will stay the same, same class, teacher and so on, also, the first years will be starting in 6 days.

You will keep our training a secret, I will also make you a school uniform with the same weight type magic as the clothes you're wearing, instead of the helmet you will have a necklace weight instead, I’m giving you weights to wear because your training still hasn’t finished, you must carry on getting stronger and stronger, also, if you do take off your weight restrictions then you will appear abnormal and stand out, oh and by the way, I’ve told everyone that you had to miss a school year due to ‘difficulties’, no one knows we’re teacher and student, I expect it to stay that way, that is all I have to tell you, you're dismissed.”

I bowed respectfully to my Teacher and left his office.

Returning to my room I found a new uniform lying on my bed, that was insanely quick, Teacher must of used magic to send it to me, I looked it over, the uniform for second years is the same as the first year but it has a crest of a eagle on it’s front, garments can be worn underneath these robes so I put on the weighted garments Teacher also sent, there was also a necklace in the package he sent and it was also a weight, after putting it all on I could feel the huge weight that was pressed on my body, this must at least weight 1200 kg, 200 kg heavier than I was wearing, Teacher also gave me the ability to change the weight of the clothing, I felt like it was fine the way it was and left it be, wearing it all I felt how I would of done last year, slow and weak, perfect for disguise.

Chapter 7

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Thank you for reading :)