I thought that I would finish the training room scene within this chapter, but I'm not sure anymore. Oh well, Thank you for reading and please enjoy.

---

“Fuuuu~” Hiro slowly let out a long breath.

‘If I fall it will hurt.’ He looked over the side and stared down at the brightly lit water below. A strange light was underneath the water, causing it to shine with a dull blue-green light. Built into the side of the platform he was currently standing on was a ladder for him to climb back up when he falls.

Looking at the small floating balls of dim light, Hiro couldn’t help but doubt their ability to hold his weight. The balls floating in the air doesn’t look like they have any physical form, just a floating mass of gas particles and light.

‘There’s not much I can do.’ He finally concluded. Either he stays on that platform and wait for the special room to run out of power, or he could continue and try to progress through the Spartan training.

Resigning himself to the scary training, Hiro braced himself and pressed the button next to him.

*Level 1. Initiated.*

He heard the monotonous voice ring out. Suddenly a flash of blue light radiated from the sphere next to him and he lightly made a small jump towards it.

“Easy.” He said.

Just as he made contact, he felt a familiar force, just like the barrier holding back his life energy. Attempting to stop, Hiro applied pressure to the force, wrong move. As if friction didn’t exist, his foot continued sliding along the slick barrier and he tumbled down into the lukewarm water below.

*Sploosh!*

*Failure. Try Again.*

“Puaa~!” He spat out, as soon as he swam back up to the surface.

‘What was that?’ He thought back to the strange sensation of the ball of gaseous light.

Quickly climbing up to the platform once more, Hiro was determined to land on it.

‘One more time!’ He slammed down on the button.

*Level 1. Initiated.*

Once more a floating orb flash near him and he jumped towards it. Concentrating hard to land right on top of it, Hiro gritted his teeth.

*Sploosh!*

*Failure. Try Again.*

“Damnit!” He pounded down on the water, “What is going on?!”

Swimming back and climbing up onto the platform, Hiro took out the manual once more to look to see if there’s anything he missed.

Once more seeing the ridiculing look of the cartoon drawing created a feeling of anger yet satisfaction. He didn’t know whether to admire the cutesy drawing or to hate the condescending look on the mini-Siberus. Noticing there was another fine print at the bottom, Hiro read:

[In case you are stuck on this Step, I’ve writing a tip on the other side of the page. If you’ve been trying to complete the Step without the tip, then it’s your own fault for not reading the manual thoroughly. Hahaha!]

“Hmph! Jokes on you, good thing I decided to check the manual again.” Hiro smiled triumphantly, finally he had succeeded and done something that Siberus hadn’t predict. Quickly turning the page to see the tip/advice, Hiro once more fell into Siberus’ trap.

[Hahaha! I bet you are giddy from being able to break free from my predictions. You must be thinking: “Look! You can’t see what I’m going to do!” or something like that right? Hahaha! Idiot! Idiot!]

“Grrr!” Hiro growled, nearly throwing the book down into the water.

[Here is the tip: Remember the training from Step 2?]

Hiro thought back to the Step 2. He remembered how annoying it was to precisely land on each spot.

[Incorporate what you’ve learned from that training into this one.]

‘Of course, I’ve been trying that, but can’t even land on the floating orbs.’ He silently retorted.

[Do not forget what you’ve learned from Step 3. Step 3 is the key to completing this training successfully.]

“Step 3?” Hiro said, “Wasn’t it just stamina training? Aside from slowly picking up the pace at each interval was there something else I learned?” He sat down to think. What had he done in Step 3 that he wasn’t doing here?

Suddenly a flash of insight ran through his mid. A vivid image of him slamming down on the button and bolting back down the hallway popped into his mind.

‘That’s it!’ He smiled.

*Bam!*

*Level 1. Initiated.*

He quickly jumped to his right as soon as the light from the orb appeared. As soon as he was about to make contact with the ball, he got ready to jump once more. Landing on the ball of light, not waiting to stop, Hiro had already leapt away from it. Suddenly a blue orb nearby began to glow. Angling himself, he landed on a nearby red orb and quickly propelled himself in the direction of the blue glowing one.

‘As I thought, there’s no penalty if I step on a different colored one. As long as I make it to the glowing one in time and not fall, I will not fail.’ He came to this conclusion from combining the two earlier steps. In Step 2, he learned to jump in all directions regardless of his posture and in Step 3 he learned that he could never stop. Combining the multi-directional jumps with the constant movement idea, he was able to quickly grasp the point of Step 4.

Although he found out the trick. Knowing and doing were two different things. The orbs still required precision to land on and jump off. The force applied to his jumping foot had to be perpendicular to the barrier-like force that the orb was emitting. If he were to be off by a little, it would alter his jump direction or possibly cause him to slip and fall.

“Fuu Fuu~” He pulled himself up from the ladder and onto the platform. It was the 59th time he had failed. He had barely gotten to Level 4 when the patterns changed. Instead of one light appear after another, a group of lights lit up. Caught off guard, he had slipped on the sphere he was on and fell into the water.

Up until that point, the training was simple and he was gradually gaining confidence. However, now he was lost; the training was unpredictable.

“What does it want…” He complained, even with his stamina training from the previous Step, the constant need to jump back and forth had tired himself out. Not only was he sore, he was mentally tired. It felt like an eternity since he’s been in the training room and he was starting to worry if Siberus made a miscalculation and locked him inside for far longer than 7 days.

“Tch!” He clicked his tongue and once more began the training. He had decided that if the old man caused him to miss the tournament, the old should take responsibility and personally train him. After all, he had already decided that Romulus would become his teacher. Not even thinking of any other possibilities, such as him failing in the tournament.

After another few tries, Hiro had finally grasped the concept behind the group of lights. Just like the singular lights, they all shine and go out at the same time. Within that time Hiro had to touch them all. After a couple tries he learned that the purpose of the light was to teach him how to plan out his movements, to choose the most efficient path when moving through the field of lights.

Finally, he heard the sound that he already thought he had forgotten.

*Level 5. Complete. Step 4. Complete.*

*Click!*

As soon as he heard that, there was a loud click and the floating orbs disappeared. Unlucky for Hiro, he was still in the middle of a jump and the sphere he intended to land on vanished. With nothing to cling on, he helplessly flailed about as he fell towards the water.

*Sploosh!*

“Great…” He half-heartedly said. Noticing that the water level was going down, he began to worry. Since the ladder only reached a certain way down, if the water level lowers anymore he would not be able to reach the water level. However, that was only empty worries. The floor began to rise while the water drained away. Soon, the floor had risen high enough that it joined the rest of the platform and looked as if there was a giant pool of water there.

“On to the next Step.” Hiro unenthusiastically said. The Steps and training were becoming harder and harder to do. Step 4 was currently the hardest part so far, not only was he supposed to precisely land on the orbs and jump off, he also had to plan out his route or else he wouldn’t make it in time.

Walking to the next room, Hiro silently held his breath and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see what kind of Spartan training will wait for him in this one. Using the past few trainings Steps are examples, he knew that they get progressively harder as they come.

*Kachak!*

The door closed shut behind him. Slowly, Hiro opened his eyes.

‘Eh?’

[Well Done! You did it! Give yourself a pat in the back!]

In front of him, situated on two poles was a banner. The banner had the same cartoon drawing with a child-like Siberus holding two thumbs up and winking.

“What?” Hiro was speechless, “… This old man is really banged in the head…”

Hiro was anything but amused, since the whole time Hiro was going through the training, Siberus’ manual was anything but serious. After working so hard to see a half-hearted banner in front of him was like a slap to the face.

The strange thing that he noticed was, he was no longer inside. Sprawled out in front of him was a sandy expanse of land. It looked like he was at the shores of the ocean that his father used to tell tales about, except there was no hint of water anywhere.

“Can this be what father called the desert?” Hiro wondered incredulously.

“Ding ding! Correct!”

“!!!” Hiro flinched and jumped back.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re scared of me?”

“Who’s there?!” Hiro yelled, while looking around wildly.

“Silly! I’m up here!” The voiced chuckled.

Hearing that, Hiro looked up at the banner. Waving wildly at Hiro was the stupid-looking character.

“Heya!” Mini-Sib called out before suddenly pulling free of the 2-d banner and popping out into the 3-d space.

‘Oh great, not only do I have to put up with the annoying drawing, now I have to listen to its annoying voice.’ Hiro complained inwardly.

The Mini-Sib was as tall as Hiro’s forearm and vaguely resembled Siberus. The strangest thing was: it still looked like a cartoon even though it turned 3-d. Mini-Sib’s voice is actually an octave higher than a child, making him sound like a mouse, if a mouse could talk.

“Don’t give me that look! Hmph!” Mini-Sib pouted, “I’m here to help ya!”

Looking down on the weird person(?) in more ways than one, “Help me? How? More like you’re here to annoy me.”

“Aww~ Don’t say that! Turn to the next page in the manual.”

Listening to what Mini-Sib was saying, Hiro turned the page.

[Listen to the person in front of you.]

Hiro grew skeptical. His eyes dimmed and he looked back at Mini-Sib.

“Looks like you have to listen to me now.” Mini-Sib shrugged and stuck out his tongue. It looked strange because technically Mini-Sib was supposed to be created in the image of an old man. Seeing him act like a kid was unsettling.

Hiro froze. Slowly, he brought his other hand up and acted as if he was going to turn the page once more.

*RIIIIP!*

*RIIP!*RIP!*RIP!*

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Mini-Sib yelled.

“AHHHHHH!!!!!” Hiro ignored him and continued to furiously rip out the pages and tear everything apart.

Once finished, he let out a stress-free sigh.

‘Ahhh~ So much better.’ He thought, as he scattered the shreds around him. Turning around, he tried to open the door and leave.

*Click!*

“I knew it…” He sighed.

“Now that was mean Hiro~!” Mini-Sib ran up to him and pulled on his pants-leg.

“Eugh! Get away from me!” Hiro unconsciously screamed and jumped away. It truly was a horrific sight, an old man acting that way, while in that form.

“That’s mean~! I’m gonna tell on you!” Mini-Sib faked a tear.

“Can you stop acting that way? It just doesn’t look right.”

“Acting like what?”

“Please act your age!”

“Aw~ fine!” Mini-Sib quickly snapped his fingers and seemed to transform. He got younger and younger until he looked like a kid.

“Better?” He asked.

“I guess that’s one way you can do it…” Hiro was hoping Mini-Sib would act like a mature man, instead of the other way around.

“Ready to continue your training?” Mini-Sib enthusiastically asked.

“But I’ve already torn the manual to shreds…” Hiro embarrassingly confessed. In a fit of stress and rage he had destroyed the object that was causing it.

“The manual? Hahaha~ Don’t worry, that was me!” Mini-Sib puffed out his chest in arrogance.

‘So it was this moron that was messing with me.’ Hiro had to hold back his anger. He doesn’t know what Mini-Sib was capable of.

“Now do you know what we’re here?” Mini-Sib jumped around the sandy ground.

“No…” Hiro was clueless. He didn’t understand any of the training so far. Only after he finished it, did he have a general idea.

“For training of course~!” Mini-Sib laughed out loud.

‘No shit!’ Hiro was trying very hard not to hit him.

“Anyways…” Mini-Sib looked around secretively before saying, “Wanna hear a secret?”

Hiro skeptically nodded. There was no one besides Mini-Sib and himself there, thinking it was another prank, he wasn’t looking forward to the ‘secret’.

“What do you think happens when a person reaches their physical limit?” Mini-Sib whispered in a loud tone.

“I don’t know… They stop growing?”

“Really? Are you sure about that?”

Hiro honestly wasn’t sure himself. If there were physical limits, how was it possible for people like Romulus and Siberus able to do the things they were known for? Such as Siberus’ ability to move at the speed of light and Romulus’ uncanny strength. They were both beyond the realm for mere humans, probably even stronger than demons.

“No I’m not sure…”

“Here’s a hint: It has something to do with the Astral Body.” Mini-Sib chuckled.

“The Astral Body? Isn’t it just something that mages depend up to use magic?”

“Ah~ You are so ignorant Hiro.” Mini-Sib clicked his tongue. “If the Astral Bodies’ purpose for existing is to allow mages to cast magic, then why does it include the body? Only mental power is required to cast spells, so only an Astral Mind is required. Yet, the body was included.”

As if a major fact had just become apparent, Hiro’s eyes widened.

“Y-y-you don’t mean… There’s another use for the Astral Body?” Hiro stammered.

“Ding ding! Correct!” Mini-Sib laughed. “Not only does the Astral Body improve as a mage practices magic, it also improves as a warrior trains. Though many experts unconsciously know this, even more have no clue that the reason why they are so strong is because of this fact. When training past the physical limit, the person will actually start to improve their Astral Body instead of real body, resulting in a thin and lanky body with the power to lift mountains.”

“Wait… If so… Explain how some people look like bodybuilders?”

“Those people are fools. They don’t know that, if they only go for muscle mass, they will just be a bigger target in the battlefield. A true warrior will have a build like yourself: Skinny, yet toned muscles; explosive power, hidden within a small frame.”

Hiro frowned. He had dreams of looking like a strong warrior. With huge bulging muscles and wielding a giant sword. Now that the Mini-Sib was telling him that people like that are actually worse off, he wasn’t sure how to feel.

“So I’ll never be able to grow large muscles like those people?” Hiro asked reluctantly.

“Nope. Did you want to?”

Hiro nodded without making eye contact.

“Too bad!” Mini-Sib chuckled, “You’ll get more muscles, but your dreams of ever getting as large as bodybuilders is going to stay a dream. Let me guess, before coming here, you’ve done nothing body body-resistance training right?”

“If it means things like push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups, then yes.” Hiro decided not to tell him able the gravity spell.

“That’s why.”

“Eh?”

“Constant training with only the same weight will only tone the muscles. To have truly huge and unnecessary muscles like those that you dream about, you need to constantly increase the weight resistance.”

‘I see…’

“Is it still too late to do that?”

“What are you asking?!” Mini-Sib exaggeratedly yelled out in shock, “Why would you want to look like those beasts?!”

“T-t-they look cool?” Hiro shrank back. Since that really was the only reason why he wanted bulging muscles.

“That’s it?” Mini-Sib continued to look like he was in shock. “Hah~ Hiro, looking ‘cool’ won’t save your life in the battlefield. I’ll say it once more, you’ll only be a bigger target with large muscles. Besides it’s too late, the earlier training was to permanently keep your muscles that size.”

“What?!” Not believing what he heard, Hiro yelled out.

“Don’t worry, you’ll still grow, but your muscles will never be able to bulk up.

‘There goes my dream…’ Hiro turned around and pouted, drawing small circles in the sand with his finger.

“Aw~ don’t be like that Hiro. It’s a good thing, without a small frame, you’ll never be able to learn this movement skill.” Mini-Sib hurriedly tried to comfort him.

“Really?” Hiro’s ears perked up.

“Really!” Mini-Sib nodded.

“Fine!” Hiro turned back to face Mini-Sib, “What do I have to do to learn the skill?”

“Right now you’re almost at the end of the first stage.”

“Wait… There are stages?”

“Yea.”

“How many?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mini-Sib laughed.

“How many?” Hiro growled. He didn’t want to go through even more training.

“Four.”

“Why did you tell me after the second time and not the first?”

“I can’t handle pressure… Hehe.” He stuck out his tongue while knocking on one side of his head.

“Okay…”

‘This guy is really banged in the head.’

“Now, as I was saying before we got off track. Many experts unconsciously draw upon the power stored within their Astral Body to use martial skills. Right now, for Step 5, I will have to consciously draw upon the energy stored within your Astral Body.”

Hiro looked around.

“To do this, I have to be in the desert?” Hiro raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Err no. The desert is for what comes after you are able to feel and link with your Astral Body.”

“Hm… Alright. What do I need to do?”

“Haha, you’ll love this.” Mini-Sib chuckled, “You need to meditate.”

“Crap…” Hiro groaned.