“To be considered a True Sage you have to first be able to wield Sage Force.”

“What’s Sage Force?” Ryan interrupted.

“Didn’t I tell you not to interrupt me; I was coming to that point. Sage Force is a type of energy that is created by the body, like very small vibrations, the vibrations cover the body like a plate of armour, you can even think of it as a second skin that protects you.”

“At early stages, Sage Force is nothing more than just a second skin, if you think about it even in the later stages it is nothing special. Only when you possess an accompanying Sage Weapon can you display its prowess through it.”

Ryan listened and thought of something: “Then why would it matter if I was in the early or late stages of being a Sage if they can both use Sage Force?”

“There is a difference, a big difference in both quantity and quality. Let me show you an example: Look at that tree over there:”

Richard pointed to a tall thick tree a few meters away from them. When he got near it he sliced horizontally with his hand.

In an instant, the trunk was split in two as the tree toppled to the ground.

“As you can see the quality of my Sage Force is quite high. A weaker Sage would have needed their accompanying weapon to cut the tree with one strike.”

Ryan could not help but stare blankly at the toppled tree and then back at Richard in awe only to see a satisfied smirk on his face.

“What stage are you at?” Ryan asked.

“Before that, let me explain to you that there are 5 stages to a Sage: most Sages are low-level with the official classification being known as ‘Sage Warrior‘ since they’ve just stepped through the gates of the Sage.

“The next few levels from weakest to strongest are: Sage Master, Sage Ancestor, Sage Monarch and Sage Emperor.”

“Now to answer your question, I am a Sage Ancestor, can you believe it you’re being trained by a Sage Ancestor?” Richard mentioned narcissistically.

Ryan couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Richards’s narcissism, not realising that a Sage Ancestor was an extremely powerful person and being apprenticed under one was exceedingly fortunate. “Anyway, if you want to get stronger you must first step into the Sage Warrior stage quickly; it’ll take you at most two years under my training regime.” While saying this, a smirk crept onto his face, one that Ryan knew far too well.

“Even though I’m training you we can’t forget about my experiments, we’ll be increasing the frequency of pill intakes, however, the pill’s effect will be much weaker to make sure that you retain your consciousness and from there we’ll slowly raise the potency and strength of the pill.”

Richard handed Ryan the pills which were immediately swallowed: “Ah, I like that look on your face, no more hesitation,” he smiled sadistically.

After a few moments, a ferocious torrent of pain surged through Ryan’s body, yet it wasn’t his limit.

“Carry this.” A silvery sack formed in the air in front of him, as soon as it fell into his arms he nearly dropped to his knees under the weight.

“Now follow me, don’t fall behind.” Richard ignored the pained expression on the boy’s face and ran into the forest.

-------------

“Urgh!” Ryan vomited, head down and his arms barely supporting him from the ground.

“3 miles… not bad under such restraints,” Richard was standing at the edge of a cliff observing the distant horizon.

Lowering his head he looked at his palm before voicing: “At this rate, it should take about 3 months before your body is sturdy enough to start the heavy training… Ryan, do you want to turn it up a notch?”

Ryan wiped the traces of saliva off his mouth, “How long?”

“Half that time, so 45 days is all I need.”

“Ok.”

Richard was still for a moment, before chuckling to himself deprecatingly: “You’re not curious about the training schedule before accepting?”

“It won’t matter as long as it’ll help me get stronger.”

“Haha! What a refreshing answer! Ok, we’re increasing the weights by two folds; the distance we’re running is going to increase three times.”

“Take this pouch it’s got about 50 pills that can rejuvenate your strength and stamina at the brink of exhaustion or when you’re injured.” He handed a small pouch from within his cloak to Ryan before carrying on: “Even if it heals you, the metal strain will not disappear so remember to rest your mind even if it’s for a few minutes.”

Ryan received the pouch and opened it to see countless green pearl-like pills, the scent was enough to remove nausea in his system and clear his mind.

“Before that let’s hunt some game for a meal, don’t you agree?”

He didn’t realise until that moment that he hadn’t eaten anything in a while, so he nodded in response.

-----------

40 days later.

Carrying a few small sacks around his waist, Ryan grabbed onto the nearest rock that was protruding out of the cliff.

The speed of his ascension was quick and nimble, manoeuvring through extraordinarily difficult obstacles without breaking a sweat.

Just as Ryan was about to reach the top of the cliff a hand stretched out towards him: “Come on, pull yourself up.”

Without further ado, Richard pulled Ryan up: “It took you 3 minutes to climb 100m even while carrying 100kg on your waist, respectable.”

Ryan patted down his dusty trousers and looked off at the view; he at that moment was incomparable to his physique from slightly over a month back.

His skinny frame was now bulkier and far leaner because of the training and the meals he ate. His hair was long enough to slightly cover the upper half of his eyes making him look a little rugged.

“Shouldn’t that be the end of the training to strengthen my physical endurance? I’m ready to start the strenuous training.”

“…” An awkward smile formed on his face.

Seeing the expression on Richards face a feeling of suspicion arose: “What is it?”

“The training you did the past month was the strenuous training.”

“…”