“Wake up Kan. It’s time to eat breakfast.”

Kan slowly opened his eyes and realized that it was already morning. The sun shined through his window and the birds sang. He had fallen asleep for almost the entire day. Although sleeping for the entire day interfered with his plans, he didn’t worry about it. It wouldn’t helped if he rushed his plans.

Kan ate his breakfast and went with Clive to go train at the mayor’s place. It was part of his daily training, but today he was going to challenge the mayor and Clive to a fight. Kan knew he couldn’t win but he needed to find out how strong he currently was. He wanted to see how far he was from Clive and the mayor’s strength.

Kan did his regular training of sparring with Leo, stamina training, strength training, and training his combat locksmith limits. They were done with their training, and it was time for Kan to challenge his father. But first he went to talk with Leo.

“Leo, i’m going to challenge my Daddy. You can challenge the mayor and after that we will switch opponents if we have energy.”

“Ok.”

They both braced themselves. This would probably be the hardest battles of their lives. They had sparred with Clive and the mayor before, but they always held back their power. Kan didn’t want them to hold back this time, he wanted them to use their full power.

Having braced themselves, they each walked towards their respective opponent. Every step Kan took, he would muster up his courage. Every step Leo took, he felt nervous but excited at challenging a stronger opponent.

“Master, I have a request.”

Clive turned around after hearing Kan call him master. Training was already over so Kan didn’t need to call him Master anymore. He looked at Kan and could see a fiery determination in his eyes.

“Go ahead and speak.”

“I would like to challenge you to a fight.”

“Ok.”

Clive didn’t see anything wrong with what Kan asked for. This wouldn’t be the first time they were sparring so he agreed right away. But he could also see that there was a difference in Kan’s request compared to the previous times he was asked to spar. He waited for Kan to speak his mind.

“Master, I don’t want you to hold back when fighting this time. I want you to use all your strength to fight against me. I want to see how far down the road I am from you. I want to see how strong I am right now. Please, fight me at your full strength!”

Clive was extremely happy and excited at what Kan had just said. His son had just challenged him to a duel. Even at Kan’s age, he didn’t have the guts to challenge his own father. ‘He’s trying to get stronger.’

Although he was happy that Kan wanted to get stronger, he needed to know the reason why. It wouldn’t be good if Kan wanted to become stronger just to be strong. Clive didn’t want Kan to grow up into a power hungry person who would do anything for power. He wanted Kan to have a clear objective for wanting to become strong.

“Kan let me ask you a question. Why do you seek power?”

‘Why do I seek power?’ Kan began to ponder about his answer to the question. ‘I want power to protect those precious to me? No that isn’t it.’ Kan thought of the contradictions to his goal. What if it were strangers in danger? Would he not save them because he doesn’t know them. No, he would save them. ‘I want power so I can protect everyone? Is that even possible.’

‘Why do I seek power then?’

Clive watched as Kan struggled to answer the question. On the inside Clive was extremely happy that Kan was trying to find an answer to his question. If Kan found his answer, then that would be his first step into training the mind and the soul.

Clive had only been making Kan train in the body aspect of being a combat locksmith. Kan needed the foundation of the body before he could tackle the aspects of the mind and the soul. This question was to train Kan’s mind and soul. The question would challenge Kan’s reason for training. He had to use his mind to contemplate why he had started training in the first place and what his goal was after gaining strength.

The only thing that had Clive worried was the soul aspect of this question. Soul is the most important one out of the three, in being a combat locksmith. Without the soul, a combat locksmith would never become stronger because they would lack the determination to move forward. They would become stuck in a murky darkness where they are unsure of why they even train. It could lead to a combat locksmith losing their mind if they don’t train their soul.

Clive could only hope that Kan would be able to find the reason why he trains, and that this reason conforms with his own belief. The worst possible outcome was to find an ideal that his soul doesn’t conform with. In the beginning this fake ideal wouldn’t matter, but along the path of being a combat locksmith, this fake ideal will eventually explode because it goes against the body’s soul, or inner beliefs.

It was in that moment that Clive could see a change in Kan’s eyes. It was no longer murky and full of confusion, there was a shining light inside of it. Although it wasn’t bright, Clive could see that it was undying and struggling against the murkiness. ‘He found his ideal. Even if it is only a small portion of it, he still found it.’ He hadn’t been sure that Kan would find it, but he did, and at such a young age too.

“Master, I think I have my answer to your question. I don’t know if this is the correct answer, but I believe it is.”

Clive waited in anticipation. Kan was worried that his answer would be wrong, but there was no wrong answer. It all depended if Kan believed that was his answer. Clive was extremely happy.

“I want power to fulfill my selfishness. I thought that I wanted to protect those who were precious to me, but what about other people. I couldn’t abandon those in trouble just because I don’t know them. I want the power to fulfill this selfishness of wanting to protect everyone.”

“Good. Good. If that is your reason for seeking power then I won’t hold back. Be prepared to face me head on Kan.”

“Yes, i’m ready. Come at me whenever Master!”