Michael

"These are just some of the most basic things you need to know before you can interact with people without giving yourself away from as a foreigner on the planet. Besides your accent that is, every word out of your mount sounds atrocious," Mirabilis says with a giggle.

"She's right, I've never heard Linguae so butchered in my entire life. It might be better if you pretend to be dumb or something if you don't want to bring attention yo yourself," Estergon says seriously, not even a hint of a smile on his face.

"Why the hell did you guys teach me a language that's so tone based and musical anyways? I bet there are many other easier languages that I could have started with." I say with a low grumble even as Estergon adjusts my clothing, seeing as I'm trying out the local attire.

"Listen just relax, the trip down the mountain will be 14 to 16 days of climbing, hiking and gliding until we reach the foot of the mountain. Then it will be a two-day journey through the forest to reach our community in Sinaria, everything will be fine."

"Is that 16 days at your pace or at mine? Let's not forget that I'm still shitting and sleeping multiple times a day, and I need to eat and rest more. Unlike you people."

"Our pace is your pace on this trip and you've made huge strides forward in acclimatizing to Gaia much quicker than the average. And your strength and resilience is improving quickly, Jonah said so just the other day." Mirabilis says again walking a circle around me to ensure everything is in place. They've been treating me like a child since the ramming incident and I've allowed it.

"He also said I could now 'put up a good fight against a 14-year-old little girl'. What does that even mean? Are your little girls really strong or what in this world, my scale of what is possible and what is normal is completely broken by now." I say with a sigh, walking away from all the probing.

Mirabilis has always wanted a kid and seems to be adopting me in that role in her mind. I know she is old enough to be my mother but that is not the first role that came to mind when I think of a relationship between us. The woman just looks and feels too fresh and young for me to take her stern looks and her trying to be motherly seriously.

The problem though is I've realised I may as well be a child to these people with how helpless I am before them. If Mira wanted to subdue me she could without even laying a hand on me with her weird chakra powers, and if she did want to lay a hand on me she could still subdue me easy. Being stronger, more flexible, faster and the worst part, better trained than I am.

"Calm down man, of course, you could beat an untrained 14-year-old girl. I've seen you practising your moves and trust me, superior strength and speed aren't much of an advantage in comparison to superior training." Rumeria says lightly from across the room playing a board game that's a twisted complicated 3D equivalent of chess with Jonah.

"I noticed you said 'untrained' girl, how many untrained people are there to be found in Hangari continent? I've studied the map you showed me thoroughly, there are only like three human settlements in the entire continent. The rest is just wildlife and exotic humanoids, beast-men."

"Hey don't say it like that, I know some pretty cool beast men and not all their tribes eat humans you know. There are some beast-men tribes that don't eat meat at all." Rumeria adds again without looking my way, his focus fully on the game.

"Great, if I'm not eaten by the wildlife I may be eaten by the local humanoids, or if not that be beaten into submission by little girls," I say with a sigh, I don't even know why I'm complaining so much besides the fact that it feels good too.

I haven't complained about much in many years and doing it here now feels sort of cathartic. Definitely not something I will get used to though, complainers always annoy me.

"But that's only for the first year on Gaia so relax. Most earthlings are at the minimum level of health and strength for their age within a year of their arrival on Gaia. And if you challenge yourself like you have been and keep eating all this ether rich fair that Jonah has been serving you then you'll be all good in no time at all." Estergon says with a shrug of his shoulders.

I sigh, "I know guys and I appreciate all your support. It's just frustrating to be in the best shape of my life and yet be so much weaker than everything and everyone around me still. And how come my gun doesn't work, I've checked and rechecked it three times now."

"I told you that thing will get you killed, it has less chances of killing a person on Gaia than a knife in your hand," Mirabilis says with a frown.

I snort at that, "I'll believe that when I see it." Her logic makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

"Well, you'll get that chance. Everything that comes into Gaia through the pools is infused with ether at a molecular level and not just you but all your possessions as well. The 'firearm' of yours is no longer only whatever it was on earth, its now an isotope of itself. Even the powder in the shells you use as a propellant. Unfortunately for you, this current isotope of the powder is inert on Gaia, or at least not volatile enough to produce an explosion. Makes sense?" Estergon asks while making himself tea.

I look at him completely surprised. "Yea, surprisingly that does make a lot of sense. Thanks."

"No worries." He says and leaves the cave with a cup of tea in hand. The man likes dramatic exits but he looks cool doing em.

"So he a chemist or something?" I ask Mirabilis.

"He dabbles now and then in alchemy." She says with a grin.

"Come to the table, I'm about to lose another game," Rumeria says forfeiting the game.

"Ok look, not everything is about power but there is also mastery to take into consideration." He says leaning back and being serious for once in his life.

"What do you mean?" I ask taking a stool and sitting close so as to catch every word.

"Look, power is great and it's important but that power needs to be used by someone that has great skill in their chosen vocation for it to be as effective as it can be."

I nod, "I'm with you so far."

"Ok for instance in someone that Awakens as a warrior there are levels of power associated with that. From Awakened Warrior, Awakened Lord, Awakened King, and Imperium. The greatest level of power that an Awakened fighter can achieve on Gaia, supposedly.

"But how powerful those people are doesn't necessary have anything to do how good of a fighter they are, or how skilled they are with the spear, the dagger or the sword. A person could become an Awakened Lord, a power level that I can't really accurately put into a scale you would really understand right now. But they could became an Awakened Lord but be complete shit at sword fighting for instance, if their focus is on another weapon. Are you following so far?"

"Sort of, so your saying that a person's power doesn't determine their skill?"

"Exactly! Look at this old hairy man over here." He says pointing at Jonah. "He is so much stronger than all of us here but if he would face up against even a recently Awakened mind mage he would be in trouble."

Jonah grunts at that but doesn't dispute it, his scowl shows he's unhappy about the example though.

"Look, you need to choose a discipline to focus the next ten to twenty years of your life on. Be it unarmed combat, sword fighting, spear mastery, mind mastery or even learning and mastering those release seals like Mira is trying to do." Rumeria gives a look to make sure I'm paying attention before standing up to leave, having exhausted the extent of his seriousness for a while.

I take in his words, trying to assimilate them into my mind. He makes a lot of sense, and I have no goal really, not since I got here. I'm a rudderless ship that could be taken in any direction because I don't have a direction of my own.

I look at Jonah, "Tell me about these disciplines he mentions Jonah." He grunts and starts packing a pipe.

"There are different levels of mastery over a discipline. In the warrior path, there is a Novice, which is a complete beginner that no master can claim as a discipline without embarrassing themselves.

‎"Then there the Apprentice level of skill, this is when the basics are understood. Then there is the Justus level of skill, sometimes referred to as a Journeyman. At this stage, your proficiency with the sword, for instance, is so good that you can survive on your own on Gaia even being an unAwakened mundane.

"Most professional soldiers are trained until they reach this level of proficiency in combat but that's just a general statement. After Justus, there is Expert. A sword Expert is a very dangerous person, even for an Awakened sometimes.

"Then there is Adept, though Adept can be skipped sometimes. It refers mainly to branching out, acknowledging those individuals that have reached the expect level in two similar disciplines. It could be as simple as being an expect at using both a claymore and a short sword, because believe me though they may both be swords those two weapons need different skill sets.

"The difference between an Expert and an Adept may even be as simple as having more than one fighting style with the same weapon."

"Like a boxer versus a kick boxer for instance," I say helpfully making him know I understand and he can move on.

Jonah nods sagely as smoke pours out of his nose like a chimney. "That's exactly right. A boxer is an Expert at unarmed combat while a kick-boxer may be classified as an Adept at unarmed combat." He says smiling with smoke pouring out of both his mouth and nose but still seemingly not affecting his speech at all.

"After Adept its Master of course, and its at this stage that a person can take a disciple themselves in most disciplines if they want to teach. Not that anyone regulates who teaches who what in most kingdoms. It's mainly mages that regulate and keep track of all potential mages."

"Yes, yes. You've mentioned that mages are the WMD's of Gaia please continue about the level of expertise. What is there after Master Swordsman?" I try to direct him back on topic. He does that, all his lectures always branch out to other things, all useful, but sometimes irrelevant to the first point. I've learnt to nudge him back.

"Well after Master its Grandmaster, again this is mostly about achieving mastery in two or more disciplines or paths of the same discipline. But it also refers to superior theoretical knowledge on the topic. You will find that the level of skill between a master swordsman and a grandmaster swordsman are sometimes almost the same. But the grandmaster always knows more, always.

"Then there is an Archmaster or Saint. I've never heard of a Sword Saint that wasn't also an Awakened but theoretically it's possible. Now I'm not sure the title says it but you don't fuck with Saints. No one normal ever gets to that stage of proficiency, so even if your an Imperium facing down an Awakened King that's also a Saint you should really think twice or even thrice unless your a Saint yourself."

I nod vigorously, that makes perfect sense to me. This is all making perfect sense to me and is churning the competitive hunger in my stomach that has always pushed me forward in sports, in school, in training, in life. With training and expertise I could be better than the people that are more powerful than I am. People that have been born and raised with all the advantages that are possible on Gaia. People that are practically an entirely different species of human than earthly human. The original humans, our ancestral evolutionary line.

"Is there anything after Saint?" I ask almost hungry and very eager, my imagination already taking me there. 'Michael O'Haee the Gun Saint', or maybe Sword Saint. Not sure I can get my firearm to work and I need to focus on improving my body as much as is physically possible.

"Well, it's rumoured that there is another level of skill that would shred the human body in it's current design and ether levels. So it's apparently only safe to use that level of expertise after Ascending to a higher plane."

"Tell me." I say leaning forward. Jonah gives me an ominous grin as white smoke comes out of most of his facial orifices giving him an otherworldly continence.

"There is a rumoured level known as the Aspect level of power. The cults know more about what happens after Ascension though since their gods have been there, to the mythical world of Omega. Where some of the most powerful physical creatures in the universe reside." He pulls in again from his pipe, giving me a look. He knows he's got me as well.

It could take hundreds of years for me to gain enough power to qualify for Ascending through one of the Gates the others have spoken about. But gaining skill, that should be entirely up to me and my level of dedication. I'm so in!

"When do we start?" I say the old hardness and determination filling my voice and eyes.

"Hahahahaha. Oh boy, you are going to be a wonder to work with,'' Jonah says happily, already getting up and walking towards the dark side cavern no one goes into except him.