Apollo stood weakly on the spot, he had one of his hands clutching his aching ear and the other tightly grasping his sword that was stabbed on the soil below him in order to withstand the shock wave created by the blast. He stared meekly in front of him as a tall figure walked towards him with a small shield at hand.

“What do you think of that technique, young master?” smiled Alfred as he briskly straightened his clothes that was disturbed by the resulting wind. He looked at the weak boy before him disregarding his odd stance resembling a flailing twig in the wind, he couldn’t help but chuckle a little in his mind.

“That was amazing!” Apollo said excitedly,

“A bit loud, but nonetheless destructive” he added with a reminiscent thought.

Apollo wondered how Alfred’s technique would compare to modern weaponry, ‘that strike alone would probably be similar to a C4 explosion’ but he quickly shook his head thinking that it was probably more comparable to a more powerful high explosive gadget.

‘There’s no way a C4 is capable of cleanly disintegrating a whole tree that was 50 meters high’ he thought whilst looking convincingly at the crater behind Alfred.

“How did you do that?”

“Can I learn this technique?”, the boy asked rapidly, “Teach me Alfred, I must learn how to do that” Apollo demanded the smiling figure that was blocking the sunlight above.

“In time you will learn young master, but first you must learn the basics” Alfred reassured the feeble boy. He found it funny the way Apollo showed frustration just a few moments ago, but is now eager to learn after seeing a little demonstration.

‘He is still a child, I suppose’ he thought inwardly. Little did he know that the child in front of him was a grown adult in the past.

Before Apollo could ask Alfred more about the technique, he heard a collection of hurried light steps approaching all around him like a tidal wave. He saw that Alfred was calm and collected thus he calmed down.

In just a couple of seconds, he saw a large number of figures donning iron plate armors with the Heimarch insignias on their shields securing the perimeter around him, it was a portion of his father’s private retinue. He wondered why they came rushing, but he quickly realized why.

‘It must have been the sound’ Apollo thought to himself.

One particular man from the group stepped out of the formation and analyzed the situation in front of him, he immediately saw Apollo and Alfred nonchalantly staring at him. The man wearing the suit of armor with a distinct helmet different from the rest couldn’t help but feel a little bit anxious at the moment.

He rapidly moved next to Apollo ignoring the crater behind the two as if he used some sort of teleportation technique before kneeling down with similar haste like it was a practiced move.

“Young master,” he said.

After understanding the situation, Apollo beckoned the man to stand gesturing with a wave of his hand. He felt awkward knowing that he was one of the perpetrators to this current situation.

“I’m alright, nothing dangerous happened here, ” he assured the guard, “Alfred was only showing me a technique” he explained.

In fact, he did not need to explain himself due to the difference in rank, but he felt the need to do so given the awkward situation and since he wanted to reassure the man who immediately chose to check for his safety; he just didn’t want to be rude.

The man stood up slowly, “Understood” he said in a rough deep voice, he looked towards Alfred and gave him a respectful gesture before surveying the surroundings one more time, he observed the crater in particular as if he understood what had happened.

“Retreat” he finally bellowed as he disappeared from sight, the man left just as quickly as he entered the scene.

‘How peculiar’ Apollo thought as he looked towards Alfred, who had a carefree expression.

‘I guess I can’t ask Alfred to show me more fancy moves’ he shrugged lest he comes across the same situation again.

Apollo pondered for a moment as he collected his previous thoughts about the technique before asking Alfred, “How exactly did you cause that” he pointed towards the crater where the tall tree once was.

‘Was that mana?’ he questioned inwardly.

“Activation energy” remarked Alfred as if he read through Apollo’s mind.

“It is a type of energy that most warriors use in order to execute martial techniques” he explained.

“Do you remember the young man in the Warrior guild?”

“Yes”

He recalled a vague memory of a young man standing a distance away from an earthen puppet, and slicing it in half with the swing of his sword.

“Do you mean………” he trailed with astonishment after realizing something.

“That’s right, the young man from back then used activation energy to cut the puppet from a distance. You are simply too inexperienced from being able to see or feel that energy source”.

“Besides, that young man is a minor realm above the rest of his peers since he was able to utilize the body energy externally” he said as a matter of fact.

“Realms? What do you mean by that” Apollo asked curiously, ‘Is it like those cultivation novels where I can go from an ordinary soul to an immortal?’ he thought to himself excitedly.

“Realms are the different levels of activation energy utilization, and it is further broken down into minor realms, it corresponds to wizardry with their different states of advancements. Warriors, Rangers and the like, are broken down into 8 major realms starting from Energy refinement, Body refinement, Amalgamation, Condensation, Liquification, Solidification, Sublimation and finally Fusion. The minor realms in between these major realms are First degree, Second degree, Third degree and Fourth degree or Peak” narrated Alfred seriously.

Apollo nodded his head to show his understanding, he took mental notes recording it within his Encyclopaedia. There was a single question he had in mind that had him perplexed.

“Is it the same energy as mana?”

“No, they are not the same at all, similar yes, but they are different fundamentally” Alfred said with a solemn look.

“Activation energy, or body energy is the vital energy present in all life forms, anyone can use this type of energy”,

“However, mana is different; you can think of mana as a higher form of activation energy and only a small percentage of life forms can utilize this type of energy. In essence, mana is an innate energy born in some people whilst activation energy is the vital energy of all life forms”.

Apollo understood this innate fact about mana because he had mana himself as displayed by his overview, he understood that he was considered as one of the lucky ones.

“Mana is like a purer form of activation energy, but with this higher purity, mana is far more difficult to control, it is both unstable and destructive in nature. Meanwhile Activation energy is far more stable due to natural affinity”, Alfred deliberated.

“I understand,” said Apollo with a pensive expression, ‘No wonder mages are held in a higher regard than the rest’ he thought.

“Say Alfred, what would happen if you had both mana and activation energy, is it possible to use both of them at the same time?”

Alfred looked at the boy in an unexpected manner, he thought for a moment before saying “Although its not uncommon to have both types of energies, it is possible to do so, however, it's usually better to focus on one type of energy rather than both because of the difficulty in managing two different types of energies simultaneously. The more concerning problem is the nature of these two energies, fundamentally because of manas fierce instability; it will usually repel or otherwise consume activation energy leading to disastrous circumstances”.

“If mana repels activation energy, then it can directly cause your inner organs to explode due to a lack of control of either the mana or the activation energy. On the other hand, if mana consumes activation energy, then this will result in the creation of a more powerful and destructive energy that is far more unstable than mana itself. The lack of control for this type of energy will directly cause the whole body to burst from the inside”.

Apollo inwardly shook as he thought of the consequences of imploding, he imagined a scenario where he directly transformed into a bloody mist, ‘That would be an embarrassing way to die’ he thought.

Apollo checked his overview and found no information corresponding to activation energy, he wondered why this was so, although he had mana, he did not have a resource for body energy. ‘Perhaps it’s because I haven’t cultivated this type of energy yet’ he convinced himself.

“Alfred how do I go about using this activation energy?” he asked expectantly.

“Before you can start to use this energy, you must first accumulate it within your body” laughed Alfred, ‘truly putting the cart before the horse’ he chuckled.

“Get to the point Alfred” the boy sighed, “You know what I mean,” he said as a matter of fact.

“There are various ways to accumulate body energy, one of them is through the consumption of miraculous medicines, some are even born with innate body energy similar to mana, however, the main way to gather energy is by stimulating the body to undergo strenuous stress with the help of martial techniques. Another important factor is the capacity of the body to contain body energy, this is why foundation is necessary, therefore, you must first build up your body to ensure maximum capacity”.

“Think of the body as a vassal, the bigger the body, the greater the amount that can be stored within” he remarked pointing at Apollo’s feeble stature.

‘Wont that mean that more rounded people have more of an affinity to body energy?’ he thought to himself.

As if reading the boys thoughts once again, Alfred sighed and explained that “Another important factor is the ability to compress body energy within oneself as to efficiently store the most amount of energy in a limited space”. He knew exactly what Apollo was thinking of when he mentioned ‘the bigger the better’.

“So, what you’re saying is that I can accumulate body energy by practicing the Heimarch martial technique and forcing stress onto the body?”

“That’s right, stress on the muscles can directly stimulate the proliferation of activation energy and the martial techniques will guide this energy around the body in specific movement sets that aim to absorb body energy within oneself”.

‘Huh, so without pain there is no gain, sounds simple enough’ muttered Apollo.

Alfred straightened his back and handed over the ‘small’ shield back to Apollo before lightly grasping his wooden sword once more.

Seeing this, Apollo understood that it was time for another round.

“Come Alfred, teach me the Heimarch martial technique,” he bellowed with conviction after understanding the basics of this worlds cultivation system. Alfred only replied with a smile before repeating the same sets of movements.

He kept striking at Apollo in a wide variety of angles instructing him about foot placements, bodily directions, blocking movements, parrying and hand to eye coordination all of which represented a specific movement set that was outlined in the Heimarch technique.

Apollo tried his best to follow through Alfred’s instructions each time he was told to do so but, in reality he kept failing to follow through and keep up with the instructions given, however, he did not give up, each time he failed to face in a certain direction or if his back foot was in the wrong place, he would get hit by the wooden sword causing his entire body to convulse in agony.

He was asked on multiple occasions if he wanted to stop and rest, but Apollo relentlessly followed Alfreds steps. Beyond the piercing pain from the strikes and the mistakes he was making Apollo appeared to have noticed a certain flow throughout the entire regime however, each time he would lose this feeling. He would try to remember, but alas, it would disappear time and time again.

It almost felt like this ‘flow’ was beckoning him to follow and chase after it; after repetitive failure, he soon grasped a small resemblance of this flow, and as if in a trance, Apollo would perfectly execute movements, he would block, and parry strikes with ease. It was a state of understanding, in particular, the understanding of the first level of the Heimarch martial technique.

Besides that, Apollo felt a warm feeling of strength coursing through his veins as he practiced the same move sets taught by Alfred, it was a brand-new sensation that he hadn’t felt before, however, this feeling would only last for a couple of seconds before disappearing somewhere.

‘This must be body energy!’ exclaimed Apollo.

“Good, very good!” remarked Alfred as he lightly struck Apollo’s small shield and struck again, he saw that with Apollo’s repetitive failures there would be times where he would get blocked parried and even miss his strikes. He was inwardly shocked at the boy’s progress.

‘The boy is a natural’ he thought, ‘it must be the blood of the Heimarchs’ he added convincingly. After all, this martial technique was created by Apollo’s ancestors, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Apollo had a certain affinity with the technique. ‘Perhaps he is naturally gifted, that’d be even better’ he smiled as he struck with ‘passion’ causing Apollo to drop his shield once again.

After an excruciating two hours of what Apollo could only describe as ‘voluntary torture’, he crashed down on the ground with his back facing the ground whilst ignoring the numbing sensations all around his body as he gasped for air. Oddly enough, despite the numbness of his body, he felt a burning sensation throughout his entire body. This sensation only dispersed after five minutes or so he thought.

He sat back up after a while before calling out his overview with relief and excitement.

‘Overview’

Apollo Kraisler Heimarch

Level:

1 (0.0%)

Age:

6

Race:

Human (Eretrian)

Title:

None

Realm:

Energy Refinement

Initiate

Affiliation:

Eretrian Noble

Resource:

Health: 63

Stamina: 26.9

Mana: 12.75

Body Energy: 1.75

Stats

Strength: 0.72

Agility: 0.43

Intelligence: 1.10

Constitution: 0.63

Leadership: 0.22

Recovery: 0.21

Combat Skills

- Heimarch Martial Technique Lvl 1 (89%)

- Basic Swordsmanship: Lvl 1 (45%)

- Basic Archery: Lvl 1 (72%)

Miscellaneous Skills

- Wim Hof Breathing Technique: Lvl 1 (24%)

- Eretian Language: Lvl 10 (Max)

- Promethian Language: Lvl 1 (44%)

Statuses

None

Equipment Stats

None