The Beasts of Men

Chapter 24

That night  Elijah had a hard time falling asleep. All he could think about was how much he didn't know about the world and his place in it. About the Injustice of his people and how beautiful Sarai was. After they talked about how they grew up as kids they decided to end the day there and head back to their dorms. "I did always think that the tiger beastmen did favor us. Do you know anything about that Solomon?" Elijah asked. "Not much honestly I think we might have a common  Ancient ancestor with them that would be my  best guest. Let's do some sword play in the mindscape. I'm bored and you need the training". Said Solomon. After about a hr of training Solomon stopped. "It definitely looks like you got down the way the flow of sword duals go. It's a good thing that your sword is just a little bit longer than a Dagger with your build. A longsword could put you at a disadvantage". Said Solomon. "Now I'll teach you sword techniques that I doubt anyone in your generation or your grandfather's generation have seen before. First let me ask you when you coat your blade with spiritual energy where do you put it?" "Around the entire blade". Elijah replied. "WRONG" said Solomon smacking Elijah. "Sorry I just always wanted to do that.  But no the reason why the fox clan pierce and cut through objects like butter isn't just because of their spiritual nature. But it's in the method In which they coat their blade. Watch". Solomon Gathered his spiritual energy and transferred it to the sword. Look at the energy you see how it is covering the sword. "Why is there so little of it?" Elijah said. Solomon made a face. "I'm holding back so I can show you...dick. Ok now keep watching." The energy starts to get thinner around the sword. Did you notice that? "Yea" Elijah replied. "That's like the perfect way to coat a blade, you really are an expert level beastmen". "Try grandmaster" Solomon mumbled to himself. "Huh?" Elijah said. "Nothing, but yes this is the perfect way to coat a blade most people will just stop at this point and just add their spiritual nature to it then start going into the tweaking. Just like anything that's built it must have a strong foundation". Then the spiritual energy around Solomon's sword shifted to just one side of his double sided blade. "I'm going to show you the difference between just the two ,get behind me." Elijah walked behind him and then two huge boulders appeared in front of him. "I'm going to use the same amount of force on each boulder then you'll see the difference between the two". Solomon approaches the first boulder. Breathes in deeply then before Elijah could even blink he heard the crack of the boulder. "Holy S***" Elijah said approaching the boulder. "You have definitely been holding back during our sparring sessions." Solomon starts laughing. "You have no idea kid anyways look at the point of contact on both of the boulders". Elijah approached one of the sides that was cut, it was  hot and then it cooled down he could most see Elijah reflection. You would have thought just by looking at it. It was done by a monk that uses a weapon fire. "That's crazy how you didn't even use spiritual attributes on the boulder and you even did it with a normal sword". Said Elijah. Solomon looked confused? "What do you mean ? I'm a Ougun warlord and a Mystic Druid. I don't have any attributes to add even if I had any . You should know that. People who don't have elemental attributes in their class have more durable bodies because they don't have spiritual energy running through their nervous system. Few classes are the exception like a dual class system user. But neither of your class systems are warrior virility will be lower.Solomon said. "Pish yes of course I know that". Elijah replied trying to sound confident. "Let me show you what the other looks like". Solomon got in the same stance and coated the blade the way Most people used. Then struck the boulder after taking a deep breath. Elijah heard the same crack that sounded like thunder coming from the boulder. This time when he saw the point of contact the side of the boulder didn't look as smooth and he definitely couldn't see his reflection. "That first one was way better by far" said Elijah. It's all about molding your spirit energy to the curve of the blade." Solomon said very intelligently. "So that's why you had me get a one-sided blade". Solomon touched Elijah temple and pointed at Elijah. "You see it's all coming together. You are actually starting to realize I know what I'm doin." Said Solomon. "Don't be confused though both coating techniques have a specific purpose. The Precision coat only coats the shape of the blade to increase its cutting power. The Base coat  is used to cut elemental attributes, it's one of the defensive techniques that Warriors use against Casters. So you'll learn both and you'll have to learn the Base coat technique anyway before you learn the Precision. Once you have finally mastered these 2 techniques you'll know the foundation of the sword style I'm going to teach you." Said Solomon. "Master how am I going to do that in the amount of time that I have?" Said Elijah. "Here duh" Solomon said, rolling his eyes. "It's not physical but mental that's what is going to get you to master these techniques so you don't have to do them in real-time. Your the smartest dumb person I know." Solomon said, shaking his head. "This mindscape is your greatest weapon for sure. Probably even more valuable than your  legendary beastmen form. Which is saying a lot." Elijah didn't realize it but he was right he has been able to improve tremendously because he has access to this place in his own mind. "Learn this as fast as you can. this sword style I'm going to teach you is developed by none other than myself. I never taught this to anyone, not even my own sons , so be grateful." "Really how come?" Elijah asked. "Some secrets you keep to  benefit your survival." Solomon replied. After I teach you this Elijah you should be able to handle a beastmen at expert rank." "Really!" Elijah said with his eyes all lit up. "They'll definitely still kill you but just not as fast." Elijah's eyes were still lit up. With my current rank at the first stage of Consumer  that's crazy impressive...
Elijah practiced all night in the mindscape. Which was about a day and a half in real-time. Day break came and he finished his Routine and headed to the spot where Solomon told him to dig into the ground. "Alright so get in the hole and get in your meditation position." Said Solomon. Elijah enters the mindscape. No no get out of here you have to be there in real time to do this. "I understand master". replied Elijah. "Chill with that." Solomon said, making an embarrassed face. "But concentrate for a minute because it's gonna be pretty difficult to do this and if you don't do it right you could kill yourself." Focus on the spiritual energy within your body this shouldn't be hard to do because this is how you use your abilities. Do you feel it?" "Yes I do" Elijah said. "good, remember that feeling well. Now feel the spiritual energy around you. Every living thing has spiritual energy even the smallest insects do you feel them moving around in the earth. Feel the plant roots in the earth".  Elijah could feel all the life around him he was aware of everything that was living within 10 feet of him.  Kinda like the feeling when he first used the eyes of Anubis. The ants in the ground and the grass above him. "Close your eyes and focus on getting connected to the energy outside of you". Said Solomon. "Here comes the scary part you're going to take in some of that energy and then let it go. Right now you should swirl your spiritual pool like a whirlpool. It is important for you to be in this position when you do that so you can concentrate. Well starting off anyways when you become a real master you'll be able to do this almost instantly. You're doing great kid." Solomon didn't want to admit it but Elijah was a genius. He already figured out what he needed to do before he could explain it any further. With every inhale Elijah took a little spiritual energy, mixed in with his own and then released it on the exhale. "That's perfect with this: you're constantly flexing your spiritual pool without using your own power." Solomon said. Before Elijah felt like he made any real progress Solomon interrupted saying. "Alright that's enough for today you need to head to school". "Really?" Elijah replied "I felt like it has only been a hr or so". "That's what meditation will do to you. It has actually been 3hrs." Elijah felt a lot more energetic when going to school today. When Elijah walked through the door of the classroom he was getting more than the unusual looks from people. He finally got to his seat when Jason on the other side of Arthur said. "Why are you smiling so hard?" Elijah made a confusing face? "Am I smiling?" "Yea like you just won a lot of money at the gambling house. "I just can't believe I get to be partners with Sarai Saber. this place sucked till that happened". Both ;Jason and  Arthur made faces. "So not only do we suck but he's even rubbing his amazing partner in our faces." Arthur said. "Well of course I was excluding my friends". Elijah said trying to sound convincing. Mr.lexington took the roll and dismissed them into their groups. Elijah saw Sarai  get up and head towards his direction and when she finally got close enough to speak she said. "Today will actually talk about an actual battle strategy and not just talk about ourselves like we did yesterday". "I like getting to know you though," Elijah says as  he looks into Sarai 's eyes. She blushes and looks away. They head to the same spot into the library. As soon as they sat down Sarai  got straight to the point and said. "I've decided not to transform at all during the tournament."

Don't forget to give these chapters a star if you enjoy it thanks again. I'll try to post a chapter every week