We sat, my teacher and I, once again in the mountain training area early in the morning around 9:00 am to begin a lesson about the elements today.
"The elements are the type of power that a warrior trains in when they reach the advanced stages, typically in the eighth Level. You can say it's a way to transform your mana into one of the elements," my teacher explained.
this was like any other lesson I got. It felt like a dream, I mean mana and physical strength are a thing but throwing fire from my hands like Amber and Adam is something on another level.
"A-And which element will I use?" I asked excitedly.
"Anything you want," Adam said with a smile. "During your journey in the True Realm, you'll see very strange elements."
"Like Mr. James's element?"
"Exactly. Since you brought it up, let's talk about it for a moment."
My teacher stood on his feet and raised his hand slightly, then emitted a large fire from his hand. I wasn't very surprised this time because I was starting to get used to this world of warriors.
"There are some elements that I call simple or basic elements, which are mostly natural elements like fire, water, earth, wind, metal, nature, and others. Then comes the complex elements, which are seen as developments of the simple elements." He then began lifting some stones from the ground with his power. "As you can see here, this is the element of flight, which was previously the wind element but has been developed into this form."
"So basic elements can be developed into complex elements? but I still don't understand what makes an element complex and not."
"This is not a common naming but something I use to make it simpler to understand, for example, water and fire are simple, I will make my mana into fire or I will make it into water, but for example, the floating element is more complex, I will use my wind mana to raise the object or the person in the air."
"Th-This is confusing a little bit but I guess I got the basic idea, so how did Mr. James obtain the cloning element?"
"He started with the nature element first, like making trees or plants and then evolved to the point that these plants have bodies and can move like humans. Then due to his nature as a scientist and his knowledge of the human body, he was able to use his power to clone himself. But don't think that anyone can develop their element. It requires years of training with your current element, and then if you receive what we call inspiration, you can develop it, is it clear for now?"
"I-I guess so, but why didn't develop your fire element then?"
"No."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason is that I didn't want to. Let me clarify this misunderstanding here. Developing your element doesn't make you stronger, it's all about what suits you if remember what I taught last time."
"Oh, so it's related to your specific body structure or something like that?"
"Yes. There are two things you need to remember about development. Firstly, developing your element into a new one makes you lose your old element. No human can obtain more than one element within the mana core. And secondly, developing your element doesn't make it better. Some choose to continue with the wind element instead of the flight element, for example."
"Wait a moment, so how do you have two elements?"
"Well, humans can never train in two elements, except... I deeply regret this," Adam sighed, his face showing signs of sadness.
"Why?"
"...Let's not talk about it right now, just don't even try to do it, it's dangerous."
As I saw him uncomfortable with sharing this with me I decided to not push my noise further.
"Alright, I understand."
"We're done for today. Let's head back for lunch. We'll go monster hunting this evening."
"Mo-Monsters?!"
Horror washed over me at the word. How could I have been so naive? This is a magical world, of course, there would be monsters. The problem is, I've always been terrified of anything non-human and larger than a cat.
"Yes, we'll be hunting goblins."
I swallowed hard.
Two hours later. We entered one of the forests through a portable teleportation gate and began walking aimlessly.
"So, how do we find these goblins?" I asked, secretly hoping we wouldn't.
"The life of goblins is like that of wolves; they live in packs and of course, since you are so strong we can't let you fight a full pack, one at a time is enough, there should be some lone wolves around here."
'I really hope not.'
As we continued our path Adam stopped and raised his hand towards me to stop me at my position behind him.
"Seems like we got one."
'Screw it.'
I looked ahead to see one of those short, green creatures with long ears and a hunched back, covered in tattered pieces of animal skin as clothes. The little goblin was sleeping his head on a tree.
"Alright go on."
"H-Huh?!"
Adam lifted me from behind by the back of my shirt and threw me forward.
I stumbled on the ground in front of the creature before I stood up and turned angrily towards Adam, then looked back at the sleeping monster, which was about four meters away from me. But I couldn't move towards it; I was frozen with fear.
"If you don't kill him now while he's asleep, it'll be much harder when he wakes up," Adam said, but I didn't listen to him; I Couldn't focus I was only seeing my fear there.
***
As Adam looked at his frightened student facing the small monster in front of him, he raised a small stone.
'If he won't approach on his own, let's have the little monster come instead,' then he threw the stone towards the sleeping goblin's head.
"What's this?!" the boy yelled, trembling in shock and fear as he saw the stone hitting the head of the creature.
The goblin woke up, yawned and looked around until its eyes caught sight of Ali. At that moment, Adam completely concealed his presence, allowing the goblin to focus solely on his student.
"KREEEEK!!!"
The goblin let out its annoying screech, its intent to kill evident. It pulled out its jagged dagger made of sculpted rock and rushed towards the boy.
Ali began to tremble in fear, unable to talk or scream, his body started spreading mana unconsciously as a reaction to his fear, but he couldn't focus on managing his mana efficiently. Adam turned his head away as if he didn't care to watch the fight, but he focused on the sounds to know if there was a need for him to intervene.
"A-AAAAHH!!!!"
"KEEEEK!!!!"
The mutual screams indicated the intensity of the battle; both sides wanted to live. The screams continued for about two minutes, then...
"It seems it's over."
Adam looked back towards the small battlefield with a faint grin, where the goblin lay on the ground, its skull crushed from the punches. The boy stood over its body, panting heavily, his face and clothes covered in blood.
"Y-you threw that, didn't you?"
Adam chuckled, then approached his pupil with a smile. "Well done. Now you can fight monsters like any other warrior without fear."
"I-I hate you... You bloody....."
Ali fell unconscious on the ground tired before finishing his insult as he used all his mana in this fight.
Adam sighed and carried his student in his arms and left the place.
***
Two weeks had passed since I started monster hunting training. This time, I was running in the forest to finish my training: killing 10 goblins in one hour.
"Three minutes left. I need to find the last one."
Since overcoming my fear by killing the first one, I found that my current level could easily kill these goblins with just a well-aimed punch to their weak points in the back of the skull.
I remembered what my teacher had told me, "Common monsters are divided into nine Levels just like warriors, and the goblin you fought is classified as one of the weakest of the ninth Level. The thing that prevented you from focusing to gather your strength is called 'bloodlust' or 'killing intent,' used by warriors and monsters for intimidation. It doesn't affect those stronger than you, but because you were already scared, it affected you more."
Killing intent, what's funny I realised that Amber actually used it on me one time by mistake I couldn't even move I thought it was one other power she had I didn't understand, seriously this place is really the worst for protecting children's rights.
"Hmm, found you."
I found a lone goblin in my path and ran towards it, leaping high into the air and landing my fist on its head, crushing it to the ground.
"Phew, finally done."
I took the bone bracelet the goblin was wearing and placed it with the others in my bag. Adam told me that a goblin's bracelet indicates which tribe it belongs to or something like that, well it just works as proof I finished my target.
"Alright, let's head back."
I returned to the camp where I agreed to meet Adam, finding him asleep on a tree.
"Hmm? hehe."
I grinned, took out some bracelets from my bag, and threw them towards him, but he caught them without even looking.
"You're still too young to surprise me," the man said, then jumped down to the ground.
"...I've completed the mission," I replied annoyed.
"2 minutes over the time, let's go back now." The man said as he opened the gate, and we returned home.
I sighed and just followed.
A year passed, and I continued training in the True Realm. I had reached the middle of the eighth level.
"Finally, not much left until I can choose an element to train on."
I exited the room and went downstairs.
"Good morning, Mr. Hans."
"Good morning, Ali. Oh, he's back by the way."
"Finally?" It seemed like my teacher had returned once again from his frequent trips. I walked towards the table where he was sitting, and once again, I found that cold woman, Carol, sitting with him. I approached them as they looked at me.
"It seems they were waiting for me."
"Welcome back," I said to my teacher. "And nice to see you again, Mrs. Carol."
"Hello," she replied coldly as expected.
"So, were you both waiting for me?"
"Yes, but judging by your dismissive expression I assume you don't remember what is going to happen," Adam said.
"Hmm?"
"Ali Saiffeddine," Carol said of a sudden I was shocked for a second, and kind of intimidated by her cold eyes staring at my soul.
"Y-yes?"
The woman took out her smartphone, and as soon as she pressed a button, a 3d screen appeared it had my full name and a small window like a fingerprint scanner.
"Put your left pinky on the scanner," said the woman with authority.
"Y-yes ma'am."
I immediately obeyed her and put my finger on the scanner.
'why the hell am I obeying her? This is my... Screw it this is all just too complicated.'
"Registration completed, by Carol Boris."
A message appeared on the screen after I tapped the screen it felt like magic... Well, this is another realm after all.
"Congratulations, now you are a human being."
"That's not funny, teacher."
"I'll be taking my leave now then," Carol said as she stood up and walked to the door.
I kept looking at her somewhat disappointed, did I get my hopes high that this cold woman say a congrats or at least one smile? I was stupid to think she would show any emotions for me, I mean I am lucky I found Amber to treat me as her brother and someone like Hans and my teacher Adam in this world.
Carol left without looking at us or even saying goodbye, and Adam hit my back hard.
I was taken aback and started coughing, "W-what is wrong with you??!"
"Don't be too bothered by her; she's actually kind-hearted.... sometimes."
Shouldn't he have said she is just kind-hearted? Was the sometimes actually needed?
I sigh and regain my composure, "Don't worry, I wasn't bothered, I was just surprised by her sudden departure."
"Hahaha, that's it then. Alright, shall we go?"
"Hmm? Where to?"
"For training area."
"But today, I have to go hunting today."
"Don't talk back to me, let's go."
".... You are the teacher here."
We arrived at the usual training spot, of course, the marks of the huge boulder he melted with his attack last year were still there, I tried to not look at it.
The man approached me and then reached into his tattered black cloak. It seemed like he was looking for something, then...
"Here it is." He pulled out a pill similar to the one I had taken before and threw it towards me. I caught it and looked at it in my hand. It was dark red.
I raised my eyebrow towards him and asked, "What's this?"
"Take it. It will help you jump straight to the end of the eighth level."
"What?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Is it really that simple?! W-why didn't I take it before then?"
"There are many things that help accelerate a person's training, but they are very expensive. The cost of this pill here is fifty gold pieces."
"F-Fifty?!" I exclaimed loudly in shock at what I heard. "That's the cost of buying a small house!"
Of course, I started understanding how much is a thing expensive or something, as a piece of bread is like 10 bronze coins and every 100 bronze coins is one silver coin and so on.
"And it only elevates you from halfway through the eighth level to the end of the eighth level. We need to speed up your training a bit in preparation for going to the academy."
"Academy?" I asked confused, what does he mean by Academy? I had a few theories and expectations but I let him continue.
"Yes, I've reserved a spot for you at Mirage's Warrior Academy. The minimum requirement for acceptance is reaching the seventh level."
"B-But I haven't reached it yet."
"You genius didn't I just say you will reach it today." Adam scoffed at my words like I didn't pay any attention to his words.
".... Sorry."
'What's with his attitude? Acting like he is the greatest warrior of all time, even though... Ahh screw it.'
The man sighed and added, "Listen here my dear student, there will be young warriors your age, all of them possessing powerful elements and skilled in using them. So, you'll spend the rest of this year adapting to the element you'll choose."
"Warriors my age?" I got a bit excited at the idea, as everyone I knew was much older than me, and I was tired of Amber wiping the floor with me every day, I didn't really focus on the element point yet.
"I won't accept my students to be inferior to those little rascals, even if they started training at the age of five."
"....Five?!"
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