Chapter Seven

I am Kurako, the Hunter

A few days after the hospital incident is when my training was to begin. I had brought my belongings from my old home to my hunter's residence. In preparation for training I had been practicing with my wood saber, harder then I had ever done before. John stayed in his room for the most part; training his mind is what he told me.

Five days of training passed. Then it was time. My first session was before John's. Early in the morning I left, ready for whatever the Guild would through at me. Saber on my back I left, I felt I could take on anything.

…

Because I'm short on time and it was a fairly routine experience I won't go into details on the training. Also I have been asked not to reveal too much, as hunters are still being trained.

All hunters go through basic blade and gun training. All human and newman hunters also go through basic technique training.

Gun training simply was how to use a handgun to its best advantages. During the target practice I only hit one of the ten targets. I had decided I would use a gun only if necessary.

With the techniques we were simply taught how to do basic attacks and healing. I did fairly well here; after all I had almost made the Force class. It was a rather strange experience though, watching a fireball shoot out of one's own hand. Some of the hunters were fairly surprised by the experience, and even jumped back. There were some burns, shocks, and frostbite, but all in all no real harm was done.

Blade training was the real fun experience. I had been studying swords all my life, so maybe it was a good thing I was a Hunter and not a Force. The rest of the class was issued wooden sabers on day one. I had my father's. As time went on I learned just how fragile standard wood sabers could be, as the Guild issued saber's kept breaking. I started to wonder why the saber my father gave me wouldn't break.

Time passed in the class and I was introduced to many different types of blades. The twin blade dagger set was an interesting thing to use. With one curved blade in each hand it was a trick t make sure I didn't slice myself and optimize hitting the target. The lance class was simply a two-sided saber. With the second blade I had trouble at first avoiding impaling myself, good thing we trained with wooden weapons.

Then there were the Partisans. This weapon was a long staff with a blade on the end. I quickly saw one flaw; the Partisan could be easily attacked and broken simply by striking its extended handle. I decided I'd fix this problem sometime and build my own Partisan. An effective class of weaponry was the claw class. These types of weapons mounted on the right arm with two blades extending beyond the fist. The nice thing about these weapons was they could be ready to use in a moment's notice, and you could still do normal stuff with your hands.

Then I was introduced to a weapon I truly liked, the sword. There were two types, broadsword and katana. The katana had a blade on one side and was designed for quick speed. It was the broadsword, however, that held my complete attention. The blade was on two sides of the sword. As its name implied the sword was a fairly wide sword. And with that width came power, power to deal serious damage. I knew that this would be the weapon I would use the most.

…

To this day I have been at my best with a sword. My skills with the broadsword have progressed to the point where I can block even bullets from a gun. I can even throw it with great accuracy. Looks like I started rambling better continue.

…

The month of training wore on. I became more and more proficient with the blade. I just wish I knew how John was handling his classes. I rarely saw him except at night when we where both at our quarters. As it was typical of John, he didn't volunteer any information. He came in at night, got something from the kitchen, and then went to sleep. He was up and gone before I woke up in the morning. I could tell everything he wanted to tell me by the extreme weariness he had on his face.

However as the end of training approached John was clearly worn out. There was no surprise there. As I Hunter I only had to learn the basics of techniques. All I had to do was learn basic attacks, some healing, and some support. John however had a very different challenge. John was becoming a Force, and a very powerful one at that. Forces had to master all sorts of techniques. Later on in life I'd discover just how powerful John's techniques would be.

…

I'll take a break in my story to tell you about techniques. Techniques are basically magic spells. The techniques acquire greater power as their summoner's mind becomes more powerful. There are three types of attack techniques; Foie, Barta, and Zonde. Foie techniques are techniques of fire, while Barta is the ice technique. Zonde is lightning, plain and simple. The three attack techniques have multiple power levels: Easy (no prefix), normal (Gi- is the prefix), and hard (Ra- is the prefix). The healing technique Resta is used to heal yourself and teammates, although its mental drain is considerable. Anti is able to cure you and others of abnormal conditions; such as confusion, poison, ect. The support technique Ryuker allows you to create a temporary warp between your location and another point in space, although its range is limited.

So far all the techniques I've told you about are the ones I was taught. As a Force John has learned far more then I ever will. These are the techniques John has shown me.

There are to more attack techniques only Forces are taught; Grants and Megid. The way John describes Grants is a shower of arrows of light after a brief lock on. Megid, simply, is death, the curse of death. Megid however is not very accurate. There is another Healing technique only forces know, one that consumes considerable mind power, Reverser. This technique can revive a fallen, but not dead, teammate. Once someone is killed instead of being knocked out, that is it for them, no technique can bring back the dead.

…

As was tradition Principal Tyrell, the man in charge of Pioneer 2, stroll through the classes on their last day, only about three months into the training. Only one more hurdle to pass, the practical exam. I was sitting down at a table in the waiting room. The exam was taking place in the same area we had our initial test in. We would be graded on how we had progressed and how we reacted to the new changes and the mission. John had gone in while ago, lucky to have a last name earlier alphabetically. I just sighed as I sat on one of the chairs and waited.

Finally, after what seemed like hours it was finally my turn. This time I was given a broader choice of weaponry, and I choose the broadsword. Once again we used wooden blades, once again the inside was fake. I entered the chamber through the red door once again. The doors closed behind me, but this time there were no lights in the chamber. There was a rumbling as I felt the whole chamber start to move. It was pitch black as the small chamber descended downwards. After traveling down what felt like 6 tals the rumbling stopped. I held my breath and waited, my sword tightly in my hand.