Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 35: Training With Master Han
Year: X756. 28 years till Canon begins.
Cade POV:
It felt rather strange to wake up today and not hear the sound of birds chirping away outside my window. Normally that was one of the many things that could wake me up in the morning, the second being sunlight.
Now that I think about it, that as well is quite strange to get used to. The fake sunlight that is let into the village does light up the area, but it provides no heat, and you are able to directly look into it without being blinded. A rather uncanny feeling.
That means I woke up entirely on my own today, something that doesn't often happen to me. When I woke up from sleeping, I was rather confused as to what the time was, as back in Magnolia it was normally around 8:00am – 10:00am in which I woke up. I chose to exit my room, while still wearing the nice pyjamas Master Han had in the house.
I went downstairs to see if anyone was awake yet. The fake sunlight made it a bit hard to determine what the actual time was in the outside world. Did the sunlight mean that the sun was fully risen, or does it mean that the sun has only just risen? I wonder how many of the villagers would react trying to get used to the real sun outside of the mountain.
I poked around the many different rooms in the manor and couldn't find anyone awake. I didn't know where Master Han's room was, and I think I still heard my mother sleeping when I exited my room. I searched upstairs and downstairs but I found no activity.
At one point I came out on a small balcony at the side of the one of the buildings attached to the monastery. It overlooked the entire village, giving a nice view. I could see as far back as the lake with the cherry blossom trees to the walkway we had entered from. I watched the village for a while, taking in the exquisite view.
'Man. Wish I could bring my friends here.' I thought with a smile at the idea. 'Doubt I could bring the entirety of Fairy Tail here, but maybe some of my closer friends. I sure they'd love the place.'
Still. Elder Lotho is rightfully wary of strangers entering the village, so that idea was just an idea. After a few minutes of taking in the view, I continued my search for Master Han.
My trail eventually led me back outside to where I conducted Master Han's test with Mato. The stone inside the chalk square had already been repaired and was as smooth as I had first seen it. It was as if the fight had never occurred in the first place. Perhaps the best use of magic was using it to fix any damage to the environment if possible.
Since Gildarts has stopped suppressing his magic a lot more, he's been destroying more and more of the environment around Magnolia. Master Makarov has always been forced to send wizards in our guild to fix up the mess. The possibility of Magnolia's mayor having to cause a major change to the town to deal with Gildarts insane destructive clumsiness was becoming more and more likely.
I looked around the square outside a bit more, and found a curious devise, next to a cliff wall. Perplexed by this I went over to investigate it.
The devise was made out of metal while shaped rectangular and was sitting upright. It was coloured grey and I could see a long thick metal cable running under it and into the ground. On the front of the devise I could see a small see through plastic casing that could easily be opened. Behind the casing was a red handle that could be pulled down.
'This looks important. I probably should stay away from it.' I realised. Yet… there was something about the case that was intriguing to me. Why was it all the way out here? What was it? What does it do?
These questioned buzzed in my head, and as much as I tried to swat them away, I was unsuccessful.
I then moved a bit closer to the devise to look at it in greater detail. 'Is this made out of steel?' I wondered as I looked at the metal used. 'If so then perhaps Master Han made it.' I put my face close to the casing that covered the handle. 'Just what does this thing do?' I was stumped for answers.
"Don't pull that." Came a sudden voice from behind me.
I turned around in shock and saw Master Han standing there, him dressed and ready for his day. "Oh Master Han! Don't worry I wasn't going to pull it. Was just curious." I quickly explained my situation to the Master.
Han seemed to believe me. "Good. If you did pull that, then both myself and Elder Lotho would have your head." He informed me, as he came up to me.
"Just what is this Master Han?" I asked the man in bewilderment.
Han gave a relaxed look as he put his hand on the box. "If you pulled that, it would sent an alarm to the Elder's house showing that something serious has happened." He explained. "This switch here shows that we need Fea's help for healing."
"This switch? There are more?"
"Yes. There is one more in my room. That signals that the entire village is in danger. Say for example I find an intruder wandering around the village from one of the balconies we have here. I'd pull that switch to show how serious things are."
"Right I get it." I nodded in understanding what they did. "You were going to tell me about these at one point right?" I asked warily.
"Well of course! I was going to tell you and your mother today, after breakfast; which by the way is just being prepared in the monastery." Han said directly my attention to the monastery.
"Good, cause I'm starved..." I said with a chuckle, as me and Han then made our way back into the monastery to have some breakfast. As we walked into the building, I asked Han a question.
"Say. Have you ever had to flip that switch before in the past?"
"Well I had to flip it when it was first installed to see if it actually worked, but other than that time I have not needed to. I can only hope I will never need to."
"Funny that you still have them due to how well protected the village here is. I would have gotten rid of them if nothing big came up. But hey, doesn't ever hurt to be prepared." I spoke back.
We then made it into the dining room where we had dinner last night. That night we had some nice ramen that was rather delicious to chow down on. The table was now completely clear of any food and dishes that were left present last night. In its place was fresh bowls and plates with lots of different food to eat.
"I shall fetch your mother now, unless of course she wants to eat cold food." Han stated as he left the room and went upstairs to wake her up.
I took the same seat I had last night at the table, and waited my mother and Master Han to return, so we could get wired in too all the food.
A few minutes later, I saw Master Han slide open the door that led into here, and my mother came in with him. I must say, this is perhaps the scruffiest I've ever seen her before in my life.
Her black hair was messy and loose all over her head, small strands of hair slipping down her face. Her eyes were still half shut, and some small bags were under them showing that she had clearly just woken up less than five minutes ago.
When entering the dining room, she instinctively covered her eyes due to the light in the room.
"Ugh… here I am…" She moaned when entering the room.
'Yikes she looks like she just woke up. I guess that's what they call not getting enough beauty sleep.' I joked internally when looking at her hair. Of course I didn't know that my hair was even scruffier than hers.
Mother then slowly lowered her hand that was covering her eyes and she instantly saw all the food on the table. When seeing it, she instantly seemed to wake up.
"Oh is this breakfast!?" She said in disbelief. "Thank you for preparing this for us Han!" She thanked him, her eyes now fully open and she took the nearest seat.
Master Han then took a seat as well, and we all began to eat away at all the food. While I was scoffing down some toast and scrambled eggs, Master Han got my attention.
"Tell me young Cade. How long do you think it will take you to learn how to combine your magic successfully?" He asked, as he was cutting up a bit of toast to eat.
"Hmm?"
'Weird. Thought he knew that it took around two months to do. Maybe there is a fast version.' I swallowed my food and spoke back to Han.
"Oh er, maybe two months should be enough time to do all this. Of course, if there is a faster way I'd happily take it." I explained to Master Han.
"Hmm." Master Han seems to think on this. "Yes two months will be enough time to do it. Perhaps a tad faster if you are already versed in many of the things that are required for this."
"Er, what?" I spoke out, but Han had seemed to move to my mother.
"So tell me June. What are your plans for today?" He wondered with curiosity.
Mother who had tried tidying up her hair a bit since siting down, spoke up to Han after she finished eating a bit of melon. "Well I plan on going on a tour around the village with Fea today. It's for the best if I learn where everything is around here."
"You won't be disappointed." I spoke up. The village is amazing! There's all sorts of things there for you to see!" I encouraged mother, hyping up the village.
"Well I'm certainly looking forward to it now! Fea will be coming round in about an hour I believe, so I'll be heading up stairs to wash my hair." Mother said.
"As for you young Cade." Han got my attention. "We'll start your training today. I'll be running through some exercises with you just to confirm a few things."
"Ok… will you tell me what they are before we do them?" I asked with hope.
Master Han finished drinking some water, before stating his answer.
"No." He said simply.
"Hmph." I crossed my arms in annoyance. "Well when do we start?" I wondered.
"How about we start just when your mother leaves? That gives me time to clean all this up." He suggested to me. "Besides… I think you need to wash that hair of yours." He muttered, as went back to drinking some water.
"Huh?" I felt my hair and found that it was very scruffy and untidy, nothing like the smooth sleekness it usually was. "Argh, has my hair been this messy since I woke up this morning?" I cried in horror.
After I finished eating breakfast, I immediately jumped upstairs to wash it in the shower here. I think I could hear mother banging on the door, unhappy that I got here first. Hey, she should have known that the building we were staying in wouldn't have multiple showers.
After I showed and exited the bathroom, mother went in immediately to wash herself before Fea came. I decided to relax in my room, until the next hour came and I would start training with Han.
Around 30 minutes later, I headed downstairs and saw Fea and my mother who now looked much cleaner, talking with each other. It seems they were just about to head off on their little tour.
"Is that you two away then?" I said to the both of them.
"Yes we shall be going on the tour we went on yesterday." Fea stated to me. "I will be taking her to the same places I showed her."
"Well I hope you enjoy it. I can think of lots things that'll interest you around the place." I said mother.
"You'll be training with Master Han right? Good luck with that Cade! I'll be rooting for you while I'm around the village." My mother encouraged me, before giving me a hug.
"Wha – Mother!" I exclaimed in embarrassment as I felt my face turn red at that. Course I couldn't just leave her without hugging her back, since she hugged me I just had to return the gesture.
I swore I heard a giggle from behind me. Fea no doubt.
We then broke the hug, and mother and Fea left the monastery through the front door, I continued watching them until they embarked down the steps that led down to the village.
With them gone and out of sight, I made my way back into the dining room in the monastery to see if Han was there. Sure enough, he was still there cleaning the last of the dishes. He must have heard me come in, as he turned his head slightly to the side as if to acknowledge my presence.
"You know if you need help washing the dishes next time I'd be happy to help." I offered to him.
"Why thank you for that." Han replied happy by my offer. "It'd certainly make things to faster around here. I'm almost finished here though." He said as he furiously scrubbed a plate.
"I have to say, you seem to have some much finer clothes than the rest of the village in your drawers and cupboards." I spoke to him.
I was wearing a nice short-sleeved shirt, which was coloured dark pink, with some thin white lines running vertically across it. Covering my legs were some rather plain shorts which were quite comfortable to wear, they were coloured dark blue. For my feet, I was wearing the shoes I had when I came up here, with some short socks to stop my heels from getting hurt.
"The rest of the village doesn't really bad clothing choices per se, we must simply work with what we got. Most of the people here have some nicer clothes. You must have just seen the ones that were last in line when getting the good outfits."
"How do you get things like clothing around here?" I asked, as Han put the plate he had finished cleaning with the others, before he then grabbed the last dish to wash and clean.
"Fea tell you about Seekers?" Han said. I told him about what I learned yesterday, and he spoke back up. "Well, those select people like Mato and Reed for example, are sent out to trade and buy supplies for here."
Han then finished cleaning that dish and put it with the others. He then dried his hands on a dish towel, before he then clapped his hands together. Suddenly, all the dishes immediately disappeared with a white glow around them.
'Did he just send all the dishes into his requip storage?' I thought with interest.
"Now then, shall we begin your training?" Han asked, as if he didn't already know what my response would be.
"Yes of course!" I was practically jumping at the fact that I was finally at this point, after months of searching and struggling, I was finally here!
"Very well. Follow me into the meditation chamber." Han instructed as he walked out of the dining room to the meditation chamber. I eagerly followed him, trying to contain my excitement.
We soon the made it to the meditation chamber. Han slid the door open and walked in, with me following him, he made his way into around the middle of the room and sat down on the mat in there crossing his legs as he sat.
"Take a seat young Cade." He requested, as he gestured his hand out in front of him.
I quickly sat down, me struggling to cross my legs like he did. "Oh, you don't need to cross your legs. Just use your knees." He said to me. As such, I kneeled down on the mat.
"Now then. Allow me to explain what it is that you will be trying to achieve here." Han started off.
"But I thought I wa-" I began to say.
Han quickly spoke up cutting me off. "I wasn't finished." He stated sternly, giving me a serious gaze. "Yes, you will be trying to achieve to combine your magic successfully, but I must run though how you will do it." He explained to me.
"Ah. Sorry." I apologised, nodding my head at him.
Han seemed to forgive me, and he spoke up to me again. "Now then, what two magics are you trying to combine here? The whole length of this process will be determined by how easily your magics can combine together." He asked.
"Well, this may be a bit of a shock to you Master Han, but I'm actually also an Enchantment wizard."
Han… didn't seem as shocked as I expected him to be. I mean, he still gave a look of surprise by this, but I was expecting him to have his mind blown by this revelation.
I then quickly summed up everything I had learned about Enchantment Magic to the Master, from my enchanted swords to learning that was indeed possible to use my magic to turn my ice into stone. When I finished, Han gave a look of deep thought.
"Hmm. Well in theory if the back of that page says it is possible to use Henshin on your own magic of a different type, then it should be possible." He confirmed. "As for how easily these magics would combine together… I'm not sure. This is the first time I am teaching an enchantment wizard."
"That's ok. We can figure it out as I go." I told him. "So what is it that I actually have to do here? Like how do I combine my magic together before it leaves my body?"
"You must enter what is known as the Ethereal State." He informed me.
I opened my mouth to ask what sort of name that was, but I saw that Master Han was about to explain it for me so I kept my lips sealed.
"Seems from the look on your face you don't know what it is. I had a feeling you wouldn't. It's not something every wizard is bound to come across in their life."
"The Etherial State is when you enter your mind through deep and focused meditation. While in there you will be able to spiritually access your magical container. You won't be able to meddle with it to make you stronger. But you will be able to access the different types of magic you have. From there, you can see your Ice and Enchantment Magic, and you should be able to bring the two together with success." Han explained to me.
I took in the information he said, and immediately had a few dozen questions.
"How do I get in through meditation? I can't make myself stronger? How have I never heard of this before?! This is amazing! How will it take two months to do though? I wonder if I can teach this to others when I go home? You said bring my magic together?"
Master Han just took my questions in through his ears calmly. He just sat there peacefully taking in all my questions, without any words coming out of his mouth.
Eventually I stopped blurting out all the questions I had and calmed down. I then coughed a little due to how fast I was speaking there.
"Oh *cough* sorry Master Han. I didn't mean to bombard you with all those questions there." I was a bit ashamed at myself there, but Master Han didn't seem all too annoyed at me.
"No need to apologise." He addressed me. "I had about the same reaction when I learned of this. Now I will answer one question I heard there. That being the meditation process of getting in." He clarified for me.
"You see to get into this state successfully, one must have successfully enhanced their five primary senses and their awareness around them when meditating. This of course can be achieved through some training." He explained to me.
I nodded my head in understanding. This seemed rather straightforward so far.
"As for all the other questions you said to me, we shall address those later." Han stated.
"So that's it then? That's all I need to do? Just strengthen my five senses and I can go into the state easily?" I pondered in doubt at this task being this easy to do.
"It will take time for you to strengthen your five senses. This won't just be done in a week young Cade." Han then stood up from where he sitting. "With all that said, let us head out to the courtyard behind the monastery. There we shall begin your training."
"Alright lead the way Master Han!" I said with gusto, as me and Han then made our way out of the meditation room, and out to the courtyard behind the monastery. Upon reaching there, Han moved inside the square and I followed him.
"Excuse me, Master Han?" I spoke up to the Master, just as we stopped inside the square. "I can understand how strengthening my sense of sight and hearing will help me. But how would strengthening my sense of taste, touch and smell help me with accessing the Etherial State?" I questioned with intrigue.
"Ah those senses. You see it is not a case of how will they help you, it is more of a case of you must learn to strengthen them if you are to enter the Etherial State successfully." Master Han explained with a sigh. "All five senses must be strengthened in order to enter the state. Even if some are not as important as others."
"Believe it or not, if you lack one of the senses then you can still enter the Etherial State! Simply because, as you don't have it, you don't need to focus on strengthening it to enter." Han informed.
"All right then!" He said cutting me off from whatever I was thinking. "We have five senses to get through, some will be admittedly be easier than others. Which one do you want to focus on first?" He stated.
'This will probably be important going forward these next few weeks. Whatever sense I chose to focus on strengthening first may help me with some of the other ones. The most important ones for a person is sight and hearing, so it'll be one of them. Now what to chose…'
I contemplated this for a few minutes, as it was a big decision. Han did not seem to mind how long I was taking, as he snapped his fingers and summoned a chair that he sat on.
Eventually I made my choice.
"Hearing. I want to strengthen my hearing first." I decided with a firm nod.
"A wise choice." Han said. "I can put you through a few courses for this today, but we shall have more time tomorrow and in the coming days."
Han then snapped his fingers and a thick black headband appeared in his hand. He then tossed it to me. "Head over to the same area where you begun your test with Mato. From there, I want you to tie the headband around your eyes." Han instructed me.
I did as he said, and made my way over to where I began my test with Mato. Then I tied the band round my eyes, blocking off my vision completely. I then heard footsteps, presumably Han moving over to me.
"Now then. I will tell you this right now young Cade. You will most certainly be knocked around a lot during this form of training. But I believe it will still be the most effective way of strengthening your hearing."
"Well no worthwhile reward ever came from easy work." I muttered.
I heard Han give a murmur of approval. Then I think he took a few steps back. "I recommend that you requip into your armour for this. I will be casting spells at you, and your task is successful dodge them." Han instructed.
"How many?" I asked as I swore I heard a spell forming across from me.
"As many as you can." Han said. "Your defensive enchantments will not be aloud for this particular session." Han then snapped his fingers, and I heard the sound of the energy barrier from the chalk on the ground being created. "Remember, I said dodge not block." He reminded me.
I took a defensive stance. Even without my defensive enchantments, I could still dodge from side to side and I could still hear pretty well which was good.
"Ready?" I heard Han say.
I nodded my head. "Requip!" I shouted as I required into my armour.
'Alright. I just need to try and listen for whenever Han calls out his spell. When he does that, I'll crank up my hearing to the max and get ready to dodge all over the place.' I planned.
"Very well. Begin!" Han shouted.
…
Nothing so far.
…
*fwoosh*
"GAH!" I shouted as I was thrown back by a spell that suddenly slammed into my chest. When I hit the ground I struggled to think about what happened just there.
'What!? I didn't hear Master Han cast out his spell there! What hit me!?'
I did not stay down however, as I got back up on my feet. I had to prove to Master Han that I wasn't one for staying down easily.
"Did you really think I would give you the luxury of saying my spell before I cast it so you would be able to know when it's coming?" Spoke Han in a somewhat humorous manner.
"Ugh." I grunted as I straightened myself up. "Let me go again!" I pleaded.
"You may want to turn right a bit." Han suggested. I did so, and he told me to stop when I was presumably facing him again. "Ready?" Han warned me.
"Bring it on!" I challenged.
And so, Han threw another attack at me and I was knocked again.
I stood back up and I tried again.
And again.
And again.
… And again.
For what I believed was the next few hours, Han kept throwing attacks at me that I could not identify or dodge due to my hearing. By the time I did hear the attack it was already too late to dodge. On one rare occasion, I was able to dart to the left and dodge the attack, but I knew that it was really due to me desperately trying to avoid a hit to the chest.
Eventually I was out of breath and on the floor panting. I heard footsteps approach me and I looked up where I thought they were coming from. I had been pushed around quite a bit during that last scuffle, so I had no idea what way I was facing. I felt the steps coming from behind me so I turned around in that direction.
"Hmm, not bad. You were able to determine what direction I was coming from by using your ears." Han praised as he undone the headband round my eyes.
I had to cover my eyes with my hands having been under that headband for a few hours. "Wasn't that hard. Just used my ears." I shrugged. "Though, I'm not sure if I would have been able to so before this."
Han lowered a hand to me and I took it, him pulling me up to my feet. I then requiped my armour away and replaced with the clothes I was previously wearing. "I apologise if I was a bit rough there. Some of the other exercises are less physical." He assured me.
"Well I'm sure they can't be as hard as this one. What is it?" I asked curiously.
"You shall see tomorrow. For now let's head inside and have dinner. I think I heard your mother come back when we were training." Han said as we both went inside.
'Damn… Honestly after all that training I'm not sure if I actually improved all that much. I hope these other training sessions will go better than this. Wonder what else Han has in store for me?'
"Hey… Master Han? What is this exactly?" I asked with confusion.
I was currently sitting in a chair, while wearing thick headphones over my ears. I also had eye guards attached to the left and right of my head, narrowing my vision so I could only see straight ahead.
After yesterdays training session, Han brought me inside and me, him and mother all had dinner. The next day, Han told me to come outside for another training session.
When I got outside, he snapped his fingers and summoned a chair for me to sit on, a pair of thick headphones and eye guards. This then led up to where I was right now – questioning for the logic and meaning behind this.
Han then moved in front of my field of view, that being right in front of me. He then open his mouth to speak. Except there was one issue.
"…"
I took off the headphones. "Sorry what?" I asked again.
"Ah right, forgot you couldn't hear me." Han said, looking a bit annoyed at forgetting such a detail. "Today I will be sending slow beams of metal to the left and right of your head. You will be unable to see them due to the eye guards you have on."
"And I won't be able to hear them due to the headphones." I realised.
"Well you will be able to hear them if you focus and listen well enough. Anyway, when you think you hear the beams right about to touch the left and right side of your face, simply hold out our hand to stop them. I will label this task a success if you can do it with the left and right beam." Han explained to me
"Will both beams be moving at the same time?" I inquired.
"You'll have to figure that out yourself."
I just grunted and put back on the headphones. Han then took a few steps back, and held up one of his hands and began to count down with his fingers until the challenge begun. When he reached zero he said something; possibly a spell that summoned the beams. He then crossed his arms and watched me curiously.
And so I listened carefully.
…
…
…
'How fast are these things?'
…
…
Then I got the fright of my life when I felt a cold metal surface lightly touch my right ear. I jumped in horror, before realising that it was the metal beam.
'No! I failed that session as well! I couldn't even hear them coming!' I groaned and sunk my head in shame, before removing the headphones and eye guards.
I then looked to my left to see how far away the other beam was.
Not even close.
"I bet you're wondering how you were supposed to hear them while wearing those headphones, right?" Came the voice of Han as he came up to me. "I thought just about the same when I did it all those years ago."
"It may sound crazy to you, but you will learn to hear them eventually. Practice makes perfect." Han stated, reciting the age old quote.
"Yeah you're right. Just annoyed I didn't even hear them coming. Will we be having a few more goes of that then?" I wondered.
"Why of course. How else will you learn?" Han remarked with a tilt of the head and raise of his eyebrow.
And so, for the next few hours, I strapped back down on that chair, put back on the headphones and kept listening for the beams.
This happened again.
And again.
And again.
In a few hours time, I had failed to catch any of the beams before they reached my head. I kept thinking I could hear them at some points, but it must have been my imagination as I was never catching them.
I sighed with disappointment as I stood up from the chair, with it and the headwear disappearing into Han's requip storage not long after. I saw that Han, to my surprise, was not disappointed in me.
"Like I said young Cade, practise makes perfect. I did not expect you to be an expert on this when you arrived here. Do not worry if you keep failing this over the next few days. We have weeks to do it."
"And four other senses that I haven't started on." I muttered.
"Don't think about them right now." Han said as he turned to head back inside the monastery. "Think about more important things, like what dinner will be tonight." He suggested with a smirk, as he led me back inside to relax for the night. "Tomorrow we'll being going over the last hearing exercise I have for you.
'Oh boy… I can hardly wait to see what THAT is. Though I doubt it will be worse than the other two.' I doubted in my head.
'Ok, this is actually worse.' I realised as I looked at what was ahead of me.
In the courtyard square, Han had set up a huge obstacle course of sorts. There was a thick wooden plank that went a few meters in a straight direction. However, just above the plank there was huge swinging metal rectangular blocks that were inches up from the wooden beam.
Was I… supposed to walk across this?
No… surely not.
"I can guess what you are thinking right now." Spoke Master Han from my side. ""Did he really get all that from his requip storage?" The answer is yes, of course."
'That's not what I was thinking! I might get seriously hurt on this!' I screamed in my head.
"Your task is to walk across the wooden plank without being hit off by the metal beams. You will be blindfolded like the first task, so you will have to use your ears to help you for this." Han informed me.
'What!?'
"Y-You must be crazy! I'll be seriously hurt if they hit into my side, even if I requiped into my armour!" I shouted to Han.
"No need to worry." Han simply said, as he picked up a rock from below him and threw it at one of the swinging rectangles.
To my surprise the rock simply bounced off the metal rectangle as if it was made out of rubber.
"I asked a wizard in this village to turn the sides of the metal into rubber, that way if it hits you, you will not be seriously hurt. Unfortunately he cannot use the spell on the ground, as that is far too big." Han informed me with a tisk of shame.
"Oh… well I guess that makes things a bit better then." I muttered in response. "So what.. I just need to get across the bridge?" I asked for confirmation.
"That is all required on this task. However, despite the rectangles being as heavy as they are, they will be quite silent. Do not let your guard down." Han advised me, as he summoned the head band out of his requip storage and handed it to me.
I took the band with a firm resolve, and made my way over to on erode of the wooden plank. As I got up there and was putting the headband over my eyes, Han spoke up to me.
"Also I will not tolerate you holding out your hands for this challenge. You are only aloud to walk forward." He informed me sternly.
"Got it." I said as I finished tying the band round my eyes and removing my vision.
"Very well. Begin when you are ready." Han said simply.
'Master Han doesn't know that I was secretly counting the number of steps I'd have to take before I reach the first swinging rectangle. I think it was around three steps.'
I then took three steps forward, and stopped right after. I waited for a few minutes and tried to think of the best time to go forwards.
'Dammit… can't even feel any wind from the swinging rubber… Clever move Han.' I admitted in my mind. 'Guess I just have to go for it then.' I decided as I took a brave step forward.
*Smack!*
'W-What the!? I think I just crashed right into the rubber rectangle! What are the odds of that happening?!' A crazy thought then occurred to me. 'Wait! I can go forward now! The rectangular beam is still swinging!'
With me sweating quite considerably out of fear, I took a quick step forward and waited with tension.
I then felt something brush past the back of my shirt.
'Alright! I made it past the first one!' I cried in my mind.
Han chose to speak up. "Interesting. The question is, did you remember how many steps you need to take before you reach the second swinging rectangle?"
'He was onto my plan?!'
"Oh, er… no idea what you're talking about!" I lied, except even I could tell that was a horrible lie.
I quickly regained my composure and slowly moved forward, me resisting the urge to hold out my hand to see if the swinging rectangles would hit me or not. I thought I was making good progress, but… fate had other ideas.
*smack!*
"OMMPH!" I cried out as I was hit from the side on, getting a massive fright when that happened. I was then kicked off the plank and I hit the ground. I was only a metre off the ground when I fell, so I wasn't roughed up that much.
'Dammit! I'm failing all these sessions! I just hope I get better soon at them…' I moaned in my head as I stood up after dusting myself off. I then raised the headband over my eyes so I could see.
"Well, you did better than the other sessions we've had on this. But I feel it was simply due to memory and not hearing, am I correct?" Han questioned.
"… Maybe… Ah, ok yes." I confessed with guilt.
"I'd advise that next time you try and wait a bit to hear the swinging rectangles. You can hear them as absurd as that sounds." Han then pointed the course again. "Now, if you're not too roughed up there… well, I think you know the drill by now. I never said this would be easy." He remarked.
And so I got back up onto the course and readjusted my headband, before marching off again to hopefully cross the full plank.
I fell unfortunately, so I had to try again.
And again.
And I think you where this is going by now.
Around a good five or so hours later, I was lying face up on the ground. I was not that roughed up at all, due to how soft the rectangles were. Yet I still failed to cross the course.
"That is a shame." Came the voice of Han as he came up to me. "Perhaps we should attempt this another time?" He suggested. "I've taught you all the courses that I know for this sense, we just need to keep running through them now until you can do all three back to back."
"That sounds impossible…" I panted on the ground, before I then stood back up to face Han. "But I'm not going to be making any progress unless I keep trying.
"Well said." Master Han gave an approving nod. "Now then. We have a bit of time until dinner, how about we go inside and see what your mother is up too? Maybe she brought back another book from the library she now loves here." Han spoke, as we both headed in.
The next week and a half were… tough to say the least.
Day 4:
"OMMPH" I was hit in the back by a spell I couldn't see coming.
Day 5:
'Right about… now!' I quickly fired up my left and right hand respectively – only to find they were miles away from the metal beams.
Day 6:
'I think I got past that one…' *whack* 'GAH! No, no I didn't!' I fell to the floor in frustration.
Day 7:
'Come on… where are you… Ah ha! N-No wait wrong side to dodge fro-! AHH!' I was hit on the left by a surprise spell I thought I heard.
Day 8:
'….. Come on…. Now!… Oh come on!' I found that the beams were only a few feet away from me.
Day 9:
'Where is it… come on… Now! Yes! I did it-!' *whack* 'Gah!' I thought I heard that one had passed!
Day 10:
'….. There! Now dodge!' *fwosh!* 'I… I did it! I dodged an attac-! OOOOF!' I thought I was in the clear, but I wasn't paying attention for other spells to be coming my way after I dodged that one.
Day 11:
'I think I can hear them… yeah I think… no wait… Yes now!… 'N-NOO! So close!' I was inches away from the beams!
Day 12:
'Yes there! Gotta move! Ok just gotta go a few more steps… GARGH!' I was hit the side unexpectedly.
If that little montage there didn't show how how rough things were over this next week and a half for me, I didn't know what will.
The training was tough, and I was always failing each session Han had set up for me.
The thing is… I think I was getting better at them. My hearing seemed to be a bit better as when I walking through town yesterday with mother, I could actually make out a conversation that two people were quietly having not to far from us. It gave me a surprise, I can say that much.
Now when I was doing the sessions, I was able to maybe dodge one attack that Han threw at me. My hands would sometimes come mere inches from the metal beams as they made their way over to me. There was a chance that I would be able to hear one of the swinging rectangular metals, and be able to dart pass it! The next one was always the issue for me…
Right now I was sitting on the floor taking a breather. Han then came up to me, forcing me to look up to see him.
"I must admit, you have made progress over these last few days young Cade." He complimented.
"You think so?" While I have had some feeling that I had been improving, it was still nice to hear the praise come from the Master himself.
"Thank you Master Han! I've been trying my hardest here! I do think I've been getting a bit better at some of the courses. But I'm still miles away from completing them."
"You'll get there in time." He encouraged me with a nod. "Now about we head in? I know it's still quite early for today, but you've been working hard these last few days. You can take the rest of the day off." Han stated kindly.
"Really? I appreciate that that Master Han!" I said with happiness and relief, as I made my way inside of the monastery. I think I heard Han snap his fingers and return everything into his requip storage as I left here.
Upon entering the monastery and poking around in there, I found my mother sitting in a small lounge like area, reading a book she got in the village. Mother was practicing devouring the books in this village at a rapid pace. She must have realised that she wouldn't be able to take them back with her, so she was reading them as fast as she could.
"Hey there mother. Just finished training today!" I told her happily.
"Oh did you do well? You weren't knocked around out there right?" She wondered.
"No… Well not as much as I usually was before." I muttered quickly. "But that means I'm getting better!"
"Oh! Well what did I tell you? Practice makes perfect." She stated with a smile at my improvement.
I then sat down with mother and spent the rest of the daytime with her, asking her about the village.
Honestly I thought that tonight would be a normal night like any other here in this quiet village.
However, unbeknownst to me and the others in the village, some sinister forces had their eyes on this village. The people in this village would have the most difficult and eventful night in their lives in just a few hours time. And I was in for the whole experience.
That's another chapter done. Feel free to leave a review if you like it!
Now Cade is aware of what he needs to do to successfully fuse his magic together before it leaves his body. Will he be able to successfully strengthen his five senses? Seemed like he was getting better towards the end there, but he still has four more senses to go.
It seems like the next chapter will focus on the rather evil individuals that stumbled across this village. What will they do?! How will Cade react?! You shall have to wait and see…
Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next one!