I Shall Devour Everything

"I am not late, am I?" Shun asked with a smile.

However, Arion ignored him since his attention was mainly on the hideous corpse lying before Shun's feet. A dead Baneteeth!

'He actually did it?' Arion had to admit that if Shun indeed killed this Baneteeth on his own, then it was impressive. But the question was how he was able to do this while avoiding the onslaught of an entire horde?

Old Zi came forward as he looked at the dead Baneteeth and crouched down to touch it, much to Arion's surprise wondering why he was touching it.

Just the sight of the corpse could make one not come anywhere near it. And the pungent smell from its body was another thing.

Old Zi's brows raised in surprise as he got up and looked at Shun with an appreciative nod and said, "Well done. It seems like that you indeed have the strengths and potential to make it big as a Dreadslayer. It would be my pleasure to take in a disciple like you. Ha...I never thought I would be taking in two disciples at the same time."

Shun bowed as he said respectfully, "Thank you, Master. I promise not to disappoint you."

Arion came forward and inspected the Baneteeth and saw a clean cut on its head, which looked more like a sword cut through it.

And this meant that Shun didn't take the corpse of an already dead Baneteeth that Mei and Yaro killed. 

"How did you do it?" Arion curiously asked since if he was given the same task, he might have gone about it by setting up an elaborate trap instead of fighting them head-on.

Shun flicked his collar as he said with a beaming smile, "Of course, the Baneteeths ran helter-skelter at the sight of my glorious power. All I had to do was kill one of the cowardly Baneteeths. Easy."

Arion rolled his eyes, thinking that there was no point asking anything, and then looked at Old Zi, "Master, can I retire for tonight and start the training tomorrow morning?"

Old Zi nodded and said, "Sure. Make sure you take good rest since a fresh mind is necessary for meditating in the morning. Goodnight."

Arion nodded and went back to his house as a pleasant scent of food wafted through his nose.

Mei was helping out Yaro in the kitchen when she saw Arion coming in, "Ari, how did it go? You and Old Zi surely were talking for a long time. Did he teach you anything today?"

"Hmm, I think they must have been talking about the Tree of Solace, right? It is the one non-living thing Old Zi cares a lot about, especially because of how sacred it is," Yaro remarked.

Arion nodded, "Yeah. I think that tree is really special. It's quite amazing how it stands tall even after so many years," Arion said, still feeling quite surreal about the things he felt and heard though now it all seemed like an illusion.

He now wondered if Goddess Alara was not just some mythical concept but a real entity, considering how this whole world worked on principles that defied all logic and laws he knew.

"Of course. It is one of the most mysterious pranic objects, but not many people pay much attention to it since it is a tree and not something people could carry around. Otherwise, even a fight would have broken out to take a natural pranic object that could ward off Dreadlings. Since it is a tree, who would risk uprooting it? And with Old Zi protecting it, I doubt anyone would dare to," Mei said with a slight head shake.

"Oh...by the way, I am going to be training with Shun tomorrow morning onwards. Apparently, he somehow passed the test," Arion said with a sigh.

Mei and Yaro raised their brows and looked at each other with surprised glances.

Seeing their expression, Arion now fully understood how hard it should have been for someone with Shun's Defity to kill one of the Baneteeths all alone.

He wondered if Shun used some kind of trap or any tricks to kill one of them. Otherwise, he was sure Shun might be more formidable than he thought.

"Surely that cute boy may not be as harmless as he seems, hehe," Yaro giggled as Mei shook her head with a smile, "At least, he returned alive."

"Hmm, the food is almost done. Arion, you can call Old Zi and Shun to join us."

It was time to sleep, and Arion couldn't help but smile, seeing Shun grumble when he found out where he was going to sleep.

The night passed in a blink, and early in the next morning, Arion slowly got up without letting Mei wake up. This was the first time he was waking up before Mei, and so early in the morning, he could feel how chilly the air was.

As he came out of his room, he saw Shun coming out as well with a drowsy expression, "Haahm...I feel like I didn't get a wink last night. What about you?"

"I guess someone was too excited about yesterday's kill to get some sleep in," Arion said as he shook his head.

"Hey! Hmph, you are just jealous that I killed one of those monsters on my own. I could see it in your eyes from yesterday," Shun said with his hands on the back of his head.

Arion chuckled and said, "You think too highly of yourself. As you said, we will see who makes it out of the Ironheart test first. You still have to go through the first trial, unlike me."

And just as he walked out of the house, he saw Old Zi in a meditative pose before the Tree of Solace.

"Hmph, at least I am not taking any backdoor to skip my way to victory," Shun indignantly said.

"Shh, shut your big mouth. Master is meditating," Arion warned as he saw that Old Zi seemed to be quite deep in mediation.

He and Shun sat near Old Zi and decided to wait for him to open his eyes.

In the meantime, Arion decided to check by how much his Defity had increased again,

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Defity: Prana Binding Stage [ 10th Cycle - 35,021/ 1,048,576]

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'Hmm, still a long way to go but good progress indeed,' Arion thought to himself as he had asked Yaro to include some of the pranic herbs he received as gifts in his food.

Old Zi finally opened his eyes and looked at both Arion and Shun waiting for him, "Good, you two are up early. Now, close your eyes and focus on the prana flowing through your heart."

Arion closed his eyes as his senses began to concentrate on his heart.

"Now imagine the prana in your heart flowing out through your blood to every single part of your body, enriching whatever it touches, strengthening whatever it passes through."

Arion felt a relaxing sensation as if his whole body was undergoing a spa treatment from the inside and felt like his mind was dissolving in this cool and refreshing feeling.

He could hear the chirping of birds perched on the branches of the tree, the sound of the wind softly whistling across the hills, and most of all, how the prana flowing through his body seemed to be in sync with the prana in the air.

Arion could feel that he now got a better understanding of the prana in his heart and the small difference he felt in his body because of meditating like this.

He simply decided to check his Defity to confirm his doubts,

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Defity: Prana Binding Stage [ 10th Cycle - 35,561/ 1,048,576]

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And just as he thought, his Defity had increased though only slightly. But this was more than what he expected he would gain by meditating for such a short time.

Now he understood how Old Zi's meditation technique coupled with mediating in such a place with tranquil air could benefit his Defity.

"Now open your eyes and stand up," Old Zi said as he got up.

He then took a stance with his legs apart and back straight as he said, "Now observe closely whatever movements I am going to do. This is a pranic flow technique that could improve the flow of your prana through your body, making it faster. The changes might not be apparent now since the pranic force in your body is only present in a minute amount. But the day the pranic force increases in your body, this will give you a headstart in many things."

Arion and Shun nodded as their gazes narrowed, carefully observing the strange movements Old Zi was doing with his hands while moving his legs at the same time.

With Old Zi's guidance, Arion and Shun began to copy Old Zi's movements, and soon they got the hang of it as they memorized the technique.

Soon, after an hour, Old Zi told them to stop and said, "Now coming to one of the main agendas of our training, we would be focusing on close combat now. So, follow me."

Arion got excited that it was time for his favorite part of the training since he badly wanted to learn how to fight Dreadlings at close range.

The two followed Old Zi to the back of his house, where there was a stand with lots of weapons arranged in order.

"Now, which weapons are you two comfortable with?" Old Zi asked as he gestured towards the weapon stand.