The morning came quickly. Kikimura was now walking with the old man, but he had no idea where they were going.
The grassland was huge. It seemed to go on forever. The sky was so big that it made Kikimura feel really small. The wind was blowing, moving his long hair around and making patterns in the grass that kept changing. There was no path or anything to show them the way.
The grass was thick and tall up to Kikimura's waist. He had to push through it to walk. His left leg hurts with every step, but he kept going.
The air smelled clean and fresh; nothing was around except the grass and the sky.
The old man was walking through the grassland like he had been there before. Maybe he had been there a few times.
Then they came to a clearing. It was like the grass just stopped growing, leaving a circle of earth empty. The clearing was smaller than Kikimura thought it would be. There were no stones or buildings. Only the earth and the sky, and a view of some faraway mountains.
The old man stopped at the edge of the clearing. Turned to face Kikimura.
"This is where you will train ", he said.
"Here?" Kikimura asked while looking around the clearing.
"Here ", the old man responded.
He walked to the centre. Gestured for Kikimura to follow him.
"Training is not about buildings or special places. It's about doing the work. The place does not matter much as the effort you put in."
The old man stood up straight.
"Before we start, I need to see how strong you are physically. What your body cannot do right now." The man's voice was calm and encouraging.
"I want to see your baseline so we can start from there. Do not be ashamed of your weaknesses, just face them honestly."
Kikimura stepped into the center of the clearing beside the old man.
"Show me how you would stand if someone were attacking you ", the old man said.
Kikimura shifted his weight. Raised his fists a little, but he was not sure what to do. His posture was defensive. It did not feel right.
The old man nodded. "Now walk normally ", he said.
Kikimura walked across the clearing. His movement was a little uneven. His left leg was still weak. It hurt him to walk. He tried to hide the pain. It was obvious that he was limping.
The old man watched him, then said, "Your left leg is still damaged, but it is healing well."
He had Kikimura do some things, like running, stopping suddenly and turning quickly. With each movement, the old man watched him carefully, assessing his strengths and weaknesses.
After a while, he told him to stop.
Kikimura was breathing hard and sweating even though the morning air was cool.
"You are weak", the old man said, and added before the reaction of Kikimura, "At least you're not the worst I've seen."
Kikimura felt something in his chest; he was being recognised, not weak for the first time ever.
"I think you're the second in the leader".
"Heh ?" Just at that moment, Kikimura thought he was comforting him. He just made things worse.
"But who is the first one ?" Kikimura thought in his mind. Who in earth could be weaker than him?
The old man sat on the edge of the clearing in the grass, smiling. He enjoyed triggering him. He seemed relaxed. He pulled out a long blade of grass to examine it.
"You have heard of magic, I suppose ", he said.
"Yes, I learned about magic at the academy. The five elements: Fire, water, earth, wind and lightning." Kikimura responded.
The old man nodded. "And you learned that magic comes from outside your body, that it depends on your sensitivity to the elements ?"
Kikimura said, "Yes, some people have it, but I do not."
The old man did not correct him. Instead, he said, "Inside you, there is KI. Not magic, KI. Do you know what that is?"
Kikimura thought for a moment and said, "Is it strength?"
The old man nodded. "Yes, KI is your body's strength. It is the energy that moves your muscles that makes your heart beat, that lets you think and feel and survive."
He stood up. Gestured for Kikimura to do the same. "Everyone has KI, every human, every animal, even plants have it in their way."
The old man moved Kikimura to the center of the clearing again.
"Magic is different ", he said. "Magic comes from understanding the elements. It is a skill you learn, and a control you develop over forces outside yourself."
"Fire, water, earth, wind and lightning are forces. You must learn to sense them to channel them to command them."
He moved Kikimura's arms into a position.
He continued, "Ki is pure. It is the strength in your body itself. It is not something, it is you. Your life force, your essence."
The old man stepped back. Looked at Kikimura seriously.
"Everyone has KI ", he said. "The question is, how strong is your KI? How well can you control it? How much can you develop it?"
Kikimura didn't think KI was this important; he thought it was something only weak students practised.
The old man pulled out a glass stone from a pouch at his side, the same kind Kikimura had seen at the academy.
"Now, let's move to the other thing"
"I think you're familiar with this. This stone measures sensitivity ", he said, holding it up. "Hold out your hand."
The old man placed the stone in Kikimura's palm.
They waited. The stone did not glow. It remained clear like ice.
"Nothing, as expected", Kikimura said.
The old man took the stone back. "The stone detects your sensitivity to natural elements. If you resonate with one of them, the stone glows with the colour of that element. In your case, it didn't, which means you have no sensitivity to any of them."
"Don't worry, there are other types of magic". The old man said randomly while putting the stone aside.
"What do you mean by other types ?" Kikimura seemed in shock. How can he say something like that so casually?
"There are more unusual types that the stone cannot detect". The old man responded.
"But why don't they test them ?" Kikimura thought in his mind.
if there are more than natural types, why don't they test them and only stick with the elements? Are they hard to detect?
"Small academies like the one you studied in do not teach about them; they are rare and difficult to train." The old man responded to the question he had in mind, as if he were reading his thoughts.
"That is a discussion for another time ", he said. "For now, we focus on KI because before you can do anything, you must understand your body's strength."
He gestured for Kikimura to stand in front of him.
"I am going to touch your back ", he said. "I need to confirm with my own hand. Do not be afraid, just relax."
Kikimura. Removed his shirt. The old man placed his hand on his back.
"Just breathe normally", he said.
His fingers pressed gently along Kikimura's spine, moved across his shoulders and down his ribs. The touch was warm and professional, like he was reading something written on his body.
Kikimura felt the old man's fingers tracing paths along his body like he was searching for something.
Then his hand stopped, and his fingers rested on a point between Kikimura's shoulder blades.
He went still, and Kikimura felt a change in the air, a sudden tension in the old man's hand. The fingers pressed harder for a moment, like he was feeling something.
The moment lasted a few seconds, and then the old man removed his hand and stepped back.
He did not comment; he just turned his back to Kikimura, facing the grassland. His shoulders were tense, like something he had felt had disturbed him.
What was that? The old man's mind was racing all of a sudden.
The old man felt something that shouldn't be felt, something familiar.
No, it cannot be. How could this be? It is extinct. I saw it with my eyes, and I know it is extinct.
He took a breath and tried to push the thought away. He did not want to think about it now. He denied it to himself.
Not now, not here, not with this kid, he thought.
His hand was still tingling where he had touched Kikimura's back. It was a sensation that he had felt before.
The old man turned back to Kikimura. Started explaining again, trying to sound normal and encouraging. It was taking a lot of effort to sound normal when inside, he was questioning everything about Kikimura and about himself.
"KI flows through your body along channels ", he said, moving into a stance. "Most people never learn to feel KI. They never learn to direct KI. They live with KI and ignore it; they do not even try to understand it."
He began to demonstrate a sequence of movements, breathing deeply and moving with purpose. Each movement was precise and controlled, as if something was guiding his body.
"If you train, you can learn to feel KI. You can learn to direct it and strengthen it," he said.
The old man moved with a grace that belied his age. His body understood KI in a way that Kikimuras did not. Every motion had a purpose, every movement was connected to KI.
"When your KI is strong enough, it can do things. It can make your body faster and stronger. It can even break stones or break mountains if it is strong enough," he said.
Kikimura watched, fascinated by the old man's movements, which were like a dance. Fluid, powerful yet somehow serene.
"For now, we will train KI. We will train your body's strength. Understanding your body's strength will help you understand yourself. It will help you learn to listen to your own body and hear what it is trying to tell you."
Kikimura felt both relief and disappointment. He was happy because he would train properly for the first time in his life.
But he was also disappointed because he confirmed that he has no magic. Even if the old man said there are other types, how will he test them?
The old man walked toward the edge of the clearing, deep in his own thoughts about what he felt and about Kikimura.
His mind was still turning, still trying to deny what his hand had felt when he touched Kikimura's back.
I was wrong; it must have been something, he thought.
It was a trick of my senses, old man's imagination, it was not what I thought it was.
But he knew he was lying to himself; he had felt that quality, that familiar sensation. One that he thought was extinct, one that he is using with his own hand
The old man was staring at his hand, and something black started to draw in it. A black lotus started to shape.
Suddenly, he closed his hand before the completion of the shape. It looked so dark and cursed.
I will train Kikimura on KI for now, he decided silently. Until he regains his confidence, until he stops thinking of himself as weak. Then he'll leave.
The decision was already made in his mind: Kikimura would train with him. Only on KI, only on the strength of the body. And after that, he will leave.
But Kikimura didn't know about this. He was excited to train. Like every child would do at his age.
"If I show character, discipline, honesty, perhaps he will teach him more", Kikimura thought, unaware of the old man's decision.
"We are done for today, Kikimura", the old man turned back to face Kikimura and said.
"Your body needs rest. The reassessment showed me what I needed to know." He started walking toward the house. "We will come tomorrow at the same time, and we will begin proper training of KI."
As they walked back through the grassland, Kikimura realised that something had shifted. The old man had looked at him differently when he touched his back, like he had recognised something.