After the events of a couple days ago, the village was on high alert
Jojo had been bedridden for a couple of days while he recuperated; Jojo's injuries were very severe. Jojo had also vowed vengeance on the dark cloaked man who had caused such a disastrous move
And the worst part about this whole ordeal was the fact that he did not even get the answers he was looking for; Jojo had to face the facts, he could not continue the investigation. This saddened the heart of Jojo
Jojo had not told anyone the true yet, because he feared that they will blame them for all this
Jojo then had to face the harsh reality, he was very weak. He could not believe that he was spunky but still weak; he was a rank 3 and for all we know the attacker would at least be a rank 10
Maybe he did not improve because he had nothing driving him. And what worsened his trauma was the fact that activating his cells had eluded him for a very long time
And one would need to be able to activate their cells before they could get stronger
****
Jojo had made a full recovery
He was sparring with master Zeugma and had his nunchucks. Master Zeugma could tell that something was different about todays training; Jojo was more vigorous and some kind of determination burning in him
The spar had ended. Jojo stood near his master, perspiring
"Master, when will I be able to activate my cells. And how will I be able to know if I have activated my cells?"
"Well, you see for one to truly activate their cells, they would need full control of the portion of the brain that controls the cells and their development; and if you want to attain such a level you will need to train. And how you know if you have full control is if for example your running away from someone, your conscience will tell you to move faster and your brain will adjust the cells and they will allow you to move very fast"
That was a long answer, but Jojos attention span did not vanish; he really wanted to activate his cells
That night, he told his friends about what master Zeugma had lectured to him on
Kate was fascinated and intrigued because she had always revered master Zeugma as some sort of super wise being
"Well, master Zeugma is never wrong. I guess I have to up my training schedule"
"What about you, Pen?"
Pen did not need to start training because he had already started training intensely after he got his sword. And he could feel that he was close to activating his cells
Jojo and Kate were jealous because by now he would have even gotten stronger than them
But they could not ruminate about it because they needed to train
****
Some days had elapsed, the kids had spent a reasonable proportion of their day either training or dueling with master Zeugma
Master Zeugma could already notice their zeal driving and pushing them to train even harder
Their enthusiasm had not flagged for these last couple of days; they really wanted to reach a proficiency in fighting
Another thing that made the kids improve was the fact that master Zeugma sent them out on more hunting missions; he even allowed them to sell the rank 3 beasts they had slayed and get the profit
****
After another set of days, anyone could tell that their skills had improved dramatically
They kept on either dueling with their master or among themselves; in their duels they Incorporated the use of weapons
After a days worth of training, the three of them were sharing a meal with their master
Kate was boasting about how she had improved
"I really am good at using my daggers. I might even say that I am in my mastery"
Jojo and the others do not usually take what she boasts about seriously, but this time they thought that she actually had a point
Jojo then shared his own advancements
"I have been about to enhance the raw power of my blows with my nunchucks. And I think I can even do better"
Pen had been silent the whole time as if ruminating about something
"Hey, what's wrong, Pen"
Pen turned to Jojo─he was the one who had asked the question─and replied
"Oh, its nothing"
But from his demeanor, one could fathom that he was hiding something from them
Jojo really wanted to hear about Pens improvements
"Are you really sure, Pen my old chum?"
Everyone here knew that when Jojo speaks in that form of literature then he would be adamant about getting an answer
"Is nothing okay"
Pen said in a polite tone before dashing into his room
That action was quite mystifying to Jojo and he wanted to get to the bottom of it
****
The very next day, Pen did his usual; going to the training ground in the village to train
Jojo had hid himself in a bush and he stalked Pen furtively
Pen was just slashing his blade around, attacking a static doll; nothing unusual there
After some time, Jojos suspicions flagged as he just saw Pen doing his usual training schedule; but Jojo still remained in the bush
But then something odd happened, some sort of orange line aligned the contour of his blade; but the orange line also flickered indicating that it was weak
This bewildered Jojo because he knew that it could only mean one thing; Pen had already attained his first attribute, and that attribute was lava. So now Pen had destructive power at his disposal
Kate and Jojo could not even activate their cells and now Pen had his first attribute; which would probably allow him to at least defend himself in a battle
Jojo was very jeolous but he knew he could not tell anyone about this since he did not want to share Pens personal improvements with the others without his consent
But in the end, this whole circumstance just got Jojo fired up to train even harder