Keel smiled at Aries mischievously
"Hey, Aries."
"DAD!?!?"
Aries took a step back as the figure revealed itself to be his father.
'What the hell!? Aren't they regular people? How is he doing this?'
"Before you think im actually here, this is a message left behind with my aura. Also, we know you've reached [Null], we didn't say anything because you seemed to not want us to know."
Aries ran his fingers through his hair and held his neck with a distraught expression.
"B-but how?"
"We aren't exactly normal ourselves; in fact, we are actually quite strong. You probably didn't notice because we are quite capable when it came to hiding our abilities. We don't know how you or Alice found out how to awaken, but please, don't get into anything dangerous."
His father then crossed his arms and sighed.
"Anyway, if you are seeing this, that means you opened the leather book. It is my journal for you, which contains basics for practitioners and the sword art you've been trying to copy from me for a while now.
This is just a message, but I left a remnant will in the book that will train you with the contents of the book. It will appear the next time you open the book.
Practice well and stay safe. See you soon, kiddo."
Once the message finished, the figure of his father disappeared, leaving the baffled Aries in the room alone.
Knock. Knock.
Aries heard the sound of knocking behind him, before the door opened.
"Aries? What was that noise?"
It was Marisa. She came to check on him after hearing noises coming from the room. Snapping out of the trance-like state he was in, Aries turned to face Marisa.
'Does she know too? No, unlikely, dad would of mentioned it.'
Shaking his head to grab hold of his thoughts, Aries smiled brightly and answered:
"No, it was nothing."
"Are you sure? I swear I heard someone in here."
"Mhm! Maybe someone outside was speaking loudly."
"... Alright then."
Then she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Sighing, he then turned to the books on his bed.
"I need to clear my head."
Then he took up the blue book and walked out of the room.
***
Wooden sword and book in hand, Aries found his way to the forest clearing, a new spot he found in the Lios forest near the park area.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
'Someone is here? Who—'
Once he made his way into the clearing, his question was quickly answered.
Alice stopped practicing and turned to see who was coming into the clearing.
"Who—"
The two locked eyes and froze. Aries's golden eyes reflected the figure of Alice, whose aquamarine eyes reflected his own figure.
Step.
Aries was the first to break contact. He chose to ignore her and move to a side of the clearing away from her so he wouldn't be disturbed. Alice's eyes followed his figure for a moment before she, too, decided to ignore him.
With both ignoring each other, they returned to doing their own thing. Alice Activated her moves and practiced using them, while Aries rested his sword on the floor and open the book, revealing the title, 'KNIGHT TRAINING: FUNDIMENTALS' then skipped to the next page.
'MEDITATION'
'Step 1: Get into a comfortable posture in which you can focus, then clear your mind of all thoughts and distractions.
'Step 2: Try to feel the world around you, as if seeing without your eyes.'
…
…
…
The proceeding steps were instructions on a breathing technique to be done while meditating.
"Hoooo…"
Taking a deep breath, Aries entered into the lotus position and tried ridding his mind of all unwanted thoughts and blocking it from distractions. For the most part, he succeeded, but the fact that his parents knew he had awakened and that they themselves were mystics.
Sigh…
"I can't go on like this. They were just strong and skilled enough to hide their abilities and find out mine, that's all there is to it, nothing new."
"Hooooo…"
Taking another breath, He cleared his mind of all thoughts and distractions. Then… Using the technique, he took the first breath.
***
Alice had been practicing the use of her skills and her ability to manage their drainage when she saw Aries walking into the clearing, holding a wooden sword and a blue book.
'What is he doing here?'
She knocked herself on the forehead, realizing she asked a stupid question.
'This is the best place to train without disturbing anyone, of course he's here, it's the same reason why im here.'
A few moments after she stopped, Aries turned towards her, and their eyes locked with each other's. Alice, whose aquamarine eyes reflected Aries, stared into his golden eyes, which reflected her own figure.
With their eyes locked, Alice wondered what Aries would do.
'Will he ask me to leave? Come up to me, maybe? Get angry?'
Instead of doing any of that, though, he simply turned away and ignored her.
"..."
Alice stood motionless.
'Do I matter that little?'
She cried internally. Here she thought he would at least acknowledge her, but no, he ignored her as if she didn't matter in the slightest.
Sigh…
Instead of dwelling on it any further, she decided to also ignore him and return to practicing. Her focus shifted towards the tree she was using as a dummy.
'Wind bust: Thunder surge!'
The usual stream of lightning began coating her body, but this time, it was accompanied by wisps of wind as well. The two elements merged into one as they covered her body. Soon, her entire body was covered in wind and lightning.
'Jeez, I still can't get used to how much this improves the effect.'
A while back, Alice tried using 'Wind Burst' on 'Thunder Surge' to see how much it would affect it. To her surprise, the boost the effects of 'Thunder Surge' gained was massive, much more than she had originally thought it would be. She felt as if she had gained monstrous strength in an instant. Consequently, the chi drain was also monstrous.
If she could hold 'Thunder Surge' by itself for about twenty minutes, if she used nothing else, then the 'Wind Burst' boosted version would only last about five minutes tops.
'I feel like I could use it for longer, though. I just need better chi control so I can use it more efficiently.'
She shook her head.
'I need better control over my abilities first. What's the point of using it for longer if I just go flying every time I use it?
With that, she dashed towards a tree and threw a punch.
As she wasn't used to the boosted speed, she missed the tree by quite a bit.
'Whatever, doesn't matter, I got much closer than last time.'
"Again!"
She dashed forward with lightning speed.