61 Book 3: Chapter 1 – 5 Years Later (Part 1)

At the base of a secluded mountain near the centre of the Anarchic lands, a young topless dark-haired teen could be seen dressed in a pair of black cargo pants tucked into his black combat boots, calmly practicing his glaivesmanship.

At times he moved as fast as the wind, and then he'd slow it right down until it looked like he was barely moving at all. But each move held an undeniable charm, and yet…

"Pathetic!" A dark-skinned man voiced as he took his eyes away from his empty bottle of wine to glance up at the youngster. "You comprehended wielding light as though it were heavy over three years ago, yet you're still no closer to fusing both states of wielding? Pathetic!"

The man's words were like water off a duck's back as the youth focused solely on his glaivesmanship. Beads of sweat trickled down his face and onto his finely sculpted body which looked more like it was forged by a god.

It had been five years since Ace had joined the Yin-Yang Pavilion and became Aiden's disciple. And in that time, he had made incredible progress that most kids his age could only dream about.

At 13 years old, he was already at the mid stages of the fourth rank as a warrior, making him an inner disciple, or, more specifically, a core inner disciple of the Pavilion.

Either way, it was a feat that would make him a genius-level talent at the War God's Academy and yet, had he been allowed, he could've been well into the fifth rank, potentially even knocking on the doors of the sixth. The reason he wasn't was because of the man behind him.

The instructors at the pavilion put more of an emphasis on comprehension than realm, claiming that realm meant nothing in the face of comprehension.

Mathias told them that as mages, they weren't allowed to make a breakthrough to the next level until they could insta-cast all of their spells at their own realm. It had to be understood that even at academies like the Ernst Institute, only the best mages could insta-cast a spell of the same realm and even then, it would only be the one or two spells they were best at. To do it for each of their spells was a monstrous feat that would have others gaping.

For warriors, they weren't allowed to break through to the fourth rank until they'd become one with their respective weapons – a feat that an ordinairy elite would achieve in their twenties. And if that wasn't bad enough, disciples of the pavilion were prevented from breaking through to the 7th realm until they comprehended the fusion of wielding.

Those ridiculous expectations prevented each of Ace's cohort from making the progress in realm they otherwise would've done, but it also made each and every single one of them an absolute monster in the same realm.

Unfortunately for Ace, Aiden had much higher expectations for him. First, ace was forbidden from entering the fourth rank until he comprehended wielding light as though it was heavy. And now, he was forbidden from entering the fifth rank as a warrior until he had comprehended the fusion.

He was already at the middle stages of the fourth realm, and that was without actually focusing any real attention on his body cultivation. Thankfully, he could feel that he was close to making a breakthrough in his comprehension. But unfortunately, he had no idea how long it would take to get passed this particular bottleneck.

Not that it mattered much, as the condition for his following breakthrough was even more annoying. Aiden actually insisted that if Ace wanted to break through to the sixth rank, he must first reach the impose boundary.

The vast majority of warriors never end up comprehending 'impose', and of those that do, forget doing it at the fifth rank; most don't even start until they're at the eighth or ninth rank.

Still, Ace never complained. In fact, he took it all in his stride, seeing it as nothing more than another challenge he'd eventually overcome.

Whilst he was diligently practicing his glaivesmanship, Ace suddenly heard an oddly deep yet somewhat immature voice calling him from behind.

A little smile appeared on his face as he stopped his training to face his best friend. "Kil, what are you doing here? I thought the old man locked you away and forbade you from taking one step outside until you mastered the insta-cast of your destruction spells of the fourth rank."

Killian was only 14, and the immaturity of his face proved it, but his body was like that of a young adult's. Not only was he approaching a height of six feet, but he had an almost herculean frame.

He wore a plain white top with the sleeves torn off that showed off his log-like arms and a pair of baggy black trousers, the bottoms of which were also torn, so he didn't trip over them when walking barefoot, and strapped to his back was a 5-foot twin-sided battle axe.

Killian couldn't help but feel helpless about the way Ace referred to his master as 'old man' instead of headmaster, but whenever he remembered how Ace would refer to his own master as 'old fart', he couldn't help but count his blessings.

He better than most understood that Ace wasn't really one for rules. He was too much of a free spirit, and in his own way, the nicknames he gave others were more of a term of endearment than anything else.

He walked towards Ace with a calm smile as his long shoulder-length black locks were tied behind his head. "I just finished this morning."

"That means we just have to wait for little Kan-Kan to make a breakthrough before we're finally allowed out," Ace said as an expression of longing appeared on his face.

"He broke through to the fourth rank this morning as well," Killian replied with a telling smile. "Master told me to come and get you so he can…"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Killian realised he was talking to an afterimage.

"What are you waiting for, Kil?" Ace shouted as he ran through an opening in the mountain. "Today's the day we get our freedom."

A hint of surprise appeared on the herculean teen's face as he almost failed to follow Ace's steps, but that surprise quickly turned into a helpless smile as he better than most understood how monstrous this happy-go-lucky friend of his really was.

Aiden simply watched the two boys disappear into the network of caves inside the mountain before falling on his back and closing his eyes with a smile on his face when the soothing sound of a woman's voice entered his ears.

"Look at that smile," Arianna said as she suddenly appeared beside him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were going to miss him."

"This is a smile of relief," Aiden retorted. "When he leaves tomorrow, I'll finally be able to get some well-deserved rest."

"Whatever you say," Arianna replied as she smiled sweetly and lay her head down on his chest.

.

.

.

At the same time, Killian and Ace had just made it to the peak of the mountain, where they were greeted by the rest of their classmates and the instructors.

"Finally, you made it," Mathias said as Ace and Killian appeared before addressing the excited group of disciples he had before him. "Now that everyone's here, I can explain your assignments.

Now that all of you have broken to the fourth rank and can be considered the Pavilion's first batch of inner, core disciples, we have decided to split you into three teams where you will each go and travel through the mountain range of magical beasts:

Team 1 will consist of Ace, Amira, and Julius. Ace is the team leader."

When he heard that, Ace glanced over at Amira, who glanced back at him before promptly ignoring him.

Over the last five years, other than his master, the person he spent the most time with was actually Amira – even more than Killian and his mother.

Every day their masters would make them spar against each other and/or train in the same vicinity. Though he didn't tell them, Aiden told his wife that their training together or at least around each other would help speed up their progress, and he was right.

Though their progress wasn't as blinding as their first battle together, where they both entered sudden enlightenment, they had both improved at an incredible speed. It may seem like Ace had only made one major breakthrough as far as his comprehension was concerned, but he'd made several other smaller breakthroughs.

For one, his use of [Observation haki] had become a lot better, to the point where he could even use it to sense the emotions of those around him. Another large improvement was with regard to his movement technique. In five years, he'd gone from 11 kicks to 20, and if it weren't for the limited strength of his body, he would've long since gone passed that too.

Amira was no different. Like Ace, she too was only 13. Yet, she was already an early-stage fourth-rank warrior and mage who had not only firmly comprehended one with her swords but also wielding light as though it were heavy and was slowly making steps towards heavy as though it were light, or in her case, wielding light as though it were lighter.

But her most impressive improvements came in the ways of a mage. Like her husband, Arianna had also imposed strict requirements that prevented her youngest disciple from progressing through the ranks as fast as she wanted to. Not only did she have to be able to insta-cast every light and wind spell of her level, but she was also expected to be able to cast one spell of a higher rank before breaking through.

And the strange thing was that every breakthrough either of them made – big or small – was made in the presence of the other. Ace and Amira didn't think much of it, but Aiden found it deeply fascinating.

But throughout all their time together, despite clearly enjoying spending time with him, Amira refused to say so much as a single word directly to Ace. Whenever Ace attempted to start a conversation with her, she simply snorted and looked away. It left Ace both frustrated and helpless.

A sigh escaped his mouth before he turned towards his other teammate – Julius.

Over the last five years, like Killian, Julius had also grown much bigger, but whilst Kil grew more and more muscular, Julius grew more and more… round!

That being said, he could be considered the only person anywhere near as freakish as Ace and Amira. Despite the restrictions set for him by the Pavilion as a mage, he had just broken through to the sixth rank as a mage.

And although there weren't many spells for the edict of faith, he had mastered the few that were available to him. As for spells of the fire element, he, like Amira, could insta-cast all those at his rank and could even use a couple of the seventh-rank fire spells.

The only major difference between him and the other two little monsters in his team was that he still refused to fight.

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P.atreon.com/AceInCoilingDragon: Book 3 - Chapter 22