Two New Talents

Off where the 6 to 8-year-olds were forming, Ace had noticed a group of kids pointing and laughing at a particularly large kid standing off to one side.

"Haha, look at that Killian's by himself again, as usual."

"Of course he is. Who would want to befriend him when his own parents didn't want him."

"I bet it's cos his skin's so ugly!"

Despite having the physique of a giant compared to the other kids around him, Killian was too timid to even look any of the other kids in the eye.

It wasn't until he felt a hand tapping him on his shoulder that he hesitantly looked up from the ground, only to see Ace's smiling face in front of him.

"Is that spot taken?" Ace asked, pointing to the spot beside him.

"N… No."

"Perfect." Ace said as he moved into the position he'd chosen for himself. "I'm Ace, by the way."

Ace said as he gestured to shake hands with the caramel-skinned giant beside him.

"Killian." The large boy replied meekly as he hesitantly raised his hand to meet Ace halfway.

"Hmm. That's no good. When you shake someone's hand, you must do it with confidence, or you'll risk offending them." Ace explained as he shook the large boy's hand with vigour.

Killian looked at Ace, not completely understanding what was happening, but he knew he didn't want to offend this weird boy.

Slowly Killian applied more pressure.

"Hahaha, that's better, much better. Just so you know, us shaking hands like this makes us friends." Ace stated, not leaving room for discussion.

"Friends?" Killian asked as if he was scared his ears were playing tricks on him.

"Exactly, friends!" Ace confirmed, smiling at the boy. He then cocked his head to glance indifferently at the kids doing the bullying. "And I don't appreciate anyone bullying my friends!"

When any of the bullies made eye contact with Ace, they felt their hearts start to accelerate as if they were standing before a predator that was daring them to make a move.

Luckily for them, it was at that moment that Hilston cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention.

"For those who want to become powerful warriors one day, you must start working hard now!" Hilston shouted as he swept his intimidating gaze over each of the younger kids. Feeling his fierce eyes pass over them, each of the younger kids dared not breathe too loud, fearing his response.

"Everyone here today is a commoner. Unlike the children from those powerful noble families, you won't have access to any secret manuals teaching you how to cultivate battle qi.

If you want to really make something of yourselves, then you must use the most ancient, most simple, and most basic ways of improving yourselves – good old-fashioned exercise!" Hillman roared loud enough for the kids right at the back to hear.

Even though most of the youngest batch didn't understand the true meaning behind Hillman's words, the older kids were crystal clear about what he was saying.

On the Yulan plane, the average body would be stable enough to start formal warrior training from the age of 6, and the majority of males would begin their warrior training from then. If anyone slacked off, they would be looked down upon by others in the future!

Some would argue that money was pivotal when discussing power. Still, none could deny that one's strength was the most important factor when determining power and influence in this world.

"When the sun rises in the morning, all things begin to thrive. This is the best time to absorb the natural energy from your surroundings and improve the conditioning of your bodies.

Same rules as always – legs spread apart, as wide as your shoulders! Both knees bent slightly, and both hands pressed down at the waist. Assume the 'Qi Building Stance.'

When assuming this stance, remember, 'focus your concentration, maintain a calm mind, and breath naturally.'" Hillman instructed as he got into position to show how it's done.

The 'Qi Building Stance' was a simple yet effective way of exercising the body. It was tried, tested, and perfected by those who came before, passing it down for all future generations to practice.

The hundreds of youths present all simultaneously copied Hillman and assumed the 'Qi Building Stance.'

"Remember, focus your concentration, maintain a calm mind, and breath naturally!" Hillman reminded them whilst holding his position.

Ace, who was training for the first time, spread his observation haki paying close attention to Hillman's form before demonstrating a near-perfect imitation.

Even Hillman raised an eye at this. 'This kid has talent.'

After making sure that his form was a mirror image of Hillman's, Ace compressed his observation haki so he could monitor his own body. As he wasn't trying to tire himself out, he decided to shrink the radius of his compressed haki to 1 meter.

That way, even if he couldn't maintain it permanently, holding it for 20 mins was still possible.

When he did, Ace noticed that along with the usual multi-coloured specs of light he could typically see, there were glistening milky white ones now too, and every time he took a breath in that position, those glistening white specs entered his body.

'Hilston said when the sun rises, all things begin to thrive. Does that mean that only at sunrise is this particular energy available to absorb?

I'm guessing that becoming a rank one warrior requires me to fill my body with these specs of energy as if it were a container.' Ace thought to himself as he noticed the now plain energy entering his body. 'But it'll take over a year to do at this speed.'

Spreading his compressed observation haki to 5 meters, he noticed that the speed it entered his body was slightly faster than the speed it entered Killian's and well over twice as fast as the speed it entered the body of the boy directly in front of him. Although, in the case of the boy in front of him, it was fair to assume it had something to do with his poor 'Qi building Stance.'

'It's probably fair to assume everything else being equal, the speed we absorb nature's energy is related to our natural talent.' Ace guessed.

Looking back at Killian, he noticed the body of his new friend was already nearly a quarter filled.

'Judging by the speed Killian absorbs the energy, it'll still take him 9 or 10 months to…'

Before Ace could finish his train of thought, he noticed something peculiar happen.

The longer they held their stance, the more tired they became, and the more tired they became, the faster their breathing, and as their breathing quickened, so too did the speed at which their bodies absorbed nature's energy.

To test his new observation, despite not being even remotely out of breath, Ace began to take sharp but deep breaths and noticed that the speed he was now able to absorb the energy in the world had increased by almost a third.

After a few minutes of playing around with various breathing patterns, Ace realised that by taking shorter sharp breaths faster, compared to the ordinairy breathing, the speed at which he absorbed energy now was 50% faster.