10 Mind Training and Strange God Seed
Getting up as steam rose from his injuries and they slowly healed, Torus headed toward the next destination for his training. After his Master had told him the truth about what it meant to be a Divine Race member, Torus had begun to take his training very seriously.
That was why, he now only dedicated around three hours to sparring with his master, the rest was split between spirit and mind.
While Torus did figure that learning about the Body was important, the way to train it requires outside resources, something he didn't currently have. Though, over his period of training with his Master, Torus had become a bit unsure if this were really true for him.
While he agreed with the principle that materials would be required once he reached a certain point, the fact that Torus already had characteristics of some beasts made him speculate on if certain beasts didn't require whatever resource it was that he needed.
And after studying and learning of ancient beasts in the past that were called animals, Torus theorized that these creatures had abilities that he could learn without resources and only beasts would require resources.
However, Torus decided that he would save this as a secret weapon of sorts rather than talk to his Master about it.
While he figured he would be able to learn more about it faster with the help of his Master, his competitive spirit wouldn't allow him to lose the bet he had with his master; well, that and something else.
So, outside of his training sessions with his Master, Torus would constantly try to figure out how he could learn the techniques of these creatures - inheriting their different traits in order to strengthen himself.
One thing that he found a bit odd about this however, was that whenever he would do this, he felt as if his Mind would gain energy from his studying.
Taking a deep breath to clear his wandering thoughts, Torus moved into a lotus position as he began to meditate, thinking about the true meaning behind the word beast.
After learning what the word meant, Torus had quickly realized that there were some issues with the way he and his Master were training.
There was actually a second meaning to the word beast, used to refer to somebody that was unbelievably good at something or completely overwhelming in some way.
This was why Torus was taking so long to learn more abilities from animals, he wanted to make sure that he used every ability he had to their absolute peak - to make himself a beast in human form.
Along with this, Torus found some old texts of people from the past and when they were referred to as beasts. This was where the problem came in with the way he and his master were currently training.
Torus found that a lot of the time when it came to people fighting, they would be referred to as beasts if they could tank hits that would leave others' in a sorry state and still remain standing while landing debilitating attacks that overwhelmed their opponent.
Even people that got knocked down but found the strength to stand back up were viewed as beasts in the texts of the past Torus found. If Torus wished to fulfill the final element of his God Seed, Faith, this was the fighting style he needed to implement.
Some other things Torus had done to fit his Aspect more was to allow his hair to curl once more, the natural look appearing more fierce than whenever he would straighten his hair out.
This was how Torus originally liked his hair, but after constantly being nagged by his mom to comb it out and straighten it as she felt it looked a bit unkempt, he had finally acquiesced.
Now that he finally had his original hairstyle back once more however, Torus found that he still liked it much better than the unnatural look of his straightened hair.
He had some other plans on how to appear more beast-like, but he couldn't perform them quite yet.
When it came to his Mind however, Torus thought long and hard about what he needed to change. Eventually, he realized that his mentality was wrong toward fights; Torus always treated fights as a learning experience, something that came from only ever really fighting those superior to him.
However, Torus realized after his Master made the bet with him that his reason for fighting had shifted - he wanted to win!
And what truly surprised him about this was that, with this goal in mind, he actually learned far more with each fight than he ever did with his previous way of thinking.
Treating every fight as if it were life and death, as if there was no other option but to win, pushed him to be far more aggressive and to quickly fix any mistakes that he made even while still in a battle.
This change in mentality didn't come without any side-effects; however, Torus quickly realized that this way of thinking led to him becoming increasingly frustrated with every loss. This showed some negative results, such as being far quicker to anger with his family members, often finding himself holding minor grudges over simple mistakes.
However, to Torus, this just meant that there was far more for him to learn than he'd previously thought. He now understood that there were some weaknesses to Aspects that one would have to overcome.
The issue was that a lot of these weaknesses had very easy fixes, such as Torus could simply change his mentality to no longer be so aggressive; however, if he were to do so then he would lose the benefits brought about by the mentality.
That's right, there were issues with Aspects that you had to find a solution to without compromising your Aspect itself.
This was what Torus chose to work on today - figuring out a solution to his current mentality that would reduce the quick bursts of frustration he felt without weakening his Aspect.
Thinking deeply on this issue, Torus eventually entered a meditative state where the world around him disappeared, time passing quickly.
Eventually, Torus' eyes slowly opened, a brilliant gleam contained within them, "I've got it!" Torus exclaimed, smacking his fist into his open palm in front of him. As he glanced up however, Torus realized that it was now around one, meaning it was almost time to switch to training his spirit.
"The issue with my mentality isn't the frustration borne from my losses. No, now that I'm thinking about it, that frustration is what drives me to do so well in every subsequent battle.
The true issue is how this frustration is expressed, I need to find some outlet to release this frustration that isn't negative to others," Torus thought to himself, reasoning out his thought-process even as he was speaking, his mind still whirring in silent contemplation.
Pondering on this for a while, Torus eventually decided to incorporate his own current understanding of what it meant to be a beast into what he should do.
As he thought of figures of the past that were viewed as beasts, he realized that almost all of them were lauded for their physical strength. Sure, Torus was nowhere near being a weakling; on the contrary, he could be viewed as a monster in his own right.
However, was that enough? Was it enough for him to compare to the legendary figures of the past?
After pondering on this for a while, Torus' eyes gleamed as he clapped his hands together, dragging himself out of his thoughts, "I've decided! The training I do with Master isn't enough, I need to work on my physical body myself, I want people to look at me and recognize my strength, to view me as a beast in human form - something of an evolved human," As he said this, Torus felt as if something snapped into place, his mind appearing far clearer than it ever had before.
Quickly closing his eyes and entering a meditative state, Torus began to view himself internally, his 'eyes' quickly locking onto his brain. As he stared at it, he felt himself being funneled into it as if being sucked into a tube, looking for where his God Seed was located.
Eventually, Torus found it. However, the reason he hadn't spotted it before was that it wasn't actually in his brain, instead resting atop it. As he looked it over, Torus was surprised to find that it actually seemed to be connected to all regions of his body.
However, if Torus were to know the science behind how the human body worked, he wouldn't be as surprised as he was.
Considering that the region of the brain it was hovering over is called the medulla - the outer four quadrants of the brain (Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, and Temporal), Torus would know that this region controlled his five senses and that the frontal cortex also controls one's instincts to an extent.
These were all things that Torus found enhanced when he awoke his Aspect, so it only makes sense that his God Seed is connected to them.
Scratching his head in wonderment at this strange development, Torus resolved himself to learn more about the body in the future.
By this point, it was already time for him to move on however, so Torus' thoughts were put on hold for the next day as he got up and began moving once more, this time heading to a specific region within the forest.
After a while, Torus' rapidly flashing figure skidded to a halt, moving at an incredible speed into another clearing.
Here, he found a number of beasts that were trapped within wooden cages. Along with the beasts however, was the figure of his Master, currently resting against a tree with crossed arms, a slight smirk on her face as she looked up at Torus' approaching figure.
While a number of the beasts within this region had been caught by himself, a decent amount were too strong for him and had to be caught by his Master. However, the true interesting part was the reason these beasts had been captured.
The area they were set up in looked like a gladiator arena from ancient times, their wooden cages having a gate that opens upward that leads into an arena with a ceiling of reinforced glass.
The reason for this area was for Torus to train his Spirit by watching actual beasts interact and finding out how they interacted and reacted to one another. This would give Torus an idea of what creatures that embodied the word beast acted like, hopefully allowing for him to gain some insights into how he should act as well.
However, before they could start this training session, Torus quickly walked up to his master, nearly vibrating in excitement, "Master, I've made an advancement in the mind!" As he said this, the look of amusement that was slowly growing on Sofia's face seemed to melt off, instead being replaced by a look of shock, 'This kid truly is a genius. I was considered the top of my class when I made my first advancement in one of the aspects and it took me nearly three months!'
Still, Sofia refused to allow this shock to show on her face, only giving the young man that now looked much too mature for his age an approving nod.
However, his next words caused her eyes to furrow in befuddlement, "Also, I found my God Seed, but it's not in any of the places you said it would be in. I was wondering if you could look at it to make sure nothing is wrong?" Getting here, Sophia noticed that Torus' expression had shifted, his eyebrows now slightly furrowed, as his expression took on a slight expression of worry.
Having him sit down before her, Sofia pulled on her own energy from her God Seed to enter Torus' mind space. What she found there however, left her so shocked that her mouth was left agape.
Seeing her expression however, Torus only got more worried as he began to truly think there was something wrong with him, "Master, is there something wrong with my God Seed?" Hearing the worried voice of her disciple, Sofia was snapped out of her thoughts. Turning toward Torus,
Sofia's lips began to twitch subconsciously, her mind barely capable of comprehending the young man before her, "Boy, what kind of a freak are you? Not only is your God Seed connected to all of your medullary lobes, but it also appears different from other God Seeds.
No, there's nothing wrong with you besides your freakish luck!" Sofia said, her words becoming more emphatic as her sentence continued onward, her words ending with her eyebrows now joining her lip in twitching.
Finally something had occurred with this brat that was just too shocking for Sofia to not show a reaction.
As she looked over his God Seed once more, Sofia felt the shock was still as strong as ever, "Master, what do you mean my God Seed is different from others?" Torus questioned, his eyebrows still quirked up as he shot his Master a look. Even though Sofia had told him that nothing was wrong with it, Torus couldn't shake the worry he felt over the differences in his God Seed compared to what his Master had described.
"What I mean by that is that your God Seed appears to be twice as large as the average person's. This is both an advantage as well as a disadvantage; on the one hand, it will take you longer to reach higher stages in the three aspects, but on the other hand, with each increase in the amount of energy that is used to improve your brain, the increase in your brain activity is far larger than for someone with a regular sized God Seed.
Plus, with your natural talent, the first issue probably won't become an actual concern until you've reached a far higher stage than you're currently at." Sofia took a deep breath, trying to reign in her now surging emotions.
As he listened to his Master, the worry that he was feeling was slowly assuaged by her words. Letting out a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding in, Torus nearly began laughing out loud as he realized how amazing these changes truly were for him.
As well as this, Torus finally realized from his Master's words that he wasn't actually average in talent, but rather that his Master had been pretending as if his feats were ordinary so as not to cause him to grow a big head.
As such, while Torus did find pride in this, he suppressed this feeling so as not to prove his Master right in her thinking.
