As the sun hit the horizon a knock was heard at the door of Karl's room.
The knock was followed by another and then another and soon turned to a constant noise which made the passing figures look at the one knocking with annoyance.
The one knocking at the door was a young butler who made a sorry face to the passing maids and butlers but continued knocking, following his orders.
After the knocking continued for half an hour, the door finally opened and what came through was Karl's face with annoyance and frustration smeared all over it.
"How long?" Karl asked in a worried tone.
"It has been around 30 minutes young mast-"
*bang*
Before the butler could complete his words, the door was banged shut in front of his face.
"Sigh, my luck." Butler grieved as he walked away cursing his luck to be in young master's way as he was returning and get such an arduous task.
Meanwhile inside Karl's room, he was not having the best time.
"Aarghhh! Why! Why is this thing still as annoying!"
Karl was currently outraging over waking up early after so long.
Karl went to take a bath, still sulking.
***
Karl walked inside the training ground, nervous and excited about the day.
'Finally today is the day I become an arhat!' Karl cheered as he looked around the ground but...
'Is he not here yet? I thought I was the late one.' Karl thought as he looked around but saw no one.
"You are late."
A cold voice made Karl jump as he quickly turned to look at a man looking at him with cold eyes.
Karl looked at the man with light green hair and dark green eyes who was looking at him coldly.
Karl frowned offended by the disrespectful tone and then smirked as he mocked.
"I forgot the time and you forgot the youngmaster while talking to me."
The man squinted his eyes at Karl's ridicule but then spoke with a smirk.
"I don't know about master but your stupidity proves how young you are."
The man replied in the same mocking tone.
His words made Karl frown for a moment before he smirked.
"I am Karl. Nice to meet you teacher." Karl spoke as he extended his hand.
The man looked at Karl's hands for a moment before he smiled and walked towards the center of the ground.
"Nice to meet you student." The man said without looking at Karl standing behind him, his hands still extended.
'Is he a bigshot? First time being treated so disrespectfully in this life. I might just fall in love with him.' Karl joked to himself as he retracted his hand and followed his teacher.
"Senior asked me to help you make both a ring and a core. How much can you already do?"
At the man's words, Karl's eyes lit up.
'Who is he to call father his senior?'
"I can sense ether." Karl replied what he was told to by Kevin.
"If what you are saying is correct then you need to learn to create aura and mana next."
The man nodded to himself as he extended his hand towards a sword stand and two swords flew into air. One landed in the man's hand while other floated in the air in front of Karl.
"Are we sparring?" Karl asked as he took hold of the sword.
"Nah. I am going to beat you and you have to try to defend." The man spoke as he walked closer to Karl.
Karl frowned at the man's words and tried to speak but before he could say anything his vision tilted as he found himself falling on the ground on his back.
"Try again." The man spoke before Karl could understand what had happened.
The next second Karl could feel pain rising in his chest and then it deemed upon him that he had been hit.
Karl stood up with a frown and aimed his sword at the man but next moment again found himself on the ground, again hit on the chest.
Karl stood up again this time with a grimace but the same thing was repeated again.
Karl standing up trying to defend and then again falling on his back kept happening again and again.
The only thing that was changing every time was Karl's expression.
The grimace soon turned into growl and then to a furious face but after falling back over ten time that fury turned cold as Karl was fully focused on the act of defense.
When he was hit for the 13th time there was finally some development.
As Karl was hit, he shifted a bit, pulled one leg back and jutted his chest outwards.
This changed his center of gravity and he stood even after being hit.
The man stopped and made an interested expression as he saw Karl still standing.
But it was not for long as the next second he again shook his hand and extended it but that small act made the sword fall squarely on Karl's chest but Karl again pulled back his leg and stood standing.
The man hit again but this time Karl lifted his sword and shifted his shoulder swinging the sword at his side where there was nothing.
But instead of the sword cutting the air, a clack sound reverberated in the ground.
Karl quickly pulled his feet backwards and tilted his body towards where he had swung the sword.
That shift again changed his center of mass as he was able to use the weight of his body to counter the force behind the man's sword.
The man looked at Karl with an incredulous look.
"Well done." The man praised Karl as he pulled back his sword.
"Now do this again but this time, try to sense ether inside you while doing so. If you are able to sense ether then wish for it to move. Try to make ether move along with your body." The man spoke as he again stood in position.
Karl instead frowned at man's words.
"Isn't ether something you can not control?" Karl questioned to which the man nodded.
"You can not. You have to imagine that it does. After some time you will feel it. Just try it for now." The man spoke as his eyes sharpened, signaling Karl to get ready.
Karl also nodded as he sensed all the strands of ether flowing freely inside his body and were not a part of his blood.
*clack*
*clack*
The session started again and as he blocked the second strike, Karl was able to feel something.
He was able to control ether but it was not a very easy process. It took years for him to combine ether into his blood and only after that was he able to control the etherised blood more easily.
Controlling pure ether was very focus requiring and slow process even for him.
But right now he felt like ether was docile and could be controlled easily.
It was a new feeling to him, he could feel complete control over ether in his arms and shoulders.
But knowing the feeling of ether, he also knew it was something different from ether.
If ether was something like fire, something he could feel yet not hold then the energy he felt was like water.
The man also noticed the change in Karl as he stood still for a second before continuing.
*clack*
After every hit he stopped for a bit, as if giving time for Karl to understand the feeling better.
*clack*
After another 5 hits, there was a visible change in the exchange.
Unlike before Karl had not to move his whole body to block the sword strike, but instead he was also swinging his sword simply like the man in front of him.
"You can already use aura!?" The man stood shocked at Karl's attack.
"Now I get why senior asked me to help you form a core and ring today itself. Kid you are a genius." The man spoke the most he had since he met Karl.
Karl's cold and focused expression finally broke at the man's words as he spoke with a grin.
"Mind telling me your name then, teacher?"
Karl again extended his hand for a shake towards the man.
"Jay Warn" The man said as he shook Karl's hands.
"So what is next?" Karl asked.
"Now that you have formed and can also control aura, stop using your sword and just block the hits with your bare chest by shielding it with aura."
Jay stated as he extended his empty hand towards Karl sword which made the sword dash out of Karl's hand into Jay's.
"Why though? Should not I sit and learn to finely control aura?" Karl inquired.
"You will understand later. For now just do what I am saying."
Jay said as he again took his position but this time he was lifting both the swords to attack.
Karl also took his position, extending his chest while controlling all the aura he could to shield his chest, his cold and focused expression again on his face.
Next moment Jay again swinged the sword, hitting Karl's chest on the left.
This hit was different from before as even after Karl covering the area with the aura he could feel the sharp pain.
If the pain before when he was falling on his back was like having a truck slam his chest, the current pain was like a spear impaling his chest, sharp and precise.
Before Karl could even wince, he felt another sharp hit, followed with another and then the next.
Jay's hands were moving so fast that they had now become a blur.
Karl stepped back due to the pain but Jay stepped forward as much as Karl backed out.
"Keep standing and focus on trying to block my attacks." Jay spoke as his hands kept moving in a flow as if doing a dance.
Karl did as Jay said and tried to focus aura and he soon understood the reason of this new type of exercise.
Jay's attacks held so much force that to block them, he had to focus all his aura on that singular point.
*clank*
It only took Karl a few seconds before he succeeded in the task which made a sound as if metals were colliding even though it was a wooden sword hitting muscles.
Karl proudly tried to look at Jay but felt the same sharp pain again.
He instantly understood that the pain was not in the same place, it was close to where he was getting hit before but slightly beside that point.
Karl quickly closed his eyes and focused all the aura, now on the new point.
Unknown to Karl, Jay was making an excited expression as he continued using both the swords to hit at the same point.
This continued for the next 30 minutes with Jay slightly shifting the point of damage and Karl placing all his aura on the new spot.
As the pain finally stopped, Karl's left side of the chest was left stinging with pain.
Karl opened his eyes to look at Jay but saw no one in front of him.
Before Karl could frown, he heard Jay's voice coming from behind.
"Now block from behind."
What followed that sound was another series of attacks followed by more of the sharp pain which once blocked, started at another point.
This also continued for another half an hour before Jay finally stopped.
Karl, feeling numb in his chest and his back stinging, looked around for Jay and saw him standing in front of him, looking at him with an incredulous smile.
"Are we done?" Karl asked as he panted, having problem in breathing due to the pain.
To Karl's dread, Jay shook his head.
"What now?" Karl asked anxiously.
"Now sit down."
Karl frowned at Jay's words but did as he was told.
"Hoh? You do not mind sitting on the ground?" Jay joked.
Karl tried to smile at the joke but instead made a bitter smile due to the pain he was feeling.
'Is this gonna be like one of those murim novel scenes?' Karl wondered.
And to Karl's surprise what happened was just like he had guessed.
Jay sat behind Karl and put his left hand on the left part of Karl's chest which made Karl wince with pain as the part Jay had put the hand on was the same part he had hit with the sword.
'Is he finally going to teach me how to move aura or something!? But why are we doing this so late?
Me blocking with the sword was something that taught me how to use aura so I get that part but... what was me blocking with my chest for?'
At that moment, Karl thought of something.
Jay had made him control his aura at a precise point but now that he looked back, all those points were covering a certain area.
The same area was precisely hit both from the front and the back, covering each and every point on that area.
What was interesting was that the area was only around where his heart was.
'No way.' Karl thought in fear a certain possibility.
And Jay's next words answered his doubts and what he dreaded is what was going to happen.
"Now that we are done for the outside part, you need to control aura to block attacks of mine but this time from inside your body." Jay spoke as he started to injected a bit of his aura inside Karl's body.
Karl clenched his eyes shut, preparing himself for whatever was to come next.