The next second, Tetsu got back to his training. “Push, one, two…” Tetsu pushes himself. One power squat after another. Many emotions swirled inside of him. Each pushing him to grow stronger, faster, smarter, and wiser.
One wasn’t enough.
One was never enough.
Four pillars of success. Each pillar had its own unique advantage, and he wanted them all.
Tetsu kept a constant eye on surveillance as he trained. First came push-ups. He pushed until failure. As soon as he recovered, he started squatting, did pull-ups, and later ran laps around the tree. Each time, he only stopped when his body collapsed. Each time, his fatigue fell into a greater negative number.
‘Survive.’ This was his ultimate goal, and the only way he could keep his goal was if he ran.
‘Run.’ Better than faster than anyone else. The only obstacle was his stamina, the ridiculous amounts of fatigue he built up in a minute, his reflexes, perception, and lack of mana.
During his breaks, Tetsu meditated on the concept of mana. Mastery of mana grew his survival rate by at least forty percent. But more than surviving, the ability to throw a fireball, walk on water, fly, shoot laser beams, and many more childish desires fuelled his desire to learn.
And just like that, Tetsu added a new rule to his go-to guide. “Daily-quota. Exercise the crap out of your body daily. Obviously, make sure you stay alive and meditate for relaxation.”
These training regimens drew back old memories of the gym. Tetsu used to get up at five in the morning. Take a cold shower to actually wake up. Train until nine with plenty of breaks. After all, he wanted to impress his crush, not get beaten up by his mom.
Any injury that occurred in his gym always got worse as one mom over-cares while the other broke said bones again to make sure Tetsu learned his lesson. So, with no injuries and proper breaks, he completes his morning gym. After nine, he showers in the gym, gets ready, and goes to school from the gym. Once school ends, he tosses his bag to Kile and sprints back to the gym. Kile tricks Tetsu the next day into carrying his own bag. He convinced Tetsu that it was better weight training and he bought it hook, line, and sinker.
After two months of grit, several scoldings, his academics falling apart, his crush dating a dumbo, and Kile gaining more muscle than him. Tetsu gave up on his crush first and later, at the gym.
Yet again, he started this whole pointless routine. Because this time, the game was different. This time, it is a game. The only reason we get addicted to games isn’t the sense of freedom, it is mainly the sense of progress. One level after the next, we see ourselves move forward.
Forward in a false reality… but forward, nonetheless.
With a screen that showed one’s progress and a realm that proved the existence of magic, Tetsu’s overthinking mind cooked up scenarios of grandeur.
“Did I mention the magic!” Tetsu shrieks, unable to contain his excitement. “Magic, magic, magic…” he chanted, dancing around the tree.
Several Blade-grass sacrificed their brethren, throwing shuriken in hopes to cut down or stop the moronic human’s celebration. Filled with adrenaline, Tetsu dodged every attempt on his life, never stopping his chant.
“Once I learn fireball, you guys will be perfect for target practice.” Tetsu smiles menacingly. “Fireball, fireball, fireball…” He changes his chant.
Perhaps even the tree got annoyed by his shenanigans. During Tetsu’s next round, a root trips him while a conveniently placed rock takes his tooth.
Still pumping with adrenaline, Tetsu bounces right back onto his feet, his hands holding his broken bloody tooth. “Ah…!” He groans with his mouth shut. “I haven’t forgotten you.” He threatens the tree in a muffled voice. “I’ve got a whole torture week planned for you… you mind-fucker.”
He kicks the root that tripped him in frustration, hurting his own leg. As he switches between rubbing his leg and holding his head high, another root trips him. Tetsu rolled on the ground until his pain subsided and found his health to be dangerously low over a few measly attacks.
He raises and grabs the root before it can retreat. “Got you…” His anger and frustration turn to wonder as he finds weird markings over this root. The Tree was stronger than Tetsu, but still wasn’t able to retrieve its roots from his grasp.
It pulled harder as Tetsu placed both his feet against the ground, holding the root with both his hands. Unable to figure out why a tree was weaker than him, Tetsu scanned the rest of the roots. As he suspected, only the root he held had weird markings engraved around its form. They were weird symbols of similar size, placed at equal distances from each other.
To retrieve this one special root, the tree mobilized the rest of its roots toward Tetsu. With little time, Tetsu decides to break the root and flee. He needed more information about the symbols, why the tree protected this root, and why was this root weaker than the rest. And the only way to find out was to take a sample for experimentation.
“Don’t mind me,” says Tetsu as he forces his knee over the root. To his surprise, the root breaks with ease. “I’m sure you won’t die from this.” He flips on his back, places his feet over the approaching roots, and dashes away. “I really hope you don’t…”
Twenty meters away, Tetsu stops and turns back to the tree. It either couldn’t chase him or wasn’t able to chase him. Either way, counting this as his victory, he bows at the tree.
“I am really sorry.” Yells Tetsu. He looks behind at the daunting forest ahead and faces the tree again. “You are still my safe house, you know.” He yells louder. “I will make up for this…” He waves the broken root. “Sorry…”
----
After a quick surveillance of the area to make sure there weren’t any predators lurking around. Tetsu faced the tree and sat down to examine the root. He still wasn’t sure that the tree gave up so easily. In between, his stomach rumbled in protest while his body pleaded for a break. Tetsu ignored both callings as he listened to his curiosity, wanting more answers.
Either because of its separation from the tree or the way Tetsu broke it, the root shrunk. Now thin enough to fit in his palm, he swung the root around in hopes of seeing anything magical happen. With no magic spilling out, he examines the root further.
The root had an around-tipped bottom the width of Tetsu’s thumb. It grew wider, reaching to Tetsu’s chest. The broken tips of the root merged to form a sleek, curved handle.
Tetsu would’ve picked up this stick even if it weren’t magical. You understand boys and their fascination with sticks. Add magic to the mix and every guy will have a collection of sticks.
The root, which resembled a classic wooden walking stick, oozed magic. The sole reason behind its magical nature was the strange symbols engraved along its shaft. A strange heat emanated from these symbols. Tetsu connected this strange sensation with his own mana. Both held a similar heat or pull.
Tetsu couldn’t place his finger on the exact term, but he was certain this symbol created or held mana. “Interesting.” He strokes his chin.
Tetsu exerts his own mana onto the stick. With no visible change, he tires multiple times until he exhausts his mana pool. Out of options, he meditated on different techniques until his mana pool refilled itself.
“Mana is like health. Take care of yourself, relax, and they will replenish.” Tetsu makes more experiments to test these theories out.
Under meditation, he runs his fingers over the symbols. His cheeks spread wide, unable to contain his smile. “What are you hiding?” He asks.
The symbol had an inverted ‘W’ at the bottom, a vertical line running up from between these two mountains, and two semicircles on the top. All the symbols were identical and placed at equal distances from each other.
“Interesting...” Tetsu’s smile grew wider, hurting his cheeks. Still, he held the stick between his palm, his legs folded and his smile growing by the second.
“Any hints on how to work this thing?” He peeks at the tree.
Upset by Tetsu’s transgressions, the tree had turned back into a normal earth tree.
“Common... I am really sorry, you know.” Tetsu pouted. “I always repay my debts too...” He yells and gets back to his meditation.
Control over his mana is the key. Tetsu knew it in his gut. But how does one control mana?
“Concentration.” His mind told.
“The one thing I lack the most.” Tetsu scoffs. “It’s rude to ask an overthinker to stay focused.” He reminds his brain.
Hours pass by as Tetsu regains his mana, experiments on the stick, experiments on himself for control, and rests again to recover. All along, he also maintained a fatigue level of eighty-plus by training his body when he wasn’t able to concentrate on meditation.
In a sudden revelation, Tetsu exerts lesser amounts of mana. From ten points lost, he tried to reduce the number to one or two points for every mana burst.
“Some control is still control.” He got excited.
During his training, Tetsu noticed his fatigue levels affected his mana control as well. “Well, duh!” He smacks himself on the head. “Once exhausted, how can you do a pull-up or assess a situation?” He smacked himself harder, making sure he didn’t forget the obvious.
Like any other state, whether it be physical or mental, now adding mana to the mix, every state can only be used to its maximum when it is over negative influence.
Similar to physical strain, mental strain gets better by overload, but it also has more negative aspects if not healed or treated right. One can go from being a saint to a serial killer in moments.
Also, in a similar way to how physical stress can be calmed by mental focus, physical exercise can reduce mental stress. Yet again, these are just temporary reliefs one should take during overload.
Once calm, the only proper way to deal with physical strain is food and rest, and for mental strain is food and inner peace. Good food and stimulus are the obvious common factors.
Now adding mana to the mix makes the balance even more fragile. We as humans barely manage with two powers, still unable to balance life.
“Where does this power fit?” Tetsu wonders.
Our physical power, as in our physical form, our body, is by far the easiest power to grow and control. Coming in second place, our mental powers vastly differ from individual to individual. Still a mystery and an absolutely devastating weapon, our minds both create a nuke and find the meaning of life.
“Where do you go?” Tetsu asks Mana.
The thought of placing it in between physical and mental powers scared Tetsu, but the mere possibility of it being greater than one’s mental abilities terrified him to his very core.
“Fuck, do you go?” Tetsu lost his smile.
═─┈─{═E═}─┈─═
The next second, Tetsu got back to his training. “Push, one, two…” Tetsu pushes himself. One power squat after another. Many emotions swirled inside of him. Each pushing him to grow stronger, faster, smarter, and wiser.
One wasn’t enough.
One was never enough.
Four pillars of success. Each pillar had its own unique advantage, and he wanted them all.
Tetsu kept a constant eye on surveillance as he trained. First came push-ups. He pushed until failure. As soon as he recovered, he started squatting, did pull-ups, and later ran laps around the tree. Each time, he only stopped when his body collapsed. Each time, his fatigue fell into a greater negative number.
‘Survive.’ This was his ultimate goal, and the only way he could keep his goal was if he ran.
‘Run.’ Better than faster than anyone else. The only obstacle was his stamina, the ridiculous amounts of fatigue he built up in a minute, his reflexes, perception, and lack of mana.
During his breaks, Tetsu meditated on the concept of mana. Mastery of mana grew his survival rate by at least forty percent. But more than surviving, the ability to throw a fireball, walk on water, fly, shoot laser beams, and many more childish desires fuelled his desire to learn.
And just like that, Tetsu added a new rule to his go-to guide. “Daily-quota. Exercise the crap out of your body daily. Obviously, make sure you stay alive and meditate for relaxation.”
These training regimens drew back old memories of the gym. Tetsu used to get up at five in the morning. Take a cold shower to actually wake up. Train until nine with plenty of breaks. After all, he wanted to impress his crush, not get beaten up by his mom.
Any injury that occurred in his gym always got worse as one mom over-cares while the other broke said bones again to make sure Tetsu learned his lesson. So, with no injuries and proper breaks, he completes his morning gym. After nine, he showers in the gym, gets ready, and goes to school from the gym. Once school ends, he tosses his bag to Kile and sprints back to the gym. Kile tricks Tetsu the next day into carrying his own bag. He convinced Tetsu that it was better weight training and he bought it hook, line, and sinker.
After two months of grit, several scoldings, his academics falling apart, his crush dating a dumbo, and Kile gaining more muscle than him. Tetsu gave up on his crush first and later, at the gym.
Yet again, he started this whole pointless routine. Because this time, the game was different. This time, it is a game. The only reason we get addicted to games isn’t the sense of freedom, it is mainly the sense of progress. One level after the next, we see ourselves move forward.
Forward in a false reality… but forward, nonetheless.
With a screen that showed one’s progress and a realm that proved the existence of magic, Tetsu’s overthinking mind cooked up scenarios of grandeur.
“Did I mention the magic!” Tetsu shrieks, unable to contain his excitement. “Magic, magic, magic…” he chanted, dancing around the tree.
Several Blade-grass sacrificed their brethren, throwing shuriken in hopes to cut down or stop the moronic human’s celebration. Filled with adrenaline, Tetsu dodged every attempt on his life, never stopping his chant.
“Once I learn fireball, you guys will be perfect for target practice.” Tetsu smiles menacingly. “Fireball, fireball, fireball…” He changes his chant.
Perhaps even the tree got annoyed by his shenanigans. During Tetsu’s next round, a root trips him while a conveniently placed rock takes his tooth.
Still pumping with adrenaline, Tetsu bounces right back onto his feet, his hands holding his broken bloody tooth. “Ah…!” He groans with his mouth shut. “I haven’t forgotten you.” He threatens the tree in a muffled voice. “I’ve got a whole torture week planned for you… you mind-fucker.”
He kicks the root that tripped him in frustration, hurting his own leg. As he switches between rubbing his leg and holding his head high, another root trips him. Tetsu rolled on the ground until his pain subsided and found his health to be dangerously low over a few measly attacks.
He raises and grabs the root before it can retreat. “Got you…” His anger and frustration turn to wonder as he finds weird markings over this root. The Tree was stronger than Tetsu, but still wasn’t able to retrieve its roots from his grasp.
It pulled harder as Tetsu placed both his feet against the ground, holding the root with both his hands. Unable to figure out why a tree was weaker than him, Tetsu scanned the rest of the roots. As he suspected, only the root he held had weird markings engraved around its form. They were weird symbols of similar size, placed at equal distances from each other.
To retrieve this one special root, the tree mobilized the rest of its roots toward Tetsu. With little time, Tetsu decides to break the root and flee. He needed more information about the symbols, why the tree protected this root, and why was this root weaker than the rest. And the only way to find out was to take a sample for experimentation.
“Don’t mind me,” says Tetsu as he forces his knee over the root. To his surprise, the root breaks with ease. “I’m sure you won’t die from this.” He flips on his back, places his feet over the approaching roots, and dashes away. “I really hope you don’t…”
Twenty meters away, Tetsu stops and turns back to the tree. It either couldn’t chase him or wasn’t able to chase him. Either way, counting this as his victory, he bows at the tree.
“I am really sorry.” Yells Tetsu. He looks behind at the daunting forest ahead and faces the tree again. “You are still my safe house, you know.” He yells louder. “I will make up for this…” He waves the broken root. “Sorry…”
----
After a quick surveillance of the area to make sure there weren’t any predators lurking around. Tetsu faced the tree and sat down to examine the root. He still wasn’t sure that the tree gave up so easily. In between, his stomach rumbled in protest while his body pleaded for a break. Tetsu ignored both callings as he listened to his curiosity, wanting more answers.
Either because of its separation from the tree or the way Tetsu broke it, the root shrunk. Now thin enough to fit in his palm, he swung the root around in hopes of seeing anything magical happen. With no magic spilling out, he examines the root further.
The root had an around-tipped bottom the width of Tetsu’s thumb. It grew wider, reaching to Tetsu’s chest. The broken tips of the root merged to form a sleek, curved handle.
Tetsu would’ve picked up this stick even if it weren’t magical. You understand boys and their fascination with sticks. Add magic to the mix and every guy will have a collection of sticks.
The root, which resembled a classic wooden walking stick, oozed magic. The sole reason behind its magical nature was the strange symbols engraved along its shaft. A strange heat emanated from these symbols. Tetsu connected this strange sensation with his own mana. Both held a similar heat or pull.
Tetsu couldn’t place his finger on the exact term, but he was certain this symbol created or held mana. “Interesting.” He strokes his chin.
Tetsu exerts his own mana onto the stick. With no visible change, he tires multiple times until he exhausts his mana pool. Out of options, he meditated on different techniques until his mana pool refilled itself.
“Mana is like health. Take care of yourself, relax, and they will replenish.” Tetsu makes more experiments to test these theories out.
Under meditation, he runs his fingers over the symbols. His cheeks spread wide, unable to contain his smile. “What are you hiding?” He asks.
The symbol had an inverted ‘W’ at the bottom, a vertical line running up from between these two mountains, and two semicircles on the top. All the symbols were identical and placed at equal distances from each other.
“Interesting...” Tetsu’s smile grew wider, hurting his cheeks. Still, he held the stick between his palm, his legs folded and his smile growing by the second.
“Any hints on how to work this thing?” He peeks at the tree.
Upset by Tetsu’s transgressions, the tree had turned back into a normal earth tree.
“Common... I am really sorry, you know.” Tetsu pouted. “I always repay my debts too...” He yells and gets back to his meditation.
Control over his mana is the key. Tetsu knew it in his gut. But how does one control mana?
“Concentration.” His mind told.
“The one thing I lack the most.” Tetsu scoffs. “It’s rude to ask an overthinker to stay focused.” He reminds his brain.
Hours pass by as Tetsu regains his mana, experiments on the stick, experiments on himself for control, and rests again to recover. All along, he also maintained a fatigue level of eighty-plus by training his body when he wasn’t able to concentrate on meditation.
In a sudden revelation, Tetsu exerts lesser amounts of mana. From ten points lost, he tried to reduce the number to one or two points for every mana burst.
“Some control is still control.” He got excited.
During his training, Tetsu noticed his fatigue levels affected his mana control as well. “Well, duh!” He smacks himself on the head. “Once exhausted, how can you do a pull-up or assess a situation?” He smacked himself harder, making sure he didn’t forget the obvious.
Like any other state, whether it be physical or mental, now adding mana to the mix, every state can only be used to its maximum when it is over negative influence.
Similar to physical strain, mental strain gets better by overload, but it also has more negative aspects if not healed or treated right. One can go from being a saint to a serial killer in moments.
Also, in a similar way to how physical stress can be calmed by mental focus, physical exercise can reduce mental stress. Yet again, these are just temporary reliefs one should take during overload.
Once calm, the only proper way to deal with physical strain is food and rest, and for mental strain is food and inner peace. Good food and stimulus are the obvious common factors.
Now adding mana to the mix makes the balance even more fragile. We as humans barely manage with two powers, still unable to balance life.
“Where does this power fit?” Tetsu wonders.
Our physical power, as in our physical form, our body, is by far the easiest power to grow and control. Coming in second place, our mental powers vastly differ from individual to individual. Still a mystery and an absolutely devastating weapon, our minds both create a nuke and find the meaning of life.
“Where do you go?” Tetsu asks Mana.
The thought of placing it in between physical and mental powers scared Tetsu, but the mere possibility of it being greater than one’s mental abilities terrified him to his very core.
“Fuck, do you go?” Tetsu lost his smile.
═─┈─{═E═}─┈─═
