CH11 Fated Misfortune Arrives!
***
A typical day for Leo consisted of waking up in the early hours of morning for Endurance training (miles running, swimming, climbing and so on), after which came a hearty breakfast, after this was Breath Control and Energy Circulation training followed up by a couple of hours of Mental Energy Meditation.
At noon, Leo would meet tutors who taught him everything about the world, with lunch in between.
By evening was body conditioning (impact training against and striking at wooden logs as well as body slamming exercises to toughen the bones and flesh) and weight training (moving about with weight attached to body).
After which was dinner, and finally sparring with Zora (to help digest the food?). Sparring was followed by another Breath Control session before finishing up the day with Visualisation training.
If this didn't seem too tough at first glance, the individual contents changed one's mind.
Rowland personally took charge of the Endurance training in the morning, Body Conditioning training in the evening and Sparring at night. He made sure to push Leo to his absolute limit every time within each training session.
This meant Leo broke through his physical limit continuously three times every day for five years, or at least got injured trying.
Even if he got injured, the War King spared no expense to use the best healing potions to heal the boy back to top shape by the next training session, only to try to break through his physical limits again.
As brutal as it sounded, it was exactly what Leo needed to train the Ultimate Martial Body Tempering Manual.
Breaking through his limits time and time again left Leo's body weakened and vulnerable. This made it easy for the boy to use the nutrition from the food he ate via the Breath Control and Energy Circulation training to temper his body.
Whenever Rowland's training destroyed his body, the Energy Circulation exercise would slowly use nutrition to fix him back up.
A painful cycle of destruction and repair which slowly tempered the boy's body to an increased state.
The more the state of breakage and repair went on, the closer Leo's body got to breaking through an unknown state.
Leo couldn't explain well, all he could say was that if he were to break through, he felt his body would elevate in state from a normal 'useless and ordinary' body to a body with the potential to be extraordinary.
While Rowland helped Leo train his body according to the Ultimate Martial Body Tempering Manual, the teenager didn't forget to train his mind as well.
Meditation and Visualisation sessions were the basics of the Eternal Mind Codex.
Meditation allowed the user to sense and move their Mental Energy. It also allowed the user to restore and slowly increase their mind's Mental Energy capacity.
Visualisation on the other hand is used to purify the absorbed Mental Energy before using it to temper the mind.
Leo sees his Mental Energy as a cloud in his Mindspace. By meditating, he can restore the used-up part of the cloud and, at the same time, marginally increase the size of the cloud.
During Visualisation, Leo tries to condense the cloud into building blocks which he uses to build the outline of a fortress 'below' the Mental Energy cloud in his Mindspace.
Every time he finishes the construction of the fortress, which takes weeks of effort at his fastest, the fortress breaks down back into gas which reforms the Mental Energy cloud, but purer.
The cloud which was originally murky grey was now milky white after five years of effort.
Meanwhile, every time the fortress outline is completed, his mind trembles and strengthens. After this the fortress outline becomes more detailed and harder to complete, showing the increase in the strength of his mind.
Leo noticed that refining his body during the Breath Control and Energy Circulation session, not only heals and energises his body, it also energises his mind, thereby increasing the reward from Meditating. On the other hand, the harder the training he wills through, the easier it became for him to visualise the fortress in his mind.
And vice versa.
He was overjoyed and beside himself when he realised the Ultimate Martial Body Tempering Manual and the Eternal Mind Codex mutually reinforced and strengthen the effects of the other.
It was like getting double the reward for half the effort, which encouraged the boy to put in more effort.
The boy long reached the limit of the first level of both methods, but the hard lock imposed after the negotiation between the Arcane Sanctuary party and Leo's World seems to be firmly preventing him from moving to the next level.
However, Leo didn't complain. Instead, he couldn't be happier.
Like the Martial Sovereign advised, he was able to turn the handicap into a blessing. He wouldn't have been able to temper his body, Physical Energy (Lifeforce), Mental Energy and Mind to the levels they were now if not for the hard lock.
Since the first level was the main foundation stage, Leo was absolutely certain he could set a stronger foundation than even the creators of the methods, thanks ironically to the hard locks set to handicap him.
For the first time in his life, Leo was moved enough to almost want to thank the world.
Of course, he didn't do it since he knew the world hadn't done it out of generosity.
"It is your fifteenth birthday in a few hours. Are you ready?" Rowland asked.
"Yes!" Leo nodded solemnly and with conviction.
Zora held his hand with worry in her eyes. Leo patted it and showed her a smile telling her not to worry.
Today was the day Leo would undergo his Gift Awakening Ceremony. It was the day that would decide whether the efforts Leo had put in over these past five years were worth it.
Rowland and Zora believed Leo was undergoing the Ceremony to awaken his Gift, however, Leo knew he wouldn't be awakening a Gift but it didn't make the ceremony any less important.
Leo looked at the flashing message in his mind.
[Priority Notice!]
[Message: The day of the Fated Misfortune has arrived.
[Remark: User is advised to prepare for the arrival of the agreed Fated Misfortune. Failure to whether the Misfortune will result in DEATH!]
[Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA): 2hrs 13mins.]
Leo laughed coldly.
Putting the time of the Fated Misfortune on his birthday... His world really had a sick sense of humour, fitting for a cruel world.
"I will prepare everything we will need. Go do whatever you must to calm your mind and prepare." Rowland said.
He wasn't taking any chances with Leo's Awakening Ceremony. He decided to personally prepare for the event to prevent any mishaps.
This was after all the event that would decide his nephew's future.
Leo nodded.
He and Zora left the sparring room. Under Zora's worried gaze, Leo entered his room to meditate and visualise in order to prepare his mind for what was to come.
When Zora returned to her room, she found Jaras, Rowland's butler, waiting at the door.
She greeted him with a bow.
"Did the young master notice anything?" Butler Jaras asked.
"No, he didn't. He was too focused on his training as usual." Zora replied.
"Ah yes. Young Master Leo is anything if not focused. What a pity. He would have made a fine warrior. Alas..." The old butler sighed.
He turned his attention back to Zora.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Once you make this decision there will be no turning back. You will lose the opportunity to join the DoomMane Guild, to make a name for yourself. In fact, you will be forsaking everything you have been until now.
"Knowing this, will you still go ahead with the plan?"
"I will." Zora said without hesitation.
"Very well. Whatever happens next, know that it was of your choosing. Do not regret it, child."
(To be continued...