by John Nest
"Thank you. I hope to achieve such a prestigious title as well, Master Doctus."
A simple ceremony attended only by Smoke, Doctus and his assistant ended. This signified his official acceptance into the Pillar Temple, which was under Doctus.
"I'm glad you have such a positive attitude, but I have some terrible news."
'The fact that I have to take an extremely difficult test in thirty days isn't terrible enough, huh?'
"Grandmaster Indignus would not allow me to personally teach you the basics of Manatl. I'm afraid you will join the other students."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I can handle it." Smoke tried his best to conceal his frustration, but he still spoke with gritted teeth.
Smoke and Doctus bade their farewells and one of Doctus' assistant teachers led Smoke to his sleeping quarters within the Pillar Temple. It was a modest room that could just barely fit a wooden bed.
In front of his bedroom door, the assistant teacher warned him. "You shall not receive special treatment just because you're not a Simiavulg. It's best that you learn to adapt to how things work in the temple as quickly as you can."
He was pushed into his room and the door shut loudly behind him. The rough assistant teacher did not appreciate Smoke's enthusiasm to learn the Manatl ability.
As the assistant teacher left the room, Smoke heard him mumbling. "Grandmaster Indignus is right. Manatl teachings should be exclusive to Simiavulgs."
Smoke sat down. He found the room to be quaint and simple. He carefully observed his metallic staff and admired its flawless appearance.
Not missing the opportunity to recharge his real body, Smoke logged out to get some proper sleep.
TANG DING DING DING DING DING TANG TANG
A series of triangles and cymbals clamored and he could hear the shuffling of feet outside of his room. He stepped outside and found young Simiavulgs scurrying down to the courtyard. Most of them still had bread and eggs from the mess hall in their hands and were swallowing their breakfast whole.
The cemented octagonal courtyard had a single skewed cherry blossom at the center of the grounds. The bright morning sun made a bothersome glare.
All of the Simiavulg students went to their respective places. They stood straight with their white staves held tightly in their right hands. The young Simiavulgs formed an evenly distanced rectangle of six students per row with five rows altogether.
Smoke, who didn't know where to stand, stood alone in the back. A male gibbon Simiavulg wielding a brown metallic staff stepped to the front and addressed the students.
"As I have taught you last week, we feel the Mana and project it on top our left hand. Form a small barrier the size of your fist and make it last for as long as you can. Remember that your staves will help you channel the Mana."
In a synchronized manner, all of the students opened their left hands and began to concentrate their Mana to form small barriers.
Smoke could see small sparks appear on top of the hands of most students, but the six students in the first row all had clear small barriers already formed.
When he noticed this, he realized that the students in the second row had faint glimpses of the barriers, but they were still unstable.
As the row went further back so did the lack of stability in the barriers. The gibbon Simiavulg spoke to the students once more.
"Alright! I want you to hold your barriers for the next four hours." He left the front and sat under the single cherry blossom tree in the whole courtyard.
Smoke tried his best to form a barrier, but not even the faintest sign of Mana would come out. An hour passed and he was already soaked in sweat.
Yet all the students from the first row maintained their barriers for the first hour. It was only afterwards that their barriers began to disperse.
The barriers of the first-row students turned similar to the ones of the students in the second row. They remained standing and concentrated on forming their barriers until the second hour.
One of the students in front of Smoke fainted and fell down. The gibbon teacher calmly stood up from his shaded spot and took the student to the infirmary.
'That's right. These students are around seven years old. I guess it is too much to ask of one to stand under the heat of the sun and concentrate energy into your left hand.'
Ten minutes later and the entire row in front of Smoke fainted. All of them were taken to the infirmary. After that, it was every twenty minutes or so when one more student would faint.
Before the final hour passed, only Smoke, the students in the first two rows and one student from the third row remained. The gibbon instructor returned and told them to get some water.
The students instantly ran to the faucets that were aligned with the eight sides of the courtyard. As Smoke walked towards one of the faucets, he again thought that the training was too rough for a seven-year-old to handle.
He would have liked to discuss this with Doctus, but decided not to. This was their culture and the kids in the first two rows looked like they handled themselves very well.
TANG DING DING TANG DING DING TANG DING
The students walked out of the courtyard and into the mess hall. There, they were given tofu with string beans garnished with chopped carrots and potatoes.
All of the students were seated at the tables according to the rows from their morning formation. Smoke sat alone in an isolated corner of the mess hall.
He didn't mind the treatment and just enjoyed how everybody hungrily ate the food in front of them. He followed the children's lead and wolfed down the bowl in front of him.
It had been a long time since Smoke felt this hungry in Zectas. He thought that the food tasted extremely delicious, but he couldn't tell whether it actually did or if it was only because he was really hungry.
After their lunch, the students were given two more hours to rest in their separate quarters. Smoke spent the next ten minutes concentrating on generating a barrier on his left hand, but it never succeeded.
He did notice, however, that his mana was going down as he tried to perform the exercise. His four hours of straight training made him skip his scheduled break, so, he decided to take one now. He logged out quickly and took a power nap. Twenty-five minutes later, he logged back in, just in time to hear the triangles and cymbals.
TANG DING DING DING DING DING TANG TANG
It was time for their afternoon training. Smoke followed the students into the dojo. He found that the students sat with their legs crossed on the tatami floor.
Each student was seated three meters away from another. Smoke sat down to one of the free spots and found three objects the size of his foot on the floor.
He looked over his shoulder and found that everyone had the same three objects in front of them. There were three pyramids of different colors - yellow, black and red.
The same gibbon Simiavulg instructor from their morning session appeared.
"Alright, same as before. Put the three objects in front of you and push them as far away as you can by only using Mana."
Just like in the morning, the instructor gave no example or any explanation on how to do the exercise. Smoke did his best to visualize his mana pushing the three objects away.
Sadly, he got the same results from the morning exercise. None of his objects moved. He checked the progress of the other students and found that the students from the first row had one of the three objects further away from their bodies.
'I guess even the gifted kids can move only one of the objects.'
This exercise was scheduled for the next four hours. Smoke took a deep breath and focused on his own three objects. He consumed all fours hours and the three objects remained in the same spot.
CLAP CLAP CLAP!
The gibbon Simiavulg instructor signaled the end of their afternoon session. All of the students stood up with their right hands on white staves and their left hands behind their waists.
"Good job today. I could feel the force of the
Manatl in the entire dojo."
The DarkElf raised his eyebrow. He thought that the gibbon instructor was incapable of giving out praise.
"I know that the training is harsh, but this method has been proven to be very effective for hundreds of years. Who are we to question the ways of the great masters?"
The instructor nodded his head as if to reassure himself as well.
"Alright, I know that you've already suffered enough, but you still need your supper. Head to the mess hall and energize your bodies."
The gibbon Simiavulg gave an awkward smile as he laughed at what he said.
'There must have been a Simiavulg joke in there somewhere? Whatever it was, I sure don't get it.' Smoke thought to himself.
The instructor resumed his talk. "You have free period after your meal. Remember to be inside your chambers no later than nine. I'll see you again tomorrow for another day full of the same exercises."
CLAP CLAP CLAP!
All of the students bowed down and slowly walked out of the dojo. They were just sitting down under a roof, but all of them were still exhausted. Even Smoke, whose objects didn't move at all.
Given the freedom of time, Smoke thought to look around Doctus' temple. 'Maybe I could find a library and get some clues on what this Manatl really is?'
He asked one of the students and was directed to walk past the octagonal courtyard, the small pond and the chinese bamboos. Smoke stopped to enjoy the lily pads and the koi fish swimming inside the pond.
After he crossed the pond, his Cunning of the Dire Fox noted that there was no one near him. He crossed the small bamboo garden and found a small hut that the bamboo covered.
The detached house was supposed to be the temple's library. 'This place looks more like a gazebo than a library.' He thought.
Smoke opened the door and dust flew everywhere. He equipped his special gas mask to breathe as he tried to open up the windows.
With the dust finally settled, he found that the small library only had two desks and a single row of books neatly stacked against the wall.
He went to the wall and read through the book titles. "The bullied fish", "Simiavulg etiquette", "The ignorant Centaur and the wise Simiavulg", "Simiavulg Staves", and "The three rocks in the pond".
All of them were children's books except for the one entitled "Simiavulg etiquette". 'I guess that makes sense.'
He made a promise to himself to consume all the books he finds if the opportunity would allow it. Thus he began acquiring the knowledge of the books.
It didn't even take a full minute for the progress bar to complete each of the books inside Pillar temple's library. The one entitled "The bullied fish" intrigued him the most. He opened the acquired knowledge window of the book to review its contents.
+ The Bullied Fish
Long ago, there was a fish that was bullied by two other fishes everyday. The bullied fish sought refuge and finally found one through a narrow passage following a small underground river, which led it to a secluded lake.
There, the bullied fish flourished and preyed on the small lake monsters. The bullied fish felt happy and content.
Here in the lake, he was bullied no more. Years passed and the fish grew big enough to easily deal with the two other fishes who used to bully it.
The now-confident fish thrashed about issuing a challenge via low-frequency calls to its former bullies. The targeted bullies heard this and were outraged by the bullied fish's audacity.
Both of the bully fishes swam to the challenge, but were surprised to see that their small prey had turned into a giant adversary.
The giant fish played around with its two former bullies and left them with 2% of their life bars. After its overwhelming victory over them, the giant fish decided to go back home to the sea.
It held onto both of its half-dead trophies tightly. Yet, as the giant fish was about to pass through the small underground river, it discovered that it had grown too big for the narrow passage and that it could no longer return to its home.
The place it thought to be its sanctuary had turned into its prison.
Smoke loved the irony of that book. 'But it's really weird that this was supposedly made for children.'
Next he acquired the knowledge on the book entitled "Simiavulg Staves". He had always wondered if the staves' colors had any special meaning to them.
+ Simiavulg Staves
A Simiavulg staff is one's link-helper to Mana and facilitates bending it to one's will.
These are the stages in the mastery of the Manatl.
White Staff
> Beginner Manatl. Student of Basic Training under Pillar Temple
Yellow Staff
> Intermediate Manatl. A graduate of Pillar Temple. Student of one of the three specialized temples.
Blue Staff > Graduate of Intermediate Level Manatl. Still a student of the specialized temples.
Brown Staff > Graduate of the specialized temples. On the way to becoming a black-staff wielder.
Black Staff
> A master of one of the four temples.
Red Staff
> Grandmaster of the Simiavulg Manatls.
He saved the book entitled "Simiavulg etiquette" for last and scrutinized the contents of its acquired knowledge.
+ Simiavulg Etiquette
* Always remember to know your place when you speak. You can't freely talk to someone ranked higher above you.
> If you need to talk to someone above your rank, then you need to perform the Simiavulg bow.
* Simiavulg Bow
> Get on your knees, gently place your staff on your right side and raise your right hand. Wait for the person of the higher rank to get your hand and speak to you.
* Making loud noises as you eat shows respect to the one making the food.
* When drinking, it is appropriate to turn your back and not show your face.
. . .
After closing the window of the Simiavulg etiquette, he was greeted with a pleasant status notification.
+ Your total 'Acquired Knowledge' has increased your Intelligence by 1.
+ Your Intimacy with the Simiavulg race has risen by 1.
Despite the gained Intelligence and Intimacy points, he still left the library with a heavy heart. It wasn't like him to leave a library without a smile on his face.
None of the books in the temple's small library contained any information about how to use Manatl. He dragged his feet back to his quarters.
Smoke retired to his room and ended his day without any fruitful results. He released the dark ember sprite from his secret compartment.
Igniz immediately flew around and enjoyed the bigger space.
"Got any ideas on what this Manatl is?"
His symbiote shook his head and orbited around him. Igniz suddenly became brighter and brighter as he released all of his saved-up energy for the entire day.
"Don't go supernova on me now, bud. I'm sorry you have to hide for so long."
Igniz gave him an encouraging smile and Smoke understood what his symbiote meant. He got his white metallic staff and stood up.
He concentrated on forming a barrier on his left hand. He simulated the barrier-making exercise they did that morning. He could do only this because the colored pyramids were only accessible to him inside the dojo.
* * * * * *
The second day came and went, but Smoke still had no results to show for his Manatl training. He used the knowledge of Simiavulg etiquette and gained Intimacy points with some of his fellow students.
On Smoke's third day of basic training, Grandmaster Indignus and his albino gorilla assistant, Saru, came to observe his progress. The grandmaster could not suppress his laughter when he saw that Smoke had nothing to show whatsoever.
Ten more days passed and no breakthrough in understanding Manatl had been made. Hearing about several students from the first row already graduating from the basic training course made Smoke's confidence waver.
TANG DING DING TANG DING
DING TANG DING
Lunch time arrived and the students from the second and last rows were almost running towards the mess hall. The Grandmaster coughed loudly which made the young Simiavulg kids stop and walk slowly instead.
While Smoke ate his lunch alone, he saw Saru leaving from one of the instructors' offices. He thought maybe he could ask him for advice if he followed the Simiavulg etiquette.
Smoke ran in front of Saru and performed the Simiavulg bow and raised his hand. Saru immediately stopped walking. He took Smoke's hand and spoke to him.