Zilon woke up from a light sleep as he felt a hand tapping on his knee.
"Hey Zilon I am back...."
"Mhmm...."Zilon yawned and stretched as he felt his bones cracked.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the afternoon rays as he looked around finding Rivor sitting close to him.
"Dozed off already?,I believe I didn't take that long, did I?" Rivor said with a small chuckle.
"Forgive me oh great master, everywhere just went dark at some point " Zilon said with slight humor in his tone.
"Well I am not your great master....yet, you have yet to prove it to me ....." Rivor released a short burst of laughter.
Zilon nodded solemnly.
"Here you go" Rivor added as he stretched a hand.
Zilon eyes moved from him and feel on what he had on his hands.
"Huh?....."
Zilon stared at the Triangle shaped leaves and took it.
Rivor peeled off the top and opened his half way, a hot brown substance came into view.
"Those are buns?"
"Come on open it already" Rivor said after noticing Zilon's gaze.
He snapped and quickly followed.
Opening his, thesame content was visible,The stem was the first to reach his nostrils, and there he stared at what he knew was called buns on earth, which stared back at him.
"I have eaten this before....not sure...."
Zilon took a bite and was taken by surprise.
"This....it taste similar.....But better!"
"Wow this tastes amazing" Zilon said with delight.
"Hmm....you think?"
"Mhm" Zilon nod.
"But this is like average if you ask me, I have tasted snacks better than this " Rivor said almost done with his.
"Ohrm reaslhy?" Zilon raised an eyebrow with his mouth full.
Rivor gave a thumbs up.
"Where did you get such a treat then?" Zilon asked intrigued.
Rivor smirked while swallowing the last piece.
"Why of course" Rivor said with a smirk
Zilon took a bite.
"Lyla's dish is the best I have tasted"
With his eyes contracting, he inhaled the piece from his mouth and cough vigorish, spitting it out as it almost got stuck in his throat.
*PUFF*
"Gotcha" Rivor laughed hard.
"if I die, he's responsible..." He coughed some more before finally swallowing the last piece wearily.
"Hey, Rivor"Zilon spoke as they stood up.
"Hmm?"
"I have noticed something quite peculiar about the foods so far " Zilon asked with a hand on his chin.
"Oh.....and what's that?" Rivor asked wiping off the dirt on his clothes.
"Hmm, I don't know how to phrase it.....feels like the food around here fills my belly to the brim,I was curious if that also happened to have an explanation, if it was always a normal occurrence here?" Zilon said.
"its a stupid question I know still...."
On earth he remembered how much children and even adults had to eat , and not eating that much really had side effects.
This was what led to his surprise, a small piece of food , that should be considered a short snack gave him a lot of energy.
Here in Terra he ate so little but was full, and it wasn't about disliking the food since some even look closely similar to the ones on earth.
"This could be very advantageous " he thought.
Of course while asking he had to be careful of the way he phrased it.
"Right only Lyla knows were I come from, I don't know what to expect if someone else knew, I can't take any chances " Zilon thought hoping Rivor won't ask to much questions.
"Oh that, I thought you would never ask, it's quite simple honestly can you make a guess " Rivor replied.
Zilon thought for a moment but nothing came to mind so he shook his head.
"It's because your small"
"Say what?...."
"It's because of mana actually " Rivor responsed in a manner of fact tone.
"Did he just act like he didn't say that?" Zilon said slightly annoyed.
"Mana you say?" Zilon asked alittle confused with that analogy.
"I hope you weren't thinking that Mana was only used for magic" Rivor shook his head.
But still seeing his confused expression he could only, sigh as he continued.
"Mana is a form of energy, everything belonging to a universe or a world benefits from it, it doesn't matter which state of the object, solid, gasious or liquid, everything benefits from this source of energy, naturally that will also include food"Rivor said calmly.
"So it's just like chakras and ki as described on earth " Zilon nodded in understanding.
"Okay enough chit chatting let's continue onwards,I hope you take this seriously because they won't be any easier "Rivor's expression become serious.
"Right!" Zilon nodded, his expression also turning serious despite the vibration from his hand.
They walked towards the log and stood a considerably distance.
"This is the accuracy test we call it the "Shifting Planks" in our base, and like I have said we use it to gauge how high a person's accuracy is" Rivor said.
Zilon stared at the log that looked no different than any processed wood on earth.
"..."
"The test is simple....." Rivor bent down.
"You will use stones from the ground to aim at the glowing points on the wood, remember hitting anywhere other than the green glow....marks it invalid and you get no points" Rivor said as he throwed the stone he picked with flick of his finger.
CLANG
Zilon looked around and saw several laying there with some even reflecting the sun light, he didn't waste time and began picking them up one after another.
"i got 10 in total....." he stared at the small stones in his palm, some black and some white which shone dimly, each being 5 in number.
"Hah.... What are the odds?" Zilon thought amused.
Rivor gave him a side glance.
"If your ready I will begin"
He nodded.
"Alright....." Rivor took a step forward.
*Snap*
The clicking sound of the thumb and middle finger reached Zilon's ears and for a split second he felt the air around them spread out like a shockwave.
"Hmm...." Zilon frowned.
"One more thing, those circles don't last long, and the more you hit the shorter the duration of the glow...." Rivor walked away standing in his usual spot position", leaning on the tree.
"i was already expecting that...." Zilon narrowed his eyes and began to calculate the distance between him and the log.
At the same time the log shone with a green circle by the left side of the wood.
"35 feet or so....."
Zilon threw the first stone with easy and was successful on the hit.
He brought another one from his left hand which held the remaining stones and locked on to the next green circle.
Raising his hand....
*CLANK*
Another successful hit.
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
Zilon was about to throw the fifth stone when he suddenly noticed a change.
"Oh....." Rivor raised an eyebrow.
"He noticed that quickly...."
Zilon eyes were focused on the log, the background behind him disappeared and soon the log disappeared, replaced was the only glowing green light.
What felt like a minute to him was actually just some few seconds.
"i see, the wind has changed"
While he was focused on the log he could still feel the winds which blew around him.
Zilon reevaluated his throw, and this time threw to the left side again, in reality the green circle was on the middle point of the log.
*CLANK*
With another sound of wood, the green circle glowed briefly before vanishing and reappearing below the log.
"i guess things won't be all that easy "
he reminded himself.
Placing the stone on his index finger and locking it with his thumb, he threw the 6th stone.
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
*CLINK*
"Hmm?...." Zilon raised his brows as the last one didn't hit the green circle as intended.
"Oh no....."
*CLAP*
"That's enough we move to the next test, Zilon " Rivor suddenly clapped prompting Zilon's attention.
Zilon had a wide eye and a pounding chest, as the fear of failing washed over him like sea water.
"Well....no one is perfect " Zilon took a deep breath trying to re assure himself.
He could only calm down and hope for the best.
"i got 9 out of 10....." Zilon thought.
So what's the worst that could happen, he did his best after all right?.
"i guess I won't know now....not until I am done".
----------
"Heads up, next I will be testing the amount of mana you have "Rivor announced after storing back the Shifting Plank.
He pulled out another object from the bag.
"A jar?" Zilon asked with a questioning gaze.
"Oh but not just any "jar", it's a mana jar and we call it.....well a Mana Jar " Rivor said as he scratched his head.
"Basically you will pour all-"
"All your mana, and a number, with a light that indicates the amount of mana reserves and the quality of your mana"Zilon said .
Suddenly both of there eyes widened.
"How did you?...."Rivor asked.
"I....." Zilon was tongue tied.
"i can't just say I read it in a manga or watched it some anime right?...or maybe I can"
"I read it in a book I came across when I was exploring the town, that day we met " Zilon held his breath as he said that.
"Oh, that makes sense,this training equipments aren't really much of a secret, Still I wasn't expecting you to know considering your condition"Rivor said with a sigh.
"Yeah...." Zilon exhaled, remembering the lie he told him while they ate that day.
"Anyways, hold it and try to focus all the mana in your body to the jar" Rivor handed it to him, which he accepted.
Zilon stared at the jar which was the size of a glass cup, it had a triangler mouth at the front side which made it resemble a very small jar, it felt like glass and was transparent with a sealed top.
Zilon closed his eyes and focused, from his chest to his arm and finally his palm, from his toes to his knee and finally to his chest.
He confirmed the connection of his energy centers and began channeling all the energy to his palm.
It was at that moment the jar began to glow with a sliver light, which slowly, and slowly began to light up.
"This looks good " Rivor said with a hand on his small beard.
The light swallowed the jar and Rivor who was already far was starting to take several more steps, the only thing barely visible was Zilon's hands.
The light grew so bright that even from that distance he was forced to cover his eyes.
Soon he was completely covered with the light and in his place was a sliver ball.
Zilon felt a his body tremble for a brief moment, and the jar on his hands also began to vibrate slowly but rapidly.
He soon felt his body becoming weaker, bit by bit as if salt was pouring out of a satchet.
He tried opening his eyes and was greeted with a blinding light of sliver.
"Uhhhh–....."
Zilon was about to panic as he thought he had gone blind, but was forced to close his eyes as the lightbecause of the burning sensation.
The jar continued trembling, even jerking his hand, almost making Zilon drop the jar.
This continued on for short time and soon a small ripple spread out.
The lights began to dim, but it looked more like it was being sucked from a pressure inside.
Eventually everything became calm, the jar had stopped shaking, the feeling as if hundred stage lights were pointed also vanished along with that.
"You can open your eyes now"
Zilon had his doubts.
"Okay..." Hearing Rivor's words, he finally relaxed his brows and opened his eyes slowly.
His vision was blurry and he had to blink several times, tears flowed down his face, before he got a hold of his vision.
"Incredible"
Rivor's low mumble, made his head to snap down as he stared at the jar on his hand which still had a sliver glow.
"What?..."Zilon blinked at it in confusion.
At the center point of the jar displayed two characters that looked like T and X joined to form one character and the other an R and D.
"This looks good...." Rivor mumbled again.
"Rivor?"
"Okay we are moving to the next test, have some rest and refill your mana, after all, I will be testing your control over it next " Rivor collected the jar from him.
With a wave of his hand a sliver line traced his hands and soon the letters on the jar vanished
"Oh...kay" Zilon, feeling slightly tired made his way towards the tree and sat down.
"Finally, just two more tests, I wonder how the test for stamina will be "
With that he closed his eyes and began to sense the energy in the air , trying to absorb and refill.
The afternoon is approaching, and he doesnt want to drag it for too long.
----------
Zilon panted heavily with his body bowed and his hands on his knees.
"This...*Huff*.....*Huff* Was a test?" Zilon widened his eyes as his legs trembled.
*Clap*
*Clap*
"Well done Zilon, you can take a rest, I will be adding everything, when I am done I will call you out" Rivor smiled.
Zilon stiffly gave a thumbs up and stood straight.
"I thought he was gonna take a day or two, to go through the results"
He didn't know if he should be happy or scared.
"I just hope he doesn't make a crappy assessment ".
With a sign, he walked towards the house taking a shower and changing his sweat cloths with a more comfortable one.
"I'd better get ready to wash my clothes" Zilon said as he stared at the laundry he had piled up.
"Just barely a month in a new world.....I guess I will never change " Zilon smiled as he remembered someone who used to say that to him.
The sun had already gone down, and darkness was slowly spreading around the world.
Zilon was laying down eyes closed with candles at some parts of his room, but soon heard his name through the window.
"I guess it's time..." Zilon stood up, his heart still pounding.
Walking out the door he met Rivor outside still leaning onto the tree, staring at the full moon that came to display.
It was a striking display, his small scarf that flowed with the cold wind, he looked like a troubled warrior who was in the middle of making a tough decision.
Hearing footsteps, Rivor Saw Zilon approaching.
Zilon stopped a few distance, he stared at Rivor to see if he could make out anything that can make him feel more at ease.
Safe to say.....Rivor wasn't giving him any clues.
A few moments pass, the winds blew softly as leaves fell and grass fluttered,Two men stared, one at the sky the other at the person, one anxious and the other concerned.
One hoping,the other calculating.
"Zilon!" Rivor finally spoke up turning his head to face him.
Zilon stood even straighter as he heard his name.
"It's now or never...."
Rivor lips curled upwards.
"Congratulations, you pass"
Zilon's eyes widened.
"Tomorrow we begin your training....."
"I can't believe it....." Zilon thought remembered the training he actually made himself pass through before this day came.
Rivor turned around, and with a wave:
"Great work, even I..... A Commander is impressed with your talent "
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