After that day, things moved quickly. John did what he said and started to train both of them really hard. He trained them on how to fight, and he started giving them advice on how to use their powers more effectively based on his previous experience. And even though that experience didn't apply perfectly to their powers, it still helped a lot—so the training was pretty great so far.
And they weren't just spending all day in the SIED office training facilities. No. They also went out patrolling.
Apparently, there weren't any uniforms for SIED officers at all. Apparently, you can go on patrol in your casual clothes and no one will mind at all. In fact, it made Ren wonder if the outfit Cass was wearing that day was like a superhero costume or something—since superhero costumes are still a thing even though a lot of system heroes don't use one because they believe it's embarrassing. But a lot of them still do wear costumes, and basically all vigilantes still wear one.
Anyways, other than a uniform, the only way to identify SIED officers is with their badge. It was a simple one—a blue four-point star. It is the symbol of Star Island and the symbol of Blue Light… and I think his family? I don't know. Ren didn't bother doing a lot of research on the meaning of the symbol and the history behind it.
Anyways, during patrols, they basically just walked around the city. Nothing really happened other than stopping a couple of harassment situations and a potential purse-snatching. It wasn't anything special or difficult at all. It was kind of boring, which Ren and Kai didn't truly mind… except for John, who appeared to be frustrated.
Both of them already knew why John came here, so him being frustrated that he still hasn't found anything challenging since he came to Earth was really starting to get to him. But at least he didn't show it too much. It would probably be a good idea to hope that their very first mission comes up soon, before John's frustration reaches a boiling point.
Thankfully, training does calm him down a little.
Like usual, they were fighting in the training room. Ren and Kai did a much better job fighting John, but like before, they didn't manage to land a hit on him yet. And they did notice something—it seemed like John favored Kai more, at least a little bit. Even though they both noticed that, they didn't mind it since it was only by a little.
During the past few days that they spent together, Ren and Kai learned what John's powers are. Apparently, he does come from an exceptional species, and that means he has the same power as the other members of his species—which is Charge.
Basically, Karnai are similar to humans in the fact that their physical bodies are similar. They're as weak as ordinary humans, but what makes them dangerous is their power: Charge. Basically, they can imbue—for example—a punch with energy to make it unbelievably devastating. So the ability to charge any attack with power is something the Karnai have had throughout their entire species history.
So when it comes to this ability, it's nearly completely mastered. Meaning unlike Ren and Kai, who have to figure out how to become stronger with their abilities on their own and then train, John only has to train—since his path with this ability is already written.
Also, apparently, this ability of Charge has some limitations.
Obviously, from the name "Charge," it means that they need to charge their attacks to make them more powerful by gathering energy. But depending on how much you trained and improved, you can strengthen your energy, making powerful attacks with little energy. And you could also train to speed up the amount of energy you can gather. So there is a big difference between civilian Karnai and warrior Karnai.
Also the second limitation is: if they want to apply their powers on a weapon—like John did with his sword—they have to make physical contact with it.
What does that mean?
Well, it means they are limited with the weapons they can use. They have to use melee weapons like axes, spears, and swords—stuff like that. Weapons like guns won't work because if they try, they will be charging the gun, not the bullet. So on the Karnai home planet, guns are treated as a useless weapon.
Well… not completely.
Imagine how Earthlings treat swords compared to guns in the modern day—and it's the complete opposite on the Karnai home planet. Well, not completely since space battles need guns, and since they can't survive in space, they still use them out there.
Also, because of the nature of them, their mastery with weapons is much greater than humans. So other than certain parts of the world on Earth, their swordsmanship, martial arts, and their mastery in other weapons are much, much greater than the ones on Earth.
And speaking of mastery, John is mastering two weapons: a sword and a bow. Apparently, a bow can be charged since you can touch the arrow while firing. And since John is mastering the sword, he decided to teach Kai swordsmanship from his home planet, but he didn't teach him the same swordsmanship that he is using because it's apparently a family swordsman style that he is using. So he decided to teach him the most basic swordsmanship style on his home planet, which is apparently much, much better than the basic swordsmanship that Kai can learn on Earth. So Kai's training was going extremely well.
As for Ren, on the other hand, his training wasn't going so well.
Ren dodged John's wooden sword, but then John hit Ren using his elbow, sending him back a little. And then he struck him with his sword, like sweeping him down—and once Ren dropped on his back, John pointed his wooden blade at Ren's neck.
"I think we're done here," John said, and then he got out of Ren's way, allowing him to stand.
"Yeah, I know. Still… this was a good round," Ren said.
"I wasn't talking about the round," John said.
Ren just looked at him in confusion, and John looked back.
"I'm saying you're done practising martial arts."
That made him stunt for a second.
"What?"
And John repeated, "Like I said, I think you are finished practising martial arts from now on."
"What the hell are you talking about? Why the hell would I ever do that?" Ren said angrily.
"It's because what you're doing is completely useless," John replied quickly. "You're practising martial arts and using it with your shades but that isn't good. Yes—whip and shade jab are all good techniques only if your shade manifestation was restricted to your body, which it isn't. If you focused entirely on your control over your shades and fighting from a distance using them, you will be much more powerful than you are now. Heck, if you focused you would have way more shades. After weeks of having your power and training with it you have what—four shades?" John said mockingly.
Ren just gripped his fist hard in anger. "I will do whatever the hell I want with my power, even if the method I use to get stronger isn't approved by you."
Ren got closer to John. The tension was about to explode into a fight.
Thankfully, Kai, who was watching from the side, stepped in.
"Okay, I think this is enough. Let's take a break, okay?"