"First, we will start at the very beginning. You will have to master the five basic fundamentals of controlling your power, which are Breathing, Posture, Balance, Reaction, and Traversal." The Elder stated while folding his arms with a serious expression.
"Sit down first in a meditative position and then follow my instructions to the letter." The Elder instructed, to which Dante immediately obeyed without question.
This surprised the fellow, as most of the students who came here were headstrong and wanted to know the reason for every little instruction he gave as if they were professionals in this field beyond his capability.
Of course, Dante was compliant not because he necessarily had to be, but because he was aware of his own faults and desperately needed to fix them. Also coming from Earth, he had watched many Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style stuff and had always hated those protagonists who questioned and doubted their mentor's seemingly banal training regime.
You want to defeat the Evil Emperor who slaughtered your village as a farmboy who had never wielded a weapon before, and you were getting impatient because your master made you do basic training rather than teach you world-ending moves?
Besides, it was a fact that if you completely mastered the basics, you could probably create your own world-ending moves anyway. The true difficulty was not getting someone to teach you the world-ending moves, but to teach the fundamental components which led to the creation of the said world-ending move.
Dante listened to the elder describe a breathing routine. He did his best to mimic it and was able to grasp it after a few tries. In truth, this was not the hard part, and even the most untrained person could achieve this if they tried hard enough.
The difficult part came over the course of the next few hours. Dante started by memorizing the breathing pattern and doing it at all times for 30 minutes straight while seated in a meditative position.
He then had to rise up and do the same while standing for another 30 minutes. Next was to take a step every second while doing the breathing pattern for 30 minutes. After that was to take two steps while doing the breathing pattern and so on.
At three steps a second, he was practically walking, and the difficulty had increased by an exponential amount. The focus needed to maintain the breathing was tough. As he was exerting himself, his body was telling him to breathe as much as possible rather than to inhale in this foolish rhythm so that it could acquire oxygen for his cells.
It was extremely tough to override this instinct and replace it with the one that was being taught to him. Even without the Elder explaining, Dante understood that the goal of this was to be able to utilize the breathing pattern in all situations, while fighting, sleeping, talking, eating, etc.
However, this was not something he could achieve in just a few hours. Dante knew as much and the Elder definitely knew as much. However, despite Dante's progress being slightly below average, the Elder was thoroughly satisfied by Dante's seriousness.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm When it came to physical, mental, and spiritual training, what mattered less was talent, and more was hard work as well as discipline.
Dante stopped after 7 hours and 30 minutes due to the fact that it was time for his first class session to begin. He thanked the elder and turned to leave. Even as Dante disappeared from the virtual dojo, the Elder never asked him why he had to go nor told him to come back.
Dante opened his eyes and got up from his couch while stretching his body. More than 6 hours had passed so he was definitely hungry, opting to have a quick meal before going upstairs to take a short shower.
By the time he left his residence, he saw that Humphrey and Slessor were coming out of theirs. This was Dante's second time seeing Humphrey but he was surprised to see Slessor in the next residence over.
He looked around and saw the other 28 or so Unique Batch Students coming out of the nearby residences, each glancing at the other with surprise. Clearly apart from Humphrey and himself who had seen each other, these fellows likely did not know they were all placed in one area.
Dante and Humphrey were also surprised. They couldn't help but share an uncertain glance and then look away. Dante maintained a slight smile of superiority while Humphrey wore a cold and unfriendly look toward everyone else.
Slessor glanced at the two males with a hint of competitive intention in her eyes, but the two ignored her and entered their teleporters. She rolled her eyes and entered hers, prompting the others to snap out of their surprise and utilize theirs as well.
Thanks to their upcoming class, Dante and the rest had access to the destination they sought, the Black Land.
When they appeared, they noticed they were discharged from a bunch of teleporters within a sealed chamber. There were white walls on all sides with blue and green lines running through them, as well as a large door before them.
From another set of teleporters came around 5 mature adults who were all pure humans. They wore arrogant smiles full of confidence and egotism, making anyone who looked at them naturally feel a hint of dislike.
However, the students here became solemn because they knew that these were their teachers!
After being 'taught a lesson' during orientation, their feelings towards these higher powers were conflicted. On one hand, there was anger and hatred while on the other, there was respect for the strong and eagerness to exploit them for their knowledge.
Of the five teachers, there was a muscular lion man with golden-white hair and sharp red eyes. He looked awesome and majestic, especially when added to his battle armor which was the same color as his hair.
He looked like one swipe of his claw could cleave a battleship in half, and Dante was sure that was not too far off the mark.
Another one who had glowing green hair that floated around her body while she herself levitated a few feet off the ground. She did not wear shoes and her attire was a green sundress that fluttered around her ankles.
She had sparkling amber eyes and purple hair tied into two donut-shaped knots on either side of her head. Her size was also diminutive, reaching Dante's waist at best.
The third person was an amalgamation of water that seemed to have some humanoid features. Dante was not exactly sure if they were masculine or feminine, and the person's form seemed to alternate between both.
Though, they had golden bands on the arms, legs, and neck which glowed with a blue light, and Dante assumed that this was what helped them maintain their humanoid shape?
The fourth person was a widely grinning young man who wore a crimson robe and had shark-like teeth. His eyes were scarlet and his hair was literal flames. There was a permanent ring of fire around his legs that radiated heat.
Finally, there was the beautiful and svelte Xue Bing who had a purple veil of energy around her that warped the fabric of space itself. Her smile was the most friendly of the lot, but it also conveyed a lack of interest.
Basically, she was smiling at you to encourage you to get lost, not to get closer.
"Hello students of this year's Unique Batch. My name is Xue Bing, and I am what you could describe as your class teacher. I will handle most of the general details of your first-year study, so make sure to get to know my face and name." She greeted everyone with a bored voice.
"Right, this gentleman with the golden mane is Leonidas. He is the teacher in charge of all non-elemental Beast-related superpowers like Beast Taming, Animalshifting, and Beast Summoning. If you are in possession of such a superpower, please move to his side."
8 Students moved towards Leonidas and he snorted at them coldly. After all, none of them were about the 15th Rank.
"This lovely madam is Slyphia. She is the teacher in charge of all wind, air, and gaseous-related superpowers like Aerogenesis, Aerokinesis, and more. If you are in possession of such a superpower, please move to her side."
7 Students moved to her side, of which Humphrey was a part of. Slyphia gave Humphrey a winsome smile and a pat on his shoulder but ignored the rest, making their expressions fall.
"There is also Undina, who is in charge of water, aquatic, and marine-related superpowers. If you are in possession of any of such powers, please move to her side."
4 students moved to her side, including Louisa. Undina did not have any visible expression, but she made no movements to acknowledge the students around her. It was as if she would rather just get this over with.
"And finally, there is Mr. Infernus here who is in charge of all fire, heat, and light-related superpowers. If you are in possession of any of those, please move his way."
7 students moved to his side, of which the fourth, fifth, and sixth-ranked students were a part of. The man called Infernus nodded with satisfaction and he covered all his students in his ring of fire.
And this left the final two, Dante and Slessor who were the only ones with space-related superpowers. They already knew who their teacher was, so they walked over to her quietly.
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