Life Giver

It was late in the morning, Elena was standing in front of Casmir's bedroom door, she was nervously thinking about what to say to Casmir.

'How am I suppose to ask him out.... he thinks I rejected him.... Maybe I should just leave a note....' she thought as she tried to come up with an excuse to avoid this situation.

After their conversation yesterday, Elena was unsure of what to do, she asked Gloria for some help but Gloria didn't want to get involved. Elena was aware of Gloria's complicated feelings towards Casmir, Elena's place in Casmir past also effected her as she had no idea what Casmir would think.

This is what ultimately led to her confusing and complicated reaction to Casmir's confession.

Just as she was about to knock on the door, Casmir suddenly appeared behind her gently looking at her figure.

Elena was wearing a pure white dress once again, her long black her contrasted beautifully with it.

Casmir felt calm an at ease after letting out his emotions with Gloria, when he saw Elena all he felt was warmth, all of his previous anxiety towards her was gone but he still felt nervous about her feelings.

"Elena?" Casmir called out.

"AH! What... Casmir...!" Elena was shocked out of her thoughts.

"What are you doing there... why aren't you in..." Elena frantically said, clearly not expected Casmir to suddenly appear.

Casmir walked over to Elena while apologising.

"Elena I'm so sorry about yesterday when I just rushed off... I... could you give me answer now?" Casmir said with some reluctance.

Elena looked at Casmir as he shyly looked down at the floor, she smiled, Elena adored his cute actions.

Elena calmed herself down before speaking.

"Casmir come to that little pond I like at sunset please... I want to tell you something but... Well just please come." Elena said clearly hiding something.

Casmir immediately agreed but he was confused as to what she wanted to do. The little pond Elena had mentioned was a secluded area of the nearby park, Elena, Gloria and himself would often go there on nice days so that Gloria could teach them, it was much more pleasant to be taught there.

"Yes, yes of course... " Casmir said.

The atmosphere gradually died down between the two but neither of them wanted to leave first. They awkwardly stood in front of each other until Elena finally couldn't take it anymore, saying her goodbye's, she quickly ran off.

'..so awkward... I should listen to what Rose told be... be more confident...' Casmir thought.

Casmir entered his room and sat down before he started to think about the Life Giver Orb again, he had so much to learn about it he didn't know where to start.

As Casmir felt his mind stretch once more, he entered the Life Giver Orb's space.

He was interested in the Life Body Cycle crystal, he observed it and tried to think about learning or using the skill.

As there was no description of how to use the skill, he believed it would work just like when he gained information from the crystals, by focusing and thinking about them.

Casmir couldn't figure out how to activate the skill, after a minute he left the space in order to think about it further.

As Casmir regained control of himself, he felt hot and sweaty, energetic and even a slight pain across his body. He felt full of energy and Casmir wanted to just start running, it was like he was full adrenaline.

Casmir felt his muscle's and organs shifting and contracting, it was a strange feeling, but soon enough his body felt full of energy and the Life Body Cycle crystal sent him a constant stream of information.

'Run, fight, live, die.

Run, fight, live, die.'

His mind became infected with the idea, he jumped up out of his bed and as if his life depended on it he started running around his room.

As he moved, he leg muscle's started to itch, his heart began rapidly pumping blood around his body and even his leg bones felt stifled, as if they needed to be corrected or stretched to relieve some pressure.

As he moved he found that the parts of his body that were not being used, began to feel painful and irratated.

He punched his arm out into arm, the muscle's on his arms felt relieved and started to itch just like his legs.

'Ah.. I need to use everything... keep moving, don't stop...' Casmir thought as he realised he could stop the pain by 'releasing' the energy in his body.

Casmir started jumping up and running around his small room, he wanted to punch out and kick things, after a few minutes he accidentally kicked his bed and caused a large dent to appear in the solid wood foot board.

"Damn it! Ouch!" Casmir cried.

His foot hurt from the impact but only for a moment, his body felt like it was numbing his pain and after a few seconds it was gone.

At this point Casmir knew he needed to stop before he broke something in his room, however when he simply stopped moving he started to feel pain again.

He quickly realised that he needed to 'tell' the crystal in his mind to stop and just as he thought so, the pain began to dull.

Casmir laid down on his bed breathing heavily, he felt both tired and full of energy.

'What is this skill... It just fills me with energy... but it feels like there's more to it... I'll use the dojo... I want to feel that again...' Casmir thought as he recalled the feeling he had just now.

While the Life Body Cycle was active it flooded his body with energy and his mind with a simple repeating message, 'Run, Fight, Live, Die'.

All Casmir wanted to do was move, release the energy in his body. This process might sound painful but it was actually incredibly pleasant, every time he moved he felt as if he had removed a weight off of his shoulder's.

It was an addictive feeling.

As Casmir laid down, he realised that his muscle's and bones felt strange, they seemed to keep twitching and squirming. It was an odd sensation but Casmir knew it had something to do with the Life Body Cycle, he guessed that it was changing he body, strengthening it and allowing it to be able to absorb more Qi energy.

This was after all the only thing he knew about the Cycle, it's purpose was to strengthen and increase the amount of Qi energy one could absorb.

Suddenly Casmir's stomach started rumbling, it was only at this point that he realised he hadn't had any breakfast, it was nearly 12 o'clock noon at this point.

Casmir quickly grabbed a change of clothes but didn't put them on, he had decided to use the Life Body Cycle more in the small training hall his family had in there Garden.

Casmir wanted to quickly grab something to eat from the large kitchen in the mansion, at the moment it was empty so he grabbed a small loaf of bread and some slices of meat to quickly eat, before he ran off to the back garden.

The Sing Mansion was quite large and had a large garden of a few hundred square meters, in one of the corners of the garden was a large wooden one story building, this was the families training hall. Right next to the hall happened to be a Natural stream that ran through the Sing family grounds into the nearby park.

The Garden was quite picturesque and was mostly covered in various plants, there were a few area's that were clearly for growing specific plants or some home grown crops, but the garden was mostly left as it was.

The training hall was used fairly often however mostly in the early morning or evening because most of the family focused on intellectual subjects and the few that did exercise or learn fighting abilities, had day jobs.

At the moment the hall was empty, Casmir was hoping it would be.

When Casmir arrived at the hall he threw his fresh clothes to the side while stuffing his face with food, he couldn't wait to experience the Life Body Cycle again, it was invigorating.

After a few minutes he finished his food and drunk some water from the nearby stream before preparing himself, he decided to get out a Solid wood practice dummy so he had something so beat up.

"*breaths deeply* Ok. Lets start.... Life Body Cycle..?" Casmir said on whim.

Surprisingly, the Life Body Cycle activated as he spoke.

'Run, fight, live, die.' The crystal seemed to whisper at him as the Life Boy Cycle caused energy to flow through his body.

Casmir's body started screaming out, wanting to exert itself, his heart started pumping and his muscle's flexed and stretched.

His left arm swung towards the practise dummy.

BANG!

The dummy slightly shook but Casmir's strength could do little to move or damage this well made practise dummy.

THWAK!

Casmir's right leg swung round at the dummy but again it could do nothing to the dummy.

Casmir realised his body was still screaming at him, simply hitting this dummy slowly wouldn't cut it.

He started to remember whatever he could about exercising and fighting from his school work and friends.

'Run...' he thought.

He started running about the large hall ignoring the dummy.

'Jump..' he thought.

He started jumping about.

'Push up's... Sit ups.... Kick the dummy... Run... '

Casmir started to run about doing all sort's of exercises and movements in order to vent the energy in every part of his body. When he ran, his arm's felt sore, when he did push ups, his c.h.e.s.t felt tight.

Every time he released all the energy in one part of his body another part would scream at him to be used, eventually he formed a cycle of running, attacking the dummy with his arms and legs and then doing some more traditional exercises like sit ups and pull ups.

However even this left some parts of his body sore, clearly he wasn't exerting every part of his body. Casmir would end up looking like a fish out of water as he squirmed and contorted his body to relieve the pain.

If a Qi warrior could see Casmir's movements they would approve of his routine, while muddled, basic and even strange, it would provide a solid bases for him in the future.

Most people exercised different part's of their body too much and others not enough, but with the pain as a guide, Casmir was able to exercise every part of his body.

However, Casmir still wasn't satisfied with how long it was taking to unleash the energy in every part of his body.

He tried new position's and moves but before he could think of anything good enough he realised that the energy was fading.

BANG

"Ugh.... *Heavy breathing*.... ahh..." Casmir g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

He collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily and sweating all over, the Life Body Cycle had stopped on it's own apparently from Casmir's lack of energy.

It was at this point that Casmir realised that this energy didn't come from the Life Giver Orb or even the Life Body cycle crystal, it came from his own body, likely from the food he had eaten and the energy stored in his body.

If Casmir wanted to use the skill, he would need to eat a fair amount before every session or he would end up like he is now, helplessly out of energy barely able to move.

While Casmir was laying on the floor catching his breath, he looked at the clock hanging on a nearby wall, he realised that he had only been practising for half an hour.

'That felt like forever... It was painful... but felt so comfortable.... I can't tell what has changed but I know that this is at least good for my body...' Casmir thought positively.

Casmir didn't know the exact effects of the Life Body cycle but he definitely believed it was positive and more importantly, it was very enjoyable.

As Casmir thought about the Life Body Cycle his mind was flooded with information.

'Life Body Cycle

Completion – 0.1%'

Casmir laughed at himself, he was just thinking that he might have made some progress with the skill but in the end all his work was for but 0.1%.

'I will have to repeat this at least a thousand time's if I want to complete it...' he painfully realised.

Eventually Casmir got up and splashed himself with water from the spring before getting changed.

'I need some rest...' he thought.

Eventually Casmir got up, he hobbled slowly towards his house clearly barely able to move, he soon found himself in his bedroom where he fell onto his bed and fell asleep...