Life Giver

As Zaya looked upon Casmir, she couldn't find a single thing about him that was satisfactory. She could sense that he was at Grade 1 and hadn't advanced yet, which meant that he was a new cultivator and probably hadn't learnt any Qi techniques yet.

He was also a human which meant he likely had a poor physique.

Instructor Redfire was supposed to match the students together with people of comparable levels of strengths so that they could properly work together to take on a ferocious beast, yet Zaya couldn't find anything note worthy about Casmir.

However Zaya didn't say anything to Instructor Redfire about her doubts, she did so out of respect but also a tinge of fear.

Zaya was very m.a.t.u.r.e even though she was the same age as Casmir and understood that Instructor Redfire had paired them together for a reason, perhaps Casmir was from a rare race or had a naturally powerful ability.

"You two will be paired together, don't slack off Casmir. Zaya is a very experienced and m.a.t.u.r.e cultivator, she can turn you into a capable fighter."

"I hope the pair of you will be able to overcome my test." Redfire said as he gave Zaya a meaningful look before leaving.

Zaya nodded calmly understanding that Instructor Redfire wanted her to take the lead and teach Casmir.

Casmir thanked Instructor Redfire as he left, before he turned his attention to Zaya.

"Nice to meet you Zaya, I'm Casmir." Casmir said politely.

Zara nodded at him calmly still trying to figure out what was so special about Casmir.

"Hello.. so what's so special about you?" Zaya asked getting straight to the point.

Casmir was understandably confused as he replied "What do you mean special?"

At this point Casmir hadn't realised Zaya's cultivation level and didn't notice the gap between their strength's.

Zaya frowned after hearing Casmir's reply, she realised that Casmir truly was clueless.

She sighed before explaining "The Instructor paired us together for a reason, I'm a Grade 1 Advancement 5 cultivator and you're only Grade 1. Why would he pair us together with such a blatant difference in strength? There must be something special about you for him to do so. "

It was true that Casmir hadn't realised the strength difference between them, he was surprised to hear Zaya's cultivation but he understood what was happening as he thought about it.

Instructor Redfire was giving Casmir a strong partner so that he would be more pressured to train, obviously Instructor Redfire was giving him special treatment because of his connection to Master Bluefire.

However this created an awkward situation for Casmir, he couldn't tell Zaya that Instructor Redfire was being biased in favour of him, that would create a poor relationship between the two and hamper any advantage Instructor Redfire hoped to give him.

Fortunately, Casmir did have something he felt that he could rely in order to explain himself.

He was going to rely on his abnormal physical strength he had gained by training the Life Body Cycle in conjunction with the Minor Body Cleanse.

"I understand now, my physical strength is quite high and my physical training speed is quite fast. Also, I was planning on breaking through to Grade 1 advancement 1 later today, as long as i can get my hands on a Qi catalyst." Casmir explained.

Hearing this, Zaya grew curious towards Casmir, his breakthrough didn't matter that much as it would only increase his strength by a small amount but his physical strength could definitely help them.

"Come, lets go to the practice hall to test your strength." Zaya declared not letting Casmir have a choice in the matter.

Instructor Redfire had already explained that the students were free to practice how they thought best, until the end of the school day in which they needed to report back to the training fields.

As the pair walked over to the practice hall, Zaya explained to him how she could sense his cultivation after finding out Casmir was unaware of the fact.

There were very few skills one could learn at Grade 1, however there were a few tricks one could learn at this stage, such as sensing Qi levels.

It was a simply trick that involved opening up your body like you would when Qi drawing, this was often called Qi Sensing or a cultivator's sense. After following Zaya's detailed instructions Casmir managed to understand this trick before the pair had even reached the practice hall.

When Casmir used Qi Sensing, he realised he could see strange objects around him that spread out like pulses originated from all the cultivators around him. Each pulse had a different strength but they felt like a cultivator's heartbeat, Casmir couldn't help but marvel at this new found sense.

It wasn't until Casmir and Zaya passed by an old teacher, that he stopped out of shock.

All of the cultivator's around him released a weak pulse every few seconds but as Casmir passed the instructor, at first he thought him to be a normal person as he didn't release any pulses, until suddenly the instructor released a deep and powerful pulse that dazed Casmir Qi senses.

Zaya couldn't help but laugh at Casmir as she watched him be overpowered by the Instructors cultivation.

She explained that cultivators release these pulses unconsciously and unless concealed, their cultivation, strength and many other characteristics can be understood through the details of these pulses. Most cultivators would use these invisible pulses to gauge each other's strengths or understand one another's cultivation.

These pulse's were called Qi Waves and they were not unique to cultivators. All living creatures that could use Qi energy had them and even certain types objects created using Qi energy could produce them.

"Your Qi senses are still very weak, at the moment a strong cultivator can disrupt your senses. As long as you practice them regularly, they will get stronger and when you reach Grade 2 you can start to reinforce your Qi sense's with various Qi technique's." Zaya explained.

Soon enough the pair reached the practice hall, Zaya immediately brought Casmir over to a practice dummy as she asked him to attack it with his full strength.

Zaya was quite surprised as she watched Casmir punch and kick the practise dummy. She could tell by the speed of his attacks and the damage inflicted on the dummy that his strength seemed to be even better than her own, which she had been training since she was young.

After watching him attack the dummy for a short time, a contemplative expression appeared on Zaya's face.

Casmir was strong but his body was stiff and he clearly wasn't experienced with combat, if they wanted to fight off a ferocious beast in the test later this week, their best tactic would be for Casmir to distract and withstand the beast's attacks while she used her superior speed to attack the beast.

"Ok, you can stop now Casmir. Your strength is pretty good, I've got a plan for how we can take on the ferocious beast. For now I think it would be best if we use an arena for some actual combat, so that I can point out your flaws and you can actively improve them." Zaya explained.

Casmir didn't argue with Zaya, from his recent experience with Master Bluefire Casmir thought it best that he didn't create conflict with a stronger cultivator, especially a female one.

The pair made their way over to a small arena, there were many such arena's that students could use for practicing and hung on a wall nearby to the arena was a set of wooden practice weapons.

Zaya made her way over and picked up a Shortsword, which was her preferred weapon, then turned to Casmir asking him what weapon he would prefer.

"A weapon? I've never practised with a weapon before... I guess a sword." Casmir decided.

However before he could take the sword Zaya stopped him.

"Wait. If you've never used a sword before, you won't be able to learn how to use one properly in a week... I think your best bet would be a spear and shield. Your strength is well suited towards them and they will be relatively simple to pick up." She explained.

Casmir couldn't help but question her advice and opted to pick up a long sword under Zaya's disapproving gaze.

However as she watched Casmir smile happily as he recklessly practiced with the long sword, a cruel smile appeared on her face as she decided to teach him a lesson.

"Ok then, lets first practice your blocking. I'm going to swing at you and you're going to block me, that should be easy for you seeing as I only have a short sword." Zaya explained as she grinned maliciously.

Casmir simply smiled and nodded back unaware of what was to come.

Soon enough, repeated cries of pain rang out from the arena as Zaya ruthlessly 'taught' Casmir.

Every time Casmir attempting to block her strikes, he failed. Resulting in Zaya striking him, at first he asked her not to actually hit him but all she did was explain that his enemies wouldn't care about his pain and continued to torment him.

After 20 minutes Casmir arms were numb from repeatedly being hit and he finally gave up on the sword.

In all this time he hadn't once blocked one of Zaya's moves, not for lack of trying but because she was too fast and Casmir was indeed too inexperienced with a sword.

Casmir reluctantly walked over to the weapons wall and retrieved a long spear and a large shield.

Zaya laughed mischievously as she saw Casmir's put out expression, she almost found it cute.

"Ok, let's start the real training. I will..." Zaya went on to explain a much more thought out and complex training regime than simply 'block my sword'.

Casmir was quite impressed by how much thought she had put into it and as he started practicing with Zaya he felt much more satisfied.

Within 10 minutes Casmir was running around the arena under Zaya's instruction occasionally he would thrust his spear at Zaya only for her to dodge and sometimes Zaya would attack him with her sword.

Only this time Casmir managed to block her strikes with his shield, you couldn't imagine how satisfied and relieved Casmir felt being able to finally block her attacks, every time he did so a small smile appeared on his face.

However as Zaya noticed Casmir's smile and saw that he was fairly capable when it came to using these weapons, she decided to pick up the pace.

Zaya, who had always been standing at the centre of the arena as an immobile target as she instructed Casmir, suddenly started to move. She was much faster than Casmir so she quickly circled around Casmir's back and with a swipe of her sword she swept Casmir's legs into the air."

Casmir's body promptly made a satisfying thumping sound on the hard ground as he g.r.o.a.n.e.d in pain.

"Come on Casmir. Are you a man? So far all you've done is get beaten up by me." Zaya said aggressively trying to rouse Casmir's temper in order to make him to fight better.

As Casmir looked up at Zaya, he saw her mocking expression and finally couldn't take it any longer.

He quickly got up and started chasing Zaya around the arena. Zaya would occasionally attack back at this point she was the one on the run, Casmir even managed to force her to block some of his spear strikes with her sword instead of simply dodging them as she did before.

Casmir had truly gotten into the rhythm of fighting now that Zaya had succeeded in coaxing Casmir's fighting spirit out of him.

The pair practiced for hours until they finally couldn't last any longing causing Zaya to be shocked by Casmir's endurance, she couldn't help but try to think of more cruel ways to train Casmir.