The Evernon Saga - The Journey Of Ascension, A Struggle For Godhood.

On a small, secluded island off the coast of Nashya, two youths could be seen sprinting relentlessly along the shoreline.

Sweat was pouring down their faces and dripping from their bodies with the constant, strenuous exertion. They were panting and gasping for air, as an old man was commanding them from the top of his lungs.

"Come on lads, don't slow down! In fact, go faster! You can't be Warriors with that kind of stamina!" bellowed Joseph, smirking as he saw the exhausted William and Magnar visibly suffering.

Joseph himself had to suffer through this exact torture whilst in his youth, many decades ago.

William and Magnar were sprinting along the perimeter of the island at full speed and had been doing so for half an hour now. Frankly, they felt that dying would be a better way to spend their time than to continue this specific training. Regardless, they grit their teeth and continued. They regularly did evening sparring under Joseph's guidance and supervision, discovering flaws in their self-developed fighting styles, and attempting to correct or improve upon them.

After the shocking and slightly scarring events of that day, Joseph and the boys got into the boat as night fell. Surprisingly, Joseph offered to row the boat on the way back.

William and Magnar were all smiles and gleefully awaited to lay their eyes upon a tired Joseph, but what they witnessed silenced them completely.

Joseph put one of the two pairs of oars onto the rowboat, and left one pair on. With William and Magnar on the boat, Joseph began to row.

Joseph rowed with a very low frequency, but every row was powerful enough to create massive splashes, and to send them shooting over a hundred meters forward. They glided at high speeds across the water's surface, skidding over small waves like a skipping stone, and directly breaking larger ones by sheer force.

Their puny rowboat had become an unstoppable force, ploughing through the waves like a hot knife through butter!

On the other hand, William and Magnar's faces had plain, somewhat disappointed expressions as they saw Joseph doing this effortlessly. With his spaced-out countenance, one could see that his mind even seemed to be wandering elsewhere, paying no attention whatsoever to his domineering rowing.

The boys felt miserable.

It seemed like they would never get to see Joseph sweating and suffering like they had when they were forced to row toward the training island earlier that morning.

***

In just under five minutes, they had returned to Birkstead's docks. By then, William and Magnar's eyes were wide open, with their gazes vacant. The difference between him and them was too much, so much that they just sat there shell-shocked. Joseph dismissed them after giving them each a wrapped parcel. He said that it contained food for them to cook for themselves the next morning. After thanking him, they headed to their homes.

Both of them fell into their beds, completely exhausted. Their bodies ached dully, as they fell into deep sleep within mere moments of their heads hitting the pillows.

***

The two young, aspiring Warriors were trained on the island intensively every single day of the week, except for the seventh day, where things took a change in their individual training. They were allowed to sleep longer every morning, thus giving them ample time to recover. They were even forced, courtesy of Joseph, to learn how to cook for themselves.

Furthermore, a parcel of various types of meat, similar to the one Joseph gave them on the first night, would be given to them every other night from then on.

However, there was something strange about the meats. They stayed juicy and never burned even if they were left for a long time in a pan, or even above n.a.k.e.d flames. That happened once when William was flirting with a girl from the kitchen window, and forgot about the meat altogether, only to return to a nicely charred exterior, but not truly burnt at all.

Additionally, the meats themselves were not tender. They did not possess an unpleasant chewiness like tendons, where one would have to chew for a significant amount of time to truly soften it enough to swallow.

The only way to describe the meats would be that they were tough!

They tasted excellent, absolutely bursting with flavor! They were juicy as well, but were generally tougher to bite through in comparison to the meat they usually ate. Even the fish meats wrapped in the parcels weren't easy, only slightly less difficult than the red meats within. To add on to their absurdity, they felt almost instantly refreshed and filled with energy after eating them!

They had attempted to probe Joseph for answers on multiple occasions, but he stayed tight-lipped on the origins of the meat.

Their training went on as such, training, eating and sleeping in a repeating cycle. Their weekly training regimen consisted of a grueling regimen that functioned in three-day cycles. The first day was primarily focused on training their bodies, the second day was focused on teaching them stances and fighting techniques, with the third day being focused on uncountable bouts of sparring between William and Magnar.

The training that Magnar and William underwent was mostly the same, with the exception of their individual priorities, which were given by Joseph.

Magnar was instructed to train less on his forte of raw physical strength, and was instead made to train his muscles to perform movements in a specialized manner. Joseph introduced the concept of explosive strength and speed, and gave Magnar many tasks to train him in those aspects.

William already had some experience in performing explosively, as he had figured it out himself one fine day in the past while training with their usual gang. His assigned goal was instead to build up his raw strength, whilst still maintaining his ability to perform explosively.

William and Magnar had to endure two main exercises that made up the bulk of their training, the first of which being 'Rock Tossing'.

Magnar had to find a rock that was around 50% of the maximum weight that he could possibly lift, and then attempt to throw it as hard and high as he could straight up into the air above and behind him.

William had to do the same, but with a heavier rock, relative to his level of strength. Afterwards, there would also be additional work that was put in towards increasing what William could actually lift with all his effort. In essence, strength training.

When performing Rock Tossing, they were allowed no excess movement or windup time, as soon as Joseph gave the order, they would go from standing straight, to crouching down and standing up whilst ripping it off the ground with all their might. This was an activity which William and Magnar found both enjoyable and dreadful at the same time.

Their second major exercise was to hit a large boulder of human height with a sturdy stick that had been reinforced by Joseph's Mana. This was to ensure that the stick did not shatter. Magnar was instructed to swing at a fairly low frequency, but with as much speed and strength as he could generate within that swing.

Magnar utilized two-handed swings with a small tree branch as he felt it suited him the most. William, on the other hand, was instructed by Joseph to master dual-wielding shorter sticks and a single one-handed stick as he was a fighter that had a natural affinity towards being agile.

For Magnar, this exercise was meant to maximize the efficiency of every single one of his swings, as well as to further improve his utilization of his own strength. Magnar had abundant raw power for his age, but he was never truly taught how to use it, and therefore it took him some time to build up his strength for any given strenuous exertion.

For William, it was to teach him how to use his speed in a less rigid manner. He possessed great ability when it came to speed and dodging, and he also had the initiative and guts to counterattack at opportune times.

However, he constantly followed a pattern of moving quickly and then stopping, in a repeating cycle. Joseph found it too monotonous and rigid, and therefore decided to give hints to William.

Eventually, William grasped how to fluidly connect his dodges with attacks, or to shift from one method of attacking to another within the same movement.

As the two saw their improvement in various aspects over time, they were overjoyed. But this second activity came with a catch.

Regrettably, continuously swinging an indestructible stick against a boulder with maximum effort and a fair amount of ferocity took a toll on their arms. This was due to the force that was forcefully sent into their hands, joints and very bones.

This pain was something that they had to endure with focused, unbroken gazes.

Regardless if their muscles screamed and their bones ached, keep hitting the rock!

Strike your opponent!

Make them fall!

For if they don't fall, you will!

With messy hair, ragged expressions of rage, and bloodshot eyes combined with death glares, William and Magnar were really getting into the concept of how one should face an enemy.

Even if sweat and the dirt that accompanied it happened to streak down their face into their eyes...their gazes never broke.

Not even once.

Unbeknownst to them, this tempered the bones of their upper body ever more within the remaining 3 months of their rigorous training before the selection tests were held by the herald.

The third and last exercise was mainly done by William on every seventh day of the week, and its goal was to develop his ability to access his latent Mana, and to hone his control over it.

On this day, Magnar would have the option of taking the day off and casually working with the crew on the fishing boat, or to have a training day composed by himself.

He was actually offered to join in on trying to sense if he had Mana as well, but declined politely. His reason was,

"I might be alright at fighting, but when it comes to the mind or things that need smarts, I'm pretty dumb."

This drew a worried frown from William, with a small pang of pain in his c.h.e.s.t due to this brother of his devaluing himself as such.

Joseph's only reaction was to shrug.

***

2 weeks later on a 7th day of the week, with two and a half months remaining till the Royal Army selection tests...

A young man could be seen sitting on a somewhat flat boulder, that was ovular in shape and strangely resembled a meat patty. The boulder was placed at the shoreline, with the waves brushing against said boulder every time the tide came in. It was a quiet, tranquil and scenic location for the young man to meditate in.

His eyes were closed, and his blonde, messy hair had already reached his shoulders. His hair waved around in the air despite the lack of a strong enough breeze. A faint, but clearly visible golden light emanated from his skin, evaporating any stray drop that wandered too close to him from the ocean's spray.

The waves of the Aura surrounding him were serene and finely controlled, showing no signs of instability or nervousness.

An elderly man was sitting on a rock not too far away from him, observing him keenly, stroking his beard with disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. He muttered silently to himself,

"This rascal, he has managed to gain control of his Personal Mana in a mere two weeks. Even at Tier 1, that would be far superior to the finest young lords of the Royal Capital, but at Tier 0..."

Joseph massaged his temples, grimacing.

"This brat is even making me feel bad about my past achievements...his talent is something I never thought existed."

He looked over his right shoulder, at Magnar, who was currently standing in front of a rock that weighed around 100kg. He stared intently at it for a few seconds, before drawing a deep breath.

Holding that breath, he reached down, grabbed, and threw the rock backwards overhead while standing up. It soared to a height of 6 meters before plummeting down and causing a dull 'thump' as it landed in the sand. Magnar seemed very satisfied, considering he was struggling with 80kg just two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, he knew that this was his limit. He had exhausted the potential of what his current strength stats made him capable of. He would need to Level Up to increase his maximum capability to lift.

Turning to gaze upon William, Magnar grunted and closed his eyes. There had been many occasions where he tried to sense the ambient Mana, only for it to evade his mental grasp. It was like trying to see something that was deep within filthy water.

It could be said that Magnar couldn't sense any Mana within him, but he was barely able to perceive the Mana around him. However, he was unable to interact with it.

Little did he know, that if Joseph had known that as well, he would have probably began to cough up blood. Magnar's halo might be dim when comparing him to William, but when put in comparison to everyone else when they were their age...

There was no room for any.

***

Two months later, with 2 weeks left till the Royal Army selection tests...

"Alright lad, keep at it! Don't let up!", ordered Joseph as he stood behind the second largest boulder that he had brought, supporting it with one hand. The biggest boulder had been sliced in half by him on the first day of training, and thus they settled for second. It was still well above 2 meters in height, and around 3 meters in diameter.

William was on the other side of the rock, with his Aura active. His Aura was thicker and more refined now, if one were to compare it to 2 months ago, it would be like comparing a thin, pale and flavorless soup to a thick, richly colored and delicious stew.

This Aura now was bright golden, and gave William an almost sacred appearance. Golden flames writhed, as a formidable heat assaulted his surroundings.

Any sweat on his body evaporated instantly upon secretion!

William was currently trying to see if he could melt the boulder by striking it while enveloped in his Personal Mana. So far, he could only conjure his Aura in full force for around 10 minutes before needing to stop, lest he risks slowly descending into Animus Zero, and that was only while standing still.

Joseph explained that the typical signs of the beginning of Mana deficiency in one's body were: headaches, slower thought processes, dulled awareness and senses, inactive imagination, and the list goes on, with side-effects varying from person to person.

In actual combat, 4 minutes was his absolute limit, whilst still having enough Mana to function normally after disabling his Aura.

He even needed Joseph to inject Mana to resuscitate him multiple times over the last 2 months, due to his lack of fine Mana control.

William took a deep breath, and unleashed a fluid, multi-hit, Mana-infused combo onto the boulder.

Left jab.

Straight right punch.

Right elbow jab.

Left elbow jab.

Right palm strike.

Pushed off the rock with the palm strike.

Jumping left knee, takes a step back afterwards.

Half a second of focus.

A final high right roundhouse kick with even more concentrated Mana than all the hits before combined.

William had been practicing this combo for weeks now, he dubbed it:

Golden Rush.

BOOM!

Right after the last hit, William's Aura faded, and he staggered, leaning with a hand against the boulder. He felt its lukewarm surface, and smiled with melancholy.

"Looks like I still have a ways to go, eh Captain?", sighed William

"Aye, but your progress is truly not bad. However, it is nowhere near what I was capable of in my youth.", claimed Joseph shamelessly while stroking his beard with a forced grin on his face.

"Since Magnar cannot control Mana yet, I need not mention this. As for you, William, you must NOT, under any circ.u.mstances, unleash your Aura. Keep it hidden inside you, so you don't attract any unwanted attention. Rely on only your physical abilities, but remember to hold back. All in all, I think the both of you will do just fine."

"Yes and thank you, Captain!" shouted William and Magnar.

After which, Joseph reached into his pocket and pulled out a watermelon-sized package full of wrapped meats. He handed it to William and Magnar.

Looking at the sun setting on the horizon, Joseph pat some sand off of his pants, and sat on a rock to stuff his pipe.

"You two take the boat and head home first, I have some preparations to take care of here for our last week of training. I refuse to train you two during the last week before the tests, as you should spend those days with your families."

Looking somewhat dejected for the first time since the boys had seen him, he continued,

"Aye, I neglected my family while I was growing up. As soon as I found people who showed me what true power was and were willing to train me towards reaching it, I left home without even saying goodbye. Such were the rash, reckless years of a hot-blooded young man."

Having finished stuffing his pipe at this point, Joseph set it down on the rock he was sitting on.

"One day, my parents died and I knew nothing of it. I was still merrily out at sea with my brothers-in-arms, and many women. I came home many years after their death, only to find the rotting wood of a run-down home. I found out what had happened from an old neighbor who was still alive. For the first time in my life, I truly regretted my actions."

"All that I am now, had to have a childhood that came before it. I abandoned that childhood, and therefore a part of myself as well, that I will never get back, so long as I live. So please, young William and Magnar,"

Joseph turned to look at them, with the faint glimmer of tears welling up in his eyes.

"keep your hearts where your home is, and with the woman of your life. Spend what time you can with your family, and do not focus too much on the acquisition of power. You are talented and young, your lives shall be long and you will have much time to learn and grow. But these few warm years, are something unique to the present. Make not the same mistake that I did..."

Upon uttering the last couple words, Joseph's voice had lost its steadiness, and he looked down and away from William and Magnar. By then, there were both almost in tears, feeling a tiny portion of the anguish Joseph was going through, and simultaneously feeling touched by the opening up of this harsh Teacher* of theirs.

Clearing his voice, Joseph shouted out.

"Get going, you rascals! Don't make me put you on the boat and throw it myself!"

William and Magnar grimaced, and sprinted for the rowboat, as they wanted to avoid finding out if Joseph could truly do that.

***

By the time the rowboat was far into the horizon, night had fallen. Joseph stood up, and solemnly walked over to the boulder that William used his Golden Rush on.

Concentrating Mana into his eyes, they began to glow, as Joseph peered into the boulder, nothing escaping his vision.

His eyes widened in shock.

In one swift motion, Joseph sliced the boulder in half with his right hand, from the top-down. The halves fell down, as molten rock came gushing out. Joseph leaped back swiftly to avoid the magma that flowed out.

By the Seas...

The two halves looked like giant, glowing sunny-side-up eggs, for even though the surface and outer layers of the boulder were untouched, the core had long since melted and became magma!

Still in disbelief, Joseph directed his Aura to envelop the traces of Mana left in and around the magma, in order for him to examine its traits and structure.

The magma was indeed caused by William's Mana!

Furthermore, the Mana had not yet dispersed, it was very resilient as it continued to burn strongly for hours after application!

Normally, when Mana has left the owner's body and is no longer consciously controlled, it disperses naturally over time, becoming ambient owner-less Mana.

William's Mana was an exception that Joseph had never seen before.

Joseph began to feel a slight burning sensation in his head and mind that made him wince, as he realized, incredulously, that William's residual Mana that was in the magma was beginning to burn his Aura!

Retracting it immediately, Joseph had a grim expression on his face as he looked in the direction that William and Magnar had left in.

He did not wish to think about it, but when he pondered what that kind of Aura would do to the insides of a human body if it were to enter by means of an attack...he shuddered.

He resolved himself to tell William something before the Royal Army selection tests.

Never use your Mana on another human being UNLESS you have the intent, and the situation calls for you to kill someone. Refrain from using this on your peers, for they are still defenseless children!