Ascension of the elder

Chapter 22: My spidey senses are tingling

"I know kung fu!" [Bruno]

"....." [Kyle]

"....." [Miranda]

".....what?" [Bruno]

"Well carrying on, what you did wasn't kung fu. What happened was your body remembered the motions you were doing and responded with what you've been practicing today. If I had attacked with different form you wouldn't have been able to defend."

Pondering on what Kyle had said, Miranda plucked up her courage and asked some things that were on her mind.

"Well if you attack differently what's the point in this training? Also why do we need these arts as you call them, surely we can get stronger through cultivation?"

Miranda was a bit nervous as this was the first time she had taken the initiative to voice her thoughts and she was worried she would anger her team or worse they would just kick her out of their group. Not daring to look at Kyle she turned slightly to look at Bruno who had furrowed brows thinking on what Miranda had just asked. Finally she looked at Kyle, hoping to gauge his mood and alleviate his anger. Kyle only had a slight smile on his face before saying.

"Good questions, I'll explain the first point. The reason we do this training is to build up muscle memory and reactions to these attacks. As this is the first day you've only looked at one or two moves and this doesn't represent the totality of these arts. As we train further with a wider range of moves we will also begin training against one another so you can get a better understanding of the moves, eventually we will begin free sparring were you can use any of your move sets to defend or attack so your combat experience will increase. Once I'm satisfied with your progress we will spar against the guards and hunters so you can get a good grounding in different fighting methods. Just remember we've only just started and this is a long road."

"Okay I get that and to become proficient we need time but I have to ask again why?"

Being more confident in asking questions Miranda once again asked the most pertinent question on her mind. Kyle on hearing Miranda by passing his answer to the first question and pressed on with the major question on her mind was impressed by her persistence.

"Well this is quite simple really, Bruno was level 2 almost 3 and I wasn't even at level 1 but I managed to put him down in one move. This was due to my martial arts. Now let me ask you if a level 0 can bridge that gap without using any mana what would happen if mana was infused in these arts?"

Bruno had been concentrating on their conversation as these questions were at the heart of the matter. Hearing Kyle's question he didn't even need to think and just responded.

"If a level 0 can beat me without using skills when we level up and use these arts we will be able to beat almost anyone in our level and maybe levels above our current one."

On hearing Bruno's immediate answer Miranda felt as if a fog was lifted from her mind as she realised he was right and if these arts were compatible with skills or weapons they would be further strengthened. Kyle seeing the excitement could also see a little bit of pride appearing as they would be the first to be taught by Kyle. Seeing this Kyle grinned before smacking them both around the back of the head.

"Ouch what was that for."

Bruno asked feeling wronged as he hadn't done anything and Miranda was looking at Kyle with watery eyes demanding an answer.

"It's okay to have some pride but don't let it fall into arrogance or you won't even know how you died."

Saying his piece Kyle drilled them for another hour before someone rang the door bell. Deciding this was a good time to stop for the day Kyle told Miranda and Bruno to have a shower and he'd go see who was at the door. Miranda wanted to stop him as she was the maid but Kyle just said.

"You're all sweaty go take a shower, I'll have mine when I've seen who's there."

Deciding not to argue Miranda went to one of the changing rooms to have a shower while Bruno went into another. Both were beginning to feel confident in what they learnt today and couldn't wait to carry on tomorrow. Kyle was shocked at the progress they made; it appears their bodies are more adaptive than in his previous world. This meant they could grow stronger and more adept much faster. Feeling bad for the other humans who had never progressed in martial arts Kyle reached the entrance and unsealed it.

Shauna his mother's maid was stood at the entrance. Seeing Kyle in a training outfit covered in dust and sweat, Shauna smirked and said.

"Looks like you had fun; you shouldn't be rolling around with your maid until you're older."

Hearing Shauna Kyle was surprised by her candidness as she never spoke to his predecessor this openly.

"Are you sure you should make these kinds of jokes to an 8 year old? I may have to ask mom what you mean."

Upon hearing what Kyle said Shauna realised her own lapse. Confused as to why she tried to joke with Kyle like her contemporaries and realising what would happen if Kyle told his mom she tried to dig herself out of the hole she made.

"Um..Uhh... wait I didn't mean anything..."

Seeing Shauna so panicked Kyle couldn't keep a straight face and burst out laughing. Seeing Kyle laughing at her she went red before huffing. Miranda wouldn't do anything bad to her but if she heard she'd made an innuendo about her son and his maid. Well let's just say mommy can be scary when prodded.

Kyle decided he had enough fun with Shauna and also taking into account his currently ridiculously tight schedule, he decided to move this along.

"Alright, alright let's keep this moving. What can I do for you Shauna? Do my parents need me for anything?"

Grateful to move on from her little domestic disaster Shauna recovered her decorum before taking a small box from her pocket.

"This is the control stone and key for your mansion. The other of the pair has been removed from grounds manager and is now in the possession of your father. This means that you will need to maintain the mansion yourselves. Do you have any questions?"

The control stone is the core piece of the protection formation in the mansion. When someone keys their mana into the control stone before the array is active this gives the person remote authority over the formation which can be accessed by remote arrays found in several different locations around the mansion.

This protection formation as several functions, some of which are in an always active mode and some which can only be activated or deactivated from the remote arrays or at the core of the formation where the control stone would rest. This control stone usually has another making a pair, which is usually kept by the maintenance crew who repair and clean the mansions on the estate.

"I thought that the mansion would take a while before I could move in."

"Well it appears the maintenance foreman for that mansion was friends with the previous occupant and maintained it in case they ever returned."

Well colour me curios Kyle's spidey sense was tingling.

"Who was the previous occupant and what happened to them?"

"Well it's been quite a while but the last occupant was an elder of the family who dealt in the business interests of the family and finances. One day the cleaning team arrived in the morning and the elder and his family were gone. The found a note which looked like it was written by the elder. It just said 'sorry'. During the investigation that followed we found the elder had been stealing for several years. The gate guards saw them exiting through the south gates but we never managed to keep up with them."

"Roughly when did this happen?"

"Oh must have been about 9-10 years ago now."

Kyle was very suspicious about this now. For an elder to abandon a family like this would have been shocking but it was suppressed the timing however was highly suspect as if the time matched up his mother would have been pregnant with him at that time. Kyle decided he would look into this later. At this point Bruno and Miranda came out to meet them.

"Okay let me get showered and changed and then we can go."

"Go where" asked Bruno.

"To our new house."