The next day, Tristan was very curious about the feeling from yesterday, that coming to the pagoda was the first thought that ca to his mind in the morning.
This ti, he even went there without waiting for Serene to co and pick him up. The elves' guards, on the other hand, were always ready to follow him wherever he went.
The mont he entered the Warrior Hall, he imdiately searched for Master Ortiz. When he told the old master about what he had experienced yesterday, the latter unexpectedly gave him a piece of cloth.
Seeing the confused look on Tristan's face, Master Ortiz said, "Stop relying on your eyes and all the other senses. Just feel it presence."
It was such weird advice, but rembering how it was easier for him to focus when the surroundings were dim, Tristan decided to follow it. He quickly sat in front of the pond again and put the cloth on his eyes.
At this mont, Tristan was already able to chant the sequence of words in his mind with fluency. He then once again tried to direct and focus his mind onto sothing specific in the small pond in front of him.
Several minutes later, with his eyes closed, an unknown energy suddenly ca into Tristan's mind and it connected him to the pond, the air, and everything nearby. Imdiately after, he could perceive the tiny thin legs of the Lowii insect.
"Left!"
Right when he said that word, Tristan opened the blindfold and saw the insect was moving towards the left side of the pond. He was right!
"I did it.. I did it! I can feel it!" Tristan said excitedly as he turned towards Master Ortiz.
The old master just smiled faintly and took a sip of his tea as he saw the exhilarated Tristan. At the sa ti, a notification ca into Tristan's mind, startling him.
[You have learned the basic first stage of the Katra]
"I did it, Master Ortiz! I finally did it!!! YEAH!!!" said Tristan while pumping his fist into the air.
Master Ortiz calmly put down the teacup in his hand and nodded. "Good job. Most elf children usually take a few weeks before they can make the sa progress."
Tristan smiled widely at the old master's words when he suddenly noticed sothing odd. A few seconds later, he finally realized what was strange and cried a protest in his mind.
'Why is the old master comparing to the elf children?!'
Oblivious to Tristan's thought, Master Ortiz opened his mouth.
"Now that you are done with the first stage. Let's move on to the second stage."
This ti the Master took Tristan to a different area yet with a familiar sight. A similar-looking pagoda that was situated at the shore of a much bigger pond. This ti, however, the pond was filled with hundreds of fish unlike the first one where Tristan could only see water as far and deep as his eyes could see.
Seeing this Tritan quickly assud what Master Ortiz was trying to do. There was a small voice in his mind that denied the assumption, causing him to only partially believe it. Alas, it seed his assumption was true.
The mont they sat in the pagoda, Master Ortiz swiftly presented Tristan the second set of words that he needed to chant. In addition, this ti, instead of an insect, the old master instructed him to sense a certain sea creature, an eel.
Just like before, the old master raised his hand and Tristan automatically shifted his gaze to the pond. There, he spotted three small long creatures surfacing amidst the hundreds of fish and approaching the pagoda. They were dominated by yellow color and glistening thanks to the mucus that covered their body.
Once again, Master Ortiz instructed Tristan to do the sa thing - chant the new string of words he was taught and predict the movent of not one but three creatures at the sa ti.
This ti, it took Tristan a whole day to finally be able to predict the eel's movent. However, he only managed to do it with one eel, not three of them. This made Tristan realize that he would have to train hard if he wanted to predict the three creatures at the sa ti.
Even so, this kind of difficult training only served to make Tristan even more ardent and drove his determination to succeed through the sky.
***
On the third day, Master Ortiz suddenly stopped him from doing the sa thing because there was still sothing that he had to teach Tristan in their limited ti. Nevertheless, the old master was sowhat satisfied with the latter's performance.
Oblivious to Master Ortiz's thoughts, Tristan swiftly went straight to the old master when one of the eleven disciples told him that the latter searched for him. He was hoping that the old master would guide him or provide tricks on how to reach the second stage faster. Unfortunately, there was no such thing.
Apparently, most of the adult elves only managed to reach stage two of Katra throughout their lives, while so others who were talented such as Sindur or Serene made it to stage three despite their talent.
This was because mastering Katra required constant ditation, which involved the suppression of the emotions and breakthrough in the understanding of the mind. Sothing that shouldn't and couldn't be rushed within days.
While Tristan was dejected that he had to walk on his own from now on, Master Ortiz shifted the topic to what he wanted to do with the forr today. He would teach Tristan the elven discipline he mastered, the Discipline of the Fist.
"Now that you already have a basic understanding of Katra, you are now qualified to learn the unard battle art techniques of 'Sis Mahna'."
Knowing that he had never had any actual martial arts training, Tristan thought that this was a fantastic idea. He was thrilled and excited to learn more new skills!
Tristan was sure there weren't many elves who had the focused attention of a discipline master like him. After thinking it through, he arrived at the conclusion that this must be the queen's doing. Therefore, he should never lay such benefits to waste.
Without further ado, Master Ortiz imdiately dived into his expertise and explained it to Tristan in great care and details.
It started with the simple basic moves such as punch, kick, block, and so on. Afterwards, Master Ortiz introduced Tristan to a myriad of stances and combinations one could use depending on the situation.
At the end of the day, Tristan was once again surprised by a notification that suddenly ca from the system.
[You have learned the basics of Unard Combat Technique]
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