Shattered Sanity

Garron slowly walked toward one of the practice dummies positioned near the edge of the training grounds, as after placing his fist lightly against the dummy’s wooden head, he slowly rolled his shoulder a few times while throwing several slow and controlled punches against it.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

The strikes landed with dull sounds that looked no different from the punches the children themselves had been throwing moments earlier.

”The way all of you are punching right now, you are only relying on the natural strength of your bodies to deliver force.”

Garron explained while once again demonstrating the same stance he had taught them earlier, as his feet planted themselves firmly against the frozen earth before another controlled punch landed against the dummy.

”However, what you need to learn now is how to draw Aether out from your Soul Vessel and guide it into your limbs to strengthen and reinforce them.”

He continued while slowly pulling his fist back once more.

”So that you can eventually do things like this.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Garron’s entire presence subtly changed.

Although most children could not properly understand what exactly was different, they could instinctively feel the pressure radiating from his body to be more intense, as they collectively cowered in fear.

As suddenly–

*BOOOOM!*

The next punch Garron threw instantly exploded the wooden dummy’s head apart.

Fragments of shattered wood blasted outward in every direction while a loud explosive sound echoed throughout the entire training grounds, as the sheer force behind the strike startled several children badly enough to make them stumble backward in fear.

Riven himself stared toward the destroyed dummy with widened eyes while his heart pounded violently inside his chest.

Because the attack Garron had just unleashed no longer resembled ordinary human strength at all.

It felt monstrous.

Like watching somebody suddenly become far stronger than what a human body should logically be capable of.

”It will probably take most of you several years before you can replicate something like that and reach my level of strength.”

Garron explained calmly while shaking loose wood fragments from his fist.

”However, what you can begin doing from today onward is taking the first step toward that power.”

He continued while slowly tapping the center of his chest.

”To draw Aether out from your Soul Vessel, the first thing you need to do is focus on the warmth gathered near the center of your chest.”

Many of the children immediately lowered their attention toward their bodies while listening carefully.

”Once you sense that warmth, your job is to slowly guide it toward the limb you want to strengthen and naturally blend it into your movements like fuel feeding a fire.”

Garron explained while clenching and unclenching his fist repeatedly.

”It sounds difficult at first, however once you understand the sensation properly, the process itself becomes relatively simple.

You only need to learn how to control the warmth flowing from your chest toward your limbs.”

Several children still looked confused listening to the explanation, as although the words themselves sounded simple enough, most of them still could not properly understand how somebody was supposed to move an invisible force through their body using only their thoughts.

”Concentrate carefully on the warmth inside your chest.”

Garron instructed while sweeping his gaze across the exhausted children standing before him.

”Every single one of you now contains a small trace of Aether resting inside your Soul Vessel after consuming the medicine earlier.

Your goal from this point onward is learning how to draw that Aether into your limbs and use it to strengthen yourselves.”

He explained while pointing toward the shattered remains of the dummy’s head still scattered across the frozen ground.

”From now onward, this will become your daily routine until you successfully master this stage.

Every morning I will give you one of those red pills to replenish the Aether inside your bodies, and for the rest of the day, all of you will continue performing drills designed to teach you how to channel that Aether from your Soul Vessel into your limbs properly.”

He muttered, as horror flashed in almost every gathered children’s eyes, as they realized that the hellish experience of swallowing the pill needed to be replicated day in and day out for several weeks to come.

”Start with the practice, I’ll personally make the rounds and guide those who need my guidance.

The Trash group will train for three more hours.

The Super Trash for six more hours.

And the Ultra Trash will train till the sun goes down....

However, if I find you to be slacking, you will train till dawn tomorrow.

So I suggest you get on it already...”

Garron warned, as almost immediately, the gathered children began to hit the dummy head once again while trying to sense the warmth of their soul vessels.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

The sound echoed through the training ground yet again, however, naturally, while they did resume the training, they could still not grasp what Garron was trying to teach them immediately.

’Feel the warmth in your chest...’

Riven repeated, searching for that warmth in him, however, unfortunately for him, no matter how calmly he looked, he could sense nothing out of the ordinary in his own body.

’Feel the warmth.... But where is it?’

Riven wondered, looking confused, as he looked around instinctively, hoping that Garron would eventually come his way and offer him more direct guidance regarding how exactly he was supposed to sense something that he could neither see nor properly understand.

However, despite occasionally stopping beside certain children to correct their posture or explain the process once more, Garron never once approached Riven personally.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

Riven continued punching while repeatedly trying to focus on the center of his chest exactly the way Garron had instructed earlier, however regardless of how hard he concentrated, he still could not sense anything resembling warmth flowing inside his body, while around him, a few children had already begun reacting excitedly after seemingly managing to sense faint traces of Aether within themselves for the very first time.