The man who had been only a few moments away was now standing right in front of him, causing young Kyriel to react with shock. Without even realizing it, and in barely the blink of an eye, they were face to face, creating a palpable atmosphere of tension. Young Kyriel hesitated between screaming for help and crying his eyes out, thus testifying to his state of profound dismay. The pressure exerted on him by the aura of his opposite number was such that it seemed as if he were carrying five adult elephants on his back, which accentuated his feeling of vulnerability. His heart rate accelerated more and more, he felt as if his heart would leap out of his chest, while his legs were trembling, but despite their apparent nervousness, he still managed to stand.
"Impressive!" declared the mysterious young man, completely surprised.
"Given the amount of Art energy your body emits, I wonder how the hell you still manage to stand on your two feet..." he continued.
"Here, swallow this, you'll feel better afterward..." He took a kind of green seed out of his pocket and placed it on young Kyriel's hand. But noticing that the latter had difficulty putting it in his mouth, he complied, took the seed and threw it into the mouth of the frightened young boy.
The moment the seed lodged in Kyriel's stomach area, an energy burst out of him and poured throughout his body, thus provoking an immediate reaction. And suddenly, his feverish legs regained strength. His heart, which seemed to want to burst out of his chest, stabilized. The state of panic in which the young apprentice was found faded.
"Argh!!" shouted Kyriel.
"What did you give me...?"
"...Poison? A spoiled seed? Nooooo!..." "...Then I'm going to die without even having been able to achieve my goal... Damn the courage that brought me here tonight... Damn the gods who didn't listen to my prayers when my stomach was empty... Damn the hummingbird too... That damned hummingbird that ran away when I was full..." Kyriel lamented.
"Will you shut up?" the mysterious young man shouted in a voice so loud that it made nearby birds flee.
"Have you ever seen a dead person speak? Consider yourself lucky you didn't die on the spot because of my energy... And thank me for giving you this tsuyosa seed that still allows you to open that big mouth of yours and spout nonsense..." the mysterious young man exclaimed with a contradictory expression. Touching his body and noticing that he had no apparent abnormalities, Kyriel knew that nothing had happened to him and that the young man in front of him was surely telling the truth.
"Thank you, big brother... Uh, I mean uncle the seed master... Uh, no, rather lord of the seed... Uh, or else..." Kyriel stammered in turn.
"Shut up!!!" the young man shouted.
"You're annoying me!" "Call me Master Keith... That's my name," the young man said.
"Okay then, thank you, honorable Master Keith," Kyriel declared, clasping his hands in front of him and bowing as if to curtsy.
"Hahaha! You're really original, you're a real character!" Keith exclaimed in a jovial mood. "Now tell me, what brings you here at this hour, you who seem so frail? Do you not know that this clearing is home to creatures with an Art comparable to that of a swordsman student? Imagine if one of them found you here and not me?" Keith continued protectively.
"Uh, Grandmaster Keith, I've been training here every night for about seven years now, and I've never encountered such creatures... Just a few squirrels here and some damned hummingbirds there," the young aspirant explained.
"Impossible... This is simply impossible!" Keith thought, visibly surprised.
Given that Keith had himself frequented the clearing on several occasions, he knew full well that the creatures living there could be extremely brutal and would not hesitate to attack living beings whose energy was low. It was therefore inconceivable that a young boy whose energy was comparable to that of a newborn squirrel had never encountered such creatures in seven years. Keith had even killed one of them a few hours earlier and collected its flesh for supplies. The young apprentice's words therefore sounded like needles piercing his eardrums.
"Tell me, boy, what is your name?" Keith asked.
"My name is Kyriel St. Patrick, the youngest of nine children... And soon, my name will resound throughout the kingdom as the Master Swordsman Farmer," Kyriel declared boastfully. His words made Keith smile.
"I see... And how old are you, future Master Swordsman?" Keith asked calmly.
"I turned 13 four days ago," Kyriel replied.
Keith observed young Kyriel, and the more the conversation progressed, the more he detected something divine in this frail young boy. It was as if by observing him closely with divinatory senses, one could detect something incredible in him, something inexplicable, something that could make the gods themselves pale, an Art never before seen since time immemorial.
"Good! Then, Kyriel... Do you want to become my apprentice? Do you want me to teach you how to become a master swordsman? Do you want to know what THE ART is?" Keith asked.
His words sounded like drums announcing a grand celebration in Kyriel's ears. His eyes lit up with a more than enthusiastic glow, and his heart began to race not out of fear, but out of excess joy.
"Yes, honorable master... Please teach me how to become a Master Swordsman," Kyriel replied.
"Good, then let's not waste any more time and begin right away," Keith declared.
"Uh, right away?"
"Yes, right away... Why? You seemed excited about becoming a master swordsman," Keith replied.
"Yes, I'd like to, but..." At that moment, Kyriel's stomach made a noise indicating enormous hunger.
"Ah, I see! Your stomach is empty, right?" "Yes, that's right," said Kyriel.
"But that's exactly what our first training session will consist of," declared Keith.
"Uh, what do you mean, our first training session?" asked Kyriel, surprised.
"Yes, well, you see that tree right there... You'll go pick that apple up there and eat it."
The tree in question was an ancient apple tree that, despite its young trunk, had already accumulated several hundred years. It had been nicknamed the Eternal Apple Tree because it had seen several generations of young people. The tree was 140 meters tall and 25 meters wide. It took keen, almost godlike eyesight to see an apple perched in the distance.
"How am I supposed to climb a tree of that size with such tiny hands? It's simply impossible," exclaimed Kyriel.
"Impossible? That's the first obstacle to evolution," Keith retorted gravely.
"How can you claim to become a master swordsman if you consider climbing a tree impossible?"
"But, but the tree is nearly 100 meters tall, that's far too high... I can't even see the apple from here... I'll certainly perish before I even reach 30 meters," Kyriel declared, tears welling in his eyes.
"To achieve the enlightenment of the Art, one must transcend one's limitations... The Art is present in each of us from birth, but it is the enlightenment of that Art that makes all the difference... It is by having consumed almost all the energy within us, and by being on the verge of death, that one finally achieves the enlightenment of the Art and advances to the next level...". With these words, Keith launched himself into the air towards the tree with the speed and brightness of lightning. And in not even a second, he came back down, holding an apple in his hand.
"Impossible!" Kyriel cried.