Chapter 309: Balancing Training and Politics
After the initial demonstration, the group spent only another week at the outpost before moving down to the Frontier wall and continuing their training. Despite everything he'd seen, Kai was still left with a sense of awe when he saw the enormous defensive wall that encircled the abyss. The eerie twisting sensation on the inside hadn't been reduced at all either, despite all the auras and glamours and other powers he'd faced.
The training itself felt like being broken back to the basics, relearning the simplest tasks like gathering and using mana, just at a higher level. Trainees were supposed to gather at least half of available mana, and veteran hunters aimed to get most of it, but now they targeted gathering 100%. Omilaena was applying herself to some sort of exposure therapy, training her soul to endure more concentrated power. Most difficult of all were the compression exercises themselves, which felt like trying to squeeze his head through the eye of a needle.
"You're not going to get this in a week," Talndim told them. "I know you're all used to doing things in a fraction of the time and everyone hailing you as geniuses, but this is different. If you grasp anything about phases in under a year, that's damn good."
Zae Zin Nim seemed to be frustrated by her lack of progress, frequently grumbling about cultivation's methods being superior before she made herself try again. For his part, Kai didn't mind. He'd spent plenty of time smashing through barriers with his own face. At least this time he knew he was working toward the next step in obtaining true power.
After another two weeks of training, Inafay and the Tonjin brothers began preparations to leave. Apparently there was a crisis in the Earth Union that the Frontier elites wanted them to take care of. Of course, they were on a different schedule: preparation for the incursion in about four years and joining the Frontier elites the incursion after that.
Kai knew that he'd need to push himself even harder, yet he still wanted to go along. He gathered his closest allies, prepared for an argument but ready to make his case.
"I know we could focus on our training here," he said, "but I think we should go with them. We still need to master a lot of fundamentals, and we can do those as easily traveling as-"
"I'm fine with it," Zae Zin Nim said.
"Wait... you are?"