Over the next three months, Koji trained his ability to use the Relic daily. At first, he was unable to even hit a rock right in front of him on the ground; now he was not only able to strike a rock consistently, but was able to hit moving targets too.
Of course, the lightning was very weak and subpar at best; however, it was still an upgrade from before where he had nothing.
"Koji, I must admit, although you were very slacking at first, you learn very quickly."
Lin was very satisfied with Koji's ability to learn quickly and implement new skills into his life, however Koji couldn't care less about the praise.
'This is not fast enough! I need to learn quicker, three months to learn the effects of one useless Relic? This is insanity!'
This progress was too slow for Koji; he was not satisfied at all.
"Master Lin, I want to learn to nurture a new Xin core!"
He usually hid his impatience and just went with the flow, but Koji was getting frustrated. After all, he knew he could be doing more; he was not seven years old, he was way older!
"You think you're ready for that, Koji?"
Lin was skeptical at this, after all most kids didn't start this till they were eleven. Even then, they only seriously started around thirteen.
"Yes, seriously I am. You already said that I'm learning fast, so why can't I start now?"
Lin sighed, naturally Koji was not aware of how difficult nurturing a new Xin core was at all.
"Koji, you haven't even interacted with a Zelit once; to nurture your Xin core you need to use a Relic and a Zelit."
Koji had already considered this point, of course he did! It was not like he was stupid, he was just impatient at times.
"Then teach me how! I want to progress further Master Lin!"
He had an expression of childlike dedication and newfound enthusiasm; of course, he was not really this enthusiastic inwardly because he knew that this would only be a very small step. It's not like he was about to accomplish something, it was as if he wanted to learn the way to build up his raft to resist the ocean. It was not like he was learning to calm the ocean itself, he was simply learning to resist a bit better.
Lin sighed, still being skeptical but also wanting to help Koji progress. In fact, if he really could get Koji to start nurturing a new Xin core at such a young age it would be a huge advantage for the future. Especially when it comes to entering the academy when he's 13.
Because in the academy, although it was a school, it was also a battleground. Kids would have a ranking of strength as the years go by for each class, and the higher ranked you are the more sponsors would seek you out and help you on your journey. This was because guilds inside of the kingdom would want to hire you eventually, they would take you in and teach you the way of their own guild.
In the specific kingdom Koji resided in there were five main guilds that only the top students would be brought into. If you weren't brought into these guilds the journey of becoming a strong Transcendent would be way more difficult.
Considering all of this, Lin decided to give Koji a chance to learn how to use a Zelit and then eventually go on to learn how to nurture a new Xin core.
"Okay, Koji. But first you have to understand something; nurturing a new Xin core is a very difficult process, it is not easy. It requires you to have lots of discipline and dedication."
Lin's tone was very serious, emphasizing his words.
This already pissed Koji off, of course another extremely hard thing! One after another they just kept coming.
'So far, everything has been going against my ideal way of doing things. Nothing has been easy or painless, it has all sucked. This can't keep going on! I need to stop this, there needs to be an easier way.'
This has been deeply troubling him, after all his main goal was an easy journey. Before now, he had not thought about just how much he had been straying away from his initial goal.
The fighting, the Relic training, the conditioning.
All of these were hard and he hated them.
'This, this....'
Lin's words had made him extremely frustrated because they brought back his memories of all that he's done. All the times he contradicted his own philosophy, he was nothing but a liar!
'I said I would do this easily, but clearly I was just lying to myself! Can I really not escape it? Do I have to be like every other retard who goes through a bunch of pain to reach their goal?'
He could not keep this up, he could not keep contradicting himself, he could not keep doing hard things, he had to find an easy way out.
He had to ask Lin, it was essential for him to stop just sitting around and letting the world shit on him.
"Is there any easy way to do it?"
Lin sighed, there was one way.
"Well, there is one 'easy' way. However, it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to obtain it. Sometimes when a Miniscule beast is killed, they will not only drop a Relic or Zelit. Very, very rarely a part of their Xin core will stay in tact and will be absorbable. Yes, I know. Usually the Xin core would be formed into a Relic or Zelit; however, this is a very special case and is beyond rare. Extremely wealthy families and guilds may be able to buy some, but no one else."
This just pissed Koji off even more, because although his family was wealthy it didn't sound like they were on the level required to purchase this; but he still had his questions on this matter.
"Is there any way to increase the chance of getting one from a beast?"
Lin was surprised Koji asked this.
"Well, there are theorized to be some Soul Mantra methods. However, the Soul Mantra is extremely rare and also it's only a theory that the Xin core and Soul are that interlinked to where you could influence it on a level where the beast drops their Xin core when they die."
After hearing this, Koji was completely dejected. It seemed as if he was forced to go down the hard route, well he could just not go down it at all and choose to stop his life trying to become a strong Transcendent of course...
'That may be an option...'
But the thought of completely defying balance filled his mind once again, the thought of living in complete paradise with no restrictions.
'If I were to give up, I may live a somewhat peaceful life. But it would be extremely fragile and could be ruined the second any hardship falls upon me. However, if I was strong I'd be able to resist more things and pave my way to a better life. There's also the fact that if I gave up, there would be no hope of living past the age of 100 most likely...'
Right now, he didn't know any way to survive longer. It was not as if he could easily just ask Lin about it, because most likely he would find it odd that such a youngster is already concerned about aging.
Indeed, he had lots to think about.