"Your first test is to defeat Tenko!" Rei's words hung in the air. Both Eugene and Bart stared, wide-eyed. Then Bart burst out laughing. "What? Defeat him? Are you kidding?" Eugene, ever shy, mumbled, "I'm not that bad."
Tenko, perched innocently on Rei's shoulder, began to grow. His fur bristled, his form expanding until he was as large as a big dog, radiating an aura of playful but undeniable power. Bart and Eugene gasped in surprise. "No matter what," Bart declared, trying to sound confident, "Tenko is still a Navarion, and Navarions are deadly beasts, so I can easily defeat him!" Eugene, too, shook his head in agreement.
Rei simply walked to a corner and sat down. Tenko's Nyx scepter, which hung around his neck, began to hum softly. "Start," Rei commanded.
Tenko attacked with wind slices. Bart and Eugene immediately started fleeing, scrambling away from the sharp gusts. Rei, seeing their panicked reaction, called out, "Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to say that Tenko can use sorcery as well!"
"You had to say it earlier!" Bart yelled back, still running. Rei looked at Tenko's scepter and muttered to himself, "Tenko's qi stone is also changing color. However, unlike mine, it's getting dark blue. I wonder if it will become sentient too."
Bart, tired of running, pulled out his daggers and rushed towards Tenko. Tenko, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, unleashed a dust explosion. "Bart, you're down!" Rei called out. "Only Eugene left!"
Eugene was still running, tears welling in his eyes. "I don't want to fight him, please! I don't want to fight him!" he cried. Tenko, increasing his speed with a burst of wind, tackled Eugene, sending him sprawling. Then, he used another dust explosion. "Eugene, you're down!" Rei announced. "Now come here, both of you."
Eugene and Bart slowly made their way to Rei. Tenko, shrinking back to his normal size, jumped onto Rei's shoulder. "You two are truly pathetic," Rei stated, his voice flat. "Tenko just used 10 percent of his power to take you down. You don't seem to have learned any fighting techniques."
Bart, looking dejected, explained, "Actually, when I went out of my house, I hid in a caravan to come here, and then I worked in a restaurant to earn money."
Eugene, even more timid now, added, "I only know Holy Magic and how to concoct medicines. And I only took herb gathering tasks."
Rei sighed. "Today, the whole day, you will practice with Tenko. Tenko, show them hell." Rei then walked towards the Midgard, leaving the two boys to face Tenko. Tenko jumped in front of them, growing to his larger size again, and smiled menacingly. Both Bart and Eugene visibly recoiled in fear.
Outside the Midgard, Rei could hear the faint screams of Bart and Eugene, but he didn't care. He sat down and began to work on the blueprints for a magic gun and a magic rifle. After completing the designs, Rei shifted his focus. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate on lightning spell. He thought about matter, then, deep inside the matter, he focused on electrons. He began to visualize taking electrons out of the matter, separating them. Slowly, a small spark of electricity formed above Rei's hand. Rei continued to concentrate, pushing the concept further, and suddenly, a strong lightning bolt appeared above his hand. It wasn't big enough to harm the surroundings, but it was powerful.
"Lightning sorcery," Rei thought to himself, a thrill of triumph. "Finally, I learned it. However, controlling it seems difficult. I need some sort of a conductor for electricity."
Rei stepped out of the Midgard and saw Tenko still "bullying" Bart and Eugene, who were now covered in dust. He walked to the other side of the Midgard, out of their sight, and took out his Chaos Scepter. First, he focused on making the path ionized. He used heat to ionize the atmosphere, creating an ionized path to a nearby rock, while the rest of the air remained normal. Then, Rei unleashed his lightning spell, and the lightning bolt struck the rock with a crackling sound. Rei continued practicing throughout the day, creating ionized paths as quickly as possible and channeling lightning. Sometimes he missed, but sometimes he successfully hit his target.
As the day ended, neither Rei nor Bart and Eugene had been overly successful in their respective trainings. "Guys, let's go," Rei called out. "We will continue tomorrow."
"Finally!" Bart exclaimed, collapsing onto the sand.
"Do I have to endure it again?" Eugene whimpered.
"Let's go," Rei urged. He started the Midgard and drove them back to town, dropping them off. Rei then returned to his room inside the Midgard, with Tenko padding silently behind him. Rei continued some of his studies on herbs and medicine, learning how to make various concoctions and how to forge weapons. He then started sketching some new blueprints when, suddenly, Tenko barked. Rei realized he hadn't prepared any food.
"Oh, sorry, Tenko," Rei said, chuckling. "I forgot about food." After making their meal, both Rei and Tenko ate outside the Midgard, enjoying the cool night air.
"Tenko," Rei said softly, "I was looking through the places Navarions are found, and I saw a place where your family might be." Tenko looked a little down, then just barked once, a subdued sound. Rei thought that since Tenko had worked so hard today, he was simply tired.
After returning to their room, Rei said, "Let's hope if your scepter becomes sentient, it will help you." As Rei and Tenko fell asleep, Tenko drifted into a strange dream. He saw a large garden bathed in the light of a shining sun, and he was enjoying it, with Rei sitting on his lap, gently caressing his fur. But suddenly, Rei disappeared. The day turned to night, dark clouds rolled in, hiding the moon, and the vibrant grasslands turned black. Then, a chilling voice echoed in his mind: "Tenko, do you always want to be in the chains of these weak humans? In the chains of Rei? You clearly know what our clan says." A shiver ran down Tenko's spine. He clearly understood who the voice belonged to. Tenko turned around and saw a towering shadow of a large Navarion looking at him with glowing red eyes. Red lightning crackled around the shadowy figure.