Chapter 50: Time Phase

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These are a pair of hands with frightening speed. Instructor Hak never thought of anyone outside the Black Cove that could have such speed. The hands were known to be the most agile part of the body as well as being capable to do various tasks. The agility of the hands is directly proportional to the number of tasks one could do in a set amount of time. In simpler terms, the faster one's hand is the more tasks one could complete in limited time. Thus, its significance does not require much explanation. Edging between life and death, one's outcome could be possibly be determined by actions that are taken or decisions made in that few milliseconds. Such outstanding speed was truly a rare sight in the Black Cove!

This boy that stood before Instructor Hak seemed to have yet to be aware of the true power of his own hands.

Instructor Hak looked at Ye Chong standing still at the side, nodding his head in approval, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

Ye Chong did not mutter a word. He stood on in silence.

Suddenly, a thought crossed the instructor's mind and it took him a while to phrase it in a way that this little boy could comprehend, "Tell me what you know about being a Pilot."

Ye Chong tilted his head as he thought about it, "The controller of the mech!"

"Well..." He nodded his head, "That's what people would normally assume!" The reply surprised Ye Chong as he raised his head, looking at the instructor with his eyes enlarged.

"The Pilots..." Instructor Hak explained calmly with a kind of unidentified nostalgia in his tone, "They aren't what you all had always assumed to be. How the world outside defines the Pilots and how the world examine them, they were absurd and meaningless. Hmph! Those are just some assumptions for kids! The real world of Pilots is beyond your imagination... and beyond your knowledge too! Everyone from the outside would never know and no one would ever understand! Do you know what the Pilots formerly were?"

Ye Chong shook his head.

"The Pilots used to be the kind who adores power. The advancement of the age of machinery allowed people to realize the power hidden within the gears. The ancient martial arts and the sorcery from the tradition soon vanished and in return, the emergence of the Pilots! However, in later times, people started to discover the more potent outcome and a much higher survivability when the mech was actually piloted by a martial artist or a sorcerer. Then, it so happened that the people combined the artistry of martial arts, sorcery and mech-piloting, forming the new generation of Pilots. These Pilots when unarmed were barely an opponent to go against the classic martial artist or sorcerer, but if they were to mount onto a mech, they could exert immense strength."

Instructor Hak carried on with his explanation about one particular incident that changed the world, "About 500 years ago, there was a crisis, a never-before-seen crisis, a big one, and many had perished. Most of the surviving men turned out to be actual Pilots, while this inevitably led to the ending of the other kinds of forces. 300 years ago, something catastrophic happened again! Pilots were dispersed throughout the galaxy and known by the outside world! But what they got in the end was undoubtedly rather obsolete. Still, regarding what actually happened in the past, what connected the beginning and the ending of the history, I had no idea either!" Quickly, the instructor added, "Anyway, it was not easy to educate people of your kind from the five major galaxies to understand the concept of ancient martial arts and sorcery."

Ye Chong's heart trembled! There was such a backstory to this? I never knew! Since Instructor Hak could tell such tale directly from his mouth, it seemed that he wasn't the man from the five major galaxies too! He might came from somewhere that was unknown by the others, and that particular place somehow had a strange connection to the galaxies.

"The major elements of a Pilot..." He lectured as he continued emphasizing the salutation to the more-than-just-mech-controller he knew, "…are physique, mech and mentality. And these also directly caused the formation of three major schools - one being the kind that combined martial arts and technology, strives to obtain the ultimate body, another being the kind that incorporated sorcery into technology. Yes, the mentality for such kind is usually much stronger, and there's this kind who does purely machinery. To be frank, this is the most hated school out of the three because they perform direct modification towards your body, turning them into a chimera or something. They neither look like humans nor machines. But I must say they are still strong in their nature! It is undeniable to say that they also had the most advanced mech out of all the schools!" Even though Instructor Hak expressed blatant disgust and hatred as he spoke, he still acknowledged their strength.

Ye Chong was enjoying every bit of the storytelling. He was all ears, all eyes and all heart!

"You must have figured it out by now, boy. We are the first school, but I can't deny the fact that the martial arts do have an amazing effect on the development of anatomy. The ancient arts were great and grand. Nevertheless, we only extracted a small part of it to be utilized." He looked at Ye Chong, "I had no idea how you did your training before and I don't see you having any kind of energy pulse. But you do have immense muscle strength and oddly every fabric of your muscle had barely enlarged like what others should have. This is confusing to me!" He expressed his puzzlement towards this anomaly before him but he didn't seem to be interested to investigate further. "Alright, come with me!"

Instructor Hak led Ye Chong into a large lobby. There were quite a number of oviform apparatus. The outer shell of the apparatus was made out of a transparent material; there was a kind of silver liquid inside, and it looked rather sticky. Among the apparatus, a few were occupied by humans as they immersed into it with their eyes closed. They looked serene and enjoyed using the apparatus.

Instructor Hak said pointing at one of the empty oval capsule, "Go on, and give it a try!" Ye Chong walked towards the capsule with suspicion. The capsule uncapped, an opening just enough to fit Ye Chong in, and Ye Chong walked into it. Ye Chong was fully enclosed in the capsule. The silver liquid sprinkled from underneath, filling up the space; starting from the leg, to the knees, then the waist and the chest, but stopped at the neck eventually.

Lethargy surged through his body, and every inch of his muscle felt warm. It was so comfortable that Ye Chong felt like yawning. He started to become sleepy yet he somehow felt perfectly conscious at the same time; stuck in between the state of sleep, and being awake.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Chong jumped awake. He saw how the instructor scrutinized him carefully, wondering what he was thinking under that black mask of his. The silver liquid ebbed away like sea tides and in a blink of an eye, the liquid in the capsule was drained completely. Ye Chong was shocked to see there wasn't even a single drop of silver liquid left behind while his clothing was in the same condition as when he entered. It was not wet, it was not tainted either.

"How was it?" The instructor asked as Ye Chong stepped out of the capsule.

Ye Chong nodded, "Good! Pretty good!"

"Now..." The instructor's eyes gleamed peculiarly, "Do you feel energized? Does your whole body feel like it’s filled with strength that is anticipating to be unleashed?"

He did notice it right away when the silver liquid retreated from his body. He felt hot, his body was heated up, and fully charged again. The need to unleash his immense strength took over his thoughts at the mention of it from the instructor. He nodded his head right away.

"Come with me!" Instructor Hak brought Ye Chong to a spacious training field. There were various kinds of training facilities. "You are going to use up all your stamina here. Head back to the capsule after and use the facilities again. Repeat the process three times and you are good to go. Alright, it's up to you now." He walked away.

He obeyed his instructor's order obediently. He drained all his strength every single time, and returned to the capsule for a quick recharge. In the capsule, he could feel his strength charging up again, bit by bit. It felt perplexing indeed.

He rushed back to the field to exhaust his stamina after charging, and noticed the intensive boost in his stamina recovery when he dipped in the capsule. After that, he no longer felt the heat; he started to get used to it and reacted normally.

It was almost dawn when he finished his training, but he did not feel hungry at all when he was done! It was surprising because he did not have a meal at all! He believed it could be one of the effects of the silver liquid.

He found his old partner in training, the metallic marbles in the field. He grabbed a handful of them into his pocket, and went back to his room. He met Johansson on the way back, but they did not exchange words. Instead, they nodded at each other politely and went their separate ways.