"This is my comrade for many years, child. His name is Kek. And this is my special guest, for the time being, Yilas." Mame patted Yilas back, pushing her closer to the old man. Yilas bent her body at a 90-degree angle, imitating the polite posture of greetings from other beasts."It"s an honor to meet you, Master Kek!" The old white-bearded man laughed at Yilas"s politeness, her bell-like voice echoed like the Sunday, though his eyes couldn"t see, he knew that the little girl was a G.o.d-given beauty, even her voice would make a magnificent instrument.
"Haha... No need for the flattery, so tell me what are you here for."
Before Yilas could answer, Mame had chimed in.
"Ahh... I was seeing if she could join your lesson right there." Mame looked at the 20 beasts practicing restlessly, even when their instructor had been turning away.
"This girl? Madam, this bunch is our high-level scouter cla.s.s, it will be very hard to begin in their level. The child might feel discouraged to join in this soon." Kek frowned his gray, fuzzy eyebrows, he spoke blandly without hesitation.
"Don"t worry old geezer, I have had her read over 20 highest level books, I think she will fit in just fine." Mame smiled calmly, she still persisted that Yilas joined the cla.s.s. Though Yilas on the side was trembling and shaking her head in denial, hoping at least one of them would stop ignoring her.
"B-But Madam, reading and doing are two different things..."
"No buts, come on Yilas, I will introduce you to them." With that said Mame dragged Yilas into the field like a mother dragging a child to school on the first day, Mohsen in the back waddling like a duck with his stiff legs yelling her name.
"Everyone! Let my child join in will ya?" Yilas who was still covered from head to toe with the brown cloak was the peak of attention, all the students didn"t say anything but they looked at her judgementally. "And Yilas, introduce yourself to your peers, my child. Come one."
With Mame encouragement, Yilas stuttery opened her mouth, whispering words as out as light as air.
"H-H-Hi... M-My name I-Is Yilas." The cla.s.s didn"t look too friendly in Yilas"s eyes, their eyes were sharp and it was cold, Yilas knew that they already hated her guts.
Without anybody else speaking, Yilas looked like a rude intruder. The cla.s.s resumed their lines and started with the shooting practice, the old man had finally caught up with them, he was wheezing out loud it sounded like broken windpipe.
"Just watch their form and copied it, think about what the book said about clearing your minds..." Mame whispered secretly into Yilas ears alone, both of their eyes were fixated on the students.
Their pose was simple, Yilas didn"t think their position was the key, after all, some books heavily repeated on the significant a healthy mental state. And most of them required uttermost concentration on the breathing and energy running through the body, somewhat like a "chi" being manifested.
"Child, at least give it a try will ya?" Mame smiled, her eyes curled up beautifully as she pushed Yilas into the crowd. Yilas thought how could she had that expression on her face doing something so cruel.
"Madam..." Teacher Kek on the side worriedly called for Mame, putting a vulnerable child in a cut-throat level like this would only result in disasters.
"Tsk!" Mame rolled her tongue, she didn"t want to hear another word of negativity, she believed in that child, she could do it, Mame knew she could.
Yilas waited in line until her turn, her body shook and trembled harder as she approached the front, one by one. Mame cheered her on from the side making all the peers around her even more jealous and annoyed.
"Take a deep breath! Focus on your breathing! Relax your body!" As Yilas now was first in line, the old white-bearded man shouted. His voice was stern like how he usually instructed his student if Yilas was going to join them, he would give her the same treatment.
"Take your time, child, no need to rush." Mame waved and smiled like they were the only ones on the field. Yilas had held up the line long enough, she swallowed her nervousness and mimicked the standing pose the others were using.
Her legs stood wide and firm, her arms straightened in front of her chest, her hands laid flat in a 90-degree angle upward. Now the only thing she needed was a clear mind.
Yilas closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she focused on the shape of a ball in her palm, and soon enough she could feel there was an existence of an element there.
To the normies" eyes, nothing was formed in Yilas"s hands, she had stood there in her pose for many minutes without producing any result, they started to annoyingly gossip. However, only Mame and Kek could sense the ma.s.s being formed, their eyes couldn"t see it either but all the "chi" in their body reacted to it, screaming like all the life force were sucking in within that ball. Kek gasped but his long beard covered it all and Mame smirked, secretly looking at him in an "I told you so" manner.
Yilas finally reach a calming state of mind and had finally felt comfortable enough with the thing she produced, she opened her eyes and pushed the ball directly to the target. But unfortunate, the flag-like target only flickered in the wind, not showing any sign of damage.
The crowd was once silenced when Yilas finally made the slightest move, Laughed historically seeing her useless resolve. 20 beast-man and beast-woman laughed lively like they hadn"t seen anything funnier their whole life-time.
Yilas felt beyond embarra.s.sed, she tugged her tail between her legs and run back behind Mame. If it weren"t for the covers on her body, Yilas would have felt even worst. She already knew she couldn"t do it, why would Mame made her do this in front of everybody.
Mame tilted her head lightly, signaling to Kek to check the flag again. Master Kek raised his hands to stop the trainees from continuing their bad manners as he slowly walked towards the target.
He too could sense the overwhelming "chi" came from the little female, but once it was projected, its landing was a mystery to all. He examined the flags, but they seemed normal, nothing out of the ordinary. He turned toward the direction of Mame and shredded his shoulders, showing he couldn"t find anything.
As Master Kek was about to walk back, he felt a soft spot on the sand. He stopped immediately and followed the soft spot with his hand, it felt like the sand was escaping his hand downward and since he had been training youngsters in this field for years, he knew there were no holes or blemishes on the ground.
The old man Kek walked pa.s.s the target, the cla.s.s gossiped louder, some laughed, some mocked the mysterious female, most were jealous. Yilas still had her hand tight around Mame"s gown, Mame eyes still glued to Kek"s every movement.
The little man walked to the 51 yards, and then 60 yards, the sand felt lighter and lighter with his steps as if he was walking on quicksand. Once he reached the 62 yards mark, the ground started to rumble, the people got quiet, they listened to the movement of the earth. Something sounded like trouble was coming.
"This is bad." The slow Kek started to quickened his feet, moving on all four from the spot. If he was any later, the ground would have eaten him alive. The sand started to fall apart, it sunken into the ground like a giant house size tomb was opened and swallowed all the sand on the surface, the poor old man barely made it in time out of the quicksand hole.
The cla.s.s went screaming in fear. "Earthquake!" Some yelled frantically as they ran away, Mame stood tall in her post, sheltering the terrified Yilas hugging her waist. Mame smiled ironically at Yilas, thinking how could she be so afraid, it was her doing after all.
Once the ground had become stile again, Kek made it back to Mame"s side, he shook his head vigorously.
"That child is too dangerous, she can"t be around other trainees."
"N-No, please, I want to learn..." Yilas begged as she didn"t want to be jailed in the room anymore, this was the only place she could come out to play. "Please, Mame, it wasn"t my doing, it was only a coincidence. I will learn to do better!"