Risen World

Chapter 61: Meeting His Trainers

It had been a few days since Joshua had made the call to Thoren. Now he found his self-waiting in a nice room that was clearly kept well organized as several shelves full of books filled Joshua's surroundings. What was interesting was the fact that if you looked up at the ceiling it was as if you were looking into the stars. It seemed to have some sort of projections that showed off the wonders of space. The biggest attraction though was the large blue and green orb that represented his home planet that slowly turned in front of him. It was still beautiful, but Joshua could already see several changes occurring on its surface.

The planet he called home seemed to be regaining most of its luscious greenery as several areas that used to be deforested to the point of cruelty were even greener than they probably were hundreds of years ago. He could even see new environments popping up in different places with volcanoes growing and creating new small land masses in different locations. When it came to the cities there was an unsettlingly large amount of purple haze covering the areas, but any haze that had originally spread out was now slowly receding back towards the cities as more and more green seemed to take its place.

Another thing that he noticed was a faint aura that the planet seemed to be surrounded in. He wasn't sure if that was normal, but for some reason he felt connected to the strange occurrence. The aura made everything about his home world seem more vibrant and lively. He wished he could get a closer view of all the changes, but for now all he could do was watch from a distance. Soon Joshua's staring was interrupted as a door appeared at the edge of the room signifying someone was about to enter. Joshua turned his attention towards it and watched as Thoren made his way through the door and smiled when he noticed Joshua was waiting for him. "Hope you weren't waiting too long. I had to get a hold of the other two people that are going to help with your training. They should be here soon, but for now I wanted to get you caught up on a few things." He said as he walked over to Joshua and sat down on a chair that just materialized next to him.

"It's not a problem. I haven't been waiting for very long and the view is amazing." Joshua said as he smiled and pointed towards the earth on the ceiling above them. "Is that how the evolution process works?"

"From an outside perspective, yes it is. Though there are far more things going on than just the world revitalizing itself." Thoren said as he looked up at the world himself. "It is as if your planet is fully awakening for the first time or maturing to its fullest. The process will heal it of all its problems while granting it an aura that allows the abilities of the system to work to their fullest extent. If someone like me were to have tried to use all of my power on your planet before the evolution then I would be extremely hard press to do so. Without an aura being generated by a planet it greatly weakens the inhabitants of said planet. I could still use my abilities, but it would be extremely draining considering all the power and forces would have to be fully created by me instead of using some of the energy in the environment."

"I see, that would also keep people from planets on a higher level from coming down and just wrecking worlds that haven't taken that step yet right?" Joshua asked as he thought it over.

"For the most part that is true, although sometimes some of the more pompous people from higher worlds come down and pretend like they're gods or something. Usually they grow out of that phase quickly when the world starts to react to them and rejects them. Anyways when your world is through evolving it will be far more powerful and will be able to withstand more problems in the future if necessary." Thoren explained.

"Well if there are so many benefits I'm guessing there are some downsides as well?"

"I wouldn't call them downsides sense they are both beneficial and challenging, but if you want to you can consider it that way." Thoren said as he scratched his beard a bit. "Just as the world will strengthen you humans it will also strengthen the animals and other beast that currently lay dormant. Beast will repopulate themselves at a far greater rate than before, while some will become even more powerful that the boss class monsters you will find in the cities. Some animals will evolve into far stronger versions of themselves or into something completely different entirely, but it won't get to the point where you humans will be left behind. Just remember that the further you go into the wild territories of the world the stronger the beast will get."

"Anything else? So far we've got animals that will turn into territorial nightmares and haze monsters that have taken over our homes. Hopefully that's all." Joshua said as he let out a tired sigh at all the things he would have to potentially deal with in the future.

"There is one other thing you will have to worry about regarding your world. In fact you have already accidentally run into one while looking around during the first phase if I'm not mistaken." Thoren replied causing Joshua to look at him in confusion. "That stairway that lead down to the locked door with an eye behind it, remember that? Well that was the beginnings of a dungeon. When a powerful beast takes over its own territory the world itself will help grow its strength in the form of a dungeon that will put other weaker beast under its control. These dungeons will be essential in grooming you guys into becoming warriors ready for the bigger stage, but I'll explain more about them in the future. Right now no one will be ready to take on any dungeons for the next year or so and that will be the simpler ones at that."

"What do you mean the bigger stage?" Joshua asked as he caught on to Thoren's little slip of the tongue.

"Hmmm, let's just say the second phase will have two parts to it and the second part will be a test to see how the system will treat your race in the future. That's something you won't have to worry about for years though. I'll explain it a bit more after you finish your training, but until then you humans need to worry about getting stronger and clearing out some places for safety on earth to proceed from, otherwise after a while the system will start dumping people into the nearest town or cities on its own. The goal is to take full control of your home world in the end after all." Thoren said with a smirk. Before Joshua could reply two doors started to form behind Thoren causing the old dwarf to turn around with a small smile. "Well were going to have to cut this conversation short for a bit. Our guest are here."

It didn't take long for two figures to emerge from the doors and enter into the room. The first figure was extremely tall with a bulky body that was similar to Joshua's. He was only an inch shorter than Joshua at the most and he had a rather healthy tanned color of skin that almost made him look like a bronze statue that had come to life. On his head he had two horns that jutted out of his forehead and looked rather menacing as they curved upward a bit and kept his long white hair from falling into his face. He was clean shaven and had a small smirk on his face as he waived over towards Thoren.

The other person that entered the room was a tall lady that stood at almost the same height at the man beside her. She was far thinner though and had a fair body that was pale and seemed elegant. She had long blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders and almost reached all the way down to her knees. Outside of her well-proportioned body that would put many women he had seen to shame the most defining characteristic was her long pointed ears that jutted out wards and twitched slightly every now and then. The women looked slightly older than his mother after the age regression, but considering how old Thoren was he highly doubted that was the case. She had a strong motherly aura about her and smiled pleasantly to everyone in the room.

"Alright time for introductions." Thoren said as he stood from his seat with Joshua following his lead. "These two are the ones I've asked to help train you for the foreseeable future. They both fit well into teaching you what I think will be most necessary going forward. This tall kid with the grin on his face is Marlow. He's of the horned race and is their current matriarch's grandson. Although he's not as experienced as me he is exactly the type of instructor you need. Your style of fighting suits his exceptionally well and I'm willing to bet the weapon he will teach you how to use going forward will fit you perfectly."

"It's nice to meet you Joshua. Thoren's told us a lot about you and has been bragging none stop to my mom and the others that he's found the best pupil." Marlow said with a smile as he and Joshua shook hands. Joshua simply nodded in reply and turned towards Thoren as he started to introduce his other teacher.

"This old hag here is Ysildea Thevaris and is the matriarch of the elves. Although I would prefer to keep you to myself and prove I'm a better teacher than her sadly she is probably the best person in the universe to help you gain the job that best suits your soul beast." Thoren said with a bit of a frown.

Ysildea glared over at the grumpy dwarf for a moment before her motherly smile returned and she bowed slightly towards Joshua. "You can just call me by my first name going forward. It's nice to meet you Joshua." She said before turning towards Thoren. "Don't mind this senile old fool too much. Although we're around the same age it's clear that elves age far more gracefully than our dwarven counter parts."

"Oh please, just because you still look young doesn't mean you aren't as old as I am." Thoren grumbled before he turned back towards Joshua. "If you have any questions for them now is the time to ask. We can't all stay here for very long sense we have to get prepared to help all of the worlds that are ascending in our territory."

"Alright then. I'll keep it simple sense will have plenty of time to interact later. What exactly will you guys be teaching me. I know that there is a lot for me to learn going forward with all the things happening around me, but I would like a more specific answer.

Marlow and Ysildea looked towards each other deciding who would explain first through their subtle eye contact before Marlow stepped forward and approached Joshua. "Well for me I'm going to be mainly teaching you about conditioning and combat. From what I've heard you're fairly well trained but with the system there are far greater heights you can reach just from conditioning your body properly. Of course levels help make that aspect easier, but a well-trained body will always be better than one hyped up by leveling. Keeping your body in prime condition can get you stats without even leveling up and every so often you will be able to break a new threshold that will allow your training to improve your body even more. I'll be helping you with the first steps of that, but even more importantly I'll be teaching you how to use a certain weapon."

"What weapon? I've used quite a few, but none of them ever seemed to fit me." Joshua asked curiously.

"I'm not surprised, people our size often have trouble finding a weapon that fits them properly. Unless your race is one of larger size, then most weapons end up small and uncomfortable while larger races usually prefer simple heavy weapons that go with their strengths without much skill involved." Marlow said before he swiped his hand and a ring on his finger lit up causing a portal to open up beside him. A large handle stuck out and he grasped on to it and pulled out an impressively large sword like weapon that was almost as long as he was tall. He easily spun the weapon around in his hand for a moment before smashing it into the ground in front of him. Unlike normal swords that were built for quick movement and a more slash or poke fighting style the sword that was planted in front of Joshua was almost as wide as a shield and was big enough for Joshua to huddle up behind if necessary. Based off of how the floor cracked just from its weight it was clear this weapon could be used for devastating blows just with a simple swing.

"What in the world is this?" Joshua asked in surprise causing a smile to spread on the other three's faces.

"This in your language would be called something along the lines of a sword shield or the other way around. Though most people call it a Scale blade considering its looks. It can be used as a large sword when fighting, but is also incredibly sturdy and used as a shield against all sorts of attacks. It goes extremely well with a job like mine since I'm a guardian and all, but according to legend the first man to use one had the soul beast of a Fenrir himself. He was able to use it in ways I couldn't even dream of, but I can get you through the basics while also using the strain of wielding such a weapon to improve your conditioning going forward." Marlow said before he picked the sword back up and put it away before everyone's eyes.

Ysildea then stepped forward and waived her hand through the air gathering a strange energy around it causing it to create a large amount of pressure in its vicinity. "I will be helping you unlock certain abilities that will help you gain the job of aura user going forward. Although it may sound simple it is a job that is rather unique and very few people throughout my lifetime have been willing to use it. Only one person has ever used its following evolved jobs to its full potential and that little soul beast of yours will help you be the second in that regard." She explained with a smile before letting the pressure that had built up settle back down. "Although I am not an aura user myself specifically, my job as an elementalist is about as close as it gets to it even though they use similar energies for separate reasons."

Joshua smiled and nodded at the display of power both of the people were able to show him with a simple waive of their hands. He was certain that he had made the right decision.