Chapter 6 - Experimentation

Authors Notes============================= I'm sorry for missing so many days. The first time I had no excuse but I blame halloween. Recently, however, I had some rather bad news come to me about one of my close friends, and its made it very difficult for me to write. I'd like to take a moment to remind everyone that life is short, and you should live it the best you can. Go out, make friends, and cherish new experiences. You never know when those you care for may disappear from your lives forever. That being said, I will try to upload every day, but I cannot make any promises. Thank you for reading my novel, and to those of you that donated/became a patreon. ~Wiz p.s. theres another cliffhanger, fight me I do what I want p.s.s. It's not PR'd yet, please feel free to point out any mistakes. p.s.s.s. All my chapters have moved from an average of 2000 words to 2500 words, slowly moving towards 3000. By the time we hit chapter 200, I swear we'll be writing 5000 word long chapters =========================================== Book 4 – Chapter 6 “If you insist.” Dale stepped forward, pulling the girl alongside him with him. The surrounding students turned and watched, waiting to see how he would perform. A few of the onlookers shook their heads, having seen Dale’s earlier clumsiness. None of them expected Dale to be able to match Boril. Dale entered his Perfect Balance, his senses spreading to encompass a sphere of space around him. He felt all the forces of the nearby world, his movements becoming more clear and perfect. Dale grabbed the girl he was dancing with’s hand, walking to the center. He waited a moment, gathering his determination. Then, he began to dance. Under the influence of his Perfect Balance, Dale could feel the rhythm of the music and could mold his movements to match it perfectly. Thanks to this ability as well as his greatly enhanced senses, his movements were extremely graceful. Dale entered into his own world, focusing every fiber of his being on matching the rhythm and moving forward in his dance. The girl he was dancing with had at first danced stiffly, not expecting to have fun. However, after a few seconds, she began to match Dale, following his lead as she danced. A look of astonishment painted her face as Dale began to dance, his fluid graceful movements looking inhumanly good. The students watching gaped in shock, stopping and staring at Dale. He had gone from dancing like a boy from the wilds, unskilled, to dancing like a master. A few of them yelled out, “What?!” “Wow! That was… unexpected.” “Way to go! Haha!” Dale danced smoothly, spinning the girl across the floor. He went all out, twirling and whirling across the floor gracefully. Every step he took, every movement he made, they all seemed to be perfect, exactly where he should move. To the untrained eye, Dale was a master. However, Dale could tell. The sight of Instructor Guile and his perfect grace and perfect movements had been vividly imprinted on Dale’s mind. He was determined to at least attain that level of grace or surpass it, if possible. Instructor Dem looked at Dale with a considering eye. She knew that Instructor Guile had personally recommended Dale for the Leaders School, a very unusual request from the man, but hadn’t seen anything special in Dale. Up till today, she had thought he was one of her more normal students. He worked harder then many of the other students, but other then that, didn’t really stand out. However, as she watched him move gracefully, she wasn’t completely shocked. She had assumed there had to be something about him for him to get a personal recommendation from Instructor Guile. Still, Dale’s fluid movements were not something she expected. Boril watched Dale dance, his face flickering with anger. Boril assumed that Dale must have been hiding his talent, intentionally not dancing well to provoke him. He glared at Dale hatefully. Dale was dancing much better than Boril had been, clearly more graceful and fluid. The girl Dale was dancing with had a smile on her face and was laughing as they danced, moving across the floor. Soon, the song came to an end and the band paused. The students around Dale broke into quiet applause. Dale smiled and walked off of the center, guiding his partner with him. He looked at Boril expectantly. Boril snarled and turned around, dragging the girl he was partnered with behind him. A few of the surrounding students snickered. Instructor Dem quickly took control of the situation, having all the pairs of students begin dancing again. Dale walked back to near where he had been sitting, facing his partner. She gave him a winning smile, much more eager to dance with him now. Dale gave her a sidelong danced as began talking about herself, slowly becoming irritated with her. As the band began another song, Instructor Dem inspected each pair, giving advice and pointers to the students. She would move from group to group, correcting how the boys were holding the girls, advising on footwork, and in general teaching. Soon she arrived next to Dale and his partner. Dale had just finished spinning the girl whose name, he realized, he still didn’t know. She had introduced herself earlier when she was talking but Dale had zoned out her talking, concentrating on dancing. Instructor Dem looked at Dale for a moment and said, “You’re dancing is admirable Dale. If it’s just to not embarrass the Leaders School, you are already skilled enough. Just practice often if you want to improve, there’s no better advice I can offer.” She gave him a smile, continuing on to the next student. Dale gave her an annoyed look. If I could get better that easily, he thought, then I would. Suddenly, he looked at his feet, and then back at Instructor Dem. Practice! He yelled in his mind, becoming excited. When’s the last time I practiced dancing?! She’s right, if I want to improve, I need to practice. He thought, his mind a whirl. As Dale contemplated how he would practice, he danced throughout the class, switching partners several times. It was apparently a normal thing to switch partners after a few songs, so that new dancers wouldn’t pick up any habits from dancing with the same partner. The class soon ended, with promises from all the students to Instructor Dem that they would practice their footwork in their free time. After several hours of classes, Dale was finally finished and started on his classwork, working hard. He made sure to keep up his cultivation, focusing on strengthening his Steel Core by using the various Cores he had purchased earlier. He also kept cultivating his Dragon Sea, eager to master the first layer of his Aura Art. Just like this, Dale passed through the next month, working hard and vastly improving himself. In order to practice his dancing and work on making his movements as perfect as Instructor Guiles, Dale had started visiting the City-State of Lev and going dancing on his free days. He mostly practiced without using his Perfect Balance, finding that the more graceful he was without using his ability, the more graceful he would be when he used his ability. He became friends with several of the dancing regulars, enjoying his practice. Dale’s Aura Art, the Dragon Gods Overwhelming Aura Art, had recently become much harder for him to train. The size of Dale’s Dragon Sea had grown a great deal, allowing him to access its full power for nearly 10 seconds. However, Dale found his Steel Core couldn’t contain any more of it. After checking his manual, he noticed that the Art had a requirement of one being at the Silver Core level to master the first layer. His cultivation had finally reached the peak of the Steel Core. Dale felt like he would make a break through at any moment now, and had stopped using Cores to cultivate. Breaking into the Silver Core level is vastly different then breaking into a lower level. While lower levels just require a certain amount of power, breaking into the Silver Core level required one to have a certain level of understanding of their core, as well as the required strength. If one didn’t understand their Core intimately well, they would forever remain stuck at the Steel Core level. Currently, Dale was at a renowned dancing club in Lev known as the Darobi Bar, dropping by to dance after his classes. It was later in the evening, not yet night in the cave but rapidly approaching. The Darobi Bar was a large establishment with a very large dance floor and a lively band. Dale visited there regularly to practice dancing and in general had fun. He had quickly grown to love the hours he spent dancing. Dale had always loved meeting new people and having fun, and dancing was both at the same time. He was currently talking to one of the regulars he had made friends with at the club, a young man named Jack O’Nyle. “Anyways,” Jack said, gesturing at a group of girls standing off the floor on the opposite side from Dale and Jack, “That was the group of new girls that I was telling you about.” Jack was nearly 16 years old and considered himself to be Dale’s senior when it came to dancing and women, giving him all sorts of (unwanted) advice. Jack was an apprentice Zzelf harvester. Zzelf was one of the main staples for people living in the Under Cave. Because of the fact that sunlight doesn’t reach down here, alternative food was necessary to live in the Under Cave. Zzelf was an edible type of fungus that tasted surprisingly good. It would grow anywhere there was moisture and it was up to Zzelf harvesters to insure that the fungus foodstuffs were imported in a timely manner. The majority of people in the Under Cave lived off of Zzelf. Jack and been dancing at the same bar, the Darobi Bar, for years. The Darobi Bar was considered one of the best dance halls in Lev and many people came there to dance and enjoy themselves. Many of the dancers were extremely competitive, and while Dale had yet to see anyone at the level of Instructor Guile, he had seen a very few people that were close to Guile’s level, and many that were extremely good. In the past month Dale’s understanding and control of his body had improved a huge deal. If he was to challenge Boril again, Dale would be able to crush Boril without the use of his Perfect Balance to aid his movements. “I’ve never seen them here before, or in any of the other dance halls.” Jack continued, “I reckon they must be from one of the academies or from other City-State.” Dale scoffed, “Lev is huge, millions of people live here. It’s not THAT unusual that you don’t recognize them.” Jack shook his head, “I saw one of the girls, the one in the emerald colored shirt, dance earlier, and let me tell you, she’s a looker. You don’t have talent like that without me hearing about it.” Jack gestured at the group again. Dale took a closer look, observing them. The girls looked to all be Dale’s age or slightly older, with multiple expressions on their faces as they talked to each other. Some were nervous, others seemed a bit arrogant and sure of themselves, still others seemed to be genuinely having fun. A few motherly looking figures were keeping watch on them from afar. Dale noticed the girl in the emerald green shirt that Jack had pointed out. The groups of girls that he was looking at were all wearing bright colored shirts and matching pants or skirts. They looked like bright peacocks, in Dale’s opinion. The girl with an emerald green shirt had long blonde hair and hazel colored eyes. She was talking to one of the other girls, an engaging smile on her face. Dale watched her for a moment, looking at her. She had a very pretty face he thought. Jack saw him eyeing her. “You see her too eh?” Jack grinned at Dale, “Well? You gonna ask her?” He elbowed Dale a few times, nodding at the girl. Dale shrugged, “I mean, maybe. I just come here to practice.” He said, shrugging. He asked a few of the girls he knew to dance, spinning around the floor gracefully. He had yet to enter his Perfect Balance, keeping on with his regular practice. He only used his Perfect Balance when he was too tired to maintain his normal grace dancing. A few songs later, Dale looked back at the group of girls. A group of guys had walked up to the girls, several asking them to dance. Many of the girls agreed, stepping out on the floor. Dale decided to watch, wondering how good of dancers they were. After a minute of watching, Dale came to the conclusion that the guys dancing were only average. They weren’t terrible, and they danced with the rhythm, but they couldn’t become completely in tune with the music like Dale and a few of the others could. The girls, on the other hand, were all very good. They followed smoothly, making up for the overeager guys mistakes. In particular, the one with a green shirt and skirt seemed particularly skilled. Dale watched go it, admiring them. He decided to ask one of them when the song ended. A minute later the band finished playing the song they were, moving on to another one. Dale got up and started walking over, determined to ask one of the girls before other guys got to them. He had seen several of the other dancers eyeing the girls after they had danced. It was the first time they had danced on the floor recently. Dale walked over to the group, smiling reassuringly. He was wearing one of his best suits, a dark blue piece he had bought a few weeks ago. The suit had been adjusted specifically so that he would have free range of movement when he danced or moved. Dale thought he looked quite good in it. Dale looked at the gaggle of girls for a moment before asking the one in a green skirt and shirt, “Would you care to dance?” “I would love to!” She declared, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him on to the floor. A new song had just started by the band off to the side, playing rhythmically. The girl looked at him expectantly. Dale began to dance. They swirled and twirled around the floor, with Dale stepping in beat with the rhythm. Dale focused all of his attention and concentration on his movements, trying to place every step perfectly. The girl he was following grinned and smiled, dancing with Dale and following his movements. Just from the few seconds Dale had danced with her, he could already tell that she was a much better dancer than him. She suddenly started speaking as Dale spun her out, “My name is Kelsey, Kelsey Amann. What’s yours?” She smiled as Dale cupped her back in smoothly, spinning them both around on the floor. She really did have a pretty face Dale thought, distracted. “Dale Wensworth! Nice to meetcha!” He smiled at her distractedly, still trying to concentrate on his movements. They danced quietly for another 30 seconds before she spoke again, “Who taught you to dance? You dance pretty well.” Kelsey said, moving fluidly as he turned a corner on the floor. Dale stumbled, nearly tripping as he looked up and tried to answer her while also trying to perfectly place his movements. However, just as he was about to fall, the girl in front of him seemed to shimmer, and Dale suddenly found himself standing upright, not slipping in the slightest. The girl gave him a happy smile. Dale blushed, embarrassed. “Haha thanks for that. Ah, one of the teachers at my school showed me some stuff.” Dale thought back to Instructor Dems lessons. He and his class had just finished the dance portion of their class. Dale had enjoyed the class initially, however, he rapidly moved past the other students dancing wise and found that the class had become much too easy and just wasn’t as fun. If he danced too well, it looked like he was showing off and Instructor Dem reprimanded him. “Oh well, it’s not too bad, don’t worry.” The pretty girl suddenly gave him an encouraging smile and looked around as if she was scouting out other potential dance partners. Oh, it’s like that, is it? Dale thought, slightly annoyed. Alright then… Recently, Dale had been experimenting with his Dragon Sea, trying to see if he could use its strength to power other techniques like he did once with his Shatter Step technique. He decided that now was the perfect opportunity to experiment. An evil smile covered his face. Dale drew powerfully from his Dragon Sea, feeling the Draconic strength rush into him, and entered his Perfect Balance.

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