Chapter 45: Final Lesson
So much happened in a few months. And in Hyena and his companion's case, it was clear. This was very weird considering they seemed like total noobs when Hugo introduced them to Gaia all those days before.
'That kid has some pretty impressive friends, if not for his Awakening, I would have loved to say they have as much potential as he does.'
"What next, master?"
Hyena called out from the side as he got up from his position on the cave ground. He seemed to be soaked in sweat and the clean appearance he'd recovered in Hugo's house disappeared, leaving no clue of his handsome appearance.
The 'salaryman' name people often called him didn't show on his current appearance; dirty and grimy.
After these months, Hyena's chest had grown wider and his hair longer. This long hair wouldn't last long though if Gaia's standards entered into consideration. Though he didn't like to cut his hair, once it reached a certain point, Gaia would even go as far as to travel to the best barber to cut it.
Hyena, without a doubt, had reached that certain point.
"Well, the re-ranking event is taking place soon, I assume you want to head back to put on a show for the unfortunate public who'll be watching you?"
The old man hobbled over to the cave entrance and watched as the sun came up. The frown on his face was obscured by the shadow being cast onto his face, it went without saying that he looked down on those kinds of events.
"Well, the more you put it like that, the more I want to pull out of the event. Hehe!"
"Anyway, I just need to reach A-rank and I'm pretty much settled. It makes no sense why'd they place such a strong Evolutionary in B-rank!"
Skydancers were these kinds of creatures. Like most groundbreaking professions in the world; scientists, lawyers, writers and such, Skydancers were egoists. They wouldn't just do anything without aim.
"That kind of motive isn't anything noble, well at least not at all when compared with grand aspirations like Hugo's."
Alpha2 and IA V-1 popped out from the garden deep in the cave and butted in the conversation.
'Why do I have the sudden urge to yell out Facssss!' Gaia's remembered some popular phrases from before the collision and out of nowhere laughed out loud.
"Eh? What's wrong with teacher?!"
This had happened a lot more often since Hyena and co began training with him. It was strange, that went without saying, but nostalgia was something that could not be stopped.
Gaia waved their yells away and turned around to face them.
"You can go anytime you want, but each of you must spar against me for a duration of twenty mins."
Their eyes widened in a lot of surprises, this was the first time Gaia requested to see their progress through a spar against him. Against themselves, no problem, but against HIM? That was a huge problem!
"Anytime you want, sir!"
But none of the trained students had any intention of backing off.
"Let's start with Iron Alchemist first, come at me with everything you got. Don't worry, I'll make sure I try my best not to hold back."
"What…"
The three students were stunned speechless by the teacher's righteous way of saying that, and what was even more irritating was the old man's gleeful expression.
. . .
"Alright, let's do this, kid!"
Iron Alchemist had a pitiful look on his face, indicating his disapproval of this match.
"And as for the rules, you are not allowed to use any abilities that I didn't teach you!"
Iron Alchemist had already put his astronaut-Esque helmet on and had begun stretching his aching body in preparation for the upcoming slaughter. But as soon as Gaia mentioned the terms, he finally found the feet to protest.
"Why though? The only moves you taught me were the ones you remembered from old sci-fi movies and comics, and you couldn't even remember up to twenty!"
The old man opposite him shook his head, disagreeing with the cyborg's words.
"What are you talking about? I taught you about fifty skills!"
"Out of those fifty, I'd already known up to thirty, leaving the remaining at twenty. And out of those twenty, there are only five cool moves. I demand justice!"
No matter how ignorant he acted at times, Iron Alchemist was an undeniable champion at debates, and matters of strategy.
"Sigh, pushing me to an edge like this. Children these days are so uncaring of the elderly…"
"Fine! I agree with your request, you can use any other move you knew before to counter my attacks. But let me give you all one final lesson on the gap between our strengths."
"Let's say you all were to attack me at the same time, you'd not even take half of my health nor exhaust me in the slightest. If you didn't understand that first part, let me rephrase it in video game style; Assuming I had one million HP, and you all were to attack together, you'd only be able to scrape off one thousand HP."
His words left them baffled, but one thing they learnt from the old man was to never doubt his words.
"Hehe, can you believe I'm so humble?"
Gaia smirked to himself and the three students standing in the distance felt an uncanny sense of familiarity with the old man's sense of pride.
'Wait… those set of words are familiar.'
"Anyway, let's start right now!"
Gaia tapped his wand against the ground three times and the cave walls became much farther from them. (This includes the ceilings for anyone predicting his next move)
One of his arms was placed at his back while the other which held the wand was at the front. 'This stance is key to looking cool for an old man, as he normally said to Hugo.
He tapped his wand against the floor three times again, but this time the effects were different.
Two huge stone giants clawed their way to life from the rock standing beneath the master and his students.
"ROAR!"
The stone golems easily identify Iron Alchemist to be their foe and sent him a warning roar. It was as if they were telling him to surrender or face the consequences.
'Sorry for you stone heads, I won't be doing that!'
As Iron Alchemist thought that, the expression on his face sharpened and he activated his Thruster skill on the bottom of his feet.
"ROAR!"
The golems swung their arms around frantically, trying their best to hit the flying target. But to no avail, they couldn't touch a single piece of hair on him.
If this were before, the two giants would have bodied him. But after Gaia's training regimen, his mind had become much faster, and his body became even stronger.
"Flash Cannons!"
Iron Alchemist found a steady point in the air and held his right hand using the other, the effect was crumbling stone. His Flash Cannons had undeniably become more lethal after thinking of multiple more applications of his vast mechanical power.
. . .
*Three Months Ago, A month after Gaia took the three in*
"Hmm, Iron Alchemist, this might be hard to hear. But from what I've seen, your method of using your large firepower is a waste!"
Gaia's body swung sideways on his hammock, his wand was laid quietly in the corner. This was one of the few times he'd keep away from the staff-like wand.
"What do you mean?"
IA V-1 didn't want to be disrespectful, but he couldn't help but feel offended by the way the old man put it.
"Well, to put it simply, if your engineer put more effort, you could definitely have a planetary destruction weapon installed within your body. By then, you'd be able to stand side-by-side with those who hold God-grade Awakenings, though you wouldn't have one yourself."
IA V-1 furrowed his brows in deep concentration and thought carefully of what the old man was saying.
'That makes slight sense? Right now, if I were to use all my strength to fire an attack, I'd only be able to destroy a quarter of Theta, which is several cities. However, that is considering that quarter is filled with normal cities not protected by large-scale force field wards…'
"You don't have to think much of it, but I'd advise you to start contributing more to governmental projects. I don't like the government, but when it comes to top-tier technology, they're the best. Let's assume your engineer has the capability but lack of pieces, then I advise you to consider that option."
His words were reasonable, but it was still too far and in his current situation, too unattainable.
But that didn't mean Iron Alchemist wouldn't try his best to create something of decent power.
. . .
*Back to Present*
'Hehe, I wonder if he knew I'm one of my own Engineers?'
Iron Alchemist smiled to himself and steadied his hand while he aimed at the second stone giant.
"High Impact Matter Cannon!"
A white light appeared on his palm and expanded throughout the cave but then suddenly contracted into the size of a flashlight beam.
'Go!'
With one command from his brain, a small light flew out of his palm and landed on the golem's body.
"Explode!"
*BOOOM!*
As smoke came up from the impact of the explosion, the sound of stone crumbling was what came next, followed by the sound of an angry old man.
"Cough, cough, you dumbass, do you wanna kill us!"
"However, no more playing around for us."
All of a sudden, the old man who still had a hand behind, floated into the air. His green robes fluttered with the gust of sudden wind that came from the cave entrance.
"What?!"
It wasn't an exaggeration to say the student's jaws were hanging.
"HAHAHA, and this isn't even my final form!" [1]
[1] This is a reference to the famous Frieza meme. Hehe, Gaia is so cultured.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone