In Franklin"s dream, he is soaring through the sky cutting down bad guys and demonic beasts. "Ha, who dares stand against the great Franklin!" He proclaims to the world in a mighty voice.

John claps as he floats over. "Pretty full of yourself considering your last fight nearly got your mother killed," he jokes with a hearty laugh.

Franklin frowns and turns toward the usurper. He then retorts with disdain, "Who dares speaks to me that way!" However when his eyes lock on to John the fog of dreams fade. "Teacher! I thought you"d pa.s.sed on," He says with excitement, as his countenance returning to normal.

"I was just a bit indisposed. It"s rude that everyone thinks I"ve been snuffed out just because I wasn"t around for a bit," John says while pouting. Sighing he visibly shrinks a bit. "how did I get such a bad reputation?" he laments.

John then walks over to the boy and roughly smacks him on the shoulder causing Franklin to stumble a bit. "Show me how you"ve improved while I"ve been gone. You"re not my disciple, so you shouldn"t waste this precious time," he chides the boy.

"Yes!" Franklin shouts with vigor as he takes his stance. First, he shows the basic punches and kicks he"d learned from Elanor. Next, he shows the simple sword strikes and parries he"d learned from John.

As John watches he stretches a bit. Only when he enters dreams can he move around so freely. "Looks fine to me. But I"ve only had basic lessons in combat myself," he thinks to himself.

As Franklin finishes his routine, John rubs his chin as he ponders, "I don"t think there is much more I can teach him. I think they might be overestimating me a bit... If it was raising plants, there is a ton of information I could pa.s.s on. Well perhaps."

"Teacher, what did you think?" Franklin asks with blazing eyes. He wipes the sweat from his brow as he watches the complicated expression on the old man"s face. "Did I mess up?" he asks tentatively.

John looks at the young lad that doesn"t know how high the heavens are and how vast the universe is and says, "Boy, you"ve improved a lot," John pauses and rubs his head before continuing with a harrumph, "I don"t think I can be much more help."

Franklin"s eyes go wide. He grabs hold of his teacher"s sleeves and asks, "What do you mean? Am I that bad?"

John scratches his head bashfully as he answers his student, "Honestly I"ve never been good at fighting." Franklin looks up at the old man skeptically. "Yes, I did fight in that h.e.l.lish war, but survival was more about luck than anything else. Besides that war, my adventures were limited to traveling to sell mystic herbs and a few gathering missions," he shakes his head and pushes the boy away.

A naginata appears in John"s hands as he steps away from the boy he takes a combat stance. He strikes out quickly and decisively. Franklin looks on mesmerized by the power behind the strikes. "What is my teacher talking about he"s so strong!" he thinks as his eyes glow.

However, while Franklin is starry-eyed, John can only look at his hands in disgust. He thought he threw away this pain long ago. "To think even after reincarnating..." he grieves.

Slowly he looks over at his student. Rage fills his face as he spins and thrusts the naginata right towards Franklin"s face. The boy doesn"t even have time to react as the blade stops only a few centimeters from his face. As if he was a few seconds behind Franklin suddenly stumbles backward in shock.

"What does a foolish boy like you know!" John roars with spittle flying. He looks at the shock on the boy"s face and takes a deep breath before continuing, "You know nothing. The moves I just showed you are garbage I"ve cobbled together. There is only one worthwhile move I know, and even that is only useful for garbage talents like me."

John holds out his hand to help the boy up. Franklin didn"t know what to say. He slowly reaches for his teacher"s hand and takes it. John pulls him up and brushes off the dirt. "I still took you as a student, so I"ll help you out one last time when you reach Foundation stage, I"ll teach my one good technique."

Franklin looks over the old man. The anger and self-derision seem to have sapped the old man"s vitality. He looks at his own hand as he remembers his past weaknesses. The day they had to run from the village the day he almost got his mother and Laurel killed. He clenches his hand with resolve. Franklin bows to John with deep apreciation. "I know this is a disrespectful request, but please teach it to everyone who reaches foundation stage," he asks with determination.

John raises his eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Most lads your age want to h.o.a.rd techniques so they can look better."

"Yes, I"m sure."

"Fine, but only the kids," John states giving in. He then pats the boy"s shoulder one last time before vacating the dream world.

In another dream, a young girl is once again in a strange ocean. This time however the sun is shining and the ocean is calm with gentle waves. "Is this because of the medicine?" Laurel wonders. She looks around and notices that there are far less hers than before.

The few that were here seemed far more comfortable than her. There was a wild looking her with matted hair and crudely made animal fur clothes. This wild her sat on the ocean grumbling to herself away from the rest. There are a few warriors looking hers looking to Laurel"s left. Laurel followed their eyes and saw two hers one in colorful silk clothes the other wore a flowing dress red dress. "They"re dancing? Or perhaps fighting?" Laurel wondered as she watched the two.

The silk one has a flexible dance style where she performs exotic dance moves. The other dance style is more traditional with graceful spins and sways that cause her dress to look like a blossoming flower.

They both smile radiantly, as they dance and attack each other. The one in the red dress rhythmically slashes out with each flair of her dress. The other flips and contorts while retaliating with her feet. Even with the combative nature of the dance, they flow together as if ch.o.r.eographed.

All of a sudden the flexible one disengages and flips backward towards Laurel. Laurel"s eyes bulge in shock as she flinches and covers her face defensively. The flexible stops while balancing upside down. Their faces are only a few inches apart.

"Someone new appeared!" The flexible her says while giggling.

"Ignore her she doesn"t look like she will be around for long," A her with soldier attire scoffs.

The her in a red dress glides over to Laurel with a gentle smile. She then grabs Laurel into a hug pulling her out of the water. She then twirls towards the offending her in soldier attire. Looking over the shocked Laurel shoulder she starts admonishing the soldier, "We"re all us, so we should help each other out."

"My master says that there should only be one real one and the rest are just reflections from the ocean of time," a lordly dressed her speaks out with condescension.

The soldier her sneers replying, "ha, I bet you think you"re the real one too. Your master doesn"t know s.h.i.t about the ocean of time!"

"Whatever let them fight over nothing. Do you dance?" The red dressed her asked still hugging Laurel.

"Um, I"m learning, but I only know a few steps," Laurel answers sheepishly as she starts shifting uncomfortably as the hug carried on.

"Don"t worry we"ll teach you!" the flexible her exclaims with excitement, as she jumps in and joins the hug.

Soon they were inspecting the few steps Laurel knew. They both nodded as they quickly understood the simple dance steps.

"Her dance style is closer to yours," the flexible her stated to the red-dressed her.

"Only superficially. Isn"t it a bit more traditional? She must be learning from some old lady right?"

Laurel makes a bitter expression as she hears the two talk. "She is a young beauty like I"ve never seen actually," She retorts.

The two other dancer hers giggle to each other. The one in the red dress says, "Nonsense, you can"t tell by looks there are all kinds of secret body altering techniques."

Laurel thinks back to the times Elanor"s muscles grew and rippled. "I suppose, but she doesn"t give off the feeling of someone old," she mumbles as her mind wanders.

The flexible her shakes her head and pats the red-dressed her on the back. "Well let"s not waste time, go teach her a bit," She says jovially.

"Alright," the red dress her says emphatically. She jumps towards Laurel scooping her up into a traditional dancing stance. One hand on Laurel"s hip the other grabbing her hand. They twirl about for a few minutes while both dancing hers give pointers. Then the red dress her suddenly shouts, "go!"

Laurel is flung out spinning from the her in a red dress. Without anyone holding her up she fell into the ocean with a large splash. Before she could get her bearings, she found herself sinking into the ocean.

"See I told you, you shouldn"t get attached."

"Oh no, I forgot!" The red dress her said while panicking.