Ascension of the elder

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Bob finally snapped, he was looking at Kyle with anger and resentment in his eyes. Kyle was surprised by this outburst as he never thought his grandfather would react in this way.

"What's wrong Bob?"

Bob paused for a second to calm his anger and also noticed that Kyle had called him by his name rather than grandfather. This seemed to indicate that Kyle wasn't impressed with Bob's interruption but now he had started Bob intended to finish.

"Winona can't do this kind of exercise her body is weak and this could kill her."

Bob finished and his anger had once again appeared in his eyes. Bob and Winona had been separated for many years by the empire and once they were reunited it was as if they had never been apart.

This love and closeness had made Bob highly protective of Winona much to her annoyance, even when they argued and bickered they never lost sight of the years they had lost together. Winona was looking at Bob with a little love and a whole lot of irritation at this point.

Kyle didn't answer right away but instead asked a question.

"Did Winona complain or ask for the difficulty to be eased?"

"Well no but that's not the point.

"So you can speak for her or is she unable to speak for herself."

Bob could only open and close his mouth at this as he knew his wife was more than capable of speaking for herself. She led several mage councils and was an authority on mage craft, to imply she couldn't speak on her own behalf was ridiculous.

For his part Kyle was keeping his temper firmly under control, but the implication that he would risk injuring any member of his family almost made his anger break free. While he could appreciate Bob's care for Winona he needed to put his foot down.

Others had become aware of what was happening and were watching from a distance, Harris was also watching and decided to step in when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking to the owner of the hand he was greeted by a grim faced Landon.

"Let Kyle deal with this, father can be unreasonable at times."

Harris decided to listen to Landon and just watch for the moment; however he reserved the right to intervene if he felt his father was going overboard with his nephew. Landon was happy to see that Harris was worried about Kyle, this could be chalked up to the seal he had but they would take longer to affect him so these must be Harris's own feelings.

Kyle was looking up at Bob who was still much larger than him. Now he had taken the wind out of Bob's sails it was time to slap him with some truths.

"First off I have an ability that will let me know when I am pushing people too far or over their limits, none of you have reached that limit yet. This ability was what let develop our new technique. Secondly while this is a hard workout it is tailored to each of you with the weights set to your physique. Lastly the reason we are pushing is to force your bodies to adapt and with the technique it will also force your bodies to heal at the same time."

Kyle finished his speech and waited for Bob to react; Winona was thinking through Kyle's words and also closed her eyes to sense her own body. She could feel certain older injuries and aches and pains were already easing and this was after a single session.

Bob was also inspecting himself and various scars and wounds that carried a dull ache were also starting to lessen. The 'breath of deliverance' cultivation technique they were all using could pretty much heal anything given time and small infirmities from old scars and just old age would heal in only a few sessions returning people to their optimum fighting form.

"Um you may be right Kyle I would like to apologise, it was wrong of me to think you would risk any of us."

Dylan and Susan who were trying to appear as small and possible breathed again once this argument was over. While Kyle was still annoyed he had to admit his grandfather was a good man and admitted his mistakes with no shame.

Winona walked over to Bob and shyly kissed his cheek, even after all these years the affection between them was visible for all to see but so was the years of being married.

*Smack*

"Why did you think you could speak for me? Kyle is doing as we asked him to do and you want to shout at him you old goat!"

Yup Winona was scary when she was riled up; Bob didn't say anything and just looked away. It seemed he wasn't going to get any peace for the next few days. Bob looked at Kyle hoping that he would get Winona off him, but looking in his eyes he realised Kyle was going to have some revenge.

It looked like Kyle had inherited Winona's vengeful streak and now Bob was going to be on the receiving end of it.

"Okay Dylan, Susan and Winona you cultivate and recover. Bob it looks like you still have plenty of energy so we'll increase your weights and have you do some sprints."

Bob didn't think this sounded too bad until he felt the increase of the weight on his arms and legs. Bracing himself he began moving his arms and legs getting used to the sudden increase in weight. Kyle led him over to the short track and they began sprinting.

Kyle trained with Bob to keep him going. They did a set and Bob fell to the ground breathing heavily, he was struggling to get his breath back.

"Bob cultivate for 5 minutes then we'll go again."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"If you don't enjoy your work you should quit, now get cultivating."

A short 5 minutes later Bob was back on his feet, Kyle watched him for a minute before he went back to the other three so they could continue their training.

"Okay Dylan I want you to begin drilling Susan and Winona with the weighted staff."

"Yes boss"

"Kyle what is the point of these weighted rods?"

Winona asked with curiosity as she didn't know what purpose this would serve.

"Using weighted rods you'll strengthen your hands and wrists which will help with any weapons and even punching; now I need to check on Bob."

Kyle returned to Bob and saw he was slowing down; Kyle had a malicious grin on his face before he spoke to him.

"Bob you're slowing down, do you require some....encouragement."

"What *huff* do you mean?"

"Oh just this."

Kyle snapped his fingers and the bastion responded to his intent and Bob received a sharp shock to the butt. The internal defensive arrays could also apparently be used to as a training "aid".

"Ow dammit."

"Better got moving, if you slow down you'll receive more....assistance."

Kyle returned to the other group and helped them with their training while using a heavy training rod himself.

*Buzz* "Damn."

"Kyle your grandfather made a mistake can you forgive him?"

*Buzz* "I'll get you meddling kids."

"He doesn't seem to have learned anything yet."

*Buzz* "Ahhh my ass."

"Well can you let him go as a favour to me?"

"Okay but only because you asked nicely."

Kyle gave the cease command to the sprit who gave one last shock before following his command.

*Buzz* "Ow, ow, ow my butt is burning."

"No it's not now rejoin the others and we'll do another round of cultivation before we pack up and get ready for the celebrations, you may *cough* also want to do your hair or at least *cough* brush it."

Kyle was looking at Bob with a strange look and when Bob looked at the others he could also see they appeared to be trying to contain their laughter. Bob looked at Winona who simply said.

"Don't worry dear we can sort it out later, let's just cultivate and get this over with."

"Yes dear."

Another round of cultivation followed, Kyle was inspecting his grandparents and saw that their first level nodes were already strong enough to support a perfect breakthrough so before they returned to shower and change Kyle had them both clear the first gate completely.

Kyle returned to his room and laid out his clothes for the night but when he heard a scream from the distance he smiled to himself.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR, I LOOK LIKE A DANDELLION!"