"Hey, you ready?" Shaun asked me, he was wearing a tight short sleeved shirt. Why are all of the men in this group shredded…?
Shaun's muscles were outlined through his shirt; it made me quite envious about it. Six pack, and lined with muscles, that's how his body was.
Same with Jin, Verd and Shaun. But, I guess that's what you get for being an adventurer for a while…Still, I'm jealous of them! I can't even grow muscles in this damn body either!
Even training for an entire year did nothing, I was still skinny. I had no muscle lines, utterly nothing… ugh… no use complaining about it.
Today is sword training day. Shen's resting in her tent today, so it is Shaun and I. We took a break from traveling, so everyone was doing their own thing. Even though she was the one who suggested training.. She pulled out last minute!!
We stood multiple meters apart from each other; Shaun carried his wooden sword in a relaxed position; blade down, touching the already frosted grass.
Yet, I held my sword, feeling slightly nervous. I kept my right hand on the handle, just above my left. My sword was still shaky, the tip aiming towards the sky.
In the next moment, Shaun raised his hand.
Three..
Two….
One…..
He got into a crouching stance, mimicking my grip on the sword. He rushed at me a few seconds later.
He threatened to strike my side, allowing me to block.
The clashing of our swords made a loud clack; once, twice, three times.
With every strike, the strength he put in increased.
Up, right, each swing came in different directions. Hey is this a training match or a fight to the death!
Holy s- I couldn't get time to think; he was getting faster, and testing my reaction speed. Give me a chance damn it!!
The force of his hits made me waddle back. Everyone was watching due to the clacking of our swords.
After the fifth hit in ten seconds, he took a step back. I took this as my chance to actually get a hit in.
With one wobbly step forward, I swung my own sword at him.
Clack!
My weapon was stopped, he had no signs of struggling.
"Not bad!" Shaun exclaimed, he had a smile on his face.
His sword twisted, making its way under mine, then he flung it up.
"Keep trying!"
Again, I did my best to strike him.
This time, I raised my sword high above my head and swung with all my strength downwards.
Once again, I was blocked; Shaun only used one arm to intercept my sword on the side. Then, he pushed up, the force was more than enough to push me back a few steps
This is getting frustrating… I grumbled to myself.
I could not get anything in, I was defensive, and now I can't do anything offensively. He would easily deflect every hit, or catch it with one hand. Plus this damn foot is annoying…
With a whistle, and staring at me with a slight smile, Shaun said something. "You gotta do something different if you want to get a hit." His words caused me to get even more frustrated.
Paired with his sword resting on his shoulder, I was livid.
…..Alright…. I guess it's time to throw everything at him!
I got back into an offensive stance, and squeezed the sword in my hands. I was massively getting angry, his taunts were effective.
If taunting was his way of winning, it was bloody working. He would've won four times over.
His fucking relaxed look is so annoying… Oh well! Here I come!
I shot forward, pretending to swing to his right. He prepared his sword to block, but I pulled back and swung to his left! I'm going to hit-! OR NOT….
CLANK!
I thought I was going to get a hit on him, but it was ineffective. He had read me like a book, for which I was not ready. He had easily blocked my super intelligent maneuver.
"That was a nice move! Although, did you try to copy Shen?" He asked me with a head tilt.
He not only blocked my sneak attack, he also sent me tumbling backwards. Plus… he figured me out…It was a given, he's skilled with the sword. He would easily figure out a girl's desperate attack.
I'm just going to avoid mentioning I did copy Shen's technique.
She had done it multiple times to me in our sparring session. She'd utilize my pretty much blind left eye, then catch me off guard on my right.
Yes, yes it was due to my weakness on my left; it'd force me to focus on that side, then she'd whack me in my ribs. It's pretty much to teach me to utilize my other senses to compensate for my weakness.
If I can hear them move, I can block without seeing. In a true fight, no one gives a damn about you, they will go after your weakness and take advantage of it. Shen was just trying to teach me.
"Yukina, your body language was obvious. From a glance, I could see your intentions, you need to hide your trump card." Shaun waved his sword around, a finger wagging like a teacher scolding me. "If you can hide it, you'll win a fight.
Thanks… But I don't think sword fighting is my way of fighting. I'm starting to prefer being a backliner… Due to well, err magic! Magic is pretty fun to use, although more exhausting.
After a moment, we continued our little spar.
*********************************************
I flopped onto my back, my arms, legs and shoulders were sore. We trained for god knows how long, however, it was a fun time. Shaun's a really good teacher…
The grass feels cool, it's helping with the inflammation. Never thought I'd experience this much fun from sparring…
As I laid here, I kept my eyes to the sky; my lungs were slightly burning from sparring, which caused my breath to be shaky.
Although I felt this satisfaction, I was not improving… I kept making the same mistakes with Shaun, in which he pointed out through it.
As I replayed the spar in my mind, someone came into my view— Shen, she was in shorts and the same outfit from the time we sparred. Her entrance blocked the beautiful view I was having..
"Get up."
She kicked my arm lightly whilst ordering me.
"Why…?" I wheezed out. Nobody's going to separate me from the ground! I stayed where I was.
It might not be a comfortable bed, but you best believe that coolness to it made me love it for the moment!! It was even better than a bed! Okay, maybe that's stretching it..
"Get up." Shen commanded in a sterner tone. Her kicks came harder, this time thudding against my body.
"Fine! Fine! What the heck do you want to-" I was cut off when Shen threw a sword into my lap. Well….. Fuck.
Self explanatory, Shen wanted to be my sole sparring partner; I knew there was going to be a world of pain in this- but I was wrong, she was surprisingly soft on me today.
We would go back and forth, well, she was slower today. And of course, due to my tired muscles I was a snail. After half an hour, we had stopped, and I was back on the ground again.
I'm not getting any better…. I don't know what they're expecting. My foot was giving me massive stance issues, I couldn't make full rotational swings- only half ones, I was not able to put in full powered strikes.
As my body began to heal, I sat next to the fire, right next to the rest of the kids. Allisa had her healing orbs dancing around, entertaining the two children.
They were giggling, crawling all over Allisa; she in return was having a blast herself. As they laughed, and enjoyed themselves I kept my ears open.
Thus did their discussion come. I realized as soon as a worried voice entered my ears. The adults were pretty far away, but my furry, sensitive ears listened in.
The first one to begin was James. He's taking the role as leader.
"We need to talk about the journey to Ard." His tone was full of worry, and I could feel a slight glance to us.
"What about it?" Jin's voice popped up next, he sounded annoyed. "We've talked about it many times when the kids were asleep."
They had… I heard all about it. I feel like they forget I have super senses.. The journey was pretty arduous, difficult. No pun intended.
First, there were a bunch of mountains. The first one we'll scale is a small one, could take a day or two for me; that's factoring in my disabled foot.
It'd be followed by a plain that spans over a week. We'll have to conserve as much food as we can when we scale that mountain. Then, would be a second mountain that would take less than a day.
But that was all, most of their discussions laid upon the formation. Well, of course supplies too.
"We never talked about the final mountain, just before Ard." James pointed out, he had read my mind. His anxiety had hit its peak, he was clearly nervous. "You know, the mountain of Death?"
What kind of edgy name is that…? I thought to myself, it sounded like a name an emo kid would call it.
"You mean the frosted peaks?" Shen asked quizzically, leave it to Mister Takeda to know. That man was wild in the past with his knowledge. "We just need to worry about the avalanches, is that why you're pacing back and forth?"
"Yukina! Show us the fireball!" My listening was interrupted by a small face. Cute, slightly ditzy, it was Verd's kid. His daughter, Anna.
"Alright… Alright…" I patted her head, then I had a fireball hovering over my hand. The little girl was instantly mesmerized by my spell. She watched the orange fire swirl around.
Knew it… I couldn't help but smile, she went to grasp at my spell. I controlled the heat, it wouldn't burn her. It was warm enough so she can feel it,
"You're awesome!"
"Haha… thank you…" I laughed slightly, the compliments warmed my heart. For some reason, this child liked the fire I could conjure.
Anyways, I kept her entertained whilst keeping my attention backwards.
"Yes, yes! When Melinda and I traversed the frosted peaks, we were lucky." I felt James stare pointing at me. He continued a second later, "Now that we have kids, we need to slow down. Specifically for Yukina."
Thanks for pointing that out, asshole…
I knew my foot was going to be an issue. So, I listened more, while messing with Verd's child.
"Yukina can be carried as we traverse the mountain."
Fuck that suggestion.
"Yukina won't let anyone carry her." Melinda brought up, thank god these adopted parents of mine know me. "You should've known that, Verd."
"I mean, it'll make it quicker, no?" Verd refuted, I could feel his shoulders shrug. "If Yukina would allow it, we can make it through that mountain faster."
That's a fair argument… but I don't want to be carried like a girl.
For the next few minutes, they argued about the same topic. I wanted to join in, but these kids kept me distracted.
It went from my fireball, to the palm of flames. Damn this girl is fearless…
She was not scared of the flames at all! Furthermore, she kept crawling all over me, whilst giggling.
Anyways, they decided on carrying me if I allowed it. Both agreeing on a piggyback ride. Thank fucking god. I praised them silently, the princess carrying was embarrassing.
Their next topic came quick, and it was something way more important.
The smaller kids weren't strong enough to climb the frosted peaks.
"Shouldn't the answer be obvious?" Shen retorted with a snort. "Like your adopted daughter, they can be carried."
"They're young kids, do you think they'll sit still?" Sage responded, scoffing slightly before continuing. "What do you know about kids? You tre-"
"Did you already forget? Who said I didn't have kids in my past life?"
She had no kids…
"It's pretty obvious with the way you treat Yukina!"
"Yes, I did not have kids myself. But, I was a teacher." Shen let out a long sigh before continuing. "Carry your kids."
"I-"
"Carry your kids, we'll only make it through if you listen."
"What about our fighters? Frosted Peaks has a lot of high strength monsters." James brought up.
Frosted Peaks has bears, hawks, spirits, and many more types of creatures. The king of the mountain, literally, are the bears.
Polar bears, snow bears, and ice bears. It's an evolution essentially, polar bears evolve into snow bears, then ice bears.
Evolution wasn't much of a shocker to me, it's essential for fantasy worlds.
Hawks are rare, and are the size of two hawks from earth combined. It's unknown if they have evolved.
Whilst spirits are friendly to humanoid races. Though, they are a great source for experience.
"We can worry about that when we get there." Shen said, her voice seemed to end the conversation. But she had one last comment, "if we follow a plan we will make it through easily."