Elanor's Secret Training

  Over the next few days, John focuses on teaching Franklin and Laurel in their dreams and with the dummy. Every day they strike the figure matching its strength. "The most important part of this technique is to create a clash of strength with the enemy. It works especially well on people stronger than you. They'll be incensed when you stop their attack and will try to crush you to show superiority. It's best to insult and taunt them first, so they won't think when attacking," John teaches the two.

  The temperature slowly dips, and John's leaves fall one after another. He is now in hibernation until spring. Everyone falls into a cycle of training, eating, and hunting. Donna gathers winter berries for her snack every day.

  Eventually, the villagers reach the foundation stage, the men first and then the boys. Even the mothers eventually fall into the foundation stage. The only one that hasn't is Donna.

  Gregory decides to ask Elanor one day about the sudden increase. "Normally, we'd never gain such strength. But now, it seems even those who train casually are jumping into the realm of heroes. Did something happen to our bodies?" Gregory asks suspiciously.

  Elanor laughs and pats him on the shoulder, almost dislocating his arm. "Please, if an adult can't enter the foundation stage, are they even alive?"

  "No, it's not normal at all," Gregory contends while rubbing his sore shoulder.

  "If the environment is right, it's easy. You just live on a garbage low tier planet, so normally the environment isn't right," Elanor says with a shrug. "But forget this pointless conversation gather everyone up. I have an important announcement!" Elanor continues throwing Gregory's worries away.

  Soon everyone gathers in the village square, wondering what's going on. Elanor greets everyone with excitement. "Welcome, everyone. I have two big announces! My fellow disciples are going to be visiting the village soon," Elanor announces.

  "Why are they coming?! To visit you?" Donna asks with fervor getting sucked in by Elanor's excitement.

  "They are apprentice medics, so they'll be here to practice their medicine on the injured," Elanor explains while nodding happily.

  "…." The whole village looks around in confusion. 'Is anyone hurt?' they ask themselves.

  Laurel jumps into voice everyone's confusion, "No one is hurt, though."

  "That's obvious. The next announcement is that the adults will get special training!" Elanor says while rolling up her sleeve.

  Gregory frowns and steps forward, "I don't think that's necessary."

  As Gregory speaks, Elanor smashes forward and punches him right in his chest, causing him to fly back. "Stop being so full of yourself!" Elanor yells angrily. She then smiles at everyone, "Don't worry, this is important. That's what my sisters back home said."

  "Elanor's gone crazy! Run, daddy!" Donna says, pushing her dad's leg. But it did no good. Her dad shields himself with his arms, but he is still sent flying. His arms shattered.

  "You don't even know how to fight!" Elanor yells with a gleeful smile.

  Everyone runs for their lives, but what can they do? There is no way for them to escape such a powerhouse. Even hiding is pointless as her powerful senses will easily search them out. Before long, all but two adults are lying on the ground writhing in pain.

  With Arron by her side Anna and him are the only ones left still standing in the open grounds of the village square. Anna didn't run and waited for Elanor to return. Finally, Elanor arrives trudging through the cold. Elanor still wears her loose-fitting clothing that shows too much but never shows the most critical parts. As if this chill can't even touch her at all, she walks with ease in all weather.

  "Come, I'm ready," Anna says, taking her stance.

  Elanor laughs, "That's how it should be! Take this puny girl!"

  Elanor then slams her fist forward. Arron runs out and throws his body in front of Elanor to slow her down. He tries to grab Elanor's fist, but his finger shatters as he does. Arron then envelopes it with his body while grimacing. As he turns into a C shape, Elanor leans into his whisper in his ear. "How can you save anyone being this weak?"

  Arron then flies towards Anna as a projectile. Anna is prepared for this, though, and her low defensive stance allows her to dodge her husband swiftly. She then turns with the momentum to block Elanor's attack unleashing every bit of foundation energy she has.

  Even though Anna does her best to deflect the incoming attack with her left arm, it is to no avail. When she tries to push Elanor's fist away, Anna's arm skin is torn, and her arm twists as if it is about to pop off. Even with this grimacing pain, Anna endures. She uses the force of taking the attack to spin at a miraculous pace and punches out with her right hand.

  There attacks land simultaneously. Anna's punch just skims the breast of Elanor, but in turn, the usually soft spot of a woman slams back, crushing her fist. Elanor's attack hits right in Anna's center, sending her flying, her body broken. Anna lays limply on the ground next to Arron, unable to move.

  "Perfect, everything is all set!" Elanor says gleefully. She then claps her hands and says, "alright, everyone come help me collect them so they can be treated."

  Donna Jumps out of the snow with tears streaming down her face and frozen snot coming out of her nose. "Why mean?" Donna cries as she jumps on Elanor's leg and bites her large calf.

  "Moo!" Joe also attacks, spurred on by Donna he charges at Elanor.

  "Ha, my fellow disciples aren't vets. Do you want to spend another month in a pool of medicine?" Elanor laughs. This time she isn't playing a weak girl. She raises her hand and catches Joe's horn. With just one hand, Joe slams to a stop causing his brain to shake. Elanor then twists her arm, sending the demonic bull spinning causing him to be even more disoriented. She then throws him back up the hill.

  "Go take a vacation!" Elanor says while laughing. She then bends over and extracts Donna, who now has sore teeth from Elanor's leg. She then hugs the struggling girl between her bosom. "Don't worry, Donna, your dad will be fine. This is a good chance for them to experience defeat. It's an important part of the training, or so I've been told," Elanor comforts the distraught girl.

  The other kids try and help out their parents, but even the slightest movement makes them scream. However, some have already long passed out, like Mellisa, who has no heart for fighting. Elanor looks over them and swiftly attacks again, knocking the rest out.

  "Alright, now that they aren't complaining, drag them to bed. Rosie and Kendra are almost here," Elanor states to the children.

  With the strength of the foundation stage, they are easily able to move the larger adults. However, they can't help but tear up with worry as they move the broken bodies to bed. Donna, still crying in Elanor's chest and hitting her with her tiny hands, continually complains as Elanor casually drags her dad by the leg home.

  Not long after Kendra and Rosie arrive, they walk over to greet Elanor. Kendra walks over with a disgusted face, "There better be people to practice on after dragging us out here."

  Elanor waves her hand as if pushing her complaints away. "No worries, we just got done training. They are thoroughly broken," she confirms.

  "Let's not fight. There is work to do," The hard-working redhead Rosie mediates.

  Elanor turns and waves them to follow. "Each house has an injured person in it. You should check them all but fix this guy first," She says as she opens the door to Wilbur's shack. There a girl is crying and clutching her dad.

  The two women give Elanor a quizzical face. "Don't you think you went a bit too far on them?" Kendra accuses.

  "This is normal training I went through all the time," Elanor assures Kendra.

  Rosie ignores the common fight and goes straight to the patient. She starts looking over him as Donna continues to cry. After a few moments, even this work-focused woman can't ignore the poor girl. She reached out and pats her head, and awkwardly smiles. "Don't worry, I'll heal him up in no time," She says.

  "Really?" Donna asks while looking up at the woman disbelievingly.

  Kendra smiles, looking confident and regal as ever walks over to Donna. "That's right. We're nothing like this muscle-brained idiot. Just trust us," she confirms.

  "Ok!" Donna says while still clutching her father.