The First Lesson and Teaching The Method

"...Mister, do you have any food around here?" I heard Mai speak behind me as I was busy digging out a cave. Turning back, I wiped my hands together before realizing that in the years I'd been here, I'd really needed to eat.

Sure, I could eat but I didn't need to.

"No, I don't. But I'll get some once I'm done making this cave for you two," I replied before turning back to the budding cave I was making.

My eyes...were special. Changed by the method. The reason fights were so easy for me is because I have a sort of pseudo-precognition. I can predict all the courses of action my opponent can take and make up counter-attacks for each and every one of those actions. But my eyes were more than just that - they had a sort of x-ray vision and a weakness perception.

How was this relevant right now? Well, I could see the weak points in the rock in front of me and I could see which parts I could dig away and what parts would cause a collapse.

This was how I saw everything. Weak points. Human's practically looked like bags of blood and flesh when I focused my eyes. Though I could control it and not look at everyone's weak points right now, in the early days I couldn't control it and nearly everyone flashed in between looking like normal people and skinless people. Even now, I sometimes saw people's muscles and internal organs randomly.

It was the truth of this world:

Humans are just bags of meat. Though I will admit that that's a very nihilistic and not very light opinion. But with the evidence my eyes have seen...I can't refute it. You'd probably think the same if you had eyes that could see weaknesses and the inner workings of human anatomy.

Carving through the rock with my hands wasn't too hard, honestly. Rock is strong but flesh is so much stronger, honestly. Most people just don't know how to use their power. I had the method, so I did. I had conscious control over my, well, over my everything. I could control my muscles, my bones, my hormones, my heart - I could consciously control it and concentrate it into being better. That's what The Hercules Method does. It gives you control and with that control, comes the potential for power.

Though my Healing Factor and absorbing of powers don't come from that method. They must be my body's original powers.

I smoothed out the floor with my foot, then the walls with my hands, until what was left was a perfectly smooth 10mx10mx3m room.

Turning around I saw the two kids just looked at me while sitting and playing about with the grass. They looked relaxed but also curious. As if to prove this thought, Mai spoke up, her pale and slightly malnourished face lighting up with both curiosity and suspicion, "Are you sure you aren't an ogre, mister? I don't know many normal people who can break rock with their bare hands..." she looked slightly scared of pissing me off or making me change my mind and I felt another pang of sympathy for the kid.

I knew there'd be kids like this as soon as I found out I was in the 16th century. But knowing and seeing it actually exist are two different things. Even though it made me feel sympathetic, it also instilled in me a small amount of joy that I could still feel things like sympathy and pity.

Smiling, I squat down from my normal, yet huge, height and peered into the two pairs of black eyes with my green ones, "Yes, I'm quite sure I'm not an ogre. I'm just a special human. Just like you two will become if you have talent for what I have to teach you," I smirked at the rapidly gathering excitement on their faces before I ruffled their hair and stood up, "Anyway, follow me, we're going hunting."

"Eh? Can't we stay here?" Mai looked at the newly made cave and then back to me, "Isn't it dangerous to go into the woods?" she asked like she'd already forgotten that I could carve through rock with my bare hands - wild animals wouldn't be a problem for me.

Looking back at her with an incredulous eye before I closed my eyes and sighed, "The safest place for you two is at my side. Nothing will hurt ya as long as you stay close to me, got it?" I said, opening my eyes to peer down at the two of them.

Mai just nodded but Junichi looked at me with sparkling eyes like he'd seen something really cool.

...I'd be lying if I said it didn't boost my ego a little.

Picking the two of them up, both of them yelping - even the unusually quiet Junichi - before I blasted off at what I thought was a casual pace. For the two kids, however, it must have been pretty hard. I was moving quicker than a horse, after all.

. . .

Bending down, I picked up a rock, weighing it up and down in my hand before I was satisfied and stood up before activating the only power I'd absorbed. I felt my forearm twitching as the usual crackles I was used to by know began to sound out from my enclosed fist. Slowly, smoke began to rise from the fist and I settled into a pitcher's throwing stance.

Keeping my eyes to the front of me, I saw the large deer in front of me and in a burst of speed, I concentrated enough of my strength into my arm and let loose the stone with a sharp explosion propelling it even faster.

Within less than a second, the rock hit the deer and went through the skin before breaking up and exploding, leaving bits and pieces of rock shrapnel that tore up it's insides. But it didn't die.

Just like I planned.

Walking over with Mai and Junichi in tow, I picked up a stick before using my nails, which were just as strong as the rest of my body, to begin to sharpen the stick.

"Mister...why didn't you kill it...?" Mai looked pale at the sight of the paralyzed deer and all the blood pouring from it's wound. Her black eyes were shaking and she looked both scared and worried for the deer's well-being. She's a nice kid.

...But I don't need a nice kid as a disciple. I need someone with talent for the method.

"Because you're going to be the one to kill it," I said simply, my voice calm and sounding like I hadn't just ordered a child to kill an innocent animal.

"W-what?" she asked in disbelief and her body swayed left and right a little in dizziness. But she balanced herself and just looked up at me with an ever more paling face.

Sighing, I finished sharpening the stick before I turned towards her and extended the stick to her, "I said, you're the one who's going to kill it. In this time period, the ones who kill are the ones who live. Plus, if you're hungry, you should be the one to kill what you're about to eat. I'll only incapacitate deers for you but you're the one who needs to kill them. After a month or two I'll even stop doing that and you'll have to hunt them on your own," I spoke and Mai just tremblingly took the stick before without hesistating and stabbing it into the neck of the deer.

She has promise.

Turning to Junichi, I could see that he was pale at the sight but considerably less so than his sister. It seems growing up the way he did has effected him more than Mai.

Looking between the two, I could tell that Junichi probably grew up in such a way while his sister, who was 9 or 10, must have been with their parents for a little while longer and that lead to her being different to Junichi.

But nevermind that. She completed the mission I gave her.

As soon as the deer convulsed and began kicking around with it's front hooves, Mai began to cry before she let go of the stick, backed up and began to throw up in a nearby bush.

Walking over to her, I pat her back and she turned to me with red-rimmed eyes, "M-mister, why does it f-feel so bad??" she asked, genuinely confused at what she was feeling. I felt bad for her but steeled myself as I answered her.

"Because you're a good person, I suppose. But that makes you a bad warrior. Don't worry, I'll soon work it out of you," I gave her a smile before wiping away the stray bits of vomit on the corners of her mouth before standing up fully again and walking over to the deer and pulling out the stick. A spurt of blood followed the stick and I heard Mai retch again but ignored it.

Turning to Junichi, I passed him the stick, "Take it. It's your turn next," I said before bending over and picking up the deer and placing it on my shoulder, not minding the blood pouring over me, "Come on then," I demanded before marching on, using my enhanced senses to pick out a suitable target for Junichi.

This would be the first lesson for the both of them.

The lesson that this world runs on one principle and one principle only; the law of the jungle. Whoever's stronger is right and whoever's weaker is either dead or in the wrong.

. . .

Writing down the last bit of information I had on the method, I looked through the text. It was detailed enough for the two of them to know what to do but simple enough that their kid brains could figure it out. Anything they still struggled with could easily be sorted out by me.

Standing up, I walked to the front of the cave where Mai and Junichi were, sitting and quietly eating their kills.

Junichi had taken it a lot better than Mai had but he still looked quezy after killing his deer and even got close to retching if the minor spasms of his abdominal muscles and diaphragm were anything to go by. Looking to his sister, I saw that she was doing remarkably better than she had been as she scoffed down the meat placed in front of her but hey, kids are nothing if not adaptable.

"Here," I said as I arrived next to them, sitting down. I passed them the pieces of paper before looking at them seriously, "This is 'The Hercules Method'. It will make you strong but I need you both to swear on your own and each other's lives that you won't spread this to anyone no matter what," my eyes grew serious and heavy and the two of them gulped before nodding rapidly. Upon seeing that I was pleased with their answer, they took the paper and began to read through it.

I just sat there with my legs crossed and in the lotus position. Waiting.

The both of them quickly ate the last of their meals - a few handfuls of cooked meat - before the followed my example and entered the lotus position facing me.

"Good," I said before clearing my voice and continuing, "Now, before I help you enter the right mindset to start practicing, I'm going to prepare you for what you're going to see. You'll be placed in a dark place. Darker than anything you've ever seen before - don't be scared when that happens. Just look for the light. When you find it, follow the light. Once your in front of the light, you'll see that it's three disorganized 'strings'; one red, one blue, and one white," I explained and they listened with rapt attention, absorbing the information I was giving them, "Like said in the pieces of paper I gave you, you need to exert your will over these three 'strings'. Bring them into alignment, like soldiers standing in front of their superior. They will look weak at first but the more you bring them into alignment and under your control, the stronger and healthier they will look and become. Understand?" I asked and they nodded with determinted faces.

They both seemed quite bright and mature, so I had no doubt that they would be able to understand what I meant.

Before they even had any time to ask any questions, I rapidly moved my hands and pressed into certain nerve clusters on their bodies. I did it so quickly it was like every nerve cluster had been hit at the same time and it sent them into a sort of trance.

They'd have to learn how to enter the space with the 'strings' on their own but for now, I'd be able to help them like this.

Closing my own eyes, I refined my control over my own body, mind and spirit while also pushing the metamorphosis ever closer to being completed. I felt my muscles, bones, skin, organs, and everything to do with my physical body, ripple and grow stronger with every second. It was only a small, nearly minuscule strengthening but every little added up in the end.

And just like that, I'd given out my second lesson to my disciples.