4

Chapter 4

A fist flew at Raynold who had both of his hands behind his back, he simply sidestepped this attack with minimal effort.

The relentless assault didn't stop as another swing followed after.

This was the third day of Ray's and Kiana's intense training.

The more he saw of his adorable kitten the more he knew that this girl was natural at fighting.

His theory that she comes from a long line of cultivators was not far fetched the more he trained her. Truthfully the more he had her around the more he was attached to her. He simply wanted to cuddle and pamper her while they together conquer heaven and earth.

Though she had issues with patience as her composure constantly diminished with each miss.

Eventually, she slipped badly to the point that Raynold smacked her on the top of her head.

Which has ended the training session.

"Why…I can't…*Pant* hit you!?"

"Because that is your end goal, not in between."

"Huh!? Can you use…lesser words? I am still new to this…" She said while trying to catch her breath.

"Look at the house. When my grandfather was building it, do you think he thought about how it was going to look at the end the whole time?" He pointed at the brick house.

"...Um…I guess not?"

"Indeed, it was thought in sections in between. Your end goal is to land a hit. However, what you should focus on the most is fighting and trying to sense your Ki. These are already two things which you have to do. But what do you do in the middle of the fight?" He asked her which only made her embarrassed.

"...focus on trying to hit?" She said while scratching her cheek.

"Indeed one of the disciplines which you need to master is awareness of your surroundings."

"...Hmm…what does it even mean?" She asked with some confusion.

"Simply put, did you notice that my left side is less defended than and I use my right side more?"

"...no."

"Exactly… You didn't pay attention or tried to pick it up. Spacial awareness like that is important to grasp Ki and sense your surroundings."

"I-I see…"

"Yes. Now rest and we are going to return to your practice. Instead of thinking of punching me, try thinking of your body movement. At the end of the day, fighting is another form of art. Just like dancing."

"Dancing? Ray… Are you good at dancing?" She asked randomly.

"Very. I am good at everything related to physical activity. I needed to do that so that I could reach the apex."

"...Reach apex?"

"Yes, apex, to be the strongest, the most powerful is my dream, goal, and ambition. When you are the strongest you can do whatever you want.

That should be your end goal as well. To be the strongest means that you can protect everyone important to you, to defeat the pesky Honkai which your family is all about is it not?"

For a second she has a thoughtful look.

"... Isn't it quite selfish…"

"It's not about selfishness or selflessness. It's about securing your base and then expanding. It's the basic principle of life itself.

Think this way. When you go to fight, would you fight with an empty stomach or a full one? It's the same thing. If you are strong you will have the means to fight with a full stomach."

"...But you won't always have a full stomach…" she said from experience. She is someone who had to be without food for several days.

"And why not?"

"...because I was…weak?" She said that with realisation.

"Indeed. For me, it was even worse. We were abandoned by those cultists and if I was a weak little brat who didn't train every single day I would be dead alongside this whole portion of the continent. The hordes released by the second eruption were felt for years and it was time for my town to die. But I stopped them. I was strong enough….

Well did my message get over to your little head?" As he said that he appeared in front of her and ruffled her hair.

"Yes… I understand."

"Yes. Now, we will train and you will slowly gain that strength, piece by piece as long as needed. Until your steps can shake the very earth."

Kiana slowly nodded. Honestly…he was more pumped up than she was! And that was her training! This guy… is on a completely different level. It humbled her… And she was the one with parents for fighters!

~~~

Kiana's furious punch connected with Raynold's palm. He extremely casually caught her fists which made her question what he was made of.

There was no reaction from him whatsoever!

Though she swiftly shook her head and proceeded with more flurries of moves which again were easily handled by him. He was like a machine that predicts everything she will do!

However, at that moment she felt something!

"Oh? You sensed it?"

The white-haired girl slowly nodded as she was breathing heavily. For the past few hours, she had been constantly and barely hanging on. Her body was burning from tiredness and soreness!

But after all this self-imposed torture…

She felt it! The spark of Ki!

"Good. Now sit down."

"Eh? But…"

"Sit down."

She swiftly followed when he said with steel in his voice. It was automatic obedience.

"Unlike others you have help. I needed to spend months training myself and raising my ki from the smallest of levels. But you are different. Because I am here to kickstart your progress."

As he said that he walked around her and put his hand on her back.

At that moment she felt extremely warm and powerful energy flowing into her body. This feeling elevated her tiredness and soreness.

She felt like she just had at least a few hours of good sleep!

"I am channelling my Ki into you. Use it to feed yours. You should be able to differentiate."

Kiana nodded and proceeded to do just that.

She could feel how swiftly her 'fire' started to grow! It was incredible!

Eventually, it was over, and the girl could feel the difference in strength!

"...It…feels weird!"

"Your body didn't adapt to the new strength. We are going to return to practice."

"N-Now!?"

"Yes, you rested enough. We can now move to proper hand-to-hand combat. No more flailing your hands wildly."

She felt offended for a second because her fighting style is not flailing her hands!

Before she can complain loudly Kiana witnessed him taking a stance. Which made imaginary force descend on the world.

'Honkai…Honkai is assisting him? What in the world did he do to make this happen!?'

He then proceeded to show katas of this martial art. It was just pure fists and palm strikes, no legs were involved at all! Yet, it worked? It was hard to explain for the white-haired girl who had never been exposed to this kind of stuff.

Sure her old man showed self-defence but it was just it… As he said it was swinging her hands wildly compared to what she saw!

After he was done the gravel was floating in the air as Raynolds' fists affected the very gravity of the planet. And it was without him even accessing his core. It was absurdity in making…

Kiana watched him closely; she wanted to see if he accessed his core. But when he was done his eyes were still brown! Not his Herrscher self!

"This was basic fists of Wu-Dang."

"What's that?" She never heard of these people before. Not that she had much exposure to the wide world in the first place.

"They were a group of Taoists which followed specific beliefs. According to these beliefs they developed hand-to-hand combat styles and sword techniques."

"...Ray…you know how to wield a sword!?" She asked with some awe.

"A few styles but yes."

For a moment Kiana felt that he was messing with her. From what she saw even 'a few' would blow her mind away.

"Great! I wanna use one as well!" She pumped herself up when she said that.

"One day I will teach you. You might as well add your core powers into the style."

"Oh…is that why you can wield gravity!? It's part of your style now?"

"In a way? It's more like it comes naturally when you are in the zone?"

"...In a zone?"

"Trance? You are so used to it that your body and mind work in such a sync that you don't need to tell your body what to do. It just does. it's the peak of martial arts."

He then shrugged at her.

"Honkai just makes the process much easier. It's like oil to a machine or blood to one's body. It helps things happen. I still don't understand…why people struggle with this."

Kiana just smiled sweetly at him and internally thought.

'Only for you…only for you who sees this as help and not a threat to humanity…'

The girl understood the simple fact that this guy doesn't understand fear.

It's natural to run away or be on guard when you see a wild predator. But for this guy? He would most likely wrestle the predator and try to make it join him as his pet. He was simply operating on different frequencies…

"Anyway… Let's get back to it…

…

…

…

Several hours later Raynold once again took the girl back to her room. By this point, her room already had a personality. It was full of Homu posters and music group posters. As well as she got a baseball bat. Raynold still tries to understand why she needs that…he could get her a proper lance or a sword… But she wanted a baseball bat…

"She looks stronger…"

His mother got him out of his thoughts.

"Yes. You will need to pull out paper cups, cutlery, and plates."

"Oh? Already? So fast? Didn't it take you years to reach this point?"

His mother knew what this meant. Kiana doesn't know her strength at this moment!

It took ages for Raynold to achieve such strength.

Yet, it only has been two weeks for Kiana!

"I used my Ki to kickstart her Ki. This made her lose the balance of her strength.

"...You don't usually do that…"

She knows that her son's obsession with a balance is supernatural. By this point he even takes sometimes to extreme lengths like if he does nice he does something creative, and destruction follows after. Most of the time he does something in Siberia… Which leads to fewer Honkai beasts being around.

The older lady is pretty sure that he erased more Honkai beasts than any Valkyrie to this date.

"I have kick-started her growth. She might grow fast now but it will even out in the future."

"Oh~~~ someone is pampering his 'Kitten'." She thought that the tease would do something to him…but…to her disappointment, he didn't even react.

"Of course I do. It's my cat. Everything is best for my cat."

"...You have no fun…"

~~~Meantime, Town Mayor's Hall~~~

"You wanted to see me for over a week. What can I do for you, Cocolia?" Raynold's father, Lucan spoke with a professional tone in front of him was a blonde woman.

This was the very same woman that his son had saved close to a week ago.

"Yes well… Your son is quite talented when it comes to Honkai. Isn't it? I have seen firsthand what he can do. I was wondering if I could get his assistance on something…critical?"

"Depends on what is this 'Critical' you are talking about, and you need to talk with him in person. There are not many things that I can do to help you. Our words are just that. He might listen or might not."

The woman for a second frowned. So they don't control him? But he is the poster boy… Are they using his power to control the country?

In other words… she did not expect to see this when she left Siberia and returned to East Europe… This place was like a completely different world.

"Well… If you say so. I need his help with one of my Orphanage children. She has developed a powerful and very dangerous stigmata."

"...oh I see… Now, this is something he would be interested in."

Her eyebrow went up. Why did he got happy all of sudden?