"A week. It took me one week to defeat you, Kuri....And who is the tough guy now?" I knew I was behaving like a child, but I couldn't help it.
I trained in the Han dojo for a week, each day dealing with Kuri's revenge. He wanted to avenge Juri, showing me no mercy. I took a beating from him, like never before.
The lingering smell of ruthlessness followed my training, as Chikara didn't go easy on me either. He hit me with his bamboo stick , like I was a pinata.
Luckly it all didn't got unrewarded, my [Hand to Hand combat] improved imensly. I even began to belive I had some talent in melee combat, now my talent stood on [Basic Lvl 4], which surpass my Lvl in [Swordsmanship].
I trained the basics this whole time. How to throw a punch, how to kick, the same things I did on my first day. I thought I will be bored after couple days of doing the same stuff, but it wasn't the case.
I felt fulfilled while mastering those basics, like in some montage. (Maybe recalling the 'Eye of the tiger' and songs like that, helped in this conclusion.)
Now, after this week, I defeated Kuri. He laid on the same floor, I did before, breathless, with no will to fight.
After laughing some more, I stopped and moved to the other part of the dojo. My training for today didn't end yet, I still had to repeat the same moves.
"Good job, kid."
Shocked, I turned to Chikara, who again appeared beside me before I knew it. He stood there with his arms crossed, and I only smiled, it's the first time I heard the words of recognition from him.
"If you keep this up, maybe I will finally be able to play with you." I gritted my teeth from this comment.
In this week, Chikara's daughter became the sole reason why I sometimes wanted to avoid coming to the dojo.
"Sure, soon." I said it with obvious sarcasm in my voice. (I will show you in the future.)
Irritated I punched the air recklessly, which earned me a hit to my side.
"Control your emotions."
*******************
When I came back home after today's training, I headed straight to my room and immediately used [World Hopping]. I couldn't waste anymore time in the main world, as I will soon start going to the Lumanor Academy.
From the day I got transmigrated to this world, I had two weeks, until the offical welcoming ceremony occurs. The one that happened let us explore school bulding personally, as well as submitting some document and reciving the school ID's.
Offical welcoming ceremony will mark the begining of the school year, it will gather all of the new students in school's arena, where we will be introduced to our future teachers. This event is of high importance, so I couldn't miss it.
I decided to spend more time in Kingdom of Udela, I didn't feel confident enough will my current strenght. My guess was that most of my classmates will easily outperfomance me in any of my combat skills, or in the usage of magic.
(I hope to travel to the second part of this world. I didn't know if I will have to do something specific to do so, but I will probably soon find out.)
I thought about all of this on my balcony, which had a direct view of the Kingdom's castle. Every time I looked at it, I felt like it stared at me back, like someone studying each of my moves.
"This feeling is pretty disturbing."
Not wanting to experience anymore of it, I made my way inside and walked up to the bookshelf. There, I reached out for [Hand to Hand combat Manual] and skimed through it. The informations inside previously teached me some of melee skills I had, but now I see that I didn't even learn half of what I could.
Page, after page, I studied the techniques inside. I got absorbed by this manual, for a moment it became my favorite book.
When I read it whole, I saw a new notification in the corner of my eye.
[Basic Hand to Hand combat 4 -> 5]
(I improved my skill by reading this manual? I read them couple of times already, but I clearly couldn't reach their whole potential before.)
I put it back in the bookshelf, this time on a different shelf. I wanted to seperate it as one that I fully comprehended. Then, I took a couple steps back and admired this bookshelf, with only two book it in.
I simply laught at this sight.
After this small interruption, I began leaving my base. I had plans to kill some more and test my killing intent. I knew if I want to control it, I can't be scared of it.
Chikara gave me that lesson, but when I wanted to ask him about it again, he never replied. I don't blame him for it, after all the knowledge he shared with me was more than I could have hoped for.
[KIlling Intent [Inmature]]
The description of [Inactive] disappeared after that day in the dojo. I didn't know what exactly it represented, but I think it has something to do with me experiecing the killing intent of Chikara. He showed me what a real one looks like and how he controls it.
I compare it to a beast that meet an even bigger beast, its mature self. It saw what it can became and decided to stop hiding, showing its young fangs. Of course, it's all just a speculation.
The worst thing is if I'm correct with my speclation, then my killing intent won't be unntoticable by me like it did before. I hoped my mind was strong enough to control it, or that I will train it to that point.
"This beast won't consume me. I would rather die, than let it happen."
My resolve to control this beast only accelerates when I recall what I did to Mira. That time it wasn't me, but next....I won't let it happen.
After leaving my base, I started venturing through the forest. It was peaceful this time around, as I never encountered any enemies. (Zombies took a break, or what?)
With each minute, I had less hope of finding anything. I even decided to start running, to cover more ground.
I explored new parts of this forest, soon finding myself in an unknown territory. I didn't know the exact way home from this spot, but I wasn't lost. I knew the general direction of the way I come from.
I slowed down and began walking in my close proximity. From the place I stood on, I noticed a huge sloped rock that could cover you from rain, it also stood next to some other rocks, creating a stone wall around its sides.
(Interesting natural formation. I would use it as a shelt...Someone already did use it as a shelter.)
While focusing my gaze on the rocks, I saw a small amount of light leak from them. This small flash almost got unnoticed by me, I barely managed to catch it just in time.
I studied this rock formation with caution and sword in hand. The light never flashed again, it was now gone, but I approached this place regardless.
I sneaked up to this place, taking each of my steps slowly. I didn't know who will I meet around the corner.
When my steps brought me close to the wall, I put my back to it and started listening for any potential sounds.
The only sound I could made out, turned out to be fire burning. This showed me that someone must have visited this place recently, if they didn't fire would have died out a long time ago.
With no other choice to find out what laid behind this stone wall, I took the final step to cross the distance between me, and the corner.
I was meet with a campfire, which I already knew of, it cast light on walls around it, with one exception. On one of them was covered in a shadow of a wooden caravan, that stood in front of it.
I wondered how it found itself in the middle of the forest, when door's to it began to creak. I quickly returned to my position behind the wall, when they slowly oppened. From inside of them a dark figure emerged, one I quickly recognized as being male.
He was 170m tall, with a huge backpack on his back, which makes his upper down lean forward. This backpack has a vararity rage of items, from some pots of different sizes, a fishing rod sticking out from it, to mushroom growing on top of it. It looked like it had everything you could think of. It was strapped to his back by two belts, that goes from his shoulders, to a big belt with three pouches on his stomach. His cloths consist of a worn out and dirty, trench coat, I suspected he never changed it from the moment he first wore it. When I tried to see his face, I was meet with a bandana that covered all of it, and the only thin I saw were white eyes, as his face was shrouded in darkness. He also wore dark green leather gloves and black cavalier boots, that had dark pants tucked in them. The last and the most unusual detail was an umbrella, which he used as a walking stick.
His appearance and this place, born a lot of question. I didn't know if he was a friend, or foe. And when I wanted to check if he noticed my presence, I heard him talk.
"Hello there, traveller . Would you like to see my wonders?" When he said it, I saw him rub his hands together.
I don't know what was in his voice, but when it rang out, I instantly felt two things. One, I wanted to punch him in the face, and the other, he wanted to scam me.