Wounded Person

"Shinn,,, clinggg,,, swipe,,, bam,,, crash."

Noise could be heard coming from behind Elena's house. There were three people there, namely Elena, Jon, and Olen.

Elena was giving Jon a one-sided beatdown while Olen stood at the side silently. Elena just told him to watch.

Just to be clear, he was the one who asked for it. So, Elena could let loose a bit when she started bashing him.

And she is enjoying every bit of it.

"Huh, huh." –Jon is panting heavily, lying on the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing? If you want to sleep, do it in your room. Why do you think lazing around when I'm working so hard to help you is a good idea?" –Elena kicked Jon. She still remembers, that because of this idiot, she had to use her precious medicine on Olen so that he doesn't get caught by Bianca.

So, he must pay it back with blood. How dare this moron put her in a difficult situation?

"Miss, when I said you can be as hard on me as you need to be, I didn't mean this." –Jon.

"Then what did you mean?" –Elena.

"I mean, I didn't learn anything at all. You just keep hitting me for three hours straight, and you haven't even taught me how to use profundity yet." –Jon.

"You moron. Do you think 'Profundity' is a technique or style that one can teach you?" –Elena.

"What do you mean? It is not? Didn't you say you'd help me learn it?" –Jon still didn't realize what profundity actually is.

Elena was utterly speechless. How was he so eager to learn something he didn't even understand what it was?

There was a rock at the side.

"Look this way. And be grateful that I'm still helping you after your poor performance." –Elena said. She had her fun. So, she was willing to help this poor guy a bit.

First, she took a stance with her short sword slashed at the rock.

The short sword is an ordinary dummy weapon. So the only thing that happened was its dull blade got duller.

The rock was still in the same place as it was before.

"You see here, I hit the rock as hard and fast as I could. But still, there is no visible damage done to it." –Elena brushed her hand over the rock to wipe the dust and show its intact state. "Now look at this."

Jon was still looking at her actions intently. He watched her stance, breathing pattern, muscle movements, and everything.

Elena got bothered by it. So she broke her stance and kicked a pebble lying on the ground.

"Thuk,,, Ouu…" -The pebble hit square on Jon's forehead. He never knew a pebble could hurt so bad, even after he got this strong.

"Hey pervert, have you finished ogling my body?" –Elena.

"What? I wasn't, I swear." –Jon didn't know what he did.

"Don't play dumb. I know your type very well. If you look at me like that once more, I'm gonna gouge those eyes out." –Elena threatened.

"You are the one that told me to look. So, shouldn't I try to memorize as much as can?" –Jon complained.

"Urgh, how are you any different than that stupid student of mine?" –Elena pointed at Olen sitting at a side.

Olen got dumbfounded. Where did that come from?

But he didn't refute it. He got used to it. He knew saying anything would only get him in trouble later.

'How could teaching a grown-ass man be so hard?' –Elena thought.

"I told you to look at the difference between the first strike, and this strike. Look at the whole picture and not me, you idiot." –She shouted.

"Ok, ok. How do I see the whole picture and not you?" –Jon was confused as hell.

"Look.. look at the heavenly energy flow, take the hint of how I resonate with the world law… Man, this is so hard." –Elena didn't know how to teach this.

At her home, the elders created a special room, where they put statues of different profundity masters in the array. She had the privilege of cultivating there for a long time and got an understanding bit by bit.

There were different techniques to get a better understanding of profundity. How's she supposed to recreate that here?

"Urgg… huh… listen, Jon." –She took a deep breath before saying, "I don't have a foolproof way to teach you profundity. All I can say is don't think of it like a technique where you can recreate it by copying my moves. What you need to do is to get integrated with the world's law of the sword, the very meaning of cutting. You have to push your willpower and soul to make the world cut this rock here. All I can do is show you how I do it. But how you do it is up to you."

"Wha.. what am I supposed to understand from that?" –Jon grumbled. But Elena paid no heed to him. She said she would help him, not that she would make sure he understood.

If he didn't understand after she showed him, that would be his problem to deal with.

She took the same stance she did earlier.

"Olen, you watch carefully too. You have already felt it before. It should help you." –Elena instructed.

"Yes, Miss." –Olen replied attentively. He was keeping an eye on everything from the start.

He had a better understanding of what was going on than Jon. So, he knew what Elena was talking about. So, without any further argument, he did his best to follow.

Jon found no difference from before. But, this time, as Elena said, he didn't solely focus on her. He couldn't use techniques like the heavenly eye that Elena could use.

But he tried his best to understand what was going on.

He isn't the brightest person, and he knew that understanding something's meaning is not his forte.

But he wasted his reliable instincts to pick something up. Even a little would be good.

He saw Elena move the same way she did before. There were no extra unnecessary movements in it.

She thrust her dulled short sword toward the rock.

Jon couldn't see any difference at all. But his reliable instinct wasn't the same.

At the last moment, he felt something. Before the blade even reached the rock, he could tell that, it would be cut in two.

Not only had he known it, he was somehow wishing for it to be cut in two.

The wind was blowing the same as before. But for him, the scene seemed to slow down a lot.

He wasn't even looking at the short sword right now. All his focus moved to the rock. He felt even if Elena couldn't cut it, he would cut it for her.

And there it was, Elena slashed it cleanly.

"Crack…" –the cut was so smooth that the edge of the stone could be used as a blade too.

The cut was definitely better than when Olen cut the stone with a kitchen knife.

And he knew the cut was better than that time.

He just kept looking at it. He wanted to know how it was cut.

Elena first looked at Olen, then at Jon. Both of them were looking at the cut stone. She didn't say anything.

She let the two idiots sit there and went inside the house.

She pushed herself a bit there to help Jon and Olen have a better understanding.

If it was only Olen, it would still be fine. He had experienced it before, so he easily got in the correct state. But Jon was especially hard.

It's true that to use profundity, one doesn't need to use spiritual power. What one needs are powerful willpower and a determined soul.

Using profundity isn't actually what she is best at.

So when she needs to exert more power, her soul can't take the colossal force of the law of the world. To do that, she needs to support herself with her spiritual power.

This time, she didn't know why... maybe, she was just being stubborn; she felt she had to at least let Jon get a glimpse of Profundity.

She went overboard to pull him in it too.

Jon is also a part of the world. He too moves according to the law of the world like every other thing. Like, the law of the world says he can't fly. So, he can't fly.

And to pull this stunt, she had to pay the price.

Now, all she needs is a good rest.

'Staying here is really making me soft. Or, I was this soft to begin with?" –she questioned herself while she lay in her bed.

First, it was that idiot kid, then, there was that crazy Alchemist, and now this muscle-head. It's like she is here to do a charity job.

Don't they understand that she is just a wounded person who is trying to lay low and recuperate?