Teaching Tinka & Rinka

While no one else was aware of Zatiana's woes, Minos couldn't help but look up at the window that had its curtains shut, his eyes looking for a moment before focusing back on the road.

Hopefully, this long journey away from Zatiana will finally enlighten her, after all, as a good friend, Minos didn't want to see her waste her feelings on him, since he could never reciprocate.

But ultimately, that was her battle to fight, so after some thought, Minos got back to his job controlling the horses.

"Dad, where's our first stop?" Rinka asked as she climbed through the small window that connected the coach seat to the carriage, taking a seat next to Minos.

"Here, check the map for me." Minos said, handing the large map to the befuddled Rinka.

"What the heck, this thing is so confusing!" Rinka said, flipping the map a dozen times but still failing to make any sense of it.

"Look, see that little compass in the top corner? That tells you the directions. Do you know which side of the Aleph Continent Underwood City is on?" Minos asked.

"Underwood City, hmm, no idea." Rinka said, shaking her head side to side.

"Well you know that the tribe is located next to the ocean, so that's your first hint." Minos said, not wanting to give Rinka the answer directly.

"Oh yeah, and since that's the case, we must be on the edge of the continent! But this place is so big that it barely helps…" Rinka groaned.

"Well here's another clue, the sun always sets in the west and rises in the east." Minos spoke, slowly pointing the way out for Rinka.

"Hmm, in that case, we must be on the west side because I always remember the sun setting in our direction!" Rinka said happily before continuing.

"But even then, the western side is so big! We could be at the very top or bottom, or even somewhere in between."

"That's true." Minos said as he scratched his chin, as if also thrown off by Rinka's questioning.

"What are you two chatting about?" Tinka couldn't help but ask, feeling a little left out sitting in the back of the carriage all by herself.

"Come join us and we'll tell you." Minos smiled, before reaching back and helping Tinka through the small window.

Squeezing through, Tinka took a seat on Minos's otherside, the family of three now all seated at the front leaving the carriage empty.

"Will you tell me now?" Tinka asked, after getting comfortable.

"Mom, we're just trying to figure this map out!" Rinka said, presenting the big map to her mom.

"Hmm, let me give it a try!" Tinka said as she took the large map and gave it a view.

"I found us." Tinka said, after giving the map a quick inspection.

"How the heck did you do that so fast!" Rinka spoke, looking over her moms shoulder as if to try and see things from her perspective.

"Well I happened to take a class on the Aleph Continent, so it wasn't too tricky." Tinka said.

"Wow, teach me!" Rinka begged, Tinka naturally giving in.

Like that, the small family continued their long journey as Tinka taught Rinka how to make use of the map, along with a couple other tricks.

Minos also occasionally spoke up, teaching the two critical things about the vast continent so that they could survive on their own in case anything bad were to happen.

Like this, the rest of the day passed by in a flash, and soon the family pulled the carriage to the side of a dark road, finding a secluded corner to set up a small camp.

Jumping off the carriage, Minos helped the other two down before heading off to find some wood to set up a fire.

After a quick journey, Minos returned with a small bundle, tossing it onto the floor before igniting it with a flick of his Nux.

"What was that!" Rinka asked with amazement, as she saw the little flame gather on her father's finger before he shot it off into the wood.

"Just a small application of Nux." Minos smiled.

"Nux? That's a cultivator thing, isn't it?" Rinka asked curiously.

"It is, and speaking about cultivators, it's about time we started with your training." Minos said.

"Isn't it a bit late dear?" Tinka asked as she looked up at the bright moon in the sky.

"Most of our journey will be spent on the road, so we won't have much time, meaning we have to use every second we have." Minos replied.

"Yeah Mom, besides, I want to learn!" Rinka said as she flexed her muscles, ready to learn.

"You little munchkin." Tinka laughed, rubbing her daughter's head vigorously.

"Tinka, this training is for you two. After all, you need to start cultivating as soon as possible so as to not waste anymore time." Minos said.

"But I'm so tired…" Tinka groaned slightly.

"Don't be a lazy mom, tired is temporary, but strength is forever!" Rinka roared.

"Are you really about to be outdone by your own little girl?" Minos prodded, as if looking down on Tinka.

"Hmph, don't underestimate me, I'll train too, and twice as hard!" Tinka shouted, wiping away any exhaustion.

"No way you'll train harder than me, Mom!"

"Oh yeah? Just watch and learn, your old woman ain't no slouch!"

Seeing the two so invigorated, Minos couldn't help but laugh, relieved that his two girls were so motivated to train.

After all, like he always said, motivated trash would always beat lazy genius, and neither of his girls were trash!

"First let's start off with some stretching, follow my lead." Minos said, taking a spot in front of the two before taking his first pose.

Despite how he looked, Minos was incredibly flexible, as if his body was made out of rubber, surprising the two girls tremendously.

After taking his first pose, Minos got back up and watched the two try and mimic him, laughing slightly at their poor attempts.

Of course laughing was one thing and helping was another, so after watching their amusing performance for a little longer, Minos stepped in, helping them adjust their posture until it was right.

Like that, the three went through about a dozen poses in under an hour before Minos finally ended the lesson.

"Alright, enough stretches, time to learn how to fight. This move is something I created myself based on all my past fights, I call it Forward Fist." Minos said.

"Forward Fist? Sounds boring…" Rinka complained.

"Boring? Then you think you can do better?" Minos smiled.

"Don't look down on me, I beat up all the kids back at the tribe with my special Rinka Amazing Fire Heavenly Fist of Destruction!" Rinka bragged.

Hearing the name of her 'special move,' Minos and Tinka couldn't help but look at each other before laughing, causing Rinka to go red.

"Don't laugh! Just watch and learn." Rinka said.

"Alright, then how about you use your Rinka Amazing Fire Heavenly Fist of Destruction and I'll use my Forward Fist and we'll see who wins?" Minos suggested.

"Deal, but you can't use your cultivation, that won't be fair!" Rinka agreed while also making her own demand.

"Of course. Then Tinka, how about you be the judge?"

"No problem, then on my mark go. Ready, set, go!"

With a go from Tinka, Rinka bolted forward directly towards Minos as she swung her fist, not forgetting to shout out the name of her move as she did so.

Smiling, Minos took a slight step to the side while also extending his foot, causing Rinka to trip, her face grinding across the muddy floor, filling her mouth with dirt.

"Bluehg." Rinka couldn't help but gag as she jumped back up, spitting the dirt that had gathered in her mouth.

Despite this, she didn't seem to lose any spirit, running at Minos again with her second move.

This time Minos didn't trip her, rather he used his hands to catch and deflect every single one of her punches, as if he could predict her moves before she even made them.

In Rinka's perspective, it was like she was fighting a pillow, and no matter how much she punched or kicked, it felt pointless.

Roaring out in anger, Rinka jumped up, sending a flying kick directly towards Minos's chest.

As if she finally caught him off guard, Rinka's foot landed directly on his chest, causing her eyes to shine with joy, feeling like she finally won.

But unfortunately, before she got too happy, Minos grabbed her foot, spinning her around a dozen times before gently tossing her back on the ground.

Attempting to get up, Rinka kept collapsing back due to the dizziness, finally giving up after her fifth attempt, lying lifelessly on the floor.

"You give up?" Minos asked, standing right above Rinka.