Walk and Talk [2] +[3]

"Keep moving. Unless you're literally vomiting your organs, don't stop," Scathach barked at me.

You know, I always thought that all those talks about how Scathach's training is harsh and unrealistically painful were just exaggerated.

I was wrong.

The woman has me running with a boulder tied to me.

That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact she tied one of her spears to the boulder so that, if I slow down, it would stab me because the boulder caught up.

I had gotten way better in using the puppet body. I can mostly move like a normal human. There is the occasional mistakes like confusing the right limp for the left, but I rarely get that.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Scathach jumped on the rock and tore the spear out, making me stop.

"So... what... now?" I asked as I took a few deep breaths.

"Now, the real test begins," That would have sounded ominous from Scathach if the line wasn't so cliche.

"We have trained within the safety of your Reality Marble. Now, we will take your training to my Castle of Shadows."

"Alright, how do we get there?" I asked.

"YOU will be headed in that direction," Scathach said pointing south. "Make sure to have something to defend yourself with. There are ghouls and beasts along the way."

"... I'm sorry, did you say that I'll have to go there? As in, on my own?" I asked, looking at her.

Scathach looked at me as if I just asked what color the sky was. "You'll be going on your own. As all my students did, you have to make it to the castle with your own strength."

I transferred back to my real body. "I just learned how to move properly," I said back.

"All my students barely knew how to fight before I took them under my mentorship," Scathach defended with a shrug. "You should have seen Setanta. His stance alone made me shake my head."

"Shit, I really hope I wasn't like that with Svend," I mumbled. I did make him go through a lot, but I never threw him to monsters before I taught him how to fight.

Scathach blinked at me for a few seconds. "Svend... are you, perhaps, speaking of the Shield King?"

Now it was my turn to... oh, wait, I'm not in the puppet body, so no blinking. Let's just saw I'm confused. "You know about Svend?"

"One does not learn Primordial Runes without reading on great names such as Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Svend the Shield King," Scathach replied. "Stories say that Svend was taught by an Elemental. I assume that was you?"

I nodded. "Pretty much. Svend was my first student and he kind of wouldn't leave me alone until I took him as a student."

Raising an eyebrow, Scathach asked, "First? Did you have another?"

I stayed quiet for a few seconds before looking away. "There was... another. A swordsman from the east, but I'd rather not talk about it."

Scathach nodded and mumbled. "I see."

I was surprised she accepted it so quickly, but she most likely has her own regrets with som students and how they turned out.

"Back to your training, you should get started," Scathach began walking away. "The Castle of Shadows is quite a way from here. I believe it should take you no less than a month of travelling."

"A month? You want me to fend for myself for a whole mo-" I stopped halfway through and looked around. "Alright. I guess I can-"

"No, you can't move in your Reality Marble until you're near the Castle of Shadows. You have to start from her with the puppet," Scathach cut me off.

"Do you have everything you need?" Scathach asked as I was about to begin my journey to the Castle of Shadows. "I don't want to listen to you complain about how you weren't prepared."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready," I say in my puppet body.

I created a sword and few knives for me to use to defend myself. All of which engraved with 'Anti-Mystic' and 'Anti-Undead' Runes because, from what I know, the Land of Shadows is filled with Ghouls and Phantasmal Beasts.

"Good," Scathach nodded and walked out of Nature's Law. "I will see you in my castle, then," with that, she vanished.

I stood there for a moment and looked at the border of my Reality Marble. This is gonna be the first time leaving it since... well, since I got it.

I moved my leg slowly... and took a step outside. When I moved completely out of it, the border didn't follow me.

"I really don't understand how other Ultimate Ones put up with this," I mumbled, taking one last glance at Nature's Law before walking away.

Sure, having a passive Reality Marble is broken, but seeing nothing but the same sight over and over again gets old really fast. Even to immortals.

I took a look at the Land of Shadows as I walked away. It... honestly looked barren. I can see a few moving shadows here and there, showing there was in fact stuff here that used it as a home, but it was mostly just barren fields, hills, and mountains in the distance.

No wonder neither Gaia or Alaya want this place. Its just a wasteland.

I should start walking in the direction that Scathach told me to go to. I really don't know how long it'll take me to get to Scathach's castle.

Then again, I literally have nothing better to do and all the time in the world.

"Well," I said raising my foot. "Here's the first step to a new mess," I said moving forward.

And tripping as soon as I made the first step.

After my face became very familiar with the ground, I turned around and looked at what tripped me because, while my control over the puppet body isn't perfect yet, there's no way I missed whatever tripped me.

What I tripped on was... what appeared to be something that, somehow, was made of Yggdrasil Wood with a seed-like crystal at the bottom.

"Wait," I recognised that thing. "Isn't that-" *Flash!*

And just like that, the Mystic Code vanished again.

If I didn't know any better, I would think that thing

came back just to trip me. Then again... Zelretch did create sentien Mystic Codes before.

"Okay, think about that later," I told myself getting up. I started walking towards the land of Shadows -carefully, this time - while glancing over my shoulder at Nature's Law.

This is gonna need some getting used to.

Not even a few hours later and I already ran into trouble in the form of a stray ghoul. It... honestly looked like a rotting corpse covered in shadows and cloaks with razor sharp claws.

I pulled out the sword and stood across from it. Scathach taught me the basics of fighting but this is the first actual battle I've had

The ghoul noticed me and charged at me. It was a bit faster than I expected but I still managed to dodge by leaning under the strike. Swinging my sword upwards, I managed to cut off the ghoul's arm and cause it to screech in pain.

It shouldn't feel pain, so that means the 'Anti-Undead' Runes work. Good to know.

The undead tried to slash me with its remaining arm but I managed to block it with my sword in the last moment. It started trying to push me back but I held my ground.

Letting one of my hands go from the sword, I grabbed one of the knives and thrust it forward, stabbing into the undead's head. Obviously, that wasn't enough to kill it but still enough to make it take a few steps back.

When I had enough space, I swung for the neck and decapitated the ghoul. I breathed heavily as I watched the ghoul's remains disappear into mist.

"Man, no wonder Gil just threw his weapons around. Fighting with my own hands sucks," I groaned as I looked forward and saw no sign of the Castle of Shadows. "This is... gonna be a long and annoying journey."

The fact I'm going through this should really tell people how much free time I have.

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Title :- One with Nature

All credits to XanaShadow

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