7 The Hardships Of Being An Athlete

The next day.

[Hoho Kuro! To jump high, you must take advantage of the properties of a slime's gel body.]

[Our advantage?]

[This is right, a slime's body can be manipulated according to our will. What you need to do is this!]

Following which, jii-chan formed a dome shape using his body. Then his body flipped inside out with visible tension. Suddenly he released that tension and generated a strong force to the ground. He flew up high into the air!

This technique reminded me of the rubber popper toys I used to play with. You flip them inside out, place them on the floor amd watch them fly up high with an incredible sound. I must have used it to prank others too much in my past life, now I have become one too! Such is karma. My eyes stared far into the horizon and I had an enlightened look on my face.

[Why are you daydreaming while I am showing you the move!? Lisa do it!]

Twack! I felt a pain on my head then rolled on the floor in agony.

[Lisa kaa-san! That hurts!]

Lisa kaa-san was standing next to me wearing her specs.

[You will be alright Kuro! Do your best, kaa-san is supporting you. Teehee!]

Gella kaa-san rubbed my head gently to soothe the pain.

Both of them are acting as assitant trainers today to make sure I learn from jii-chan properly. I wasn't sure about their role in my training previously but after that twack it became clear! This is the lengendary devil and angel trainer combo! One will be extremely strict and delivers the punishments while the other plays nice to keep you motivated.

[Hoho! The move has only two steps and you have seen how it works. All thats left is to beat it into your body! You can begin your practice now!]

I saw jii-chan hop onto to a beach chair and started to sip juice from a coconut. He even took out his shade and began to apply sun block. Ignoring what I saw, I tried to flip my body inside out.

[Wrong sequence! Form a dome shape first! Lisa do it!]

Twack! Ouchhhh it hit the same spot! So I am going to get hit for every mistake I make?!

[Come on Kuro, give it a try again!]

Gella kaa-san rubbed my head again. T_T I felt tears streaming down my eyes. Jii-chan would point out my mistake, Lisa kaa-san would twack me and Gella kaa-san cheered me on. The training went on for the whole day till dinner. By the end of it, I had multiple bumps on my head. I had managed to use the technique three times out of the thousands of attempts I made.

The two moves to perform the technique may look simple but it was extremely hard to execute. You have to condense the gel by force creating lots of tension. Then a lot of control is needed to form the perfect shape when you flip inside out. I failed many times due to forming the incorrect shape. The release part needs alot of control as well, I have to control where the force is released so that I can fly in the intended direction that I want. It would be impossible to do this in a game situation without lots of practise. I felt a strong sense of respect for jii-chan. He must have put in an uncountable number of hours into just this one move alone.

[Hoho Kuro! You have been training for a whole day. As you know, slimes are at a disadvantage when it comes to sports. We do not have overwhelming strength, speed or physique and it even takes us alot of effort to form limbs to perform actions. The jump you practiced to do with difficulty could easily be performed by a Jakalope, a monster with insane jumping ability.]

[But jii-chan, didn't you make it as a soccer player?]

[It's not as simple as it seems. I had to hurt everyday like you did today just to maintain my spot on my past soccer team. I was almost always being cast aside until I evolved into a green slime late in my career which granted me speed through the assistance of the wind element. For a slime to become an athlete, it like going against the heavens! Monsters all over will be doubting you, coaches will ignore you and your teammates wont trust you easily. Honestly, you will have an easier life doing practically anything else. Are you sure this is the path you want to take in life?]

I kept silent for a moment. So this is the reason why jii-san and my kaa-sans got today to train me. They wanted me to experience the hardships of being an athlete. I thought back to the reason why I played basketball. Being alone all my life, sent to all the different foster homes, I never felt happy. It was only when I played basketball that I felt true joy! The feeling of jumping into the air, the ball leaving my fingers when I shoot and the moment when the ball falls through the net. I want to experience it again! With a resolute voice I spoke.

[Jii-chan I will rise to the top as a slime! There is no challenge in living an easy life. I will become the best at what I decided to do. This is the way of a real man!]

[Hohoho! I hope you will remember your words today! I have discussed with your kaa-sans and we have decided to send you to the only dedicated sports school for monsters in this country. The Monster Sports Academy!]