7 Tortu"Cough"Training

"Again" 

I let out a groan, lying on my back, after hearing that horrible word. I feel my bruises have bruises. I slowly try to get up, regardless of how much my body hurts. I look ahead of me, towards the monster in shitty old man skin. I struggle to get my breath under control and say, "Old man, I know I ask for training, but not this torture." Suddenly, something fast impacts my head, and I get sent onto my ass.

I grab my forehead, whining, "Owww, you demon, I'm already injured." I look down to see that he threw a pebble at me, but given his strength, it might as well be a freaking rock.

He looks at me in disappointment. "Lesson 3: Be aware of your surroundings. I stopped screaming dodge weeks ago. By now, you're supposed to pay attention and predit when I throw something at you. Also, that was for calling me old again. Lesson 1: Don't make jokes about my age or height; sometimes I think you like it when I hurt you. Shitty apprentice, keep your weird fetishes to yourself."

I responded back. "First off, even if I wasn't straight as an arrow and was into old people, you would never be on my radar. Speaking of fetishes, for the last Omori time, I'm not a freaking masochist, compared to you, who seems to like getting off by causing others pain." I noticed another pebble coming my way. "Ha. You misse" I didn't get to finish the sentence because I didn't notice the second pebble hidden under the first. "Fuck," I roll on the ground. It seems like this one hurts more than the other one. This asshole hit the exact same spot as the last one.

"Quit your whining. I barely touched you. Now get up; we're going through the exercise again. Back to training," he says uncaringly about my pain.

I suddenly got up with righteous anger, disregarding my initial pain, and yelled back, "Trained?! Is that what they're calling torture these days? I NEARLY DIED 3 TIMES, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Your heart just stopped for a few seconds. Odr, that's not called dying; that's called being a pussy." He says it so nonchalantly, with a shrug. For the love of Fujino, I just want to smash his ugly mug. I hear a voice inside my head, probably from my multiple head injuries, telling me to be patient. Concerning, but inner me is right, even if it takes years; I'll get so freaking swoll and come back for revenge.

I let out an evil chuckle that I think the voice is mimicking. I hear a cough, and I look up to see Rudra looking at me pointingly. "If you're done with your self-monologue and your slow descent into madness, get up already before I come and make you."

I let out a sigh and got back up, bending down to pick up my wooden sword. I slowly let out stretches to relax my sore muscles and get back into the ready position. "I'm ready as ever, old man,"

He says, shaking his head. "I'm going to enjoy this more than I should." He kicks the bigger wooden sword that's on the ground with his foot, spinning it into the air and catching it with one hand. I scoff and whisper, "Show off," but secretly, I'm so jealous of his skill.

He points his hand and makes the come here gesture with his fingers. "Well, come on."

As I get ready to get my ass handed to me for the 50ish time thanks to this torture 'I'm sorry training', I think back to that stupid fucking coin toss, weeks ago.

(Flashback: 4 1/2 weeks ago.)

'clink'

We both slowly look down and see the result of the coin toss.

"Well damn, it looks like I won." I give him a smug grin in triumph. However, in my mind, I was on my knees, crying, and thanking every god in existence for this small mercy.

He lets out a disappointed sigh and shakes his head. "Pitty, I was hoping to take either a hand or a foot to teach you a variable lesson." I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or if he was truly going to do it. For my sanity, I'll pretend he's still trying to get a rise out of me.

"So, as we agreed, you'll give me a month of training to get me up to speed so I can survive my journey to Orario,",

He says, waving his hand. "Yeah, yeah, you'll get your stupid training," but he turns to me with a serious expression: "Just know I will only follow through if you actually commit to it and follow everything I say. I will not take anything half-assed."

I try to pull off a Might Guy smile and give a thumbs up with my left hand. "No need to worry; I'm really committed to this old man Wolfy."

He makes an annoyed frown and reaches over to grab my thumb, bending it backwards, causing me to go on my knees. I use my other hand to tap him on the arm repeatedly. I give, I give, I'm sorry." He lets go and walks back towards his couch. Gently blowing my inner thumb and looking at him with a side eye, I asked, "Was that really necessary?"

After sitting down, he says, "Yes, it was, not only for the stupid old man comment and that horrible nickname. That was me being nice instead of punching you in your stupid face with that god-awful smile. I restrained myself."

I gawk at him. "That was restraint; you almost broke my thumb."

"I could have easily ripped it off, level 3, remember."

I quickly bow. "Thank you for your generous kindness, oh glorious one,"

He snorts. "Enough with your ass kissing. Sit your ass down; we've got to go over the details of what's to come. I want you to understand what type of tortu 'cough training you'll be getting."

I deadpan, "You clearly wanted to say torture."

He ignores me. "First things first, I think you're underestimating how much training you actually need. I don't think a month is enough, but that's all you're getting. We do not have time for you to learn any new techniques, and even if we did, I would not teach you any. Chances are, a newly learned, half-assessed technique would endanger you more than it would help."

I don't make any jokes, because what he's saying is important. However, I lose my composure, when he releases a tiny bit of pressure, giving me a malicious smile that leaves me gulping. He tells me, "That's why, for the next couple weeks, we will be working on nothing but your foundation. And by working on your foundation, I mean that I will pound you into the ground, I will break your body, and then I will rebuild you from the ground up."

I tried to get control of my body, realizing now the kind of hell I just signed up for. I now regret not taking the first offer of supplies and the map. After 5 minutes of deep breathing, I respond with a shaky smile, "I'm ready as I'll ever be, Gramps."

He pulls back on the pressure and gives a small chuckle. "I can't wait for the training to start. Lesson one: Every time you make an old man comment or size joke, I'm going to hurt you."

I whine, and I attempt the legendary puppy dog eyes: "Come on, as my master/sensei now, shouldn't you let your beloved disciple call you with an affectionate nickname? Can't you let me have this?"

All I receive from him is a disgusted look: "Never make that face again, or I'll start beating you, and I don't know when I'll stop." I raise my hands in surrender and say, "Fine.".

After we get back on track, he tells me, "Lesson 2 has two rules. Rule one: I'm always right. Rule two, if I'm wrong, refer to rule one. Got it?" "Yes," "meaning you'll follow all my instructions from now on. Since I already gave you a health potion that took care of your leg, you probably need four or five days to heal the rest of your injuries. After that, we will start the torture."

I interrupt him, calling him out, "Come on, you didn't even attempt to cover it up at that time."

He ignores me as always. "In the meantime, you will work around here, cooking, cleaning, and doing anything else I need of you. After you're done healing, we begin lesson 3."

"What's Lesson 3?"

All he gives me is this wicked smile: "Oh, you'll know when the time is right; just know I'm going to enjoy it very much."

.

.

.

"Mercy?" "Never heard of it." Oh god, what the hell is he going to do?

(Flashback 3 weeks ago)

"Dodge" I jump to the left after dodging another fucking arrow that he keeps shooting at me. I start running again, remembering a week ago when we started fucking lesson 3, Pay attention to your  surroundings." He just spontaneously comes out of nowhere, screaming 'Dodge' and throwing random shit at me, trying to make me build survial instinct. He says the number one thing all adventurers has to have is the ability to dodge and run if they want to survive.

I remember the first time he did this was when I was fucking cooking. He was screaming out of nowhere to dodge, throwing a fucking sandal at me while I was boiling water. Lesson learned, I guess. After that, there were non-stop jump scares. Lately, he's been saying Dodge less every time he throws something, saying I have to anticipate his next move.

Hiding behind a tree, looking both ways, trying to catch my breath, "finally lost that psychpath," I hear noise above me, and I quickly jump forward, dodging what looks like something heavy that probably would give me a concussion. I look up and point to the shitty old man. "Are you trying to fucking kill me?"

He jumps down. "Stop your bitching. If you didn't notice, you just dodged without even me saying anything, so we're ready to move on to the next step. If you check the bag I just dropped, you'll find some equipment."

I look at him distrustfully. "This is not a trap, is it?" I carefully approach the bag next to him while keeping my eye on him the whole time I open it to find some training weapons.

He starts walking to a clearing. "Pick up the bag and follow me." I tried to lift the bag, but I noticed how heavy it was and how tired I was. I just drag it instead. After making it to the clearing and dropping the bag, I bent on my knees, panting, holding up a single finger to tell him just to give me a sec. He gave me this small mercy.

"Now, until the end of your training, I'm going to fulfill the promise I made to you. Like I promised, from here on, we will be working on your foundation. It's going to be nothing but painful; however, I promise you, at the end, you'll be more than ready or adequate enough for my liking to make it to Orario."

Slapping my cheeks to get myself pumped, I respond, "Okay, where do we start?" All he says is for me to put on the training gear and attack him. I put it on; it's kind of heavy and takes a bit to get adjusted. Afterwards, he just stands there, waiting for me. I quickly run up and throw a punch, which he easily catches.

He looks disappointed. "Is that all? I know I'm a level 3 and you practically zero, but that was sloppy," he sighs, holding back a lot. "This is how you throw a punch."

My eyes were widening a lot. I quickly screamed, "Wait, wait, wait." Too late, he punched me straight in the stomach and launched me backwards. I feel like all my air leaves me, and I roll on the ground, stopping after a while. After stopping, I weekly raised my head to flip the asshole off, and then I lost consciousness.

Pov change Rudra

I watched the brat Odr not even try to dodge or block. I sigh disappointedly. I even held back a lot. Even lowering my strength less than a level one. Well, I can say I didn't expect it. I calmly walked over to him after he flipped me off "Rude". Nudging him with my foot, I asked, "Are you okay, brat?" He doesn't respond, and I've bent down to check. "Tsk." After checking his pulse, I think his heart stopped due to the shock. I get up and reach into my bag, pulling up another low-health potion and looking at it regretfully. I forcefully opened his mouth and dumped the potion in, and after a couple seconds, he started to cough. He weekly raises his hand to the sky, crying, "No, I was so close; all the beautiful ladies are gone now." I snort—what a drama queen!

Pov Change Odr/Me

After falling unconscious, I was back in the darkness that I started in before reincarnation, wondering if I had died again. I suddenly see a different light than that god awful wheel—this one more warm and welcoming. As I slowly approached it, I saw the most beautiful thing ever. There were a lot of sexy women in bikinis, ranging from elfs, cat girls, humans, and more. Some carry a lot of my favorite foods and slushies. They were all beckoning me to come over. I start to run toward it happily. However, as I get ready to approach my destiny, I suddenly feel something pulling me back. I start screaming, "No, let me go; I was so close." After struggling with all my might, the last thing I saw was that same asshole-hazy figure with his hands wrapped around two of the hottest women I ever saw. The douche has the audacity to give me a two-finger salute. The last thing I do is curse bloody murder.

Suddenly, I start coughing, trying to catch my breath while ignoring the big pain in my chest. After what seems like hours but probably only a couple minutes, I reach the sky, wondering if that was all just a hallucination my brain made up or if I actually died. "No, I was so close; all the beautiful ladies are gone now." I hear a snort, and I turn my head weekly toward my attempted murderer.

He looks down at me and says, "Welcome back, princess. Enjoy your nap." All I can give him is the middle finger, which I tried with all my might to raise, but I couldn't even do that.

So I settled for looking him in the eye and telling him, "Go fuck yourself. I think you killed me. I think I saw the light to the afterlife; it was beautiful, and you robbed me of it."

He squats down to pat me on the cheek, which hurts. "Cease your whining; your heart just stopped for a few seconds due to shock; you weren't dead, close, but not yet; I gave you another health potion to fix you up. What you probably experienced was a lack of oxygen in your brain, making you hallucinate what you wanted to see. So stop being so dramatic."

I respond back with so much sarcasm that I can taste it. "I'm so sorry, Rudra, for trying to cope with having my heart suddenly stop and experience what I thought was me moving on to what seemed like paradise, only to be yanked back to cruel reality. That's my fault."

He gives me another pat on the cheek, not minding my sarcasm. "At least you understand; look at the bright side."

"What bright side?"

He gave me somewhat of a smile that just left me wanting to smash my fist into his face. "You barely survived a blow from me with only a bruise on your chest instead of instantly dying. Congrats, I guess. The only reason your heart stopped was from the shock. I mean, just having a bruise and no internal organs rupturing or bones breaking is a plus, so your body isn't that bad."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh geez, thank you; that makes me feel so better. NOT!!! That doesn't make it better at all."

"I have bad news for you then,"

I spat. "What?"

"After I let you have, I want to say, a 30-minute break, we're going back to training."

I closed my eyes after hearing that. After a couple minutes, I start to sob hysterically. I cry out, "Oh dear Omori, what have I gotten myself into?"

Rudra gives me a couple minutes to let me have this. Afterwards, he says, "This is what you wanted, wasn't it? I will make sure you won't die from this, but like I said before, this is going to be hell." He gets up, stretches, and walks back to the other side. "So enjoy your break because we're going back to training. I gave you another health potion, so you should be fine after a while. Just a reminder: I don't have that many. To get strong is not an easy thing; it takes an unbreakable will to pursue it. I'm not going to hold back; I'm going to make sure you get everything you want," he says, looking over his shoulder. "Is that clear?"

I just stare into the sky, but I respond with a resolute "yes, sir."

Present

After that, it was nonstop hell. With two more near-death experiences, one from him fucking 'THROWING ME OFF A CLIFF' for what he calls water training, I don't even want to remember the third time. That one is better off forgotten or repressed with all my other horrible memories of this training.

I shake my head, pushing past that. Focusing on my opponents before me. I sigh. When will this nightmare end? Suddenly, I rushed forward, attacking him. I raised my sword quickly, aiming for his neck; he casually blocked it. I jumped back before he could retaliate and spun, aiming for his legs. He jumps up, dodging, and sends a strike at me. I use the flat side of my sword to redirect it. From that momentum, I quickly let go of one of my hands from the sword and aimed a punch towards his face. He quickly grabs my arm, stopping it. I quickly send one of my knees towards his crotch, and he pushes me back, dodging. "Cheap shot brat"

I snort. "I clearly recall someone telling me there's no such thing as cheap shots in a fight. You do anything to survive and win, even if you have to hit below the belt."

"Whoever gives you that advice is probably a genius."

"More of a demon, but who can tell?" I rush back, continuing our spar.

(Hours later)

After our daily training, I'm sitting down. I'm wrapping bandages around my bruises. I look up to Rudra, who's casually cleaning his sword. I get his attention and say, "It seems even after 4 weeks I haven't landed a clean blow on you."

He laughs, "Kid, if you were able to land an actual blow only after 4 weeks of serious training, I'd be disappointed in myself. However, don't be discouraged; you improved a lot over the weeks—scary, I might say. You got back up again and again, no matter the difficulty. If I have to say for a falnaless person, you can stand your own. Take pride in that."

I can't stop a smile from coming to my face. "Aw, Gramps, you do care,"

He reaches over to smack me over the head. He responded with a stern voice, but there was a little warmth in it, I like to think. "You never learned, did you?"

I shrug. "I can't help myself. After the last couple weeks, even with the near-death experience, I can't help but see you as a shitty grandpa or uncle." He looks at her for a couple minutes, then just turns around. I just slide back and lay down, spread out, looking at the clouds. I call out, "So what's next for training?"

Rudra didn't say anything for a couple minutes, and I got worried. I push myself up with my arms to see him standing. "What's wrong?"

He turns to face me and says, "There's going to be no more training."

I quickly get up to my feet and respond back questioningly, "What why?"

He rubs his head. "It's almost been a month, and I think the last couple days you should just rest before you set off. I taught you everything I think you need to know to safely make the journey to Orario."

I look at him dumbfounded, realizing how much time has passed that I didn't even notice. I'm a little sad and probably going to miss this shitty old man. Suddenly, he does something unexpected; he pats my head affectionately.

"Listen up; I'm only going to say this once. Since I first saw you, all I saw was someone who was naive, stupid, and probably going to die young. After helping you, I just wanted to get rid of you quickly, but you had to make that bet. After losing, I tried to make the training as hard as possible to get you to leave. Even after accidentally causing your heart to stop, I thought you would call it quits, but you didn't. Time and time again, you have proven me wrong and continue to show me your determination to get stronger. I don't know what's driving you to push yourself so hard, and I won't ask. I watched you change from the pathetic brat from the forest screaming his head off to something I can take pride in. I know our time was short, but I can't help but grow attached to you. Don't get me wrong, you were one of my favorite punching bags over the weeks, and if I ever find out that you died a pathetic death, I'll find a way to bring you back to life just to kill you myself." I couldn't help but laugh. He continues, "I don't know where you're going to go from here; hell, I wouldn't mind if you stopped once in awhile to pay me a visit, so I could see how much you improved. I want to know if my time wasn't wasted. So make sure you don't stop training and prove it wasn't a mistake helping you. I would actually like a challenge next time I see you. Maybe for once you actually deliver that ass kicking you so wanted if you get strong enough."

Honestly, I don't know what to say. That's probably the nicest thing he's ever said to me over the past few weeks. I get up to stand in front of him. "Don't worry, you shitty Geezer. I promise you, I'll be back when I reach level 3, so we can have an actual fight. I'll pay you back for all the beatings you gave me. Not to say I won't stop once in awhile before that, just to see if you're still alive. So make sure you don't die of old age before then."

He lets out a belly laugh. "You make it so hard not to beat your face in right now, but let's postpone the goodbyes; you still have like a couple more days before I send you off toward your next adventure. So let's save the farewell for later. Also, if you recall, I promise to give you a gift if you impress me. Well, you did, so before you leave, I'll give it to you. Also, there's something I want to tell you, but we have time. I'm going to head back to the cabin to take a nap. You can spend the day doing what you want, I guess." I watched him walk toward the place I called home for the past couple weeks.

I turn to face the sunset, thinking about the next few days left before I leave. I wonder how much stronger I have gotten since training with that monster dwarf. To think he's only Level 3, and that was him holding back. It honestly terrifies me to know how many more monsters like him await me in Orario. Take Ottar, for example. I can't even imagine how strong he is, so I'm not going to even try.

Chuckling, shaking my head, I say out loud, "Seems more than ever; I need a Falna if I want to get stronger." As I watch the sun go down, I suddenly call out, making a promise to myself, "I don't know what awaits me. I don't know how many obstacles I will face. All I do know is that I will pursue this desire of mine. I'm going to do whatever I need to do to reach it. I'm going to get strong, so I don't have to worry about anyone. I want to experience this journey of excitement. I want to meet new people, see new places, and experience new things. I'll live my life how I want, not according to anyone else's ideals. This is a promise to myself and my unending desire for a happy life. I WON'T BE DENIED."

As I stand there screaming my desires to the world, unbeknownst to me, deep in my soul, a skill starts to form.

I slowly turn around and walk back to the cabin to make the most of the days I have left. I can't help letting out a smile after getting that off my chest. I walk forward one step at a time, more determined than ever. I can't help but say

"Freya and the rest of Orario, I won't lose to any of you. This is my life now; I'll choose for myself how my story goes."

 A/N

First off. 4000 word count people!!!!! That's like 2 to 3 time increase comapre towards my previous chapters. New record I guess. I tried to fit all the training arc to one chapter and I just kept on writing. Anyway back to recap.

The first training arc comes to a close. Next time, he set off for his journey towards Orario. Who knows if a month is enough time for training, but it's better than nothing.

Old man Rudra seems to finally accept that our MC has wormed his way into life, even if reluctantly. Let's see what gift he has to give him and what else he has to say to him.

After his declaration, an unknown skill is being created, which may have a big effect on our MC life. Good or bad, it has yet to be seen.

Let's find out next time, so stay tuned.

Bonus

The time of Orario is fast approaching. I already heard plenty from you guys regarding which gods and goddesses he should join. However, there is still time to express your opinion. I honestly want to know.

Also, Cookie for anyone who can find some quotes, I used from other stories I read. Answer correctly I'll post where to find them.