Ch22: House and training

The next morning Caden eagerly woke up. First thing he did was check the room. Seeing nothing out of place, he went down to eat at the restaurant. Since he booked a room, he had the food cheaper than others.

What he ate was rice and grilled fish.

'Hmm, they really like rice here.' He thought, looking at how other guests ate mostly rice with some additions.

After getting full of it, he went out to see if the place selling houses was open.

Walking around, he greeted some villagers that he saw yesterday. The village teemed with life.

He got to the brown wooden building he noticed yesterday. He saw the doors open, so he went inside.

Looking in, there was sitting a young woman, dozing off on the counter. She didn't look tired, most likely bored.

Finding it amusing, he reached the counter before poking her on the cheek. That worked well, since she jumped up.

"Ah! Oh, who are you boy?" She asked, calming herself down.

"Hi, I'm Caden and I'm looking to buy a house. Is this the right place?"

"Yes it is. Are you really here to buy?" She asked, surprised at him.

"I am. I'm looking for a small house big enough for me to live in. It would be best if it had some space in the back."

"I see, well, let me check our files. Give me a moment!"

With that, she hastily left for another room in the back. After a few minutes, she came back with some papers.

"I looked if we had one to your specifications and here it is. The only small house with a backyard."

On the papers were some drawings of a building. Caden didn't get the chance to read the other paper.

"Ah, I guess you would want to see it? Here, come with me, I will guide you there!" With that, she went out.

Caden walked after her, wondering where he was being taken.

In a few moments, they reached the edge of the village. It was in the opposite direction of the dojo.

Arriving there, Caden found the house in an average state. It wasn't too clean, but also didn't look totally abandoned.

The woman showed him around. It was a one story house with an attic, it had 3 rooms and a bathroom. Bedroom, Kitchen and a Living room. In the living room was the door to the backyard.

It wasn't too bad, with only some places where the vegetation was too thick. Nothing too hard to get rid of and maintain later.

"I like it, it seems nice." Said Caden, looking around and already imagining what he will do with the place later.

"That's good to hear. Let's discuss the price." She said, looking back at the papers.

They went back to the office, where he haggled a bit with the woman. He managed to lower the price from 520 thousand to around 480 thousand.

Next he signed the necessary papers and got the keys.

Finally, he got his own house.

'Nice, hopefully I will live here for the year and later come back.'

With a smile on his face, he went around cleaning the house and making it more livable.

The next few days he spent on going to the dojo to train and help around the village. Most of his meals he ate at the inn where he slept. Apparently they sell really cheap food, which makes their place popular around here.

Seeing the happy faces of people he helped was enough to give him more energy to try at the dojo.

"Hmm, come to think of it, I'm really doing the same thing I did before. Training till I can't move and helping around. Maybe I should find a real job here? After all, my savings aren't infinite." He said, looking at the 15k Berry he had left.

Finding some motivation, he went out to seek a job.

After some hours of asking around, he landed one that payed pretty well. He had to work as a lumberjack basically.

The job was given by a drunken old man he saw at the inn. 

Supposedly the man is the only lumberjack in the village and he's getting too old for it. At least that's what he told Caden.

With the order to come tomorrow for work, Caden happily left to do his own stuff.

Walking out the building, he stretched and felt the bullet still sitting in his stomach.

'Oh, right. Totally forgot about that. Well, it seems I won't find a better time to do this.' With that thought, he went and bought a sharp knife. With the slicing tool in hand, he went home to cut his stomach open.

Sitting on the stool he found in the kitchen yesterday, he slowly made a cut in the closest place to the bullet.

Slicing his skin, he felt a little sting of pain, but it wasn't anything he couldn't take. Especially since his body control was reaching the perfect tier.

He is already capable of lessening the impact coming from his pain receptors, slightly moving his hair around and fastening his nail's growth.

With each day of heightening his mastery over his body, he can feel that he's getting extremely close to achieving the Life Return technique.

Anyway, he opened his stomach and after over a week, he removed the bullet that was resting between his organs.

Taking it out, he removed the slime covering it and looked at it.

"Huh, so it was only this. Good thing it wasn't some exploding bullet or other bullshit." He said, remembering to close back the wound.

The slime stitched it nicely, even good doctors wouldn't notice that there was previously a cut.

Happy with this being resolved, he buried the bullet in his backyard. Now, his life could normally go on.

The next day he officially got the job. Sitting in a cabin next to the woods, the old man showed him around and pointed to things to keep an eye on.

For the entire week the old man instructed him on how to do his job, so that he could retire early.

Hearing that, Caden regretfully informed him that early the next year he will have to leave the island for a long time, probably a year or more.

"Well, then you will have to find somebody to fill in for you, since I'm done doing that."

Having one more thing to do didn't make life much harder for him.

Happy with the arrangement, Caden spent the next months in the village working as a lumberjack, bringing wood from the forest, cutting it up etc..

Of course, he hasn't forgotten his training. Everyday when he had the time, he went to the dojo to learn.

Although Koshiro judged his talent to be subpar, he persisted in learning whatever he could. With sweat pooling between his legs, he kept using the basic stance, trying to achieve something with it.

Seeing how much effort he put into it, Kuina slowly started to respect him.

Day by day, he did his best to properly use the sword and all the moves that their dojo taught, with little to no success. The first few motions he grasped and understood, being able to use them correctly in a spar, but he lacked the spirit and will necessary to be a great swordsman.

Right now, Caden was kneeling in front of his master. Their postures were really similar to a samurai reporting to his master.

"Caden, although you have the perseverance, which you showed with your work and dedication, I still advise you to drop the sword." Stated Koshiro.

"Why?"

"You see, to really become a swordsman, you need talent and preservation, which the second one you have in spades. The problem comes with your lack of a natural talent for this." He said with pity in his eyes.

Koshiro spent a long time teaching people how to wield a sword, but until now he found only one person to really have the true capabilities needed to become a true swordsman. This person is Zoro, who he is currently teaching.

"Do I really have so little talent?" Asked Caden, a little saddened.

"Hmm… Let me explain it to you this way." He started, pointing at Kuina.

"In comparison to my daughter, you have the same dedication, or at the very least similar amount. On the other hand, she has talent, which you lack." Focusing at Kuina, he continued. "I have been teaching her since she was little. It's already been 3 years since she picked up the sword. In that time, she made amazing progress. Unfortunately, she won't inherit the dojo."

They both spent a moment watching her fight Zoro, who was swinging at her with two swords, while she defended with only one, still managing to land a hit and win.

"Getting back to the topic, you lack talent. In other words, after mastering a few moves, you will stop progressing and most likely stay at being just able to cut wood with your sword."

"Isn't that plenty already? I reckon not many people are harder than wood."

"You might be right, but a real swordsman can slice steel with their weapon. He can even decide who his sword will, or won't cut. That is something you need talent for."

"What even is talent? I think with enough practice and perseverance, I could beat both Kuina and Zoro in a fight." He said, looking for some more wisdom from the master.

"Hmm.. Talent is like an additional limb. Those who have it, have an easier time doing something. For example, swordsmen with talent have easier time learning moves and concepts involving the sword. You can't simply beat that with dedication and training."

Pointing a finger at Caden, he continued. "You lack that additional limb. No matter how you try, your body simply won't move it. That's why, I tell you, give up on learning the sword. I see potential in your body, potential to achieve greatness. But that greatness doesn't lay with the sword."

Having said that, Koshiro stood up and passed still kneeling Caden, going to finish the children's spar.

'He might be right. I don't feel anything special about the sword and I never really was drawn to it. I should focus on my slime, it might be just the thing that will break the barrier between me and others.'

With new determination on his face, he went out, thanked his master for the past months and went back home.

For the next few days he didn't go to the dojo, instead his free time he spent in his backyard, experimenting with his slime, trying to achieve Life Return and maybe getting to control it after leaving his body.

To this day, he still cannot move the slime after losing physical contact with it. He never needed sight for it, since the movement came as an instinct, but after losing contact, that instinct also vanishes.

In these years he trained that connection in mostly one way.

He made a big slime column, which he rapidly touched and tried to stabilize it, before moving his hand back, which made the slime start to lose shape, at which moment he touched it again, trying to stabilize it and so on.

The columns he made got more intricate and artistic every time he tried it, because simple shapes were getting easier to command to freeze.

Training like that gave him some good feedback. Currently, he could make the column keep its shape for over 5 minutes, before getting wobbly and finally splashing all around.

'I'm getting closer and closer to creating permanent slime constructs. It will be so cool to make a whole house in seconds and have it stand by itself. A real movable base.'

Having those optimistic thoughts, Caden did his best training in the privacy of his home, already planning his next move, which will be a trip to Elegia.

A/N: 

Got sick, couldn't write. Got better, maybe will have some more ideas for the book. Anyway.

If this story interests you, please leave a comment or a review. Anyway, thank you for reading and have a nice day.