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6. Progress-2

A/N: My depression returned today (the day I wrote this chapter), with a Vengeance, which is the reason this chapter might feel dead. Or it's my depression itself making it seem like to me. No idea. But well, this chapter does contain everything I wanted to put in this chapter. So, yeah.

Now, for todays note, No, I was not suicidal last time I uploaded, you guys don't have to worry about that. I just get progressively more depressed if things get even a little bit annoying.

So, yeah, no worries.

Want to read ahead, or show some support? Join me on my Pat-reon. My username is HelloDarkness07. The Pat-reon is currently at chapter 15!

Read on.

~~~

The next morning at dawn, I meet Scathach in the training ground, which was just a few hundred yards away from our house.

Last night was fun, being my 100th birthday. We just has a small celebration in our house, with Mother gifting me something I'm still surprised exists.

She made an armour for me, by weaving the strongest metal she currently has access to, with the hide of a Dragon. A Dragon! And that's not even the most surprising part!

The metal she used, was extracted from a meteor that had fallen on Earth about a million years ago. Vibranium, mother has access to Vibranium. I think it's not a subject of access, but the fact that mother can mimic every metal currently on this planet. Vibranium is just the strongest here.

The armour looks mostly like leather, with a soft purple metallic shine to it. It covers my chest and back completely, while leaving my arms free, and it will definitely grow with me, similar to my Celestial Armour.

While not even remotely as strong as the material my Celestial Armour is made of, which I still have no idea what it is, the Vibranium armour is still pretty strong. Plus, with mother's enchantments, it is almost indestructible. Almost.

Doesn't mean hits don't hurt. I found out the hard way, when I was too overconfident about the Kinetic absorption of Vibranium.

Vibranium does absorb vibrations, and the kinetic energy, plus it also reflects energy beams, if they're not intense enough. But, some energy does get transferred through. So, considering how hard Scathach hits, I do feel the pain of being hit, despite the armour.

Mother and Scathach, both warned me though, that sufficiently sharp weapons, even if they're made of plain steel, used by a sufficiently strong wielder, can still cut through the armour.

Anyway, I'd kept the armour off for now, and will only wear it once a while, so I can get used to the feeling of it. Scathach hadn't given me anything, but I hadn't exactly expected her to. Well, anyway. Back to my training.

As soon as I'm in front of her, she conjures a wooden sword, and hands it to me, without saying anything.

I take the sword in my hand, and observe it. It was a straight sword, double edged, and had a sharp tip. It was a bit heavier than I'd expect a wooden sword to be, though. All in all, it looked like a short sword. Done examining it, I look to Scathach for guidance, as I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this.

Sighing, she conjures a similar sword for herself, and says, "Follow my lead. And don't rush.

Saying that, Scathach takes a breath, and enters a stance, with her feet shoulder length apart, and turns her upper body to her left. Her sword was held in her left hand, with her right hand free, but ready to support the sword.

Mimicking her, I put my sword in my right hand, and copy the stance. She looks me over, and nods, after pushing my leg back just a tad bit.

She then begins guiding me through the katas, and corrects me whenever I make a mistake. Although I'm an experienced fighter in hand to hand combat, swordsmanship is a different subject altogether. So, while I do get a bit of an advantage while learning the Katas, I also make a lot of mistakes.

Finally, 7 hours after we began, we take a break to eat our lunch. As we're eating, I ask, "So, is this going to be our daily routine now?"

Scathach swallows her piece of Chicken leg, which she brought, and cooked herself, and says, "For now. Once I deem you ready, you'll get to spar with me. Count yourself lucky, brat."

Gee. Thanks.

Rolling my eyes, I eat my food, and say, "You know, I thought you'd have me fight with a shield, when I first saw the shortsword."

Scathach shakes her head, and explains, "Every weapon has to have a beginning. You're still too short for the bigger swords, so you'll start with a short sword. Once you get bigger, you can start on bigger swords yourself."

"Huh? Why? You'll leave?" I ask, a bit disheartened, my food forgotten.

Scathach throws the chicken bone at me, which I dodge, and says, "I'm not leaving today, you dumb brat. I'll teach you your 6 weapons, and I'll leave. I do have a home, you know."

I sigh, not blaming her. She did already spend 20 years here already, and who knows how long the weapons training will take. At least, my Magic lessons have ended so I can focus more on my physical training itself.

Looking at her, I say, "I understand. I will miss you though."

Scathach finishes her food, and wipes her hands. She looks at me, and says, "Well, I'm not leaving yet. You have yet to learn one weapon, let alone 6. Now, finish up and begin your exercises again. We still have 7 more hours to burn."

Well, fuck you too.

---Time Skip: 12 years---

"You ready?" Scathach asks, holding her spear Gae Blog, pointing it at me.

I spin my spear in my hands, and point it at her in challenge. "I was born ready." I smirk at her.

Seeing her nod, I take a step forward, and attack her with the spear, making her defend a stab. Knocking my spear aside, Scathach punches at me, aiming for my nose.

I point my palm at her, and summon a shield, defending against the punch, and again raise my spear to attack.

These last two years, after Scathach had already finished teaching me most of what I can actually learn with her, had been spent with actually applying everything in fights.

While I did learn how to use the swords, spear, staff, hammers, axes, and bow and arrow in battle, I was not a master in each of them. At least, not yet. My best weapons were the Axe, and Sword, while the spear was currently my worst.

Hammers were okay, but I just didn't see them as weapons much.

Thankfully, I was getting bigger, and stronger, so there was no problem wielding said weapons.

Currently, I had each of those 6 weapons, in different styles and sizes, kept in my Pocket Dimension. I could keep anything inside the Dimension, and call it at will.

Scathach uses her spear to lock my own spear, and throws it away from me, while simultaneously kicking my chest. Throwing a couple conjured daggers at Scathach, I keep distance between us, and bring out two short swords, one in each hand.

Without saying anything, I attack again, this time focusing on disarming her this time. I swipe my swords at her, while she uses her spear to block my every move. Damn, she's too good with that spear.

Because of all the exercises Scathach had me doing, I had gotten a lot stronger. If I had to guess, I was in the Class 20 range now, or somewhere close. Plus, physical exercise is not the only thing I did.

I had also worked on my Magic, most of the times alone, but sometimes with my Mother. She had gotten me used to fighting with my Magic, while Scathach had focused on my Physical might.

So, when Scathach had begun gaining an upper hand, thanks to her superior strength, and skill, I start using magic to give myself an advantage.

First, I control the roots of the trees below me, and grab her leg with one root. When she looked down to see what had her trapped, I immediately kick out, catching her in the guts, and use the root to pull her leg, making her fall.

As she gets up, angrier than I've ever seen her, I summon a storm around me, and throw my winds at her. She uses the spear to stay fixed to the ground, which is what I was waiting for.

Loosing control over the storm, I instead point my hands below her, and summon as many trees as I can, and make them wrap around my opponent.

Finally, as the storm dissipates, I look at a frustrated Scathach, surrounded by the Trees of Gaea, as I call them, because they're stronger than normal trees, with her spear, Gae Blog in her hand, still stuck in the ground.

Smirking, I point my sword at her neck, and cheekily ask, "Do I win, then?"

Scathach scowls, and breaks out of the trees. The condition was for her to use strength similar to mine, and she would still win. This was actually the first time I've won any of our spars.

Scathach looks me up and down, and says, "While you did win this round, you should take a look at your own body."

I look down, and sure enough, there were cuts in like, 10 different places, where she had cut me without my knowledge.

"Ow." I say, the pain finally registering. I focus my magic, and put my hand over one wound, and whisper, "Heal." My hand glows green, as the magic seeps into the wound, and begins healing it, and every other wound on my body.

Shaking the exhaustion away, as I can already feel myself gaining my lost energy back, I look to Scathach, and ask, "So? How did I do?"

Putting her spear on her back, Scathach starts walking towards our home, and answers, "Better than yesterday's spar, that's for sure. You surprised me by using the tree roots in such subtle ways. Usually you just throw the spikes at me." Yeah, my Mokuton inspiration took over those times.

Shaking my head, I listen as Scathach says, "Your swordsmanship is still better than your Spear handling, that's for sure. So, I'm going to have Gaea make swords for you as your primary weapons. But, my opinion is, you wait until any actual danger appears in the distance before commissioning a Divine Weapon."

I nod, accepting her judgement. Something in her voice is a bit sad though. Before I can ask, she says, "Well, this is it brat. The only way you can get stronger now, is train yourself, and fight some strong enemies. There's nothing that I have to teach you now."

Pausing a bit, she adds, "Well there are still hundreds of weapons I can teach you to use, but they won't be of any use to you now. Plus, your mother hasn't paid me enough for that."

Surprising her, I turn towards Scathach and throw my hands around her body, shutting her rambling up. Hugging her tightly, close to me, I say, "Don't forget about me, Scathach. I will miss you."

I feel her arms around me as well, as she says, "And I will miss you too, brat. But tell anyone this, and I will rip your balls off."

Shudder. "You leave my balls alone, you evil witch! They're innocent!" I whisper, still hugging her.

Snorting, Scathach counters, "Yes, so innocent that they haven't even been touched by anyone other than you."

"Gross. You do know that I'm still technically a child, right?" I ask, getting out of the hug.

Scathach rubs my head, and says, "Yup. And don't you forget it. Don't let any of the hussies take advantage of your innocence. Now, I have to leave. Tell Gaea I'll come visit soon."

I nod, and smile at her. While I always knew she was going to leave when my training was done, I did not expect her to leave so suddenly. Like, she didn't even wait for a celebration or something.

But, what can I expect. She's a War Goddess. They're not exactly patient.

Sighing, as I see her teleport out of the island, I leisurely walk towards our home, and think back on our time together. It was a fun time, even if she was annoying at times.

Plus, she taught me how to wield a sword, axe, spear, staff, hammer, and bow and arrow in combat. I will actually miss her.

Entering the house, I call out, "I'm home!"

As I'm taking some clothes to change into, before I can leave for the waterfall, Mother comes into my room, and asks, "So.. she left huh?"

I nod, not saying anything. Mother sighs, and says, "While I don't blame her for leaving, she could have at least stayed a few nights to rest up. Anyway, go and take a bath, I'll have dinner ready in a while."

I nod at her again, and say, "She said she'll return to visit some day. But she sounded in hurry."

Mother hums, and turns around, going to cook the food.

Scathach is gone, leaving us the only ones on the Island again. Well, I will look for her once Mother sends me off this Island. Can't stay cooped up my whole life now, can I?

~~~

A/N: Double Chapter today! I'm going to publish the Training chapters rapidly, as I don't want to waste anymore of your time. So, expect 2 chapters each time I upload for a few days!

Tata!