Breakthrough

In the blink of an eye, two entire weeks flew by and the D-day was finally upon us, I would finally be able to join the hunting party. The fourteen days were not spent idling about. I kept training twice daily with Jasper and on the few occasions that he was not able to be with me, I trained using the martial arts book. My body had become more accustomed to the punching motion and it was almost becoming second nature.

In the meantime, I had begun learning about kicks and needless to say, I kissed the ground more times than one! The kicking techniques were so much more complicated and intricate than the punching ones; from the rotating torso to the pivoting foot, comprehending it was a real headache. However, that was far from my brightest achievement. That honor was given to something that happened on the tenth day.

[Ten days ago]

The moon beamed over me as I sat cross-legged on the cold damp dirt ground, hands placed on my knees; my muscles were relaxed and there was no tension in any part of my body. The moonlight pierced through the thick vegetation and provided just enough light to wander around. A pleasing sandalwood smell permeated the air. Even though my eyes were closed, I still saw everything; I was training the way of the wind. I gradually focused on more and more objects and increased the amount of details in which I perceived them; I could then even know how and when each feather of a bird would move.

In that fateful moment, I had an epiphany; the writing of the orc grimoire raced through my mind and I began understanding its content. The first chapter was closely related to the fauna and flora; a sharp pain shot up from my spine and persisted as a black line crept up my forearm until it suddenly stopped. My eyes opened precipitously as my breathing fastened and became louder; my heart was also beating at an atypically fast pace.

My body began to spasm as black goo was being secreted from my pores; my muscles began contracting and expanding and I could feel my bones crackling. A few days ago, Jasper had showcased a technique to calm oneself down. This was the moment to use it; two breaths of fresh air filled my lungs before a sharp exhale and the process was repeated until my body was under control.

The two inhales allowed my blood to be infused with the maximum amount of oxygen while removing the excess carbon dioxide. After the procedure ended, I could see that my muscles had gotten bigger and I was slightly taller; maybe that was why orcs were over two meters! My strength and speed also experienced noticeable increases; I could feel that I was superior in every way.

'Thank you Jasper. Maybe you aren't as stupid as you seem.'

I had finally understood roughly a quarter of the first chapter. My body was too depleted of its resources to pursue with my meditation, therefore, I headed home. Even though I was pleased with my results, someone else was even more excited. As soon as the orc saw me walk through the door, Jasper began jumping around like an overweight gorilla and nearly broke the wooden floor boards.

"Do you want the both of us sleeping on dirt?" I yelled.

"You finally did it!" he said.

"You're a real genius," he added.

"What is this black goo? It stinks so much. My stomach's churning, I want to puke."

"That my dear Jett is all of your body's impurities," he replied.

[Back to present day]

Even before dawn broke, the beast and I were already eating a succulent meal to replenish our bodies before a grueling day ahead.

"What do I need to get ready to hunt?"

"First of all, you need a weapon, a knife to carve the meat out and a bag to carry it," Jasper said.

With all of our equipment at the ready, we walked out of the cottage and witnessed the first rays of sunlight for the day. The bright orange sky enveloped us as we walked throughout the forest and past the holy lake; during our trek, I witnessed more plants and animals indigenous to the beast land.

"Hey there Jasper, you got a kid already?"

I frantically looked around to see who had just uttered those words, but there was no one. My facial expression changed suddenly and I was puzzled. Jasper did not say anything and just laughed at me.

"What's funny?"

"Do you want to know who spoke?" he asked.

After a head nod from yours truly, he pointed to a tree.

"You can't be serious. Stop being an idiot," I said.

"Are you insulting me kid?"

My jaw nearly hit the ground as the wind indicated that the sound did in fact come from the tree. The beast land was already full of surprises but speaking trees was bringing it to a whole new level.

"This is a species of talking tress. In fact, they are fully sentient," the orc said.

"Hey kiddo, the name's Josh, but you can call me master," he joked.

"Is he ready to go hunt?" Josh asked.

"If you were aware how strong he is, you'd swallow your words."

After a brief chat with the talking tree, we were once again on our way to meet up with the rest of the crew. I could feel four beings approximately thirty meters away.

"Are they friends or foes?" I asked Jasper.

"Oh you were able to already sense them. If there are four of them, then it must be our group," he replied.

As soon as we emerged from the densely packed trees, we stood across from several orcs. The group contained two familiar faces, those of Xavier and Hunter.

"I'd like to welcome our little friend to our hunting party," Hunter said.

"Good morning to everyone; I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Jett and from today onwards, I'll be in your care. Let's get along well!"