VII: Human limits and the love of a father.

AN: Merry christmas and enjoy the chapter! I'm back!

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"Well, you've already learned everything you need to be a good executioner, and you've even improved more than I thought you would, boy, where did you get all that hidden talent from?" Seone's 'father' said teasingly as he looked at him proudly.

Seone had changed during this month, he looked more stocky, though he still looked like a skinny boy, there was something different as if his whole presence was more... solid. This air of confidence around him wasn't there before, it made him look like someone more serious and to be reckoned with, not like his previous self.

There he was, holding a heavy execution sword, swinging it in straight cuts with a standard rhythm, followed by proper breathing and posture. It looked a bit difficult for him, but the sword he had chosen was very heavy, much heavier than normal execution swords.

After slowly improving his body through practice and the influence of Spin, his strength grew to the point where he needed such a heavy sword. Not only that, his physical endurance had also improved, allowing him to train much harder than others could normally, which was why he had achieved good results in his training so far.

Comparatively speaking, his entire being had reached the peak of what a normal human could achieve, which amazed him, and he once asked his father about it.

"Why is my strength growing so fast?" asked Seone after a training session, noticing his accelerated physical growth even without the use of spin.

"It's because of the energy in the world. Every time you breathe, exercise, or meditate, that energy enters your body, and it also enters the animals and fruits you eat. Those who can control this energy and mix it with their own are the mages and warriors, but boy, talent has a lot to do with it. Too bad none of us have the talent for it, but don't worry humanity... always finds a way.

The energy of the world has no name or attribute, and although "mana", the common name for magical power and its derivatives, is powerful, there are other variants of energy with different applications.

Do you know what our ancestors used on this continent when 'humanity' was just emerging? Their resistance resonated with the world itself. The eastern side of the continent gave it a peculiar name, "Chi", we just call it... Vitality. A silly name without any artistic sense, but it was the time when you could get a woman with a racket and a good swing. 

Your vitality reacts and makes you stronger, and maybe, at the end of this training, if you meet my standards, I will give you a gift," after this explanation, worth several paragraphs of dialog, Seone put more effort into his training, trying to make me as strong as possible in a balanced way to meet this strange standard, he didn't know how strong I needed to be, but I had to be.

And now there he was, holding his sword with concentration, his forehead beaded with sweat and his breathing threatening to become chaotic, but his concentration was so great that he didn't notice anything. He didn't notice a bird landing on his head or his father sitting on a tree stump watching him. 

The previous swings of the execution sword had made him tired, his muscles ached, and he was thirsty, but he felt something stirring in his body, something strange that made him sink into that strange state of meditation. Yes, technically he was meditating, something he did to train his spinning, but usually in the solitude of his room or general privacy.

But now... if an Immortal from those Chinese Xianxia novels suddenly appeared in this courtyard, he would notice the state the boy was in; well, there were already some of those Immortals watching the live broadcast that had focused on Seone, but the reactions of the higher beings will go to another chapter, OK?

Well, after a few minutes of almost absolute silence, Seone took his stance, resumed his breathing, and tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword with both hands, ready to cut. He fully engaged the correct muscles and swung the weapon downward, making a straight cut.

As if inspired by a certain black swordsman, his descending sword made the air roar, blowing the blades and grass under his sword as if a god had blown them to the ground. His father, who was looking at him boredly, a bottle of what appeared to be rum in his hand, raised an eyebrow in amazement, only to have a smile creep across his face as he took a swig from his bottle.

"Boy, oh boy, have you gotten to this point? To the top... of what a human can do?" the man said as he saw the tired and shaken Seone collapse to the ground after such a performance.

"I guess..." the boy said, after he had calmed his breathing and sat down on the floor in front of his father, looking at him with some expectation. 

Although he had only known this man for a month, the feeling the old man conveyed to him somehow helped to heal his emotional wounds a bit after literally seeing his entire world melt away before his eyes. 

"Unlike warriors or knights who have incredible attacks that can split a mountain in two, can 'step' in the air to almost fly, or have incredible defenses, we normal humans can only go as far as you.

I didn't think you were a genius at it, although maybe that strange energy you manipulate at night has something to do with it," the father said with a mischievous smile when he saw the boy's confused and frightened face.

"What are you talking about?" the boy asked, his voice shaking.

"I'm a fighter and then an executioner, if I couldn't sense you in my own house, I would be a failure, and not only that if I couldn't detect such a sheer, absurd amount of energy that can be generated with 'spinning things', I would be very, very rusty, and boy, am I not rusty," as if to prove his point, the old man did something that every reader of cultivation novels has read and found epic at least once.

He bent down, picked up a blade of grass, and casually waved it at Seone, who suddenly felt absolute terror as if a monster was looking at him, then he felt something sharp in his face, and soon something warm fell down his nose, when he touched himself and saw his fingers, he was terrified.

Blood oozed from a small gash on his forehead, caused by the simple swing of a blade of grass, and the old man just sneered at his adopted son's frightened face as he took another sip of rum.

"It's not an aura, it's not mana, it's a vitality, ki, chi, or whatever the Easterners call it. While they look for the softer, spiritual, harmonious side... in the West we choose something more in line with us, brutal, rough, human.

Do you know the instincts that are rooted in the human being and the limits that are associated with them? And do you know that your senses can grow into an absolute domain where you can react almost instantly? Not even those aura users can compare to us, the fighters, and I want you to take that to heart.

Before you are an executioner, before you are an oddball thrower, you are a luchador, and you must pass this legacy on to those who are ready. The way of the fighter, as the Orientals say... is extreme. And so, I may not train you anymore after this tutelage, but I will leave you the foundation to grow and become an extreme fighter, that peak I did not reach," feeling somewhat melancholic, the old man looked at Seone and sighed, feeling sad and happy at the same time.

How could he, someone absolutely in control of his senses, not notice that Seone was different? Not just physically, but mentally as well, as if the boy had come out of nowhere, or out of shape. Not only that, he felt that this strange energy that Seone wielded was something extremely powerful and that the boy hadn't even scratched 1% of what he could do, what's more, the energy he used, outside of his physical energy, didn't belong to him, but to the environment, so he knew that Seone had a long way to go.

But still, he was his son, he educated him, raised him, fed him, and trained him, how can you not love your son, even if he is inexplicably different from one moment to the next? When he noticed that things were getting strange and dangerous on the continent in that last month, he decided to include his son in this tortuous, painful, and difficult path, hoping not only that he would reach the maximum height in it, but also that he would be able to protect himself. 

Because that's all a father wants, to protect and care for his children.