Training Harder or Smarter?

Jayr POV - Greece - 1980

I once again woke up before the first light of the day could come from the window of my room, the next thing I do is get up, go to the bathroom, and do the usual business, peeing, washing, and brushing my teeth, then I started going out of our home, and started doing our "light" warm-up, running uphill barefooted in a zig-zag pattern with a boulder on my back without the support of Cosmo.

'Sometimes I miss Grandpa... he asked to be transferred to the Sicily Training Ground to be near mom, as he told us last year when he went away, we are ready to take care of ourselves, especially me and Shaina since our sensitivity, attunement and control of Cosmo almost reached the Silver Saint Level... One thing that happened last year that almost broke me... Grandpa was really a spartan... He made me and Shaina go through the last rite of the "Agoge" in which he made us fight an evil criminal alone and kill him, or die trying... While Shaina was able to do it without much problem afterward, showing once again her ruthlessness towards what she considers her enemies... To me that I spent all my previous life doing everything to save and protect lives, ending one by my own hands was almost too much...'.

'Luckily, Grandpa was always with me and helped me in understanding that sometimes to protect many lives or even the whole world we have to be ready to kill, but he also added that is fine to feel unwell for it, and that when it happens you have to remember the people you have saved doing so... And to drive the point home, he showed me the victims of the man I killed... And after seeing that calling that thing a man was an insult to mankind... He was a fucking cannibal who preyed on children! I almost wanted to revive him to kill him again...'

As I was lost in thought, I finished the first part of the warm-up, and soon started the next set of exercises, jumping down from the cliff, taking hold of some exposed rocks, letting go to fall again, rinse and repeat until you reach the end, then climb up with boulders tied on your body, ankles, and hands, meanwhile I hear Shaina screaming at Geist to move faster.

'3 Years ago, Geist too joined the Sanctuary, and the harsh training regime of Grandpa together with the character of Shaina, didn't help her, and many times she was on the point of lashing out, not only with them but also the others trainee, I think that in the original timeline she did it and killed a fellow trainee, that's why she was expelled, but my presence here caused both their character mellowed a lot, Shaina is still ruthless but that is only with her opponent, while Geist leans more on mischiefs and she lost some of her aggressive nature... Still, both my sisters are little tyrants on those who do not gain their favors...'

Once I reached the top, I jump down once again to repeat the exercise, then once done I looked at the Fire Clock and noticed that it was almost time to go to the training ground so I said to my sisters "Shaina, Geist, its time for breakfast let's go home!" hearing that Geist starts to run and scream "The last to come cooks for everyone...and no Cosmo!"

As I was running calmly after them I thought 'She forgot that our breakfast needs no cooking as it is made of a wide variety of bread, pastry, fruits, and Greek yogurt...we had to choose a traditional greek breakfast as the Italian's one was too light for the exercise we do in the morning'

After breakfast we have to separate once again as Shaina and Geist as the training ground for males and females are separated so I said "Shaina, Geist, have a good day, we'll see each other once again at lunch" and went on my way to the training ground.

Once there the trainer gather us all to say a few words "Good morning everyone, today we will have a few new additions...please come here", and soon a muscular man 1,7, with tan skin, with only the white training pants and brown boots, with shoulder guards held by leather straps in an x shape, with white hair styled in a Mohawk, his eyes are particular as his black pupils are slitted, the other was a young boy with light skin, brown eyes and hair clearly an Asian.

'Wait that pair of giant and dwarf...they are Cassios, the future disciple of my sister who is now my fucking age and he is already 1,7m tall...well his brother Docrates is right now 2,30m at 14 years old and when he is 20 he reached 4,35m...poor their mother who had to bring them out, but more important the other is the one with the thickest plot armor of this universe, one of the MCs of this world, Seiya, one of the 100 "orphan" kids of Mitsumasa Kido...God that guy should have learned that there is a thing called a condom...'

(Image Here - Cassios/Seiya)

Then the trainer called and told me "Jayr, they will be in your care as you are the strongest one here and you can speak in both Greek and Japanese" and Cassios in an arrogant tone "What? Why do I have to learn from this runt?" and the trainer "Be more respectful Cassios, this runt as you call it isn't a Saint yet only because he didn't receive a Cloth yet but he is already qualified for it, and even your brother Docratres, the strongest soldier, it isn't his opponent"

Cassios is stunned by this information and says "That's impossible, my brother told me that he can best most of the bronze Saints with physical strength alone..." but before he could continue I say "Then why don't you try? Come..." then I turn to Seiya and say in Japanese "Hello Seiya, my name is Jayr and the trainer asked me to teach you because I can speak in Japanese, now I will show you how to fight a bigger and stronger opponent"

And while Cassios charge toward me I take the pankration fighting stance, face my opponent with a nearly frontal stance, only slightly turned sideways, the left side of the body is slightly forward of the right side of the body and the left hand is more forward than the right one, both hands are held high so that the tips of the fingers are at the level of the hairline or just below the top of the head, and are partially open, the fingers are relaxed, and the palms are facing naturally forward, down, and slightly towards each other.

The front arm is nearly fully extended but not entirely so, the rear arm is more cambered than the front arm but more extended than a modern-day boxer's rear arm. the back is somewhat rounded, but not as much as a wrestler would be, the body is only slightly leaning forward, and the weight is virtually all on the back with the right foot, with the front left foot touching the ground with the ball of the foot.

Once Cassios is near me he tries to grab me with his right hand our sizes are very different as I'm 1,1m while he is 1,7 so he has a longer reach, so I take a step forward and duck under his stretched arm, and use his arm as a lever and push myself up to his body and then his back and quickly I use a choking technique with my forearm.

Cassios frantically tries to reach me with his arms but he is unable to do it and in the end, he faints, and I let go of my hold, then turn to Seiya and say "As you have seen, I didn't go for a frontal exchange, but used my small size as an advantage and then I cut his airflow, that is what you do when you are on the weaker side, you take advantage of your strength and your opponent weakness"

Then I turn to Cassios and poke him in some pressure point to wake him up, and as soon as he is awake I say "So is this enough to let me teach you the basics, or do you want some other proof" and Cassios still stubborn says "I wouldn't have lost if you fought me head on"

Then I move to the closest sandbag and pointing at it say "Then show me your strongest strike" then Cassios stand in front of the sandbag and punch while screaming "Doryhaa!" and with a strong impact he sends the sandbag up in the air for a second before it starts swinging back and forth, then with a proud smile he says "See? This is my full strength"

Then I look around and soon I find a boulder of the right size, I stand in front of it and start lightly burning my Cosmo, then I poke it with my finger causing it to explode in many pieces then look at the shocked Cassios and say "See? this is me holding back!"

Seiya POV - Greece - 1980

A lot of things happened this year, first, they separate me from my sister and put me in another orphanage where we were told to do physical training all the day while a bald bastard tortured us, then the guys at the Graad Orphanage gathered all of us and did some kind of lottery to decide where to send us to train to become a Saint, and after that the old bastard Kido promised me that he'll reunite me with my sister, and of all the place they could send me, they throw me here in bloody Greece, where almost nobody speaks Japanese.

Not even the time to rest that they lead me here to train, just another tortuous training after another, then a kid around my age with shoulder-length messy dark blue hair and green eyes taller than me wearing a white training suit with brown boots, belt, hand guard and shoulder guard, said something to the big guy and made him angry and while the guy was charging at him, he turns to me and in Japanese, he said he was going to teach me, then he showed me how to subdue a stronger opponent, easily handling the big scary guy.

(Image Here - Training Outfit)

But what happened next was even more shocking after waking up the big guy, whose name I now learned is Cassios, he lead him near a sandbag, and I have to admit that Cassios is strong, he almost made the sandbag fly, but Jayr-sensei is stronger much, much stronger, with only one finger he made a big rock explode.

After that Jayr-sensei taught both me and Cassios the basics of Pankration the basic martial art they teach at the Sanctuary, and after that, he taught us the basics of Cosmo, what is it, and how to feel it, but both me and Cassios weren't able to feel even a hint of it, but Jayr'sensei told me that it is normal as almost no one can feel his Cosmo at the first try.

Then he led us to the Academia, where they taught us about Saint, Cloth and there are also basic Greek lessons, and other subjects, here you are free to choose what to learn, but once he lead us here, Jayr-sensei went away as he said that he already learned everything they taught here, and said he was going to meet with some friend.

Jayr POV - Greece - 1980

After I was finally free from the kids, I moved up toward the Gold Zodiac 'I have finished memorizing Asklepios Imerológio and while I can't do every technique in it, I'm pretty sure that no mundane doctor can be better than me, even if I still have a lot to learn, I must admit that I feel in love with medicine and healing the others all over again... and I hate the fact that a lot of good people will die because of Saga's plot, and I do not even know if I'm destined to a cloth, right now, all the Gold Cloth but the Sagittarius one are owned, I do not know about the Silver ones but many of them will go to the unlucky generation'

'Think about them, Misty, Babel, Moses, and the others, to become a Saint of Athena one must have the will to protect humanity, if not the Cloth won't choose you and if you become a truly evil individual the Cloth will abandon you, and all these people died while fighting the wrong enemy.'

'But I digress back to the Cloth, the Bronze ones, some of them will go to the offspring of Mitsumasa Kido the most prolific man after Gengis Khan, while the others I know of do not appeal much to me... Oh well, I'll see what fate has decided... Now I have an appointment with one of the few close friends I made in these years'.

Soon I'm in front of stairs leading to the Aries Temple 'That is one of the major principles of this world... Stairs a fucking lots of stairs' once I reached the temple, I didn't hesitate and went around it saying "I never understood why, when Seiya and the others had to quickly reach the Athena Colossus, they never went around the Temples to move on, but only went inside risking their lives in fighting the Gold Saint inside... Probably the driving force called plot had a hand in it".

Right now, Mu of Aries is away, he is one of the few Saints who suspect the fact that the Pope was replaced, well if you do not count Shura who found it out but was brainwashed to follow his order, Deathmask, and Aphrodite who knows but doesn't care, as they believe that power is Justice and if the current Pope has the power to kill the former Pope he has the right to lead them, and Shaka, who pass most of his time meditating... Anyway, Mu distanced himself and went to Jamir hidden in the Himalaya Mountain Range 'Well it is easier for him to suspect this as the Pope Shion was his master'.

After the Aries temple, there is, surprise another long set of stairs leading to the Taurus Temple, my objective, and after a few minutes of running, I'm finally in front of the Tauros Temple, and right under the bullhead statue on the architrave, there is my friend.

A muscled young man 1,9m tall with tan skin and long dark brown hair, and thick eyebrows, wearing a simple training gear he is Aldebaran, my grandpa's disciple, he was given the status of Gold Saint very early, his real name is Tiago, but there is this tradition of taking the name Aldebaran when one becomes the Gold Saint of Taurus after the giant star of the Taurus Constellation

(Image Here - Aldebaran)

We became friends thanks to Grandpa, he is a very humble and friendly guy, and thanks to him I have improved a lot in both martial arts and medical training, let's just say that sparring with the acknowledged, most physically powerful Gold Saints, since the young age of 10, it isn't for most, I think I broke every bone in my body at least twice, but thanks to a technique found in the Asklepios Imerológio, after every break my bones grew stronger and tougher than before as I healed them with Cosmo.

Then as I moved closer to him, I say "Ola Tiago, como voce esta? (Hello Tiago, how are you?)" and he replies in Greek "I'm fine Jayr, but how many time do I have to tell you to call me Aldebaran now? By the way are you ready for today's spar?"

Hearing his question, I nod my head and reply "Yeah, I'm ready for another beating, by the way, today came two new kids with some potential, one is that asshole Docrates's brother, he has a good physique, but for now shitty personality, most probably his brother fault..." and Aldebaran then ask "Is he still picking on the guards and weaker soldier? I still do not understand why the Pope keeps him here, if it wasn't for you the number of people he killed during his training would be much higher".

"Yeah, most of my healing practice, if we do not count on the ones you make me do, came from his "sparring partners", but let's not talk about him now, the other is a Japanese kid 2 years younger than me, he is headstrong, stubborn, strong-willed, and reckless in nature but has the heart in the right place, and I feel that a Cloth is already destined for him" and hearing that Aldebaran "Ohh? High praise coming from you, now let's stop with the chit chat and start fighting, first warm-up..."

And so we both take the basic Pankratio fighting stance, and without waiting for a signal, I start with a low kick, but he parries with his shin and counter with a punch which I dodge by side stepping and counterattack once again, and this exchange of offense and defense continue for a few more seconds then he says "Now let's burn some Cosmo" and his arms seem to multiply, leaving many afterimages.

Seeing that I too start burning my Cosmo to the max possible and start countering his punches, unable to control myself I yell "Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari" our blows keep getting faster almost reaching the speed of sound and I am slowly getting the upper hand, then Aldebaran speed up even more, and I feel a strong impact on my right side, and I feel my bones cracking.

And the next instant, I hear a sonic boom, and find myself flying toward the wall of rocks that is near the temple, and crash into it creating a crater in the mountain, and feeling even more ribs crack, a little stunned I think 'Shit, who got the plate of the train that hit me?' but I quickly recover 'Only a few ribs cracked... I'm improving!' then I hear Aldebaran's voice "Come on get up, I'm only fighting at the level of a Silver Saint, but nonetheless congratulation, in technique alone you have surpassed me... You only need more firepower"

I then get up and start burning my Cosmo, even more, I jump out of the crater and once more I start attacking Aldebaran, but he easily deflects my attacks 'Time to try the new technique' but as I was thinking that my opponent yells "Do not be distracted during a fight!" and this time I feel a strong impact on the left side, and I find myself once again in the same crater with a few more ribs cracked.

"Maybe you need some other incentive to improve even more!" said Aldebaran while taking his real fighting stance, he crossed his arm and stood tall, this is a technique similar to the quick draw of an Iaijutsu method of sword fighting 'I still do not understand of he can make it work with his arms... Another miracle of Cosmo I guess... And shit the Spartan side that grandpa cultivated in him came out!'

Soon I feel his Cosmo burning even more and then he yell "Great... Horn!" and two massive waves of Cosmo are coming toward me at the speed of the sound.

Feeling the immediate threat I once again burn my Cosmo letting it explode, then I feel like I broke through some kind of wall holding me back, and the attack that was too fast to evade became a lot slower, and without admiring the phenomenon, I run to the side to evade both the wave and then arrive right in front of Aldebaran and use the technique I came up with taking inspiration from another anime I saw.

My fist starts shining and a clear blue orb of water gathers around my fist "Tidal Wave Punch" and with a punch, I shoot it straight towards Aldebaran and faster than the speed of sound, as the sonic boom that followed soon after indicated, reach my opponent but just as it was about to hit him he raises his hand and catches my blow with ease. (AN: I totally didn't use the name of a cocktail I drank sometimes ago...)

But with a smirk, I say "Boom" and from the water ball that he is holding in his hand ten delayed strong impacts came one after another, each stronger than the previous one, causing a strong shockwave, slowly pushing Aldebaran back leaving a trail in the ground.

After the effect of my technique ended he says "Well that is some nice technique, you condensed a ten blow in one strong punch, if it was someone else in my place, he would have been seriously injured... By the way congratulation, on fully mastering your sixth sense, you have reached the Silver Saint Level, now you only have to master your new awareness, and you can start working on the seventh one, and finally reach my level"

"You talk like it is an easy thing to do...and this technique is still a work in progress, right now I can only handle ten consecutive hits" I reply, and Aldebaran "It isn't easy... I reached that level four years ago, and I had the help of the Taurus Cloth, which supported me... Now, let's not talk about that, I think it is better that we stop for today"

"I agree... Let me see your hand...even if you used your Cosmo to protect yourself, you are still made of flesh and bones...without the Cloth you are vulnerable... After all, we all are just human in the end!"

Then I check Aldebaran's hand and like I suspected, some bones in his hand and arm are cracked, so I went inside the Temple and took the first aid kit I made for occasions like this 'After all every time I come here to train I broke or crack some bones' then I send some Cosmo in the cracks in Aldebaran's hand and then bandage the hand while saying "Nothing serious...rest for today and use some of your Cosmo to hold mine in place and tomorrow you will be as good as new, in fact, it will be slightly stronger..."

Hearing that Aldebaran then slams his other arm into the ground causing the same amount of damage to his other hand without hesitation and says "Do the same, as you know my technique works on the balance if one is slightly different something will feel off" and I did so while thinking 'Damn, grandpa really rubbed off him...when he learned that I used my healing arts to make my body stronger as I healed all the damage and fatigue of the training to train more he upped my training schedule even more, and when he learned of this technique he didn't wait for a second and jumped off a cliff to break every bone in his body to make'em stronger... And he is retired from active fighting...'.

After I took care of his other hand, I concentrate on my ribs and as I'm bandaging my torso Aldebaran ask "By the way, did you know that a lot of Gold Saints are on the younger side... from what I know in the last holy war against Lucifer we lost most of them, and only your grandfather survived, but then he chose to retire, so all of us took the Gold Saint seat a lot younger than usual, right now the oldest that I know of are Shura and that creep Deathmask who are 17".

And I reply "Yes I knew it, but talking of the other Gold Saints who is at the Sanctuary?" and Aldebaran thinks about it and says "Well there is me, Shura, Aiola, Milo, Shaka, and Aphrodite, Mu went to Jamir to train, Deathmask is at the training ground in Italy, Camus is in Siberia, Master Dohko is in China, the Sagittarius Cloth is still lost, and I know nothing of the Gemini Saint as he is the most mysterious one, but he has gone missing since Aiolos betrayed the Sanctuary".

Then I looked at the Fire Clock and say "Well it's time for me to go to the Library and then to the Asclepieion(Hospital), where other victims of Docrates wait for me" and then we said goodbye.

Once in the Library the first thing I did was check on everything on the Seventh Sense, and soon I found a book written by Sagittarius Gestalt in 1743, he is Shion and Dohko contemporary "Cosmo is actually the seventh of the human senses, beyond the normal five senses and the sixth, that is considered intuition and is used by the Saint to feel, manipulate and burn their Cosmo. With this awareness, a Saint is able to draw out the true potential of their Cosmo and achieve exceptionally powerful feats far beyond those of even a normal Saint, like wielding a power destructive enough to pulverize a star, reach the speed of light, or being able to punch billions of times per second...There seems to be a level called "Supreme Seventh Sense" or "Extreme Seventh Sense" that appears to be the maximum extension of the human Cosmo, a level so high as to generate a small-scale Big Bang...Because of the fact that Cosmo is actually a human sense, it happens that with a loss of one or more of the other six senses, the seventh refines itself...Eureka!"

'To train to reach the 7th sense, I can easily temporarily disable my senses thanks to the medical knowledge that I acquired from the Asklepios Imerológio... Work smarter not harder... If grandpa heard me he would throw me off a cliff, and then tell me to climb up with only my tongue'.

Having the solution, I then went to the Asclepieion to take care of the various wounded and after that, I went home and after dinner, I started my training, first by removing my sight, by pressing some acupoints 'I choose this method because I can undo what I did by using the Cosmo' then my hearing, and already the situation started getting scary... Being in total darkness and not hearing anything, but thanks to my sense of smell, taste, and touch I was still able to somewhat feel the surroundings, but the experience was still stressful, I tried concentrating on my Cosmo but the silent darkness took all my concentration, it is scary, crazy scary... So after what I think is a few minutes I undo everything and the world once again has sound and color then I looked at the Fire Clock and noticed that only a few seconds passed... Working smarter... Not so much... Better start one sense at the time... And so I once again started torturing myself... This time disabling only the sight and I was once again in the darkness 'It is all my spartan's blood fault! I wasn't so in my previous life, I was more on the lazy kind of guy, it's all grandpa's fault he tricked me into the dark side'.