More Training

Reiji wasn't that inclined to know what the kid wanted once he gets stronger.

For someone who had been so weak and unable to even defend himself against a bunch of garbage men, he would know how to value his power once he possesses it.

The task that he accepted in his heart was to teach this kid as many things as he could before he can let him fly on his own.

"Did I increase my muscle mass already?"

"Dream on... If that would be so easy then no one would be weak here... Anyway, now that you've been training the same thing for a week, we'll change your evening training..."

"Really? That's great!"

Diether was already tired of repeating the same training day and night.

There are five basic stances in kendo.

He was only doing one swing which uses Jodan-no-kamae also known as The Fire Stance that his master used during the fight against the assassins. It was where the shinai is raised above the head, in readiness to strike. It is the most aggressive stance of the five.

The most basic stance was Chudan-no-kamae also known as The Water Stance where the shinai is held with the hands in front of the waist, with the tip of the weapon pointed at the opponent's throat.

This stance can be used for both attack and defense but Reiji decided to teach him the other stance to utilize the explosive power of Diether's spiritual energy.

After all, with Diether's physique, his enemy would surely underestimate the power behind his swing. He can utilize this to his advantage and defeat his enemies.

Unfortunately, a week has already passed but the guide was still not accepting that Diether learned the stance or technique to strike.

They have been training under a tree at the edge of the forest where evil beasts roam around.

He was also seeing some hunters from time to time which relatively makes the place a bit safer.

Diether was always seeing them with bags of crystal tied on their waist while returning back to the village. It means that they defeated some evil beasts and retrieve their most important cores that can be sold for a huge sum of money.

"Do you want to fight against an evil beast?"

Reiji suddenly asked but Diether immediately shakes his head.

"I'd rather fight humans first..."

"Good... Listen, you'll be arranging the tools needed for your next training session."

"Yes, Master!"

"Very well. We'll use that tree next time but you'll have to place something there."

Reiji or the shinai floated for a moment and pointed at a tree that has a form of an umbrella with its leaves and branches creating a circular cover.

Then, Reiji told Diether about his plans for the next training session.

The kid worked hard and finish the job before the sunset.

They quickly returned to the inn he was staying at and paid more two silver coins to extend his stay for another week.

The owner was really kind and only took one silver and 50 copper coins since he was just a small child and wasn't eating that much.

"Thank you, owner!"

"Shhh! Don't say it out loud. I'm only treating you like this since you are still too young. Sigh~ I remember my son looking like you..."

The owner was a middle-aged woman and seems to be a very kind and gentle lady..

Diether appreciated her actions and thought that he would repay them someday.

The next morning, Diether looked at the tree he will be using for the next training. There were about 20 pieces of wood hanging by a thread at the branches of the tree.

It was placed in some kind of pattern that only his master knows.

Although he wanted to start training with it already, he still has to do some muscle mass training in this morning before these 'woods hanging on the tree' training in the whole afternoon.

"What should I do with this?" Diether asked after he completed the muscle mass training and rested for a while.

"Simple... Stand in the middle and try to avoid the woods coming at you within a minute. You will pass this training and move forward if you weren't hit during that single minute."

"Is that even possible?!"

Diether looked at the hard pieces of wood that would later be banging his head or body.

'I should've looked for softer branches...'

He suddenly thought as he gulped at the difficulty of this training.

"This is not even that hard... I passed this training when I was seven. Even if the difficulty was raised as I grew up, I was never hit by this thing... You can do it too!"

Diether appreciated his master's words even though it was only giving him more pressure. Anyway, he can only try. Before, he couldn't even run for 20 meters without sweating profusely and gasping for air for a couple of minutes. Now, he could run a kilometer without much difficulty and with still steady breathing.

He was slowly getting stronger and he will definitely surpass this hurdle after some time.

Diether was now standing at the center of the hanging woods and Reiji floats around as it strikes the woods from time to time and hits Diether.

As soon as Reiji strikes the woods several times, he just let it swing around until it stops.

"Urgh!"

He was hit many times more than he avoided. The kid has a poor reflex and body coordination. Even though he can sometimes see the incoming wood, he was unable to control his body to dodge it immediately.

Right now, Reiji wanted to improve these two by teaching him proper footwork.

"Diether, remember that this will be your training every afternoon until you can easily dodge them for a whole minute!"

"Yes!"

"Mhmm... You have to learn from your faults and try to come up with a way to resolve this hurdle. Understood?"

"Yes... But, may I ask a question?"

Diether was not usually asking with regards to training so he let him be.

"Go ahead..."

"Can we do this training every morning first and the muscle training and stance training in the afternoon?"

"No, it will remain the same... Anything else?"

"There's none..."

Reiji was satisfied with Diether's actions as they returned to the inn and had a rest after a meal.