Episode 286
Five days wasn't short, but it also wasn't that long. At least, that was true when it came to training.
I suddenly remembered the nonsense said by my third senior brother.
"Keep this in mind, Youngest. A thousand days of training is called discipline, and ten thousand days of cultivation is called forging one's mind and skills."
"Oh. Isn't that kind of cool?"
"Right?"
I'd reacted like that at first.
"What did you do today to get closer to your goal?"
"Ohh..."
"90% of those who failed didn't lose. They gave up."
"Um...?"
"If you are walking through hell, keep going!"
"Uh..."
"Don't live crawling on your stomach. Stand up and die on your feet!"
Somehow, as time passed, he'd kept repeating similar lines almost compulsively. Eventually, I found out that most of my third senior brother's so-called wise sayings were a handful of phrases he picked up from his own world.
The more I thought about it, the more I concluded that the sayings were indeed cool. However, he said them so often that the effect disappeared.
In any case, what I wanted to say was that it was impossible for a person to become dramatically stronger in just five days.
I considered the First Fire Technique, White Sun Eclipse, Thunder Stomp Footwork, and Galaxy Sword to all be my main techniques, but it was hard to make further progress in them at this point. That was because I had already achieved a lot of things. I didn't even have the gut feeling that a breakthrough was close.
One might wonder what kind of breakthrough would come with a premonition, but surprisingly, these premonitions were important. The itchy, vague feeling that something was just out of reach was something that only those on the verge of enlightenment could understand.
Once that feeling came, one ought to spend time alone and cut off from the outside world. Some people even went as far as to stop eating and drinking completely in order to push their concentration to the limit. The delicate concentration they built up could be broken by something as simple as eating or drinking, after all. That was why things like going into seclusion existed.
However, there was a simple way to grow stronger in a short time. To do that, I had to develop skills I had only just started to learn. No matter the field, there was nothing that grew as rapidly as a skill one had just learned.
Conveniently, just before coming to the north, I'd gained a very useful power from Heavenly Wind Knight Feed: Crowtaker.
I took a deep breath before focusing my energy on my acupoint just below my shoulder. In any case, only the right wing would sprout. Last time, I'd tried focusing energy on the other side and there was no sign of a wing forming. In other words, regardless of the actual form, the energy concentration had to be balanced.
With a loud bang, a single wing covered in flames burst out of my back. I slowly rose into the air. Then, I quickly realized that aerial combat was a great advantage in a place like the north.
Most of the northern lands were untouched by human hands. The snow around the villages had been cleared, but venture just a little bit further and one would find oneself in a world of untouched, pristine white. Naturally, the ground was unusually heavy due to the snow. That meant it took a lot of unnecessary energy to keep one's balance.
On the other hand, I was free from such restrictions in the air.
"Salpha?"
—Uhhh...
At my call, the spirit let out a groan before finally appearing in front of me.
"Hello. It has been a while."
—It has been a while. By the way, why is it so cold here?
"Ah. I'm in the north."
—The northhh? The land of giants? Uwaaah! You are too much! Why did you call me in a place like this?
"I'm sorry, but can you help me? I need your strength."
—I don't want tooooo...
Salpha's voice was sluggish as she crawled beneath the feathers of my wing and hid there. I hadn't expected to be rejected so quickly.
I was a bit embarrassed, but didn't hesitate to say, "Wait. This is really urgent."
—It isn't urgent for me... I hate the cold...
Hadn't she previously said that she hated the heat?
In any case, this was a difficult situation. It was impossible to move freely in the sky without Salpha's help.
"So what will it take for you to help me?"
—Umm... I need the warm sun. I don't want to move when it is cold...
"Mm." I paused for a moment before trying to adjust the temperature of the flame around the wing, just like last time. "How do you feel about this?"
—It is still cold.
It seemed that the same heat as before wasn't sufficient due to being in the north.
I carefully controlled my energy and kept checking with Salpha. "Now?"
—This is too hot. Are you trying to melt me?
"I'm sorry. I will lower it a bit."
—You lowered it too much this time. Raise it some more. Higher. Higher. Ah. You raised it too much this time! Don't you have any sense? Now a bit lower. No. Lower! I said a bit lower! Don't you know what a bit means?
Should I hit her just once? I looked down at the pea-sized face and seriously considered it. However, I held back and did my best to adjust the temperature.
—Oh. This is just right. Good.
Salpha clung to my wing and looked happy. For some reason, I felt like I had become a servant adjusting the temperature of my master's bathwater.
—Good, good. If you keep it at this temperature then I will help you. Do you understand?
"Yes. Thank you."
I finally received Salpha's help and spent the first day recalling the feeling of flying. At first, it didn't go as smoothly as I expected. Every time I moved too explosively, it was inevitable that the temperature of the flame wing would rise.
—Ack! It is hot! It is hot! Are you trying to burn me to death?
"Sorry."
Every time, I managed to coax and appease Salpha in order to continue. Honestly, it was much harder to adapt to this spirit than the actual training.
Then, something unexpected happened while I was paying attention to the temperature while fighting. The shape of the flame wing became much more refined, and the overall balance of my flight became more stable.
Ah. I was once again reminded that temperature had a great influence on the intensity and flow of the flame.
—Mmmm~ This is finally bearable...
Salpha seemed to like the temperature and balance of my wing. She was relaxed and content like an old man dozing off in a rocking chair by the fireplace.
I felt like hitting her again, but I once again endured the urge.
Thus, I mastered the feeling of flying. Then on the second day, I decided to focus on gaining combat experience. The opponent I decided on was someone I couldn't easily guarantee victory against. Naturally, the only targets were Verita and Araxad.
Verita didn't want to spar with me, so the only choice left was Araxad. I briefly thought it would be great if Lanfero had been here, but Araxad wasn't a weak opponent either.
I approached my reticent lizardman senior, explained my situation, and asked for a sparring match. To my surprise, he nodded without hesitation.
"Luan Badniker. I heard you received the acknowledgement of Heavenly Wind Knight Feed. It should be an interesting sparring match."
"It isn't quite acknowledgement yet."
A moment later, Araxad and I stood facing each other in front of the mansion, ready for combat.
Araxad took a combat stance. The first impression I'd gotten when I saw him was that he was a walking weapons arsenal.
Several swords and daggers hung from his waistband, and there was a shield strapped to his arm. The shield was tied to his forearm muscle below the elbow, giving him the advantage of freeing up both hands to hold weapons. There were several more weapons secured to his back, and their handles jutted out over his shoulders like the spines of a porcupine.
Aside from his proficiency, the sheer weight of all these weapons had to be considerable. So it was clear that Araxad's fighting style didn't rely on speed.
Ramon, acting as both referee and spectator, said, "The ground is pretty slippery due to the snow. Don't you need to clean it up?"
I replied, "I'm fine with the way it is now. What about you, Senior?"
"Same here."
"Mm. Okay." Ramon nodded. "I don't have any particular rules to suggest for the fight. I trust both of you to know how to fight honorably. There shouldn't be any serious injuries. Do you understand?"
We both nodded at the same time. Then Ramon said briefly, "Then start."
The moment Ramon finished speaking, Araxad drew his twin swords and rushed toward me. It was faster than I expected, but perhaps due to the weapons he was wearing, the speed was something I could cope with.
Instead of responding head-on, I activated the power of Crowtaker and soared into the sky.
"Ohhh...!"
Ramon was amazed,but Araxad's eyes were still calm.
I hadn't told Araxad about Crowtaker. In other words, from his perspective, my flight was a sudden new tactic. Even so, Araxad showed no particular surprise.
He can't be completely unfazed.
However, showing panic in a battle was for rookies. No matter what they thought inside, a warrior ought to keep their composure in most situations. We were from different races and I didn't know his age, but his experience from countless battles clearly stood out.
The difficult part would start from here. How would Araxad attack? As Feed had once said, enemies that could fly were tricky in many ways.
At that moment, Araxad sheathed the sword in his left hand before pulling out a weapon from his back. Its shape was familiar.
Chain scythe?
The instant I thought of the Chain Scythe person I'd met in Teper, I was startled and used Galaxy Sword.
Clang!
I barely managed to block the chain scythe that flew right at my face in an instant. I knew it was just a sparring match, but a chill ran down my spine.
Had he judged that I would be able to block it? I appreciated the high evaluation, but my wrist tingled from the strength contained in the chain scythe.
Immediately afterward, I felt a chilling sensation across my chest. I twisted my body without even thinking about it, but I couldn't fully avoid the attack. A sharp pain came from my shoulder.
It was a bolt. I thought, A crossbow. Where is he hiding it?
The answer was simple. A crossbow was mounted beneath the shield fixed to his forearm. I realized that this lizard had deliberately hidden its existence. It was also capable of rapid, continuous fire.
I was frantically dodging the bolts shooting at me when a chain flew at me once again and wrapped around my ankle.
"Eek?!"
I felt the sensation of falling down and crashed into the snow.
"Y-Young Master?"
I hurriedly reached out to Ramon to show I was okay. Then I said to Araxad, "Senior, you're strong."
Araxad nodded calmly and replied, "Your flying skill looks clumsy. The outcome would've been different if we had fought on the ground. Is improving this skill the result you want to gain from sparring with me?"
"For now, yes."
"Okay. I've always wanted to spar with someone from the winged race anyway. More importantly, is your wound okay? You are human, so shouldn't you do some first aid?"
I pulled out the bolt from my shoulder and replied, "It's okay because I'm strong. Let's get started."
After that, I kept sparring with Araxad to improve my flying ability. I'd initially thought that sparring with one person for three or four days would be inefficient, but that worry turned out to be unnecessary. The lizardman senior had as many combat techniques as the number of weapons he carried. That made it feel like I was fighting a completely different opponent every time.
We had become quite close by the third day, so I asked Araxad in a relaxed tone, "Why did you learn so many different weapon skills?"
"It was all for survival. My hometown was full of dangers, and I couldn't survive with just one method. Of course, it might've been possible if I had the time and space to master one technique to the limit, but I couldn't do so. On the other hand, new techniques could be learned quickly from the start. In order to fight strong opponents superior to me every day, I was forced to learn multiple skills."
"Ah."
Surprisingly, Araxad's origins as a warrior resonated with my current thoughts. I admired him, but also felt a bit curious. I couldn't help wondering how strong he would have become if he had mastered a single technique to the limit.
In any case, thanks to Araxad, I was able to adapt to Crowtaker at a fairly fast pace. I somehow refined it enough to be usable in actual combat.
"Senior Ramon."
"Yes."
"Is it today?"
"Yes."
I looked through the rattling window, which was being pounded by a raging blizzard. It was time for the sun to rise, but it was dark outside due to the storm.
On the morning of the sixth day, the weather was unusually fierce. Lanfero never returned.
