Author's Note: Sorry it took pretty long to update, some school stuff happened and yeah you get the gist of it.
Anyways, thanks for reading; please continue to do so.
Chapter 3.3: Dancing with the pebbles.
Afternoon came and they resumed training, this time Feld tweaked the training method to further challenge Rei.
“This time you’ll do both dodging and deflecting, I’ve up a red “X” symbol at pebbles you should dodge and the rest you should deflect; right of the bat we’ll start at 200.” (Feld)
“Furthermore, if you deflect a pebble with an “X” on it you will receive the same punishment as not being able to deflect a normal one; you must dodge the pebbles with an “X” on it, if you’re hit then you’ll receive punishment as well.” Continued Feld
“Yes sir!” said Rei
Feld threw pebbles at a speed Rei has never seen before but even though it’s fast, Rei was still able to deflect them but the hard thing about the challenge is the pebble marked with X.
So far Feld has only thrown normal pebbles but with great strength which gave Rei a hard time deflecting it, nonetheless Rei was still able to deflect.
Feld increased his throwing speed and started throwing more than one pebble at a time; this was too hard for Rei and he missed 6 pebbles.
Feld started mixing X pebbles and normal pebbles and Rei hits 2 X pebbles.
Rei was hit by 3 X pebbles.
After a while the 200 mark was over and in summary: Rei missed 18, hit 7 X pebbles, and was hit by 4 X pebbles so he has to do 725 push-ups and sit-ups.
“634, 635…701…725” Rei finished his last sit-up and went to do push-ups
“703…715…723, 724, 725” Rei was exhausted again after doing a quarter less than a thousand push-ups and sit-ups.
“Can you still go at it Rei? Well, you don’t have a choice! Pick yourself up and let’s start over, this time it’s 300!” Feld said like a strict military trainer.
Feld threw normal pebbles at first then mixed in the X pebbles he increase the speed and number every 50 or so pebbles.
Despite being exhausted as hell, Rei was still able to reach 150 pebbles without mistakes and with style like when he first deflected all 100 earlier in the morning.
Feld noticed that Rei gets better when he’s extremely tired.
Wanting to test Rei even further, he pitched a normal pebble together with an X pebble side by side by each other which made it very hard to hit the normal one without accidentally hitting both.
Rei saw what Feld did, he was confused at first but then in the spit second after seeing it he made a conclusion to hit it instead of dodging.
Rei thought “I have to hit the normal one without hitting the X pebble, I can do this… I can do this!!”
It was a test of precision if Rei can avoid the X pebble while deflecting the normal pebble at that speed then he’s closer to being ready for the next part of Feld’s training.
Rei thought fast and he acted the same, he made a side-step to clearly see which the X pebble is and which is not.
Upon seeing that the normal pebble was at the back of the X one, he hit it like a piñata.
Feld smiled as Rei was able to meet his expectation, because of that he confirmed his hypothesis that Rei gets better when pushed too far.
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After confirming that, Feld threw more trick pebbles to further test Rei’s capabilities.
In response to Feld’s challenge, Rei started doing trick moves like crouching before hitting the normal pebble and jumping to dodge the X and then hit the normal pebble.
Feld was overjoyed for his student had such an amazing hidden ability where when he is pushed to the limits he becomes even better than previously.
“This kid, he’s like dancing with the pebbles.” Feld thought.
Feld relentlessly pitched more trick pebbles at Rei but they don’t seem to faze him.
Rei was able to hit every normal pebble and dodge every X pebble thrown by Feld and with that; the first part of Rei’s training was already over.
“Great job Rei, you finished the first part of training in only one day. That’s really impressive, you might have some hidden talent.” Said Feld
Feld did not tell Rei about his ability to be better when exhausted or beaten up because he thought that ability might disappear if Rei becomes conscious about it.
“Thank you, sir!! I feel like I’m a new person.” (Rei)
“Although you finished the first part, we’ll still practice it every morning.” (Feld)
“What?! I’m gonna be this tired every morning?!” (Rei)
“Yes, there’s no point in training if you’re not gonna do it daily to become an expert at deflecting and dodging.” (Feld)
---***---
“Master Feldgrau! Master Feldgrau!!” says the young woman approaching Feld in the streets of Ribas
“Oh! Glace how have you been” said Feld whilst looking at the blue haired beauty with short hair only long enough to reach her shoulders.
“I’ve been teaching the way of the sword in Frostbite training ground” (Glace)
“Perfect! Say Glace, can you do a practice battle with my new student next week?” asked Feld
“Anything for you Master Feld!” happily said by Glace
“Great, I’ll tell him right away, I’m sure he’s gonna be in cloud nine after he hears this.” (Feld)
“Okay Master Feldgrau! I have to go I’ve got a class to teach; see you next week at Frostbite TG” said Glace while running and waving goodbye at Feld
---***---
“Hey Rei, I got some good news for you; I’m sure you’ll be excited” (Feld)
“What is it sir?” asked Rei
“You’ll be having a practice match against my former student.” Excitedly said by Feld
“Wooohooo! Where will we fight? In Alctuz?! Heyeaahh!” said Rei as he was jumping up and down with joy.
“Of course it’s in Alctuz; I can’t have you dying after only a week of training” (Feld)
“I can’t wait to meet the opponent, can I meet him? Please can I meet him?” said by Rei while begging Feld to let him meet his opponent
“No, you can’t meet yet. You’re still unprepared, I trained your opponent meaning your opponent already finished my regime; and in a week you’ll be facing the finished product of my training. To beat that you have to finish it too, and you only have a week.” Lectured Feld
“Alright, prepare dinner then get some rest, 2nd part of training begins tomorrow.” Said Feld
(Chapter End)