Approximately 5 minutes after the students were granted their rest period, Jin Hennessy hopped up from the ground and reached for his lanky bamboo stick. “It’s time to restart your training!”
Jin Hennessy slammed the bamboo on the ground. The impact roused some frightened dust particles that started the trio who were literally dozing off while leaning against each other. Very quickly they were spurred awake.
“We’re up! We’re up!” Dam Son, Xuan Li and Sugar Bun had no other choice but to wipe the sleep from their eyes and get back to training.
“Stop dawdling around brats! Pick up those jugs and start climbing! I’ll give you 3 seconds! One, two…”
The haggard trio hurriedly picked up their respective containers and motioned their butts towards the first layer of steps.
“Good, now start climbing!” As the students set foot on the second step, Jin Hennessy hit their legs roughly with his thin bamboo stick. “Too slow! Too damn slow!”
“This would be a lot easier if you weren’t hitting us old man.” Xuan Li couldn’t take Jin Hennessy’s slaps anymore. Whenever they got slapped, the pain caused them to spill a few drops of the water and they had to start their climb all over again.
“You again with your big mouth.” Jin Hennessy paid extra attention to Xuan Li. “That tall neck of yours will soon shrink to a tooth.” Spitefully, he slapped Xuan Li’s feet a lot harder which caused him to fall.
“Ahh! Are you trying to make me a cripple, damn geezer?” Xuan Li gave his teacher a vicious stare down.
“I said climb!”
“Alright, we’re going.”
Starting all the way from the bottom again, Xuan Li, Sugar Bun and Dam Son recommenced their climb. Jin Hennessy mitigated his slapping bamboo stick, due to this, the students were able to climb a bit faster. Occasional failures appeared here and there, but that didn’t stop them from trying their best.
They spent the entirety of the night trying to complete the mountain climbing training. The farthest they had gotten was at the 3,010th step. Each of them felt a volcanic eruption burning inside their muscles, even Dam Son was no exception. They were simply tired beyond reprieved, yet Jin Hennessy didn’t make them rest for long; only the occasional 5 minutes break. The Boost Bunny fruit barely managed to give them a bit of stamina. Still, this wasn’t enough for them to overcome the extremely high hurdle.
When other students were in their beds resting their eyes, Jin Hennessy’s pupils were bleaching under the dead of night, exercising their bodies. They never thought that their first day of training would be so bizarre and difficult. Many times they had passed out during their climb. If it weren’t for Jin Hennessy observing them closely then they would have literally died several times over.
As the environment approached the dawn of day, Jin Hennessy instructed his students to take a longer break. They were very elated to hear this. As this information was understood, they fell asleep immediately on the same step they stopped on.
“These damn brats.” With a flick of his fingers, Jin Hennessy helped his sleeping disciples to the bottom of the mountain where he had a tent set up for them. He was very hard on his students to force them to surpass their limits. He never expected any of them to reach the 3,000th step on the first day. This accomplishment reassured him that Raixom Academy had promising youths who could uphold the mantle in the future.
When the artificial sun donned closer to the centre of the sky, Dam Son was spurred awake along with Xuan Li and Sugar Bun. “Hrm…”
“Where are we?” Sitting up, Xuan Li wiped the sleep out of his eyes.
“We’re in a tent, I think.” Crawling outside, Sugar Bun realized that they were at the bottom of the mountain. “Did we fall asleep out here?”
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“Where is Master Jin?” Dam Son looked around for Jin Hennessy but all he saw were 3 containers filled with water and rocks, a monkey weeding through grass, 12 Boost Bunny fruits spread across a cloth as well as a letter attached to the outer side of the tent. “What does it say?”
“Let me take a look.” Sugar Bun read the letter aloud, “Gone out to drink. Be back later. Everything you need for your training is here. Make sure you arrive at the top when I return. From your master, Jin.”
“That geezer! Does he wants us to train all day today again?” Xuan Li was so pissed off that he grabbed Jin Hennessy’s letter from Sugar Bun’s grasp and ripped it to pieces. “The hell with this training. I need to take a bath and eat something delicious. I’m going back to the Tower of Residence.”
“But there’s plenty of water and food here.” Dam Son gestured to the jugs and Boost Bunny fruits sitting on a cloth.
“Are you serious?” Xuan Li glared at Dam Son disbelievingly. “I don’t know about your living conditions Dark-Human, but I need to cleanse myself properly at least twice a day and have something delicious to eat. That dirty water and dirty fruit don’t suit my taste. I’m going back to the tower. That geezer isn’t here to stop me.” Xuan Li turned his back and began walking away.
Looking towards Sugar Bun, Dam Son asked, “What about you, are you going to stay and train or…”
“I think I’m with Xuan Li on this one.” Answered Sugar Bun. “These Boost Bunny fruits really work wonders but they're still not enough to satisfy my starvation. Plus, I’m a heavy eater. I too will be heading back to the Tower of Residence. When I’m feeling replenished enough then I’ll come back after classes. What will you do Dam Son?”
“I’m going to stay here and train as Master Jin requested.”
“But why?” Sugar Bun couldn’t understand Dam Son’s enthusiasm about training hard. “That old drunkard isn’t here, and knowing him, he’s probably going to be out drinking all day long.”
“That doesn’t matter. We begged him to train us, so we should at least see his training through. I know I will.”
“Okay then, have fun.” Sugar Bun waved goodbye to Dam Son then ran off behind Xuan Li. “Hey, Xuan Li wait for me!”
“There they go.” Dam Son watched as his classmates vanish in the distance. He didn’t look that down to know that they abandoned him, if anything, he felt relieved. “Now I can call it out. Papyrus!”
Dam Son’s Papyrus gradually faded into view hovering around his shoulders. “Wow, fresh air. What took you so long to summon me, newborn? I was begging to stifle in the void.”
“Papyrus I was afraid that others might find your appearance bizarre.”
“Why would you be afraid of such a thing?” Papyrus asked curiously.
“Well, Master Jin told me that some bad people are after the Abyss Script you assimilated with. He also told me not to tell anyone about the Kismet Coins poking out of my forehead or I might get killed off.”
“I see, but didn’t the geezer put a seal on the coins?”
“He did. It is still there.” Dam Son touched the cloth wrapped around his head.
“Then why are you so worried about others seeing me? The old geezer already masked the Abyss Script.”
Dam Son stated. “Well, you know you change colour.”
“Changing colour? That’s why you’re so on edge? Don’t worry newborn. Word Masters alter the colour of their guides whenever they feel like it. If anyone asked about my darkened state just tell them that you customized me.”
“It is that simple?”
“Yes, it is, newborn. Now that we’ve solved that issue, what are you up to?”
“I was just about to start my training. You see that long stairway there?”
“I do.”
“Master Jin wants us to carry those jugs to the mountain peak without spilling a drop of water from it.”
“That mountain is really darn high, but you’re a Dark-Human. That task shouldn’t be that difficult for you.” looking around, Papyrus noticed something. “Where are your friends? I don’t see the disrespectful skinny one nor the smart chubby one anywhere?”
“They went back to the Tower of Residence.”
“And left you all alone to train? Those damn deserters! How dear they treat my master this poorly. I should teach them a lesson when I see them again.” Papyrus was angry. The pages contained within its folds were turning wildly.
“Calm down Papyrus. It’s okay.”
“How is it okay? Don’t you need those runts to complete your training?”
“I do, but I will just think of this as a warm-up exercise until they get back. I’ve wasted enough time talking to you. I’m going to start.”
Dam Son ate his share of Boost Bunny fruits, drank some water to fill his stomach then picked up his jug and motioned to where the 70,000 flight of stairs was. The monkey that was weeding through the grass, stuck a blade of grass between its teeth then followed behind Dam Son.
“Wow, my body has adjusted quite well to this density.” As he climbed higher and higher, Dam Son found his ascent to be easier. Within only a few minutes, he made it past the 2,000th step. The monkey was climbing alongside the mountain while watching him.
An hour later when Dam Son arrived at the 6,000th step, he accidentally swallowed a fly which caused him to cough roughly, moreover lost his balance. He slipped on one of the steps and spilt a couple of droplets from the jug.
“No, I messed up.” Being the diligent student that he was, Dam Son willingly hopped back down to the very first step and recommenced his climb. Seeing this, the monkey who was watching him looked surprised. Dam Son was an honest person, though his master wasn’t there to observe his training, he made sure that he abided by the rules until he completed his training.