“What is this?! “The walking drunkard and the honest thief.” What the hell is this---? A martial art, wisdom from a higher cultivator, or is this some unpopular story written by a thieving alcoholic?”
“You will know once you will read it to—, ahh---, me. Now read—, ahhh---, read the book! Start it already!!!”
“Haram—, tsk! “Start with the right bearing, in the right mind and form. Distance your legs apart, far more than what is normal, a lower balance, and a resonance with the ground, then you will carry yourself with the weight of the earth, as with the perfect balance and unbalance, every fall will be heavy and light, for recovery is inevitable.” ---, What in hell's name---, is this cryptic ineligible shit!”
“Continue—!” — [What is this suppo---, ahh---, that supposed to convey?]
With his left eye twitching, Zuger who had no idea what he was reading, continued to speak out loud the next few pages which held the same hard-to-understand phrases of words, that did not explain much and were only given brief descriptions, with an image or two. Although even for how intelligent he was, he had a hard time understanding why the brat would want to know the content of the booklet, nevertheless, since the little devil was interested in it, he had no choice, but to think even more about the strange rigid and inflexible movement method, that was described in the little book, by words, and of illustrations.
“Hmmm—!? “Do not think, act. A half smile, eye to eye for a feel, predictable movement, but hands and feet carry their own mind. A palm, a grasp, a finger, the stomp of a foot, all coming from no reason, the balance is in the wind, all actions will move you to avoidance and the inescapable.”
"Another one, though this one—.”
However, as Zuger continued to read the booklet in his hands, it was about at the halfway point thru the book, when he reached the point where the images changed from a crude and coarse type of man, which was depicted in the illustrations, to a more active and fluid-like appearance, as well as a more dynamic and prompt like sensation about his actions of the feet, and of its hands.
“Rumble!” - “Rumble!!” - “Rumble!!!”
“Aghhh—, no!” —[Why it is beginning to swing---, ahhh---, so much?!]
[The storm is intensifying and a ligh—. ]
“Crack!!!” - “Crack!!!!!!” — “Rumble!!!”
Though in the following moment, right when Uger was about to begin his explanation, two strikes of lighting came from the outside of the ship. Making the room dazzling white, to the point of blindness. However, it was the thunder of the lightning, which reverberated, as though said lightning, had cracked right next to the ears of the two men and child, unbearably loud as though being right next to it.”
“Hooooo—, that was close. This rain and the storm outside the ship, are so intense, that I can no longer see anything outside of the window. And yet, while the rain is not audible from beyond the glass, these two lightings had so much power, that they shook the ship itself—. If I were to be stricken by any of these bolts of lightning, I will probably have more than just a simple death---!”
In response to the natural phenomenon though, Zuger was instantly attracted and immediately approached the window to observe it better. However, it was all for naught, as the visibility was truly non-existent, as though the night had arrived in the middle of the day, which created a great contrast to the light of the room that they were in, as three light stones on the ceiling were glowing with a weak yellow light, which was the only illumination of the small enclosure.
“Ahhh—!” — [This is not working---! It is like---, ten Hunters---, are constantly---, hurling me---, all around---, the place.]
[Kid, at this point, just pop one of the energy soybeans, and see if you can relax with a session of cultivation!]
[I am already trying to—, a moment and---! Ahhhh—, faster, faster---, relax—, relax–, I have to relax and not think-!]
But while Zuger was a tad bit fascinated by what was occurring outside of the ship. Levis, who had the sensation of being shaken to no end, did not become dispirited despite his condition, as it was far too soon to give up. Consequently, he slipped his hands into his trousers once more and scooped out one of the rank 6 energy shards from his pouch, which he immediately placed it into his mouth, as though it was small sweet to treat himself.
Nevertheless, unaware by Levis, as he could not be bothered to watch his surroundings, Square, who was always staying silent on the other side of the room, on his own bed, had caught Levise's entire set of actions, which brought more questions than answers to his observant mind.
“Alright. Let us continue—!? Eh—! What happened? Oy---! You brat awake?!”
“He is sleeping—, I guess. Though---, I am not too sure.”
“Little bastard, devil---, you awake?!!!”
“---.”
“Huuuuu—, he is out!”
Having witnessed no other flashes of lightning, Zuger turned around to resume the task of reading the booklet. Yet, his one listener, the little devil was out cold, just as Square had assumed.
“Anyhow---, now I can relax again, as I did not enjoy reading this stupid thing.”
“Wait!"
"What?"
"Give it to me. I want to have brief look at it, myself.”
“Here.”
With Levis who had seemingly feel asleep while Zuger stopped for a moment, the man's interest in the book fell, but as he was about to put the book next to Levis, Square, who had rarely shown interest in books, or texts regarding cultivation, stopped him, and stretched his arm in order to acquire the little book in his hands.
“Just be prudent, this gibberish might confuse you, so stay alert—! Fuck—, these chains sure are fucking bothersome as hell.”
“What can you do? They do not really trust you.”
“And you?”
“I am but a wounded—, well, a simple mortal.”
“No matter, as even if they found that you are back, at being a rank 1 cultivator, they will likely not do much.”
“No, I will probably have the same shackles as you.”
“Probably not.”
“They will. The young captain is stressed, and the last thing that he wants to see is us going out of line.”
“Hmmm—, a lot of them died, but, the two scout idiots died as well.”
“Unavoidable, we had been just slightly more fortunate than them, that is all.”
“I make my own luck, as I am not the recipient of a fortune from some god or will above. Al I can say is that staying near that brat had been the right decision since he had his protective measure to survive, against those monsters. Still, that battle had truly been a close call—!?”
“Tsk—, if I ever have the means, I will pummel the ass that made this place so darn confusing. Hmm---? What are you doing?”
But while Zuger and Square did not care about the fact that Levis could still be awake, they initiated to converse between the two of them, as they would typically do. For even if the brat was still conscious, they knew that he would be the last person, who could become one of their problems, so they began to speak their own mind freely. However, not long later and out of nowhere, Hubert who had left the room for some time, returned with quite the temper, while his frustration was written over his face, which was far too apparent, as the two men could see his irritated temper.”
----------------------------------------
[This is better—. But these two—, they sure are too talkative—, when there are only---, the two of them—.]
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
[---------.]
[Hubert—? He came back—, as well—.]
[------.]
[Calm—, my mind---, quiet.]
[---.]
Within his own mind, Levis resumed the normal daily training, which he was starting to become more and more acquainted with, as he commenced his sleep-like trance that he would fall every time his cultivation was beginning. That being the case, where he was not actively using his breathing and smashing of his consciousness method, or the forced absorption of the ground energy, as said actions always required an active, and partial awakening of his mind to achieve said tasks, feeling as though having to pull a never-ending rope towards himself actively.
----------------------------------------
“Levis—! Levis–! Wake up!”
[Hmmm—! What?] — “Hmmm—! What—, what is it? Adrian—!?”
But all of a sudden, Levis who was in a deep relaxing trance from his training, felt himself being shaken awake from his comfortable cultivation, which was akin to a deep, yet shallow rest, that was barely felt. As to him, only a single second had passed since the moment he had let his consciousness drift with no major purposes, other than using the cells of his tongue, and of the upper ceiling of his mouth, to absorb the energy contained within the rank 6, energy shard.
However, once his eyes were opened, the one to wake him was made known immediately, as it was none other than Adrian, who had returned back, at some unknown time, while he was in his cultivation.
However, in a quick, and sneaky like manner, he turned his head and faced the cushion, to spit out the energy shard. After which in a steady normal motion, he seized it into his hand, and then into the pockets of his trousers.
“Time to eat!”
“Eh—, what—? What time is it?!”
“It should be approaching the hour of a late dinner. But with the storm outside, it is quite difficult to know---, given that, the out of the ship is all dark.”
While rising up, Levis prompted his gaze at the small window of their room, where he could see openly, that the outside was still shady, making him feel weird, as he could not orient his timing of the day and the night, which in the end, pushed him to ask Adrian for the exact time. All the more reasonable with the fact, that when he completed one of his nightly training sessions, he had no impressions of the lost time from when he was sleeping. As the process of starting his session of cultivation and end, it was a sole matter of closing his eyes and mind, after which, opened them once more, a moment later. A truly bizarre experience, that was throwing him off, each and every time he was experiencing it.
“Sigh—, is this all?”
“Yes. So do not come and make any demands, were are but simple guests here, and so, just the fact that they feed us, is a big favor for all of us. Plus, this mush is full of nutrients, unlike normal food.”
“Big favor you say. Are they not rich? How are the army bunch eating this---, mush of---, I do not know what this even is. ”
With Levis having woken up, the four men and child begin to eat their food, which was placed on the table in the center of the room, which Adrian had extracted from the external wall, beneath the window. Nonetheless, as Hubert was looking at the bowl in front of him, he immediately became deluded, though he had no other way but to eat what was placed in front of him, as the rest of them had already begun to consume, what had been placed in from of them.
[Ahhhhh—, this is so—. I just hope---, I will not vomit---, everything back!]
[---.]
“Can you eat?”
“Yes, yes. No problem”
Other than Hubert who had some issues with the food, Levis could be added as well, for his entire appetite stood in jeopardy, but his biggest concern was the fact that what he had been able to ingest, might come out if he could not restrain himself from vomiting. Despite all of that, his act of toughening up could be seen by Adrian, who looked directly at his face which had become pale white since he had roused from his bed.
"---."
“Haaaa—, alright, time to sleep---. Do not wake me, unless the ship is falling, or the ground is rising.”
“Hmph—!”
“I heard that! Was is you—, Zu-Zug–Zuger? Or Square? Your lucky, I am too full and too tired---, so I will deal with you, tomorrow morning!”
Once they were done with eating the food provided by the ship, the first to lay on his bed was obviously Hubert, as he appeared to be not more than a moment away from sleeping. But to his comment, a harumph came from the bed above himself, which could be either Square or Zuger who stood on the beds above his own.
“I need to pee, where is the bathroom?”
“Tsk—!”
“Come, I will guide you there.”
“I---, I can go alone.”
“No, I will come with you, so follow me.”
With their dinner conducted, and Adrian having disassembled the table, and then placed it under the window, where one could barely comprehend that a table was located, Levis's request from the location of the bathroom, came as a surprise to Adrian, who promptly opposed the idea of him going alone.
“I can go alone! There is no need to---.”
“No, I can not have you lose your way, and wander in places that you should not be, like this idiot here.”
“Bastard---, the only idiot, is the moron which had made no insignia for the various rooms of this bloody ship.”
“Levis—! Let us go.”
Though, after Adrian opposed Levis's suggestion of going alone once more, Hubert made a snarky and cursing reply towards Adrian, despite that, Adrian gave no mind to it, and he exited the room, followed by Levis, who was not so stable of his feet, with his slightly pale face.
But if Adrian was, to be honest, he would admit that he was afraid, afraid of what could happen, if Levis was to be left alone, as he had no idea, as to why and how to explain, why the brat before him, was always at the center of some big problem. Therefore, so as to not cause any problems, he was positioned by Rowen, to overlook him, for the whole duration of the journey.
“Down here. It is not situated next to the room hall, so it is no wonder that Hubert had not found it easily. However---, that idiot was actually caught, by the personnel in charge of the operations of the flying formation, of the ship. That idiot had wandered too far, and missed the place—. Here, go inside.”
From the long hall with the many doors, they moved in the direction from where they had first entered, however, at the first bend they took to the left, and then moved to a lower floor, to where the washroom was actually located.
“Ah—, alright.” — [Hmmm—, this---, this is really---, killing me.]
[Keep yourself together kid. You must overcome this, or your big dream of flying will be just that, a dream.]
[I am trying.] — “Done? We can go back.”
“Alright.”
"---."
“Adrian!”
“What?”
“Uhhh—, no nothing—. Well---, Rowen. I have not seen him at all since this morning, what is he doing, and where is he?”
“The captain—, well, he and the guests, are in another section of the ship. This section is the one that accommodates, the large number of rooms, for the common soldiers. The one in which the captain is located is one reserved for high-rank captains, commanders, or important guests.”
“Agrrr—!”
“I understand—, hmm---? What was that? Is that—, I will go, and see what it was. I will come back, so just wait for me!”
“What—? No—, stay here! Curses—! Sigh—! At least I am here with you, still---.”
Yet, the moment that Adrian was finished with his explanation, while they were returning to the floor of where their rooms were, a familiar roar came to be heard by Levis’s ears, which immediately made him curious, as he was steered towards the source of the sound, while his complexion became normal, and a little excited, as though he had forgotten about his queasy, and nauseous feeling.
"---."
“Boar?!”
As it was, a few moments later, Levis stood in front of the source from where the sound had arrived. But all he could see was the tail, and the hairy posterior of the boar, which was coming out of the door, for the room that he was in, was not big enough to accommodate him.
“Agrrr—, cub Levis? Is that you?”
“It is, and it is Levis the great man, not cub Levis. But—, what are you doing?”
“Agrrr—, friend had left boar here. Friend—, agrrr—, he said boar is too big, and to fat, so stuffed boar here. Agrrr—, boar left here, with food and water at my front. But boar stuck on—, door.”
“Hmmm—, I see—. I see. Well, you are big and—, very round. Well stay strong---, we will get out of there soon enough. I will come to see you again, in the morning.”
“Good. Then boar will wait for cub Levis in—, morning—, agrrr—!”
“See you.”
“Good night, sir Boar.”
“Agrrr— to you too, unknown fellow human.”
----------------------------------------
Though, after the small encounter with the boar, Levis’s face returned to a normal complexion, which Adrian noticed immediately.
However, once returned to their room, Levis was forced to transfer onto the bed in the middle, as Adrian had taken the lower one, for reasons that he did not explain to the boy, who returned to be even paler than before.
Yet, as Levis return to his cultivation, the paleness disappeared. And while sleeping, he and everybody else did one form or another of soft breathing cultivation. The dense energy inside the ship, was in truth, quite extraordinary, reaching around seven times the amount that was available at the villager's encampment, and the surrounding few hundred kilometers of his village.
Nonetheless, due to the condition that Levis was founding himself in, and more importantly, of the fact that he was surrounded by Adrian, the rest, plus the high-rank cultivators inside the ship. Any intense absorption of the energy available was instantly dashed away because such risk, was something that could not be taken.
[---.]
“Ahhh—, how is it still dark?!”
But as the night was over, and the morning came. Levis woke up to find, that the outside of the ship was still as dark and shady as ever, with water running down and diagonally over the glass window, with nothing seeming to have changed since he had looked at it, the day prior.
“This must be a super-cluster, a county class tempest---. It must expand for at least several thousand kilometers.”
“The last rain, before the snowy period.”
“Indeed.”
To answer Levis's doubt, were non-other than Adrian and Hubert, with a small confirmation from Square. And yet, Levis continued to watch the window, while Adrian was getting ready the table for them, to have their morning breakfast.
----------------------------------------
[Is a tempest usually so big?]
[Have you ever seen the whole size of a normal rainy storm? Because even the small ones have at least a hundred kilometers in their overall length. And this one is still a small, behaving child. If it were to be created by a naturally formed energy tempest, the power of every raindrop would be equal to that of a big boulder, hurling around at fast speeds, carried by winds that could cut through the mountains, and shave the land flat.]
[That is no storm, that is a damn calamity!]
[But if your body is tough enough to resist the rain and the winds of said tempest?]
[Then—, that is a normal rain.]
[Kid, you see here, this is what a perspective is. For you right now, this is a storm, and what I have described is a calamity, but if you are stronger, the calamity of yesterday, will become nothing more than the normal storm of today. You have to remember, that the perspective of a strong cultivator, is different from that of a normal mortal, or a low-ranking cultivator. Keep it in mind, as it will become useful—, well, if you do not forget it, by the time you will speak some nonsense again.]
----------------------------------------
“Levis, come. Time to eat!”
With Adrian calling him, Levis who had his gaze on the window of their room, descended from his bed, to eat alongside the four of them.
As after they were done eating, Hubert departed for the toilet, with Levis proceeding as well, which in turn made Adrian follow him, yet after he left, Zugern and Square moved as well.
But while Hubert, Zuger, and Square descended the floor, Levis proceeded to meet and talk with the boar, who still had his posterior sticking out of the room.
Yet, it was only after some time, that Levis ended his conversation with the boar, as the three men who had gone to the washroom, were already done, while Hubert called towards Adrian, to tell him they were returning to their room.
"Levis let us go. As I have other matters to attention after this."
"Alright. I will see you later."
"Agrrr---, cub Levis do not forget boar."
"Yes, yes---."
"---."
"Not again." --- [Ahhhhhh—, this---! I can not do it anymore. Urger---, how do I stop---, this nauseous and fear-like feeling?]
As per the last time, after talking to the boar, Levis’s complexion returned to normal, for only a few moments, as after his departure his face paled once more, as he and Adrian were moving toward the washroom.
[You want to know?]
[Yes—, tell me!]
[I will tell you—, but in truth, you already know everything that you need to know, on how to conquer this weakness of yours. But it seems that you remain oblivious to it, so I will tell you. But remember, it was you who asked me for it, not me telling it to you.]
“I know?”
“What do you know?!”
“No, nothing, nothing! I was speaking by myself.”
However as Adrian and Levis were moving down the stairs to reach for the lavatory, Levis's sudden outburst of “I know?” made Adrian raise his eyebrow in worry of the boy starting to hallucinate, or to become delirious, by how sick he was.
[Well, from what you have told me and how you are reacting, I must presume that your fear of falling, is quite serious—, right?]
[Yes---, it is.]
[Then—, if you were to compare it, to the moment that your grandfather, grandmother, that old village chief, and all the other villagers were killed, how it would correspond, to the way that you feel right now?]
[---.]
“Eh!? Why did you stop?”
But as Urger's words came to boom into his mind, Levis's feet stopped, while his pale and droopy complexion begin to morph, into a serious one, that he normally would never reveal. As his face darkened by the moment, and a murderous aura began to ooze from him, as though he was transforming into the monster, that he need to be, at the said moment, when his adoptive relatives needed him the most.
“They—.” — [The two situations, do not compare at all!]
“Levis?”
[Good boy. Now you understand, they do not compare at all, which means your current fear and state of mind have nothing over you. If you were willing to die, in order to protect your adoptive grandparents, then you should be ready to die at any moment. You do not need to fear death, embrace it, for it is your eternal enemy, and friend. Now proceed forward.]
With a raspy and heavy tone, his reply was short, but strong of conviction and determination, as even Urger was quite pleased by the strong will behind his words.
“Levis. Are you alright?”
“Yes, sorry, I was a tad bit out of myself—, but now I am fine, no need to worry."
Though, after a moment of Levis stopping, he then turned around to face Adrian, with the same demeanor and countenance of the usual Levis, which Adrian had always known, a Levis that had no pale face, or a dispirited, and lethargic appearance. A healthy and energetic Levis.
“If you are fine, then all is good. Come on, let us move and return to our room.”
Nevertheless, the abrupt change in his health condition, which had prevailed for the quite a time, was a tad of a shock even for Adrian, as he promptly begin to proceed to their room.
“Alright.”
----------------------------------------
[ [Win over fear, with an even greater fear.] ]
[ [Corectly. I did not want to use it, because I was not sure how this kid would take it, but it seems that he had accepted it quite well.] ]
[ [I just hope, that he did not understand it the wrong way.] ]