This was a very fair and beautiful world, as nature itself was presenting itself in a wild manner. It cared little about any living thoughts, while the flow of water was raging wildly, without stopping.
“Come on. Strip and try it.” Sarey ordered Allan, who kept feeling the atmosphere of this place.
“I have to do it near naked?” Allan asked while forgetting what this was even about. He was slightly taken aback, by the noise, smell, and his senses that tried to understand what was around him.
“Are you swimming with your clothes on or what? This is a training of the body, you know?”
“It is not like I am complaining. I will do it without a problem. We took a bath together for river's sake...” Allan complained, and took his clothes off. He remained with a piece of underwear to protect his manly dignity. He hoped there won't be any damage done to him in this way, but only time could tell.
Crouching down beside the river, he placed his finger into the waters. A rather cold, fast-running water was right before him. He was supposed to go inside, and do what? Try something against the flow of the river. Was he right? 36 intended this for Body forging, so he couldn't help but do it, much to his dismay.
So, he placed both bare legs on the borders of the river, where wasn't that height amount of water. It was around his knees, which was fine, but the further he would go, the more it deepen. Checking the river step by step, Allan crouched down as the sudden rock, or part of a tree hit him to his knee. He couldn't tell anything apart. Just the water was all he could tell around him and the sounds.
The rumbling water kept going with no obvious time to stop. A gust of wind flew by with moisture in the air, which made this much harder than he was willing to admit. He could tell straight away that the rocks and trees weren't that hard, but the flow of the river made sure it was painful.
Moving from the shallower parts of the river, he moved forth towards the very middle where he was supposed to be.
Swoosh!
Allan almost fell from the sudden placement of his food, that slipped away from the current. Water reached his chest in a few steps, but the continuous barrage of water was very hard on his skin and face.
As he forced his way forward, the water kept pushing around him, since he was the only hindrance in the water. The surface of the bottom layer of the river was quite slippery and very smooth. No rocks obscured his bare feet, but it was made this way after decades of corrosion or even longer.
“Pheeew! This... I am a few steps in and not even in the mainstream of water. So WHAT! Let it all come at me!” Allan cheered himself up and increased his pace.
Reaching the middle parts in a few big sways, which almost caused his stability to fail. If he didn't anticipate it, he would move with the flow of the river like the rocks themselves.
“Uhhhhhhhaah!” Allan shouted as he took a natural stance of stability. Taking his knees and feet in a stance, similar to when one would defend against an attacker. His arms and hands were facing his chest in a crossed fashion as he forced the rocks and other things away.
But there were way too many of them. In no time, he felt overwhelmed with the things which kept goings against him. Rocks were the least of the problem for him since he felt the water to be much stronger. He was tough, so he didn't fear some measly little rocks. They could get lost as far as he was concerned.
The problem was the river itself. The water flowed and kept going from the waterfall. This meant the vortexes of water were very wild with current always moving in unexpected strength. It wasn't about the outside at all, as the inside of the water were raging the same way as from the outside perspective. What went underneath the raging river was perhaps even worse. Water was the main enemy in this case, and Sarey wasn't all that sure what to expect as well.
She knew this training didn't have many faces and phases. It should be done while enduring the river itself, while the motion of goings against the river was all to it. There was no greater hint or idea of what one would do in such a case. It was meant for endurance and the build of an unwavering heart. She knew it, and this river wouldn't stop because one wanted to.
The climb could be stopped when one wished, and so did the rock smashing, and in some form, the spars as well. This was the toughest beginning of the training and the case of the 36's choice, which mattered much more than the climbing part.
Allan struggled for a long time than Sarey anticipated, but it wasn't easy for him at all. Minutes passed, while more followed.
A smile persisted on her face as she watched with no worry. Below the stream was a receding part where Allan could get himself out of this mess if he failed to hold himself. Half a meter deep river, with a much calmer flow, ensured he wouldn't drown himself.
Yet, it was not all nice and without worry. There was much more to this than 36 wrote about. There was no point in doing it right now, but sooner or later, Allan had to be forced to do the exercises while submerged in this water.
Sarey chuckled at the possible responses she would expect from Allan. Perhaps he will even straight up curse at her in anger and frustration.
10 more minutes went by and Allan still held his ground against the raging river. It was all thanks to his previous training and days of experiencing climbing. Stability was very important when his whole body was being pushed into different powers each moment. Water was not only one swoop of water after all.
Currents and flows of water were passing through each second. Barging into and formed unseen problems for Allan.
His upper body was long beaten up by rocks. Cuts and bruises were around his forearms, shoulders, and chest. It was just fortunate that he did not have to worry about his head, which was above the water. No rocks hit him.
“How is it, Allan?” Sarey shouted from the side.
“I CAN'T hear you!” He shouted back. The river was splashing his face and ears and every possible hole in his body. It was more than painful after those 13 or so minutes. It was no surprise that Allan was reaching his limits.
“Then get back here! You have been there for a long time already.” Sarey walked closer to the river and shouted much more clearly this time.
Allan heard her this time, but it still left Allan hesitant.“Ugh... I can keep going, but whatever... A little break won't hurt me more than these freaking rocks.”
Changing his posture, he tried to move sideways towards Sarey's voice. Like this, the pressure on him changed, this caused his legs to be quite stressed.
Alas, he managed to get it over with when the water reached his hips. It was not that wide of a river. Just about 20 or so meters wide.
It could still be considered a quite huge river for the kind of mountains here. But this was plenty reasonable since the waterfall, as well as the sources of water, came from further up.
“Huff, huff.” Allan pushed himself towards the shore. He never knew he would be so excited to touch the grass in his life.
“W-what did you say again?” He asked as he struggled and fell forward to touch the ground. He was barely close as he lost his balance.
“Nothing much at all. You are doing great, but there is no need to overwork yourself, you lunatic.” Sarey told back while helping Allan to get up.
“I feel like I can do more than this.”
“Sure. Sure. Save it for another time. Look at yourself, you already look nothing like you used to do,” Sarey added as she dragged Allan to the ground. He was strained, bloodied, and already exhausted.
His muscles were quite noticeable on his otherwise leaner build. One would say it was strange for such power to withstand the push of the river to come from Allan. Yet, there was hardly any surprise in Sarey's eyes regarding Allan's body at all.
He ate a lot but worked on himself even more. She asked about it one time to 36, who explained it a little better to her. Muscles were not everything to Body Forging, but they were still very important. There were a lot of possibilities around them, while the Body Forging techniques can work wonders around countless human possibilities.
When it came to the muscles, their huge mass could have negatives that were viewed as unfavorable. 36 went and assumed to make the best course of beginner build-up according to Allan's progress. Implementing the training for a leaner build, with hidden strength and a denser body.
Allan's body was conditioned in a different way than he anticipated, as not many muscles became bigger. This took him by surprise, while Allan's body took the training rather well. According to his comments, this was a good piece of news. The muscles became more compact and tighter, which was not bad.
36 knew such a situation on top of his fingers, but expecting it from Allan wasn't in the course of his plans. This was the first time he discovered a talent in Allan. Of course, apart from the strange effects of soul-fire, which could not be explained at the moment.
Only time would tell if there could be some more such things, but this would be more than sufficient for the time being. His reasoning to Sarey further made things simpler. Allan's muscles he was developing will be strong and resilient according to the Unmoving technique.
All he had to do was to act according to the training plan, hope for the best, and hard work.
Although without the sheer mass of the muscles, there were also a few disadvantages. The power would be lower, but stamina would be greater. More could be adjusted with the use of the techniques and the skill that 36 already made up in his mind.
After this course of training, he will make Allan return to much more serious training. This was only beginner stuff that kids can do in the Immortal lands. Though, this was a different place from that.
If that energy would not appear, it was time to work further into the Body Forging methods. That meant Allan could even go straight to the Bone forging and move one inch closer to the Immortal bodies. Those were all assumptions and plans according to the discussion between Sarey and 36. While he couldn't help but chuckle in the same manner as Sarey, 36 found a reasonable plan in the following year.
After all, his time was diluted, and his years will be more important than any years in his life so far.
Although, he already could hear the complaints of future Allan.
That could all wait for the right time since Allan had still a lot left in him for the close future.
Right now, Allan was resting on his knees while Sarey treated his wounds. His wet and strained body wasn't healing up as she anticipated. It could be because there are blunt wounds on top of bruises and blunt wounds that caused the differences. This couldn't stop her from wondering about the Little Fire.
Alas, she was not that evil to intentionally made experiments with Allan's body. Even if he agreed, she wouldn't dare to do so.
Calming down a little, Allan considered this first round of training to be successful. After rounds of Sarey's complaints and praises, he felt he did the right things and noticed a lot of wrongs as well.
“What is on your mind? You don't talk much.” Sarey asked as she wiped his body clean and applied some sort of paste on deeper bruises. As she was talking to him, Allan only grumpily responded to a few of her remarks.
“Oh, I am contemplating things the same way as usual. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“You do this all the time. Be more specific to me. Any opinions on this training?”
“Hmmm. I think I would fail quite miserably if it wouldn't for the previous training. This talk about doing them all at the same time, and one bite at a time, was terrible. I will do these 3 training methods every day. This will be better.”
“Good that we agree.”
“You too? Nice. As for this river, there are a lot of problems similar to climbing. Endurance is the true purpose of this, is it not?”
“Yes, but it is not everything. T-there is one particular thing that 36 told me quite later... I don't know if you want to know...”
“Something additional to this? What? Did he think of some intentional rocks which would throw into the river, or pulling shredded wooden spikes and throw them there as well?” Allan sarcastically, yet bitterly, told her his guess.
Sarey was taken aback by his imagination, which didn't sound that impossible. He talked about 36 for his sake, so that would be possible. She didn't dare think about something like that.
“N-no. No. 36 further part of this training involved your previous exercises.”
“Really? Exercises?” Allan couldn't follow up with another guess.
“While submerged in this river...” Sarey muttered.
“Oh...Oh!” Allan was not all that surprised about it.
“Like...”
“I think he meant some which could be done. Sit-ups and maybe some others too. Jumping jack, and stretches as well.”
“I see. That could be doable, I guess. What about the swimming itself? I thought it was part of it as well.”
“It is, but later on when you will manage at least 20 minutes in there.”
Sarey told him the truth, and while she was at it, she finished the treatment and tossed his clothes to his face. Today could be considered another good day, with no surprises. Allan progressed well, while no differences were there apart from the first try in the river.
Allan, with his clothes, and staff in hand, felt immediate comfort. This was a painful experience that he underwent in the river, and he didn't even ask much about it. Unknown time limits he knew existed were better to be left alone for now.
“Shall we go back?” Allan asked.
“Sure,” Sarey answered while feeling good about this day. Grabbing his hand, she placed everything back in her bag before going back to the forest.
Time Allan spent on this was quite small, but there was no way he would be drenched without any energy. Going overboard with his training wasn't something he liked too. No matter if he felt like he had more in himself, he liked the average, then going beyond the limits.
It all came from that time when he overworked himself. It was about the last time in his forge, where he collapsed. He remembered the sudden darkness, but there was nothing afterward. He woke up in his room, in confusion, but care that felt great.
With a mind full of other things, Sarey let him back on the same paths. Sun still glowed with few remaining hours, which remained unknown to him.
Allan knew that the day wasn't over at all, as there were still spars awaiting him. Even Sarey had her time to shine in the last 2 days. The only difference was that her spars have to be done before Allan's so Zigmund would still have energy left.
After all, when the man sparred with each other, it wasn't always nice and steady. At this point, it resembled completion more than anything else. Even when the winner was always Zigmund.