Seeing him endure this for 30 minutes, Sarey watched everything in silence, amazed by his endurance. She knew how hard this was for even 2 to 5 minutes, which was around the time she tried it for herself. It was laughable for her, as Allan's performance kept going higher and higher. Her improvements in these waters were the worst out of everything she had tried before. Not including the rock smashing since she was kind to her own hands, which needed to be safe for acupoint treatments.
Nonetheless, she should feel proud of herself for even attempting to stay in this river. Even managing to stay there for minutes on end was considered to be impressive. But no one knew about her tries, not even Allan or her father.
Another 10 minutes passed as the rate of Allan's moves went much slower, slowing, and stopping after a while.
Forcing himself to stop swimming, Allan stabilized his posture and his feet on the bottom of the river. Moving aside with his hands around his torso, he endured the barrage of the water, or things that flew towards him. On the right side of the river was where he crawled to the ground.
Falling on his back, he faced the warmth of the sun.
“You overextended your right shoulder again?” Sarey crouched down, noticing his right arm, which he moved in a rather numb movement. She noticed it from her eyes alone.
“Yea..” Allan says, accepting that was indeed the case.
“Your muscles are rock hard and strained,” Sare said, pinching his right shoulder with her fingers. “Listen, you should have stopped in the 30th minute and not gone overboard with this as usual.”
“I go until I am beaten,” Allan argued. “It is just annoying to go for longer one way or another. My shoulder ache, because of those movements I did for so long. It's numb and rock hard because of that.”
“Who do you think you are talking to? I know very well why it's like that.” Sarey argued, slamming his shoulder that caused Allan to cringe a little.
“My left shoulder. Can you massage it a little? Pretty please.” Allan mumbled on his bare back, feeling a little disappointed at doing this to her.
Sarey couldn't help but sigh, forcing him into a sitting position before massaging his shoulders and back.
She felt more like a caretaker for elderly people as time went forth, but that's what she got by taking care of this since the beginning of 36. Although it wasn't as worse some days. From time to time, Allan was gentle to him, but occasional troubles would happen since Allan had a long way to it. His often experiments around his body were also a reason for those troubles. This time, was the prime example of his bad idea, causing his body to suffer a little.
“What do you plan now? Another round?” She asked, forcing her palm, fingers, and elbow around his muscles.
“Of course,” Allan answered, with obviousness in his voice.
He will do at least 3 rounds of different kinds of exercises in the river, leading to much better results after experiencing them in the past. Each time he did them, a bit of difference will lead to other advantages around his body.
This time around, Allan decided to do the jumping and running jacks along the river. It was more of a cardio exercise, but doing so for a long time in the river was quite hard. Pulling his body according to the exercises was different from outside of the river. If he wanted to walk like a regular human in the water, that would be impossible in the river. His legs, feet, and whole body will have to move against the current and other obstacles.
After resting for a while, and Sarey's quick massage, he went right back to the river, managing 20 minutes before having enough.
Crawling back to the earth, he felt like he went through the training regime of his father when he was little. His legs and thighs specifically hurt like hell. Even though he was in much better shape, he felt like a regular human regardless of some changes. The sheer difference in the environment was like a difference between the earth and the sky, but he managed this sort of training nonetheless.
Water obscured his movements and led his body to be under constant pressure. From his breathing to his muscles. Quads, calves, and tendons in many parts of the legs and arms were under a lot of pressure. His back endured the most stability against the current, but his back was one of the strongest points of training. The climb made sure of it, as well as this river training, and exercises a while back.
With the 2nd part done, Allan went back at it after some rest. He always went for it until he had enough stamina to get out of there. The 3rd one was the squads which were for the sake of the underlying problem of the Unmoving technique. That was the sheer stability, and lower body strength and this river was perfect for that. Even Sarey thought so, enabling Allan to train much more efficiently.
For the squads, Allan tried to remain in a single place, placing his feet on the bottom of the river, and enduring what went against him. Unsurprisingly, the squads had to be made either in the shallow part of the river or completely submerged in the water. Allan tried both, and neither was much different. In truth, he found the submerging one kind more interesting since he felt he was training his lungs, too. Talking about crazy, what a madman.
Not even 10 minutes in, he considered himself successful in going along with this for that long. After a lot of experimenting, it was time to get out.
Sarey couldn't help but call him a lunatic from the constant rise of ideas, which seemed more absurd the more time and training went on. Enduring his stamina training and so on, until he had enough, was basically it. Choosing to rest for the day, Allan had enough, while Sarey long accepted how it went for her own sake.
Panting on the ground, Allan finished what he had planned with a small spare of stamina left.
“What now?”
“What now?”
Allan and Sarey asked at the same time, chuckling.
“Right. Right. I promised to lead you into my city in the morning. It still counts, right?” Sarey asked, crouching beside his attempt to praise the earth.
“Of course, that premise still holds. I didn't forget about it. There are no plans for me for the rest of the day apart from Zigmund's spar. That is if that will even happen.”
“Great! Spar will wait since father would surely not want to miss it. He will have to wait until we are back later today. It's about the middle of the day, so I guess it will take a few hours and we will be back before the sunset.” Sarey said.
“I can tell that the sun is still bright and warm. Not much time went by from all this work, huh?”
“That's because you are fast. No wonder, since you work like a madman here or in the forge.”
Drying up, Allan wore the same clothes as before. Although they seemed a little bit rough, no one in the city, nor he would care about some unkempt clothes. Such were the lives of mortals, and this city was no different. Sarey promised to buy him a new set because he went through the first pile she bought him a while back. Unknown to her at that time, she had no idea that this boy didn't know what holding himself back meant.
Sarey noticed the bare body of Allan for what seemed like the hundredth time. The tense muscles all over his upper body were quite strained from all this training, yet he could walk and function fine. This was something she never understood, and he never complained too.
Over time, she began to slowly process small details of what went with his body. Even her knowledge of the 1st rough chapter of the Unmoving Technique was in her hands. That enabled her to know more things, but making sense out of them was different since she wasn't one undergoing this technique. Discussions, as well as 36's hints and experiences, led her to new knowledge that was otherwise unreachable for regular mortals.
Although she had a rather absurd point of view about the royalty of the mortal worlds, which could be... complicated. At least according to her sense of the world, and the words that she heard from Terg.
Today, she was more than satisfied with how it went. In the past, 36 explained to her some stuff from certain books, scrolls, and techniques of the Immortals. Just something that Terg used to tell her, but 36 was many times more detailed and unhesitant of talking. She figured Terg was always hesitant because of her age, or because he didn't want to tell her. She had no idea, and not like she was upset about it. In fact, it made her much more eager toward the possible routes of Immortals and the stories surrounding them.
So what if she had the smallest amount of talent? She believed that there must be a path that could be walked even by someone like her.
With passion and courage, Sarey clenched her both fists, unwilling to go by the rules of heaven, which caused her poor talent. The stubbornness of her fate was her doing, conviction being her second belief. No way she would break through by her beliefs in herself, since her past changed now, that there were 2 people in her life. Those could change it, right? She hoped for it.
Unfortunately, her hope and worries were only met with 36 who was quite frank with her, regardless of her uncertain talent. As he was that, both Allan and Sarey seemed like good kids. The kind who knew what went behind the world and worked hard for themselves, no matter what.
36 figured that even this issue called talent was, quite frankly, the utter worst word he could imagine. Even Immortals would get shaken by their lack of talent. Forget the mortals, who most often than not, didn't know any better. This... on the other hand, wasn't about his talent, but about the talent of someone else. It could cause the end of the road for himself because his life wasn't in his hand. He could only indirectly affect himself with his teachings, being not the best.
If Allan had no talent or the so-called Spark, there would be an end for himself. Be it within the year, or even earlier. He may as well not finish the 1st trial for all he cared about.
Currently, in the world of the Diary of the Body.
The ship which was on the never-ending path of floating in this infinite space was awoken by the arrival of 36. He reappeared from the portal in his room.
Floating from it in a gust of lighting vortex, his appearance was that of a ghostly image of a lofty-looking man with devilish eyes. Although his overall appearance could be summarized as demonic, his personality was slowing to move along with that. He had no time, nor worry to care about his own life at the moment, even though he hated it. At least considering the problems he had on hand, caring about himself was of little concern to him.
“Good... Nothing wrong here.” He sighs, glad that his room was the same as ever. “ Great day. Allan's progression toward the initial stage of Body forging is going better than I imagined. The real deal will start now, but it may as well depend on his courage or his talent.” 36 talked to himself, floating towards his table.
On the table, there were now a few most important pieces of scrolls that he had currently planned for Allan.
One pile of scrolls that was on the left was meant for the near future summoning. That meant his special plans were what he had planned to show to Allan sooner later than later. Since his overall physical capabilities were getting to the point where he was feeling satisfied, he figured it was a good time to go harder. Regardless of his inability to watch his spars, the training was more than enough for his assumptions.
On the middle and right side of the table was a copy of a Diary with The Unmoving technique and a few smaller scrolls of secondary techniques. One of them included the Body Whip Technique, which wasn't part of the Unmoving scroll, but he still decided to talk about it. It was pretty much generic Martial Art, that was easier to learn. A beginner kind of method that most kids learned in the Immortal lands. Be it the schools, sects, or families of them. Over the next span of weeks, he planned to rewrite them all for Allan. Starting with the following Chapters on the Unmoving technique and the Body Whip technique as a whole.
“Dangers are still lingering in the air.” He told, placing his ghostly hand on the Diary of the Body. “I can feel the imminent destruction which could cause the end of me.” 36 muttered, beginning to work with scrolls, writing new ones to the empty ones. Even though the case of Sarey's language was getting better, he never indeed to be a great way to went with teachings. He even feared that one day, they would separate, or something wrong would happen. Then what? It was better to go with the generic mortal languages.
“Heh, it is just a language. I wonder why that kid didn't find it strange in any shape or form that Allan knew her language from the beginning. 36 chuckled to himself, finding the reasoning of him knowing something else, kind of laughable.
Time here was much slower, so he could wait for no one in this kind of dull space.
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Only the distant reality outside of the book was shrouded in the mysteries of the universe. The glowing sphere of light that was a long distance away made the light travel millions of kilometers to a lively forest.
Sarey led Allan on the unfamiliar road onto the opposite sides of her home. It was her path that she knew quite a bit. Taking a little detour, she wanted to lead Allan into the paths to the Griontesse city, where she had never been with him before.
It was still about 4 to 5 hours before sunset, so they both had plenty of time to do whatever they wanted to do. Although, it was a fact that she didn't think about taking Allan here too much. What was the point of bringing a blind person to sightsee the city? That was a stupid or weird thing to consider. It was her little naivety that led to this moment. She didn't even realize it. It was still clear that she was still an exciting kid, being pulled into her own world of expectation and excitement.
But there was nothing wrong with this since she was still young. It should be quite normal and even praiseworthy for her to remain this sort of personality in this constant world of struggles and cruelty. That or the protection provided by her father after the kidnapping that happened when she was young. In truth, she didn't even remember it all that much. Just her crying and some blurry scenes of her father were about her small bits of memories.
After about 30 minutes of walking through the wild paths of the forest, the pair reached the paved road. It had a rather well-kept straight road that led to the distant walls of the Griontesse city.
“Walls are just around the corner, Allan,” Sarey said, leading him from the lush forest towards this road.
“I see...” He said with a mocking tone.
“Yout don't say, but I will take you to a good place I know very well,” Sarey said, feeling expectant of what is about to come.
“Don't tell me you want me to go to Zigmund's restaurant?” Allan asked, clearly understanding her hint.
“Eh!?” Sarey stopped walking. “What do you mean? Did you know it from the get-go? I should have remained silent...” Sarey stomped the ground with her feet, disappointed by her lack of surprises. She wanted to keep it ambiguous as a surprise to him since she always talked about Zigmund's restaurant as if it was something amazing.
Noticing her mood, Allan also stopped, trying to change the topic. “Hey, don't be upset. I remember what you always told me when we ate. You like this restaurant with your father very much, so I will gladly go there with you as if I knew nothing about it.” Allan helplessly tried to ease her frustration, aware that he have no idea about the restaurant one way or another. He was never there, so why should she be upset if he knew about it?
“Ugh... Whatever.” Sarey shook her head, pacing forth towards the city. “Let's go. I don't want to talk about this anymore. In fact, I am more curious about the state of the region as a whole, while the restaurant will be a brief visit today.” Sarey says, forgetting this matter, and moved along with Allan forward.
“I am as well,” Allan added, reaching the gushing city that was approaching his awareness. The sound was quite distinct, and he could notice that from hundreds of meters away.