Just this task took him two hours. The tool used for the digging of the ice was just a small ice pick which made it much harder to dig. After this Stone was completely spent even before the main course of training. The ice pick in his hand was covered in blood as Stone hurt himself several times during this time. If not for his regeneration his hand would be full of wounds...
"Huff, huff, damn it..." Stone, who finally got inside the cave, put his hands on his knees as he felt the need to rest. But when he looked around he didn't see any tools or instruments that Degres talked about. That made him stop breathing for a moment. He hoped that Degres wouldn't let him do all this for nothing. While the pain of sore muscles disappears before it even appears the mental fatigue is there.
Degres, who waited the entire time, finally entered the cave from behind and went deeper into the cave. The cave itself was very small, just 15 meters in diameter. Degres ended in one of the inconspicuous corners there was a very big rock lying there.
The rock was as tall as Stone and was even wider. But Degres then rolled the big rock away like nothing and the cave trembled for a bit. Then he turned towards Stone once again and pointed at the place where the rock was before.
"Here is all the equipment for the training, let's go." He said with a smile.
Stone put his gaze at that place. There he saw a small wooden trapdoor leading down. At first, they didn't look very durable but once he got closer he felt the cold brushing against his skin.
Those doors were baptized by the Cold Energy! When Stone realized it he was surprised. It made sense to him though. Making those doors from metal would use too much material the tribe lacked. On the other hand not using the Cold Energy would make the door easy to destroy and would probably wear off in a few years. So this was the most cost-effective way to hide the equipment.
But now Stone really wonders what kind of equipment that will be.
When Degres finally opened the lock, which was the only metal part of the doors, he went right inside without waiting for Stone and he didn't know if he should follow inside or not. He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds but before he decided Degres was already back.
In fact, he didn't hold that much of things. In one hand held one very long stick with engravements all over itself and in the other the box covered in furs.
Stone thought he would bring something more interesting so he didn't know how to feel. Maybe seeing his reaction Degres started to explain.
"This will suffice for now, lad. Right now, what you need is not the body training to build muscles or training some weapon techniques as Southerners do. Now after you just built your foundation and got strengthened by baptism you need to learn how to use your body efficiently!"
To emphasize his point Degres flexed his arm muscles whereat Stone just blankly watched and Degres once again laughed. At some point, Stone thought that he was mentally ill. Why is he laughing after almost every sentence? He got a little annoyed by the crazy guy but the training that awaits him will be already hell so he won't say anything stupid for it only worsens.
"Use the body efficiently?
"What I am trying to say is that most people simply cannot use their bodies to their fullest potential. Most of them just chose to learn preset movements to use in some situations or with some items and call them 'techniques' and 'forms'. But once they lose that thing or are in the situation they were not prepared for they are unable to do anything, hah! But our tribe is different!" when he said it he strode outside of the cave with Stone after him.
"Our Ancestor, the honored Kennera was the great warrior who traveled from her land of the ancient trees and warm wind to all kinds of places and fought many foes before she settled here. She wasn't as strong as we are now. She was in fact weak before all kinds of beings born in this world. But she was talented and instead of just putting her life in the hands of others she found her own path. She called it The Way of the Body. Instead of just learning how to fight she first learned how her body worked and how to control it. Once she did she trained herself to the limit. In the legend, when she was at her peak she was able to wield any weapon once she got the hold of it, she could fight monsters with bare hands and use rock to fight against swords."
When Degres told the tale of his ancestor he was visibly excited and Stone felt his fervor. He didn't know how much of this was truth but it really was awe-inspiring. He also found out the origin of the Kennera lake's name. Well, she was probably the one who found it as she settled here or settled here because she found it.
As he thought about it Degres ended the story and said lightly.
"This is what every member of the tribe strives for! The complete control over your own body to achieve the unachieable. Fortunately, you have never learned how to fight so you won't have the problem. Right now you just got out of the baptizement and are just like the newborn baby who doesn't know how to move properly. I've let you do the basic warm-up but that is just to let you prepare for the real training which will begin now!"
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Immediately after before Stone could react Degres banged him with the stick he held in his arm on the head.
"Shall we? Ha ha hah."
The training began...
........
The first impression Stone got when he started the first day of training was that it hurt. And that was despite his pain tolerance. But the second impression that he got right after a while was that it seemed to work already. After all the rookie's mistakes are the easiest to fix.
Stone who was under Degres' constant commands to perform all kinds of movements and poses got hit by that stick in places where he moved poorly. Then he needed to adjust the posture until he got the approval or he would get smacked again.
Fortunately Stone had already little experience since he was under Degres for over two months knowing his body well and now after the baptism he just needed to adjust a little which was easy after that constant sprint and digging that Degres let him do before.
Stone's adjustment was even easier than others since his body got equally baptized without any discrepancy. Even his senses got much stronger complementing his heightened strength. Kaoran already knew about it and told Degres so he could change the training accordingly.
Thanks to this Stone didn't need to do all those stretching exercises that teach you the body anatomy and instead focus on the ones which push your limits.
But despite the heightened senses Degres still managed to sneak up on him in the morning showing his dominance over his pupil. Degres isn't the type to like losing even in this kind of meaningless thing. Who knows how this man managed to get into the leader's position...
As of now he instructs Stone to do basic but irregular moves and guides him with the stick by hitting him precisely into the muscle he should or shouldn't flex, by the movement he did unnecessarily and other.
But what Stone didn't know is that this was just the beginning. It could be said the introduction to the training that will await him in the next days and years.
After several hours of relentless Degres finally stopped hitting him and said to Stone:
"We have last hour before I need to give you back so use this time to sit on the ground and meditate. The Way of the Body isn't so easy to learn is more about the synchronization of mind, spirit, and body. Calm your mind and contemplate the moves you did wrong and after I will explain them to you. This will also help you learn self-assessment and self-reflection of your own body and building your mental strength."
Stone immediately sat down dead tired with sweat trickling all over his body. Then he looked at Degres with a question in his mind.
"Degres, what did you mean by giving you back? I know that Kaoran wants me to learn his things but that wouldn't be now, wouldn't it ?" asked Stone with little concern.
"No, your training begins right after this one, of course! I have you from dawn to noon and he has you from noon to dusk, ha ha hah!"
He replied cheerfully but Stone's heart turned cold at this point. How is he supposed to survive this kind of intensity?
The beginnings are always the most difficult to cross for people and he was no different from them. While his mind craved strength and revenge, his heart didn't burn for it. He felt hollow ever since his village got destroyed and all that anger he had accumulated seemed to dissipate. But in truth, it just got hidden very deep inside of his heart without him even realizing it. As such he was still a little lacking when it came to the motivation.
But he knew very well that complaining wouldn't solve anything so he crossed his legs to get into a meditative position and closed his eyes.
What he didn't expect was that the meditation state was this time much easier to get into than ever before. It was so obvious that he noticed immediately. This didn't make sense to Stone though. Just yesterday he meditated just before the ceremony yet the difference was significant. There was only one day difference.
The first thing Stone thought about was the baptism itself but Kaoran would definitively tell him beforehand since he explained how the baptism worked and what benefits it gives. So Stone thought what else there was unusual that could induce this change...
'That golden light!' at this time the memory struck him and he remembered what happened to him just before he lost consciousness.
The same light that Kaoran seemed to completely ignore... Stone decided that he would ask him later as now was not the time for it.
Then for most of the time left he reflected on the movement he did. Without Degres' guidance, it was too hard to fix the mistakes and improve himself. But it wasn't utterly meaningless since Degres always hit him where he moved in the wrong way. Injury and pain were already gone but the sensation was still engraved in his mind.
With this as guidance, he found some of the glaring mistakes in his movement. It was just the tip of an iceberg but for the first time it was passable and Stone was content with himself.
Then at the end of the session, he went to verify his findings with Degres. Degres, who waited for this, explained everything in detail, instructed him how to change the wrong movements, and helped Stone to form the basic idea of the concept of 'The Way of the Body' that the tribe was practicing.
The biggest problem was that Degres wasn't exactly eloquent in the speech and Stone had a problem understanding some of his explanations since he was still a beginner in the Theras language. Fortunately, most of the things were demonstrated by Degres himself and then guided precisely with Degres's hands on Stone allowing him to perform those same things much better than before.
In the end, Stone was totally tired and his clothes were drenched but the inner contentment was something he never felt before. Lying on the ground still in the snow he heavily breathed. There was no need to fear to catch a cold as such a minor thing was never a problem for him. But despite that, he still wants to wipe his body and change clothes before doing anything else.
"Well, that is all for today. You can now go to your next lesson without me. Don't forget to clean yourself on the way and get into dry clothes. I have still things to do here now, ha ha hah!" as he said that he turned around and disappeared into the cave. He probably planned to take out all the equipment that he left down there and do something with it. Stone didn't want to think about it and turned towards the camp until he realized...
He doesn't know how to get back! When he got here, he didn't have the mind on the path at all.
Looks like it will take some time to get back...