Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a hero:
Three chances in another world
Vol 2: Chapter 21. Two questions
For a week nothing happens. Julius and Bearugard continue to plot and talk, achieving nothing. Rosemary spends her days talking with Calgary and testing out her stages, overall bored. Gray tries to use his spiritual senses and summon his mana instantly with no luck. Soku tries to use her glider, and Edward rests in Lincoln's home. The mission is at a standstill. But during that week Edward had only slept for a day. Edward jumps upward and wakes up, slowly opening his eyes. He looks around seeing that his wounds have been tended to.
Edward: “Ugh…Lincoln!?”
Edward {My whole body hurts…and my hands are all bandaged up…I wonder how long I was out.}
Edward struggles to stand, grabbing a walking stick placed by his bed. He walks around the house checking the area out.
Edward: “One room…and a bed in the living room…which is in the same room as the kitchen…yeah it’s pretty small. And dirty.”
Lincoln burst through the door, drunk and holding food.
Lincoln: “Oh Hey! You're finally up.”
Edward: “I wonder if my friends are doing okay...BUT WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? YOU PUT ME THROUGH THAT DUMB TEST”
Lincoln: “Look they’re fine. And I want to ask you something.”
Edward: “Spit it out.”
Lincoln: “Do you want my help or not.”
Edward: “Of course, I want your help.”
Lincoln: “Alright I’ll help you out if you do me one thing.”
Edward: “What?”
Lincoln: “Or two things.”
Edward: “Okay…I’m desperate.”
Lincoln: “First I want you to tell me what you want to do. But you can answer that later. The second one is a question I want you to answer now.”
Edward: “Alright then.”
Lincoln: “Do you want me to teach you the Dragons spirit.”
Edward's face turns to shock and happiness. But it then turns to unease.
Lincoln: “What is the long face?”
Edward: “I trained with Musashi…the greatest swordsman and I’m still weak…I don’t want to waste your -”
Lincoln slaps Edward in the face, causing Edward to spit blood.
Lincoln: “YES OR NO SPIT IT OUT YOU SAD LOSER!”
Edward: “YES! PLEASE…TEACH ME AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”
Lincoln: “Alright go outside.”
Edward: “But I’m still…okay, I’m coming.”
Lincoln: “Good…now take a sip of this.”
Edward: “Ugh it smells awful..”
Lincoln: “Don’t be a bitch, take a sip.”
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Edward takes a sip, immediately realizing its alcohol. Strong alcohol at that.
Edward: “BLEH! I don’t drink! And that was gross.”
Lincoln: “That was some strong shit, you got a pretty good tolerance. But you will get a buzz so it’ll ease the pain. Now let's go!”
They walk outside, onto the wet grass.
Edward: “How’s this gonna work? Are you going to be my master or are you gonna tell me how to do the attack and just leave it at that?”
Lincoln: “I guess both…I only taught my oldest son how to do the dragon's fist. But they couldn't get past the first move.”
Edward: “It’s crazy to believe that I’m being taught the most powerful technique by the man that made it…My friend Julius learned the Dragons fist so I have experience with the attack.”
Lincoln: “Wait somebody learned the move without me teaching them? That kid must be some prodigy or something.”
Edward: “Well you would be right about that…why do you want to teach me anyway?”
Lincoln: “Because you’re a golden opportunity. And don’t worry I’m not some loser and only want to teach ya because you’re a prodigy or a Helsing I want to teach you because you were able to make that eighteen-foot jump while you were all fucked up.”
Edward: “That’s good to hear.”
Lincoln: “Okay then. The first lesson is learning how to fight.”
Edward: “What?”
Lincoln: “Put pressure on all your joints. Use the mana in your bones and your muscles.”
Edward: “But I don’t have a lot of mana. I have as much as a normal person.”
Lincoln: “Same. Now shut up and do it.”
Edward: “Then how do I have mana in them?”
Lincoln: “Because of your body’s strength. But to make it strong you need to tear your muscles and they grow back stronger. To do that they heal and when they do they use some of your ODs’ mana to do so. So that mana is in your body forever. Now become one with your body, gather that mana and force it into one spot in whatever limb you want and fucking HIT me.”
Edward {Well they don’t call Lincoln the unstoppable for nothing…okay find my mana…find it.”
Lincoln: “Look this might take a bit but I need you to do this yourself. So no matter how long it takes you must find it. Then you can learn the Dragon's fist.”
Edward takes a stance. Trying to find his body's eternal mana. Seconds, minutes, and hours pass as he waits still and silent.
Lincoln: “UGH! So boring.”
Edward: “Stop talking...I’m finding it…”
Lincoln: “Oh well it took me a few years to find it.”
Edward: “WAIT YEARS! I MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT HERE FOR YEARS!?”
Lincoln: “Hey don’t break your concentration!”
Edward: “I was raised by a monk, a retired one but still one at that. I grew up finding my peace. Then Musashi taught me to use my emotions…hold them down…control them and when I feel ginger build up to use it. The warriors' spirit…I became reliant on it…it blinded me from reason, put me here… without an eye, and separated me from my friends. I need to stop fighting my emotions…stop using them to win…and find myself…why I want…you keep asking me what I want and the real answer is…I don’t know.”
Lincoln: “Good job. You answered the first question.”
Edward: “Now…to find me.”
Edward {Content…myself…what do I want…what makes me…me? The driving force for my life has been to exist…I don’t want to exist…I want to live…so no matter how long it takes, how much it hurts…I will LIVE!}
Edward's body begins to give off a faint power. His muscles start to squeeze and move, the tendons start to stress as Edward starts to open his eye.
Lincoln: “Edward…what do you feel?”
Edward: “TIGHT! WHAT DO I DO!?”
Lincoln: “Hold it…hold it…hold it…”
Edward begins to feel light-headed, eventually passing out from the stress. He wakes up with the sun in his eyes and his body feeling lighter.
Edward: “LINCOLN! HOW LONG WAS I OUT!? My body…feels lighter…and I’m not in as much pain as I was before…”
Lincoln stumbles out of his room, drunk.
Lincoln: “Hey you're…awake.”
Edward: “So how long was I out?”
Lincoln: “Only a few hours…or maybe days…no definitely hours!”
Edward: “Did you heal me?”
Lincoln: “Nope, you found your embodied mana, if only for a few seconds.”
Edward: “I felt like I couldn’t move…but I felt light.”
Lincoln: “Yep that’s how it goes. Now let us eat and then go outside and see if you can achieve the same thing from yesterday…only faster…”
Lincoln grabs some cooked meat and booze, placing it on a messy table.
Edward: “I can clean this place up if you want. And I don’t drink.”
Lincoln: “Look I find it easy to find one internal mana while drunk but to each, their own I guess…here have some tea I brewed a bit ago.”
Edward: “Thanks…”
Edward eats and drinks the meal, he then stands up and begins to stretch, popping bones and relieving stress.
Edward: “I’m still so sore…even my wounds that Moro gave me are acting up…”
Lincoln: “I mean I would think so, he beat you half to death.”
Edward: “And he broke my sword…and stole my armor.”
Lincoln: “Hey you know what…if you can achieve the Dragons spirit in a few months I will craft your armor and a blade out of Dragons ore.”
Edward: “REALLY! That’s great! But I want to say now that I like to use big swords…”
Lincoln: “Like your dad?”
Edward: “Well…yeah my last sword was one hundred pounds.”
Lincoln: “DAMN! OH HELL NO I’M NOT MAKING THAT! I’ll make you a big sword but I’m not making it that heavy. If you can swing that thing then you can swing a normal sword fast.”
Edward: “But my father used one.”
Lincoln: “Look I met your father and no he did not use a sword that big.”
Edward: “But the legends said -”
Lincoln: “Legends are bull shit. I can tell you from experience that he used a hundred or so-pound great swords.”
Edward: “Damn…I've been wasting my time with that then.”
Lincoln: “Oh well…just do your own thing don’t be like the dead guys. Be the strong kind.”
Edward: “Yeah…you’re right…alright, I’ve finished my food let’s go outside.”
Lincoln: “Alright.”
Edward walks outside, immediately getting into a stance. He begins to focus, and an hour passes before he begins to feel the mana.
Edward: “Hey...I got…it!”
Lincoln: “OH SHIT!? Okay now slowly put your feet at shoulder length, then put your arms by your side and try and focus the power on your arm, and then PUNCH!”
Edward slowly moves his body into position. He prepares himself to punch, and like clockwork, he does it. He had been facing a tree this entire time, just for this moment. So when he punches it, it moves like a hot knife through butter, cleaving through it and causing it to topple over.
Edward: “I did it…OW!”
Lincoln: “YOU DID IT! Oh and yeah the recoil sucks.”
Edward feels the muscles in his arms shift and contort. He feels the bones in his arm crack, making him collapse due to the pain.
Lincoln: “Damn…you did it.”
Edward: “What’s…next?”
End of Chapter Twenty-one.