Even though he was excited and wanted to get to training, Liam’s body had other plans. The moment his body laid down he was out. He hadn’t realized how tired he really was before that due to Ursa’s sudden interest and his excitement upon learning he would try and learn something only Beast-kins could learn. However, once laying down a body could not fake anything, especially after getting comfy.
He had slept for a few hours before finally getting back up. It was an hour and half close to noon when he finally woke up. Everyone was hard at work doing their own specialized training and weren’t close by. Only Uncle Naro was there waiting for him to wake up. He had a snack prepared for him to munch on before he had to start his training. The man explained that it wouldn’t be good for him to eat too much right now since he was about to do some physical training and also lunch was slowly approaching.
To start off the training, Uncle Naro had him run a certain amount of distance. He would jog a small portion and every time he heard a whistle he would have to sprint until he heard another whistle. He had to keep this up for ten minutes. When he finished he was exhausted. Exhausted and smiling. This training helped raised his Stamina Endurance, Speed, and Stamina Recovery Sub-stats by one level.
After he was done resting for five minutes, Uncle Naro then had him wear heavy armor and do it once more. This was harder due to the weight of the armor he was told to wear. The amount of time was shorter since the weight was heavier, but thanks to that he was able to raise his Body Strength Sub-stat by two making it reach level twenty one.
The next bit of training had Liam trying to dodge wooden objects being thrown at him. He was allowed to try and catch them and throw them back, however the only thing he was allowed to target when throwing them was any object being thrown at him. Liam did try to attempt doing that, but whenever he tried to catch an object a second object would fly and knock it out of his hand before he could close his grip. After ten minutes of this training he was able to catch only one object and instinctively move his hand out of the way before another wooden object knock it out. However, when he tried to hit an object being thrown at him he could only miss and be pelted by objects that came in faster than they were being thrown when he didn’t catch one. This training helped raise his Fine Motor Sub-stat to level twenty five and his Reflex sub-stat to level twenty seven.
After he was done with that it was time to make lunch. Artem had arrived to help with that. By the time the trio had finished making the last item everyone had arrived. As they ate together, the group went over all they were doing throughout the morning. Liam listened to their growth and was surprised in Ariyana’s and Blair’s growth. Blair was able to grow her Gravity Orb more along with getting more levels in the Focus Point and some of the abilities. Ariyana on the other hand was able to get her Field of the Charmer close to level twenty. She was excited about this because she felt she was on to something.
Uncle Naro had told her to stop and focus on her Field of the Senses and field of Illusions now as well as practice more with her weapon skill. He informed her that while it was good she was almost at level twenty with Field of the Charmer, it would be a good idea to get other areas she utilizes to catch up.
After lunch was over, Uncle Naro had him practice creating each of his Mana Hands and try to control them to move around and grab objects around the camp site. Besides his Shadow Hand and Lunar Hand, that he was trying to hide for now, each of his Hand Type spells leveled a bit. Those under level ten had reached at least level ten while those who were over received one or two levels. Through this training he was also able to level his Control and Manipulation over different Mana Types by a few levels.
While he was training his different Hand Type Spells, he noticed Artem approaching him. He stopped what he was doing and asked him, “Everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything is fine,” Artem responded. “I was asked to come over here after I raised my Water Focus Point up a couple of levels so I can practice my Field of the Healer.”
Liam looked confused after hearing this. From what he understood the best way to work on leveling that field was to practice on those who needed healing. They were fighting monsters nor was any one hurt around them and since the two situations weren’t present…how was he going to practice. Instead of wasting time trying to think about it, Liam just asked, “How are you going to practice that field when there isn’t anyone hurt?”
“There is someone hurt,” Uncle Naro suddenly stated as he walked up to them.
Artem and Liam turned to look at the man. Liam then looked to his left and then to his right before turning around and back to Uncle Naro. “Who?”
As soon as Liam asked he saw a smile slowly growing on the man’s face and suddenly had a bad feeling. That bad feeling was solidified as Uncle Naro answer, “You.” He then held up one hand and rolled it as he quickly clarified, “You are not hurt right this second yes, but you will be hurt soon throughout our sparring session. He will be healing you each time you get badly hurt.”
Liam was quickly taken aback by this proclamation. While a part of him was excited for an opportunity to spar and try to learn from him, another side remembered the night he witnessed the bear of a man fight solo against the Demon-kins disguised as Beast-kins. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine remembering the scene.
“We won’t be fighting with weapons, so you do not have to worry about getting cut anywhere,” Uncle Naro said nonchalantly.
Liam felt his body relax for a split moment before understanding what he meant. If they were not going to spar with weapons then that meant they were going to spar unarmed. Fist to fist. Out of all his Weapon Skills, besides the Bow Weapon Skill, his Unarmed Weapon Skill was pretty low. It was still around level five. It was his second lowest level in that area. Which meant him landing a punch or anything of the like would be very tough, especially when going up against someone who had more time to train the Weapon Skill.
Uncle Naro saw the look on Liam’s face. He quickly understood what was running through his mind and let out a slight chuckle. “You have nothing to fear. I say this will be a spar, but really I will be training you and correcting mistakes that I see.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “And how are you going to correct these mistakes?”
Uncle Naro raised a fist as he said with a smile, “Through tough love.”
Another involuntary shudder ran down his spine. A thought suddenly appeared in his mind as he stared at Uncle Naro’s fist. “May I ask why unarmed combat? Yesterday you were adamant on me focusing on using the tool weapons.”
“You will be training with the tool weapons whenever there is a chance, however, due to new developments you keep surprising me with I have been changing up your training regimen,” Uncle Naro stated. “I will admit I didn’t think to try and train you to receive the Beast-kin exclusive Field. However, Usar believe there is a chance you can obtain it even though you’re not a full blooded Beast-kin.”
“What is this Beast-kin exclusive Field of…,” Liam asked, still not sure what it was.
Uncle Naro raised a hand up to stop him. “No more questions. We are going to start. You attack and I will counter wherever I see an opening.”
Liam frowned at that. However, from the way the man’s facial expression looked and the stance he had suddenly taken, Liam could see he wasn’t going to answer any more questions. Instead of trying to press for more information, Liam stretched his arms a bit and popped his neck before getting into a stance of his own.
Liam brought both hands up to protect both sides of his chin. He studied the giant man in front of him and the stance he brought himself into. Uncle Naro had bent his knees down enough to put himself into a horse stance. He had his left hand rested next to his side, balled into a fist, while his right arm was extended outwards in front of him with his hand opened, palm facing Liam.
From what Liam could see, the man had a solid stance. The placement of his feet, his arms, and hands were in perfect harmony. Liam didn’t like that. He couldn’t see any opening no matter where he looked. Without an opening he had no place to strike.
Uncle Naro could see the frustration in Liam’s eyes as his pupils moved quickly, scanning every part of his body. While he could appreciate the young man in front of him being cautious and knowing that it was futile no matter where he struck, that wasn’t the point of this spar. No, he had other things he wanted to teach him and try to ingrain into his body. Unfortunately, this lesson required him to be a bit…heavy handed.
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“What are you waiting for? Attack,” Uncle Naro instructed.
Liam slightly scowled before deciding where to attack. He moved as swiftly as he could as he approached the man. Liam leaned to the inside and readied a strike, however, before he threw the punch, he stopped moving and went to spin around the man’s massive palm and went to throw a spinning back handed strike.
Before Liam could finish the spin, a powerful burst of pain suddenly erupted into his side right as his Danger Sense flared up around the spot. He then felt his feet get swept up into the air as he flew towards a tree and crashed into it.
After his body collided into the tree, Liam opened his mouth and allowed a small amount of liquid to escape from within. He then fell to the ground, gripping his side. The pain that had suddenly appeared throbbed as he tried to gasp for air.
Artem stared wide eyed at Liam. He was unsure what had just happened. One moment Liam was running, then spun around Uncle Naro’s giant palm. Not even half way through the spin Uncle Naro was suddenly a step forward and Liam was halfway flying towards the tree/
“What are you waiting for Artem? Your companion has been hurt and is in need of healing,” Uncle Naro stated, the tone in his voice was full of resolve, strictness, and a tinge of sadness.
Artem snapped out of his stupor and ran towards Liam. As soon as he reached him he started channeling his mana. He stopped as Uncle Naro instructed, “Do not channel any Healing Mana into the spell. Your goal for this is to only use Heal or Healing Aura. You will need to familiarize yourself with those spells without channeling any mana into them so you can know exactly how much you can heal while also becoming more comfortable using them.”
Artem nodded as he began chanting. As he chanted Uncle Naro added, “I am going to rotate between three different types of strikes. Each strike will do different amounts of damage. Every time I land a hit you will heal him. Your training Artem will be to determine which healing spell is best used on the amount of damage landed. Heal will be for bigger amounts of damage while Healing Aura will be for lesser damage. Do I make myself clear?”
Artem nodded as he focused on healing Liam. Liam was staring the man down. While he knew this spar was going to be one sided he really didn’t expect Uncle Naro to openly admit that he was going to get hit so hard each time. From the sound of his voice Liam understood that he wasn’t going to land a hit. If that was the case then what was all that talk about teaching him something? Was there a lesson in this? If so what was it?
After Liam was done replenishing his health thanks to Artem he stood back up. Uncle Naro had already reset his stance to the same one before. With a nod, Liam understood he wanted him to attack. This time instead of trying to spin around the palm, Liam ducked under the man’s arm, but still let his right hand be thrown into a straight punch.
This time Liam felt his right arm get swatted to the side which brought his momentum from going to his left back to his right. However he didn’t get far as he was ping ponged back to his left side, rolling across the ground till he stopped.
Artem rushed over and inspect the damage over his body. Artem was unsure so he decided to go with Healing Aura. Before finishing the first part of the chant, Uncle Naro had told him to stop. He then lectured Artem about how there was more damage done than the amount he had guessed. Artem felt embarrassed for being called out for guessing, however he didn’t let it get to him. He understood he was still far from understanding how to be a proper healer and this was good practice for him. After Artem finished healing Liam, he got back up and saw Uncle Naro reset his stance. Liam let out a sigh as he prepared himself once again.
After being thrown around several more times, Liam finally allowed his irritation to go as he asked, “Okay, I give up. What exactly are you teaching me here? Besides how hard you can hit and how far I can fly after being swatted away like a fly?”
Uncle Naro raised a brow at him. Liam almost swore he saw the bear of a man hide a chuckle before he responded, “The lesson I am teaching you hear isn’t something you can learn for strategic purposes, but more instinctually.”
“What does that even?” Liam questioned, his irritation filling him.
“It means I am teaching your body to learn something rather than your brain,” Uncle Naro stated.
“And that is?” Liam asked.
Uncle Naro let out a sigh before said with a disappointed look, “Sometimes you can be pretty damn smart and other times you’re denser than a gulip chasing its own leg.”
Liam looked incredulous. He didn’t know what a gulip was, but from the analogy he just used it must be pretty damn stupid. Liam let out a sigh as he tried to calm himself, “I am sorry. I am just having a really hard time trying to understand how this will help me learn a new field. You haven’t really told me what the name of this field is let alone what it is. Also if this is a Beast-kin exclusive Field of Study wouldn’t it be best if Roman and Blair were here as well?”
Uncle Naro waved a hand. “While it would benefit them, especially for Roman…but they are full blooded Beast-kins it will be easier for them to handle the training. However, for you…it’s a different story.”
“Why?” Liam questioned. He was genuinely curious what the difference was between him and the other two. Did being a half breed Beast-kin have that much of a disadvantage?
“It is because you are a half Beast-kin…,” Uncle Naro started to say.
“What does that have to do with the price of beans?” Liam asked.
Uncle Naro looked at him with a confused expression with some suspicion. He was about to ask something, but stopped as Liam quickly said, “Sorry, I mean what does being a half Beast-kin have to do with it?”
Uncle stared at Liam for a long moment before finally answering, “It has a lot to do with it. For one, your heightened senses aren’t equal to a full blooded Beast-kin. At lower levels it might seem that you are, but that’s only because you and the other two are slowly adapting to them. You have to sharpen your instincts harder and more than them as well. Not only that, but your ability to move like a fully blooded Beast-kin isn’t the same as well. Not unless you train your reflexes the same way. I am not saying this because I believe full blooded Beast-kins are better than halfblooded ones, it’s just that you will need to put in more work in order to receive this type of field.”
“And what is this field?” Liam asked.
“It is called the Field of the Beast,” Uncle Naro answered. “It is a Field of Study that helps Beast-kins get in touch with their inner beast. It raises their heightened senses to new heights as well as can unlock a feral side of themselves. So in essence, it can help you fight like a beast. If you can unlock this field and learn the abilities from the Focus Points it will help you fight easier by utilizing your racial heightened senses.”
Liam stared dumbfoundedly after hearing that. While he had used his heightened hearing, smell, and sight for more scouting purposes he hadn’t really thought about using them as an advantage in a fight. There was merit behind this Field of Study. Liam then thought about the current fighting style he was trying to learn. Having to switch from tool weapon to tool weapon in a fight required something he believed he was lacking. Maybe this was it. the missing piece to his issue.
Not only that, but when utilizing his Hand Type spells along with this field of study then there was even more potential. However, that would require him getting certain abilities from the Focus Points. Liam shook his head trying to stop himself from spiraling down that rabbit hole. He would cross that bridge when he got there. However, now he had a new question. Well it was a question he had asked already, but didn’t get a real straight answer to.
“Okay, I see what you are saying, but what we are doing here isn’t helping my heightened senses at all,” Liam started. “That being the case what are you training right now?”
“A different type of sense that you showed me is growing,” Uncle Naro stated as a small grin formed. “Every race has a different name for it, but I believe the name the Beast-kins have for it is apt. It’s your Danger Sense.”
Liam blinked once, twice, three times. He was training his Danger Sense? How? In what way? By having it flare up over and over again? If that was the case then he could just do that fighting really strong monsters.
Uncle Naro noticed the look on Liam’s face and shook his head. “It seems like it either hasn’t produced any results or you haven’t noticed it yet.”
Liam cocked his head as he asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean you should think back and see if you remember when we started this to the last bout. Has anything changed?”
Liam thought about it. Their first bout his Danger Sense had flared up right as he had gotten hit. Same with the next time. And the next time. They all flared up at the same exact…Wait a second. Liam suddenly thought as he replayed the last bout in his mind. There was a slight change during the last attempt. His Danger Sense had reacted just a split second before the attack landed. It was subtle and wasn’t much, but there had been a slight changed.
Liam thought about what that meant. He then thought about what Uncle Naro was saying. If he needed to train his senses to help him fight better in order to get the Field of the Beast and Danger Sense was a part of those sense then he was essentially training his Danger Sense to gain enough experience to get a better at reacting to dangerous situations through exposure of a higher level individual continuously beating the ever loving crap out of him.
Liam’s body shuddered. While he didn’t like the ‘tough love’, Uncle Naro had so graciously called it, it did have some promise. He had relied on his Danger Sense during majority of his fights. It was also thanks to his Danger Sense he was able to dodge lethal attacks. If he could train that sense to better heights then it could help save his ass even better.
Liam gulped as he looked back at Uncle Naro. While he liked the idea, he really didn’t like the feeling of getting hit by Uncle Naro. The man hit like a train most of the time. Not only that, but his speed and reflexes were nuts. However, there was nothing Liam could do about that. The man was higher level in every aspect of sub-stats, skills, and abilities. The only way to dodge or not get hit so hard was to out level the man, but as of this moment that was a laughable conclusion…for now that is.
Liam let out a sigh before bracing himself. “Alright. Let’s do this.”
Uncle Naro smiled widely. “That’s a good response. Now come at me. Come get a beating from your Uncle Naro.”