Okay, earlier today (+8GMT), the doctor said I have bone cancer, which warranted him a kick in the gut when he laughed and sneered while saying, "Juuussst kiiiddiiinnng!" and literally took the breathe away from him, knocking him out. Afterwards, we learned that he was an escaped mental patient from a neighboring city that they have been hunting for since yesterday. They didn't ask how we knocked him out and just thanked us for the capture.
The real doctor came after the incident and ignored it all to say that the x-rays were good and I just need another week just to be safe.
So, a week from now, I may be able to return to having a chapter ever 18~36.
Have a chapter.
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Outside, the night was cold and the chilly wind bit through the bones. Aimi wasn't wearing anything that could effectively ward against cold winds.
Cavaron pulled her back to the training area, "Now, continue jogging and running." and ordered her, "We will break your body and achieve a suitable build for fighting. For now, you will need stamina since your mana still has a core and is not completely fused with your body."
To assure Aimi won't be bored, they also had Aomi run alongside her, occasionally slipping off to grab some berries. One lap, two laps, three. Aimi continuously ran around the training area. If the training area is 300 square meters, and she ran on its perimeter, each lap is effectively 1.2 kilometers. Due to the effects of the dragon meat, she never felt tired although she slowed down a bit when she felt her muscles breaking repeatedly as she ran. Even with the pain that was brought to her body, she never stopped. If she did, Cavaron might do something worse than before, 'I should continue. He might have me eat raw bitter melons for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.' Aimi really hated the bitter melon.
After four hours, Cavaron had Aimi stop running. Aimi immediately crashed as her body screamed in pain, but even that wasn't enough to tire her. With her fatigue at an all time low, she pushed past the limits of her body with vigor.
Cavaron bent to look down on Aimi, "How do you feel?" and annoyingly asked.
With a deep breath, "PAAAAAAAaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnfuullllll..." Aimi let it all out.
Cavaron nodded, "Okay, half hour break." and walked over to Avani.
Aimi was still lying down in pain with Aomi licking parts of her friend's body, "Haha, thanks, Aomi." Aomi ran next to Aimi's face and licked it as well as feeding her some berries by placing it on her lips.
Cavaron was talking to Avani, "Okay, the next part will be to practice her evasion. What do you think should the level of difficulty be?" about Aimi's training regimen, "Her skills in archery are very good but it will be nothing if the enemy reaches her."
Avani placed her palm on her cheek making her breasts jiggle a bit, "Hmm... Let us have her fight one golem at a time." and suggested an idea, "Since it will be her first time fighting, it would be best to have her fight each golem once then let the number and variety increase as time goes on."
Cavaron nodded at her suggestions, "Luckily, we aren't pressed for time. The summoning this time isn't that alarming if what I've read from the Byblos is true." Cavaron then faced the training area, "Okay, for this night, we will use golems one to four. Fifty minutes each with a ten minute break in between."
Half an hour had passed and Cavaron approached Aimi, "Okay, Aimi. Time for evasion training. Since you will be a ranged fighter, you need to practice your evasions." and told her what they will be doing. Aimi stood up and followed Cavaron to the wood golem area.
Cavaron had Aimi stand before a wood golem that was given life by Avani's magic, "Okay, Aimi. This golem will attack you. It's modeled after strength type enemies so it will be a wee bit slow but it still packs a non-lethal punch." Aimi turned back to Cavaron with a disbelieving face, 'Packs a non-lethal punch!? Are you kidding me!? That choice of words is very well telling me that it will still hurt a lot!'
Cavaron noticed Aimi looking at him, "Hey! Focus! There's a punch coming right behind you!" Like he said, the humanoid wood golem threw a straight at Aimi. She panicked and immediately dropped to the ground. The golem hit the air, but immediately pulled back its leg for a kick. Aimi saw this and rolled away before the kick connected. She was able to regain her footing as she stood up, prepared to evade any attack that comes to her.
For fifty minutes, the strength type golem's attacks never connected. Having Aimi fight one on one with this type revealed crystal clear results. Even after all that dodging, she didn't even break a sweat. This golem alone was easy for her to deal with. After fifty minutes, they took a break and Cavaron asked some questions, "So, what did you notice about this type of enemy?"
Aimi recalled her encounter and answered, "Too easy. If its that golem alone, even with its strength, I can evade all of its attacks."
"Alright, keep that in mind. The next one should be more difficult." Cavaron was satisfied.
After ten minutes, Aimi stood before a smaller golem. "This golem is designed after agile.enemies. It moves fast and hits fast, be sure to keep up with its attacks." Cavaron explained the abilities of the next golem.
Without giving Aimi a chance to blink, the golem appeared right before her. Aimi panicked as she tried to jump back, only to receive a hook to her waist. "Geho!" Aimi coughed from the pain inflicted. Although this agility golem was weaker than the strength golem, its speed is nothing to laugh at.
Cavaron stood outside, "If you can't evade, try to block or parry the attack!" and yelled at her.
The golem jumped back to its original position and waited for Aimi to recover. Aimi struggled to stand up as she still felt the pain on her waist. Steadying her breathing, she made a stance and prepared to receive the attack. Once more, the golem appeared before her but instead of evading, Aimi anticipated the jab and swung her arm up to parry it. The golem missed but delivered another jab with its other hand that Aimi sadly received.
"Remember that if your opponent has another hand, always assume that they will use it!" Cavaron shouted again, "This is especially true for enemies with more than two arms or four limbs. Even their tails can be lethal weapons!"
The golem jumped back again to wait for Aimi. Aomi was worried for her friend but one look from Cavaron made her freeze on the spot. Aimi stood up once more, ignoring the pain on her body, "Never think that I am doing this because you are a girl! People who scream for equality but would never receive equal pain are idiots! Be thankful you have me as a mentor, I am very lenient to all newcomers. The others would probably kill you if you failed. Furthermore, out of all my juniors, none of them died! Sooner or later, the pain you will receive will be harsher than this time! So grit your teeth and push your body past its limits!" Cavaron shouted harsh but true words. One of his juniors, Folceras, was mentored by him.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Resolve appeared on Aimi's face. Ever since she was summoned, this will become her everyday life. Each and every waking moment, she will be subjected to unimaginable amounts of pain. Even after death, this cycle will continue until the gods of fate have died.
As she grit her teeth, the agility golem attacked once more. Anticipating its attacks, Aimi parried anything it delivered occasionally receiving hits from unexpected attacks such as kicks and headbutts. For fifty minutes she received and deflected punishment. When fifty minutes were up, Cavaron had her stop and take a break. Aimi happily accepted it as she tried to soothe her aching body. Aomi became free from Cavaron's gaze and ran up to Aimi's shoulders giving her a berry. It seemed to be Aomi's routine to feed Aimi a berry or two.
The third golem Aimi faced was a weapon using golem. It was equipped with a whip on one hand and an auto-loading bow gun on the other. Without warning, the golem shot Aimi with a bolt. Aimi, being familiar with the bow gun, already saw the attack and jumped to the side only to be nearly strangled by the whip when she regained her footing. This time, Aimi had to watch out for the bow gun and the whip.
"This golem was designed after some treasure hunters that used whips and guns. A familiar tactic for them is using the whip to bind the target and let their guns rain down ammunition." Cavaron explained the third golem. Indeed, the golem was either attacking with the whip and the bow gun or using the whip to latch around Aimi's limbs and barrage her with the bow gun.
The third golem put Aimi's agility to the test. Anticipating attacks from both the bow gun and the whip forced her to study its attacks and look for a pattern. Aimi gasped for air for each jump and turn, and finally found a pattern. With it in mind, evasion became a breeze and lifted some burdens off her back. The three golems she was put up against all had a pattern of attack. "Having an idea how one's opponent attacks can give one lesser burden and more freedom to formulate a counterattack." Cavaron explained as Aimi flew from one place to another avoiding the golem's attacks.
Eventually, fifty minutes passed once more and Aimi was allowed a ten minute respite. Almost three hours have passed, the effects of the dragon meat were still going strong, and Aimi still had enough energy to train.
The final golem she faced was entirely different. It can walk on four legs and it had a tail that looked like a ten-section staff. "This final golem is patterned from a monster with random attacks. It should give you greater difficulty than that of the third golem." As usual, Cavaron explained to Aimi the ability of the golem. This particular golem bears resemblance to a scorpion or a manticore when it is on all four legs, while standing on two legs makes it appear like a tailed humanoid or beastman. However, as though having some semblance of intelligence, the golem produced a wooden trident. This action made Aimi look at Avani in alarm.
Avani made an apologetic gesture as Aimi stared at her. This time she stared at Cavaron behind her who was grinning without a care in the world. "Strength, speed, and versatility. This golem has it all, so be careful!" Cavaron shouted, "If you pass this golem, you get a day off!"
Hearing the day off offer, Aimi steeled herself and faced the final golem. The golem immediately charged and twisted its body to deliver a tail whip. Aimi ducked down to dodge, and the golem spun full circle and swiped her with the trident. Adrenaline rushed into Aimi and she immediately executed a low back flip which warranted a whistle from Cavaron. The golem, having its attacks dodged successfully, initiated a flurry of kicks that Aimi parried as she ran to its side. The golem followed her and lashed its tail against her. Aimi jumped and dive rolled to the other side while the golem tried to stab her with the trident. Aimi grabbed the trident and disarmed the golem making the others cheer for her. Having lost its weapon, the golem threw its body at Aimi and tried to grapple her. She used the trident to slap the golem as she spun around to evade.
The golem got knocked away a bit but somersaulted midair and used the momentum as it landed to bounce back against Aimi. Aimi jumped to the side and ducked as its tail nearly grabbed her neck. When the golem missed, it bounced back again and aimed a kick at Aimi's face. Aimi used the trident to parry the kick and redirect the golem's trajectory somewhere else. Finally, to signal the end of the training, Aimi threw the trident with all her might at the golem.
Sadly, the golem evaded it and grabbed the trident with its tail, and used this chance to attack Aimi with reckless abandon. Aimi saw her attack fail and was about to evade by jumping to the side only to be distracted by a feint, got grabbed by her collar, and got slammed to the ground.
CRASH!
Cavaron looked at the sorry state Aimi was in as he approached, "Good job. Have a well earned break." and told her before leaving.
Aimi stared at the sky, 'But, I lost...' and thought in disbelief.
This time, Avani, Tirta, and Burkhard came forward. Tirta placed a Water of Recovery over Aimi, and Avani spoke to her, "You really impressed us. In such a short amount of time, you were able to move swiftly and expertly." Avani smiled at the girl lying on the ground.
"Indeed, Miss Aoyama." This time, Burkhard spoke up, "It is very rare for Master to be satisfied when training newcomers. I still remember each time I was tasked to guard a newcomer, especially when Sir Folceras was put under extreme punishment for failing against Avani's wood golem. If I remember correctly, Sir Folceras is a Pyromancer and should be able to beat her golems, but was defeated instead." Apparently, Burkhard had witnessed trials each junior faced under Cavaron's tutelage.