Vincent felt mind blown by the sheer amount of knowledge hammered in his brain. Ester seemed a bit confused, Lupa donned a deep puzzled frown while thinking if she was living in the same world, and Tula just smiled as if she didn't care what her father was trying to teach.

Koss then ended the long brain wracking explanation by saying how CQC incorporates Energy Flow to create fighting techniques and builds a strong foundation for the tempered body. A special kind of CQC unique to this world.

Koss wanted to explain later when Vincent comprehends the mana in the air touching his skin. He knew people would find it hard to understand without practicing.

The army teaches CQC while ensuring the people receiving the training suffer under one of the two emotional influences to build awareness and resistance to harmful intent. Similar to what Vincent had to go through in their spar.

[Pheww... now that's brain-racking, am I right?]

[Let me summarise it for you to find it easy to remember.]

[There are two emotional influences called Murderous intent and Intimidation intent. Both can be an aura and a gaze.]

[Every living being can use Murderous intent because of their bloodlust, but Intimidation intent is only for intelligent beings.]

[Traits are both genetic and acquired after meeting certain requirements. Traits can influence classes, similar to the bloodline classes. However, your Inspection is too low to pick this stat.]

[Finaly is the body type. Some people use the mana surrounding them for regen. Then there are manaless people like you who have to learn Energy Flow from the Trait and control mana surrounding you that keep in mind isn't inside your body to use CQC moves for the offense.]

[It also seems mana enters the body, but it's so faint it's unnoticeable, similar to the thinking that the body breaths mana.]

[I guess you can have it both Traits, but they would conflict, so no one probably practices both body tempering methods since they are the polar opposite.]

[You can't reject and absorb mana at the same time. A person who can do that might be a monster of a person.]

-Thanks for the summary. My brain needed to digest this information overload. But it's still a bit hard to understand something I can't fully comprehend.-

[Don't worry. I will help when you need to.]

"Now. Let's start training, my boy." Koss stood up with a grin plastered on his face. He turned his gaze at Vincent and started using his Intimidation gaze.

"Now? Gah..." Vincent fell on his knees as his body suddenly became very heavy.

"Ye now. Come on! Give me twenty!" Koss ordered while pointing on the ground.

Lupa looked at Koss with interest and asked, "Can I train too? Please?"

"Sorry, I can only use Intimidation gaze on only one person at a time. It takes quite a toll on my body and makes me get tired faster. Using the gaze intent consumes energy, and the stronger the opponent used against, the more strain it causes." Koss stated the weakness of such an overpowered looking ability. It's probably why Koss didn't attack, showing it isn't suitable for combat.

Vincent lay on the ground and tried to pull himself up. He thought, 'It's just push ups, right? How hard can it be if I can do more than a hundred before taking a break.'

However, Vincent was gravely mistaken. His arms shook from reaching their limit after only one push up. Veins started to appear on his arms and forehead by the quantity of strength he placed on the second push up.

*Thud

Vincent slammed on the ground halfway on to the second push up. He failed to lift himself up.

"Don't worry. It's until your blood starts adapting, and your body awakens Blood Tempered Body stage zero." Koss then greatly reduced the intensity to that of a ten-kilo sack attached to his body.

"Get used to this low level of intimidation intent. I can keep it for a few hours, so you need to give me a ride on the cart. This old body isn't young anymore." Koss said.

Lupa gulped while watching Ester helping Vincent stand. She felt lucky not to train using this method and planned to find her own way to become stronger. Namely, try mastering the focus and reaction boost ability that activates on its own, the predator's instinct that helped her many times.

The group left a bit later. Koss sat on the taxi cart the whole time, looking at Vincent to keep the Intimidation gaze active. The new recruits walked in front, and Tulip walked near Tula.

Ester and Lupa walked beside Vincent while encouraging and wiping his forehead from the difficult cart pulling training. Koss smiled from time to time at their bond while inviting his daughter to sit beside him from time to time. Vincent would lightly grunt every time.

Night arrived, and the group of eight people, cart taxi driver, and a hidden wisp stopped to rest. Vincent fell on the grass as his legs couldn't keep him standing anymore. He reached his limit and couldn't move another millimeter. The pair of wobbling noodle-like legs soon gave up, and the mighty Vincent fell face first.

Koss stayed with his daughter and Tulip while the new recruits glared at Vincent fill with jealousy. Ester and Lupa massaged his cramped legs to recuperate quicker and be able to walk tomorrow.

Tula became interested and tried repeating the same thing on her father. Koss had to avert his gaze as a tear nearly trickled. He almost forgot his daughter was this cute when she was small.

*Day 31

*Day 32

*Day 33

Two days of intense training against the Intimidation gaze passed. This is the fourth morning since he started the intense training to temper his body on day thirty.

Vincent could now perform ten push-ups under the heavy pressure straining this body. He reached half of the requirement Koss ordered and felt proud to reach this far. Not only that, but Vincent can now walk with triple the amount of intensity he started three days ago.

Tula was happy to see her father smile, and Vincent not in pain anymore. She didn't like it when her father started training Vincent as she told him a couple of times, "Daddy, stop being a meanie and bully big brother."

Half a day later, a wide river path welcomed their sight. It appeared at the best time possible since their water supply only had enough water for another day at most.

Upon approaching the river with a smile as if it was their final destination, Vincent, Ester, Lupa, and Kazumi gazed at the river path's size. It was unlike the shallow ones they previously visited.

Lupa was the first one to rush to the shore and shout with a grin, "Let's catch fish!"

Tula shortly joined. She gazed at the river with interest and said with an excited giggle, "I want to see a fishie."

"Hmm... that took longer than expected. But we can cross to the other side and continue on shortcut number two." Koss said while rubbing his chin with a slightly puzzled frown.

Koss crossed through this boundless river path in a different area only once in his life, and it was over twenty years ago in his lively young body. However, he didn't want to add this detail.

[Hmm... something feels fishy. I wonder I we happened to stumble across the river and not, "I knew it was here all along, HAHA." Koss would surely say something along those lines.]

"Are you sure you remember the way correctly?" Vincent asked with a worried frown. Kazumi's words made him doubt Koss two weeks of traveling to Lusterfall City.

"Ahem... if my memories serve me correctly, yes." Koss cleared his throat and confirmed they were at least on the right track. Or as his words said while his averted gaze showed otherwise.

Shortly everyone arrived at the shore of the river path. It seemed about twenty meters wide and looked quite deep. Fortunately, the current wasn't strong. The risk to cross to the other side safely seemed non-existant.

Koss removed his armor and weapons, then placed them inside the large bag. He stretched his arms and shouted an order, "New recruits! Gather up! One minute of warm-up and follow me to cross the river. That's an order!"

Soon, like a mother duck and its ducklings, Koss and the new recruits swam to the other side. They didn't have a problem with the current while swimming proving it was possible to carry someone while swimming.

"It's about three meters deep, so you need to swim. Tula, do you want your daddy to pick you up?" Koss shouted, waving his hand.

[Why did he decide to swim to the other side if he planned to help his daughter cross? Did he want to swim? or maybe spend some alone time with his daughter without worrying about those three basterds?]

Vincent looked behind at the cart and telepathically replied.

-I don't mind but, how about using the cart as a boat? All the ropes we have combined should reach the other side.-

[Are you looking into my mind? I was thinking about that right now... just to let you know, that all.]

-No need to lie. I'm very resourceful, hehe.-

[Sorry to burst your bubble but, heh... Lupa is about to undress to swim.]

Vincent swiftly turned his gaze on the troublesome wolf girl. He rushed to stop Lupa while Ester rushed to pull her ear as for discipline.

"Ouch... ok, okay, fine. I will try to swim with this human skirt dress thing." Lupa let a long sigh as she liked to swim in her younger days in the nearby rivers. She didn't want to swim with clothing constraints.

"You don't need to swim. Let me explain." Vincent then explained his intention and combined all the ropes with help from the four girls.

Koss became a bit puzzled when he noticed the rope combining activity on the other side. He waited impatiently, pacing from left to right as minutes passed, but remained there without showing the intention to cross anytime soon.

Koss saw Vincent approaching the shore a while later. A few seconds before, he was about to swim to the other side for taking too long.

Vincent pulled the cart up to the shore's edge. He clenched rope while mustering his strength and shouted to Koss, "Grab this rope and pull us to your side! "

Vincent threw the rope with all he had, but it wasn't enough to reach the other side. Koss noticed this and jumped to catch the rope. He grabbed the end of the rope and swam back to shore for the second time.