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CHAPTER 37
GAJEEL'S TRAINING

Whereas I'd noticed my growth rates, in the sense of gaining raw power, had beginning to slow down compared to when I first started out with my magic training, I could sense myself growing more in other aspects, such as control over the flow of magic inside my body. Moving around magic began to feel like a second nature, something I could do without the need of thinking or planning ahead like I needed to before, at least when it came to the more basic techniques I had learned to use. This also allowed me to more easily manipulate these techniques into different variations. I hadn't used Focused Strike ever before yesterday's fight, nor had I ever trained myself in using it. I had merely used my knowledge of casting Lightning Strike and altered the way I'd normally cast it.

I felt proud of how far I'd been able to come already. No longer did I feel small or inferior to Gajeel in combat situations. Even though I realised he was still more powerful than me when it came to dishing out damage and had more endurance to take heavy blows, I had been developing my own way of fighting. Gajeel sure was strong, but he was also more limited in the kind of abilities he could use. My aim was to learn to use all sorts of different techniques to make sure I could always find some way to fight back, which exactly tied in with what I'd planned on doing for today.

"So, what's that big plan you had for us?" Gajeel inquired. I had gathered the three of us at our table in the guild hall this morning. Wendy and Carla had both fully recovered from their illness again.

"For today, I was thinking for you, Gajeel, to show us your methods of training." I answered plainly. "Tomorrow it'll be my turn to teach you my ways of training, and the day after that we'll follow Wendy." I continued to explain. "I'm sure we all have different ways of becoming stronger. Teaching each other could benefit in helping us working on our individual weaknesses."

"That sounds like a solid idea." Lily said and nodded, approving of my idea.

"Can't say I disagree with that." Gajeel admitted after thinking about it for a moment.

"You're up for it, too, Wendy?" I asked her since she had been quiet all this time, which was a little unusual for her.

"I… I think so." She said, a little uncertain.

"Let's get going then!" I said enthusiastically. "You take the lead, Gajeel, and teach us your ways!"

Wendy and I followed him outside, where we then headed to the central town plaza.

"We run! Ten laps around the market place!" He ordered. "When you're done, meet up at the South Gate Park!" With those words, he ran off to start his training.

Ten laps! Around the town's market area! That would take at least two hours, even when going at reasonable pace if my calculations were correct. Well, it had been my idea to go with the others' training; I'd better get started.

Luckily, I was no stranger to running long distances, so I was able to keep up quite well but after my sixth lap, I began to feel my legs. I had to keep going. If I ever wanted to get on Gajeel's level I couldn't allow him to outdo me. With those thoughts in my head, I forced myself to finish the remaining four laps without falling behind too much. I still finished some time after him, but at least I'd made it. Wendy was taking a lot longer to finish her ten laps, I took that opportunity to rest my tired legs and get my breathing back to normal again. I honestly felt a bit sorry her, she looked like she was having a hard time with this. Gajeel and I had both passed her at least twice; it would probably take a while for her to finish her ten laps.

After an hour or something, Wendy finally showed up at the park, looking like she'd gone through hell. Her legs were shaking and she was completely out of breath, gasping wildly for air. She slowly made her way to us, but stumbled over something and fell face down in the grass. Gajeel and I ran up to her to see if she was okay.

"I… I made it…" She said weakly, and showed us a faint smile. "…Just need… some rest…" With that, she closed her eyes.

"I'll be taking a nap, then." Gajeel said, returning to the bench he'd been sitting on earlier.

"Wait." I halted him. "Show me the rest of your training." There was no point in waiting for Wendy to wake up. She was absolutely done for today.

"Very well." Gajeel said after a moment of silence. "Punch that tree with your bare knuckles until I tell you to stop." He ordered me and pointed at the big tree in the centre of the park.

I positioned myself in front of the tree and began to hit it with my fists. I realised how weak my hands were when I felt the pain going through them as I struck the tree. All this time I'd been focusing on improving either my magical abilities or my swordplay; I wasn't used to using my fists to hit things with.

"Use more power!" Gajeel barked. He'd probably noticed my weakened hits.

I tried to, but the pain made it difficult. With every hit, I felt the skin on my knuckles tearing. I hadn't time to look, but it was probably bleeding. There had to be another way if I wanted to keep going like this. Was there maybe a way I could use magic to make things easier for me? I channelled magic to both my fists while thinking of a way I could put it to use. With my next punch I formed a small magic circle between my fist and the tree I was about to strike. A thin cushion layer of electric particles formed around it.

As my fist made contact with the tree's bark, there was a blast of tiny sparks. It didn't hurt nearly as much this time around, and I still landed a good hit on my target. Now I just had to fine-tune the amount of magic needed to make this work effectively. As I slowly perfected my technique to protect my knuckles from hurting on impact, I began to speed up my punching.

After some time, Gajeel finally thought I'd done enough and told me to stop. My arms felt tired after all that. I wondered what he'd have next for me.

"I'm surprised you actually made it through that." Gajeel said, seemingly mildly impressed with my performance so far.

"So, what's next?" I asked, even though I didn't feel like I'd be ready for more already.

"We nap."

"What!? That's part of your training?" I shrieked in disbelieve. "Besides, why didn't you punch the tree with me earlier? You're going easy on yourself?"

"I already finished by the time you got here." Gajeel dryly answered as he sat down under the tree. "One more thing: training my punches is something I only do on Tuesdays. I have different exercises for the other days of the week." With that, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Napping was actually part of his training. So, that's why I often found him sleeping in the guild hall in the mornings. Going by how exhausting his training exercises were it didn't really surprise me. In fact, I felt so tired after all this, I was tempted to take a nap myself.

I spent the rest of the morning asleep under the tree in South Gate Park. Once I finally woke up, I felt completely refreshed; I didn't think it'd feel this great to rest for a while after doing training. I'd certainly have to try adding that to my own routine.