Boom!
Loud explosions can be heard.
A man was running away from the explosions.
Bombs did not cause the explosions, but by the splintering of a spear and explosion of magical energy.
Jaune, now, was being trained to 'increase his speed'.
The person training Jaune believed the fastest way to achieve the best result is through 'combat'.
Hence, she threw her spear at him.
To be fair, Jaune could have blocked and reflected her attack back at her with double the power, but that beats the purpose of the 'training'.
"Oh, shit!" shouted Jaune. The spear splinters was right beside him. He had to jump for cover. "That was close".
"Then you should have tried harder," said the woman. She looked at Jaune. "Now, let's try this again".
Jaune's eye twitched at her words.
How did Jaune get to this?
It was quite simple, really.
After Jaune's activity with Saphron and Terra, he was told by OTG that he would transport him to another world.
When he arrived, he saw nothing but a field of rock formation, sans for the castle silhouette in the distance.
Jaune had a feeling that he had seen the place before, but he couldn't remember.
With no other options but to go to the castle because of having no direction given to him, Jaune saw a woman standing by the ledge of a wall.
Jaune's eyes went wide as he realised where he was and who the woman in front of him was.
Truly I tell you, Jaune's heart skipped a beat.
It was Scáthach.
When Scáthach saw Jaune for the first time, it intrigued her. There was no one capable of entering the Land of Shadow in this day and age as it has drifted outside the world.
Jaune's presence was a surprise for her, but what intrigued her the most was that she was incapable of seeing his future.
Scáthach, the Queen of the Land of Shadow, could not foresee a person's death when she could perceive Cu Chulainn's death long before it happened.
However, even with all that, she ignored him and headed inside the castle.
So? How was Jaune able to get Scáthach to train him? Did he get her approval?
No… Jaune irritated her enough that he promised if she trained him, he would leave.
Now, Scáthach didn't know if Jaune could leave the Land of Shadow, but it was better than being annoyed daily for the past three weeks. So, she got her revenge on him.
As Scáthach trained Jaune, she would enact her petty revenge. She had no plans to kill Jaune, but she was going to troll him with every training session.
A woman of her stature became petty because of Jaune annoyed her to that point. She wasn't a woman that was easily annoyed. Surely, you can imagine just how irritating Jaune should have been to make her the way she is now.
Once again, a splinter of Scáthach's spear was about to land beside him. Jaune ducked out of the way and avoided it in time before it exploded.
"Ah! Oh, God!" said Jaune. He was getting exhausted. They have been at it for twelve hours. "I already said I was sorry for annoying you! Can we please start over?! I swear I am not normally that annoying. I didn't know what else to do to get your attention".
"I don't know what you are talking about," said Scáthach. She denied being annoyed. "Now, let's end this training session for today. We continue tomorrow at sundown".
"Sun down?" asked Jaune. He then looked around the place. There was no sun. "What sun?! This place is dark and never sunny".
"Exactly, that means the moment a new day starts, we train," said Scáthach. She smirked at Jaune. Petty as it might be, but she was enjoying his suffering. "If you wanted me to train you, there were many ways you could have done so".
"Yeah… right," said Jaune. He had no way to refute that. "To be fair, I didn't know what I could have done to get your acknowledgement, and you wouldn't tell me".
"So, you thought it would be a good idea to annoy the person you are asking to train you?" asked Scáthach. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't annoy the person who would train me as they can sabotage it".
"True, but I believed you aren't that type of person," said Jaune. He then thought a bit. "The again, I didn't take you for the petty kind. But I guess it is justified since I was really annoying that I annoyed myself".
Scáthach rolled her eyes at Jaune. She then left for her castle.
As for Jaune, he's not allowed in her castle, but that is fine.
One gift Jaune received on his birthday was a tent from OTG. It isn't a regular tent.
In Jaune's hand was a small tent, but when he threw it in to the ground, it grew.
This tent was amazing. It was heating, cooling, a kitchen and everything.
It was not a normal tent. It may have the shape of a tent, but in reality, it is an entire house.
…
The following morning? Afternoon? Night?
Jaune didn't know, since there were no indicators.
When Jaune came out of his tent, Scáthach was standing outside, waiting for him.
"Now that you are here, we are going to start your training," said Scáthach. She saw potential in Jaune when he was dodging her Gae Bolg. "Tell me, what type of weapon do you prefer to use?".
"To be honest, I have never used a weapon before," said Jaune. He had Greed, but he never used it. At least physically in the real world as he trained Tsubame Gaeshi in a special training world inside his mind. "I have Greed, but it can change to different forms".
"Show me," said Scáthach.
Jaune showed Scáthach the six forms of Greed. Sword, Bow, Scythe, Shield, Staff and Gauntlet.
"Do you mind if I see that weapon of yours?" asked Scáthach. It fascinated her. "I just want to see what it's made of".
Scáthach is a person who has made many weapons, mainly spears, and she has used many exotic materials, such as the branch of Tonelico and the skull of Curruid. But Greed fascinated her. She couldn't identify the materials.
As Jaune handed Greed to Scáthach, she couldn't lift it as it dropped to the ground.
This is a security feature of Greed. It isn't about being worthy to wield it, but that you have to be the Jaune Arc.
Well, it didn't matter to Scáthach if she could lift the weapon or not. What she wanted was to inspect it. Greed being on the ground didn't matter.
"This weapon is fascinating," said Scáthach. She has seen nothing like it. "Did you create this?"
"No, I have tried to recreate it, but I have failed each time," said Jaune. He sighed. He tried using the Arc of Embodiment to recreate the Greed OTG gave him, but the Arc of Embodiment fails every time. "A powerful entity gave this to me".
"If that's the case, then why not ask it to train you?" asked Scáthach.
"I actually don't know," said Jaune. OTG had a gift for him that could teach him Tsubame Gaeshi. Surely, he can help Jaune train. "I might ask him later after this is all done".
This time, the training that Jaune went through was nothing like the other day. It was proper training.
Scáthach would show Jaune a stance and make him imitate it. She would then correct it if he got something wrong.
…
Three months of training with Scáthach and Jaune didn't even feel it was that long.
The only reason he is even aware of the time is because he missed his family. He has never been away from them for this long.
Jaune wandered what Saphron and Terra told their parents when they found out he was gone.
However, Jaune didn't have time to think about such a thing at the moment as a spear was about to turn him into a pincushion.
Jaune was sparring with Scáthach.
Unlike the beginning, Jaune could now stand his ground, but because of Scáthach's extensive experience, it was difficult for him to beat Scáthach.
In three months, Jaune hasn't won a single victory against Scáthach. This made Jaune sigh.
If there were any people that have trained their whole lives nearby and saw Jaune sigh because of his incapability of defeating Scáthach within three months of training. They would have killed him, for their entire life's dedication to training was not enough to stand their ground against Scáthach.
Three months and he could already stand his ground. There was nothing to be dissatisfied with.
…
Remnant.
Saphron and Terra were bored. Right about now, they would laugh, play or make-out with Jaune, but he was not here at the moment.
"You know, I didn't know how much Jaune makes us happy," said Saphron. She sighed. "When he is around, him just being there and being himself was enough to lighten up our day".
"I know what you mean," said Terra. There are things they can do together, but it wasn't the same without Jaune. "By the way, what did you tell your parents about Jaune leaving?".
"I didn't," said Saphron. "I told them that Jaune was stuck in his room trying to finish his book".
"Huh? How did that work?" asked Terra. She was utterly confused. Wouldn't Amarilla and Giallo go to his room and check up on him? "How did that work?".
"Well, I told my parents that I'll be taking care of Jaune since I am not only his sister but also his girlfriend," said Saphron. "That was enough for them. Plus, Jaune did this before. He stayed in his room for months when inspiration hit him. I just capitalised on history to achieve our current state".
"So, that was enough for the other girls as well?" asked Terra. She knew that Ivory, Viridian, the triplets, they were always with Jaune.
"Yup. Viridian knows what it means to gain an inspiration and any distraction could make you lose it," said Saphron. "For Ivory, she is currently busy with work. And the triplets don't have time to do their usual activities since there is an exam in the next coming months. Jaune gave them an ultimatum. If they failed their exams, they don't get to ask him for help with their craft".
"Ohhhhh! That's brutal," said Terra. She knew how the triplets love getting Jaune's input on their interests. "But you know, the triplets would probably seek for him when the exams are over".
"True, but that's a problem for the future," said Saphron. She hoped Jaune would be back before the exams of the triplets were over. "I hope he comes back before then".
While three months have gone by for Jaune, it has only been a few days for Saphron and Terra. Yet, the two girls miss him so much.