The Foolish Grappler Chapter 13

A.N: Ah finally got the unlucky chapter out before the end of the month. I am beginning to see why so many authors don't like putting a game system in their story's it just makes it just that much harder. Anyway, I have cross posted this on Ao3 with some real minor changers. Besides that, there isn't much to say here. I am hoping to have another chapter out by the end of next month but who knows. I plan to at least get to chapter 20 by the end of the year.

Thank you for continuing to read this I really hope this can help make your day a better one.

LAST EDITED 11/03/23 CHANGES:

Sorry for any confusion due to the arrow symbol that I used not being carried over to fanfic so I have replaced it with -TO- sorry again.

(dates will be DD/MM/YY)

******* One Week Later *********

"Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud" The silence of the wilderness was disturbed by rhythmic sounds which got progressively louder. Until it was joined by a continuous sound of something sliding across the ground, displacing dirt as it moved. Bumping when it encountered something it couldn't easily push aside. This was the first warning for the wildness that a disturbance was coming causing the most perceptive small animals to look up alert in case of a predator on the prowl. This would be odd given that it was early in the morning, a while after most night predators would give up and sleep, yet before the predators of the day woke up to hunt.

"Huff …. Huff …. Huff" The sound of air rushing to fill empty lungs that desperately needed air. This was the second warning that the wilderness gained that even the most unaware animals picked up on and looked in the direction it was coming from to see if they should run. While the earlier animals had already run by this time. None of the animals knew what this sound was from as it sounded so laboured and intense that whatever was making the sounds sounded like it was on its last legs. The reason for the laboured breathing was to fuel the aching muscles of a young man pushing himself in this early morning run. Trying to make himself go faster than he did yesterday, to go further than he did yesterday and finally, just to be better than yesterday.

'Thump…. Thump…..Thump' Was the only sound in the young man's ears, as if it was travelling through his whole body. It echoed in his head, drowning all sounds from the outside world so that the only sound that remained was the heavy thumping of a heart. A heart that was being pushed more than it ever was in the past, a heart that, while close to its limit, wasn't at all close to failing as it was a heart that was asking for more to be better.

With every beat, it grew tougher; with every beat, it beat faster with greater ease, and the muscles around the heart gained greater endurance with every beat. It is one of the foundations of the body on which the rest of the body relies to continue. With a weak heart, you can't push your limits to become strong; you will likely remain weak and feeble. Hence a strong heart is one of the first targets that should be sought after on the road to strength.

Yet all of this had no place in the young man's mind right now as right now he was too focused on keeping his eyes forward and not tripping over another tree root. He didn't want to do another punishment set for the fourth time this week. He's never been more afraid of tree roots in his life, yet he pushed on.

His body was aching from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. There wasn't a part of his body that wasn't at least a bit sore. That's what happens when you train your body to your limits day after day with no breaks, yet he wasn't about to quit. He could still move, so he would continue to run, and if he couldn't run, he would walk. Then if he still couldn't walk, he would crawl. This was the mantra that he played in his mind to ward off the intrusive thoughts that maybe it would be easy to give up. That he deserved a rest after all he had done; couldn't he just lay down and have a nap. But he wouldn't; no matter how much he wanted to or how easy it would be, he won't give up.

Remember, Adorno eyes forward; keep watch for anything that could snag the dingy. I don't want my ass to get beat by Sensei again. The first four times were enough. Because every time I mess up and crash, I will have to spend another minute sparring with Sensei, which means getting beat up for another minute. Hence I keep an eye out for anything that could fuck my day over. Luckily this route today has been quite clear. It's the first time I've been on this trail sensei wants me to expand what I do each day so that I don't get complacent. Something about if every day is as hard as the first day that I will improve as much as I did the first day or something, the right words aren't really coming to me right now.

Weirdly, Sensei has been quiet lately, not asking me a question or lecturing me, which is a bit odd. I don't know whether to be thankful for it or be worried. Sadly I can't look back, or else I, at best, trip over for not seeing where I am running to the worst being Sensei seeing me and then laying another punishment on me. So I just keep my eyes forward ready to keep going, when I suddenly hear from behind me.

"Adorno stop", Sensei orders behind me. Even with his softer voice, I can hear it crystal clear, so I do as he says and start slowing down to stop. As I am dragging the dinghy, I can't just stop immediately. Otherwise, the dinghy will ram into the back of my legs, so I have to gradually slow down and stop.

"Sensei (Huff) why (Huff) did you (Huff) want me (Huff) to (Huff) stop?" I questioned Sensei as I finally didn't feel the weight of the dinghy on my back. I put my hands on my knees to give my back a rest as I continue to get my breathing back on track, as I still have trouble keeping the right pace when I am close to being out of breath. It's much easier when all you're doing is squatting, but when you start pushing yourself, it gets much harder. Anyway, when I was about to turn my head to look at Sensei to see why he wanted to stop, I heard from the right a voice I hadn't heard in a week.

"OLD RAISIN, ADORNO" When I did look right, I saw Marie rushing towards us with Aedlind far behind walking behind her. I was quite confused as to why they were her. We were in the middle of a forest. Did they come to see Sensei?

When I finally turned to look at Sensei, he must have just gotten out of the dinghy with his arms raised before the missile, otherwise known as Marie, slammed into him, wrapping him up in a massive hug. The funny thing was she wasn't that much shorter than sensei despite her being very much his junior by nearly ninety years.

I guess they are closer than I thought they were, which by itself isn't anything weird, seeing as when she talked about him, it was quite fondly. Still, I didn't expect them to treat him like a long-lost family member.

"Ah if it isn't my sweet herb and pleasant pheasant how have you two been, sadly I haven't had enough time to visit the village and see you since the attack. Are both of you well?" He greeted the two girls.

"I thought I told you a hundred times to drop that nickname. I am not five any more."

"Ha ha, What can I say? It seemed only yesterday you were up to my knee. Now you're taller then I am, and you're still growing. It seems you may just be able to become as good of a huntress as you used to brag about being," his reply caused Adelind to blush as she glowed. He seemed to have hit a sore spot based on her trying to look like what he said didn't affect her by crossing her arms and turning her face away when it clearly did.

"HAHA big sis is embarrassed hahaha" Marie started laughing at her sister's reaction.

"Shut up, you focus on the dumbest things", Adelind tried to chastise her sister. Yet, clearly, by her continued laughing, she didn't really stop.

"Speaking of foucing, Marie, how have you been with your studies? I heard you have done a large amount of work to help many people in need," inquired Sensei.

"Yep, I worked a lot in helping the teacher with the extra injured people, plus even better the mixture that I told you about, yeah, so I finally tested it on the people hurt, and it works great. Adorno, here was the first test... I mean, patent to get it. It worked great on him."

"Ah, speaking of him, Adorno, your rest is over now. Hold horse stance until we leave; this is to keep your legs warmed up, so you don't suffer a cramp."

"What, oh come on", I replied tiredly as I still hadn't regained my breath.

"Also, focus on the breathing method. You were losing track of it before we stopped."

"Yes Sensei"

"I didn't expect you to take him in as your student. He doesn't seem that impressive on the outside, '' stated Adelind.

"Hey!" That was just mean…. True, but rude nonetheless.

"Oh well I think he is quite impressive so far his adoption into my training, he has meet my standards where most would think he couldn't he indeed has"

"Well if your sure then I guess I will just have to wait to see it then right" finished Adelind

"Oh, don't worry, maybe soon I will arrange some friendly spars between you two", stated Sensei

"HEY don't forget about me, the whole reason we bothered to come out to these far herb sites was because it was on the way to your cabin so we could ask if you were in need of any herbs or medications." Marie interrupted with a cute pout.

"Ummm, not for me, no, but I do think I could use some more herbs to help Adorno heal his slight injuries after each training session", Probed Sensei.

"OH I have an idea, I just haven't tested it yet, why don't you add my herb mixture into the water as you wash yourself it should provide a soothing to your sore muscles plus if I am right you should be able to just increase the amount you put in to help it work better."

"Sounds like a worthwhile effort do you have any on you now then"

"Uh Sadly I don't. I wasn't really looking for those herbs this morning but on the way back home I can pick some so you can pick them up, Is that acceptable?" Asked Marie.

"Hmmm, Yes, after lunch, I will send Adorno to pick it up and give him a slight rest for today ", said Sensei; while behind him, you could see me fist pumping at getting a whole new break, regardless of if it drew another punishment which thankfully it didn't. It, however, did draw the scoff of adelind, who happened to be looking my way at the time.

"Great, we'll better start heading back to collect those herbs if we want to be in time for Adorno, (hugs sensei) Bye-bye Old Raisin and bye adorno…. I really need to think of a nickname for you; anyway, bye," She finished as she walked back the way she came. Periodically she would look back and wave.

"Bye" Her sister was quick to join her with a quiet bye and followed her sister without much fanfare.

" I didn't know you were so close to them, sensei. They spoke fondly of you, but they acted like you were their grandpa?" I questioned, as I was suspicious of what kind of reason would explain such a close familiarity.

"Ah, well, I have known them since they were born. I got along with their parents when I arrived on this island. They helped me buy this land, and Hagan even helped build this cabin. So when there were times that they couldn't be in the village, they would have me babysit the girls. It was convenient that I was able to provide security for the village in his absence, so overall, it was a beneficial friendship. Also, since I have no kids of my own, it was a nice experience to help raise three lovely girls. Oh, now I am just remembering a great deal about the past. We best get back on track with your training." He spoke with a satisfied smile that seemed to come from his soul, and it seemed that he really saw them as family.

"Yes sir, right away" I finally get to move out of this horse stance that I was holding. Even Though it's just like a squat, it really taxes the muscles in my legs, trying to hold still my whole body weight. After a few shakes to limber up, I put back on the rope harness connected to the dinghy and checked if Sensei was in yet. When I looked back, he was already in his spot reading; he looked a bit happier than before. Anyway, with that checked, I started back down the new trail hoping to make up for the lost time.

********** Several Hours later ************

I was currently walking to the 'sparing clearing', which was something Sensei showed me a few days into training. As the name implies, it was mostly just a circular clearing that was pretty flat with short grass with minimal wildness. Before I saw him, I thought now was a good time to check on my stats.

Name: Adorno Landor

Occupation: Disciple

Bloodline: (Hanma)

Level: 7

XP: 3664/4096

Unspent points: 0

Hp: 100/190-TO-225/225

Brawn: 14-TO-21

Vitality: 22-TO-29

Dexterity: 13-TO-20

Intelligence: 15-TO-16

Wisdom: 11-TO-12

Charm: 3-TO-6

As you can see, I have successfully upped my stats though I have encountered some roadblocks. The first is that I am apparently limited in how many daily quests I can accept each month. Apparently, the limit is five a month; I have no idea why it's set that low, but after I did five, which included four of the daily physical quests, including the first one I did. Then one of the daily mental quests as Sensei really wanted me to finish the books, so I did.

The rest of my gains come from this week of training which is both great and concerning. It's good, obviously, as I am getting stronger. Still, it concerns me as this is the time I should make the most significant gains, and all I got was three of each of the physical stats, which doesn't bode well. What about next week? Will I get only two? The week after that one then, I will need two weeks to get even one.

Putting aside that existential crisis, I have noticed the difference already in both what I can do and how I look. One would only have to look at my gut to see a difference though I don't know which to thank for my training or stat increases? Besides the looks, I feel lighter than ever before. It feels like I'm floating when I jump. When I jog, it feels like I am walking, and when I run, it feels like a heavy jog. Finally, I didn't know how much I could lift before, but I am sure I could at least double it now. While all this sounds great, I think this is more due to my pathetic physique before then.

Another gain that I made was hitting the second Milestone for both Brawn and Dexterity, along with something unexpected.

Brawn 14-TO-21

The user has hit the second Milestone (at 20) in Brawn grants the skill, Iron Cords.

Skill: Iron Cords

Effect: Substantially decreases the risk of injuring your muscles during use.

This brawn milestone was surprising as I didn't give a skill the first time I hit a milestone with vitality. Yet I won't complain when it's something outstanding while it's not the clearest how much it affects, having any lower risk of injury should be good right?

Dexterity 13-TO-20

The user has hit the second Milestone (at 20) in Dexterity grants the skill Quick Twitch.

Skill: Quick Twitch

Effect: an increase in the reaction speed of muscles by 0.1% per level (currently 0.7% increase)

Then right after the Brawn, I got a skill with Dexterity which gave me an even bigger shock due to how powerful of a skill it was. Getting faster reactions increases by level is incredible. While it's not much now, once I get to level a hundred and more, that's a substantial ten per cent increase.

With that done, I continued to the sparring clearing, where right in the centre of the clearing, Sensei was holding the horse stance perfectly still, eyes closed; it seemed he was in the zone.

The zone, which is what I call it as calling it "Heavenly Mind", was just not my style. How I understand it, as it was explained to me by Sensei, is that the zone is a state of mind. It's when you remove every unnecessary thought from your mind allowing you to achieve a state of hyper-focusing while at the same time hyper-spatial awareness, which generally, I would think, counteract each other. However, entering the zone allows your mind to do both while making it easier for you to make the quickest decisions and strategy while in the middle of a life-or-death fight.

As is pretty obvious, this is a beneficial skill to acquire for things such as fighting, being able to ideally remain calm and being able to focus and not be caught unaware. It could easily save one's life countless times, especially if they're fighting multiple people. I suppose it clearly has other uses. If Sensei is using it when he is by himself, do I interrupt him or wait until he is finished. Just when I realised that I probably should just walk into the clearing and stop overthinking, it was when Sensei spoke out to me.

"Ah Adorno glad you didn't keep this old man waiting too long" He startled me, but I quickly regained my composure and walked to meet him in the centre of the clearing.

"Sorry, Sensei, I am not used to cleaning up dirty dishes. I guess don't worry, sir, I now have the hang of it" Sadly, I was being truthful; granted, in this case, I was limited to a pot of water and not pressurised water which helps a lot.

"No worries, Adorno, you have allowed me more time to think about what I will be focusing on today in today's spar, and that is how do you react in a fight. While this isn't the first spar we have had, the others were just to show the bare basics; now, I would like to see how you would use them against an opponent of your level." Sensei stated, which surprised me most that I would be facing someone on my level?

"Um sensei What do you mean by an opponent of your level is someone going to join us today?" I questioned.

"I should have been clearer; my apologies; I will be fighting you while holding back such that I will move and hit with about the same force you do." OH, that didn't sound too hard. I feel like there's a catch to this that I am not seeing.

"That, uh, Sounds great, Sensei. I hope I don't disappoint you sir", I state as I bow as he showed on the second day.

"I know you won't; you will be the winner should you get me onto the ground. Now for real spars, it's customary that you shake hands with your opponent before you have the spar" Sensei mentioned something he hadn't said before after stating how I could win, which confused me. Still, given that the past 'spars' were more him showing me the basic movements, I guess this is the first real one.

"Oh, right" So I went for the handshake and immediately regretted it because as we were about to shake, his hand grabbed onto my pointer finger. He then pulled and bent it, causing a flashing pain that shocked me, so I froze due to the unexpected nature of his attack. Not even a second later, he shifted his grip on my finger, which allowed him to fold my arm into an arm lock, clearly trying to stop me from being able to fight back at all. I couldn't allow that.

Realising that the spar clearly started and the handshake was just a poly which, I quickly fell for it. I realised that I had to do something before he made me submit. He was holding the lock on my right arm so he was close to my side, meaning I couldn't really kick him as he was too close to me. Plus, I would more likely give him an easy opening for him to use to knock me down.

I wasn't even going to attempt a headbutt, mainly due to not knowing how to do one properly, so I was more liable to injure myself then him. So the only option I had was a punch, so I followed the punching method he taught me. I quickly solidified my footing like he taught me, saying that every punch was like a tree with a strong foundation. Without it would likely fall. When that was done, I pushed off with my foot transporting the force through my body which got magnified as it passed each segment which helped and provided its own power.

I was using something that Sensei taught me on the third day, which is the kinetic chain which is something I heard about but never really knew. In basic terms, the kinetic chain refers to how force is transferred through parts of the body to produce movement. Because the power of a punch in normal conditions doesn't solely come from the arm, it starts at the foot, which interacts with the ground allowing you to push against the ground. The knee straightens to the hip, which turns with the trunk of the body, which twists the shoulders. Which finally accelerates the arm, which then extends the fist into the object you are punching. This is how a straight punch works, which can be different to other types of punches, but the overall idea stands that for the most effective punch, you must engage the whole body, and this is what I did.

My fist, which was cocked at my hips, flew across my body, powered by the links down the chain right into the face of Sensei. There was a loud impact sound across the clearing. This was likely the most powerful punch I ever threw in my life. However, despite my fist in his face, Sensei was still standing there, having not moved?

-15 HP

He then smirked and swiped with his left foot against the back of my right, which removed it from the ground, which was terrible given that I was putting most of my weight on that leg. As I began to fall, I quickly brought back my right foot, which I used to twist my body, hoping to throw Sensei over me to get out of this damn arm lock.

I couldn't see his reaction because my head was turned as I tried to twist him over; however, I knew it worked when I felt the weight on my arm let go. Looking to see where I threw him weirdly, I couldn't see him, which confused me.

-20 HP

However, the matter of his whereabouts was cleared up as a kick impacted my gut on my left side, which, seeing as I had turned to face the ground, was facing where my right did a movement ago. Despite being in pain, I rolled away from where the kick came from and then got to my knees, looking the way I came.

There he was, standing where he stood had not moved other than his leg, which just then lowered back to the ground after kicking me. I don't know how he didn't get thrown, but I should at least be happy about getting out of the arm lock. I quickly got to my feet and adopted one of the essential guards Sensei taught with my right foot back and facing my right and my left forward, pointing forward. Both arms extended with my left further ahead due to my body being turned. While my arms were up, I tried to keep them relaxed, so I could punch quickly.

Sensei's only reaction to this was to bring his hand up to stroke his chin in thought. He then began to circle around to my left, which forced me to keep shifting using my right foot, so he was always in front of me. He then walked closer to me nonchalantly as if we weren't sparing clearly. This was a trick to get me to do something stupid, so I waited and waited until he got close enough for me to attack. Once he passed the invisible line, I sprang into action, pushing off with my right sliding me left forward while cocking my right fist back while my chest back, going for a straight right punch to his face again. While it didn't work the first time, if I focused on his head, maybe I could get him to be less effective.

Sadly Sensei, with all the effort it takes to swat at a fly, parries my punch leading me to become unbalanced and without any guard to protect myself. He then quickly threw a gut punch which nearly made me throw up. He followed that up by grabbing my face while I tried to resist, but as I wanted to get him off of me, he moved his right leg next to my extended vulnerable left leg, which he then hooked with his leg causing me to fall which was accelerated by his hand on my face forcing me down faster leading to a loud smack as my back hits the ground.

My first thought after hitting the ground was that I couldn't breathe like my chest was stuck the way it was, and it refused to draw air into my lungs. The pain in my gut and back was only background noise to the pressing issue of my lack of breathing. When I was on the verge of full-blown panic, the hand on my face shifted and then quickly clapped over my mouth, which for some reason felt like my lungs going from a deflated balloon to being near bursting. However, it was precisely what I needed as it got me to start breathing, which allowed me to start calming down. But before I could genuinely get my full breath back, the hand on my face lifted, showing Sensei getting up from the squat he was doing.

"Boy get up you aren't finished or is this all that you can do when facing a real challenge" Sensei spoke in a flat tone showing no outward emotion, so I couldn't really understand if he was being sarcastic, but regardless this wasn't all that I could do.

"NO SENSEI" I shout with all my chest as I try to quickly roll away from him to my feet, which somewhat works; it wasn't elegant, but it worked, and that's what matters.

This isn't going to be accessible by any metric, as I clearly can't go head to head with him because even if he is holding back his strength and speed. He still has ages of experience and technique on me, so I have to try to surprise him and think not just outside the box but the box that the box is in….. That was a stupid analogy. I should just focus on this. I guess I have a dumb plan; well, let's see how it works.

"ARRHH" I shout to give myself courage as I charge Sensei to engage him. When I get within range of him, I throw a barrage of jabs at his face, which he either blocks or parries with his arms or just simply completely dodges them. He looks like a young tree in gale-force winds shaking and flowing about, refusing to break but willing to bend as the wind does. However, Since I started throwing jabs, Sensei, as a part of his dodging, takes a step back, which I believe could give me an opportunity because when he finally puts his weight on his back foot as he backs up, I spring into action. I transition the jab that I was about to throw to a tackle by bending my knees and using them to send me at him so I can tackle him and use my body weight to my advantage.

He seems to be generally surprised about this. However, his shock is short-lived as he grabs me as I am going towards him, and he does what I thought impossible. He holds me and my shirt and, with a turn, seemingly using his whole body, swings me around him and into the dirt behind him. Which hurt both that I was thrown against the ground and that my plan was a flop; however, a notable move from one of my favourite fanfictions comes to mind.

So I used it as my plan B, which is now given Plan A failed so badly, so I picked up the oldest tactic in the book. Anyway, I stood up like last time, ready to continue now. Yet Sensei Still hasn't moved after facing my direction. It seems like he is going to play this as defensive, which is to my advantage as it gives me time to think things through.

After finally putting the last pieces to this plan together, I closed the distance with Sensei; however, this time, it's much more measured and not so much in a rush as before. I keep a keen eye on him to try to think about what he may do next. I then start the exchange with a combo he taught me yesterday, which amounts to a few jabs and a low kick that repeats in a predictable manoeuvre. However, I am sure Sensei has seen it thousands of times in his life, so once I lay the jabs on him, even though he blocks or parries every one of them, regardless, I follow through with the combo, which means I must now low lick him. He clearly was expecting it as he had already shifted his body to accept the kick, which didn't come.

As the low kick was a faint, I threw a jab to his face. This somewhat caught him off guard, and I swear I could have seen a hint of a smirk on his face. However, my plan didn't stop there as when my jab was about to hit, I opened my hand, letting go of the dirt in my hand. Causing Sensei to close his eyes as the dirt flies into his face gives me an opportunity. I will make the best use of that chance, so I go in for another tackle hoping due to him being blinded, it will work this time. I was able to lodge my shoulder into Sensei's gut and then wrap my arms around him. Once that was done, I was going to lift him, but that was quickly dismissed as his foot launched straight between my legs. Then I nearly instantly went to my knees, grabbing my groin, which was hurting a fair bit justifiably.

"Well played, boy well played, however you should learn that while you attack you should also defend yourself less your attack becomes an avenue of attack for the enemy. We will take a break while you recover by going through the spar so far," Sensei spoke in a pleased tone.

"That would be great, sensei; you really didn't feel like you held back with that kick, sensei", I replied, slightly higher in tone and strained for an apparent reason.

"Haha well I did, else you wouldn't be much of a man anymore. That aside, your performance so far has surpassed my expectation which isn't to say it was great or good just that you performed better than I thought you would, you so far showed quick thinking along with strategic thinking which is impressive. You have shown a good understanding if only a quite shallow of the basics so far however that was let down due your lack of experience. Are there any questions you have about what I did, or where you could improve." Sensei explained with quite good praise that I wasn't expecting at all.

"How did you tank that punch I threw? It looked like it did nothing, yet I thought I put my whole body into it." I queried, as I was interested in how he was able to shrug off that punch so well. Did he cheat and not hold back?

"You did indeed followed the right steps there that if I did nothing and let it hit me normally I would have definitely at least felt it. However the whole point of this training was to see how you fight against someone not working with you so I did two things which negated your punch the first was moving your right foot which you didn't notice."

"But wasn't my left foot the one driving the kinetic chain?"

"While at that instance the left foot was indeed the driver that doesn't make the right foot not important you can test this yourself by trying to do the same punch with, then without your right foot on the ground. Without the right foot you couldn't fully twist your hips and upper body with full power which effectively cut the upper limit of that punch by the kneecaps. The other technique I did was something known as shaori which has many different forms yet the basic principle is the same is to achieve higher controlled levels of relaxation of the body which can lead to great effects. A basic explanation of what I specifically did was that by relaxing my whole head I could elongate the time of impact with your fist. By moving back slightly slower than your fist as it was impacting I was able to take negligible damage." Sensei explained.

"HOLY SHIT THAT'S SO COOL WILL YOU TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT?" I questioned/begged slightly too loudly.

"Of course however you're not even close to being able to learn it first your body must be refined and in that you have already made great progress your losing a fair amount of weight since you started my training. It won't be long until we reach phase two of your training as the first phase is mainly concerned with dealing with your weight issue along with teaching you the bare basics of any martial art."

****** two hours later ********

"Now, I believe this will be enough training for you today. You have been quite impressive so far. If you continue with the same hard work, you will see great results. It's not the first drop that turns the watermill its the many that come after it." asserted Sensei as he finally gave the clear to stop. As soon as I heard it, I dropped to my knees, exhausted; while I didn't take that much damage, getting knocked down and getting back up took way more effort than most would think.

"What do I do now? If training is done?" I inquired.

He continued saying, "Now I believe you should go clean and freshen up, then you can make your way to the village to pick up the herbs made by Marie" he added, "You wouldn't want to keep them waiting long while they are normally lovely girls take my word that there is nothing worse than a woman scorned."

"Well, I won't say no to having a break; being able to really wash up would be nice, plus getting to talk with Marie will be nice, sir; not to insult you, but nice to talk to people my own age."

"Oh you don't offend me I was your age once a while ago but I doubt things will have changed much. Plus you should take this time to relax and recover. Another reason I am doing this is to allow you to relax for once this week. So you will be ready for next week's training."

"Thank you, sir. I will try to relax because what are the chances that another attack will happen. I will be on my way Sensei" I answered along with a formal bow as he showed me to give proper respect. He really is a monster in human form. I have no clue what he looks like when he is going all out, and I don't really want to know.

******* five minutes later **********

After leaving the clearing, I returned to the cabin to collect a towel and spare clothes, which were my school uniform which I obviously don't wear. At the same time, I train as that would just make it harder, along with it being the clothes that best fit me even if they don't really blend in with the locals, which would draw attention that it doesn't matter where I am heading.

So I made it back to the cabin quickly as I was really looking forward to being able to finally wash up. Because, as that implies, I haven't really washed for a week of training. All I could do was use a wet hand towel and bucket to do the bare minimum, which sucks as one of my guilty pleasures is a good soak and clean. I may have been a NEET, but I still had self-hygiene, so this opportunity was a godsend. I quickly fetched what I needed and made my way to a spot I had been running past this whole week when I went on my endurance runs.

******** twenty minutes later *********

The spot was so beautiful; if I wasn't in person, I would bet this was photoshopped. The main attention grabber was the small waterfall that was about ten metres high that somehow was there. The geography of this island is weird. At the bottom of the waterfall was a large pool that oddly had two levels. It went around the edge less than a foot deep which then quickly deepened to the bottom, and I don't know how far deep it goes. This seemed like the perfect place to wash and relax. Hell, with how the waterfall fell on the edge area closest to the wall. It was like nature's shower; it would be rude not to use it.

I quickly Laid down my towel and clothes on a rock a few metres away from the edge so they wouldn't get soaked. I do one quick look around to see if I see any dangerous things or people. When that comes back negative, I quickly strip off my clothes and take them to the water's edge. I proceeded to spend about five minutes giving time a quick wash. I take them back to the rock next to my clothes and lay them out so they can begin drying. Now with that out of the way, I could finally enjoy this.

Having already tested the water when I washed the clothes, it was about as I expected, quite cold. Still, a wash is a wash, so I went onto the edge and went to the waterfall for a makeshift shower. This is a relatively peaceful being here, with the only companion being nature itself. I best remember to see if Sensei knows of this place. It wasn't long until I had a bad feeling appear.

Because all of a sudden, fish start jumping out of the water at me, which quite clearly surprises me. Trust me, you don't know what it's like being so blindsided unless you've been taking a shower in a waterfall pool and get attacked for it. I would later learn these Salanha, which aren't native to the island, surprisingly. This happened to be one of their stops before they would climb the waterfall and kept going. While incredibly hostile to humans or any animal it sees near a shore such that it will jump out of the water to bite you hoping to get you to fall in and get eaten.

However, I had no intention of being eaten today, so I quickly tried to suppress my fear and focus on the damn jumping fish. I then proceeded to knock them away from me to protect me so I could back up away from the water's edge. My heart was racing after getting a jumpscare like that; what kind of fucking fish does that. Luckily for me, there was one that landed outside the pool and seemed like it couldn't make it back. So I quickly took an observation of it to see what it was.

Name: Salanha

Lv: 3

Description: The Salanha is native to the Junmanji Island in the Grand Line. However, they can be found anywhere worldwide, including the southern parts of the North Blue. They can handle a wide range of salinities as they hatch from eggs laid in fresh water on islands and then travel out to the sea as they grow up. After finding a mate, they will travel to the closest island with fresh water, where they will lay their eggs, after which they will leave and die shortly after. They are known for their great hostility, where they will attack any perceived threat to them, their mates or their eggs. They will even attack creatures on the shore close to the water, where they will try to cause the victim to fall into the water, where they will indeed be eaten to death. When they form a Hunt, which is where they group up numbering in hundreds to thousands, this is where they find mates and hunt for food. They will travel as one to new islands for breeding season, which can cause massive issues for the island chosen. It's rumoured that they will even hunt and kill some lesser sea kings if they are in great enough numbers.

They are about twenty to thirty centimetres long when fully grown, though it varies with different subspecies. They are incredibly fast swimmers that can propel themselves out of the water if a creature is near the water. Their jaw strength is strong enough to bite through wood, such as hulls and docks, along with bones, trees and other vegetation.

Stats:

Health: 50/50

Brawn: 10

Vitality: 5

Dexterity: 10

Intellect: -

Wisdom: -

Charm: -

User note: Some stats are not applicable practically and, therefore, won't be added in select Observations.

Huh, that's interesting, except for the fact they want to eat me. Stats-wise, they seem pretty powerful for a fish. Though that shouldn't really surprise me any more.

Seeing that this beautiful spot clearly wasn't all it was cracked up to be. So I quickly towelled myself and dressed in my school uniform while picking up my somewhat dried old clothes. Making my way back to the cabin was easy, and the same was for putting up my still-drying clothes and towel to finish drying. With that all done, it was finally time to head to the village.