Chapter 19: Preparation

I took a slow deep breath as I aimed my sword at a tree. An Alpha Beowolf growled to my side, having caught sight of me. I chose to ignore it and rushed forward, rapidly slashing directly through the tree.

"Sun Breathing: Dance"
-500 AP

"Sun Breathing: Clear Blue Sky"
-300AP

"Sun Breathing: Raging Sun"
-200 AP

My strikes began to move faster as I continued to cut through the tree, aiming to complete all twelve forms before it hit the ground.

"Sun Breathing: Burning Bones, Summer Sun."
-500AP

Sun Breathing: Setting Sun"
-200AP

"Sun Breathing: Solar Haze"
-100AP

My breath hitched and I stopped mid swing as I felt my muscles ache from overexertion. Shooting a glance to my Aura level, I let out a tired breath.

AP:0/10375

I had ended up exhausting it again and from the pain I felt in my muscles, it must have been before I'd even begun this set. The thirteenth form was difficult to train, it required extreme accuracy at high speed in the correct order, repeating the cycle one all twelve forms were completed.

It was tiring, repetitive work, but the payoff once I completed the thirteenth form would be worth it.

Stepping to the side, I swiftly brought my sword up, beheading the Alpha Beowolf as it passed me by. Raising an eyebrow, I looked around the newly deforested clearing towards the small hoard of Grimm that were slowly being whittled down by a bronze spear wielded by Pyrrha.

When she'd heard that I was planning on doing some training outside of the city, Pyrrha had asked to join me, insisting that it would be much safer as we weren't going to be too far away this time, being one casual stroll outside of Argus.

I didn't have any issues, the situation worked out in my favor. While I had wanted to kill some Grimm, it wasn't the main reason why I was out here. I came in order to practice my techniques away from all the camera's in Argus.

With Sun Breathing Techniques and a Nichirin sword, Grimm were… less than optimal to train with, especially the weaker ones that flocked to Argus. They ended up dying too fast, leaving me without a target to practice against.

"I could have sworn there were less five minutes ago," I muttered to myself.

Big cities tended to attract a large amount of young, inexperienced Grimm that were fairly easy to take down. The main risk was that there were just so many of them, but that wasn't a problem when the city was as well funded as Argus.

Glancing at my scroll, I let out a sigh. We were going to have to start heading back to Argus if I didn't want to be late for a… meeting that I had with Jasmine.

"Hey, Pyrrha. It's starting to get late, do you need any help finishing up?"

"I would… appreciate… that," Pyrrha yelled back between dodging and killing several Grimm.

Even though they were fairly weak, Pyrrha was still fighting off quite a substantial amount of Grimm. Helping her kill them off would still take a bit too long.

AP:1025/10375

My Aura had recovered a decent amount with my short break, more than enough to handle the rest of the Grimm. Unfolding my scythe, I held it behind myself along with my sword as I shifted to a low stance.

"Sun Breathing: Flash, Ten Steps"
-500AP

With a burst of speed, I rushed towards the Grimm, tearing through them as I passed them by. Catching a glimpse of red hair, I made my approach, halting my speed by planting my foot into the head of an Ursa Major.

"Doing alright?"

"Yes," Pyrrha said, breathing lightly as she took a brief reprieve. "There still seems to be a lot of them left."

She was right, there were still quite a few Grimm left. During my brief burst of speed, I'd taken out roughly a third of them, aiming to clear out the ones closest to her.

"There are, but we've got a few options here," I replied, watching as the Grimm began to charge towards us. "We could leave right now and head back to Argus, letting the automated guns on the wall take care of any Grimm that follows us, or…"

"Or?" Pyrrha hummed.

"Or we could finish off the rest of the Grimm together and then sprint back to Argus after we're done."

Taking one last breath to calm herself, Pyrrha reared her spear back before hurtling it towards the incoming Grimm, piercing through several in one move. Tugging her arm back, the spear tore itself free from their disintegrating bodies and returned back to her waiting hand.

"I guess that answers that question," I muttered to myself.

Waiting for the Grimm to grow nearer, I swung my scythe to the side in a half spin, cutting through several Beowolves. The main point of being out here today was to train, I may as well get some practice in with my scythe.

…Breathe…

"Coal, you're a little late but… oh my," Nicole began calmly before catching sight of us, or more specifically, Pyrrha who was leaning against me, breathing heavily. "Is… is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's just a little tired," I explained. "We were in a bit of a rush to get back."

"I… see," Nicole said. "I'll just… get her some water then."

Nodding as Nicole hurried off to get Pyrrha something to drink, I walked the two of us over to one of the waiting chairs before gently setting her down.

Pyrrha had impressed me with how quickly she'd adjusted to fighting Grimm. Her main problem during the excursion had been that she wasn't used to pacing herself, something that hadn't been necessary when fighting against singular opponents in a tournament, especially when she'd been able to dominate the fight.

She'd been using her full force each time she swung her sword, stabbed with her spear or blocked with her shield when the weaker Grimm she'd been facing didn't need that much effort.

It was only the stronger Grimm that she would need to use her full force with, they were the ones with stronger, armored bodies. The weaker ones required less effort, especially since there were so many of them.

In the week that Pyrrha had been training with me, she'd been forced to correct her pacing issue out of necessity and had learned how to fight dozens of Grimm without overexerting herself. Her current state wasn't due to fighting Grimm… not entirely.

The sprint back the Argus was what had ended up exhausting her Aura, however she hadn't let that stop her. Instead of asking for a break or pulling a Maria and having me carry her the rest of the way, Pyrrha had stayed silent and pushed harder, forcing her body to keep up with me.

"Slow, deep breaths through your stomach and then your lungs, Pyrrha," I instructed, placing my palm on her shoulder to help steady her.

Pyrrha nodded tiredly as she fought to gain control over her breath, forcefully calming her breathing.

The first steps to Total Concentration Breathing were incredibly simple and don't give away much of anything. It was only when practiced every day for several weeks that it would show an increase to the speed at which Aura regenerated. The body needed to adapt to it after all.

Helping Pyrrha catch her breath by guiding her through the first steps shouldn't expose the breathing technique, after all, she wouldn't have a reason to think that breathing in a different pattern would give such substantial boosts to her body.

"That's… a bit… better," Pyrrha said, finally beginning to catch her breath.

"Good," I hummed, sitting down next to her. "Next time, you should tell me if you're too tired to continue."

"I… know," Pyrrha replied. "But… I… wanted to… push myself."

"Because of the bandit attack?"

"Partially," Pyrrha nodded. "It… Here in Sanctum… and during the Regional tournaments I've participated in… I was always the strongest, always able to win. I was called the invincible girl, but out there… in the real world, I've failed to live up to that name. Out there, I'm no one special."

I listened silently, doing my best to not interrupt her. At first glance it seemed that Pyrrha might be upset, but there was a fire in her eyes, one that refused to be extinguished.

"If I want to be able to be a capable Huntress then I need to be stronger. I can't hold back on my training anymore," Pyrrha finished, having finally caught her breath.

Seeing that Pyrrha had made up her mind, I smiled. "Alright."

"Alright?" Pyrrha blinked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Believe it or not, but I was in your position once before. I felt that need… that desperation to grow stronger and push yourself to your absolute limit. I was mainly worried that you would push yourself too hard and end up hurting yourself or worse."

"You… have?" Pyrrha asked. "What made you feel that way… if I could ask?"

"Realizing what world I lived in after a… near death experience," I replied, pulling my shirt down to reveal the scars across my chest and neck, time and Aura had done well to fade them. "I begged Maria to train me. Back then, she wasn't exactly happy that I wanted to be a Huntsman, I think that she thought I was in it for revenge."

"Revenge," Pyrrha muttered, slowly tracing the scar on my neck. "She thought you wanted revenge against the Grimm?"

"Bandits actually," I said, letting go of my shirt. "But that's a really long story that I don't want to get into right now. The point is that I know how it feels to be weak and want to be stronger. I know what it's like to see all these powerful people and wonder how you'll ever measure up… I know what it's like to be afraid."

"And… what happened to those feelings?"

"Somewhere during my training, I just… stopped worrying," I shrugged. "I stopped caring how I measured up and how strong I was. Instead, I focused all my efforts on growing stronger and learning new methods to improve myself."

That had been the truth. It was right around when I mastered Total Concentration Constant that I'd stopped worrying about the future… right when I gained the Iron status effects.

I wonder if those had something to do with it or if it had been the fact that I had a contingency in place with Oscar if I ended up dying.

"I guess somewhere along the line, my fears and worries were no longer able to keep up with me," I mused aloud.

"That…" Pyrrha began before letting out a short, tired chuckle. "I wasn't expecting an answer like that, but, in hindsight, it fits you perfectly. A person with your stamina is physically incapable of being caught by fear."

"I suppose so," I shrugged.

"Do you… have some sort of final goal that you're aiming for?" Pyrrha asked suddenly.

"Like becoming a Huntsman?"

"Sort of," Pyrrha hummed. "I always thought that I had a great destiny ahead of myself. Not something that can't be changed, but something that I choose for myself."

Destiny, huh?

That was a difficult question. While I did want to stop Salem and keep people safe… it was difficult to explain without explaining her existance, the relics and the brother gods as well.

"I suppose you could say that my main goal is ensuring that Remnant isn't overrun by the Grimm," I explained. Finding a way to imprison Salem and keeping the Relics separated would do a lot on that front. "So I don't have a goal that I can technically reach, but I do have something that I can work towards."

Pyrrha let out a yawn as she leaned back in her chair. "I think that's a good goal," She hummed tiredly.

…Breathe…

After returning with a bottle of water for Pyrrha who had dozed off, Nicole sent me into Jasmine's office, stating that, while I was a little late, it worked out in the end as Jasmine had been busy taking care of some last minute work.

"Ah, Coal, good to see you. Take a seat and I'll be right with you," Jasmine said, furiously typing on her scroll. "Aaand… I'm just about… done." Placing her scroll on the table, she grabbed one of the few files that sat on her desk and began to page through it. "Now where were we last time?"

"You really don't need to do this," I began. "It seems like you're busy. Why don't you just give me the notes and I'll study them back at my apartment."

"Yeah, not going to happen," Jasmine smirked. "You asked for my help and now you're going to get it."

"We just wanted to know how the Huntsman licensing exam worked," I argued. "Not for you to tutor me."

"Too bad, so sad," Jasmine said in a sing song tone. "Now, are you done arguing or do you have something else you would like to add before we begin?"

"Just… why are you so insistent on helping me study for this?"

"Although I am the principal of Sanctum I'm also a teacher."

"That's not the answer I was looking for," I deadpanned.

Initially, I'd thought that Jasmine was just doing this to get more attention for Sanctum Academy, but after a small amount of research I found that the Huntsman licensing exam was a much more private affair. There was a very real chance for the applicants to die and that was one thing that absolutely could not be streamed around the Kingdom.

Sure Jasmine might get some bragging rights assuming I passed the exam, but they would be minimal at best. It wouldn't be the kind of thing that draws more people to Sanctum.

"You know, I heard the most interesting conversation earlier," Jasmine hummed. "But sadly, I had to focus on my work. How about we take turns answering each other's questions? That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"…Sure," I said slowly. Jasmine liked to play games, but she was a good person and always honored her end of the bargain.

"Alright, since I'm the one that suggested it, you can ask first."

"Why are you so insistent on helping me study?" I asked immediately.

"Because I want to see you pass and become a Huntsman," Jasmine answered simply. "What? Did you expect me to have a more nefarious reason?"

"Well… I thought that you might have something more to gain from helping me," I admitted.

"Nope, I'm just helping you because I want to. You and Maria helped me out and even protected my students when the shit hit the fan. The least I could do is help you prepare for your Huntsman exam," Jasmine explained. "Now, I heard you say to Pyrrha that Maria thought you wanted revenge against bandits when she started training you. Why is that?"

She certainly cut straight to the point. "Because bandits attacked my… home town and killed my father. I came across his body after spending several days recovering from being attacked by a Grimm in the wilderness."

Jasmine winced and began to look uncomfortable. "Perhaps this game was a bad idea. I'm sorry if I brought up any painful memories."

"It's alright," I reassured her. The truth was that she hadn't brought up any memories at all. I don't have any recollection of living in Black Rock or the man that I assumed to be my father. "It's all in the past now."

"For what it's worth, I've been through a similar experience myself," Jasmine began. "When I was a kid, I lived in Vacuo. My parents sent me here, to Mistral to live with some relatives. Not even a week after I got here, they were attacked by a group of scavengers looking to make some quick lien selling off their stuff."

"I'm… sorry to hear that."

"It happened nearly twenty years ago, but it's something that I do occasionally think about," Jasmine admitted, leaning her head on her hand. "It's actually one of the reasons why I hold you and Maria in high regards. When things got serious, you both put your lives on the line in order to protect my students."

"It was what you technically hired us for."

"I asked you and Maria to tag along in order to ensure that my students weren't overwhelmed by Grimm. Bandits are another thing entirely, especially ones as powerful as those you two faced," Jasmine shot back. "I've read the reports and I've seen the footage that managed to survive the lightning strike. You and Maria had every right to flee, but you both remained and fought off the leader together, risking life and limb."

I really didn't know what to say to that. Fighting Raven and killing her bandits hadn't exactly been a difficult decision. They wanted us dead and were planning on kidnapping and ransoming Pyrrha. Maria wasn't going to comply with their demands and there was no way in hell I would either.

Jasmine shot a brief glance towards her scroll. "We should probably get started with your studies. If we don't start now, we might just be here all night."

You know what, I was perfectly happy with that. With all the awkward conversations and tense moments, a little studying sounded nice.

…Breathe…

Stepping out of Jasmine's office, I let out a relieved sigh. The day was officially over and I could finally go back to Maria and my apartment and get some rest. My bed was a short ten minute drive away.

"Coal... I was waiting for you," A familiar female voice said.

Damnit, I just had to jinx it.

Turning to the waiting area, I caught sight of Pyrrha still sleeping in her chair with her mother sitting next to her.

"You… were?"

"Yes. Could you please help carry Pyrrha out to my car," Thetis said with an impish smile. "She's a bit too heavy for me to carry her while in her armor. I'll handle her spear and shield."

I blinked several times as my brain worked to make sense of Thetis's request. "… Sure."

"Great, thanks."

Walking over, I carefully scooped Pyrrha up, taking extra care not to jolt her. "So where did you park your…" A bright flash interrupted me. Looking up, I found Thetis standing with Pyrrha's weapons in one hand and her scroll in the other. "Did you just…"

"Whoops, my finger slipped," Thetis said. "I'm sorry about that. Why my scroll chose to take a photo right now, I'll never know."

My eye began to twitch as I followed a cheerful Thetis outside to her car. Securing the still sleeping Pyrrha in the backseat, I briefly wondered just how tired she was before softly closing the door.

"You know, from my understanding, your apartment is nearby. I could drive you there if you want."

"That's alright. I normally get sent back by one of Jasmine's self driving cars," I replied.

"You would be doing me a favor too. I need someone to keep an eye on Pyrrha while I'm driving and make sure that she doesn't get thrown into things while asleep."

"I…"

"Great, thanks. You can climb in on the other side next to Pyrrha," Thetis interrupted me.

My eye continued to twitch violently. I was actually going to decline her offer. It was only a ten minute drive, I could handle that… I think. Sitting down next to Pyrrha, the car hummed to life and began to move forward.

"So, how was your and Pyrrha's training today?"

"It was… fine," I replied. "I think that we've both made some progress… although Pyrrha did push herself at the end in order for us to get back to Sanctum on time."

"That does sound like Pyrrha," Thetis chuckled. "I trust her judgment, but I'll admit that this training she's been doing… fighting Grimm out in the wilderness. It's had me a bit worried. We actually had a small argument over it when she first brought it up."

That was the first I'd heard of that.

"She's mentioned that you're going to become a fully fledged Huntsman soon and that you've agreed to take her along on a few missions," Thetis continued. "My main concern is her safety so I need to ask… Will she be safe going out on missions with you?"

"I don't think there's such a thing as a safe mission, all of them are going to involve a certain amount of risk," I answered honestly. "But I wasn't planning on bringing her on any that I thought she wouldn't be able to handle. If you want, I could show you the missions beforehand and you can decide which ones you believe would be too dangerous for her."

"I don't think you need to go that far," Thetis said. "I appreciate the gesture. As I said, I trust Pyrrha's judgment and she trusts you. So long as you believe she can handle the mission you choose and you do your best to protect her, I'll be satisfied."

"I will."

"Then you have my permission."

Settling in, the car suddenly lurched to the side and I was forced to catch Pyrrha's miraculously still sleeping body. A flash of white came from the front seat.

"Whoops, my hand slipped," Thetis hummed.

And suddenly my eye began twitching again.

…Breathe…

Stepping into the apartment, I walked past Maria, dropped face first into the couch and let out a tired groan.

"Well hello there," Maria hummed. "It seems like you've had a busy day."

"Too many things," I groaned. "Jasmine made me go over everything from the previous sessions along with a whole new section. Why can't my Semblance have an option to just auto learn books by destroying them?"

That would make learning so much simpler. With an ability like that, I would never need to worry about studying. I'd be able to learn an entire library worth of knowledge in an afternoon.

There were a lot of official things that I needed to learn in order to be a Huntsman. Various different technical terms, Grimm types, codes, protocols, warnings and mission types that I had to learn for a written exam. The practical exam that came afterward was the one I was most looking forward to.

"Instead of lamenting all the studying you have to do now, look at it this way. A week from now you'll have your exam, two weeks from now you'll officially be a Huntsman."

That was true. It was just a week and once it was over, I would be a Huntsman. I could handle that. Things could have been worse. If we hadn't asked Jasmine how to register for the Huntsman license exam, we wouldn't have known that there was a written exam and I would have failed my first attempt immediately.

"Yeah, I suppose that is a better way of looking at it," I hummed.

"Damn straight," Maria grinned. "Now how does that make you feel?"

"…Tired?"

"Tired?" Maria asked before glancing to the clock. "Oh, damn. When did it become midnight. If we stay up any longer it'll stop being late and start being early. You should go get some sleep, you've got a lot of studying to do this week."

Nodding, I pushed myself up and walked to my room, collapsing on my bed. There was a lot I wanted to accomplish before the Huntsman exam, but for now all I needed to do was copy Pyrrha and get some much needed sleep.

And so Coal prepares for the Huntsman exam. Jasmine accidentally oversteps and Pyrrha's mom gets some photos.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 24 on the P word website.

P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

Next chapter will be posted on the 9th of September.
See you all then.