"The whole human body is one arsenal of lethal and pain-inducing weapons, and we cherish and honour it as one. It just has to be fixed and polished from the softness before one can use it. ......................."

 

The God dammed Skeleton kept on lecturing me as I was forced to keep on punching a so feet tall 27-inch thick treelike creature.

Every now and then the beast would swipe its sharp claws at me slashing my arms or chest with the long claws causing me to stop and jump back to a safe distance before continuing again,

this entire exercise reminded me of a  game where I had to learn the boss's pattern of attacking and moving just to find an opportunity of dealing a minuscule amount of damage until it's health bar hit zero,

it was frustrating tiring and boring as fuck, and in reality, it was even more so but what made it even more annoying was how easy it was for the monsters to attack me since the terrain they had created in this forest was so wide, there were just too many gaps in between trees for me to defend,

I was trapped like rats in a maze with nowhere to run, it was a miracle I hadn't died until now.

 

"The thing is that you hit your own hands, arms, and legs so that that area gets hardened and familiar with the feeling.........................."

 

And on top of everything unlike in the game in real life instead of pumped-up boss music I got a talking irritating skeleton who was floating around,

he was telling me all kinds of useless shit about my skills I wasn't sure what any of it meant, and the fact that he wasn't giving me advice on dodging or using techniques just made me want to punch him a lot more than normal.

"In the end, that feeling can’t even be described as pain. It is a great feeling to throw a punch to a wall and knows that it hurt more for bricks than your fist. Just don’t...................................

This went on for eternity and when I thought this day couldn’t get any weirder I realized, unfortunately, it did.

The god dammed tree creature decided its clawlike hands weren't enough and began using some sort of skill as root began to sprout from the ground to attack with razor-sharp whip-like attac aimed toward my legs.

I quickly jumped backwards avoiding the attack but the snakelike tongue of the snake lashed out, slicing one of my legs painfully causing me to fall flat on my face.

I crawled on the ground and saw my leg covered with blood but I managed to ignore it since my wound was not serious and that was the main reason I decided to ignore it, I needed to think straight if I was ever going to survive this nightmare. And so, I focused only on the situation.

" Use your whole body. This is one thing every martial artist should already know, but for those who are not yet one of them, here it comes: The very power of your punch comes from legs. Just like this"

I gritted my teeth feeling pain spread from where I had gotten slashed, but I pushed the pain aside knowing that if I allowed the injury to distract me then it was only gonna slow me down, it only caused me to make mistakes, mistakes like making stupid moves that could potentially cost me my life.

"And when you get to the willpower training, there are some quite simple things to do..................................”

"Shut up" I growled

The skeleton either ignored me or didn't hear me as it kept on going

"You should remember that when you do things like cutting yourself, be careful not to dig too deep in yourself. If it is supposed to be training, it should make you a killing beast, not a killed human. The point is simply that you don’t do damage to yourself while hurting yourself.........................................................."

I didn't get another chance to speak as more roots, sprouted around m from all sides. I tried jumping over them to try and move further but failed miserably as the wooden snake-like roots attacked my legs again as I landed on the ground, my foot got caught in one of the branches and it wrapped around my leg.

I struggled to free myself, whilst I used my hand Pry it open, by the time I was able to get out by sacrificing my boo and pulling my pants off, the roots had all but surround me.

"Umm......what was I saying?" The skeleton asked I looked up at him feeling helpless, exhausted and angry today was going to be another nightmare, I didn't mind the dying part or the part anymore but what came after that made me want to stop waking up into reality

"Just shut up" I growled trying to get up

"You're no fun" The skeleton's body emitted lights as it flickered a bright blue.

Suddenly took out a sliver scimitar, from its back and flew d landing right beside me the bones of the skeleton began glowing as well as his blade as the glow of a small light surrounded his body.

"watch and learn, the glory and the might of the saber..........."

Suddenly, the skeleton thrust his arm forward slashing all around me.

I barely managed to see as gusts of wind suddenly picked up blinding m with dust as a loud screeching sound sounded throughout the whole woods, when the dust settled all that was left around me were branches dried-up wooden roots, and debris lots and lots of stone and wood debris, surprising The tree-like creature was alright alive, still, it had not attacked me and just stood there like a tree,

A cold breeze suddenly blew blowing dust into the burning field and the smell of smoke invaded my nostrils, I winced coughing slightly.

"Huh? What in the world"

I slowly pulled myself onto my knees as I sat there gasping for breath and looking around.

The skeleton was standing in a weird pose displaying the sliver scimitar as he glowed brightly and looked very pleased with himself.

As I stood up The skeleton began rubbing his face? Jaws? its skull? yes it's skull with glimmering scimitar

 

then without warning the skeleton charged at the tree-like creature as a gust of wind gathered around me and picked me up as I was thrown up into the air spinning as fast as I could as the skeleton stood there watching it all unfold in front of him.

He raised his sword and swung it down I let out an ear-shattering scream before the blade came rushing at me with full force

 

But instead of hitting the blade's trajectory changed, the skeleton swung his blade at the ground again and again as the earth underneath us began exploding up in clouds.

 

I just watched in confusion shock and awe at each tie he swung his weapon it glimmered and vibrated and with each tie it made contact with the ground it sent a shockwave through the clearing creating huge chunks of broken grass and rocks everywhere.

Even when I was standing or rather floating twenty feet up in the air I still felt the air around me change

Finally, after the fifth attack I heard the skeleton shout at me;

"Now you truly see my saber's greatness?"

 

"You see now the true might and glory of the saber, do you want it to?" He said in such a tone that he clearly didn't expect an answer. "Well, then let us begin, first we need to train your mind then your body only then would be worthy enough to wield the saber"

 

**************************

 

Evgenia looked around in wide-eyed wonder at the glorious sight that lay before her eyes. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw all these luxurious items in one place. She couldn't believe that someone would spend their money and effort building a guest room not even a bedroom but a guest room,

Her head started buzzing with questions, and she looked around to find her companion was also straining all around  them in wonder just like her, well all except for one

Vladym sat there calm and composed giving off a regal aura about her as if nothing could go wrong, which Evgenia assumed she must've been expecting because she always seemed to carry this kind of vibe, which was actually strange, given that she was always in a bad mood and always snappy but seeing her act relaxed, she figured it must have some sort of plan.

 

 

When they had first landed in Athos she had thought it would have taken weeks if not months for the Crown prince to grant them an audience but just with hours they had their group found them self selecting an emissary group to go meet the crown prince in his castle.

The emissaries were chosen mainly because of their status in the group but for some reason, she to was selected along with Vladym. This confused her and made sense to her at the same time that there was something strange was happening in the group.

Evgenia uncoisouslt touched her cold marble wand becoming anxious she turned toward Valdym and opened her mouth to ask Vladym but a loud bang of door opening interrupted her

"His most gracious self, The crown Prince of the Nerzhi people, the priest of Athos and the heir to the throne, has decided to welcome our guests to his home" the royal herald announced and bowed and announced and walked towards them, holding two plates. Evgenia and her companions quickly got and bowed deeply toward the entrance d in unison as the crown prince approached with his courtiers following behind him,

Evgenia, only heard footsteps until a soft regal voice told them to raise her head when she finally looked up to see She saw a group of fat old, and pompous men and women surrounding a young man with dark flowing hair wearing bright coloured clothes.

She immediately recognized him as the crowned prince, the crown prince himself was a young man who looked handsome and regal with a youthful air about him, but it wasn't his facial features or his clothes that captivated her attention, however, it was his eyes that did.

His eyes gave the impression that he was completely unafraid of anyone around him as if he owned everything around him.

She couldn't help but stare, especially as her eyes fell upon his lips, and she wondered how long they would feel against hers...

"Hello." Said the crowned prince smiling kindly at the three as he stopped a few paces away from them "Welcome spell slingers from faraway land I hope our gracious meeting may bear a satisfactory fruit"

Vladym and others looked at each other and nodded as if agreeing on something causing Evgenia to feel left out, Then Evgenia felt a cold chill run down her spine as one of the prince's pompous companions stepped toward them and bowed towards them respectfully.

The old man's eyes locked on to her before a smile formed on his wrinkly face as he spoke:

"Come now we have much to discuss," The crown prince impatiently said as sat himself down on a luxurious throne-like chair as the rest of his entourage sat on the floor on pillowed cushion stools, whilst were sitting on comfortable sofas made out of furs of various animal.

Evgenia sat herself down next to Vladym as the crown prince continued speaking

"So, Tell me forgive what do want and what can do for it?"