Chapter 40 – Training regimen
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Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 40!
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‘Demian Mikhailov, along with his three perks, his cultivation path and his loved ones, will have to grow his power in a complicated world, filled with superhumans, crime syndicates and other mysterious beings.’
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The Highlands, New Jersey, USA.
Ben's P.O.V.
“What?” Was the only words she could utter. Shrugging his shoulders, the man responded. “Your breasts rubbed against me, I got excited and lost control of a strand of inner energy which precipitated the breakthrough.” Shaking her head, she looked both amused and confused at the same time. “Is that even possible? Shouldn't breaking through be harder?”
With a proud grin on his face, Ben replied. “For others, maybe.” Pausing for a second, he added. “You should be able to do it too though.” Cocking her brow, her facial expression turned curious. “I'm listening.” As the two were showering, the silver-eyed man explained. “It has to do with the purity of your inner energy making it easier to break through. And I'm pretty sure that my Physiology Perk helped me remove the impurities in my inner energy...”
“And since I've got some access to your Perk, I'll be able to use that 'feature' as well, right?” She completed his thought, prompting him to nod. “Exactly. Anyway, you've got to reach Novice Rank before we can check if I'm right.” She agreed before the two chatted some more as they finished their morning ablutions.
Once done, they both went to their room with towels wrapped around their naked body, walking silently along the way to avoid waking up Madeline and the kids. Once inside, Ben commented randomly. “You know, if there's one thing that I appreciate since I reached Novice Rank, it's to not have to go to the toilet anymore.”
Chuckling at his remark, she replied, envious. “Stop bragging! I'm super envious already.” The two kept bantering with each other until they were fully clothed, with some tight-fitting sportswear. “Let's go eat something. The others should be here any minute now.” Around 10 minutes later, Kate, Flint, and Andrew joined them for breakfast.
All of them chatted casually until the meal was over. At that point, Ben started speaking seriously. “There are a few things I want to talk about before we start practicing.” Everyone then focused intently on his words. “I got a bit carried away yesterday with cultivating, so I didn't have time to share some of my thoughts about it. I'm talking about how to organize our day of training. Of course, you're free to give suggestions if you think you've got any better idea.”
The rest kept silent as he explained. “One part of our practice needs to be dedicated to raising our cultivation Level. That much is a given. About that though, Marco and Cross, I'm guessing you don't usually need that much sleep, right?” The two nodded, prompting him to continue. “Then you can cultivate at night. That way during the day, you'll be able to focus on other things.”
Turning toward Kate, he said. “Taylor, you'll need to focus mostly on cultivating during the day, I think. At least until you reach Novice Rank.” The woman nodded hesitantly before asking. “Captain, I think... I think I should also learn how to fight! I don't want to be a burden for everyone.” Ben had a small smile on his face at her words. Shaking his head, he retorted. “I didn't say you should ONLY cultivate. I said mostly. You'll obviously practice other things as well.”
With a relieved look on her face, she nodded and fell silent. This time, Ben gazed at May before saying. “As for you May, you can organize your day as you wish.” With a determined look on her face, she stated. “I want you to help me train myself. I'm like Kate in that I don't want to be a burden for everyone.”
Pausing for a second, she asked mischievously. “Is that fine, Captain?” With an amused smile, he responded. “Sure thing, Love.” Turning back toward the others, he continued to share his plan. “So, one part is Cultivation. The next is fighting. This part will be composed of spells learning, and combat training. The 'theory' will be up to you, while the practice will be everyone participating in sparring with each other. However, everyone under Novice Rank will only get to spar with me, since my strength control and combat techniques should be the best among all of us.”
No one had any complaints about his arrangements, which prompted him to continue. “The third and last part is the Knowledge-acquiring part. This one is about learning as much as you can about the cultivation world. After all, none of us are truly familiar with it, so we need to get up to speed really quickly if we don't want to get taken by surprise by some obscure trap that we could have avoided if we read a bit more.”
Hesitating for a second, he added. “While you're at it, you can also check if there's a profession that you might want to master. It'd be extremely useful if all of us had our own specialty. In any case, that kind of thing depends on preference, so it's up to you guys' choices.”
Pondering for a few seconds, the silver-eyed man declared. “I believe I've covered everything about your training. There's only one thing left, but it's something I need to discuss with my wife, so you guys can start your own practice.” The trio nodded and left for the Underground Level, leaving the couple alone in the living room.
With a look of curiosity, May asked. “What did you want to talk about?” Looking at her with a tired smile, he responded. “The kids.” A look of realization appeared on her face as she retorted. “Aaahh! I get it!” Pondering for a second, she added. “What are your thoughts about them?” Scratching his chin absentmindedly, the man's gaze was slightly unfocused as he responded.
“Peter and MJ shouldn't be a big problem. With the Holo-Computer's vast database and capabilities, they won't really need any teachers. Especially as their Cultivation Level increases, so will their brain capacity and memories. No, what I'm struggling with is Gayle.” Halting his speech for a second, his gaze regained focus before turning toward her.
“She's only 6 years old. Sure, she's quite mature for her age, but she's still very young...” Feeling a bit lost, the powerful man added. “What should we do?” His question plunged his raven-haired wife into thought. Silence then pervaded the room for a long moment, with Ben pondering on the different solutions they had without finding one as good as he would like.
The sound of a sigh brought him back from his inner reflection. Moving his focus on May, he noticed the wry smile adorning her face, before she looked at him. “There's no perfect solution. I think Mady, you, and I should just accompany her in turn to teach her how to read and right. She can also start cultivating. Whether she's got some gains or not doesn't really matter. It'd be mostly to make her feel like she's part of what all of us are doing.”
Considering the solution in his mind, he found that he did not have a better one and thus said. “We'll go with that, then. At least she's got all of us around.” She nodded before an expression of hesitation came on her face. “Since we're on the topic of children...” From her words and current emotions, Ben could more or less guess the topic of the following conversation.
“I was wondering if... If your wounds over there... I mean...” Chuckling at her awkwardness, he completed her sentence. “You're wondering if my wounds are healed, right? Why are you so wishy-washy about it?” Rolling her eyes, May retorted, with her arms crossed. “I was just trying to avoid hurting your feelings.”
Her words drew a caring smile on his face as he replied. “I know and I thank you for that. But you don't have to do that anymore. I'm completely healed up. I'm good to go. My engine is sparkling and ready for fu...” His words were cut off by May's delicate hands covering his mouth. While laughing heartily, she exclaimed.
“Stop! I get it, you oaf! You're completely cured!” The look of his beautiful wife laughing away at his stupid joke made a blissful smile appear on the man's face. With a slight pull, he made her fall on his chest, with their arms around each other and his right hand gently stroking her silky smooth hair. “I'm cured, yes.” He said in a low tone.
At his words, he could feel her legs snaking around his waist, which brought her body closer to his. Rubbing her cheek in comfort on his chest, she asked in a similar tone. “Does that mean we can finally have children? I can be a real Mom?” Her questions brought a small chuckle out of him before he responded. “You're already a real Mom. Peter's mom. But yes. We can have as many children as you want. We can even make enough babies to make a baseball team.”
Giggling softly, she replied. “You're so stupid. My body and sanity wouldn't be able to deal with that many.” Shaking his head, Ben retorted with an amused smile. “With your increase in cultivation level, you might even be able to have more children than that without any problem.” Snorting cutely, she reproached. “Stop that! A few kids are enough.” Pausing for a second, she added.
“In any case, we've already got Peter. Would that make him our first child?.” Nodding his head, Ben continued. “I think so. I'm sure he'd be happy to have many little sisters and brothers. I noticed how caring he seemed with Gayle. The little guy is great big brother material.”
To his words, she responded in a teasing tone. “That's because you're his role model. And that's how you treat the people around you. You're an adorable big softie, Honey.” Her words brought back some of his old memories, making him fall silent. After a moment of comfortable quietness, May questioned.
“What are you thinking about?” Her words brought a nostalgic look to his face as his arms squeezed her slightly tighter. “My parents. I think they'd have been happy to see you. Especially, my Mom. She always pushed me to find myself a wife and have many children. She didn't say it explicitly, but I know she was afraid I'd end up alone and sad. Mothers, right?”
As the words left his lips, some repressed emotions reappeared in his heart. Before his mood could plunge too low, he felt his wife's arms tightening around his body, and her tender voice resounding from below. “You've never talked much about your parents before. Do you miss them?”
Letting out a sigh full of mixed feelings, he replied. “I haven't, have I?” Pausing for a second, he continued. “I do miss them. I feel like there are so many things I want to tell and show them. Who I've become... My brother too... It's too late though...” A moment of silence later, Ben added. “People will tell you it's how life works. You're born, you live and you die. And I know they're right... But it just hurts, you know?”
“I know, honey. But I'm sure they'd be happy and proud to see how you turned out.” Her words seemed to have a calming effect on him as a few chuckles escaped him. “I guess you're right. I've got a pretty amazing life, don't I?” As his words fell into May's ears, she moved her head from his torso to look at him in his eyes.
With a mischievous smile, she responded. “I think you meant wife. An amazing wife.” With an amused smile, he retorted to her quip. “That too. An amazing life and an amazing wife.” Pausing for a second, he could not help himself from kissing her deeply for a moment before moving his lips away from hers and saying, warmly.
“Thank you, Love. For putting up with all my baggage.” This time it was May's turn to initiate the kiss before pulling back a long moment later. “Always and forever. Isn't that what we promised each other?” “That we did.” He replied with a happy grin on his face. After a few seconds of staring lovingly at each other, Ben opened his mouth to say something but no words came out.
The hesitation on his face stoked May's curiosity, who asked. “What is it?” Gathering his courage, he stated. “Since I'm as good as new. No, scratch that. Better than new. Since I'm better than new, maybe your parents would...” His words died down as a strong feeling of anger transmitted through the bond and a frown surfaced on her visage.
Letting out a helpless smile, he asked wryly. “You still haven't forgiven them, have you?” His question brought a mix of emotions to the woman who retorted, a bit sharply. “Why should I? With the way they've treated you before? No way!” Pulling her body gently against his torso, he resumed stroking her smooth raven-colored hair.
“I know how they treated me. Maybe if it was in the past, I'd still be pissed at them. But with everything that happened, and among them the fact that I got back some of my previous life's memories, I just find them pitiful.” He halted for a few seconds, noting that his lovely wife kept silent before he added. “They're just old people stuck in their old-fashioned ways.”
May quickly retorted. “But that doesn't justify the insults they threw at you when they learned you became sterile.” Shaking his head, he replied. “I never say it did. And I never say we should accept the way they treated me or you afterward for that matter.” Scratching his beard in thought, he continued after a brief moment.
“I guess what I'm trying to say is something like 'Your parents are still alive so they may be dicks but maybe you should try to contact them before they pass away and you end up regretting not doing it'. If that makes any sense.” Chuckling at his choice of words, she replied with her voice muffled. “You're so vulgar.” With an amused smile, he retorted jokingly. “It's Marco's fault. I think he's rubbing off on me.”
The two burst into soft laughter at his joke before a few moments later, May claimed. “I'll think about what you said. No promises, though.” Nodding his head, the silver-eyed man acknowledged. “Alright.” Pausing for a second, he then switched subjects. “Now that we're done with that. Should we go start our daily training regimen?”
With a smile, the woman nodded, stood up from his lap, and grabbed his hand before guiding him toward the underground level.
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