Author’s note- Hey, what’s up? I’m doing fine, but I guess you’re not worried about that. And for the long break, I have an excuse! Family! They suck up your time, your energy, your life! And the worst part of all is that they all want to read the story you’re writing even though they have never touched a fiction in their life!

All this combined makes me really reluctant to write near them, and as such this chapter comes from the school internet. Enjoy this extra long chapter as an apology for the break!

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Waking up

I woke to a familiar sight, the triple moon. Tonight was a bit unique as the two crescents were on opposite sides, while the full moon was in the middle. On an impulse, I imagined them pulling together, and it formed an eye of sorts. It was almost like the heavens were watching over me. But I immediately rejected that notion. When have I ever been favored by the heavens?

With a painful grunt, I sat up and started to look around for my dad. I knew he was there; he was always there. He never stopped watching over me with his protective gaze. Others may have said that my dad had become trash, but I knew this was untrue because of the lengths he goes to make sure I’m safe.

When I saw a shadowy figure walking towards me through the trees, I instinctively knew it was my dad.

Me- “Daddd...uuuu…”

Tears formed rapidly within my eyes and I ran to his warm embrace, not caring about the aching protests my body gave me. When I basked in his familiar scent, I finally felt safe. The numerous hurts that I had accumulated over that horrible day now fell like raindrops, and I wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment forever.

Dad- “It’s going to be ok Daniel.” He whispered soothingly, “Let's go back to the house, and we can talk about it all there.”

I started bawling even harder, but after a minute or two, I looked up at Dad. I could barely see his face in the moonlight, but his two golden eyes were as bright as the sun.

Dad- “You good Daniel?”

I nodded back at him and took his hand. He smiled warmly at me, and we walked hand in hand fading in the forest.

***********

When we had almost arrived at our familiar terrace in the hill, I was not feeling very well. My head felt dizzy and my eyes were drooping. With every step I took, the dull ache in my body grew increasingly stronger. Eventually I stumbled and Dad caught me. He sternly glanced at me and rebuked,

Dad- “You have to be strong Daniel.”

I felt wronged, and angrily looked at him. On his face was an apologetic yet determined look.

Dad- “In your life, there will be times where others will hurt you, bad. But you can never give up, you can never show even a moment of weakness. They will only look down on you with hate and hypocritical resentment.”

He paused for a moment, waiting for me to take these words to heart.

Dad- “Just look at our own clan! They are your family, your brothers yet what do they do? When you are hurt, will they help you like true family? Will they give you even the slightest bit of pity? No they will not! They currently treat you with airs of arrogance and even look down upon you as trash, as if they were not worse! All because I got hurt, and stayed hurt!”

Dad was now quivering with anger, and a look of hardened determination flashed though his eyes. Dad vehemently muttered, this time more to himself,

Dad- “And for them to hurt my son!? They don’t know what’s coming to them.”

Those words were immediately instilled in my heart, and I squinted my eyes, steadied my step, and started walking forward, ignoring the aching that was continually spreading through my body. I finally had made it to bed on my two feet, and a quiver ran through me. Immediately, I collapsed on it, and closed my eyes in extreme exhaustion.

But just as I thought I could rest, the dull ache transformed into a sharp pain piercing me all over my body. It was unbearable, and I involuntarily let out a cry of pain. But suddenly, a warm, comfortable light had surrounded me and the extreme pain turned into a soft pleasure. Before I succumbed to sleep’s warm embrace, I took one last look at where I last saw Dad. But he had already disappeared.

***********

The next day, I awoke to the pleasant smell of cooking eggs and, something else? I focused upon that foreign smell and thought, “Is that meat!?” I got up quickly and rushed down the hall only to find a big glob of food rapidly becoming bigger in my sight. I couldn’t react in time to catch it, and it splattered all across my face. Momentarily stunned, I froze until I realized that the food was dripping on the floor. The hunger pangs arose quickly, and in a few seconds, the food on my face was completely gone.

I looked around myself in dismay, some of the meat and eggs were on the floor, wasted. Dad started laughing heartily, but I was infuriated by this total waste of extravagant food. I shouted,

Me- “Dad! We rarely ever have meat and eggs! Why would you waste it like that!?”

Dad smirked like a little kid and replied sheepishly,

Dad- “It was only, cough, magical beast meat, cough cough.”

My eyes widened in surprise, and I went to the floor hurriedly. I started picking up the eggs and meat and stuffed them into my mouth, not caring that there was a bit of dirt. I looked at Dad with hurt eyes, and he apologized, though I could tell he was trying to hide his laughter.

Eventually, the food was finally fully cooked and I ate in silence, my face flushed. Although the food was somewhat overcooked, it was rare enough that it was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in my life.

Me- “Where’d you get the magical beast meat?” I asked.

Dad cryptically replied,

Dad- “Well, it was killed last night.”

Changing the subject he added,

Dad- “Also, you should find a few things solved for your training. I woke you up early today, and as of now you have about 15 minutes before it starts.”

Me- “Thanks.”

I finished my food and this time broke off into a leisurely walk down the path to the training area. While I was idly walking down the path, I saw a pebble. Out of my boredom, I decided to play a game of kicking the rock while keeping it on the dirt path. And my thoughts turned back to Ocran and the Ruffian. How could they be so dishonorable, so shameless? Just thinking about them made me furious. I angrily kicked the pebble, and it hit someone.

???- “Hey! Who dares to throw rocks at me!”

An irritated boy turned around and looked at me hatefully. It was Ocran. However, as soon as he saw me his attitude turned meek.

Ocran- “Oh, young master Daniel. Please be more careful when you daydream. Afterall, if I was another person you might have been beaten up. I’m sure your father wouldn’t want that.”

He looked around nervously, as if someone might be watching him. Sweat rolled down his face as he added,

Ocran- “Well of course no one would escape the consequences from your esteemed father, just saying.”

He awkwardly walked away, and after he was some distance further, he started running like his life depended on it. I was dumbfounded until I recalled the comment he made seemingly to himself last night1. Ah! My face filled with gratitude and I made a mental note to thank him later. Then, I started walking again albeit this time with a spring in my step.

(1: If you don’t actually remember the comment that’s actually sad. Go read a bit earlier in this chapter and you will find it.)

When I made it to the practice, I sat on a tree stump and waited for the ruffian to come. However, some other kids came first.

Leader kid- “Hey, that’s our spot trash. Why don’t you find somewhere else.”

I sighed and got up; they had been sitting there yesterday.

Leader kid- “Hold up! You didn’t say thank you. Didn’t your mom teach you to, oh thats right,“ he snickered, “you don’t have one!”

The whole group laughed maliciously and I was no longer willing to let them have the spot. My temper was always slow to anger when they talked trash about me but my parents? That was crossing the line.

I smashed the leader with a lightning quick fist, and he immediately rolled off the stump. Then, I pushed the other kids on the ground to fully claim the stump. I jumped on it and declared,

Me- “It’s mine now, anything to say trash?”

Immediately, the two lackeys backed off, but the speaker remained. His face was so red, it looked as if his head had just been dumped in a boiling pot of water! He screamed angrily,

Leader kid- “You’ll pay for that!”

He took up a fighting stance, but it was obvious that it needed a knife as he kept feeling in his pockets for something.

Me- “Where’s your knife idiot?” I provoked, “Did you get it taken away by mommy for being bad?”

Right after I finished, he charged at me. However, in his blind rage, he tripped over a root and his fist fell short. I jumped on the chance and crushed him underfoot, quite literally. Not letting him have a chance to grab my legs, I got off of him quickly. He groaned and rolled over. Next, he tried to get up. It took a few seconds because the wind was knocked out of him, but he eventually managed. I waited patiently for him to catch his breath, and he managed to wheeze out,

Leader kid- “You shouldn’t of done this. I’ll get Ocran to handle you trash!”

He waited, expecting for me to be fearful of his threat. However, the reaction I gave him was not to his expectations. I remembered Ocran’s subservient attitude and started outright laughing. Get Ocran? Would he dare?

I made an aggressive step forward, and he started limping in retreat to a tree on the other side of the stage, with his buddies. Serves him right.

More people started arriving in the next few minutes, and after a little while, the ruffian showed up. He was dressed in a black gi with white stripes. Except where his right hand used to be, now there was only an empty sleeve. He then announced in a loud voice.

Ruffian- “So you brats. Yesterday, the actions that you all have committed were an insult and an injustice to our clan as a whole!”

He started walking over to me, and when he arrived, he spoke to the others.

Ruffian- “To jeer at a child being sneak attacked by someone almost twice his age is despicable and such an action is beneath out Plundering Earth Clan! It is even worse, considering that the shameless deed was directed at one of the honorable young masters of the clan, Daniel Swiftblade!”

Following this statement, murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd.

Rp1- “Swiftblade? Wasn’t his father the strongest man in the clan? Only, he fell when the mom died. Has he picked himself up?”

Rp2- “Can’t you see Creon’s missing hand? He must of received some sort of night visit from Daniel’s Dad.”

Rp3- “That explains the total change in attitude. Even if he is a drunk, it doesn’t mean that he cannot trash someone like Creon anyday. After all, a 2 rank difference is impossible to overcome, not to mention that Jack’s methods are very overpowering. It is likely that his methods are unmatched within the clan.”

Creon- “Therefore, you despicable brats must apologize sincerely to young master Daniel. If anything, you have to give face to his honorable father. So, apologize!”

He put the kids all up in a line, and the first to apologize was one of the cronies of the leader kid.

Cronnie 1- “Young master, hah, I didn’t mean anything by my actions. Please forgive this ignorant youth for his trespassings.”

He bowed and muttered something under his breath. Not even a second later, he received a slap to his face that sent him flying.

Creon- “You trash, I’d like to hear what you said in front of everyone! Go ahead!”

He paused while glaring at the terrified boy.

Creon- “Or are you so stupid that you cannot even speak?”

He turned into a giant human blur and kicked the boy into the side of a hill. Then a huge grin spread on his face, and he started laughing hoarsely.

Afterwards, no one else spoke a single word of dissent. They were too terrified of this man, who seemed to sadistically enjoy inflicting pain on children.

Time flew by and as the last person gave me their fake apology, I was still not satisfied. I still remember the burning pain from last night, the tedious struggle against my whole being. All because of him. He was the one who started all this crap in the first place, yet he still does not acknowledge his own crimes.

Righteous fury bridled up in me and I exclaimed,

Me- “Hold on. One person has not apologized to me yet.”

Creon- “Who? Who has offended you, young master? Tell me so I may make him apologize!”

I pointed to him and made a gesture onto the ground. But Creon did not take this well, and he simply forgot all about the whole apology facade.

Creon- “Are you suggesting that I, an elder must kneel to you? Impudence, you do not have the qualifications! If you want to make me kneel, you have to be strong enough! For that insolent remark, you get to run 5 laps around the hill1!”

(1: I know I said the bandit living area had a circumfrece of 10 miles, but this is not the bandit living area. It is only a big part of it.)

His punishment was no joke, the hill had a huge circumference. Five laps was enough to send a normal 7 year old gasping for breath. But I was no ordinary 7 year old. Without my mother to feed me any sort of breast milk, I was fed using the spell, restore. Being fed that way instead of using food had led to strengthening my whole bodily foundations, instead of the subpar usage of getting strengthened partially with food. Thus, I always was well above average, and even though I had never received any bodily training, neither had most of the others. 7 years old is the best age to start preparation training for the 1st rank. After all, it is the age where your body is still very adaptable to changes as well as your mind has reached a level of maturity acceptable to understand martial arts.

Keeping this knowledge in mind, I felt no pressure whatsoever from his threat. I then smirked and pointed to the ground yet again. His face grew very red at this remark, he had been thoroughly embarrassed in front of the kids he was supposed to be in dominion over. If he didn’t establish a strong control at the start, he would cause endless troubles for himself.

Creon- “You dare!? 15 laps with weights!”

He then grew somewhat hysterical and screamed, spittle flying out of his mouth.

Creon- “And all of you brats with him! Thirteen laps!”

Upon hearing this declaration, many glances of hatred were shot my way. I didn’t say a single apology, and I picked up a basket at the side of the arena in silence. They were most likely there for the older kids; they usually did weighted running at the start of the day. But today, they were being used to advance my own training. I casually filled the basket with rocks, and decisively started running without a moment's hesitation. Considering the punishment as personal training, I continued to run seriously instead of jogging like the others.

I somewhat liked running. Not of course for the exhaustion or mental fatigue that came afterwards, but for the natural and unrestrained feeling I got from doing it. It also gave me time to ponder before the running became a chore.

In the blink of an eye, I had passed my 5th lap, the threshold for those of an ordinary constitution. Creon was visibly getting more and more irritated after every one of my laps. On the 9th lap, Creon had enough. The fact that I had lapped one of the fatter participants right in front of his face had finally pushed him over the edge. He started to jeer at me, hoping to wear down my mental fortitude,

Creon- “Oh my gosh, you look like a hot mess. I would help you cool down, but who knows, you might attract the ladies.”

He shook his head sarcastically and almost cracked up. But his mood was ruined when I started laughing too. The laughter came out in short, breathless, bursts, but it was very obvious that it was genuine. The reason was that coming from him, that statement was extremely ironic.

Sure, my appearance was a bit less than average, but he would be classified as an absolute ugly. First of all, he was a fat man with a double chin. Second of all, his hair was falling out, and the few pieces he had left were sticking up at odd places. And to top everything off, he had a huge wart that was a huge deterrence to anybody around. Women avoided him like the plague, and men did too.

The little episode with Creon had rejuvenated my mental fatigue, but my physical abilities were at an all time low. My legs felt heavy, and I was gasping for breath. It seemed as if I had reached the condition which ordinary people would feel on their 5th lap.

I cursed under my breath and continued on without an outward pause. Yesterday I had learned a valuable lesson in regards to my body, and that was no matter the protests from it, you were the true master. Until the point where your limbs literally collapse from exhaustion, you could go on. It only took an abundance of willpower and determination, and that was something I possessed in abundance after last night. So I kept going.

The rhythmic pace of my footsteps and breathing were becoming my only solace. It was the 12th lap, and the very limits of my endurance and willpower were being tested. But every time I was going to give up, I remembered my convictions from yesterday. When I said them, I meant them, I was not going back. And for the first time, I encountered the so called ‘second wind.’

It was as if a heavy pressure had suddenly lifted from my body, and my speed picked up back to my normal pace. No longer feeling a thing, I passed through the last three laps like a breeze.

After I finally sat down in my familiar place, the tree stump, I surveyed the surrounding area. Shock and surprise filled my face, I was not the last one to arrive! Although about 2/3rds of the kids were here, the other 3rd I had lapped twice! However, the fatigue hit me like a wave, and I was suddenly too tired to care about my own achievements.

Once the rest of the kids arrived, Creon went to the center of the arena again. This was his usual spot when he was going to announce something, so everyone went quiet immediately. Not many wanted a repeat of yesterday, especially the ones who came up.

Creon- “Now, I would like you all to get into sparring groups. Showcase your best combat abilities from the martial art we learned yesterday!”

I sat down and smiled, I didn’t know anyone. Due to the mass opinion about me and my father, I had been shunned. Looking for anyone who didn’t have a partner, I spotted one of the leader kid’s lackeys who seemed to be looking around aimlessly. He didn’t really take part when the leader kid was trying to cause trouble, so my impression of him was indifferent. I walked over with long strides, the friendly smile still plastered on my face. Could he be my partner?

When the kid noticed me, his expression was indifferent. Taking that as a good sign, I took the initiative to speak.

Me- “Do you need a partner?”

He quickly looked around for someone, anyone other than me, but he was quickly disappointed. With an expression of a slight distaste, he reluctantly spoke,

???- “As long as Luke doesn’t see me with you, I’m ok with it. My name is Logan.”

Me- “Daniel”

But just a moment later, Logan started shaking his head and pointed at the tree stump. He started to talk through clenched teeth.

Logan- “Go! Luke is coming!”

I started walking back to look for another person when suddenly, a hand clasped on my shoulder. I turned around to find Luke with Logan in tow.

Luke (Leader kid) - “I was looking for you Daniel,” he said in a somewhat friendly tone, “It seems there is an odd number of people, so why don’t we go at it, 2 on one.”

He smiled amiably, but his eyes were like vipers,

Luke- “The prestigious son of Jack Swiftblade must be strong, like two men instead of one! Don’t you think so too Logan?”

He stared at Logan with an intimidating glare, and Logan replied,

Logan- “Yeah, I’m sure he will do well. But it is hardly fair to take on two people at once..”

He looked to me and said,

Logan- “Would you like to spar with me first?”

It seemed like Logan had friendly intentions, so I accepted. After a moment's preparation, we both drew into fighting stances. Mine was completely made up; I never been trained in any sort of martial art. However I did know the basics. These were, to keep my hands up near my face, to adopt an almost sideways stance towards the opponent, and to aim for vital areas such as the throat, head, liver, and the nether regions. But in a spar, I could only aim for areas like the stomach, chest, legs and arms. After all, we were not aiming to kill or maim; it was a spar.

We both started about a meter away from each other, and both took the initiative to attack. I used my leg to kick towards Logan’s calf, and he threw a punch to my chest. My attack hit first, and I caught him mid step. This caused him to stumble, and I took the chance to follow up with a punch to his chest.

Abruptly, he fell on his back, and I grinned. Logan wheezed,

Logan- “Wow. You really didn’t go easy on me.”

Me- “He-he,”

I cleared my throat embarrassingly and picked Logan back up. Upon seeing this, Luke’s face turned dark. He let out a snort and started seething at Logan.

Luke- “Logan… what are you doing…?”

Logan shot an apologetic look at him and backed off. Luke went dangerously quiet.

Luke- “We were going to exchange pointers, right? Well, why don’t we st-”

Before he finished his sentence, he was already rushing at me to try and catch me off gaurd. Again, I relied upon the only thing that allowed me to win, my instinct. This time it was to push him down while sidestepping. Afterall, he was charging at me like a raging bull. However this time, lady luck was not on my side.

I stumbled a bit and he rammed my stomach, right where I got slammed yesterday. But this time, it didn’t affect me much. With a disdainful snort, I hammered on his back with my fist, making him fall to the ground.

By this time, Logan had recovered from our previous spar, and cautiously inched forward. It looked like he had learned from watching Luke’s mistake, and this time, he started off with a roundhouse kick. However, he was obviously not experienced with this method of fighting; he lost his balance when the kick hit me.

Again, I absorbed the blow with my sturdy constitution and retaliated by grabbing his leg with my almost monstrous strength. With a shout, I flipped him over on the grass. I had won.

I started to grow prideful, could it be that I was talented in the way of martial arts? But then I remembered Ocran and Creon. I didn’t want to be disgusting like those people, they acted like they were the only ones in the world, and everyone else was like an insect, ready to be stepped on. If this was where pride led, I wanted no part of it.

But it seemed like I had not learned from my previous lesson about self musing. Luke tried to pull my leg and get me on the ground, where he could have a fighting chance. It took me by surprise, but the attempt was to no avail. I kicked him in the face, which silenced any further attempt to pull me down. Then, I walked over to Logan, and helped him up again. But before he could say anything, Creon spoke up.

Creon- “It seems like most of you have finished your spars by now, But it also seems like none of you have internalized what I did yesterday. So let me show you for the second time, our earth shattering fist!”

He went into a certain pose before letting out a punch. It seemed as if the air moved along with his fist, and a shockwave pushed out, parting the dust on the arena. Gasps of astonishment were heard throughout the crowd, and he pulled back, satisfied.

Creon- “This is a rank zero martial skill, based on a bear. But don’t be fooled by the rank, the effects are stronger than you can imagine!”

He jumped down off the stage and onto the ground. Positioning himself in front of a brick sized rock, he viciously grinned, and sent out the earth shattering fist again. The shockwave passed directly through the rock, and shattered the earth beneath the rock.

Creon- “This fist technique passes through most defenses and explodes after a certain distance. It can be used to attack through armor, shoot through the air as a mid range attack or-”

He tossed the unharmed rock into the air and met it with a fist strike that sent it flying into a big rock. The bigger rock exploded into pieces and the smaller one was still unharmed. Creon finished,

Creon- “to carry on through projectiles making it a long distance attack.”

Everyone clapped wildly, yet I was silent. Unlike the others who saw this as an amazing show to be talked about with their buddies, I was trying to figure out what made this possible. Reviewing my memories, it seemed like first he did a certain pose before every attack. Second, his punch was always in the same direction his body was facing, at the same exact area. Lastly, there was an almost intangible force moving with his attacks. Given enough time, I could definitely replicate the movements, but the force was something unknown to me, unduplicatable. Could this force be aura? Creon interrupted my thoughts saying,

Creon- “As a 0th rank martial art, your current strength is only enough to use it once. That is, if you could use it. Martial arts require the usage of aura, and it usually requires one to acquire the 0th rank to see aura.”

He looked from side to side in the crowd, making sure to make eye contact with every single person. After a long pause, he started again,

Creon- “However, people who experience combat consistently, and encounter a life or death situation will be able to unlock their aura prematurely. By familiarizing this body movement, you can survive that critical moment as well as unlocking your aura. And also, even without aura, it is incomparably powerful compared to a normal punch. Now in light of recent events, we won’t leave here today until all are able to use this movement to my standards!”

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

After finishing the training, we were finally allowed to go home. Although Creon only called it off due to the loud growling of the others stomachs, I think I got the hang of the basic technique. But I was still feeling unsatisfied. So I stayed back a little later than the others, and continued training the technique.

Finally, I quit training due to the exhaustion in my legs and started heading back home. However, I was not alone.

When I was about to leave, I felt my back prickling, like tiny needles were stabbing me all over. I recognized that feeling, it was the feeling of being watched by someone with bad intentions. I was not one to doubt my instincts, and I immediately surveyed the area, looking for something, anything that was suspicious. When I looked to the cliff overlooking the training area, my search bore fruit. There was a human like figure behind a tree!

It was twilight so I couldn’t exactly make out who the person was, but it looked to be someone around my age. Instantly, my worries were dispelled. It was probably Luke, looking for revenge or one of his cronies. I walked on with confidence, what could Luke or his buddies do to me? I had already beaten them once, attacking again is simply asking for it.

As I expected, I ran into an ambush on my way home. This time, it was Luke and both of his buddies. But contrary to my expectations, Luke did not have an air of defeat around him. It seemed that having both of his friends there boosted his confidence.

Luke- “Hey brother Daniel, we were having some difficulties on practicing the earth shattering fist. I wonder if you could give us some pointers to consolidate the technique.”

Me- “Not interested.”

I pushed past them not caring in the slightest about their games. But Luke was not willing to let me go. Not bothering for any more pretense, he shot out an earth shattering fist at my back. But he did not catch me off guard. With a low growl, I ducked past the attack and spun around to face the group.

Right after I faced them, Luke’s cronies dashed past him on opposite sides and let out 2 fist attacks. I took a single step back, causing their attacks to fall short. Then I immediately retaliated against the cronie I didn’t know with an earth shattering fist.

This fist attack was no joke, first of all, my bodiliy strength far surpassed theirs, and second of all, my comprehension of the fist technique was much stronger than the others in the class. After all, I was the only one to stay behind, not to mention that my technique was the only one to achieve the basics of the technique.

With a high pitched scream, the one I hit fell to the ground twitching. But then is when I found out the first weakness of a martial technique. I could not execute it with both hands, and I had to return to the previous stance to let out another one.

In that momentary weakness, I was hit in the side by Logan’s fist. I fell on the ground and I immediately came to face with a foot stamping towards my head. I rolled over and grabbed towards his foot with an iron grip. He tried to kick me off but it was all for naught, I would not let go.

Despite Logan’s efforts, I got to my feet quickly and let out the strongest earth shattering fist I had let out since training.

“Wham!”

It smashed into his stomach and he flew to the side. But I was not done yet. Like an elephant, I stampeded towards Luke who was standing on the side watching. But this time he did not meet me head on. I could see the fear in his eyes, he wanted to flee. He started running frantically from me, but it was like a cat running from a tiger. The two could not be compared, and in a moment, I had already arrived next to Luke.

“Bang!”

He hit the floor, hard. In the period of momentary silence, the dust from him falling rose up in a swirling cloud, signifying his defeat. Finally, my anger had subsided. Promptly, I continued to walk through the route to my house ignoring the stifled screams and groans coming from behind me. But unlike the normal resentment that normally resulted in a hard won battle, on my face there was a satisfied smile. I had involuntarily made a breakthrough in my understanding of the earth shattering fist with that battle, and it consolidated my understanding of the basic movements to the martial art.

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

Immediately upon arriving home, I felt as if I was starving. Previously the beast known as my stomach had slowly grown angrier as I trained, and now that I had reached home, it simply couldn’t be suppressed any longer.

“Grrrrrrrr”

I was now panicked; the growling signified that if I didn’t get food soon I would die. I ran quickly to the cabinet to get something, anything, but I feared I would not be quick enough. Going against the wishes of the beast was a losing battle, he would weaken you until you passed out or died. The only way to win was to sate him with food, to prolong the fight to another day. But I was already feeling the weakness in my limbs, it was taking all my strength to open the cabinet.

Eventually, I opened the cabinet, and with rapidly weakening hands, I managed to reach the forbidden bag of dried meat. It was forbidden for a reason; eating from it would result in a punishment all too hard to bear. But surely, Dad would forgive me, after all this was a matter of life and death!

With a hurried movement, I picked up the bag, and with hope filled eyes, I tried to open it. I exerted all the strength I could muster, pulling power from who knows where to open the knot. But it was all for naught. The tie was, stuck. It was Stuck!

I crumpled to the floor in dismay, my legs could no longer give me any support. I tried to untie the rope again in a final, misguided hope. I couldn’t. My eyes filled with despair, was I going to die like this? I again futilely struggled to move my arms or my legs, but I was now fighting a losing battle. There was no winning against the beast. It growled again in triumph, and I gave up.

I lied there for a while, not able to move a muscle. It was only a matter of time now, I was waiting for the inevitable. In my last moments, I glanced at the door to see a figure just standing there. His face portrayed subtle frown, and one of his eyebrows was raised in confusion. Ah! It was dad!

I crazily started motioning over with my eyes to the meat bag, and Dad seemed like he understood. He ambled over to me at a leisure pace and slowly picked up the bag with seemingly careful movements. That made me almost cry out in agony, he was doing this on purpose! After an eternity, he had finally placed a piece of the jerky onto my mouth, and not even a moment after, it was gone. Like a beggar who finally had food after a week on scraps, I jumped to my feet and stole the bag with quick and practiced movements. I then stuffed as much meat as I could to sate the beast.

But I had let my guard down after stealing the bag, and it was stolen back with movements that could only be described as masterful. I didn’t even notice the bag was gone until I reached for another handful of meat. Immediately after, my limbs were filled with weakness, and I sat down again trying to deal with the unbearable hot feeling in my stomach. It growled again but this time it seemed to say,

The beast- “I will get something to eat either way, but you get to choose. Which would you rather, food or some scrumptious Daniel?”

My face turned pale, and Dad directly used a restore on me. Instantly, my face turned towards a healthier shade, and I was not hungry anymore.

Me- “Thanks Dad...”

He glared at me and replied,

Dad- “I won’t punish you again because of the torture you had to endure under. But don’t you dare take from my bag of jerky without being prepared for the consequences.”

I looked at him sheepishly, choosing not to say a word. Yes, I could express my dissent on how hungry I was, but I could of also expressed foresight in the matter of training and prepared a snack when I got home.

After about a minute of awkward silence, I promptly decided to return to my room. I had to further consolidate my understanding of the basic earth shattering fist. I exhaled out a long sigh and examined my bodily condition.

My muscles were still aching softly, but I was fatigued no longer thanks to the restore. I could begin training without any problems. However, I was not going to do any training physically. That could wait until tomorrow. Instead, I decided to meditate on the insights I gained during that fight to maximize the effects of the breakthrough. After all, I was not about to forget how I pulled off that fist, and waste all my hard work.

__________________________________________________________________

The Universe Catalog

Another authors note- As you can probably tell if you read the Universe Catalog, this story is going to be like a wuxia until Daniel reaches 12 years old, upon which the story will grow its wings and turn into an xianxia. Look forward to it! Or maybe it will happen sooner. You don’t know yet ‘tehee!’