Thud

Thud

FuuFuuFuu

It’s been one week since I started training, there has been no progress and I haven’t even opened my Qi core yet. So I stand here eyeing up Alice who was chosen to be my sparring partner since she's only eight, but still…

“ This isn’t fair, you're much bigger than me!”

I know I’m spitting my dummy out but you can’t blame me this devil spawn has been toying with me for the past week it’s not even training for her at this point, what can I do with this stumpy body, I knew it was too early for training.

“ohohohoho It seems the little general isn’t a match for me at all”

And so for the past week I’ve been subjected to this harrassment, but it has served as decent motivation as getting a good hit in would do me a world of good, so I leep forward with my wooden sword extended out for a stab. Since Alice is using wooden daggers my play is to keep some distance between us while trying to get a hit in but I can only watch as she sidesteps my stab and rushes in which leads to the usual defence from me and then the inevitable loss.

I bring my blade back while stepping away from her trying to keep the blade at her at all times. She simply hits the tip of my sword with her dagger then slides the dagger down the sword to the hilt trying to keep the blade away, while going for a stab with the other blade. I step back and bring my blade in the path of her dagger aiming to black it but this seems to be within her plan as before I was able to plant myself again she pushed the sword with both her blades and with no support I start to lose my footing and eventually crumble under the pressure.

argh

“hehehe and so I have toppled the general again. I really deserve more praise.”

It really makes me wonder whether or not they trained her and me the same way, because if so, does she not feel any shame beating her little brother like so.

“Joseph, where are your praises for your big sister?”

Oh god, she is trying to act like Father, what has happened to her. As I look at the little devil spawn the big devil spawn comes over.

“Now Alice, do you need me to remind you what happened when you first started training?”

And now Noah starts. I know Fathers cool but do you both have to imitate him so much, as the fakes we’re bickering the real Father came over.

“What are you doing, come and line up.”

Under Fathers instruction we line up and begin practising with our attendants or teachers for whatever weapon we’re using. As I look at Raphael and study him for a sign of QI he stops and drops his weapon slowly.

“Joseph you can not force your Qi core into opening, it is a natural occurrence, when your body needs strength beyond what it has that's when your core will be opened, this is why it’s better to start young. But know this, the average time to open even with training every day is still 9 months so relax and let it come naturally, okay”

Huuuuu haaaaa

“Okay”

Raphael is right, how can I force something I have no real control over. All I can do is train to the max and let it come naturally, anyway, I was told the sooner I open the core the sooner I’ll be able to move on in training.

I decide to just rush him and go for a wide slash aiming for the tip of his sword, just as it was about to hit, it was drawn back just enough for me to miss and then quickly thrust forward aiming for my sternum, I go to jump back and collect myself again but I’ve underestimated the reach of the old goat.

thud

“ It seems you think everyone you’ll fight is a carbon copy of you, it’s best to ingrain this into you while you're still small. That is the feeling of fighting someone much bigger than you.”

“Will that really be that important if I grow to the same size as Father I’ll be one of the tallest people in the city?”

“Sigh, do you really think that humans are the tallest of races? Putting aside monsters which can grow as big as buildings, the Giant race makes your father look like a child in comparison.”

Well I seem to keep forgetting where I am, am I still clinging onto the common sence of my old world, I’ve seen a dwarf, a race much smaller than humans, was I really so narrow minded to ignore the possibility of much taller races.

“Well it looks like you’ve understood the point of today's lesson, dealing with an opponent with a much longer reach.”

It’s going to be a long day isn’t it.

Well it still doesn’t hurt as much as when I started training but that wasn’t fun. I was thrown around between the big and little devils and after that passed onto the old goat to be lectured on everything I’ve done wrong.

I’m sitting at the side of the training ground with my siblings eating lunch, it's times like these where we actually get along. as long as they don’t speak that is, but that's beside the point as what they spoke about before actually interested me.

“What do you mean we can go into the forest?”

Noah almost looks smug as he goes to answer my question, “Well we’re allowed 3 hours break as we’ve opened our core and once a week we go into the forest to explore.”

“Oh Does that mean I can’t come?”

“No silly, Father said while you don’t get the breaks everyday we’re allowed to bring you when we go into the forest, and that day is today, so you coming?”

The look on his face was almost mischievous which makes me worried as to what will happen but I can’t resist my first outing out of the city.

“Okay, I’ll go get Raphael”

“No need for that he’ll catch up soon enough”

“But-”

“Let's go Joseph, or what, can the little general not go anywhere without his attendant?”

And so, victim to my siblings, I follow them without Raphael.

For my first outing it didn't seem much different from any old forest in my old world. The scent of the woods was the same at least, and as for the wildlife there hasn’t been anything apart from the usual bugs.

“Brother, do you know where our guards are?”

Alice seemed to be quite worried for once, A sight that I was enjoying, but I had to agree with her point that I couldn't see them, but Noah still seemed quite relaxed as he turned around and showed us a necklace.

“Sister you know what this is don’t you, as long as I have it Father will know where we are, I imagine that our guard is keeping back to let us get some experience.”

This seems to ease Alice up a little but I know one outlet for her stress and as she turns to face me her usual teasing smile is replaced with extreme focus.

“MOVE”

Almost on instinct I dive to the left and turn back to see a little rabbit leaping towards my sister, sigh, she really scared me was there any need to react like that over a lit- WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

I watch in shock as I notice a horn on the rabbits head knock away by one of my sister's blades and as the rabbit falls my brother is quick to action, pouncing on the rabbit faster than I thought his little body could move and slice the head off the rabbit.

I can only stare at the horn on the rabbit in confusion, why does a rabbit have a horn, hard enough to knock away iron, on its head and why was it so aggressive.

“Must have entered the little guys territory huh? well I must say that was a perfect cut.”

As Noah was inspecting his kill Alice made her way over to me.

“Joseph, are you okay?”

I actually look at her and see she has crouched down in front of me, my first time seeing violence since I’ve come here and this is how I react, you wouldn’t think I had been a soldier previously. Here I was getting consoled by a child, what had happened to me.

“hehehe I’m fine just a bit shocked”

“Okay we can go back if you want?”

What's happened to my sister, does she have two personalities? Who is this angel that invaded her body, can she stay?

“What are you on about? We've only just completed a hunt. We can't go back now, I'm only just starting.”

“Shut up Brother not everybody’s Rank E like you, some of us need to rest after that, anyway I think we’ve been here enough for today.”

With my brother finally shutting up and getting ready to head back I moved to the rabbit to get a better look. It was big for a rabbit but I guess I’m still comparing them to the rabbits I know from earth. Its claws were quite sharp and might be able to dig into the training gear we're currently wearing, the coat was a silky white and it was about as big as a pitbull from earth, so it was huge for a rabbit but we're treating it normally so I guess it's average. When I look at the horn it's about the same size as the dagger that I was shown by Dastreal coming at about 6 inches long.

“Are all rabbits this aggressive or was this one different?”

“This isn’t a rabbit, it's a horned rabbit you can tell from the horn.”

“I could have guessed that I’m asking if they’re common”

“hehehe No they’re not that common this close to the city and usually they’re quite docile I wonder what's changed?”

I don’t like the sound of that usually when animals act up there’s a couple reasons and one of them is-

howl