Training Level Up
I spent the two days of the weekend making lots and lots of karuta boards.
Some of the lumber had already been worked down as far as squared beams, and I also made plenty of boards prepared up to the pre-polishing stage that Dad would take with him for his classes.
From Dad’s point of view, he felt bad making me do that kind of work because it felt like he was just making me help with his job, but I convinced him that it was one form of mana training and helped out anyway. Seriously, Dad’s way too considerate.
Of course, it wasn’t just board-making, we also did martial training in the afternoons.
Since the academy had started doing similar athletic exercises, body techniques and sparring practice had begun in earnest as well.
That was because I’d gotten to the point where I could make barrier armor, so Dad had finally given me permission.
During training, I used physical enhancement over my whole body, so if I didn’t focus properly, one or the other would cut out halfway through.
The athletic equipment that had been built in places touching the ground, logs and low suspension bridges, had been removed. Instead, lots of round, ball-shaped objects were hanging from tree branches at different heights. The goal was to destroy the center of each one using kicks and punches enhanced by physical ability.
It wasn’t “kicks only for low ones” and “punches only for high ones.”
I had to land both kinds of attacks on every single target.
For low targets, punch power dropped. For high ones, I had to jump to kick them.
Physical enhancement made it doable, but if I focused too much on that, the barrier armor would vanish without me noticing.
For this training, Dad told me to give the barrier armor a color so he could tell at a glance whether it disappeared or not.
Because it was colored, at first glance it looked like a little girl wearing a full-body suit.
Well, I did swap out the spider mark in the center of the chest for a violet flower, and I leaned the suit’s colors more toward the feminine side, white from the chest up and black below.
Dad was surprised at first, but being able to observe it clearly with color helped him understand how tough and defensive the barrier armor was, and he seemed convinced.
Isn’t anyone going to comment on the full-body suit part?
“Oi, yer armor slipped off again. Ya’re puttin’ too much focus on yer legs when ya jump for the kick.”
“Yes!”
When I tried to jump higher, I always ended up concentrating too hard on pouring mana into my supporting leg.
“Even for low ones, don’t just use yer fists. Use yer whole upper body, drop yer hips, and drive it in when ya punch.”
“Yes!”
Low targets were hard to put power into. I could stomp them with kicks, but punching something below my lower body made it hard to generate force.
Watching Dad demonstrate, it looked like he was breaking roof tiles.
The targets had numbers written on them, so it wasn’t as simple as breaking the closest ones first. Targets were scattered all throughout Dad’s forest, and some required crossing suspension bridges up in the trees.
To find the next target, I also had to use vision enhancement. Even if it was far from the current one, the next number was always placed somewhere that could definitely be seen.
“So then, where’s the next one?”
“Hmm… hmm? Ah, found it! Up in the tree!”
Using Ivy Grow, I extended vines, grabbed them, and ran straight up the tree trunk.
From here to that target, there wasn’t a suspension bridge, so I extended vines again from a tree in between and crossed over using them like a Tarzan rope. I wasn’t yelling when I jumped anymore.
The target set up on a thick branch on the other side was at just the right height. Right punch, left punch, right kick, left kick, hit them all, and the target broke.
Alright, where to next?
Looking from the branch to other branches, I couldn’t see any numbers. So maybe it was below.
When I looked down, I spotted a target in the middle of the tree where I’d extended the Tarzan rope vines earlier.
“Hmmm, that spot’s tough… jumping from below won’t cut it.”
The height for a flying kick to hit a target below was usually about a head taller than me.
If my current height was a little over 100 centimeters, then it was probably around 120 to 140 centimeters up.
But that target was higher than that. About as high as the second wall in martial training, so around two meters.
If that was the case, dropping down and jumping up wouldn’t work. I could touch it, but attacking it would be impossible.
Then the only option was to attack from above.
I pulled back the vines I’d left extended and wrapped them around my waist.
Dad had been watching from below the whole time. Even if I fell, I’d be fine.
Still wrapped in vines, I jumped diagonally downward toward the target and chanted Grow, making the vines extend in length.
As I swung with a buuuun and right before I hit the target’s tree, I pulled the vines in toward my body and kicked off the trunk with my feet as I descended.
Whoa. This feels kind of like a thief climbing walls.
When the target came into view near my feet, I hit it first with a right kick, then a left kick. Then I dropped a bit lower, spread my legs just below the target, balanced myself with a three-point support using the vines and my feet, and smashed the target with right and left punches.
“Oho, nicely done.”
Hearing Dad’s voice, I slid smoothly down the rest of the way.
I thought it felt familiar… and yeah, this was kind of like climbing. I’d always wondered if people weren’t scared when I saw someone resting on unstable rock with just a thin rope. This felt similar.
“Dad, was that okay? That way I just did it?”
“Oh yeah, ya did real good. Thought ya might get stuck wonderin’ how to handle that one, but ya didn’t panic and came down proper.”
He rubbed my head roughly, and that made me happy.
When I got blown away mid–suspension bridge because of a failed wind spell, I’d been scared for real, but Dad had rescued me right away. I knew I’d been fine then, so I didn’t feel all that scared anymore now.
“Alright then. I was thinkin’ we’d head to Giren’s shop after this. Ya still got some energy left?”
Giren… who was that again? I felt like I’d heard the name recently…
“Oh, the weapon shop guy? Dandada? Huh? Dad, can I make weapons now?”
“Hah! Yer about to hit Copper Rank soon, ain’t ya? Wind season brings in more outsiders, too. I figure by then, even if ya leave the village, ya oughta be able to handle extermination jobs proper.
Might be a bit early, I thought, but the Guildmaster and Vice-Guildmaster both agreed once they saw how fast ya growin’.”
Seriously? Does that mean I can finally go outside? Like, hunt Horn Rabbits and stuff?
Woohoo! Now that’s starting to feel like being an adventurer!
I mean, yeah, of course I understand that herb gathering, permanent requests, and village-wide requests are all important adventurer work too, right?
But still, when you say “adventurer,” you think monster subjugation, don’t you? And weapons, the super important partner for that!
The weapons at the training grounds were too big for me to handle… but if it’s a weapon shop, can they make one just for me?
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