"But first, that pitifully lean body of yours." Dinan says, pointing toward my chest, "It needs to be properly worked on."
I raise my hands face level, staring straight at my thin wrists. Then I let out a soft chuckle.
He isn't wrong. Ralyn refused to eat properly. Not like he was given healthy food in the first place.
I raise my neck, and my gaze ascends, landing on Dinan's contemplative expression.
His eyes are strained, digging holes around my body as he caresses his smooth chin with his left hand, letting out a low hum sound.
"Hmm," He chimes, "If you had high Chi, your training would begin.. meditatively. You'd have first of all learned to feel the Tein in the atmosphere, grasp it, assimilate it, then undergo physical training until you form your core and learn a sword art. But for you, who doesn't have..." He pauses, but his eyes still study me intensely.
"Hmm."
Those studying eyes widen. And his lips curl slightly as he takes his hand off his chin and claps once.
I'm standing, my head slightly tilted, my hands crossed, and my squinted eyes still focused on him.
"I know exactly what to do." He speaks, his voice a bit high.
"And what's that?" I ask.
"Your training is going to be purely physical. We'll cut off the first step, the second step, and the third step. We're going to dive straight into physical training to build your body to be able to withstand the sword art of the Steelheart forces."
As he speaks, I nod.
I don't completely understand what he's saying. All I know is that I'm going to learn swordsmanship, and I need his training.
Then…
"How do we do that?" I ask.
He doesn't reply, he just… stares at my legs.
What is he staring at?
"Take your shirt off." He says. A blunt, straightforward tone.
My lips curl, shaping a bitter grimace, and my forehead wrinkles as my legs dig in firmly on the ground.
I don't understand. What does he mean by that?
As my gaze lingers on his face, I examine his facial expression, trying to find out if the meaning of his words is on his face.
But I notice something… Every single sliver of warmth that his expression once carried has vanished, replaced by a cold, neutral expression. An expression so simple and so plain that my spine, just by looking at him, tingles. My heart warns me that there's great danger in his simplicity. And it feels like I'm staring straight at a bomb waiting to explode from the slightest contact.
I'm frozen in place, my boots pressing hard on the surface of the grass.
The breeze coming in contact with my skin…
No, the air around me feels stale, like it's not flowing at all. It's just.. stagnant.
My throat trembles as I swallow down a large gulp of saliva. Then I push my hands to move, blinking my eyes as they feel a bit itchy.
I raise my hands, staring at my palms.
It's sweat. Sweat is all I see, flooding my palms. Then I feel it all over my body; the sweat. They flood my skin, rushing from every sweat pore in my body, causing my clothes to cling to my skin.
I blink. That itchy feeling in my eyes worsens as the sweat from my forehead flows in.
My vision blurs immediately, and I raise my neck, staring straight ahead, in the direction where Dinan calmly stands. But I don't see him, I only see his outlined figure, malformed by distorted blurs.
I scratch my eyes, wiping off the sweat threatening to invade my vision. And as I wipe them off, finally, my vision clears up, and I see Dinan. He stares at me, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"You're sweating profusely, aren't you?" He speaks softly, but his intonation drips with pure mischief. "Then, take your shirt off."
I pause, my chest squeezes as my fingers dig into my palm, clenching to form a fist. My skin flushes as I grind my teeth.
But… What can I do? I am under his tutelage. That means I must do as he says. And besides, he's.. capable of causing this kind of… heat.
Immediately, I unclench my fists, and my chest frees up.
I drag my hands lazily, raising them carefully as they feel heavy. I quickly take off my shirt and toss it on the grass.
I raise my head, shielding my eyes from the harsh rays of the morning sun raining down on my bare skin.
"Good," Dinan utters as he plants the wooden sword on the ground again. "Now," He lets out a low grunt, crouching to sit on top of the wooden sword. "You're going to start running. You'll run around this entire field until I tell you to stop."
So this is the kind of training I have to go through just to become a somewhat cheap copy of a true swordsman, huh?
Alright..
Let's see.
"Okay," I reply.
"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Dinan asks, his chin resting lazily on his palm.
Steadily, I draw in a deep breath, then I hold it in.
Exhale. Softly.
Go.
As I move my right leg, Dinan's voice stops me from moving:
"Take your boots off."
As he says that, I let out a scoff.
The joint in my waist crackles as I crouch, taking off my brown leather boot.
Then, I stand.
Once again, I breathe in, and I breathe out.
Today marks the beginning of my journey as Ralyn Steelheart.
Slowly, I lift my left leg.
Huh?
A weird feeling shoots from my left leg, traveling throughout my body with insane speed.
It feels as if I tried to lift a heavy weight with my left leg.
I drop my leg down, and I turn my neck to look back at Dinan.
On his relaxed face, there is a wide, mischievous smile. Even his eyes are smiling.
So he's doing this too? With that Tein of his I assume.
Yeah, it must be. Such a shame that I can never use that energy.
"Haha... this isn't gonna be easy," I whisper. And as I do so, I turn my neck forward. A determined expression plastered on my face.
This time, I'm armed with the knowledge that my legs are heavier than usual.
The veins in my calves bulge as I strengthen them. My eyes narrow, my gaze hovering around the wide field.
I'm going to run around the three walls of this field until he decides it's over.
As I crouch slightly, preparing to run, the grass and dirt rub the soles of my feet, but I ignore them. And I move.
A large leap. Propelling me forward, and I begin to run.
My chest heaves, rising and falling as I endure the unusual weight pressing down on my legs.
I'm running, ignoring my surroundings.
My heart beats loudly. It's the only sound I hear as every other sound around me — the birds, the distant laughter of male trainees, the loud yell of a female — slowly muffles in my ears until they completely fade away.
And as I continue to run, tiny rocks hidden between the grasses prick the soles of my feet.
But I endure them, I have to. To run.
It's funny because as my pace quickens, my mind wanders far away, remembering that day back on Earth.
The first day of the apocalypse. I think that was the only time I had ever run as fast as I'm doing now. Running like my life depends on it.
Now I hear clearly, but just enough not to make me lose focus: The sound of my feet colliding with the ground; it echoes throughout the entire field, mixing with the sounds of my huffs and puffs.
Yes, now I'm on trac–
"So slow." Dinan's voice cuts through my thoughts like a knife to a string. Snapping me out of my immersion.
And I pause immediately as my face squeezes into a baffled frown. "What?"