Chapter 14: Hand to Hand

I almost dreaded waking up this morning as I wondered what other torture methods Monroe had for me in training. I knew this was for my own good, but damn! I think I actually had nightmares these past few nights of Monroe putting me back in and just leaving me hanging in that accursed anti-gravity sphere. It wasn’t the sphere itself that scared me. It was the idea of falling to the ground with all those needles already in me, getting stabbed in even further. *shudder*

Though we seemed to have graduated entirely to stances, his training methods were entirely at odds with what I had seen others do before. So I had no idea what to expect. Begrudgingly I made it to his Manor at the assigned time in the morning. As soon as I arrived, Monroe had another roll of cloth which I had taken to associating with the acupuncture needles, waiting for me. As soon as Azure saw that, she veered away from the training area and took a walk through the Manor. She had long since taken to exploring the remainder of Monroe’s home, only to come bothering us for food and to go out-side for a bathroom break.

Seeing her instant dismissal of the training session and the look of resigned sorrow on my face, Monroe began to laugh. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist it.” He said as he let the rolled up length of cloth unravel as it opened towards the ground showing there was nothing in it. A sigh of relief could be heard through the room as I realized that he was joking with the needles this time. “Hahahah!” He laughed even harder at that.

“Also you no longer need to wear the undergarment that I gave to you.” He then paused a moment as if in thought. “I do however suggest you keep it since I find it helpful to practice my techniques with few movement restriction.” ‘Like Hell’, I thought. And I so did not need that mental image of Monroe’s wrinkled figure practicing his motions in a man thong in my mind. That abomination was going in the trash as soon as I got home. “Um actually, I’m going to go change, so I’ll be right back.” I had taken to wearing the damn thing under my pants to Monroe’s place after which I changed at the Mage Guild into my normal pair of underpants. Rushing off to one of the manor’s bathrooms I quickly stripped off the offending garment and donned my more comfortable underpants.

Now back in the room, I was curious to see that Isaac was not there this time for our training session. As I had not stepped onto the padded training mats till after I had changed, I hadn’t realized that the gravity was still greatly increased in that area. Looking around in confusion, I saw that at each corner of the training mats was a chalk glyph with a shining brown stone in the center of each glyph.

“Ah, I see you noticed the change in audience. Isaac knows that I don’t like showing others my techniques, so he created a method to keep the gravity field going for much longer now without his intervention. Now I want you to stand in the middle here.” He said while pointing just next to where he stood. “And get into stance one.” As I followed his instructions, he began at first pushing lightly on me in various areas as if to knock me over. Then, as I continued to remain standing he increased the force that he exerted upon me. Only after I finally had to take a step to keep myself from falling did he say anything more.

“Good! You are using the correct muscles to hold yourself firm. Now let’s go to the next stance.” We went through all of the stances he had trained me in, correcting me a few times when I put too much or too little weight on a certain area that he said hindered the effectiveness of it. Standing back to look at me, he finally said. “You are now ready to learn how to fight.” “Yes!” I cried out in relieved excitement. Then in a single rush he knocked me over *hard* onto the ground.

“Ugh!” The air was forced out of my lungs at the combined force he exerted in knocking me over and the impact upon the ground itself. Looking down at me he raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Well, aren’t you going to get back up?” He asked. Feeling I was in mortal danger if I didn’t do as expected, I got back up in a hurry. Then he proceeded to rush me again with the same resulting crash to the ground.

“”What is the purpose of this?” I finally cried out after the 5th time of him knocking me over. “This,” he said while helping me to stand back up this time. “Is to teach you a few things. First, is that every stance has a weakness. Second, it is to teach you how to deal with a foe that can overpower you. Thirdly, I won’t tell you what else you need to learn, but if you don’t start learning it in a hurry, then much worse will happen.” With that, he once again knocked me over into a heap on the ground. As I lay there, he began jabbing his bare toe into various points on my legs and body which caused immense pain.

I got back up in a hurry that time before he could do even more damage. Once again I took the first stance he had told me to take. Again he rushed me and I was knocked over, then with no warning I could see his foot coming at me again. In fear, I used the momentum gained from the fall to then roll out somewhat awkwardly further away from him. A smile of appreciation crossed his face at that, but then he advanced again even more quickly to begin jabbing me with his toes in my pressure points. I scrambled up to a standing position in a hurry as that happened, enduring the pain in the process.

Once again, he knocked me down. As I fell, being determined to not be hit with his foot again, I angled my body so as to roll out of the fall and then continue the roll somewhat flowing into a standing position again. “Excellent!” He cried out. “That is what you needed to learn the value of on your own.” As I stood there in a weary stance, he went on to explain. “Enemies will not give you a chance to get back up. In fact, they will use your fall to the ground as a means to deal more damage with little chance of getting hurt themselves. You needed to learn that intimately and find a proper counter.” He paused a moment as if critiquing what I had done. “You can definitely improve the method that you used in falling and recovering, but now you will understand the importance more than if I had just taught you.”

I nodded my head in agreement with that assessment as I rubbed at the sore spots on my body. “Now, let us begin again.” He said. From that point on he showed me how to fall and how to use the force of the enemy more efficiently to move away from the point of impact. Then he pounded into me the importance of recovering as quickly and as efficiently as possible so as to retaliate. He called it “Rollout and Counter.” A method of evading the full force of a blow, rolling away from the enemy as they advanced, and regaining my stance into a recovery position optimally placed to follow up with a counterattack upon my own attacker. He even allowed me to strike a single blow upon him with each recovery, when he felt that I had achieved a proper counter attack stance. If I didn’t have a good enough position or striking angle then he would proceed again to knock me over.

We went through every single one of his stances as the hours went by. I was sore all over at the repeated abuse I received whenever I hadn’t managed to recover fast enough. Each fall he would give me less and less time to get back up. He seemed to keep it up till my body reflexively would fall to the ground as I took his hit, and then roll into the striking stance in which I would retaliate. Finally, bruised, beaten, and more than ready for sleep, he let me go home. I had hardly noticed that Azure had come back to watch, as the pace he had kept me going at had retained all of my attention.

* * * * *

As I woke up that next morning, my muscles screamed in protest, and I could almost swear I heard my bones creaking. Up to that point, I had not once thought to try using my healing energy on myself. But this situation called for desperate measures.

Sitting up to more comfortably meditate, I summoned my soul energy shaping it with the intent to heal. The expected waves of chilling warmth washed over me, but even though the feeling itself was greatly comforting, once the wave of energy had passed, my muscles and bones hurt just as much as they had before. ‘Huh,’ I thought. In the back of mind, I had suspected something like this might happen. I felt it had to do with how I was using my energy. When manipulating raw forces, those forces were outside of my body, thus allowing me to move them about around and within me. Just like I could cause a gust of wind to come and push me over, so too could I push upon the ground and make an indentation on stone. But when it came to summoning healing energy to affect myself, it was like I was trying to exert force upon my own hand just by reaching it out. I guess a different example would be like trying to lift myself up off the ground by simply gripping myself around the waist and lifting up. It just simply wouldn’t work. It was the same with healing because I was attempting to exert my own inner energy upon myself.

*Sigh* I guess I just have to suffer. Back at Monroe’s, everything was situated as it was the day before. Gravity field in place and a smiling Monroe just waiting to beat some sense into me. Azure had decided that this was much more entertaining as she settled herself down on top of my pack that had our lunches and water in it, to observe us. Her tail flicked in anticipation of my beat down.

“Are you ready for today’s lessons?” Monroe asked me. “Heh, we shall see if I am.” I replied half-heartedly. “You had better be,” he replied. “For today you need to not fall down at all costs. Or else we will go back to the basics again.” Horror filled me at the thought of having to go back through everything that he had already put me through.

“Now stand firm! You can use any of the positions I have taught you, but nothing else. Stand firm and Do Not Fall.” He cried out as a leg came crashing at me. “Umph!” I took the blow, bracing my-self as well as I could. I had to take a single step to the side to keep from falling over, and at that, Monroe glared at me. *swallow* I had to choke down a knot of fear that grew in my throat at his gaze. Okay, so moving out of position is a no no as well.

Again he attacked, this time with a well-placed thrust into my abdomen that knocked me breathless. Despite my sudden lack of oxygen and burning pain in my abdomen, I forced myself to stay up even as spots of darkness filled my vision, threatening to draw me into unconsciousness.

The training continued on like this all day with various palm thrusts, kicks, jabs, elbowing and the occasional full body tackle. Several times I came dangerously close to falling over, and the few times I stepped out of my permitted stances I would receive a particularly painful attack the next time.

At the close of that day’s session, Monroe called me over. “Jade, I haven’t been spending as much time as I should be with Victoria and our new ‘baby’ Daenerys. Victoria has been keeping him company so as to make sure he doesn’t turn feral, but considering that we just got married, I’ve decided that we will be switching to training every other day for the remainder of these 2 months that I’m on leave from counsel business.” He looked me once over as if judging everything that I had going wrong.

“You currently lack proficient flexibility in your body and to progress adequately, you will need to remedy that.” When he had mentioned my practicing with him only every other day, I had been thanking the heavens for the reprieve, but now I began cursing them for letting him find something more to torture me with.

Shuffling over to him he led me to the center of the room again. He then proceeded to do the splits. “You need to do just as I do to become more proficient.” As I copied each of his stretching exercises, I fell woefully short of what he was able to do. Those exercises included laying on the ground with my legs spread as far apart as they would go, reaching out to try and touch each toe while keeping my legs stationary. Then they went to laying on my back with my feet firmly on the ground while arching my back as high as it would go and keeping my hands and feet in contact with the ground. Several more exercises were included which had me near crying by the end with the combined difficulty and the accompanying pain from today's practice and the strain on my stretching tendons.

“You need to do these exercises at least 3 times a day from now on. As you become more flexible and are able to complete the forms in half the time that you currently take, then you need to double the routine each time. Well, until next time. Have fun!” He called out to me as I beat a hasty, near shuffling, retreat.

That night, as I lay in my bed in the loft, I shuddered at what I had gone through. I knew he was right about needing to become more flexible, and I could definitely see how all of his training methods had proper merit, but they still hurt. With a sigh, I logged out to once again face real life.

* * * * *

In Real Life, I stepped out of the capsule immensely relieved to not have aching muscles to greet me. Thinking back though I recalled something that had been mentioned before in the introductory manual. Going back to my room, I pulled out the booklet and flipped through the pages till I saw what I was looking for. It was under the section in regards to Game Limitations.

Body – Skill Synchronization: There is a boost to in-game skill efficiency and effects if the player’s real life body becomes more capable of performing their in-game physical feats. 1% synchronization = +1% skill efficiency increase. An increase of up to 100% synchronization can result in a +100% to skill efficiency for each skill individually. This effect can have valuable results as your skill can be working at 200% when those that don’t train their body will be held back from excelling much beyond the in-game skill efficiency.

“Yes! This is what I can do!” I cried out loud. After quickly returning the book to my desk, I started performing my stretching exercises. Already, due to my 2-3 times a day hour long swimming exercises in Real Life, I had managed to shave off most of my extra abdominal fat and I had a more lean appearance. However, like Monroe had said, I had been neglecting my flexibility. The exercises themselves took me less than 20 minutes, and so I still had time to do my hour long swimming and then grab a quick meal to maintain my health. Too soon, and knowing full well the kind of pain I was going to be returning to, I logged back into the game.

* * * * *

You sometimes have to wonder if expected pain is better or worse than unexpected pain. This was the theoretical debate I was waging with myself in order to delay the inevitable of getting up out of bed. Though I still felt a dull throbbing as I lay there not daring to move a muscle, I knew as soon as I made a movement then all the soreness would come back. Also as I thought this, weren’t games supposed to alleviate all pain upon sleeping and then waking up? Damn you Reality Factor!

Wondering what I could do to ease the muscle aches I realized that I did know of a single hot tub, that I could use to ease the soreness. Unfortunately it would also turn me red like a broiled lobster in the process. *Sigh* Looking to Azure who was happily asleep in the dim light of day I felt it was entirely unfair that she could handle the heat and enjoy its perks.

“Better now rather than never.” I said aloud as I braced Azure before swinging my legs out over the side of the bed. Yep, that hurt. The hardest part didn’t begin though till I started in on my new morning stretching exercises. Somehow after managing to get through them while my furry companion was languidly stretching and yawning to wake up, I made it into the kitchen to help make breakfast. In conversation with Victoria I ended up learning that indeed she and Monroe were meeting up that day. She asked if I’d be willing to keep an eye on the stock of raw materials and create any potions that that needed making since she had to spend most of her time with Daenerys while he was growing up. I readily agreed and promised to check up on what we needed.

In regards to watching the store, Victoria said that Gertrude would take any customers that came by and in the case of an emergency she gave her a method to get ahold of her. With that said, I had a day off to myself. At last!

As the two of us stepped out into the morning light of day, I could feel the hesitant chill of the air as if the world itself was holding its breath, in anticipation of the coming winter. Few trees had any more remaining leaves upon their branches and the invigorating scent of burning wood stoves drifted on the faint breeze. I shivered a little before adjusting my thick overcoat to cover the inadequately insulated spots. Since it was getting so late in the year I knew that I had a limited time in which to accomplish what needed to be done.

Deciding that Victoria and Monroe were likely at the Drake Nest, I decided to again forego the waterfall training to give them their privacy and instead seek out a possible instructor for Azure in the way of beast fighting. For the most part, few people knew of Azure being my companion and so as we walked through the streets to the fighter’s guild, several people stopped to stare in amazement. Feeling a little conspicuous I decided to go back and grab the hammock for Azure to lay in. Looking down at her as she lay in there, I realized that she was getting almost too big for it. She didn’t seem to mind one bit though and after some minor adjusting I had a steady balance. And so we again headed off to find her a teacher.

As I arrived at the fighter’s guild a group of 8 well-armed men were hanging out by the entrance. They seemed to be having a good time making jokes and drinking away. Approaching the friendliest looking one of the group, I enquired about if they knew any fighters here that specialized in beast fighting techniques. Before I had said that several of them were still talking to each other, but once hearing that, they all got rather quiet in anticipation of the answer.

“Yeah, we have a lady who uses beast techniques to fight, however you should knock any hopes of her teaching you anything right out of your head. She doesn’t teach anyone her style.” The man who spoke to me seemed to say that all with the air of weary confidence in knowing what he was talking about from personal experience. “Well, it can’t hurt to try, can it?” I asked jokingly.

He then gave me a worried look before actually giving a response. “Yes, yes it can hurt to try.” His hands seemed to guard his groin area in memory of an unpleasant event. “Oh!” I exclaimed. “Um sorry?” I said somewhat sympathetically before firming my resolve. “Well I have to try anyways.” As I made my way past them, one of the other guys called out to me, “Best of luck to you!” The others gave out a bunch of low toned jeers at my supposed brazenness as I made my way into the fighter’s guild.

Once inside I headed straight to the bar that they had there, since bartenders usually knew most everything that went on in their establishments. The sounds of clashing swords and cheering onlookers in the adjoining sparring area was an odd comparison to the usually quiet mages guild right next door. Approaching the bar I waited patiently for the bartender to come over to me. “What can I get for you son?” The deep voice was a bit at odds with the thin looking frame of the dark vested bartender, but I supposed appearances aren’t everything. “Yes, Sir. I was wondering if you cold point me in the direction of a lady that I heard uses beast fighting techniques.”

His eyebrows rose slightly at my question before leaning forward to speak to me. “Did you want some liquid courage or something to numb the pain before talking to her?” I almost laughed out loud at his question but he seemed deadly serious. *cough* “No, um, I’ll be fine thank you. Could you just point me in the right direction?”

With a shake of his head he pointed to a shadow at the opposite end of the bar from where I was at. “She’s over there.” He then left to assist other customers with a parting look that said, ‘it’s your funeral.’ That sure gave me some confidence. Making my way over to the shadowed figure I began to see more details as I neared her.

At a farther distance there was a sense of a fierce predator that was lurking within the shadows. Closer up and upon further inspection I realized that sense was not for nothing. Long shapely legs that looked like they could run fast like a cheetah could be seen as she had on high cut animal skin shorts. Glancing further up I could see a lot of skin as she only had an animal skin bikini top. She didn’t have bulging muscles, but what she had seemed to be very well toned under a layer of darkly tanned skin. Brown hair that seemed to have been cut with a jagged knife lightly touched upon her shoulders.

As I finally came within speaking distance I heard a low growl that made Azure shift a little in her hammock and made my hair stand on end. “Uh . . . um, hi I’m Jade I was wond. . .” I was interrupted by her instant response. “Whoever you are I’m not interested. And if you have any sense then you will leave before I decide to treat you as my next prey.” Her words held a threatening tone that I took very seriously. But I couldn’t back down.

“I can’t leave.” I forced the words through shaking yet clenched teeth, though I honestly did want to run before she tore my guts out. This lady was feeling less and less like a woman and more like a full grown pissed off panther. In fact I think that those clawed gloves she was wearing had been made from a panther. Finally she turned to me with a feral gaze with piercing yellow eyes. *gulp*

“Wait! Please! Before you make any assumptions I’m asking for your help in training . . .” “You dare to ask me for training?! Surely you already spoke to the other fighters before coming in. You would be a fool to not to. And you are doubly a fool to not heed their advice.” Another low growl came from her as she seemed to be looking at me sizing me up for the pain she was going to inflict. “They always ask for training and yet every time they try to share my bed.” A malicious look crossed her face as she continued. “I show them the error of their ways with exactness. Apparently word has not gotten around well enough.”

This was getting ridiculous! I felt like I was going to die here or at least have certain parts take a long vacation away from my body. Anger at being pre-judged and pushed into a corner made me rash for just a moment. “Look,” I said vehemently before rushing headlong to certain death. “I don’t want your training for me! It’s for her!” I practically screamed out in near frustrated hysteria. Leaning closer to the beastlike woman, I hardly noticed the clawed hands press up against my throat as I opened up the hammock where a fully awake Azure popped her head out to gaze intently at the woman.

Then, once I felt the sharp tips pressing against my skin, I began to wonder if this would be my first death in the game. . . . Stillness filled the corner of the bar we were in as the lady and Azure made eye contact and suddenly were engaged in a stare down contest. A low growl could be heard from both of them and although I couldn’t move my head much due to the aforementioned claws, I could see that Azure had begun to glow with her blue flames in reaction to the lady threatening the both of us. Glancing back up at the woman, I watched as her expression changed when the flames made their appearance. A fierce smile lit her face as she then ‘retracted’ her claws from my face.

What happened next completely surprised me. She bowed down before the both of us while exposing her neck more openly. “I would be honored to teach Her the ways of fighting.” Instantly the tense air seemed to just fade away as she sat back upright. A relaxed demeanor seemed to fill her as she now took a more casual assessment of the two of us. Azure by then had stopped growling and had brought her flames down to a simmer before soon disappearing in their entirety.

“I do apologize, my name is Clarissa. I had assumed that you like those before you, who only come with ulterior motives.” She paused a moment before speaking again. “Before I decide on how I help you, I ask how you came to be in the possession of a true White Tiger.”

Feeling this was the only way of getting proper teaching for Azure, I tell her everything about the meeting of her mother, the subsequent empathic bond we briefly shared, the passing of her child onto me, and in the end, the final fight with her mother’s foe the reaper. As the story progressed, the skeptical light in Clarissa’s eyes began to change and at mention of the Reaper a new assessing look came into her eyes as if she were measuring me in a different way. I had to admit that her new expression made me feel a bit uncomfortable. It seemed to contain a bit of an aroused hunger to it. ‘Yikes!’ I thought to myself.

“That is truly a touching story and after hearing it, I have decided that we shall begin training today.” With that she promptly got up from the bar, leaving her mostly untouched drink behind and I followed her towards the door. As we left together, with a low volume evil laugh, she snaked her left arm around my right arm pressing it firmly against the side of her ample chest. Being totally unprepared for her action, I just let it stay where it was, for I feared to do anything else as she led me to the exit. As I caught site of the guys who had greeted me when I had come in still standing by the door, a near expletive came bursting out of my mouth. Instead I commented in a near hiss, “You are going to be the death of me!” By which she gave me a dazzling smile while making a husky laugh that seemed to further antagonize the would-be suitors. Openmouthed and glaring at me with dangerous eyes the 8 guys who were chilling at the entrance stepped out of our way as the 2 (3) of us left together. For a time I continued to feel their envious gaze on my back till we had walked out of site.

The entire 30 minute walk that we took as she led me to a different part of the forest than what I had been to before, she continued to keep my arm securely trapped by her own. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the treatment, but I wondered at what cost it was going to come at. The silence of the walk was broken by her inquiries about my personal training up to this point. I told her of my lessons in becoming an apothecary, my recent start in lessons from Monroe, and my growing strength in elemental manipulation. I didn’t give very many details, but though she pressed for more information, I changed the topic to learn more about her.

I learned that even though she was only ¼ beastman, she had been raised by a beastman tribe and learned their ways of hunting. Her first kill that she had made for her trial of reaching pack status within the tribe had been the panther whose skin she now wore. She became quiet soon after telling me of that. It seemed as if there were painful memories hidden within this dangerous woman.

Having arrived at the edge of the forest, she let go of my arm and I let Azure down out of her hammock to travel beside us. Clarissa then turned to me. “What do you plan on doing while I train your White Tiger?” She enquired. Gazing about me at the new-to-me portion of the forest I answered honestly. “I plan to work on strengthening my spatial awareness while gathering herbs for potions.” She nodded in apparent satisfaction. “Very well, we won’t be going far with today’s training.”

True to her word, once we had gone another 10 minutes deeper into the woods, I settled down to meditate and sense my surroundings while she and Azure began their training. If she had wanted to go further, I don’t thing that Azure would have gone with her at this point. Closing my eyes I focused my sense of smell to take in the surroundings. Sweet and bitter scents assailed my nose while I sought to differentiate where they came from. Soft cracking from the rare branch could be heard as Clarissa and Azure practiced what I assumed to be stealth in tracking. Words were rarely used between the two of them as practiced actions seemed better suited to their methods.

After I had meditated for a couple of hours and then went about gathering herbs from the places I had smelled them from, I then sat back down to focus more on understanding my surroundings. Instead of just trying to feel out everything by scent and sound alone, I decided to try reaching out my soul as far as it would stretch. Interestingly enough, I learned that my soul had grown. It had reached a point where if I did not keep it subconsciously contained within my body, that it would solidly overlap past my skin by about a quarter the depth of my body, so as to span about 2 inches beyond the borders of my body without any further manipulation.

Making sure to keep the majority of my soul within my body, I sent out tendrils of my soul seeking out the areas around me. Massive awareness came crashing down upon me, as I began focusing my efforts more finely. After another hour or so of practice, I felt certain I knew every rock, upraised root, and most every flying or crawling insect within a 1 meter radius of myself. I knew that if I were to use my sensing immediately after entering a new area then I’d become almost instantly aware of the terrain in my immediate surroundings, but insect life took much longer to assess.

*ting*

Spatial Awareness: (Uncommon) has been upgraded to (Rare) Through the use of your soul and other senses, you have greatly decreased the time necessary to assimilate your surroundings. Current radius able to be near immediately assimilated has reached 1 meter. Further distances require more time to become familiar with. Through practice and growth of your soul, you will be able to achieve greater awareness.

As darkness began to fall upon the forest, interrupting our lessons, Azure joined me in my place of meditation, while Clarissa took off into the forest. While Clarissa was gone, Azure began to practice her stealth skill as I practiced my spatial awareness. At various intervals she’d come charging at me only to be caught in my arms before she could fully pounce. This seemed to irritate her to no end since my eyes were closed. Then with a playful bat she’d strike me with a sheathed paw. I wanted to sooth her pride, but I also didn’t want to give her false assurance. Besides, she still had unprecedented control over and resistance to fire/heat that far surpassed my own. So we each had our strengths.

Soon enough Clarissa had returned with a rabbit and what looked like a squirrel except bigger. After skinning and gutting the creatures during which both Azure and I watched, she started up a fire, and set the meat out to cook on a makeshift fire grill in quick succession.

After eating the now cooked meat, we worked out a training schedule where I’d come to this location every other day, which she readily agreed to. I did not want to keep meeting up with her at the fighter’s guild remembering the looks I had received when I was leaving. After we had finished making plans, I put out the fire and we went our separate ways.

Returning back to the city and making my way to Victoria’s home, no lights were on and she wasn’t home. Shrugging at that I simply lay down since we had both already eaten and went to sleep.

* * * * *

The very next day had me at Monroe’s Manor waiting on the mat as he thought through his plan of attack. Azure was busily stalking anything that moved in the house, included the bemused butler who decided to entertain her antics. Shaking my head at this display of her dedication to her training I too turned back to face the beat down I knew was coming today.

Facing me, Monroe spoke up. “Since previously you practiced taking hits and resisting hits, today is designed to teach you how to differentiate between when you should take or resist. I’ll also be throwing in the occasional one that you will want to dodge entirely.” Once that was said he promptly began knocking me about. The first hit was actually a trip which I turned into a rollout and counter attacked. “Good!” was all he called out before continuing in earnest.

After several jabs, kicks, tackles, and other forms of attack, he began to really mix things up. Reducing the force for certain tackles and increasing the force for other attacks to confuse me. Soon enough I made several bad landings on the ground as I had misjudged the force he was going to use. Groaning in frustration after that latest tumble, I thought to use my advanced spatial awareness. Closing my eyes to more fully focus on Monroe’s movements, I waited as he paused in his attacks.

I could sense as his eye brow quirked in curiosity before he began to attack me again. Every single attack that he made on me was correctly countered. Tumbling at the right moments and blocking at the others. Then all the attacks stopped. “Hmm, I see what you are doing, and I am quite impressed, but that is not going to help you now.” Monroe spoke with assurance. Suddenly without sensing a thing I was thrown to the floor. “What the hell?!” I cried out as I had to open my eyes to see Monroe standing from where he had attacked me with a smirk on his lips.

“You didn’t think that there wasn’t a counter to that did you? Even if you had your eyes open, I would be able to hide the amount of force I would be exerting though you would be able to see how I was coming at you.” Shaking his head at my naiveté he continued speaking. “Every time you decide to use your enhanced techniques then I will do the same. I would suggest mastering the basics before you start opening a door you are not ready to face.”

Still utterly confused as to how he hid his presence so completely, even from me, I just took his word for it and returned to the basic methods of defense. The entire day passed by quickly and soon enough I returned home beaten and tired.

* * * * *

The very next day was spent with Clarissa again as Azure and she practiced various skills. I watched for a time as they pounced on rocks bushes and the occasional rodent that they had discovered. Twice throughout the day Azure had actually caught something and had proudly carried it over to me to show off. I had since taken to practicing my meditation and slowly increasing the range of my spatial awareness. The most difficult aspect was retaining the myriad of information I was gaining from my senses while keeping my eyes open.

* * * * *

As the days went by and I continued to swap back and forth between Monroe’s and Clarissa’s lessons, I had finally begun to learn actual hand to hand combat from the former of the two. Monroe had started off with a single basic punch. After practicing that by punching into one of his mannequins for about an hour, he allowed me to punch him. Taking the first punch he then returned the favor lightly.

Once more he had me punch him, and in that instant he did a step to the back and side while blocking my striking right arm with his left in a sweeping motion. At almost the same time His right hand came out in a quick jab to just below my ribs knocking the breath out of me. After showing me that technique several times he had me copy his movements. This type of training continued on for several days as he taught me various counters for the previously displayed attacks. His training included defending against high kicks, back stabs, gut punches, knee kicks, elbow jabs and too many other things to count. As we continued to advance in the lessons he changed the location of our sparring/training.

What surprised me was that he had decided to use the ‘play’ area in the Drake cave for our next venue. Having not been there since the beginning of my training, I looked at the changes that had been made to the inner cavern. A type of camp had been set up, with a coal fire-pit (which greatly reduced the smoke output), a cot, and a few other amenities. I figured this was where Victoria and Monroe had been switching off watching over Daenerys as they trained him together and separately.

Azure seemed thrilled at this change in location as she now had a friend to practice her skills on. At first the Drake who was about 2/3rds her size didn’t know what to make of her constant pouncing around as she sought to get him riled up for some mock fighting. Then he seemed to get the idea and went in for a tackle. Since they were both still a bit small, the nest I had made was big enough to handle their tumbling about. During that time, Monroe and I made use of the larger sandy pit to practice my techniques. Admittedly, it was vastly different falling on sand than it was on nice soft padding. I definitely understood why he had brought me there for that.

Soon we had created a routine of meeting up at the cave instead of the house for the training. As the location of training had changed with Monroe so too had my interest in the training with Clarissa changed a bit. Several sessions of training between Azure and Clarissa occurred, in which even I began taking part in the training. At first I was very hesitant as again I remembered what the guys at the fighter’s guild had said, but she seemed to seamlessly accept my new presence in her lessons.

Weeks went by with my double training and strange things began to occur during those sessions with Clarissa. As we began to practice tackling each other, learning the best ways to take down our opponent, I became intensely aware of the movements of her body as she pressed up against me almost sensually as soon as she had me down on the ground. A part of me whole heartedly enjoyed the experience while the rest of me felt utter terror at the idea of pursuing these arousing feelings any further. I still recalled the warnings of the other members and the bartender at the fighter’s guild.

In any case, those moments of intimate contact lasted but a brief moment before she was back on her feet organizing the next practice round. I had to admit that I learned a lot from her training. We had taken to climbing in trees and springing our attacks from there. Though both Azure and I had successfully tackled each other several times now, each time we went after Clarissa we were immediately evaded and then countered with a single sweeping motion with her on top of us pinning us to the ground, usually with her hands bearing panther claws at our necks. Several times I thought I could see a smoldering look appear in her eyes before it was quickly snuffed out.

As the days progressed on and the venue changed several times where we even stayed the night a few times in the woods, Clarissa greatly helped Azure and I to acclimatize ourselves with the ways of survival in a harsh winter environment. The first time that we slept overnight in the snowing forest, Clarissa built a small lean-to for us to sleep in. After eating by the fire we lay down in a bundle beneath the lean-to to keep warm, with Azure lounged between Clarissa and I. Not including the tail, she now reached a little over one meter in length.

Following that first night, we had to rely entirely on our wits as Clarissa refused to help us in regards to our survival skills in the forest. Together with our combined senses, Azure and I first hunted down prey and other food sources which we set aside to cook later on. Then, even though Azure could have easily started the fire, I was determined to build it on my own since I didn’t want to lose that skill. What truly surprised Clarissa was when the two of us built our first shelter for the night.

Azure hunted around for good sized broken tree limbs which she would struggle to drag back to the campsite, while I’d soften up and even out the hard frozen ground with my earth manipulation. Then after creating a frame work with the thick branches sticking up from the ground, I then mentally commanded and formed the surrounding dirt and stone to form up around the raised branches. After forming 3 decently thick compressed walls and a partial 4th with about a meter and a half in height I then covered the top with the longer branches to which I’d then form more compressed dirt and stone over it. Not a speck of dirt rained down on the inside with how much I had reinforced it.

Clarissa just sat by the fire the whole time watching in amazement as we constructed our small fort. At the completion of it and as she went to assess the workmanship of it, again I saw a strange look in her yellow eyes as she gazed at me, causing a bit of discomfort to flutter in my stomach.

That night, after Azure and I retired to the fort to sleep, Clarissa had yet to join us as she had volunteered to clean up and put out the remaining fire. I began to doze off within the comfort of the safe fort only to be oddly roused by the form of Clarissa making her way in to lay down as well. Strangely she didn’t go to lay down on the opposite side of Azure this time. Instead after a brief hesitation she began advancing upon me with faintly glowing eyes that expressed a different kind of hunger for a different kind of prey. Swallowing down the knot in my throat, I watched mesmerized as this exotic and beautiful creature stealthily began making her way over me. A part of me came to instant attention at her alluring approach and my sensitive nose picked up on the overpowering scent of an animal in heat. I could feel the breaths coming from her at that close distance with her hands lightly brushing against my thighs before moving ever slowly higher.

Then just as she was about to lower herself to me, I felt a flurry of movement at my side as Azure almost seemed to teleport to my chest with the speed of her movement, while letting out a low growl. Clarissa then paused in her movement towards me with less than an inch between her and Azure’s upraised fur. Hesitation seemed to enter in the mix of overpowering scents. Then as if that wasn’t enough, Azure burst into blue hued flames of which Clarissa instantly backed away from. I wasn’t burned at all from the heat, but I could see red skin forming on Clarissa’s shoulders and part of her face where she had been burnt. The scent of singed hair filled the confines of the small fort.

With a look of utter bewilderment, betrayal, and pain, she backed away from the two of us and made as if to leave the fort when I called out to her. “Clarissa! . . . please wait.” She paused a moment as if in hope. Opening up my pack that I kept with me each time we went into the forest, I pulled out my ever present burn salve. “Please let me help you.” I said while gently motioning for her to join us back in the small fort. Fear still filled her eyes, but Azure had calmed down and seemed satisfied with just remaining between Clarissa and me.

Slowly and with much apprehension Clarissa made her way to sitting just opposite of me with Azure comfortably laying on my lap. Gathering a good chunk of burn salve from the jar, I reached towards her in which she flinched back after glancing at the still form of the White tiger. “It’s alright, I think she just disapproved of your methods in, well you know. . . . I don’t believe she will try to hurt you again.” Then as Clarissa seemed to relax a little, I began applying the salve to her burned shoulders. *Sigh* As I gently worked my hands over some of the burned and some of the now healing skin I felt a deep pang of regret at what I had missed out on. Moving onward to her reddened face, I carefully ran my fingers over her smooth skin watching as the angry red burns turn to healthy more pale skin. Feeling too that Clarissa was hurt more than just skin deep I knew I needed to do more to help.

Looking at her and catching her hesitant gaze I spoke. “Clarissa . . . you are a beautiful and amazing woman whom I would love to get to know better. I don’t know if Azure disapproved of the methods you were using or if she disapproved of you being with me overall, but I will tell you this. Your interest in me is definitely not reciprocated by me. But I think that we should go more slowly if anything is to happen.” She seemed to give a small nod sadly at that notion. Then after applying the remainder of the needed burn salve, I more firmly grasped her now healed shoulders. Closing my eyes I reached for my soul and pulled out a bit of it with the intent to comfort and heal. Then like a gentle stream of water I allowed it to flow from me and into her. A sharp intake of breath could be heard from her as I knew she was feeling my energy. After about a minute of the constant flow, I then allowed it to slowly fade away before opening my eyes to gaze into hers. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she took in shuddering breaths.

Though in the odd position with Azure still laying upon my lap, I reached forward and gave her a gentle hug that lasted more than a few seconds. At last the shaking seemed to stop at which I slowly pulled away. “Please stay with us. You are always welcome and don’t need to leave.” I then eased back down to my makeshift bed and tried to relax. Azure resumed her place by my side and between Clarissa and me. Keeping my senses alert, I felt the newly healed Clarissa just sit there for about a minute as if watching over me and then she too settled down for the night. Again I felt a pang of regret but also a sense of having done the right thing. Soon enough I was enfolded in darkness.

* * * * *

Logging out, I pulled myself out of the capsule to then sit on the edge of it. “Aaaaarrrgggh!” I screamed out loud in frustration. My feelings were very much in turmoil at the night’s events. I don’t know what of all would have happened if Azure had not intervened, but I had a good idea of what might have happened. A part of me even now wanted desperately to go back and try again. That wasn’t going to happen though.

In self-punishment over my lack of self-control, I took a cold shower to calm down. Next was definitely a trip to the gym to smooth out my thoughts with the repetitive movement of reaching, stroke after stroke, going from one end of the pool to the other. Too soon I was back in the capsule feeling not quite ready for the day.

* * * * *

The very next morning from our almost intimate encounter, Clarissa didn’t shy away from me, but neither did she try any more advances like she had before. From that point on the lessons became just that, lessons in which she was instructing us. Never again did she try to sneak in intimate encounters after practicing a tackle. Every once in a while though I would catch her sneaking a glance at Azure that seemed to form a pout but not once did she try anything with me again. Admittedly I was sad at the change.

* * * * *

Two things actually changed with the training in regards to Monroe. Firstly one morning he met me at the cave with wooden bracers and some blunted wooden weapons. Then we both traveled to the forested area close by the cave. He explained along the way how using weapons had little difference from using one’s own body to attack. The addition of the bracers would allow an individual to resist the more damaging edges of weapons.

In the subsequent attacks in which he assaulted me, I learned that there honestly was little difference in regards to defending against armed verses unarmed assailants. There was a bit of a change however in how one could guard their lower body, but that was a lesson that took a lot of time in and of itself.

Finally after many weeks of training, we had reached the end of the 2 months allowed to Monroe to be away from his counsel duties. At the end of the last day, he met me in his Manor again for a single sparring session. At that time he soundly beat me into the ground again before proudly announcing that I had done very well. I’m certain he meant it as a lesson that I still had far to go in terms of learning how to fight and defend.

After helping me up from my fetal position on the mat, Monroe spoke to me. “In addition to a lesson well learned. I would like to give these to you.” Going over to his desk in the corner of the room, he pulled out two bracers that would easily fit over my forearms. “This is my graduation gift to you. They will assist you in training as they have spells built in that will allow you to increase your growth.” Flipping the pitch black gauntlets over he showed me two sigils engraved on each of them on the surface next to my arm. They were for increased gravity and slow. Those weren’t protective in any way, but they hardly needed to be.

From my ability to sense ores I was entirely surprised that he had given me adamantine gauntlets. As I was lost in thought he continued speaking. “The spells can be triggered by lining up the star mark on the top side of the gauntlets and tapping them together. The same goes for ending the spell.” Handing me the gauntlets he then helped me in securing them to my arms. “Go ahead and give them a try.” Holding one arm out and tilted slightly inward, I flipped the other one over and tapped the star pattern that was close to the wrist together. Instantly both of my hands felt like they had 30 kg on each of them. In addition, as I sought to bring them into a guarding stance, my movement was very much slowed down due to the slow enchantment. My entire body was actively affected by the slow but only passively affected by the gravity since that was focused primarily on my forearms.

“These, These are amazing!” I cried out in excitement. “Thank you so much!” With a smile at my gratitude, Monroe simply placed his hand on my shoulder while facing me and spoke in a steady voice. “Remember, you have much to learn, but any time you decide to come by feel free to come for a sparring session.”

As I was leaving though, I noticed something. Though he said we were done with his near two months of training, I didn't receive any notices of skills gained. I recalled that masters of their art can block or delay skill level messages for their apprentices till they deem them ready. Turning back to him I asked what the reason was. "Hahaha, it's because you still have much to learn. If you need anything to truly tell you how strong you are, then fight with many opponents and you'll get an answer then." With a nod at his decision, I pondered over his explanation as we parted ways.

* * * * *

The morning after the conclusion of my lessons with Monroe, I knew this was going to be the last day with Clarissa in training. I dreaded telling her of my intention to leave the city, but I needed to go since I had much to do out in the rest of the world.

Meeting at our rendezvous in the forest we began our last day of lessons. This time by the end of our routine training in attacking and stalking in silence, it involved a contest of sorts between Azure and I in seeing who could hunt down and bring back the first meal for that night. As one might guess, Azure won by a long shot. I could certainly find the wild life more quickly, but she could actually catch it sooner.

As we sat by the fire going over what had happened today, I finally broke the news to Clarissa. Licking my lips in trepidation I finally spoke up. “Clarissa, I need to let you know that Azure and I will be leaving the city shortly and that this is the last time I can spend training with you.” Alarm tempered with a sad expression filled her face at my announcement. “Do you plan on coming back?” She asked. I nodded my head yes. “But I don’t know when or how often.”

A depressed sigh came from her at this realization, then she spoke. “Maybe it is for the better. It has long since passed time that I was planning to leave and return to my Clan in the east. I stayed to teach your Azure and . . . and you.” She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before continuing. “Maybe our paths will cross again sometime.” She said. A smile lit my face at what she said, and I replied. “I would like that.”

Too soon we settled down for our last night, and I lay there wondering about what might have been and hadn’t. As we lay there in silence, Clarissa repositioned herself to face Azure more fully. Curiously I watched what she was doing. As she reached out a hand tentatively towards the White Tiger and lowered her body to the ground in what I had learned to be a sign of respect and enquiry, I was surprised to see after a moment of them gazing into each-other’s eyes, Azure got up and crawled around to my other side, giving room for Clarissa to move closer to me.

“Just for tonight.” She whispered as she sided up next to me. Leaning in close she gently placed her lips on mine and what began as gentle continued into a lingering presence as she slowly wound her arms and a leg around me before separating her lips from mine. I too reached around her to pull her closer. As we lay there in the darkness holding each other, she began to tell me in a quiet voice of her life growing up. She spoke of the things she had experienced and the battles she had fought to resist the attentions of men that wanted to force their will upon her. I listened in silence as she poured her heart out to me. Too soon it seemed her story was over and together we lay there holding each other in our arms.

I didn’t log out that night as we slept. But in the light of day when I awoke, she had gone without alerting me to her departure. I knew this was the way she wanted it, instead of an awkward goodbye. And as I gazed out into the still morning air, I gently quested with my soul to feel the last of her lingering presence upon the camp, quietly mourning as it faded away.

* * * * *

Current time in game about 7:30 am of the 22nd of December. Day 113 in game time. 100% pain level. Real Life June 24th about 6:20 pm.

My times may be a little off and if anyone wants to correct me then I would be grateful to the input.

* * * * *

As Always I am greatly interested in detailed input and any donations are also greatly appreciated. I do have plans to publish the first volume on Amazon soon and it is likely to be about $2 – $3 so nothing too expensive especially since you can read it for free here. However I would appreciate it if you were to refer your friends to getting it. Though I won’t blame you for holding off till the next volume is out. Believe me, it will be worth getting the second one when I’m finished. Thanks to all you readers and your comments of encouragement. I'll put a notice up at the end of whatever latest chapter I am working on once the book is actually up for sale.

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