17 - Image Training!

“Hah…”

I clutched my knees, gasping for breath. Sweat pooled from my forehead onto the arena mat, dripping past my chin staining my already drenched tunic.

Scattered all around me were bodies, their maniacal cackling etched into my mind as I kicked the last one standing right in the face, sending it over the ring into the abyss.

It was only then I could relax, forced to take a breather by Hooty as the arena around me disappeared, replaced by the default room.

Here in my mind palace, I can do anything I want without affecting my real body.

A perfect place to test my mettle without risk of injury.

“Hooty… send the next wave…” I panted.

“Hoo!”

“It’s fine- hah… real monsters don’t come in waves. If I tire out in the middle, I’m done for. Besides, these copies don’t act nearly like the real thing.”

With Hooty’s help, recreating things from my memory inside my mind palace was a simple feat. The complicated bit was having them behave like their real counterpart, which depended on how well I understood said behaviors.

I’d only ever fought the one goblin; that was all the experience I had for Hooty to transform into a training simulation. Mister B pretty much decimated the rest in one hit, so those didn’t make for good data either. If I wanted to fight more realistic monsters in here, I first needed the experience in the real world.

Before this, I tried the wolf I saw near the Dark Forest. The ones Hooty spawned were realistic, as I already had a benchmark for wolves back on Earth to use as a model.

To put it bluntly, I got destroyed. All the lessons I learned were for humanoid opponents, not mankilling animals. The only thing that saved me back then was the fact that the wolf couldn’t climb up trees. Here in the arena of my mind, they had free reign to do as they please, and I was always eventually outsped.

“Hoo.”

“You want me to review before the next one? Alright, bring it up.”

It took some effort, but I figured out how to personally delve inside memories, as opposed to watching it in video form. Details that stayed outside my peripheral during that time rendered out as hazy, dark spots, but the important parts were displayed in full detail for me to carefully inspect.

I snapped my fingers, morphing the room into a snapshot my memories; a still frame of a forest, a pile of goblin corpses and a bear facing off against an orc, frozen in time.

“Y-You telling me to face off against the orc next?”

“Hoohoot.”

“Alright, let’s see…”

Ignoring the blurry, glitched copy of myself staring in bewilderment at the unfolding scene, I walked up to Mister B, his arm raised ready to deliver his famous one-hit kill move. My attention however, was on the orc.

“Alright, playback in quarter speed.”

“Hoot!”

Even at a speed four times slower than normal, Mister B’s hammering fist was a blur. How much power did it pack to reach such an insane speed? I watched as his fist connected with the orc’s head, waves of flesh rippling as it caved in on itself.

“Errgh…” I winced at the scene.

As the orc fell over, I gathered my thoughts about the fight and ideas on how I can make use of it in my upcoming simulation.

Which is to say, none.

“Hooty, I can’t learn anything from this.”

“Hoohoo.”

“Just follow the- Oh yes, Hooty. Sure, let me defeat this massive orc three times my height with one punch. I can totally pull it off.”

“Hoot.”

“No harm trying? I guess… alright, but set it up so that it stays still for a bit at the start; I want to test how much I can do with just normal attacks.”

“Hoohoot!”

The room morphed once more into an arena in a black void, the signal for me to face my next opponent.

“Grr…”

“Hey, big guy…”

The orc armed with a giant stone mallet scratched its nose, staring off into space without a single thought in its mind. Since I had no experience with this one, the best Hooty could manage was a rough estimate of its strength, as well as some basic movements expected of a humanoid creature.

“At least this will be a good estimate for how much punishment it can take- Hyah!”

A punch to the gut would usually send goblins flying in this simulation. This time however, the orc simply stood still, its huge belly absorbing most of the force I exerted.

“How about this- HYAAHOO!”

A full-powered jump kick to the neck sent it tumbling to the ground. Shockingly however, it stood back up, cracking its own neck with its free hand.

“H-Hooty? Are you sure orcs are this durable?”

“Hoo!”

“I know you gauged the strength based on Mister B, and yes, you’re right that this same kick did nothing to Mister B, but… Mister B took the orc out in one hit- o-oh, you already took that into account and adjusted this orc’s strength? Okay…”

“Hoot! Hoot!”

“Watch out? Watch out for wh-”

The last thing I saw was a slab of stone hurtling towards my head before I opened my eyes in shock, gasping.

I was comfortably sat atop my bed, Woolie napping by my side making for a tight squeeze in the cramped room.

“Ahh… Hooty’s gotta be annoyed right now.”

In reaction to my demise during the simulation, I was booted out of my own mind palace. Having occurred several times before, Hooty should have been used to this by now. I however, doubt I ever will.

“Like falling down a flight of stairs, only to jerk awake right before hitting the ground.”

I crawled out of bed, looking out through the closed window. A snowstorm raged outside, the few trees in the landscape buffeted by high speed freezing winds hanging on by their roots.

It’d been two weeks since climbing the hill, and winter had finally arrived.

“Brr… it’s gotten quite chilly.”

As I whispered words I never thought capable of escaping my lips, I draped the new woolskin scarf I’d knitted around my neck; ample warmth in this household for a highlander.

Woolie did the honors of shedding his wool for me before winter arrived, leaving me with a pile of fluffy materials to work with while stuck at home sheltering from the freezing blizzard. It was a little bizarre seeing his wool grow back overnight, but after witnessing it twice, I thought it best not question what complexities lurked behind his anatomy.

With some hard work and a generous donation of another boar from Mister B, I had crates of frozen food supplies stacked up in the kitchen. I spent the majority of my downtime making solid soup, filling up the cupboards with heaps of solidified, dark masses of nourishment ready to be dissolved in hot water when needed.

By my calculations, I should have barely enough rations to last throughout winter. Since I’d be spending most of the time meditating inside my mind palace, I wasn’t worried about burning through my supply.

My main concern was how winter would take shape up here in the highlands, and my first experience didn’t bode well.

“To think I’d miss morning practice to this snowstorm…”

Training in my mind palace didn’t truly equate to training my real body, and I still had to put everything I learned into practice on the training dummy currently swaying about violently in the harsh winds. I made sure to really secure it into the ground, but couldn’t help worrying over if it’d hold till the storm was over.

“And even worse…”

I managed to put together a wooden tub right before winter. Anticipating the lakes and springs to be frozen over, I had the genius idea of simply having a bath at home. Unfortunately I made it the same size as my desires, and by the time I finished it wouldn’t fit through the door. I had no issue taking outdoor baths, but…

“There it is, half-buried in the snow outside.”

It’d be really bad if winter in the highlands meant a constant snowstorm for three months, and I really hoped it didn’t come to that.

Daylight was also becoming more scarce. The winter nights lasted much longer, leaving me with daylight only about a third of each day.

“Hopefully it doesn’t get worse over the course of winter…” I sighed.

I was initially excited at the prospect of seeing snow for the first time, just not like this. I imagined frolicking in the snow with Woolie and making a snowman, not hunkering down at home hoping my house doesn’t get buried under a pile of snow.

“Guess I’ll make some lunch before going back to meditating. Gotta use up the perishables before the ones that keep good…”

I know it’s basic advice given by most people, but when actually thrown into a situation befitting of said advice, I had the urge to save the good food for later instead.

“Can’t take any risks without knowing what the coming days will be like,” I said to myself as I prepared a frosty cut of organs. “I’ll leave Woolie’s portion here beside the fire for after he wakes up. If he even does.”

After eating my lunch in silence, I returned once more to train in my mind palace.