The Mysteries Of The Past : Part Four

After that, every single day, I woke up to different pieces of training.

At first, I was only carrying branches on my back to somewhere with him. But over time, he started to train me on how to hit properly,

And he would say things like,

"You are not hitting the right spot! Hit more accurately, not stronger!"

"Don't forget the opponents behind you when you fight, Orano! Not only the enemies you will see, but you will have enemies that you can't see too!"

"Use your body much wiser! Don't spend your energy for nothing!"

And after that, when we did these trainings for over a year, we finally switched to different kind of trainings.

One day he approached and gave me a white long wooden sword and said,

"Since you are seventeen and need a weapon for fighting, you will be using this from now on."

I asked,

"What is this?"

"It is the sword that is made out of the "Rahia" tree. It is many more times stronger than a normal sword. These trees are known to be harder than iron. But what you're holding is the last of its kind."

"How did you get something like this?"

"I took a very dangerous task with a few people a month ago. And when we were done with our job, they offered me this instead for gold."

The sword looked pretty new and not worn out. And as he said, I needed a weapon to train better. So I happily accepted it and thanked him.

After taking my sword, we did trainings on how to use my sword.

At first, when we were training with logs, and he told me,

"You have to cut it, not hit it!"

I didn't understand what he said. How could I cut a log in half with a wooden sword?

But after training for months, I finally learned how to use it and I cut a log in half with a wooden sword.

That was surprising even for me.

And It was just like he said,

"Whatever the material of your sword or the material of what you're going to cut, if you can learn to use your weapon correctly, you can cut even an iron in half."

And before I turned eighteen years old, he started to train me underwater.

"Water and battlefields are very similar for me. When you step into it, you must plan every single move before you make them and you have to be very quick about it. If you can't even control your mind underwater, you can't control your mind in a fight." He said before the training.

He also said that, if I can meditate underwater and learn how to move sufficiently, it would make so much advantage for me.

I thought it was for me to strengthen my reflexes, and I was right. But it was much more different than I imagined. I trained underwater for a year and when I turned eighteen years old and started to move faster and hit harder, Roam approached me and said,

"The training you will take today will be much more dangerous than any task you took before. But if you will take the task, you will get much stronger indeed. Will you take it anyway?"

"Yes! I will do my best."

All of the psychical trainings, mental preparations, all of the things that he taught me, It was the for that moment.

And when we finally reached a lake, he told me,

"This river is not big as Rawara, but a much more dangerous one."

"A dangerous one?" I asked confused.

"Yes, It is. You must remember "Atranochs" the water serpents since you talk these things a lot with Yuma."

"Atranoch, a Serpent that is faster than its kind. And it is said that they are one of the most dangerous sea creatures that ever existed."

"As fast as its speed, its attacks are extremely sharp. If a normal person had tried to fight it, they would have died seconds later."

He then turned to me and said,

"Are you still sure Kid? If you say that you have to train more, I will understand."

"As dangerous as it is, I have reached the limits of my training. If I want to achieve my goals, then it is obvious that I have to go through this training."

He then nodded and said,

"It is good that you understand."

And after we talked, I jumped into the depths of the water and waited for it to come.

At first, I had no problem with breathing, but everywhere around me was getting darker and darker as I get deeper. And after swimming towards the bottom, I felt a movement beside me. It wasn't a regular movement and it was something gigantic. And how many times that I had turned around, I couldn't see it.

I even asked myself,

*Is it even here?*

But at that moment, I saw it. It was just like the book that we read with Yuma.

It was a frightening creature. 

It was 30 feet tall, with razor-sharp teeth, covered in Gills from head to tail, Azure scales, and eyes, and finally, it had darker colored scales that go all the way to its tail too. And since it had thicker scales on its head, it looked like it was wearing a helmet.

It looked at me for seconds, but it felt like an eternity. And finally, it tried to attack me, making me come to my senses.

I swam away and dodged its attack. But after that moment we both kept fighting, looking for each other's vulnerabilities. I got injured very deeply from my leg and lost a lot of blood. I was moving slower now. I just didn't have time to stop there and I had to do something.

But before I could figure something out, I found myself out of the water.

Ronk had pulled me out and made the creature go away.

I was saved, but he looked very angry.

And he said with a very angry and disappointed voice tone,

"If you go to a war with your ego again Kid, I may not have a chance to save you like this. And I don't remember teaching you something like this, but you still acted on your own."

Then he turned around and said,

"Let's go home Kid. It is obvious that you still have limits to cross."

I was very ashamed to disappoint him like that. But the moment that my leg got injured didn't got out of my mind.

It was replaying over and over again.

What would have happened if Roam wasn't there? What if the monster caught me off guard or had some other advantages in water? What if I died there?

It was all annoying me.

And right after I got home, Mrs. Giselle approached me and started talking to me,

"Tatsumi! Why are you so sad?"

I just brushed it off and said,

"It's nothing, I was just training with Mr. Roam."

"Oh, that guy said something to upset you again, didn't he?" She said as she sighed.

I bowed down my head again and replied,

"It was my fault. I didn't train enough. I thought I was ready, but It looks like I wasn't ready at all. I am not sad, I am just ashamed of what I have done."

She smiled and said to me,

"You shouldn't be ashamed of your own development."

I didn't understand what she said at that moment, but it felt very different to hear those words.

So I asked confused,

"What do you mean by that?"

"All this time, you and Roam have been working hard. Do you think the purpose of these trainings was for nothing? I don't think so if you ask me. Actually, that is the purpose of it. If you give yourself the time you need, I believe you can improve yourself."

She then added,

"Okay then let me tell you a story."

And sat beside me.