Chapter 10)

A large gust of wind blew against my body.

I could barely resist the large amount of pressure pushing against me, as I slipped against the grass, gripping the dirt with my shoes as I tried to open my eyes to the wind. If I leaned backwards, I would have surely been knocked into the air, so I kept most of my weight leaning forward.

"This is just a speck of my essence! If you can at least withstand this much, then that will be good enough!"

A speck?! This is a freaking tornado!

I crossed both of my arms together, acting as a shield to keep the wind from my face. As I opened my eyes, I could see the form of the wind rushing past me. It had not been covering any of the grass around, the wind seemed to be only hitting against me. 

"Khh!"

It was as if a large amount of weight was trying to pull me back, like trying to pull a large car with just rope. I have never experienced such force from wind before, I had only seen abnormal occurrences like this from large rain storms, or tornadoes.

My shoes which had been gripping the dirt had begun to slip, as I could feel the ground beneath me break and crumble as the wind's weight pushed me back. There was nothing I could do to avoid or move away from the wind, so the only logical conclusion I came up with was going against it.

Lowering myself even further forward, I managed to keep my face away from the wind, only looking at the ground. The wind did not blow against my face anymore, which allowed me to see what was in front of me as I concentrated on keeping my face balanced.

"You got this Ogata! Don't let this little wind get the best of you!"

Shut up man!

His words of encouragement didn't help, they only sounded like distractions while I kept at it to not let my feet go backwards. 

To my advantage, it felt like I was getting used to the amount of force being pushed against me. I didn't feel like I was going to be pushed back anymore, but now I felt like I was not able to go forward. My feet stayed locked in place, my left foot in front, and my right in the back.

To push against this force, I had to walk against the wind, which meant raising my right foot. I was fearful in the fact that doing so would make me lose balance, but keeping my left foot against the dirt, I attempted to do what seemed impossible at first.

"Hrghh!"

Raising my foot felt like the hardest task of my life. It was like you had a 200 pound weight locked against your ankle, trying to raise it up even just a little bit. I tensed my whole body, flexing my foot as I kept trying to raise my leg. I thought I was going to cramp up trying to do so. 

"Once you step forward once, you'll manage to do it again with ease!"

"Urgh!"

My foot shoveled the dirt, as I used all the muscles in my leg to raise it. I thought I would go lightheaded doing it, but to my amazement, I could feel my leg raise just a bit, enough to the point I could move forward. As soon as I planted my foot down again, it made a crater from the grass.

Next was my left foot. Surprising like Barsanti had said, raising my foot this time was a lot easier than before. It had taken me almost half the effort as before, and before I knew it I found myself taking small, but steady steps against the wind.

"Just a little bit more! You're so close!"

It felt like I had been getting closer to Barsanti, as the wind kept growing stronger and stronger as I pushed forward. The tiredness I felt was like no other, and my legs felt like they were about to go numb from the pressure. I found myself shuffling my legs instead of walking, sliding against the dirt as I finally fell to the ground. 

"Whoops. Well, you can't master everything the first time you attempt it. But it was a great effort! You made it a lot farther than I thought you would."

"Huff- Huff...!"

I could barely breath as the wind died down against my body, looking up at the bright sky, I felt like I was going to go blind. I could see Barsanti come up beside me, looking down and covering the sun with his shadow.

"What the hell does that training even help with...?!"

"Haha! Now you understand why Iris called it strange! Well, for starters, this training involves your body and mind. You allow your mind to create mental willpower, you believe you can go against the great force, and you allow your body to create strength, pushing against the force with your muscles."

"Second, this training involves you interacting with essence. Practice comes with failure and many attempts, and allowing yourself to let your body get used to essence will no doubt be an advantage for whenever you encounter an enemy who can wield essence."

What a pain in the ass, but if it helps, I can't deny that it worked.

"Well, I believe that was definitely a success! I think it's time that I treat you to something amazing, just as a reward for your hard effort today."

"What is it?"

"You remember how you were so fascinated by that large coliseum? Well, it just so happened that they are going to be hosting a large tournament later tonight."

"Really? I always wondered what it was like going to one of those..."

"Aaand, I just so happened to also get tickets. Three for all of us!"

"No way! How'd you get them?"

"Don't worry about it. I have my ways~"

He always has such a sense of mystery behind him...

"Well, let's go tell Iris about the news. I think she'll be just as excited as you are!"