The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Ones Closest To G.o.ds

“No! I said left foot out at a forty-degree angle. Your center of gravity should be aligned with your right heel since that is your pivot foot, do you understand, stray?” The instructor had just cracked his whip to get me in proper position as he went around the cla.s.s.

Gritting my teeth, I silently obeyed, adjusting my left foot to comply with my instructor’s flawed technique. If I hadn’t, it would only mean a delay in whatever sc.r.a.ps of dinner we were given since we weren’t to be fed until everyone had perfectly gone through the stances and forms from the day’s lessons.

Days at this “inst.i.tution” had consisted of eight hour combat training, which I found somewhat flawed, then meditation to nurture our ki centers for around ten hours after. The remaining six hours were split amongst eating, washing and sleeping. Students whose centers had developed enough to learn ki techniques were separated from the rest of the group and placed into specialty cla.s.ses depending on their apt.i.tudes.

Those that were not able to awaken their ki centers were to be “relocated”, of which I had later realised that it really meant ‘to be disposed of’. For me, I had followed the instructor’s training regimen to the bone for the allotted eight hours. During the time given for meditation, I would sleep for the remaining two hours after actually only meditating for the first eight, using the time we were given to sleep to unlearn all of the garbage that the instructors had regarded as martial art and train in my own techniques.

The only useful information that the instructors had taught us were the vital spots in a human; the weak points. Their techniques were a brutish, senseless way of trying inflict damage to those points without any regard to how the opponent might react. They taught in a way where, as long as one follows the proper steps, the user will reach their target and inflict pain on him or her. Like I said... senseless.

I hid the fact that my ki center had been cultivated enough to learn ki techniques for as long as possible sinceI knew that once I advanced to the higher level cla.s.ses, it would give me less time for me to train on my own. My one stroke of luck at that time, I admit, had been stumbling upon a ki technique book for hiding the user’s presence. I had engulfed the words in that book like it was fresh water in a barren desert. The technique manual was a low grade one, but I had practiced the technique to such a degree that it provided me with the ability to sneak into the library where they held all of the ki techniques.

Now that I think back, I probably wasn’t that tall in my previous life due to the fact that I had only slept for eight to ten hours a week because of how much time I had spent reading and practicing the techniques. I knew it would’ve been useless for me to try and learn all of the techniques, so I had narrowed it down and studied only the ki arts that would most benefit me in the long run.

I’ve realized that, while the library had been secured, it wasn’t really heavily guarded; the reason being that, even if a student were to have trespa.s.sed inside, they wouldn’t have been able to figure out on their own how to learn the techniques. Much like the manual I had stumbled upon for hiding the user’s presence, the other ki technique manuals had been filled with terms and jargon that no orphaned child or teenager would’ve known.

That means, all I had to go off on to learn the techniques were the crudely drawn pictures that showed the necessary steps in learning and using the ki art. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}

It didn’t strike me then, but reflecting back on it now, it would’ve been easy to discern that I was nothing short of being a prodigy. Just by studying the pictures of the man (I’ll name the man Joe.) demonstrating the steps for the ki art, I was able to grasp how the ki was supposed to flow inside my body to properly execute the technique.

The first ki art I had learned after breaking into the library was a series of ki enhanced footwork techniques that I had practiced until the soles of my feet almost showed my bones. The technique looked like a tap dance sequence without proper ki flow, but once I had managed to input the proper flow of ki into the appropriate appendages at the appropriate time, I was able to evade, reposition, sneak behind, basically teleport within a limited range.

I still remember using that ki art, the technique I mastered and fine-tuned to make it even better, to defeat the same instructor that had whipped me so many times for no good reason.

The look on his face when I had my wooden sword pressed against his sweating neck, I can still vividly recall. His wide, astonished eyes shaking as his mouth hung agape trying to string together words to form a petty and convenient excuse that would allow him to save some face.

Even as I was on the road to become King, the foot technique that I had mastered and made my own left me with nicknames like Untouchable, G.o.dSpeed, Mirage, etc.

However, when I had come to this world, there was little use for it once my mana core advanced enough. I was hardly within range to use the technique that I had once relied so heavily on and it seemed so much simpler to just conjure a wall to block whatever projectile was hurled towards me. With mana being so abundant and all, I had never needed to regulate and control my mana output.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Present

It’s amusing how the human brain recalls moments of the past. All the memories that the person wishes to forget is somehow ingrained even deeper into the hippocampus.

This seemingly ancient memory of my previous childhood times had been suddenly evoked as if my life flashed before my eyes just as a simple low sweep from my opponent’s kick shattered both of my legs simultaneously. As I collapsed onto the ground, I failed to dodge another sharp jab that dislocated my right shoulder. I was all but defenseless as I shifted glances between the man who had overwhelmed me to such an enormous degree and my severed left arm that he had in his hand.

Windsom had told me that the pain felt in this domain was greatly diminished. If that was truly the case, how much more agonizing would these wounds be if It actually happened to me?

The one responsible for my current mortal injuries approached me with a mixed expression, giving me a terse nod as he snapped his fingers. “Enough,” he said as the world faded into black. And, like that, I was awake again with all of my limbs attached and unbroken.

I immediately crumpled to all fours and hurled the remainder of my last meal as I heaved for breath. My vomit immediately dissipated in the small sapphire pond I had been meditating in. I wasn’t sure if I was wet because of the magical liquid that I was surrounded in or because of the profuse amount of sweat and grime that I had discharged from the stress.

“No, let me continue,” I managed to choke out in between gasps.

“The human boy has admirable willpower. How much time has pa.s.sed, Windsom?” the same deep and controlled voice as the one that had broken most of the 206 bones in my body asked calmly.

“About five minutes have pa.s.sed out here,” Windsom said tersely.

“So roughly an hour has pa.s.sed for us in there.” The lean man with a shaved head remarked in a way that was neither disappointed nor proud, just matter-of-factly. I regarded the two asuras’ conversation with a weary curiosity while wiping vomit off of my lips.

“Again,” I demanded desperately, sitting back up in the meditative posture Windsom had taught me in the middle of this sacred pool.

The shaved-headed asura nodded approvingly and sat down facing me in the exact same position as I was in and traded glances with Windsom, signaling him to start.

Once again, the glowing sapphire liquid rose up around us and enveloped the asura in front of me and myself. I was soon engulfed in the familiar scorching sensation that had overwhelmed me the last few dozen times we did this, and again, my vision had darkened as I waited anxiously for myself and the asura to reappear in the h.e.l.l that is the mental training facility where I had just been killed

My thoughts slowly trailed back a few hours before all of this, when we had just left the Indrath Clan’s castle.