Heero carried his Master with him, he experienced the same experience when he started running. It was so exhausted to bring his Master as he ran, nevertheless, Heero reached the backyard in 5 hours.
Heero lied down to the ground as soon as he reached the yard. He threw the basket on his back away and lied down on the ground as he let out a heavy breath.
It seemed as Saint did not care how exhausted his disciple was.
"Fifteen minutes rest! Another fifteen minutes for lunch! After that, you know what you have to do, right?" Saint grinned as he looked down at his disciple.
Heero did not bother to reply but nodded his head as a response. Of course, he knew what he must do next. Cut the gray trunk was the next training.
Just like this, Heero spent his days with an intensive under his Master watch. Running and swinging his sword to the super hard trunk. He spent his days like this for a month.
During this month, even though he still did not know his master's name, but he acquired a mother. Not only one, but seven mothers at once. Just as he spent his days with the intensive training, he got to know the identity of the seven gorgeous women. They were his Master's wives.
Yup, all women he found in his Master's house was his master's wives. After the seven fairy mothers learned his past, they decided to adopt him.
Because of his master's wives were an unmatched beauty, Heero decided to call them fairy. At least, in the eyes of Heero who only stayed in a remote Xin Village, all of his seven mothers were a fairy.
He lost his family, but now he got a new family. He felt he was so fortunate to get picked by his Master. That day was the most unfortunate day, but also a fortunate day as the strongest man took him as a disciple.
Yes, Heero learned his Master was not a Hero but a Saint. The strongest man and the hope of mankind. As long as Saint was still breathing, the human race would never get wiped out by the other races. Saint who also his Master wanted him to be the successor.
However, Heero refused, he wanted to be a Hero, not a Saint. Even though both seemed to have a similar purpose, but Hero and Saint were different. As long as the human race was not threatened, Saint could not participate in a fight.
In short, as long as Nebraska City was safe, Saint could not participate in the fight between the three races. It was a pact made by Beast God, Spectre God, and Saint. Of course, the God of the other two races also could not participate in a fight between the three races.
Heero did not want to be Saint. He did not want only to protect the people in Nebraska City, but everyone. He wanted there would be no more unfortunate child like him who lost the family. He wanted to be a Great Hero like his Grandfather dreamed of.
Heero refused frankly and honestly despite there was a possibility his Master would kick him out. Surprisingly, his seven fairy mothers also supportive of his decision to be a Hero. They took on his side rather than their husband.
Another surprise, his Master did not kick him out and he continued the training.
Today, it was the thirtieth day since he started training under Saint's guidance. After waking up, washing his face, and eating his breakfast, Heero started his training.
Still the same, it was still running on the same route. The difference was he carrying a boulder which two times heavier than his Master now. Also, Saint added another two laps for him and it took three hours for Heero to finish his three laps running.
It only left Heero with heavy breathing. It showed his result of training during the last month. After resting and taking lunch for half an hour, Heero continued his training. It was to cut the gray trunk. After half a month swinging his sword, Heero only left 3 centimeters deep cut on the gray trunk, but he did not give up.
At least, there was progress, even if it took him for a month. Even his palm kept bleeding, he would continue, he wanted to cut the trunk as his Master did, he wanted to learn a sword technique, he wanted to be a Great Hero that his Grandfather dreamed of.
Just as he wanted to continue, Saint stopped him.
"Wait!"
Heero stopped and looked toward his Master. He saw his Master approached him. Then, he felt his Master was touching his right arm and nodded. Heero did not know what his Master doing, but just let his Master touched his arm.
After that, Heero felt a palm touched his back. He maintained his stance while waiting. After a while, Heero saw his Master nodded toward him.
"Hmm, you are ready!"
This was what his Master said, but Heero did not understand.
"Ready for what?"
Heero did not know, but soon he got the answer as Saint tossed a book toward him. The book looked old, but it was also glowing in blue. There was a word on the cover.
"Saint Ki Comprehension!"
Heero's eyes were glowing as soon as he read the cover. Finally, he would learn to use Ki. Ki was essential to Hero. One could not be a Hero if they could not use Ki. Now he understood his Master's words, he was ready to learn Ki Comprehension.
From today onwards, he added new training to his schedule. Morning to noon he would run, noon to the evening he would swing his sword to cut the gray trunk, and from evening until the night he would learn Ki Comprehension.
Just like this, Heero continued his daily training for another six months. Finally, in the seventh month of training, Heero managed to cut the gray trunk. He cut the trunk after he learned how mastered the basic of Ki Comprehension.
He applied Ki onto his sword and cut the trunk which was half from being cut.
"Master! Master! Master!" Heero called out excitedly. After seven months, finally, he managed to cut the trunk. It made him excited, it meant his intensive training bore its fruit.
Not only that, there was another thing which made him even more excited. He could learn a sword technique from his Master.
There were slow footsteps coming closer. Heero turned back and saw his Master was coming. He rushed toward Saint and dragging him to the gray trunk.
"Look, Master! Look!" Heero sword the gray trunk which had been cut by him proudly. Yes, Heero had a proud look on his face. It was more like an achievement.
However, Saint poured cold water, "What are you proud of? Seven months? It's too long."
As soon as Heero heard this, he looked down dejectedly. He was hoping his Master would praise him.
"As I promised, I will teach you a sword technique!"
Hearing this, the dejected look on Heero's face changed to a joy look in an instant. Finally, what he waited for.
Then, Heero saw Saint tossed a blue sphere to him. He caught the blue sphere which glowed in blue and looked toward his Master. His look was asking his Master how to use the sphere.
"Imbue your Ki to the sphere! If you can master what in the sphere, I will teach you my sword technique!" Saint grinned toward his disciple and went back to the house.
"Well, let's stop the training for today! I will give you a day of rest!"
Looking at the back of his Master and the grin on his face, Heero felt he was being tricked. However, upon hearing he was given a day of rest, Heero smiled brightly. This was the first time he got a day of rest.
Without looking at what inside the sphere, Heero dashed toward the forest. After running for a moment, he reached the end of the forest which was a cliff. Beyond the cliff was cloud, only cloud could be seen from there. At the edge of the cliff, there was tombstone about 5 meters tall. On the tombstone, there were many names engraved on it.
Besides the 5 meters tombstone, there was a smaller tombstone. Heero was the one who set these two tombstones. On the 5 metes tombstone, he wrote every name of his fellow villagers on it. Meanwhile, the smaller tombstone was for his own family, he wrote, his grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother's name on it.
He knelt before the two tombstones and said, "Everyone, today I cut that damn hard trunk. I finished one of my training. Even though I am still not strong enough to be a Great Hero to kill the specter, but I have entered the first to be a Hero."
"Wait, please wait longer, I will kill every specter. I… I…"
Tears flowed down from Heero's eyes as memories of him in Xin Village resurfaced in his mind. He cried for a moment longer and then approached the smaller tombstone.
"Grandpa, just waits, just wait. I will be a Great Hero, I will be a Great Hero!" Hero hugged the smaller tombstone as tears flowed down.
After that, he walked to the edge of the cliff. He sat there while holding the sphere in his hand. Each time he felt the training was unbearable, he would run here to calm his mind. The people of Xin Village and the deceased family was the one who could make him enduring the training until now.
He took a deep breath and erased the tears in his eyes. Afterward, he imbued Ki to the sphere and then, Heero heard an old voice rang in his head.
"There are two basic moves in sword technique, Slash and Pierce…"
The words left unfinished and then, an image appeared. There was a man who a few years older than him. The man held an ordinary sword like the sword he used until now.
In front of the man, there were many gray trunks. Just one look, Heero knew these trunks were the same trunk as the gray trunk he cut just now.
The twenty gray trunks were arranged to surround the man. Then, Heero saw the man sheathed the sword and slashed the sword to the surrounding gray trunk.
A slash and the twenty gray trunks were cut in half. Heero shocked, it took him seven months to cut one trunk, but the man who was a few years older than him cut twenty in one second. Then the image changed.
It was still the same man, the same sword, and the same trunk. However, this time the twenty trunks were arranged into a line. Then he saw another inconceivable scene, as fast as lightning, the man pierced the frontmost gray trunk and sheathed the sword back.
The man only pierced the frontmost gray trunk, but all twenty gray trunks had the same hole as the frontmost trunk. Heero swallowed mouthful saliva.
This was the basic sword technique, he had to learn this basic before he could learn the advance one. From now on, he had to learn this basic move.