Carl opened his eyes on a new world.
He was standing just inside the gates to Koryo High School on the morning the manga started.
"Right about now Kenichi should be getting thrown to the ground because he startled Miu by being at her back." Carl muttered to himself.
Looking around, he saw all the students streaming inside the school grounds. They all looked at least 2 years older than him.
Carl looked down at his 13 year old body. He was still as fit as he ever was from his training, but he knew that at this time his strength was scaled down because he was younger than he was previously. But he was just about as strong as a 13 year old could be without adding Ki and martial arts training from a world like the one he was currently residing in.
"Well, I definitely stick out." Carl noticed he was getting looks from the students who were all dressed in uniforms, while he stood in casual jeans and a t-shirt, and was middle school aged, not high school aged. "Time to get out of here."
Carl turned around and left the school grounds. As he left, he pulled out his Pokegear to connect to the local network. He saw he had an email.
Carl stepped off into a corner out of the flow of traffic, and opened the email. It listed the locations of his Headquarters and Dojo, gave him the pin to his debit card, and told him the envelope labeled "Entrance Fee" would remain closed until he agreed with the institution the amount for the entrance fee, then it would be filled with a check, debit card, or cash in the agreed amount.
Carl pulled his wallet out, and saw he had a new debit card. He guessed the balance would be 1,000,000 yen. Then he pulled out the Entrance Fee envelope to look it over.
"Man, I love jump chain magic." Carl grinned.
He quickly put his wallet and the entrance fees envelope away for later.
Looking around, and seeing there were too many witness, Carl walked to a nearby alley and stepped behind some piled up boxes. Now that there was no one around to see, he opened a portal and jumped through.
Carl landed easily on top of a roof near the entrance to Koryo High School. He cast a simple SEP spell and settled down to wait.
He didn't have to wait long before he saw a gorgeous blonde haired, glasses wearing girl of 15 rushing to enter the school. As she was passing him by, he tagged her with a tracking spell.
Before she entered the gates, she paused to cautiously scan her surroundings. But, seeing nothing unusual, she continued on inside the gates.
"Whew, look at that situational awareness." Carl commented. "And she's the youngest, least trained member of Ryozanpaku. Out of all the martial artists around, Ryozanpaku is the best for a world traveler like me to go to for training. They are genuinely good people, so I don't have to fear being killed like I would from approaching YAMI. Or for YAMI to notice something unusual in my behavior when I woke up my memories and decide that torturing answers out of me is the natural response to someone acting out of character."
"Well, now let's go look at my two pieces of property."
Carl pulled out his Pokegear. "Guess since I'm no longer in the Pokemon world, I can just start calling it a phone again, right?" He looked up directions to his headquarters, and started walking there.
He kept an eye out for police or neighborhood watch types. He didn't want the hassle of being chased for ditching school. "I'm a drop-in to your world, I don't need to go to school." That excuse would probably not go over that well.
Carl soon arrived at his office. Looking it over, it looked like a typical office building, nothing special to bring attention to it. Perfect for fitting in the local area. He pulled the key out of his pocket where it was placed by the Jump Chain and let himself in.
Looking around, he saw that everything was set up decently well as he took a tour. There were 50 offices. Every office had a Desk, computer, filing cabinets, chair, phone, and radio. The phones worked, and the computers had internet, Carl checked.
The office had six floors aside from the ground floor and a basement. Ten offices on each of the top five floors. A fully equipped male and female bathrooms on each floor, meaning it included a shower and locker room. There was an employee break room on each floor. On the ground floor was a reception area where security would station itself to screen people as they entered, and a cafeteria. A Laundromat for employees was located in the basement. On the first floor up from the ground floor there were a few conference rooms for group projects and briefings.
After checking the kitchen of the cafeteria, Carl found a note explaining that he now had an app on his phone that could let him manage certain functions of his properties. He soon learned from the app on his phone that it could connect to his storage on the farms, and he could designate foodstuffs from his farm to automatically fill the walk in freezers and storage shelves of the kitchen at his headquarters. That way his employees would always have food available for the long hours they would no doubt pull.
The option to do the same for the dojo was grayed out until he could visit the location in person.
Once Carl set up the automatic restock option from a phone app, he continued looking around for anything else to do.
"Well, everything is all set up here for future employees, nothing else for me to do." Carl commented from inside one of the break rooms after poking around for a while.
Carl left after looking up directions to his dojo. It was an easy 10 minute walk from his headquarters building.
Upon arrival, Carl looked around curiously. This dojo would be attached to his Warehouse after this jump, a nice place for him to train to keep up his skills and so that he could train others. The building currently looked like a stereotypical Japanese dojo. Carl was pleased by the style.
As Carl toured the grounds, he found many facilities that were good for training. There was a weight lifting room, a swimming pool, a track, and an obstacle course for general fitness. They even had those upright tree trunks that kung fu artists jump around on to train their movement and balance skills.
There was plenty of space to practice and spar. Several different sets of striking dummies, wooden mockups of weapons of all varieties. There were also locker rooms, bathrooms, a sauna, a kitchen, cafeteria, and laundry room.
Once Carl saw the kitchen, he opened up the app and set up the auto fill option of the Dojo's kitchen food stock. By the time Carl finished with his tour of the Dojo, it was lunch time. So he cooked and ate lunch for himself while thinking over his plans.
Now that he had a few places that would automatically restock from his food reserves from the farms, Carl thought of a concern for the logistics of it. The time in his Warehouse stopped when he wasn't in it. Meaning his Farms probably time stopped too.
After thinking about the issue for a bit, Carl decided to test something. He had only been making door sized or garage door sized portals to his Warehouse, and he didn't want to leave portals of that size lying around just anywhere where someone might somehow get in. But what if he made a really small portal that someone couldn't get in?
So Carl opened up a small foot wide portal on the wall. He pulled out his phone, with the display set on the clock. He put the phone just inside the Warehouse, and shrunk the portal to the size of a pinhead, but didn't close it.
After waiting for a minute, he opened the portal wide again and checked the phone. "Success! As long as I have a teeny tiny portal open, even if no one can enter, time will be passing by inside." Carl was happy about it. From then on he made it a practice to put a microscopic sized open gate on something he carried with him. Either his phone, his wallet, or his forearm guards. That way his farm would always be running and producing product that would either keep him and his people fed, or make him money.
After lunch was digested, Carl changed into his workout clothes. "It's a good thing I never threw out any of the clothes I outgrew from the Pokemon world." Carl laughed. "I'm back to being a very dangerous 13 year old, watch out!"
After a hard workout for a couple hours, Carl sat in meditation. He knew from his perks and entry into this world that he now had access to Ki, but until he could control the life energy, he wouldn't be able to do much with it.
After sitting for an hour in meditation, Carl still couldn't find his Ki. The difficulty of his search for Ki was complicated by his magic that kept metaphorically jumping in front of his face shouting "Look at me!"
"So, it might take a while to track down and learn to manipulate Ki. I shouldn't be impatient. From what I understand, it takes Masters of the arts years to get to that point. But a journey of a thousand miles will never get done if you don't take any steps. So daily meditation is still necessary, even if it feels like I'm not getting anywhere right now." Carl thought the issue through out loud.
With that issue firmly resolved in his mind, Carl continued to meditate for another hour. It was hard. Hard to sit still. He had spent the past 30 years on go go go mode. Even when he relaxed he was doing it with some form of media to distract his mind.
At the end of the time he allotted, Carl sighed in relief and got up to prepare dinner.
As Carl was preparing and eating his food, he was pondering a little dilemma.
"As it stands now, I've got probably a two week minimum wait until Kenichi joins the Ryozanpaku dojo. On the one hand I like and admire Kenichi. His hero's journey was engaging and entertaining to read. So I don't want to do anything that will tank his chance to come under the tutelage of the Masters of Ryozanpaku." Carl vocalized the issue he was facing. "If Kenichi was a jerk, I wouldn't care. But I want Kenichi to have that opportunity, that chance to become the man he did. And as hot as I think Miu is, I wouldn't want to interrupt their friendship. I liked how their relationship played out. I think they were good for each other."
"That said, there's no guarantee that I'm in a strictly canon world on any of my Jumps. Things could be vastly different from the source material. And I'm under absolutely no obligation to play 'fixer of plot lines'. Or 'fixer of romance' or any such nonsense. Anything I do try to change will because I want to, not because I'm obligated to."
"From the moment I enter these worlds, I'm no longer an observer, I'm a participant. I'm also not some kind of god that can make sure things go any particular way for 'story purposes'. I don't have to make sure that any particular character learns a moral lesson. I don't have to make sure that any particular character serves the role assigned him by the author for literary purposes and social commentary. These people are alive and can damn well make their own choices."
"So, I guess it's silly of me to worry overly much about it. The masters of Ryozanpaku aren't so close minded that they would refuse Miu's friend a chance to prove himself simply because I'm there too. It's not like they warmed up to him immediately, it took a few weeks of watching him struggle before they started helping him one by one. And as he continued to work hard, they responded to it."
Carl brightened up in realization. "So I don't have to sit here for two plus weeks before I approach Ryozanpaku! Thanks for clearing that up for me, Therapy-san."
Carl nodded in mock gravity, like he was accepting the thanks. "Youngsters like you sometimes need a little guidance. It's what I'm here for."
Suddenly dropping the act, Carl sighed as he looked out the window at the night sky while thinking of his girls. "How much longer…?" He cut himself off. No use thinking about useless topics.
Carl jumped to his feet, determined to shake off the mood.
"Well, as it's evening, Miu Furinji should be back at Ryozanpaku by now. There's no time like the present."
Carl left the dojo after locking up and followed the tracking spell that he had previously tagged Miu with.
Upon arrival, Carl gazed at the gates of the dojo. It was still early evening, and there was still some light out before night fell. Carl tried to push open the gates.
"Uggh." Carl groaned after he failed to open the gates. "I knew they were heavy, but I had hoped to be able to budge them at least." Looking around and seeing no witnesses, Carl backed up and ran at the wall, then running up it and grabbing the edge. Flipping himself over, he landed on the other side of the wall and rolled to his feet.
He then looked over at the inside of the gate. "Yup, no bar keeping them closed. They really are that heavy. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me."
"And just what work might that be, hmm?" A voice sounded from behind and above Carl.
Turning around, Carl saw the kindly smiling bearded face of Hayato Furinji, the Legendary Master of Ryozanpaku. At over 2 meters tall, the buff grandfatherly looking man towered over Carl's 13 year old height. Even at his tallest, he was only 1.85 meters tall, still much shorter than the giant of a man.
"Why, the work of getting strong!" Carl exclaimed. "Greetings Master Furinji." Carl gave a polite bow.
The tall man laughed freely. "You're a little early to be calling me master on our first meeting, young man."
Carl shrugged. "Well, it doesn't hurt to give the respect deserved to those who earn it. And the masters of the arts that live here are definitely deserving of respect. Especially when I've come seeking tutelage in the arts, it behooves me to be polite." Carl explained.
Hayato hummed in thought as he looked Carl over. Carl felt like he was naked in front of a spotlight from the gaze, like he had no secrets the old man couldn't suss out.
"A little interesting. Which master are you looking for tutelage under?"
"I've practiced a little bit of Jujutsu, and wish to expand my understanding and grow under Master Akisame." Carl promptly replied.
Hayato nodded thoughtfully. "Why don't I give you a tour of the place first?" He suggested.
Carl quickly agreed and followed along behind Hayato Furinji as they toured the area. What followed was beat for beat what Kenichi's introduction to the dojo had been.
First he saw a 2 meter tall Thai who was packing serious muscle absolutely furiously pounding a kicking bag.
"That guy is Apachai Hopachai, a 28 years old Thai, Muay Thai." Hayato introduced, causing Apachai to increase his enthusiasm and after destroying the bag, he moved on to a tree in the yard and kicked it in half. "Hey! Cut it out will ya?!" Hayato yelled at Apachai before turning back to Carl. "He's overdoing it because he's in a good mood." Hayato explained to Carl.
Carl simply laughed. "I gotta say, I'm impressed Apachai. Nice to meet you. My name is Carl." Carl was feeling almost giddy, to see the scene of Apachai kicking a freaking tree in half. This was definitely the right place to become a master of martial arts!
"Apachai is happy to meet you too!" Apachai yelled back.
Next they came to a room where a very shapely woman in a short skirt kimono stood between four posts that had swords tied to the posts so the top of the blades were above her head. As Carl watched, she drew her sword from over her shoulder and in what looked like one move to Carl sliced all four swords around her in half. All Carl saw was a blade flash.
"Sharp!" Carl exclaimed in admiration. He saw a small blush appear on the woman's face at the complement.
"That is Shigure Kosaka, master of blades." Hayato introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Carl." Carl gave a polite bow.
"Oi, what business do you have with me?" Shigure suddenly said.
Carl knew she wasn't talking to him, so he remained silent.
Shigure suddenly drove her sword into the mats while yelling "Then come up, Kensei Ma!"
A short Chinese man with long bushy eyebrows and mustache dressed in a Tang suit and a hat burst out from under the floor mats. "Eh, I was just passing by." Kensei replied to Shigure, who held her sword at his neck.
"What sort of pictures were you taking with that camera, hmm?" She asked him.
"Just the scenery!" He claimed as dashed for the exit.
When Carl saw Kensei headed for the exit he was standing at, he quickly side stepped away. Sure enough, Shigure threw some throwing stars at Kensei, who caught all but one. That one that wasn't caught by Kensei would have headed straight for Carl's face before it was caught by Hayato, so Carl would likely have been safe staying still, but better safe than sorry.
"Well, you can't always walk around as you please around here." Hayato calmly said, before moving on with the tour.
They arrived at another training room where a 1.92 m tall black haired muscular man wearing only a brown jacket and jeans was standing with a bottle of booze in his hand.
"And here is our basic Martial Arts Teacher, who will teach you the basics. His name is Sakaki Shio, Karate. He's a little bad tempered, but he can get you in shape."
"What? I don't train anyone! That's my motto!" Sakaki exclaimed before taking a drink from his bottle before slicing the top of the bottle off with his hand. "Any disciple I train…" He destroyed some tatami mat targets with his fists in a violence filled second before glaring at Carl. "Wouldn't last three days."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Carl." Carl gave a polite bow. "If going through your three day death course is the only way to join the dojo, I shall give it my all." He declared.
"Hmm, not bad. Decent composure and polite enough."A voice came from behind Carl.
When Carl turned around, he saw Akisame Koetsuji standing there, a 1.8 meter tall man with a well groomed mustache dressed in black hakama and white gi top.
"Akisame Koetsuji, Jujutsu." Hayato introduced the man.
"Carl, disciple hopeful, Jujutsu." Carl introduced himself to Akisame before giving a polite bow.
"We shall see." Akisame gave a nod in greeting.
Hayato then moved them to another room where the masters all joined them at the short table while Miu showed up with tea.
After only a short moment for one sip of tea, Hayato more formally introduced each of the masters and their specialties before continuing on with his prepared speech.
"This is a dojo that helps people cultivate their skills in order to reach their goals and master the martial arts. This is all we do. We don't consider ourselves to be the best dojo around at the Ryozanpaku Dojo. So, after having met everyone and seeing our poor little dojo, are you still interested in joining us?" Hayato asked.
"I am." Carl simply stated.
Kensei then put a scroll next to him and handed him a calligraphy brush. "Then write your name and address here."
Carl did as instructed.
"Okay, it will cost 2,000 yen." Kensei held out a hand for the money.
"2,000?" Carl asked, thinking about how to go about utilizing his idea for using his Entrance Fee item.
"1,000 yen will do then." Kensei changed the number.
"Hold on, one moment." Carl asked while he furiously thought. "Can you write out a bill for an entrance fee for the Ryozanpaku Dojo, but leave a space for the fee blank?" Carl finally asked.
Until now the entrance fee wasn't agreed on or set. If he could get a solid agreement for a high amount, his Entrance Fee item would provide any amount of money so he could enter the dojo. Carl wanted to give Ryozanpaku a generous amount because he knew the dojo's finances were tight, and he wanted to be able to gift these well intentioned masters some amount of financial security so they could continue to focus on martial arts. And if they didn't have to worry about money, it wouldn't interrupt his instructions in said art, so not entirely unselfish.
After the master's traded questioning glances with each other, Kensei wrote out a bill for entrance fee, leaving the amount blank.
Carl quickly wrote in 10,000,000 yen as the entrance fee. Even if he had to pay it himself, he really felt the cost would be worth the priceless instructions in martial arts the masters here could provide.
When the master's saw the amount written, their demeanors changed, becoming more wary. Carl swallowed in nervousness. He hadn't considered what it would look like to them if he offered so much.
"I think you'd better explain yourself more fully before we do anything else." Hayato sternly said.
Carl gulped. Looking at these master's in front of him, Carl realized that prevarication would be worse than useless. They were martial artists with keen observation skills, able to spot a lie a mile away. Anything less than the truth would be easily seen through. And if they couldn't trust him to tell the truth, how would they dare allow him to learn from them?
The amount of money he was throwing at them was a huge concern. They were worried that he would consider it some kind of bribe to listen to him or overlook his behavior. Like if he was a spy for YAMI, for example.
Carl thanked his Sherlock-like observation feat that let him know just how important his answers would be to his future here at Ryozanpaku, and how deep the hole he had unwittingly dug for himself was.
This was a big step in the dark for him. He had never put himself or his story out there for the people in his life before living with them for several years first. It required a certain amount of trust that they hadn't yet had a chance to build up.
Carl thought about his situation while looking at the master martial artists. He would be spending the next 10 years with them. He would be putting his life in their hands as he learned their skills. If he couldn't trust them, of all people, who could he trust? And if he didn't trust them, he had no business establishing a master-disciple relationship with them.
Making up his mind, Carl began explaining.
"I haven't really explained much about myself yet, beyond a simple introduction. My name is Carl, and I'm not from this world. Some kind of inter-dimensional being, akin to a god, set me on a journey through many worlds. I've only just arrived on this one this morning."
"Before coming here, I had been made aware of a…briefing, of sorts that explained your world and the major players in it. From that briefing I gained an admiration for the Ryozanpaku dojo and its masters, as well as the disciple you would be recruiting in a couple weeks." There, Carl threw Kenichi a bone to help ensure he would still have a good chance to be a disciple here. "When given the chance, I greatly desired to come here, to meet and interact with you. To learn the martial arts and other things from you."
"One of the things the briefing mentioned was that you aren't exactly swimming in money. And one of the items I received from the inter-dimensional being was an envelope that would provide me with the entrance fee needed for entering any school, institute or dojo. It would provide any amount. So I thought to provide a little extra capital to your coffers so that you could continue doing what you do best, focusing on martial arts. And if you don't have to worry about money, my future studies would hopefully not be impacted."
"It was in no way meant as a bribe, or payment to excuse me if I do something you don't approve of." Carl finished his spiel.
The group of masters were muttering to each other quietly and looking somewhat skeptical at Carl's claims.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." Akisame finally stated/challenged.
"One of the other things I have access to is a Warehouse in a pocket dimension that can be accessed through portals. Would that be considered at least partial proof that I am what I've said?" Carl asked.
Hayato nodded. "That would definitely indicate something beyond the natural was happening."
Carl opened up a door sized portal to his Warehouse on the wall behind him.
"Would you like a tour?" Carl asked as he stood up and entered the Warehouse portal.
At first cautious, the master's and Miu joined Carl as he showed them his Warehouse. As they toured the farms, each master had a different reaction to different farms. Apachai loved all the little animals. Shigure was very interested in the farm that mined metals. Akisame was very interested in all the new plants and their medical natures. Sakaki was impressed by his farms that produced alcohol. Kensei enjoyed the Chinese themed farms that reminded him of home. Tochumaru, Shigure's pet mouse, went to his happy place when he sampled the cheeses.
"Carl, is it possible for you to provide the dojo with some of the food?" Miu was impressed by the amount of food his farms provided. Naturally so, since she was the one that did the grocery shopping and cooking around the dojo she had an appreciation for just how much the masters ate.
Carl nodded in agreement. "I was pondering how to do just that in a sneaky way that you wouldn't notice, but obviously I failed." Carl joked. "Since you all know about this now, I have no problem providing the food."
After they finished the tour, they returned to the debate about how much he would pay in entrance fees. Despite Carl's best debate and negotiations skills, he only managed to get the masters to agree to accept 1,000,000 yen, as that would represent 100,000 yen per year he planned to be there.
The masters also had their own pride and in Carl's opinion they lacked understanding in money matters. Or they really didn't understand just how important their instructions were to him. Carl would happily have signed off on the entrance fees being 100,000,000,000 yen. It's not like he had to scrimp and save for that amount, and he wasn't about to be stingy with his future masters in the martial arts. Those skills would be very important in his future jumps.
It was probably the only time Carl had been part of a negotiation where he was trying to pay more and the other side demanded less, completely flipping the roles of negotiation.
Finally when the negotiations were over, Carl was exhausted, and the agreement was signed, Carl opened the Entrance Fee envelope and pulled out a bank card with the pin number on a sticky note attached to it. He handed the card to Miu, who was the responsible one in charge of their Dojo expenses.
"You mentioned earlier that we would have another disciple. Who is it, and when will they come here?" Hayato asked.
"Well, Miu met him today." At Miu's blank look, Carl laughed and expanded. "On the way to school he was rushing because he was going to be late when you tossed him. He left behind a book, and he is in your class. The thing is, right now he is the lowest of the low, the weakest of the weak."
"But keep an eye on him over the next couple of weeks, Miu. Some things should be happening in school soon that cause him to desire to get stronger. If he's given half a chance, he can really make something of himself. His determination, life philosophy, and never give up attitude help him become a great martial artist. With the help and shaping of the masters of Ryozanpaku, of course. But, since he's a complete normie right now, he's got to go through the next couple weeks to give him the determination to seek to change. Otherwise he'll probably continue to shrink away."
'There.' Carl thought. 'If Kenichi still can't stand up and become a disciple here with Miu's recommendation and my glowing review, then he just isn't destined to in this life.'
Carl saw that the masters were interested, and willing to wait to see their future disciple.
Once the entrance fee was taken care of, Carl was assigned a room to stay in, where he gratefully fell asleep.
He woke early the next morning to Akisame Sensei pulling him out of bed for morning torture, er…exercise. Carl was forced to do a torturous series of exercises, with failure to accomplish them giving a reward of pain.
One of the exercises was straight out of the manga. It was a modified horse stance designed to build up his foundational strength. Carl's feet were tied to a board so he couldn't move around, his thighs were tied to his calves so he couldn't stand up straight. He had to hold two water jugs at shoulder height straight out from his body to improve his grip strength and his shoulder strength. Under his crotch there was a burning incense stick that would burn his balls if he dropped down. Tied to his upper arms were straps with blades on them that would stab him in his sides if he let his arms down. On top of his head and on each thigh was a bowl of boiling hot water that would burn him if he didn't keep steady.
The time spent in that pose felt like hell. Every time Carl started to lose his posture, pain would be the result, forcing him to resume his pose. His muscles burned from the exertion, making him want to give up, but if he failed to hold the pose, he got actual burns or blade stabs from not persisting.
'Is this willpower training alongside physical training?' Carl wondered. 'It's not like smart masters wouldn't have multiple reasons for any action. But this is a damn sight more sadistic than "Wax the car, Daniel-san", so there's another aspect this training serves. Twisted amusement for my sensei!' Carl thought as he saw several smirks on the faces of the masters when they watched him.
After that exercise, a rope was tied around his waist, attached to a tire that Akisame Sensei would sit on as Carl ran around the neighborhood while being whipped by Akisame Sensei to go faster. "Mush! My dead grandmother could go faster than you!"
It was torturous. It was insane. But it would turn him into a Master martial artist in the shortest time possible. And Carl had willingly walked into it. So he did his best to persevere.
The morning torture was finally complete, and they arrived at the breakfast table. Battle was joined as the Master's ate fast. Carl knew it was coming, so he fought for his food. He naturally failed. Thankfully Miu saved some food for him after the masters left.
"Ah, Miu, thank you for breakfast." Carl groaned in happiness after eating some food. After finishing, he pulled out his phone. "I forgot to ask you, what food items do you want to regularly stock the kitchen with?"
And as Miu showed Carl the storage shelves, and explained how much food they ate every day, Carl clicked away on his phone app, approving the automatic restock option on the Dojo's kitchen. Now that Carl was a member of the dojo he had access to that function even though he didn't own the property.
After Carl finalized the option, Miu was surprised at seeing the shelves restock themselves of all the food needed like magic.
"Oh, I like that!" Miu exclaimed when she saw that the food automatically restocked.
"Yup, very handy to have." Carl agreed.
"Oh no, I've got to go to school now so I won't be late!" Miu cried after looking at the time.
"Have fun." Carl shouted at her back as she rushed off.
When Carl turned around to find something to do, he came face to face with Akisame Sensei again.
"Well, Disciple. It's time to stretch." He said with a small smile.
"Yes sensei." Carl replied while following along and being put in another torture device designed to increase his flexibility. Due to his body mod perk of Flexibility, he was already at the limit of flexibility for a normal human. But Akisame Sensei was determined not to settle for that. He seemed driven to increase Carl's flexibility to beyond human capability, so Carl didn't get out of the torture.
After the stretching, Akisame Sensei introduced a move to him, and set him to practicing it while his sensei turned to do his own thing. Carl wasn't sure what it was, either research, running his medical clinic, or building more torture devices. Carl wasn't sure if Kenichi would thank him or not for giving Akisame Sensei two extra weeks to prepare "training aids" for him, but that was hardly Carl's problem.
After lunch, Akisame Sensei set him to studying some texts that would increase his knowledge of martial arts, the human body, and other such useful topics.
Eventually Miu returned home, they had dinner, and then a final workout of the day, leaving Carl absolutely exhausted.
Every day for the next two weeks followed the same schedule. The exercise and training pushed Carl to his breaking point, and beyond more than a few times. And when Akisame Sensei would give him a massage or chiropractic adjustment to help him heal, and he was reinvigorated and able to train once more, Carl just kept doing the best he could to work hard.
After two weeks of training, Carl really saw the huge difference it made between being an amateur and studying on his own, like he had in the past, to having an actual master train him. Thinking about it actually kind of made him ashamed how proud he had been of his title "Elite Trainer" in the Pokemon world.
His pokemon had grown strong, but it was more because he was able to find the pokemon with great potential, rather than his skill in training. His ability to bring the best out of them was nowhere near master level. Which Carl was only realizing now, when he had the privilege of seeing a real master at work.
It also made him realize that his magic abilities were largely self trained as well. Maybe in a future jump world he could find a true master to teach him how to really utilize magic. Instead of being satisfied with what he had accomplished and only training to stay at the skill level he was at, in the future he should really be working on pushing himself to grow stronger and get more skilled. There was always a mountain beyond the mountain, as the saying went.