After enduring the never-ending run, I headed to the holy lake while Jasper returned home to prepare for the hunt. I would be a member of the hunting party only thrice a week as they judged that I would burn out if I hunted daily and thus, today was my day off.
I trudged to the pond and jumped in without giving it a second thought. My muscles felt instant relief as my body sunk deeper into the lake. After experiencing the full healing effects, I dived deeper to reach the mechanism and pushed the button. The gravel and rocks at the bottom began shaking before sliding to one side. I jumped in, but this time, I braced myself for the fall.
A loud thud echoed throughout the chamber as my feet landed on the stone floor. Nothing had changed from the last time I was here. Even though I only had an hour left until the start of classes, I was too thrilled to wait until tomorrow. The next technique found in the martial arts book was how to dodge punches; until now, the only way I had of evading punches was simply stepping to the side, which was good for getting out of danger, but at the same time, I was not able to counter effectively as I was also out of range.
The reason why I came back to this dusty and desolate place was because of the training dummies. Even though at first, I was under the impression that they were simply targets to hit, after skimming through the book, I could see that my assumptions were wrong. They weren't even training dummies but partners as they were able to move and hit you! The first page of the manuscript contained a series of voice commands corresponding to specific strikes and combinations.
I sat on the dirty floor and read the chapter on head movement carefully, ensuring that I didn't miss a single detail. This step took me a whole ten minutes but it was crucial to memorise everything before proceeding. After I was done, I stood up and got into my stance; while imagining a jab, I moved my head out of the way. They weren't exaggerated movements, but instead, my head moved just enough to miss the imaginary strike.
I constantly had to remind myself not to swivel my neck when dodging but instead to hinge my hips. I seemingly got the hang of things after a short while and felt ready to move into practical application. Standing tall, I was face-to-face with one of the stone training dummies; for now, I would only be trying to evade one punch.
"Jab."
I felt the sharp change in airflow as its arm moved towards my face; I pivoted my hips slightly and moved my head. But it wasn't enough and the punch still grazed the side of my face. My ears were ringing as I was left off-balance.
"Slightly more movement then," I murmured to myself.
A couple more jabs later, I managed to consistently slip the strikes and felt like I was ready to take things up a notch; there was coincidentally a command to increase the speed of the dummies. The speeds went up to ten and each rise was exponential.
"Increase speed to three."
"Jab."
I was caught off guard and was hit flush on the nose as this was nothing like before. It felt as if Jasper was striking me! I had taken it too lightly and the third level was clearly out of my current capabilities.
"Decrease speed to two."
"Jab."
Even though the second level was still way faster than the first, it was far more manageable than the monstrosity that was the third level. My lower back began to ache as I dodged more and more punches; my brain was rattling after moving around so much and thirty minutes later, I called it quits. I was late to the academy last time and I had no intention of incurring the wrath of the teacher once again.
I stayed in the holy lake for an additional couple of minutes to heal my back before heading back to the cottage. My legs moved as fast as they could as I sprinted in the direction of the shack. Inside, I was frantically looking around to find something to eat, but thankfully, Jasper had dried some of the lion meat that I had brought back, so I devoured as many slices as I could before rushing out of the front door.
A crunching noise was produced each time my foot made contact with the gravel path. My power walking was grinded to a halt when I heard someone yelling behind me.
"Jett Jett. Over here."
I looked back and was pleasantly surprised to see Lucas running towards me. Huffing and puffing, he stopped right in front of me and tried to catch his breath.
"Calm down, who's chasing you?" I worriedly asked.
"O-oh, no one's chasing me. I was just waiting for you," he replied.
"What?"
"I thought that it would be nice to walk to school together," he said.
I released a soft chuckle before we continued our journey to the academy. Lucas seemed to be in a better mood than usual.
"Why do you look so joyful?"
"The yearly school trip is scheduled for next week," he replied.
"The what?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, you weren't here when they announced it."
"Every year, the students go on a trip to different locations. This year, we'll be hiking on the highest mountain found in our tribes territory."
"What are we supposed to do during this excursion?"
"Well, relax," he replied while laughing.
"You should confirm your participation at the front desk."
As soon as we reached school, I did not waste a single second and went up to the old lady. She seemed busy reading a book but I had no time to spare.
"Hello, I'd like to be in this year's trip."
"What's your name?" she asked without looking up.
"Jett," I replied.
"Understood, now go to your class."