Chapter 19 - Training 3

First Pov

''I- ahem wanted to go back to practice as fast as possible. I was previously interrupted because I had to go on a task.'' I said, damn I still sucked at conversations. Maybe I should just possess someone mute next time to have an excuse for not talking. ''Ah, you are dedicated. But why are you so dedicated?'' he asked calmly while staring into my eyes. Did he just try to look at my soul? No, it felt more like a was able to feel my aura. Good thing I anticipated something like this and created a false soul layer around my true soul and let it emit its own aura a long time ago. The soul layer I created emitted an aura of someone that was dedicated, focused, slightly ambitious, liked to be alone and not talk.

''I have no really good reason, I just want to master all weapons and fighting styles'' not really a lie, just not the whole truth. ''Ah, you have set yourself a big goal but why isn´t it a good reason? You don´t always have to have a greater purpose to do something, knowing were you want to go is already half the way of the road'' he said while slowly walking past me ''If you ever seek someone to test your skills on, you should ask my disciple shifu, he needs a training partner'' oh, so shifu is currently his disciple, now I have a rough guess when I am. As I was thinking, I heard Oogway´s voice from the distance ''Also, while your goal is the art of battle, you shouldn´t neglect your mind. Try meditating, it helps you concentrate and keeping a clear head.

As I watched the founder of kung fu walk away, I couldn´t help but fall into thought. While the first few things he told me were of no meaning to me, the last part did peek my interest. I was familiar with the concept of meditation but never thought much of it, but if even someone as old and wise as Oogway recommends it, maybe, just maybe, it could be useful. But trying it out was something that was at the very bottom of my list, so I started practicing again before heading to my new sparring partner.

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It´s now been a little over three years since getting my new punching bag, aka Shifu, which was by the way a very strange name considering it meant master or teacher, so everyone would call him master master or master teacher in the future. I have now become at the very least skilled in any weapon I could think of. Like seriously, I tried weapons that weren´t even invented here and had to custom order them, like the Wind and Fire Wheels, War Scythe, Composite Sword and Khopesh. With rumors about me practicing all weapons and even creating new ones, people started calling me the Weapon Master. It was a cool name but also annoying at the same time, because I had many weaklings come to me regularly, some tried to defeat me for glory, some because they didn´t like to admit that there was not only someone more talented and skilled in their weapon of choice but also far younger, and some fought me simply because they felt like it.

Now that I have become a master of all weapons, I have finalized my choice of weapon. As much fun and cool katanas, chakrams and Scythes were, they just weren´t that practical compared to a longsword, especially the Scythe. The Scythe, as I have come to find out, was practically useless, not only did you have to get behind your enemy to even cut him, it was also very hard to handle and other than that was only good at stabbing. In fact, it was so bad that it couldn´t even do what its original purpose was anymore, cutting grass. So, sorry to shatter the dream of any edge lord out there, but if you want a Scythe so badly, just use a War Scythe.

After my little rant, I went to the mountains. Today was the day when I would start meditating. I had specially asked around for good places and tips, as I was planning to be in retreat for at least two years. I wasn´t going to just meditate of course, I was also going to trying and recreate a pretty underrated martial art from an anime I once watched, the water stream rock smashing fist. The water stream rock smashing fist was like a combination of judo, chi ryu aikijutsu and tai chi, so it was mainly based on defense and parrying but if you could master it you could deflect power way beyond your own.

I was now sitting in the cave of the small mountain I chose, the cave had a small pond that was connected underground, outside were some beautiful trees and you could see nearby mountain peaks through the mist. It was nice and peaceful, perfect for me to not move an inch unless necessary for quite a while.

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A/N- Sorry for the little rant about Scythes, but they truly are useless and only idiots use them. I´m trying to keep my book as realistic as possible, so things that are useful or just look cool but aren´t actually practical, like renewal taekwondo, won´t be included.