In the middle of a mountain inside the forbidden forest that Neru labels Hithchibikus Moutain. One would see a young man constantly disappearing and appearing consecutively to a hundred meters in all directions.
'Still not that instantaneous. I can kick the ground seven times in a second to cover a hundred meters. But this is my max... Every time I attempt to reduce the range, I fail... Why is that so?'
Neru has a thoughtful expression on his face as he begins to ponder his current problem. 'First of all, I need to contract my calves and quads to generate force. It's like an animation that causes the delay. Second, I need to think before I can execute Flicker. This also takes time which prevents me from doing it quickly. And lastly, the distance is also not big enough...'
'It's only good for short-range at this point. Even if I use it consecutively to cover a lot of distance. It would take all my stamina and drain me. Not a good thing in the middle of the fight.
'If I want to solve this. I need to solve these issues.' Neru sat on the ground in a meditative posture as his brain worked at high speed. 'First of all, how would I perform that technique without the need to contract my calves and quads? How to not think about it before I use it? Is that even possible??'
Half an hour passed. Neru felt mentally exhausted yet he couldn't think of anything to solve his problem.
Then, he stood up and saw a bird flying in his direction and landing on his shoulder. "Hey, little thing. What do you need?" Neru smiled. He felt the stress of relentless things ease up a little due to the appearance of the cute little bird.
The bird didn't do anything but peck Neru's neck tickling him. Then, it flew away to the sky while Neru just watched it disappear.
'Well, that's quite wholesome.' He sighed. Then he couldn't help but think of something. 'Birds always fly. It was their nature and it was instinctual to them. Yeah! Why am I so stupid and didn't think of something so obvious!?'
Neru smiled. 'I don't need to overthink things as they are! Reduce the time it takes by removing the contraction of muscles of my lower body and not thinking before the execution. That's just stupid... I just need to practice flickering over and over again until it becomes second nature to me like breathing!'
'Practice it to the point that it becomes instinctual that my body would do it even before my brain could command! Practice it a thousand times. If a thousand times isn't enough, do it hundreds of thousands of times!'
A mad glint appeared in Neru's eyes as he found the way.
"Repetition is the mother of learning! I will ingrain this technique to my very being... Sleep, eat, flicker... From now on, that's the only thing I would do over and over until the execution of the technique becomes 0.01 seconds and the distance it could cover is at least 200 meters with each step!"
Is he crazy and extremist for doing this? He needs to do so to prepare to face the sea of Warmongers and their leader! He wouldn't only face a hundred of them this time. Maybe a thousand. He needs to be able to dodge whenever he wants at any position without being exhausted quickly. Be able to escape when push comes to shove.
A gratified smile appeared on Neru's face as his haze shifted from the ground to the cloudy sky. "Thank you little bird. You helped to find the direction that I need to take."
Who would have known that it was a bird that would inspire him to come up with solutions to his current problems?
Just like that, Neru practiced the flicker movement technique day and night. He would only stop to eat and bathe. In the process of pushing himself to the limit, his body once again began to improve. Albeit, at a slower pace than before.
Every hour, he could flicker fifteen times consecutively before his stamina would be completely hollowed out.
It takes two hours of rest to recover his peak state to be able to practice flicker again. So, every three hours in between, he would flicker throughout his personal training ground.
In the first fifteen days, he could flicker twenty-two times consecutively. The speed of execution was also reduced slightly as he became more familiar with the technique. The range also increased to an additional ten meters. From a hundred meters to one hundred ten meters. More importantly, the consumption of his stamina reached an acceptable level.
...
Neru stared at the night sky full of sweat. Fatigue could be seen in his expression as he doesn't even have the desire to lift even one of his fingers. It was truly exhausting. But the real problem was it was too boring!
It was more of a mental challenge than it was physical to him. The repetitive monotonous routine of flickering... Alone in the training ground was eating away his sanity.
'Damn it... I'm completely burnt out.'
However, Neru knew that he had no choice but to continue what he was doing to get out of this place. 'Well, I should allocate an hour of my day to investigating the population of warmongers and hopefully gather useful info about the abilities of their Qi Refining leader.'
Neru knew the importance of information. Only by truly understanding his enemy would he have a chance to win.
Just like that, another three months passed. His progress was rather gratifying! The distance of flicker reached 150 kilometers per step and the transition between each flicker was smoother. There's no wastage or excess movement. Truly efficient to the point that he can flicker continuously forty times and still be able to fight!
With this, he would finally have a good movement technique for close range and long range and could seamlessly switch positions whenever he wanted. Paired with his physique and eyes of death, he was now confident to fight his way out of the forbidden forest.
'It's time!' Neru clenched his fist. His eyes filled with resolve.