The next day Zia arrived at Nick's cottage only after midday. Princess was drenched in sweat and sometimes even crawling, but with her teeth clenched and determination in her eyes she still managed to reach the small house and finally supported herself at it's wall.
"You chose that pig sticker after all, huh?" Nick smiled when he saw her.
Yesterday he had a very interesting encounter. Master Marozzo was a great expert and discussion with him caused many new ideas to sprout in Nicks mind within few hours. He was so engrossed in them that almost didn't notice Zia's absence.
"It's that heavy?" He asked.
"I think I might die." Zia said with a sad smile, "Nicky, you have to help me. Father made me carry this sword for three months, and only then it will become mine. I need to get stronger fast."
"First of all, it's not a sword – it's a blade. Second, your father is no fool. He probably wants you to change your mind or is just letting you know how hard it will be to use this thing. Don't you think he might be right?"
"No way! If even he can't use it, I'll definitely become the strongest the moment I will be able to do so. I just need to figure out how to pass the trial." Zia was persistent.
"I think I told you before – it might be even better for you to carry this blade even after you don't find it heavy. You two might establish some special relationship." Nick teased.
"You might be right, but that's if I don't die first. My whole body aches! I have never been in such pain, even when we had our harshest training sessions!" She complained.
"But don't you think you won't be able to perform the 'Butterfly' move anymore? Since you will have to carry it on your back the way Ling carries his sword, I doubt you'll be able to unsheathe it over your shoulder." There were many peculiarities when using a heavy weapon, but Zia loved that move and wouldn't want to loose it because of a weird blade.
"I thought of that already and found a solution. You always said that I have to develop my own style, therefore I will begin to do it from the very start. My idea is to unsheathe the weapon not over my shoulder like Ling does, but in the opposite direction. That way I could even create a first stealthy strike and even use the 'Butterfly', but much more effectively. In addition, the weight of the weapon will increase the power of the first swing and I could even cut anyone in half if I follow that up with my own 'Butterfly'!" Despite being tired, she was thinking in an interesting direction and this was where the huge amount of information she gained from reading books finally paid off. Of course, she was the daughter of two sword geniuses as well.
Her persistence was the thing Nick admired the most.
"Fine, I'll help you." Nick smiled, "I'll create you a special diet that will let you recover your strength faster. Also I'll make a new bath recipe that will alleviate your fatigue. Besides that, I think there shouldn't be any minute that you waste while not performing one of the Qi techniques. The Qi expenditure must be high."
"How do you think I got here?" Zia laughed weakly in return.
Thus the king's plan suffered defeat. Both queen Hua and Nick supported the princess and Nick even helped with practical means. He made a simple training plan for her, in fact, there was nothing much to it – in the morning she would come to the Royal woods and try to make it back till the evening. During the night she would sleep while soaking in the medicinal bath and her meals were now less fancy, but provided a lot of endurance and strength.
The whole palace witnessed the 'suffering of the poor princess' and while some could guess what was going on, most decided that it was king's punishment for her ruining the relationship with the Styx kingdom.
When master Marozzo came to the palace on the next day after discussions with Nick and asked king to allow him to bring away and train Zia, king helplessly tried to explain what mess she had created and expressed hope that after few days she would change her mind.
The old man cursed him again and told that he would be back in three months and left while shaking his head and mumbling, "What a waste, what a waste …"
When he came back three months later it was already autumn and colorful leaves were decorating the trees. King didn't explain anything, but brought his teacher back to the Royal woods straight away.
The scene he saw completely astonished the old master. A young girl with a huge purple blade hung upside down on her back was slowly jogging around the forest lake. She stopped once in a while, supported herself on a nearby tree, did few push ups and then continued her run. It was obvious that it was too hard for her to do a real horizontal push up – the ones she did was with her slanting on the tree to around forty five degrees.
When she finished her run at the cottage near the cliff side she shouted, "Nicky I'm done! I won!"
Two minutes later a weak hand stretched from under the cliff and Nick slowly crawled up.
He was all dirty and sweaty and after fully crawling up he lie there on the withered yellow grass while panting heavily.
"After you left, they started some kind of abnormal training again." The king turned to his teacher with a stern face, "I don't know what you told him, but for the last thirty days he is scaling this cliff and, you know, there are no protrusions or anything – it's a clean wall! The first time it took him the whole day till late at night and he almost fell off at the end. Zia isn't any better – in the beginning she was barely crawling her way here, but now she is leisurely jogging with that thing on her back. I am certain most Qi masters wouldn't be able to do that, but these two are just Qi practitioners … in these three months they have become absolute monsters!"
"Your thinking is a bit off. It's true that they are monsters, but not because of what they are doing – it's because of how." The old teacher explained, "Normally Qi practitioners are only absorbing the Qi from surroundings, accumulating it in their Dantian while their physical bodies improve because of that. Later, when they become Qi masters, they start utilizing the Qi in practice. But these two started to utilize the puny amount of Qi they had from the very start. Even if it didn't work, there was no effect and it tired them out, they still continued to practice the application of Qi in everyday activities. At least that's what Nick told me. Such simple but revolutionary approach allowed them to grow like this. In addition, he is getting the natural support from all the herbs they use and the interesting diet he created. And the way they use herbs differ from the common way alchemists do – they mostly drink herbal tea and add some plants to their food. I think he's trying to boost the development of their bodies with a gentle power of nature instead of maximizing it's potential in a short amount of time like the traditional alchemy does."
The old teacher and king watched Nick and Zia recovering.
"Actually I want to try this in the Sword sect as well. Even if it won't work – with such approach there is no risk of harming a disciple." The old man said with a smile.
Nick saw king and master Marozzo approaching from the distance and went to greet them. Zia slowly followed, trying to act as casual as possible. During the last three months her father multiple times suggested to leave the blade and take up a real sword, he even showed her few beautiful items for her to choose from. But the more he insisted, the more stubborn the princess became.
"Greetings, king! Greetings, master Marozzo! What brings you both here?" Nick welcomed them.
"We were just passing by and watched you practice for a little bit." The old man smiled in return, "Nick, would it be fine with you if we use some of your innovative methods in our Sword sect? They seem to be effective and I would like for our future generations to become stronger as well."
"Sure, why not? I think in a year or two I could give you more ideas to assess. I feel like the Qi application for the regular Qi practitioners is quite realistic, although hard." Nick replied.
"Great! Also there are few things I want to discuss with Zia." The old man turned towards the princess, "Did you have only the physical training or practiced some techniques as well?"
"Well, there is this one ... for now I can't really create more, but I definitely will when I become stronger." Zia said while blushing.
Although she insisted on completing her father's test, she knew it looked hilarious how she was carrying around her blade.
"Oh, could you demonstrate it for us?" Master Marozzo smiled.
"Alright, but, Nicky, you'll have to help me to put it back." Zia said, and then hurried to explain to the old man, "I can lift it already, but it's too hard for me to strap it back on."
Then she chose a place in front of a rock that was about one meter high. With the right hand she grabbed the handle of the blade, that was hanging from her back, somewhere at the height of her right buttock. With her left hand she released the strap over her left shoulder and the blade slowly started to slide down. Then she suddenly slightly bent forward and the sword made a wide arch from her back along her right side and then went up. At this moment she changed the trajectory to more horizontal, spun around while the blade made a big circle with 'wooosh' sound and at the end she chopped down at the rock in front of her. The rock was neatly sliced in two and the blade went deep into the ground and only the handle was left above the surface.
Nick immediately went to help her get the weapon out, quickly cleaned it and with their collective effort in few minutes it was strapped on her back once again.
Both of them were already tired, but now Zia's right hand was visibly shaking. The strain this move did on her was not small.
"Not bad." Master Marozzo praised, "Using the weight of the blade to perform such powerful blow and even empowering it with inertia of the spin. Although you can't use it in an actual fight yet, it is a real move you could use in the future."
If Zia was blushed from exhaustion before, then now she was blushing from joy. Finally someone appreciated her efforts!
"Do you want to become my disciple?" Old man continued.
Zia was taken aback, but immediately looked at Nick.
'What should I do now?' Her look implied.
But Nick could just shrug.
"Are you a good Qi sword master?" She asked with still blushed face.
"Well, I am the sect master of the Sword sect. I was also your father's teacher." Master Marozzo smiled gently back and answered.
"Oh, then no." Zia shook her head.
The rest, including Nick were stupefied. What kind of logic was this?
"Why?" Although confused, the old man managed to squeeze out a question.
"If you will teach me, I'll only become as strong as my father. But that won't do – I need to become stronger than him." Zia explained.
Everyone else wanted to facepalm, who could even think this way? Just because they will have the same teacher, they will also become Qi masters of a similar strength?
First one to regain his senses was Nick, "Zia, I think you are missing something. Your father only learned from master Marozzo. But if you go to the Sword sect and learn from everyone there, especially from the sect master, you will definitely become the strongest. Remember, you are creating your own style and have a unique weapon as well. You have a huge advantage over your father!"
His majesty Alexander Maxwell looked at Nick and didn't know what to think. It seemed that he was helping, but on the other hand this kid was kind of belittling the king as well.
"Oh, in that case I'm in." Zia quickly changed her mind, but then reluctantly pointed at Nick, "Can he come as well?"
"Zia, sect master and I already discussed it and I won't join the Sword sect. But don't forget – you are not going to stay there for life. You will go, train and learn from everyone and later you will come back. His majesty also is a king, not an elder of the Sword sect, even if he trained there for a while." Nick explained, "This is actually even better! When we see each other again, there will be many stories to share and we can compete who has become faster and stronger!"
'Why isn't she listening to me like that when I reason with her?' The king was looking at them and felt a little jealous.
"Alright, we are not parting forever, so we don't need to say special goodbyes. Main thing for you is to continue to practice and learn from everyone you meet. You are the most talented person I've ever seen, so don't let me down!" Nick stretched out his fist and Zia unwillingly bumped it while pouting a little, "Remember your diet and the general practice schedule, so everything you are taught extra, you must practice in addition to the regular training. Oh right, you are growing up to become a pretty lady, so don't let the suitors obstruct your practices. And there are many men with bad ideas – don't drink any alcohol if anyone offers." Nick laughed at the end.
Of course, what Zia heard was 'anyone who offers you alcohol is bad man or even a pervert' and 'never drink alcohol'.
Many young, middle-age and older men got beaten up because of this in the years to come.
They chatted a bit more and Nick sent off the trio few minutes later. Although she was just a little girl in his eyes, he always thought of her as his own little sister and was reluctant to part as well. But contrary to Zia, he understood how great this opportunity was for her, especially when her parents wouldn't teach and suddenly one of the best, if not the best, Qi sword master was willing to take her as his disciple.
'I'll go and visit her few years later. I bet she'll break the hearts of every male disciple in the sect in the meantime, hahaha!' Nick laughed to himself.