Hellish Training
CH3 Hellish Training
[Jingliu] (★★★★★)
— Former Sword Champion of the Luofu, and the reason behind the Cloud Knights' mythical reputation of implacable might. Now, her name has been wiped from the records, and she is a traitor of the Xianzhou walking on the fine line between sanity and mara-struck.
— Mentorship Duration: 5 years
"Who is she?" Hayate asked to no one in particular. He also questioned where was this Luofu, what is a Cloud Knight, Xianzhou, but then the system won't provide any answer.
He also looked at the duration, and shocked seeing that it was 5 years. How could he spent all those years just to be under tutelage of an unknown woman? When he thought about it, the system answered his doubt.
[The Training Space is a hyperbolic time chamber that operates on separate dimension and the flow of time is different. One day in the real world equals one year inside the Training Space. All the gains in the Training Space is directly absorbed into User's body, but they won't age inside the space. The apprentice and mentor are practically immortal in the Training Space, they don't need sustenance or sleep and can revived indefinitely.]
'I see, might as well try it. I don't know how strong she is, but maybe I can learn something from her.' Hayate clicked at the Training Space and he choose to enter it
[Do you want to enter the Training Space?] [Yes | No]
He choose yes and his body shifted, his vision blackened and he vanished from the face of the earth.
Hayate reappeared in an vast boundless landscape, the ground was not there as he stood atop of a solid water. Water is a liquid, but this water doesn't behave like that. He didn't need to cover the sole of his feet with chakra to stand there. The sky above is moonless, or more like there's only vast array of stars without any sight of moon. Interestingly, the water emmits calming blue light hue that provide illumination.
Standing straight like a sword ready to be unleashed, the woman in the portrait stood there with her head upward. Hayate approached her and unsure on how to greet her. When he was about to speak, the woman said in a chilling and detached tone.
"Forgo the pleasantries, what do you want?"
"Ms. Jingliu, my name is Hayate Gekko of Konohagakure and I want to learn your kenjutsu."
"I will teach my techniques to anyone willing to put their heart into them. Young man, are you ... ready for death?"
Hayate was perplexed with that question, who wants death? But then he steeled his heart, he died once anyway, what makes him stop from getting a second?
"I'm willing to give my all."
"Prove your words through action, Young Man." stated Jingliu coldly.
She materialized a sword made of ice, it floated beside her and as if alive it leaped and stabbed the solid water right beside him, freezing it.
"A sword, 3 feet and 7 inches in length, weighing about 7 catties. Hold it in your hands and stab the sharp end towards the enemy."
Hayate could feel the freezing and chilling sensation from the sword, he grabbed the handle but feel the cold sensation that numb his nerve. He covered his hand with chakra to aleviate the numbness. Still though, the chakra consumption was just too much. The ice sword drained his chakra voraciously like the bug of Aburame clan.
"Actually, I think it's better if I use my own sword ..." Hayate took out his kento as he couldn't handle the chakra consumption.
"..."
Jingliu didn't say a word, she just waved her hand and a humanoid species with canine feature appeared. The war beast was from a species called borisin, the most common one. In Jingliu's world they were the followers of Yaoshi, the Lord of Abundance.
She's capable of summoning it because as a mentor, she get a special perk that is Unit Summoning. The Unit Summoning is a way to provide a sparing partner for the apprentice, the precondition for summoning was the mentor had to defeat them first. This borisin was the most common war beast, and it was also the first enemy that Jingliu has slained.
Aside from Unit Summoning, Jingliu also received Item Generation, as it names suggest it would generate item as long as she had seen it before and know what it do.
She also received the basic information about this Training Chamber after she agreed to become a Mentor.
'What is this beast?' Hayate mused.
The borisin lunged swiftly and swipe his claw towards Hayate body. Caught off guard, he instinctively tried a Substitution but found no object to substitute so the jutsu failed. This caused the borisin to have enough time to approach and strike him. The claw slash hit and sent him flying like a broken kite. He struggled to get up and the borisin was already in front of him, trying to stab him with his razor sharp claw.
Hayate reflect it using his sword, but how could a forged steel could fend against the biotechnology enhanced borisin's claw. The sword broke into countless metal fragment like a fragilw glass and the borisin stabbed his heart with such ease.
Hayate Gekko died, once again. But this Training Space has special rules, that the mentor or apprentice in this separate space cannot be killed. They are immortal, albeit restricted only in this space. And so, three seconds later, Hayate was ressurrected in the spot where he first time arrived. He tried to catch his breath as he could still feel the big hand that stabbed into his heart. It was dozen times more painful than Baki's Wind Blade, and he didn't want to experience it for the second time.
"Ludicrous, you refuse the moonlight sword and prefer a sword forged from mortal steel." Jingliu with a hint of ridiculing irritation said. The ice sword flew once again and stabbed in the ground in front of him. "Pick up."
Hayate started to think that this is a really bad idea. But he can't do anything aside from obeying her mentor words, he held the grip and his hand instantly freezing. He gritted his teeth and pulled the sword.
[Jingliu's Training Module I]
— Objective: Kill the summoned war beast (0/1)
— Reward: Flowing Mirror Swordmanship
'So that's it, I didn't get this notification because I didn't follow Ms. Jingliu's guidance.' Hayate surmised.
He then focused his gaze on his enemy. The beast is strong with it's sharp and durable claw, and the speed is quite fast too. But the disparity is not that high, while it's fast he could still see its movement. He only need to be wary of getting hit, the physical strength behind its strike was crazy.
The borisin striked gain, it lunged with the claw forward. Hayate blocked it with the ice sword and jumped backward, he mold his chakra with a hand seals and used a shadow clone jutsu. When his surrounding is covered by a white smoke, he used his transparency jutsu and ran circling the borisin.
The two clones jumped and tried to slash the borisin in synch, but borisin is not your ordinary dog, it's an genetically engineered galactic dog. Although it didn't know why the enemy split into two, it still knew that there was something wrong with them. It didn't smell a scent from them, instead the smell of his prey was coming from behind him. The borisin ignored the two shadow clones, and lunged backward on an empty spaces.
'Damn it.' Hayate blocked it with the ice sword and undo the transparency release, as it proves to be useless. But while the shadow clone couldn't recreate scent it still has a physical form, so the two of them could deliver a damage to the borisin.
The red bar decreased one-fifth from the whole. The borisin shrieked in pain, it turned around and bite his clones in the right and punched the one in the left. The chakra returned to him as well as the memory and pain that they experienced causing Hayate flinched in pain. Hayate created yet another distance by jumping a few step back.
'At least, I chipped some of it's health ...' he thought. But it turned into despair, as he could see the red bar slowly increasing with steady pace each second that passed. 'No way.'
He widened his eyes realizing that, as he turned his head toward his mentor. But the woman with headcover only stood there silently, her line of sight was locked into him but he didn't feel like she would interfere.
Hayate gritted his teeth and tighten the grip on the ice sword. Keep in mind that this sword has the temperature of near absolute zero, so it freeze whoever wield it. He looked at the canine monster and shouted, "Come!"
"ROARRRRRRR!!!" roared the borisin in answer.
Jingliu stood in the middle of this Training Space as the young man who had asked to be her apprentice getting harrassed by the weakest and most expendables of the Denizens of Abundance.
One words that come into her mind seeing this spectacle, desperate. The young man eyes was that of reminded who was forced to stand in the edge of a cliff.
However, the young man desperation does not corelate with a despair. Underneat that desperate eyes, the young man still clung into a tiny speck of hope. And from that hope there born determination, a stubborn, foolish, and kind of arrogant determination to get stronger.
'Only by surpassing the limit, would you truly get stronger.'
He was no emanator, he had an energy stored in his body that he used to cast few tricks. But that energy was miniscule compared to the one that an emanator possess. However, it was still useful ... to buy time.
Hayate reduces the war beast health into half, but he was panting really hard and his hand couldn't lift the ice sword anymore. He was killed by the borisin seconds later.
She didn't plan on helping him even if he died. This space was something like a Simulated Universe anyhow. Even if he died, while Jingliu knew that he still feel the pain of dying, he won't actually dead so it's fine. If he couldn't handle the pain of death, then he should strive and try his best to not dying. That simple.
'This might take a long time ... but it matters not, I feel really calm inside this space.'
Jingliu, despite her face didn't show any emotion, actually enjoyed this situation a little bit. The mara that has plagued her mind and brought her in the verge of insanity has been stabilized ever since she entered this special space. She wondered, if she finished this training, would then she be cured from it? Or would her condition return back to how it is.
It took a week and 21 deaths until Hayate Gekko killed the borisin. Through the hard way, he had learned and memorized its attack pattern, the weakness, and also its habit. His eyes, who was like a dead fish, now become sharper and carried a subtle bloodcraze.
He received the rewards, the Flowing Mirror Swordsmanship. The fundamental knowledge related to this sword technique was absorbed into his mind. He brandished the ice sword and with full concentration Hayate circulate his chakra based on the Flowing Mirror Swordmanship method. When he was done, he managed to summon a flying sword formation which they immediately fell down with a clank and dispersed back into chakra. One thing that was different is that, the sword is not made from ice ..., it was flaming swords.
"A bit slow, but at least you're not completely unredeemable." Jingliu appeared from the side. "Hmmm, you need to put some more work with these swords."
"It's all thanks to your guidance, Master."
"I haven't taught you anything, I merely just testing your determination and I have witness it. This is your next training set."
[Jingliu's Training Module II]
— Objectives: Complete the following task every day for a year
—— Leisure Time (00.00-06.00) (0/1)
—— Physical Training (06.00-12.00) (0/1)
—— Combat Training (12.00-18.00) (0/1)
—— Study Session (18.00-24.00) (0/1)
— Rewards: Flowing Mirror: Lucent Moonglow, Flowing Mirror: Shine of Truth
"Well, what can I say ... it's pretty straighforward." Hayate commented, he also wanted to cry for somehow.
"You do not need for sustenance or sleep because your energy is boundless here ... however, rest is also needed because I know your mind wouldn't bear it." Jingliu waved her hand and used Item Generation, a tall building materialized in front of her. "Let's go inside."
"Yes, Master." Hayate followed her from behind and marveled at the interior of this building.
"You will use this room, while I will occupy the bedroom upstair. You can do anything you want in your leisure time but I suggest for you to rest and contemplate your gain. When the morning comes, go clean yourself and do the routine set I've designed for you. In the afternoon, you will fight another enemies just like before. Everytime you kill the enemy, I'll summon a stronger one. If you're incapable of killing it, then the next day you'll face the same enemy. Lastly in the evening, you will learn every knowledge that you need to learn. Any question?"
Too tired (mentally) with the previous battle, Hayate could only sent a weak head shake.
"Any question?"
"No ..."
"You need to work on that attitude." Jingliu said icily, "We'll start from tomorrow, today you go and take some rest."