Mountain training

"Well... all I need to do now is to practice," Alonn murmured as he sat on the floor of his room.

'If I run out of energy like last time I'll just be wasting time, I cannot let my True Qi simply be absorbed into my body in that way.'

'Rather, I must make my True Qi be like a thunder in each of my movements... Explosive and repentine.'

'Thunder...'

After thinking about it for a long time, Alonn got up and took off the shirt he was wearing.

"I don't think I will be able to learn this while standing still."

Alonn circled his True Qi on the right arm and punched the air.

"Not yet," Alonn murmured, he failed.

Despite his True Qi circulating around his arm, it did not affect his movement at all.

"What am I missing?" Alonn asked to himself as he punched the air again.

No matter how he tried, Alonn did not get the results he wanted.

After an hour of trying, Alonn was a little tired and decided to reflect a little more before continuing.

"...Why can't I stop my body from absorbing my own True Qi? It is really frustrating."

–Alonn, sometimes you won't get what you want on your way. You should try alternative paths if you cannot forge that sword as you wish.

Suddenly, Alonn remembered something his father had said in the past.

–Think about it. Forging is about intention, isn't it? Forget a bit about your way, focus more on your desires. Our feelings might help us sometimes.

Alonn then realized, until now he has been following the circulation method taught in the manuals, what guarantees that this will work?

The manuals are explicit in explaining the function of this method of circulation, strengthening the body and mind.

"I'm a fool," Alonn murmured with a weak smile.

'Now then, should I try a different way?'

Alonn clenched his right fist and prepared to punch the air in front of him, but this time he did not circulate True Qi through his body as before.

'Now that I think about it, my will is imbued in the True Qi. It should respond to my desires.'

While concentrating on the intention imbued in the punch, Alonn finally felt an expressive change.

Like thunder, his True Qi in the Dantian was channeled to the fist.

Swish!

Alonn's blow in the air produced a weak gush of wind! His strength had increased exponentially, although it was just for a moment.

While shocked and happy, Alonn was doubtful.

"Why didn't this happen when I was fighting the dwarves?"

"Ah!"

Alonn thought about that moment and understood. In that fight, he believed he was not able to use True Qi in his attacks!

"Just like before... My will and belief is really important in cultivation," Alonn smiled.

Spiritual Qi is the embodiment of the laws of the world that allow everything to exist. Theoretically, True Qi is still this embodiment but it has the addition of the energies of Alonn, of his desire.

True Qi truly allows for a intervention in the world based on the desires of a being!

"But it's still not enough! I will train until I feel exhausted!" Alonn started a combo of movements, it is the training technique that his father taught him!

Every attack by Alonn when imbued with True Qi produced light winds around him, making his hair flow in the air as if it were in a stream of water.

The winds even caused small waves in the bathtub water.

Alonn was extremely surprised to find the fluidity increasing as he practiced this way. All movements of the technique facilitated the action of True Qi.

Kicks, punchs, jumps... Alonn continued to train until his Dantian was almost empty.

Alonn himself did not notice that the sheets on the bed had become a bit messy due to the winds.

"Power..! This is power!" Alonn murmured shocked with himself. Some time ago he never imagined such a thing could have been possible.

"Just because of my will, True Qi gave me such a big strength!"

Furthermore, Alonn also noticed that his body was strengthened a bit while training in this way!

After catching his breath on the floor, Alonn got up and took a shower before heading to the restaurant.

'I won't make the same mistake and fall unconscious, I will recover at least part of my energy before I focus on producing more True Qi!'

Although True Qi is produced automatically by the harmony of the three energies, if Alonn doesn't focus the speed is very slow.

After eating until he was full and paying for the food, Alonn decided not to go back to training right away. Instead, he went to the streets of the capital.

It was already night, and the light from the flames at the top of the great wall could be seen from anywhere in the capital, lighting up all the streets.

Dwarves have the habit of praying to their gods at night, so many temples were crowded and the sound of prayers was loud as thunder.

While walking through the streets, Alonn sometimes tossed a silver coin to the bards who animated the corners and squares of the city.

"It's really different from Fjörd," Alonn murmured.

After walking for a while, Alonn went into an armor store to bought a very simple set of hardened leather armor. After all, any type of armor is probably useless against a spiritual beast, so it is better to maintain his agility.

However, he also chose a pair of special hand forearm guards that have metal plates to protect the backs of the hands and forearms. This is useful for protecting Alonn's hands and forearms when he attacks or defends himself.

The hardened leather of the armor has a dark brown color, and the metal plates of the hand forearm guards has a black color.

"Mr. Alonn, this set of armor should be enough for basic defense against wolves or bears. But this pair of hand forearm guards is very unique thus it's price is higher than that of the armor," the shop owner said with a big and warm smile, he is a dwarf with glasses and white beard and hair

"Just tell me how much does it cost," Alonn said while looking at himself in a mirror, he had liked his new appearance. Now he had the style of an brave (or maybe stupid) adventurer.

"This simple set of hardened leather armor costs twenty gold coins, since its raw material is none other than leather from an underground giant wolf! The pair of hand forearm guards costs thirty gold coins, since its raw material is the leather of a rare mountain goat and the mysterious Yter metal from the colorful hills."

"It is really expensive. Can't you give me a discount?" Alonn asked with a frown.

"Seeing that the esteemed you are an elf and this is your first visit to my store, I can sell all of this to you for just forty five gold coins. Nothing more, nothing less," the shop owner said with a warm voice but serious look.

"...All right, I will buy it," Alonn agreed with a sigh. But he knows that usually any type of equipment is expensive, especially quality ones like the what he just bought.

"Thanks, dear customer. Come back here when you need quality full equipment! Oh, please don't die out there!"

"May your gods bless you, and the world bless us all," Alonn said with a kind smile and left the store.

"Hahaha, may it happen!" the shop owner laughed after hearing it and put the gold coins in a purse.

After that, he went to a studio and bought new clothes to wear, which only cost a few silver coins.

"Now then, shall I resume my training?" Alonn murmured and looked towards the wall.

'Maybe I should go train somewhere else...'

After returning to the hotel to store the clothes he had bought, Alonn left the city.

'I know it's not very wise to train overnight, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to get used to my new skills,' Alonn thought and started to walks towards a mountain near the city.

The sounds of the wild...

From time to time Alonn heard the howling of wolves coming from the forest, which made him feel a chill in his spine at the same time as an excitement.

The mountain was ten miles away from Mardōk, and he could see the light from the flames of the fire bowls lighting up the clouds in the sky.

There was a stream coming from the north at the base of the mountain.

Alonn stopped by the stream for a moment and decided to try to cross it in a single jump!

The stream was ten meters wide, but Alonn was confident and moved away a little.

Alonn ran for momentum and at the time of the jump he used True Qi to increase his strenght.

For a brief moment Alonn thought he was flying, he felt the strong wind against his body as well as he heard the sound of the stream below.

It was as if the world had slowed down, Alonn was amazed by the experience.

Bang

Alonn landed on the ground on the other side, feeling only a discomfort in the leg that absorbed the impact.

'Maybe I can use True Qi to increase my resistence too. I will try it.'

Alonn faced the big mountain in front of him and wondered if he should really train there.

The mountain has a decent height, and Alonn wondered how long it would take him to reach the top.

Alonn focused on feeling the spiritual qi around him and was surprised to see that the density was higher than in the city.

"Not that it really matters to me right now, I can't even turn all the spiritual qi circulating within me into True Qi."

Alonn first sat down to recover the True Qi that he had lost during the day.

After a long time focusing on it, Alonn blew out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he didn't lose consciousness this time.

In addition, he again realized that he can store more True qi than before.

"My limits expand with each training session, this is really a wonderful feeling. I will train until dawn and then I will rest until it is time to meet the rest of the expedition group."

After making this decision, Alonn started to climb the mountain with everything he has! At each step he used True Qi, both to increase speed and to absorb the impacts, he did not seem to fear running out of True Qi.

The reason he does this is to get as used to using True Qi to run and dodge as possible.

From time to time he also used his hands to climb large obstacles like great rocks.

After an hour of effort, Alonn reached the peak of the mountain!

While trying to catch his breath, Alonn admired the scenery. Many clouds were below him covering the landscape and the moonlight gave him a mysterious sensation.

Even so, the light of the fire bowls is still visible through the clouds.

Swish

A strong wind hit Alonn suddenly, surprising him for a brief moment.

"This is an indescribable feeling... at the same time as familiar, why is it?"

—The hero fought all night, and before dying he looked to the landscape from the top of the mountain. He knows he was dying, even so he felt something he never experienced before, freedom.

—"Oh Lord, even if I die today and even if you betrayed me, I got my freedom! Death comes for me, but it will come for you one day!"

Alonn suddenly remembered something he had read in the past, the death of his favorite hero when he was still a teenager.

"Freedom... At that time, I didn't understand why he felt it when he was on the verge of death. I understand now."

"In the face of the greatness of the world, everything seems so irrelevant. Being here, I feel like my biggest wish is to fly through this sky."

Alonn was distracted for a long time before he regained his senses.

His True Qi has basically been depleted, but it doesn't mean he can't train.

After finally controlling his breathing, Alonn did not focus on producing True Qi and instead started training normally.

'My father wrote in the letter that this training technique is special, and I understand it now. All these movements, muscle contractions and relaxations are basically perfect for training my entire body at the same time I use True Qi.'

'Moreover, the reason he always meditate after the physical training is to calm and strengthen the mind.'

'I wonder... Why did he really taught it to me?'

Slowly time passed, the moon was slowly falling on the horizon.

When he was tired, Alonn sat on top of a rock to meditate, ignoring the urge to sleep.

When he recovered his breath, he returned to physical training. And so, he repeated this cycle several times.

There was no one to witness or accompany Alonn, it was a new sensation for him to be in such a beautiful and isolated place just to train.

Sometimes, he heard the sound of wild animals. But he did not stop training, ignoring his instinctive fear.

Fortunately no predators attacked Alonn while he was training. Though some wild rabbits sometimes visited him curiously.

After repeating the training cycle countless times, Alonn finally saw a ray of sunlight on the horizon, the moon was already gone.

At the same time, he could clearly feel the density of spiritual qi increasing in the environment. Something inside him seemed to resonate and his body felt very refreshed.

His True Qi still didn't recovered completely, but it won't be a problem for him.

After calmly watching the sunrise, Alonn decided it was time to go back.