7 Fist 3: The Hero's Journey

Fist 3: The Hero's Journey

With a fixed goal in mind, it was time to think about the training he should undertake. His initial plans were discarded; it would take too long to gain the necessary strength through "normal" training.

Now, Jaune was planning a training regimen that no ordinary martial artist would take on, unless they had immense willpower and were willing to risk their live.

The biggest problem Jaune faced was his physical condition. He needed his body to be stronger. The knowledge was there, and so was the way to use it. But the power to execute it was lacking. This was something he had already known but hadn't been a major concern until he remembered Mountain Glenn.

So his plan to force his body to gain the necessary strength to unleash a portion of his skills and techniques was to do so through extreme stress.

As a martial artist, there was no better exercise and training method than executing the martial arts he practiced.

Every move, every stance, every technique.

It all contributed to the development of a martial artist's body more than the simple exercises that regular people did in gyms.

If he were to just practice his martial arts again, it would hardly be enough. He needed to go a step further.

He had to perform his martial arts while in combat, and even better if that fight put his life at risk or pushed his body to extreme exhaustion.

Only in that way could he bring out the true potential of his body and make his strength grow by leaps and bounds.

None of that could be achieved by going to school, none of it was possible by living in a safe village.

Not by being a regular teenager, not by being a loving brother, not by wasting time playing tea party with one of his sisters or carrying another on his back.

Not by helping set the table, doing homework, or just being an obedient son.

It was truly a shame, for a brief moment, Jaune imagined it – himself with his family, just living a calm and carefree life.

It was strange, completely different from his life as Charanko.

It was something that he wasn't, not anymore, and that's why the decision was quite easy to make, he didn't even hesitate.

He had to leave.

This family, this village – he didn't belong here anymore.

Jaune was a man of action, and even though having a home wasn't unfamiliar to him, his master's dojo had been his home.

Even if relaxing and taking time off was one of the lessons his master had emphasized in teaching him.

In the end, he always returned to action. It didn't matter if he had a place to return to or if he took a day off.

He never rested longer than necessary, and he never left a matter unresolved.

Because he was a hero.

Maybe, after he had resolved the problem in Mountain Glenn and any other that came his way, he could come back, learn a bit more about his family, or just say hello.

But that moment wasn't now. Now he had to plan his journey, get some supplies, and a map.

Indeed, even though Jaune had decided to leave, he didn't rush it. Going out without information, resources, and direction was just plain foolish...

He had done that in his first life, right?

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"Do you want me to lend you some money?" Jeanne looked at her brother with some doubt. The month had just begun, and everyone had received their monthly allowance just a few days ago. Had Jaune already spent it all?

"I want to buy a new game that just came out, and what I have isn't enough! Please, I'll pay you back later." Jaune's performance was convincing; he had been practicing for an hour before approaching any of his sisters, after all.

Jeanne thought deeply. "Double. You have to pay me back double!" Of course, as a teenager, giving up every cent of her allowance wasn't easy, so she'd have to earn more later.

"Of course!"

And so Jaune borrowed money from each of his present sisters. He'd pay them back... in the future...

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Once he had the funds, the next part was easier. Getting a map was quite straightforward, but the maps weren't as detailed as those of Earth.

Areas infested with Grimm were somewhat unknown even to Huntsmen, so there were no clear indications. Fortunately, the longer-standing settlements and cities were more detailed.

Once the map was in his hand, what followed was planning his route.

Getting to Mountain Glenn right away was futile. He didn't have the strength to accomplish anything even if he went there directly. Instead, he decided on a more practical course of action.

He would head to the settlement on foot and venture into each location marked as "Grimm-infested." From the memories he had, it was a massive horde of Grimm that had destroyed Mountain Glenn, and while that didn't explain the strange explosions in the tunnels, it was a good place to start.

First, he would clear as much Grimm as possible in the vicinity to gain strength. Once he considered himself ready, he would go directly to investigate why someone had blown up those tunnels and what reasons they might have for doing so. If it was some kind of evil organization or government conspiracy... well, Jaune had destroyed several of those before.

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As a martial artist, surviving in the wilderness was something his master had taught him well.

And although this was a different world, some things seemed extremely similar.

Getting a book about plants and herbs was a bit more challenging but not impossible.

Reading it all quickly was simple, and this allowed him to notice that there was an extreme resemblance between the types of plants and herbs on Earth and Remnant.

Even their flora and fauna were remarkably similar.

Going to a market and obtaining some samples of herbs, vegetables, and fruits was all he needed to confirm that at least the majority of his knowledge would be sufficient to survive in the wilderness, even if his rations ran out.

So the problem was water, but fortunately, there were some rivers marked on the maps. If Jaune stayed close to them, he should be able to get enough water.

Jaune smiled when all this planning reminded him of the old times with his master. How the master used to prepare him for a training journey alongside the other disciples. Even though he was alone now, it didn't stop a smile from forming on his face.

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The next step was to get bandages, lots of bandages. As a martial artist, techniques to help speed up the healing of his body and treat his injuries were something he had in abundance.

For martial artists, modern medicine was a joke. There's nothing that will, technique, and effort can't heal! Or so his master said.

In the end, it worked, so Jaune didn't object. But if one thing was necessary, it was bandages or fabric to cover wounds. Secret techniques or not, an infection was still a pain. And bleeding was still possible unless you were strong enough to control every muscle in your body with extreme precision and force your wounds to close.

And even though Jaune had that ability in his life as Charanko, he didn't have it now. So, until his body could do it, he would have to wear bandages, lots of bandages. Just like appropriate clothing.

As there was no longer a dojo of his master in this world, wearing a martial artist uniform didn't sit well with Jaune. The only uniform he would always be willing to wear was the one from his master's dojo, and if he didn't have that, then there was no need for one.

But at the same time, he was the only martial artist in this world capable of using his master's martial art. He was no longer just a student, right?

Looking at the long-sleeved black shirt in his hands, Jaune couldn't help but recall the time he spent with Bang. Now, he was the only master of Ryūsui Gansai-ken in this world, so he should dress as such.

Without further hesitation, Jaune put on the long-sleeved shirt that clung to his body like a second skin, loose-fitting white combat pants, and a black belt.

On his feet, a pair of kung fu shoes. Looking in the mirror, he saw only a shadow of what his master once was. The shirt clung to his body, but there were not enough muscles to accentuate, and while the pants were better and matched his shoes, there was still something missing.

This body still didn't exude the presence of a warrior.

"Oh well, nothing that extreme training can't fix."

Taking his gaze away from the mirror, Jaune looked at the travel backpack he had prepared. Since making his decision, a week had passed, and in that time, he had gathered everything he needed for his training journey. Now, he only had to wait for the right moment to leave.

Listening to the activity outside his room, Jaune couldn't help but wish this family a happy future.

Truth be told, they were all lovely, and during this week, the little time he had spent with them was enough to make him feel some appreciation for them. But that's all it was, a little. It was time to leave.

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"He's planning something," Jade's words made the rest of the sisters who had been training together look at her.

"What?" Jeane asked.

"Jaune is planning something," now they all stopped what they were doing and looked at the eldest sister present.

With their father absent, Jade, who was attending a combat school and was only a year away from going to Beacon, supervised their training. That's why all of them were gathered, except for Jaune and Juniper, the youngest.

"I don't know, Jade. Although he's been acting weird, I don't think he's planning something," Crystal spoke, and despite being the youngest of the present sisters, her opinion was heard.

"No, she's right," Jean said, recalling some strange behaviors.

"First, he borrows money from all of us to buy a game, but as far as I know, he hasn't gone to the video game store at all."

"Maybe he decided to save it," Jeanne said, deciding to give her brother the benefit of the doubt.

"It could be..."

Jade listened to them talk but didn't say anything else; instead, she narrowed her eyes at Jaune's room. He was planning something, and she would find out what it was.

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The day ended quickly, and the night arrived, the time to leave was here.

Jaune tried to wait until it was completely dark and everyone was asleep. If he were still Charanko, he would have used his heightened senses to ensure that, but unfortunately, he no longer possessed such senses, so he had to take a gamble.

Slipping away silently was easier. Jaune didn't think anyone would have been able to hear him. While he wasn't a master of stealth, his skills in that area were not to be underestimated.

As he walked towards the outskirts of the village, Jaune couldn't help but look at the broken moon in the sky. It was an unsettling sight, seeing it so close and shattered like that made him wonder when one of the fragments would decide it had waited long enough and would impact the planet.

He hoped that would happen when he had regained all his strength; otherwise, it would be quite challenging and annoying to destroy a meteorite.

A noise caught his attention. Looking back, he noticed a figure approaching slowly, causing him to squint.

"So, this is what you wanted to do," his sister, Jade, said as she walked towards him. She stopped only three meters away, her eyebrows furrowing in annoyance.

"Did I make any noise?" Had his abilities decreased so much?

"No, if I hadn't been secretly watching your room, I wouldn't have even noticed. I didn't know you were so good at sneaking around," she said, shaking her head and sighing. She looked at him before pointing her thumb back.

"Let's go back home. It's late, and you have school tomorrow." When he didn't move, her expression darkened even more.

"I was hoping to leave without causing too much fuss, but I guess it won't be that easy, huh?" Jaune spoke more to himself than to his sister.

Jade didn't like those words. She looked at him with clear disapproval.

"What are you thinking, Jaune? Do you really want to run away? Do you even know how much danger there is out there? Come on, let's go back before you hurt yourself," she reached out, but Jaune shook his head.

"I've had this feeling, you know. I couldn't quite understand it at first, but now I see it. You annoy me. I don't know why. I like all the others, but you... you have something that I simply don't like." It was a feeling Jaune had been trying to understand at first, but now it didn't matter. He wouldn't see her for a long time, so why bother with that?

"What are you saying?!" His sister seemed hurt by his words, but Jaune didn't want to waste more time on this conversation.

"Go back home, Jade." He tried to keep walking beyond the village walls, but Jade quickly stepped in front of him.

"Something is wrong with you, Jaune. I don't know what it is, but we'll figure it out when Dad comes back. Now, come back with me obediently. Just don't force me, I don't want to hurt you." Her words seemed genuine in the end, but to Jaune, it felt like she was looking down on him.

Hurt him? He would have laughed if he weren't aware of how weak he was now. But even if he was weak, he was still a martial artist. Being underestimated in that way still irked him a bit.

"I should be saying that, Jade. It's better if you go back before you get hurt." He wasn't going to repeat it. His words seemed to go in one ear and out the other. The sixteen-year-old girl didn't budge an inch, instead, she came closer, wanting to grab his arm and drag him back.

He easily dodged her grip.

"That's it! I'll take you back even if I have to drag you!" Her hand shot out with surprising speed. A regular person would never have seen the grab coming.

And even though Jaune had a week of training his body, he hadn't increased his strength enough to surpass that of an average person.

In every sense, it was impossible for him to dodge his sister's grip, a Huntress in training.

Yet, he did it so effortlessly that it seemed like no effort at all. Jade's eyes widened in astonishment. Although Jade hadn't used all his strength, it was known that she had an aura. Her strength, speed, and reactions were on a completely different level from any regular human.

A 14-year-old boy with no training shouldn't be able to dodge her.

Her amazement left her with no time to react to Jaune's next move. His fist blurred, and a precise punch struck the left side of her head.

For anyone else, this blow would have been enough to make them lose consciousness. Instead, a semi-transparent barrier of yellow light almost completely nullified the impact, causing Jade's face to move only slightly, more from the shock of being attacked by her brother than from being hurt.

'Psychic barrier? No, this feels different,' Jaune thought. He, on the other hand, frowned upon seeing that his blow was futile.

Quickly, he took a step back to create some distance. Supernatural power wasn't something he had considered when deciding to fight. How resilient was this barrier? Could it do more than just protect?

"Did you... hit me?!" Jade looked at Jaune with bewilderment, touching the left side of her face.

"You expected me to let you drag me without defending myself?" her silence was the only answer.

In Jade's eyes, bewilderment gave way to rage.

"Someone taught you how to fight!" she accused, her anger boiling as she realized this. That blow had been too well-delivered. There was technique in it, even if she was only a Huntress in training. She knew enough about fighting to see that.

Someone would have to answer for disobeying her father, but for now, she had to take Jaune home, whether he agreed or not. Knowing that someone had taught him to fight, she was no longer casual as before. Instead, she positioned herself and launched towards him with surprising speed and strength. She wanted to end this quickly to avoid hurting him too much, her aura glowing, a sign of her increased effort in this attempt.

Her foot broke the ground as she propelled herself, and her blurry figure launched toward Jaune faster than a car on a freeway.

Jaune couldn't even keep up with her speed of movement, but he didn't need to. From the moment she made her first move to position herself to the moment she launched forward, Jaune had already read and predicted her next actions.

His body twisted, evading Jade's hand. Still, her fist lightly grazed his cheek, scraping his skin. That feeling of almost being hit didn't stop him. Instead, his hand extended into a claw, grabbing Jade's outstretched arm and using her momentum against her to send her directly into the ground, her body hitting the earth with force.

"You!" Her astonishment was evident, but Jaune wasn't going to let her recover. His body lunged towards her, and Jade used her superior reaction speed to get up and get into a defensive stance. She wanted to catch Jaune's fist, but like a snake, his arm passed through her defense, impacting her face again. This time the force was greater, causing her head to jerk back a few centimeters.

Jaune stepped back again and observed. He was testing—how much damage could this energy shield take before breaking? After all, he didn't want to kill her.

Jade touched her chin, where Jaune's second blow had landed. She wasn't hurt, but she still felt the impact. Aura, after all, didn't entirely prevent you from feeling the blows—it only blocked most of the damage.

Jaune noticed her action. "So, she can feel my punches to some extent, even if she doesn't seem hurt by them."

More serious than before, this time Jade didn't attack recklessly. Instead, she approached from the side, her fists glowing with aura and held high.

She was fast, at least fifteen times faster than Jaune, but she was predictable. Her fists were launched at Jaune with inhuman speed, but Jaune's hands moved even before, having predicted each move she was going to make before she did it.

Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!

The flow was clear to Jaune. His hand easily deflected the incoming blow, and his own counterattack struck Jade again. This time, he used her strength and momentum against her.

There was a sound like an explosion, and his sister's body went flying several meters, crashing into a nearby tree and easily breaking it upon impact.

Even though Jaune's strength wasn't on par with Jade's, it didn't mean he couldn't hurt her. After all, one of the secrets of the flow of the most potent martial art was to use the opponent's force against themselves and deliver the counterblow with double strength. This was achieved by guiding the flow of the opponent's force through one's own body and releasing it through a precise counterattack.

Jade had experienced her own strength turned against her.

'She really wanted to hit me, huh?' Seeing the damage caused, Jaune couldn't help but smile ironically. Even if he had doubled the strength she used in the first place, if a blow like that struck him now, he would undoubtedly have a bone fracture.

"How the hell do you keep doing that?!" Jade got to her feet. Even though that blow was strong, it wasn't enough to break her aura or keep her down.

"You're strong, no doubt, but you have no idea how to fight against another person, do you?" In response to Jaune's question, Jade couldn't help but agree.

She had trained to kill Grimm, not to fight against others. Her only experience in fighting against another person was probably with her father, and that had involved using weapons. She didn't have her weapon with her because she didn't think there would be a fight. She was at a disadvantage, although that should be impossible.

Looking at her without showing any damage or irritation, Jaune couldn't help but click his tongue. This shield or whatever it was was annoying. If he had just one more week of training, he would undoubtedly have ended this fight at this point. Well, he just had to push harder.

Jaune assumed a stance, and Jade hesitated for a moment before taking hers. She didn't know how he kept connecting his blows and evading her attacks, or how he had hit her so hard. He clearly didn't have aura, there was no sign of it in his body. Still, she felt like she had to treat this as if he had aura, or she wouldn't be able to win.

Since when was her little brother so strong?

The next attack was a kick that flew toward Jaune like a whip, aiming for his torso. Jaune simply deflected it to the side as easily as before. This time, his counterattack was not only executed with the flow but also added an extra touch.

Exploding Heart Release Fist!

The synchronization with his heartbeat was perfect. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, and he felt the strength of the flow and the explosive beat of his heart combined in a single strike.

His fist collided with his sister's face, and this time her head jerked sharply to the side. The air exploded upon impact, and Jade's body was sent flying dozens of meters through the air, crashing against a distant rock and shattering it into pieces.

"That probably made too much noise," Jaune cursed inwardly.

He examined his fist, which was now bleeding, the skin on his knuckles torn. He would need to bandage it. He felt his heart pounding strongly, and cold sweat running down his back. Combining two such different martial arts had a small cost for his unprepared body.

He looked at the spot where his sister had fallen. She was trying to get up but was unsteady.

Jade stared at the ground in confusion, her head spinning. 'What the hell was that punch?' She felt it, oh, she felt it! She felt her brain rattling inside her skull, and even though she still had her aura, she had no doubt that if she checked it now, it would be red or very close to it.

"I'm sorry." Those words made her pay attention again, and when she looked up, the image of a fist approaching her was the last thing she saw before passing out.

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Back at the Arc family's house, Jaune left Jade's unconscious body in the front yard before quickly departing. That fight had been tougher for him than it seemed, and he had to leave now to find a place for his body to rest.

"I couldn't break it after all, huh?" That barrier was tougher than he had thought, at least for his current self. However, even if he couldn't break it, finding a way to go beyond it wasn't difficult. In truth, he merely followed the same principles that many martial arts followed.

If the exterior is the toughest, just attack the interior. Make the force of your strike go beyond the first layer of defense, ignoring it to some extent. Although Jade's aura barrier was strong, it didn't completely block everything. The fact that she could still feel his punches was enough for Jaune to figure out how to win.

"If all Huntsmen have something like this, it will be quite annoying to deal with them at this stage."

It was a good thing he wasn't looking for a fight with any of them. His current focus was on the Grimm, and that's what he would concentrate on unless he had no other choice.

Moving away from the town's walls, he soon ventured into the wilderness beyond the guards' protection. In no time, his figure was lost in the darkness, beyond the glow of the shattered moon. His journey in this world was officially beginning...

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Note:

the journey begins now, by the way I made a drawing of Jaune, I should have uploaded this chapter before but I wanted to upload the drawing at the same time, I tried to make him 14 years old but I think I'm not good at drawing such young men so let's say he's about 15, he still lacks muscle! I will make a better drawing in the future with its final appearance.

doesn't let you upload images so you can go to this link to see Jaune's drawing!:

Twitter.

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Just remove the spaces.