Talents and Riverside

"Ugh" Ron slowly awoke as he opened his eyes and saw the blue sky, "I'm not dead" Ron muttered as he remembered what happened, he looked down and saw his arm and leg covered in bandages.

('It doesn't feel like they're broken so it should just be a flesh wound') Ron concluded after not feeling any pain.

He could smell something being cooked and slowly sat up to see Scarlett eating some meat on a stick. ('Is she eating the hyena I killed?')

"Oh you're up" Scarlett said as she saw Ron sitting up she walked over still chewing on some hyena meat. Ron just looked at her and could smell the slightly burned meat from up close.

"That doesn't look tasty" Ron commented on her cooking. From the way she was chewing it she didn't look like she was enjoying it.

"You're right it tastes like shit and is chewy as hell" She said after swallowing a mouthful.

"Then why are you still eating it?" Ron asked, a little confused. If it was bad, why still eat it?

"Bored" Was her only answer.

"How long was I out for?" Ron asked if the sun was still high up so it couldn't have been that long right?

"Around 3 hours ish" Scarlett replied.

"Okay, so how did I do?" He asked her about his fight with the hyenas. Personally he had felt it was fine because he won.

"Meh, five out ten i'd say" Scarlett harshly critiqued him before she began her reasoning "First, you tunnel visioned when you hit one and it caused you to get bit in the leg. Second, you were slow in pulling back your punch which caused the bite on your arm. Third, you assumed the one you kicked couldn't do anything anymore which almost cost you your life".

Ouch these were harsh criticisms indeed but she wasn't wrong, in her eyes these were all improvement points. Ron also reflected back on the fight and found another hole in his combat ('I have no piercing power') If he had pierced the first hyena with his hands it would've died and he also could've killed the second one once it bit him.

"I need more piercing power as well" Ron voiced his thoughts to Scarlett.

"You need more versatility, yes piercing power included. However I've decided to hold off on those just yet" Scarlett said before explaining why. "If I teach you those techniques you will have to commit to martial arts and we don't know your talents" Scarlett explained.

"Ugh I wish I could see my talents…Wait a minute!" Ron complained for a second before remembering he could wish for literally anything.

"I wish to see my talents for combat," Ron said after opening the wish store.

"CALCULATING... THE PRICE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR TALENTS IN COMBAT IS 2,000 POINTS" Currently Ron had 3,575 wish points remaining; he still needed to spend some points on food and muscle recovery potions but this was more important.

Ron confirmed his wish and suddenly a piece of paper came into his hands. As he read it he understood what it meant. It was a list of weapons and his talent in them classified as terrible to amazing.

'1. Swords - Mediocre'

'2. Spears - Mediocre'

'3. Axes - Mediocre'

'4. Bows - Terrible'

It continued for a while before Ron saw what he wanted to see.

'17. Unarmed- Mediocre'

He was mediocre when it came to unarmed combat. It was innate talent. It didn't mean the end of the world but it meant that he would be slower to learn it then those talented.

Most of the list was mediocre in talent with a few 'terrible' and 'bad' in there. It wasn't all bad however he saw some things that surprised him.

'32. Whips - Good'

'46. Flails - Good'

Apparently he had a talent for whip-like weapons, the flail was a more clunky weapon but it certainly did way more damage then the whip.

"Can I see it?" Scarlett asked. There was no reason to hide it from her so he just showed it to her. After seeing the list she made a quick jab at his bowmanship before focusing on the unarmed combat.

"Well, can't say I'm surprised at the mediocre talent for unarmed combat" Scarlett sighed a little when seeing the mediocre talent for unarmed combat. She had hoped it was higher but oh well. "I am a little surprised at the talent for whip-like weapons though" She said after seeing the whip talent.

Ron however was deep in thought, If I can see my talents can I upgrade them as well? Normally talents were hard coded in people however he had unlimited wishing power, that was probably a good shot.

"I wish to upgrade my talent for unarmed combat" Ron issued the wish, getting a look of surprise from Scarlett who didn't even know that would be possible.

"CALCULATING... THE PRICE FOR UPGRADING YOUR TALENT FOR UNARMED COMBAT FROM MEDIOCRE TO GOOD IS 2,500 POINTS"

"Darn not enough points" Ron muttered as he looked at the remaining 1,575 points. Preferably he wanted to use 1,000 points to upgrade it but that wasn't possible.

"You sure you want to focus on unarmed combat? That whip talent will be useless you know" Scarlett asked him, personally of course she wanted his talent to be better however throwing away what you already have seems foolish.

"I'll use both," Ron said before explaining. "Unarmed combat for close range and whips for medium and long range" It would use both of his talents that he wanted to upgrade to 'good' and in the future he would upgrade them both to 'amazing'.

"Hm, I haven't met many martial artists who use weapons in general let alone whip users, a combination of the two is personally something I've never heard of". Scarlett said after thinking for a bit. "People never really use weapons because of low quality yet with the wish store it would be less of a factor, this could really work" Scarlett said with some clarity.

"However I have zero knowledge of whips in general so I can't help you with training that" Scarlett also mentioned.

"That's fine I also have to restock up for the next week and buy a whip. When I upgrade my unarmed combat talent to 'good' can you teach me some techniques?" Ron explained his plans and asked Scarlett.

"Sure, I suppose by the time you upgrade your talent your fundamentals will be decent" Scarlett agreed readily she was very interested in seeing what Ron would cook up in terms of martial arts.

By now she was doing it more because she enjoyed Ron's company and wanted to see how far he would go with martial arts, who knows maybe he'll even become a challenge for her?

Ron bought supplies and a basic whip all for 450 points, now he was left with just 1,125 wish points. A leather whip appeared in Ron's hands it also had a steel wire at the end, he gave it a few swings but couldn't get it to crack correctly and even hit himself with it. ('This is definitely going to need some practice.')

He could always wish for a teacher for whips in the future for now his injuries had to heal and he would have to explore the river and find the villagers. Ron marked the hyenas on the map and he and Scarlett set off to the next marker.

Eventually they came to the river, it had a heavy current that couldn't be crossed by just swimming. Or atleast Ron couldn't swim across it, Scarlett begged to differ. Following across the river to the first marker.

They came to a certain part of the river that was shallower than the rest and it was clear a lot of fish were swimming there, "This must be their fishing spot" Ron commented. He didn't see a lot of crops being grown in the town so they must have been fishing here.

"Perfect timing the hyena tasted like ass" Scarlett said walking towards the river. Was she going to catch them bare handed?

"You don't need a net or fishing rod?" Ron asked her, he had enough points to spare for some free food.

"Psh, I don't need such a thing. Watch and learn" Scarlett replied confident in her ability to catch a fish with her bare hands.

Scarlett stepped into the river and just when Ron thought she would get swept up by the current she continued walking like she was taking a stroll on the beach. It was incredible to watch her not get swept up.

Once she got far enough she stopped and looked down, all the fish were swimming around her. Scarlett raised her arm to her chest and focused, suddenly her arm was a blur as she cut through the water and grabbed a fish.

"See easy!" She declared as she threw the fish to Ron. She decided one wasn't enough and went to grab some more. She stopped after she threw 5 fish to Ron then went to walk to him.

"Still doubt I can't catch them?" She asked Ron with a smile. Ron just smiled and shook his head and decided to prepare the fish. After lunch they continued to walk along the river to the east.

Soon they were about to reach another marker but Ron was already hearing what it could be. It was a loud crashing noise and the water current seemed to be stronger. After a little bit of walking it was clear what they were going to encounter, it was a waterfall.

"Well this explains the hard current,'' Scarlett said as she watched the tons of water crashing down.

"What do you think the chances are of a cave behind the waterfall?" Ron joked as he looked at the waterfall coming down with severe might.

Scarlett just looked at him with a confused look "What do you mean a cave behind it?" She had never heard of caves behind waterfalls before.

"Oh it's just a popular cliché where I'm from" Ron explained. There were always goodies behind waterfalls in games from his home.

"Alright, I'll take a look real quick" Scarlett said, taking Ron's joke seriously. She wasn't going to go through the waterfall right? She took off her clothes and was standing there naked, Ron didn't know where to look. Scarlett was a beautiful lady however those battle scars and muscles on her body were the real deal.

Scarlett didn't say anything and just walked to the waterfall, once she reached the waterfall she just walked right into it and stayed there for a good 10 minutes. Just when Ron thought she had drowned she suddenly came out of the waterfall.

"You okay?" Ron asked first and foremost before handing her a towel.

"Yeah, I'm fine there was no cave behind the waterfall" Scarlett said as she dried herself off.

"If there was nothing why did you take so long?" Ron said as he tried not to stare too much at her.

"I realised it was a decent way of training so I stayed under there for a bit" Scarlett explained while looking at Ron and then she decided to have some fun as Ron seemed a little nervous.

"You like what you see?" She said with a teasing smile.

"Duh, but I'm more surprised how you have no shame in these things" Ron said.

"Meh, Shame goes out the window quickly when you stake your life for martial arts" She said while getting dressed before adding "And besides if you really jumped on me I would kill you easily". A nervous shiver ran down Ron's spine as she said those words, although they were friends she really would've done it if he had jumped on her.

"Duly noted" Ron said a little afraid, even travelling together he still had no clue how strong she really was but seeing all these inhuman feats really made it obvious she was on a whole other level.