Chapter 187 Block
Over the next week, Max regularly broke both his arms while training the ‘Block’ move.
The training was so intense that he actually got strength, constitution and endurance stat point bonuses from keeping at it daily, but the truly difficult aspect of the training was the willpower.
Everytime that Max faced the incoming boulder knowing full well he did not have the necessary strength or skill to stop it, he had to steel his mind to stop the boulder with all that he got.
Everyday Max would break his arm bones and everyday Rhea would heal him up, as even while sleeping he started to dream about the boulder and how badly he wanted to stop it.
After 14 days, Max’s palm prints were visible on the large rock as it became abundantly clear as to how Max was approaching the problem.
On the first two days Max had experimented a lot, he had tried to stop the boulder by applying force at the top, he had tried to apply force by trying a wide grip and trying to stop it from the sides, while he also tried to use his legs and stop it from the bottom, but nothing worked.
In the end he realised that spreading his legs at shoulder width and applying force with both his palms at the centre, with the palms separated at nearly the shoulder width as well was the best stance possible to approach this problem. 𝚋ｅ𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖｅ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐
Max was practically learning the basics of the ‘ Block ‘ skill instead of learning it from a manual, although he did not understand why Kremeth was making him go through all this trouble instead of just giving him the skill and making him improve on its mastery.
What Max did not know was that stumbling upon a skill naturally made one a ( master ) of the skill as opposed to just learning the skill where one would start from beginner and have to comprehend his way forward.
Experimenting, failing and learning was the best way to build fundamentals of fighting as while one could be fine if they did not know the most advanced attacks in a battle, but without the basics a warrior was fucked in any fight they took.
Although Max did not understand it directly, he was slowly understanding the very essence of the block skill with his repeated failures as his progress was visible to Kremeth.
” The boy is talented, no question about that ” Kremeth said to Rhea who was observing Max train as well.
” That he is, a rare genius in the body of a barbarian” Rhea commented as she could see Max’s motion improving.
” 30 more days before he fully gets the physical block I think ” Rhea said as Kremeth agreed with the assessment.
Had it been an average individual they would take about 6 months to get through this stage but Max’s progress was rapid, it was like he had devoted himself fully to the task of stopping the rock and everyday his approach to the problem improved.
” It is truly so simple, yet so difficult to realise naturally ” Kremeth said as Rhea chuckled, the two of them had already comprehend the laws of the universe and such skills were trivial in their eyes, but seeing mortals struggle with it was still fascinating in their eyes.
” How are the dragons coming for the boys’ ceremony? ” Rhea asked Kremeth as she reminded him that the day of Max’s racial transformation ceremony was drawing close.
” All the resources are ready but his mind is still fickle, converting him now would only hurt him.
He is too proud for things he has not achieved himself, he has a shitton of luck to have brought him to this point in life while his hard work and humbleness has prevented his downfall
But his mindset is still that of a kid, he doesn’t have the edge needed to make him a standout warrior.
But I have a fix in mind for that.
Once he masters the ‘ block’ , I will give him a reward that will fix his temperament for life, after that we can go forward with the ceremony ” Kremeth said as Rhea frowned, the old turtle was wise but his training methods were sometimes way too cruel for kids.
Rhea’s motherly heart bled for the three students seeing their harsh training lives, but her rational mind of a queen knew that it was all necessary.
What Rhea was most concerned about at the moment was Mira’s growth.
While her baby was already into the level 70’s growing at an incredible pace, half of her exp was being freeloaded by Max who had grown 7 levels while doing nothing but training in the cave.
It was Mira who was out hunting everyday, it was her sharpening her skills as a predator and learning new attacks as Kremeth taught her which opponents to pick on and which to avoid and the correct approach of attacking an opponent.
Although Kremeth moulded her into his own line of thought, Rhea made sure to teach Mira the dragon’s way from time to time so that when she finally left the cave and took her place amongst dragon elites she would not be looked down upon by her fellow clansmen.
Mira enjoyed the hunt so much, she would sneak out at night to hunt opponents while she had an acute fondness for killing other dragon babies.
She had already killed 7 dragon children when their mothers were not noticing but in the process of doing so she made many opponents in the form of mature dragon mother’s.
If it were not for Kremeth who kept an eye on her, she would already be killed thrice in the last week itself.
If one were to describe Mira’s personality it could only be described with the word ‘ Cold ‘ as the dragon princess did not care or sympathise with any creature except those who shared a cave with her.
Even amongst them, she only truly loved her mother and Max while she was cordial with Kremeth and Sebastian.
Rhea had no idea where Mira developed such a temperament from, but she felt that she was to blame for it partly.
While most dragon babies were still playing and rolling in the grass learning how to shoot first, her baby was already level 70 and training with ancient gods to become more powerful.
Mira had enjoyed childhood for a grand total of 2 days since birth where she played with Max and Sebastian, otherwise it was only training and killing in her life.
For better or for worse, this was how her baby had turned out to be.
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/// A/N – New year’s bonus! Chapter 4/10 enjoy! ///