We didn't really talk as we walked through the dirt street and even as we left the town and walked towards the hill we normally trained at. It was silent yet peaceful.
As we scaled the mountain, I looked over at him, and he just focused on climbing up, reaching the top before me, and stretching out a hand for me to grab.
"Thanks," I muttered, taking it and getting pulled to the very top of the hill, seeing the sun slowly set from its noon position. "Today's a long day…."
"Okay, let's take a break for now. Meditation is important when mastering the art of any weapon. You must be calm and not wildly swing at your opponent. So, for now, every day for thirty minutes, we will meditate. It's not for long, but just enough to clear your mind of all unnecessary thoughts."
Clearly, he was talking about Han.
…
It was the mid of night, and pure and utter darkness had clouded my vision, yet I still managed to hold onto my still mind.
"AGAIN!" The general shouted, and as I gritted my teeth and clenched the metal bar in between my palms, I swung with full force, creating a massive ripple in the grass below.
My muscles ached, and my bones almost felt bruised just from swinging this massive halberd that the flying general had granted me.
I thought it was a kind present at first, but in my eyes now, it was just a torture device made to tear my muscles apart with each passing second that I was atop this hill.
"SWING AGAIN! HARDER! FASTER!"
I tensed my muscles and swung, feeling the sweat on my bare upper body fly off of me with my intense swing that was filled with killing intent.
I was angry and tired… and for some reason, this halberd continued to be my downfall as normally I would've been able to lift such a heavy weapon… but this thing was HEAVY. And when I mean it is heavy, I mean it weighs at least a ton.
"ALRIGHT! STOP! THAT'S ENOUGH!"
My breathing was off and rapid and I attempted to suck in as much air as I possibly could before flopping onto my back and staring up at the star-ridden sky.
A light breeze blew past me, and two glowing golden strands of hair dangled over me, their wielder's black eyes softly looking down on me.
"You're gonna kill me!" I heaved, quickly sitting up and grabbing the man's several calloused hands, which felt more like a rock than the skin, in order to help me up.
His training and dedication were not only prevalent in his body, but also in the way he carried himself, which almost seemed arrogant, but in reality, he was entirely accepting of what came to him.
He was like a blade of grass, drifting through the wind, letting only a few things dictate his life. Yet even if those things are all powerful and controlling, he still has this sense of freedom to him that makes me look at him with awe.
He looked so free despite having the emperor completely breathing down his neck. It was almost impressive how accepting and uncaring he was.
"Today was a bit harder than future training days as I wanted to test your limit. I wanted to see where you could go and what you needed to adapt to… but clearly, you've already reached your limits…."
"I'm well aware of that…." I huffed, slowly stretching out so that I don't cramp later on while I'm attempting to have a peaceful recovery.
"How close are you to classing up? Clearly, you have no more room to grow in terms of your physical capabilities. I'll test your magic tommorow, but I have a feeling you won't need much training with that."
"If you didn't know, I'm already a master at magic," I smirked, and as he smiled back, he lifted up the halberd with his foot and kicked it upward so he could grab it.
"Mhm… Dinner is on me. Get whatever you want,"
If there was one thing I loved about this timeline, it was the food… and best believe I used this personal bank to my advantage just as I was about to order some food.
As soon as I received a menu, I ordered practically everything on it, and as the flying general looked at me with discern, I just continued to read out my order.
"What? You're helping me, right?"
"Sure, sure… whatever. It's not good to eat so much after working out so hard. You're gonna throw up if you eat more than two plates of-"
"Psh… like I care. I'll stuff myself now and regret it later…." I sighed, and as the atmosphere of the tavern began to fill me with warmth, the fatigue and previous nausea that I had from working out so hard slowly began to fade out of my body.
The lights that illuminated the room were bright and welcoming, and everybody within the tavern was drinking and having a good time, singing songs and dancing, playing games, or even arm wrestling to test their strengths.
Waiters and waitresses were running around, professionally darting through walls of people with platters of food still in their hands.
Cooks were shouting back and forth with each other, making sure their dishes were prepared carefully and perfectly, and making sure every order was made with love, care, sweat, and tears just for the best experience within this place.
As my waiter quickly dashed off with my humungous order, I turned towards the flying general who was flipping a small knife in his hand.
"What? Wanna try?"
"No thanks… I was just wondering… can I ummm… order some alcohol? Nothing much, just a few-"
"Waiter!" The general immediately shouted, and as he saw my face brighten up, he couldn't help but smile as a tiny waitress ran over to us. "Bring two big pints of ale."
"O-Of course," She jotted our order down before dashing over to another table, making a quick round trip before returning to the kitchen where our order would be prepared.
