The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

X2.4.4: The Mad Master's Training

"You're telling me that if that—giant tree dies—it's all over, everywhere?" Roa said in a shock.

"That's what you revealed to me that day, long ago."

"So, the Basements of the Palace are flooding as the water rises, drowning everyone, the Tree of Life is dying as Nature collapses, countless worlds are being taken over by Default World, and the people are in chains because of the Old Order?" the Sunflower said.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Why would the Lord want all this? Does he not see that it's madness?"

"People like him have long lost all sense of humanity or morality, my boy. Who knows what is going on in that evil head of his? The power that he yields is not natural. So much of it should never belong to one man—lest he go mad from it."

"You must reteach me what you know, Master. I have lost most of my skills, my aura has been weakened, and I am afflicted by a terrible disease. Regardless, we cannot just wait around for the whole of Existence to collapse around us. We must fight. Train me, as you have before in the past. I need your knowledge," pleaded the boy.

The old master thought about it for some time but would not agree. Roa decided he would not take a no as an answer and sat down, cross legged, near the lake, next to the hermit's house until he would change his mind.

Days passed and the boy continued to sit there, under rain or sunshine, sleeping outside at night, and only leaving to release himself and to forage for food.

"What the hell have you been doing here all this time?" asked Rosso.

"I'm waiting for my old teacher to train me," said Roa without opening his eyes.

"Old teacher?" asked Indigo, glancing over at the scrawny old man in the wooden hut, "that guy over there?"

"Yeah, he was the one who taught me how to fight, long before I was reset," answered the Sunflower.

The boy from the desert sighed and shrugged his shoulders, plopping himself next to his friend, and entering a state of meditation.

"I guess we are staying here for a bit then, huh?" Indigo said, joining the other two.

The master ignored them for days, until he became annoyed with their presence, and with Roa's constant request to be trained by him. The old man was short-tempered, often losing his patience over nothing, and reacting over the top whenever their eyes met. Eventually, however, after several weeks had passed, and neither Indigo, Rosso nor the old teacher realized that the Sunflower would move, did Master O finally agree to train the three intruders.

"I am not as strong as I used to be. I have spent the last few centuries trapped on this forsaken mountain on my own. I will teach what I remember, but what is lost has been lost already," the martial artist said.

"Master, Indigo has one last ampule of Ambrosia. We can give it to you in return for your training," Roa said.

"No. I do not want to live on forever, anymore. I am tired. I want to grow old and finish my days in peace. Once you leave, all that will be left for me to do is live out my last days," he answered back with a tired tone.

"But, you could be invaluable—"

"I said NO!" the master shouted back. "I said that I had enough. You continue to fight if that is what you wish. I will teach you three Gifts and the martial arts I had taught you long ago. That will be all you will receive from me."

Roa bowed and accepted the terms. Master O sat cross-legged in front of them.

"If you are to fight, you will eventually need great strength, whether that's to lift immense things, or hit your opponent harder than a normal punch allows. For this, you must master the Powerhouse Gift."

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"Power—house?"

"Yes. For the next month, I want you to meditate, concentrate, and focus your auras," he said, "these three boulders will be your test. One is small, one medium and one very large. Your ability to use your aura to increase your strength will result in you being able to lift all three at some point."

The three bowed and began their training.

"I didn't tell you to start!" Master O said, extremely angry, prompting them to look at each other. "Listen to me, damn it. Don't make me—" his fist shook. Once he managed to calm himself again, he continued, "the second Gift you will learn is called Solar Clap. For this one, you will have to concentrate all of your life force into the palms of both of your hands until they are glowing. Then, right before invoking the Gift, spike your aura, and clap your hands once as hard as you can. This will release all that energy into the air."

"What does it do?" asked Rosso.

"Did I ask you to ask me?" Master O said rudely. "It releases a powerful flash of light, blinding everyone within one kilometer. This includes you and your friends as well, so make sure that you communicate to one another that you are about to use the Solar Clap or you will blind each other during battle."

"Yes, sir," Rosso said.

"Speak when spoken to!" the teacher screamed again, causing the three students to look at each other. "The last damn Gift—you will fight, and you will get hurt, eventually, which means that above all else, you must know how to use the Heal Gift. You must concentrate, again, your energy into the palm of your hand and then release it, in the same manner that you do when using the Loot Gift. For faster transfer of aura, you may also hug the person really tight. This Gift works by contact, so the more two bodies are in contact, the faster the transfer is. It works especially well if you hug the other person as tight as you can."

Indigo smiled and said, "what a cute Gift," receiving another annoyed look from the old man, who paused for a moment.

"For this last Gift, I want you to train with each other, doing what some call hug outs."

"Hug outs?"

"Yes. Squeeze each other hard and transfer your energies to each other, trying to outdo the other. This battle of flows will grow your mastery of the Gift, and the fluctuations back and forth will also grow each other's' auras overall. Just be careful not to deplete your whole aura into the person."

"Why?"

"Because you will die if you ever reach zero energy. This applies to any Gift."

"Got it."

The master stood up and left without saying a word, leaving the three to their own devices.

Weeks passed, and the Jumpers alternated between the three forms of training. The Sunflower was always ahead of the other two, naturally-inclined to learn faster than anyone else could. His mind was freest and therefore able to move quicker than Indigo's and Rosso's. However, as time went on, the boy's friends grew more worried about his infection, noticing that the discoloration on his arm had now covered the whole of his forearm and was now reaching to his right hand.

"You're going to have to stop, Roa, this won't end well if you continue at this rate," Indigo pleaded, but the boy did not listen to her, stubborn as ever, unwilling to compromise on his training. She sighed. "Come here. I think I am getting a hang of this Heal Gift," she said, grabbing his arm and placing her palm over it.

Every night, after long exhausting sessions of meditation and wielding of their auras, Indigo spent the hours before going to bed, practicing Heal on the boy's arm, hoping that it would have an effect on the infection.

"Did you take some of that Magic Honey today?" she asked him.

"Yeah. The monks from the temple have been kind enough to keep giving me some. I think it is slowing the rate of growth at least a bit. Plus—" he said, his face turning red, "I think your healing may be helping."

"I guess," she said.

"The problem is that it's not stopping. It's just slowing down," Roa said, with a hint of resignation in his voice. "We are just delaying the inevitable."

"Well, you of all people should know better than to give up before the fight is over," Indigo said, as she tapped on his shoulder and headed to bed.

Two months had passed and the three were laying on a green meadow, staring up at the infinite mountain towering above their heads.

"Do you think we will ever reach the top?" asked Rosso. "Or are we going to end up like—" he said, pointing to the old man on the other side of the lake, busy picking something off of his skin like a monkey.

Roa sighed. "I don't know, man. Honestly, when I think of how immense the journey is, I actually feel like it would be impossible to achieve it all. This mountain is just—one world in endless worlds that connect to the Palace. How—how are we ever going to get to the top, past all those Gates, if I don't even remember the way. It's impossible."

"Then don't think of the whole journey. Focus on today's adventure. Afterall, a journey is made of many small steps. All we need to do is keep taking one step forward at a time," Indigo said, attempting to cheer the others up. "Plus, I've been stuck in Grand Market and connected worlds for a long time now. I'm not giving up—neither should you."

"Sure, Indi," Roa mumbled.

The three turned around when they heard growling.

"Master?" said Roa, noticing the large, black wolf showing its teeth.

The animal lunged at them, forcing them to use Haste to evade the attack.

"Master, what are you doing?" asked the boy again, but to no avail. The wolf's eyes seemed dull, as if hypnotized. "Are you testing us?"

The animal attacked again and again, barely missing the students.

"I don't think he's testing us. I think he wants to kill us," said Rosso as he prepared to fight.