The next morning when Yin woke up, his body felt a lot better than he was expecting even having taken the red pill that Leif gave him. He had taken pills before, but at the point he did he was getting some of the best from those who wanted to curry favor with him as his power was quickly eclipsing the world. He had to wonder if the system cared about people trying to get favor with it now.

  There were plenty of questions he wasn’t going to be able to answer now, and besides he needed to be much more focused on his current situation and hopefully training. Packing his gear up he made his way up to the front of the Caravan like he had been ordered too. He saw a few of the guards from last night, but not even one of them looked his way.

  Leif was already there, talking with Erik who stopped the conversation when Yin came up and looked him over. “I heard about what happened and I’m sorry it did. You were expected just to work, not get beaten because the guards I employ have egos they can’t handle.”

  It would have been easy for Yin to fly off at the Caravan leader, but the truth was it wasn’t his fault and without him this journey would have been much harder. “Thank you for the apology, but it isn’t necessary. I’m alive and thanks to Captain Leif I’m fine. It also showed that I need to work as hard as I can before making it to Valecroft.”

  Erik seemed impressed by that and nodded his head. “Good, it’s good to have resolve. Alright then, I’ll leave you with Leif.” He then pulled out a small bag and handed it to him, the weight of coins in it surprised Yin as he looked at Erik.

  “I can’t accept this, it's too much.”

  “Nonsense. Use it when you get to the city for anything you need, don’t know how much it will really help you if you get into a Sect. Alright now, I have to go, this Caravan needs to get moving.”

  Before Yin could protest any further, the man was already gone and Leif looked at Yin with a smirk. “Come on. Time to work.”

  The Caravan soon began to move once more and off down the road they went, with Leif and Yin walking next to each other. Leif finally broke the silence after some time as the tall man seemed deep in thought.

  “We only have around three weeks before we arrive. You’re not meant to hold a sword; you don’t have any skill for it. Teaching you the spear isn’t a bad idea; it’s a great weapon for people with little experience and if you can climb to mastering it, I would say it’s on par with any weapon out there.”

  Yin nodded, thinking through the spear as an option which he had first considered when he joined the Caravan. It still didn’t feel right so to speak, just like the sword but as a temporary solution it made sense.

  “Or I teach you how to fight barehanded for now. Puts you at a disadvantage with people with weapons but plenty of fights can happen with fists and knowing how to fight up close can give you an advantage. With internal energy it could be your main source of fighting at a certain stage. I’d suggest going for a non-martial path and sect, but I can tell that’s the path you want to go.” Leif looked over at him waiting for Yin now to speak after hearing all of that.

  “Do we not have enough time to drill in some basics of both the spear and fist fighting? I feel like I’ll never try for mastery with the spear but that wasn’t going to happen in these last few weeks anyway.”

  Leif looked at him like he had expected that answer. “It’s a nice thought but you’ll have to work extra hard to drill in the foot work for both as they are going to be different. Much less the difference in using a spear versus your hands. You would have to work extremely hard and drill a lot with little rest if that’s the way you want to go. With the possibility that you don’t improve either of them enough to be helpful.”

  Yin had to pause at that; he hadn’t considered any of that and he was glad Leif did. After a bit of contemplation, he looked at Leif. “Then teach me how to fight hand to hand. It feels like something I’ll always have access to and might need no matter what weapon I choose.”

  It was odd to say it, as he considered when he was with the system. The myriad of sword skills that he gained made it, so he was never worried about losing his sword or being caught off guard. He really didn’t understand then how much he was being given and had really thought at one point this was his own power. Foolish.

  “Alright. Hand to hand combat training it is. Well like everything, there are all sorts of ways to fight in close and different styles focus on different techniques. No matter what style, well except for the higher up you get in internal energy it all starts with foot work. At least that’s what I think, and I’ve been proven right plenty.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Yin listened intently to the man, he was lucky Leif was helping him, and he would be crazy to ignore the man's advice. The sting of his beating and loss was a good reminder that he had a lot of work to do.

  “Footwork, conditioning and then striking. Conditioning is just as important because if you get exhausted in the middle of a fight then prepare to catch a beating or worse. It gets easier once again with the more internal energy you have but as you are right now and even a few ranks up it’s still taxing. While we are marching, time to work on your conditioning even more.”

  At those words Yin could just barely suppress the groan that threatened to tear through his lips. It was also the first time he had seen the tall man have a smile on his face. “You…you’re enjoying this.” He said exasperated, which just seemed to make Leif smile even more.

  “Maybe. Now start running. Down and back the length of the caravan and keep going. If you throw up? Well drink some water, get some food and keep going.” Then the tall man turned away, the biggest smile on his lips as Yin could only do one thing. Start running.

  He ran throughout the day as best he could, which earned him plenty of looks from other guards and others in the Caravan. Some confused, others sympathetic to his cause and from one guard whose face was a swollen mass of bruise and swollen eye just a stare of hate.

  None of it mattered, he just did what he could do, only getting to have real breaks for some food and water. Leif at least let him just walk for that. By the time the Caravan came to a stop he was barely able to stand. His lungs were on fire, legs aching, sweat dripping down his body and he felt like he was looking down a narrow tunnel. Somehow, he washed himself off, got his tent set up and was asleep before he even fully laid down.

  “Get up.” Came Leif’s voice with the nudge of his boot.

  Yin groaned and quickly got up getting himself dressed to go train. He was starting to wonder if he hadn’t made a mistake by agreeing to this. Unfortunately he couldn’t back out now.

  “Now, like I said, foot work is fundamental, bad footwork means a bad time. It’s also about foot placement and the ability to use your body when striking not just your arms and legs. So first I’ll show you how to stand when fighting, well I’ll show you a few ways and then we will just move from there. “

  Leif got into a stance one leg slightly back another slightly forward with both hands up. “Basic fighting stance helps you protect your face and you can move easier while also getting enough power through your body to punch. It’s effective and you can do a lot from here. There is a lot to work on, so we start with a foundation and build. Let’s get working, you've got a lot of work to do.”

  No arguments from Yin and he moved himself into the stance Leif was showing him and adjusted with corrections. For the rest of the night, it turned into getting into his stance and learning how to move back and forth quickly while also pivoting his feet and twisting his hips that Leif said would be important when he showed him how to punch.

  The other biggest lesson was keeping his hands up, because if they dropped just enough Leif seemed to take actual pleasure in giving him a wallop. It didn’t really hurt as the man was controlling his strength. It didn’t mean though that Yin wasn’t close to declaring a blood feud against the man for the rest of his life.

  After that night, every day and night was basically the same over the next few weeks. In the day he would run and at night he would train. Adding in punching eventually and how to parry an attack with his hand or how to dodge. It was taxing on him, but he didn’t stop and there were plenty of times he wanted too.

  It was Leif who kept him going through it though. The man knew how to lead that was for sure and was probably much too strong to be here for this caravan. Every time Yin thought he was going to just give up, an encouraging word from Leif that was exactly what he needed to hear at the moment came and spurred him forward.

  Near the end of the few weeks, none of the Caravan guards gave him any weird looks, most of them had turned into a look of respect. The only one that still glared at him was the guard who had beat him in the spar. Thankfully the man hadn’t tried anything again, despite the training he wasn’t sure he could take the man on spear versus bare handed.

  “Well, we are getting close only a few more days.” Leif said as Yin came running upland stopped catching his breath though he seemed to catch it much quicker than a few weeks ago.

  “We are. I can feel my nerves beginning to build. I’m excited but I’m also nervous.”

  Leif grins. “I would say you were crazy if you weren’t nervous. You’ve worked as hard as you can but there are no guarantees. After today no more training, you need to let your body rest up.”

  Yin was a little surprised to hear that he had gotten so used to training that not doing it for a few days was going to be odd. He wasn't going to complain; some rest before the Sect Trials sounded perfect.

  “Thank you for everything, Leif, you’ve done more than you’ve had to. I hope one day I can do something for you in turn.”

  Leif casts a small look at him. “Well don’t thank me just yet. You’re gonna have to spar the man who beat you last time. So, hope you’ve been learning all that I’ve taught you.” He said with a grin looking right at Yin, looking completely pleased with himself.

  Yin stared at him. This man was evil, truly evil.