Chapter 8: Let The Training Begin (Chapter 7)
Third pov:
After recovering from the shock of jumping out of the train, Itami realized something very alarming.
His trainer was nowhere to be found. At first, he assumed that his uncle must've sacrificed himself with his body to break his fall, but then he shook his head fervently in disagreement with his previous assumption.
"Firstly, if he couldn't survive the jump, why would he do it in the first place?
I don't think my uncle is idiotic enough to miscalculate something as big as whether or not he could survive a fall from 50 feet in the air.
Secondly, why'd he sacrifice himself for the nephew he met three months ago, and decided to torture for 2?
There must be something I'm missing. As countless thoughts swirled around in Itami's' head, he decided to look for clues in the surroundings to see where his uncle had gone. He figured there had to be a clue somewhere, and unsurprisingly, he was right on the money. Twenty meters away from him there was a letter titled Start running, and he immediately got a bad premonition.
Itamis' pov:
I hate my uncle. No, I despise him. I know I asked him to train me, but this is too far. First, he decides he wants to jump from a train 50 meters in the air.
I honestly thought I was going to die. I don't know how all those heroes in the stories make those entries into the scene by jumping off dragons and griffins, but it wasn't for me.
I would let my flying beast land properly with me in tow. Who says disembarking orderly and safely can't be epic? However, that can be solved later when I get a dragon, griffon, or flying salamander of my own. For now, I should focus on the 'training' my uncle wrote down for me.
In the letter he graciously left for me to know he was alive; he detailed the first part of our training and the amount of time it needed to be completed. It was running, but this didn't surprise me as I was physically weak.
What did surprise me however was the course I was going to be running on. The map he left in the letter showed checkpoints and a goal which was a villa somewhere south of here.
Originally I assumed it was going to be easy as there was a map and a vast amount of time to get through the course, but then I realized the first checkpoint was a mountain 3 clicks away. 3 hours? I don't know if I will get through this thing in 3 days.
3rd pov:
As Itami started climbing down the mountain he realized it was harder than he'd imagined. Previously, he thought of it as an endurance jog meant to help him get rid of his frail body, but he'd soon find out it was a survival run with many dangerous turns and traps that he could easily die on.
On the way down the mountain to the first checkpoint, a huge bang resounded, and an avalanche quickly ensued. 'That ******' Itami cursed in his mind. 'Is he trying to kill me?' Itami knew immediately it wasn't a natural disaster, but a planned trap made by his uncle.
However, before he could speak curses in his name, Itami bolted down the mountain at a speed he'd never done in his life as soon as he saw the massive puffs of white snow threatening to swallow him whole.
'I was wondering why he put the time as 3 hours instead of days. He meant that if I didn't get down the mountain in three hours I would've died by one of his traps. He must be insane.'
After Itami got down the mountain, he made his way into the flat land blanketed by snow in between the mountain he was on and the checkpoint; as he was trudging through the snow he saw an oddly shaped lone tree, but kept his distance from it because his instincts told him something was off about it. In this snowy tundra, everything was oddly quiet and sessile.
Normally, this would make Itami quiet and calm however because of recent events it made him antsy and jumpy. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say a snow rabbit could make him release incredible amounts of malice, let alone a suspicious tree that stands by itself in a shape he'd never seen before.
As a native of the Hana domain, there are few plants he'd not seen.
If there were, they were incredibly special, cultivated, or extinct, and although he was curious to figure out what it was he wasn't willing to take the risk. Unfortunately for Itami, his opinion in this case stopped mattering the moment he looked at the tree.
After Itami passed the tree he noticed something strange. No matter how far he walked, the tree was the same distance away from him. At first when he started noticing he thought he was going crazy, but after walking 10 more minutes and reaching the base of the mountain the first checkpoint was on he grew worried. Itami decided to run, he didn't know why he needed to but knew he needed to run.
As Itami began improving the gap between him and the creepy tree, He started hearing large footsteps. When he turned around to see what was causing it he saw a huge ape-looking monster with a red mask-like face. 'Of all the magic beasts in the world, why did it have to be a Saruyuki?'
AUTHOR:
Thank You for Reading. as always if you have any critiques, opinions, or things you want me to add or edit please let me know. Know I will not listen to every request, and I can't compromise certain things.
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