53 Men can dream

I would be a fool if I just believed her right off the bag. I do not buy her story one bit, otherwise, why would she stand together with all the strong people? Why would she switch her approach several times in order to get close to me? The only genuine emotion was her feeling of unease after trying to lift the glove.

Her story was just a pure sob-story begging for my pity and lowering my guard towards her. As if a person like her failed to find any use of her tactics. I would bet that she even is able to hypnotize herself to copy the magic of others to a certain extent. Maybe she wanted to copy my "magic" to widen her arsenal.

Or she might as well stream the whole thing, to undercover who I am. That is why I said the truth, because that itself sounds so fabricated, that she would not believe any of it.She also did not doubt one bit, that my strength was no result of mana. At least she made it look like that. Though her act could have been not any less believable in my eyes.

"Please help me I am a maiden in need". That kind of plot only works if you are an Italian plumber. A world in which body strength is frowned upon and a lady with strong magic wants to use said body strength, those 2 things do not go together that well. Even if there exists a combination of mana and muscles, the general public knows, that those body mages can only serve as a glorified meatshield.

You can tell me all that you want, but monsters improved with mana as well. From all the information I gathered, its safe to say that their body is way stronger. Take an ant and a dragon, though both have capabilities to wield mana, I doubt that both have the same strong body. The more magic a body can contain or wield the stronger the body of a monster can get.

Even her explanation would only make sense if you had blind trust. First of all this world is still in its beta phase, where only people of importance can get in, henchman included. So she either shares a connection with someone important or is rather important herself. So her whole narrative, of coming to this world to finally get the attention of the Church seems a bit farfetched considering that fact.

I had a hunch that once she makes a connection with someone or something she is even able to gauge the feelings. That would explain why she was able to control our conversation the way she did. She knew exactly what buttons to push and what not. If I had not been on guard I would have fallen for it. For the time being, I played right into her hands, to see what kind of intent she has. And I was really interested to see how far she will take this whole procedure.

The reason I decided to have her accompanying me despite all the potential risks she poses to me, is that the information she has is far more alluring than the possible outcomes. After I had broken the connection, we just walked around in this tunnel system, till I found a spot that was very far away and started training my body for a bit.

She tried to copy my movements, but she did not have enough strength to do any of the exercises I was doing. I just had started with one hand push ups, I was still going easy on her. Any outsider would think that I was deeply engrossed in my workout, instead, I was checking out what she would do.

Interestingly she closed her eyes and opened them again and tried to copy the movement I just did. I did not show any signs of stopping and continued my exercise, but the more futile attempts she made the more did her face turn ugly. This vexing experience must be something new to her, especially after she broke character that fasts if things are not going her way.

She stared at me with a dubious expression seemingly recapping every word I have spoken so far, to see where the mistake was. The thought of me having told the truth did not even cross her mind. I had to be hiding something, that was much was obvious. So she tried to use different approaches, sometimes she just kept on watching me, sometimes she used to observe the mana flow in the surroundings, sometimes she hypnotized herself to see and find whether a different state of mind would help to find out the reason for my strength.

Regardless of whatever she did was to no avail, she could not find anything that would explain my strength. Even now did she not think once about the words I said earlier, no she straight up ignored them. And that's what I was hoping for, right now I could lure some information out of her if I do it correctly. My physique is a really nice bait, for her curious soul.

She has to be the one to start the conversation otherwise It would become too obvious what I am planning on here. While I was thinking on how to envoke enough interest for her to start a conversation, she was currently twiddling her thumbs and straight up ignored me. Can you not make it any more obvious, that you are after something else than my apprenticeship?

I will not far for her trick and begin talking to her just because of a simple provocation, I will just switch to an easier exercise even she can copy. Which exercise does not need that much strength but still looks visually appealing. Any form of push-ups is out of the question, she does not have the necessary upper body strength to accomplish one of that. What about crunches, crunches might work though they do not look that good. The bait has to look perfect. It has to be something that looks to be made for combat.

What about Shadow-Boxing? It does not require the work of weights or anything else, all you need is a good imagination.

In itself shadowboxing does not look complicated, but if you take an imaginary enemy into the equation it gets harder. Thinking about how an opponent would react to your movements and then adapting your movement to counter it takes a lot of practice.

That brings me to the most pressing issue, I have not done this even once, so the odds of me appearing like a total moron are quite high. Thinking about it logically, there seems to be no way that would come back to haunt me, even if they upload it on that video platform, the only thing I would have face is an endless amount of shame and that does not threaten my life.

Should I just start and think about an enemy on the get-go or should I think about what kind of enemy I am facing beforehand? While my imagination should be running wild, I am not sure whetherI can simulate a real fight. After all the only knowledge I have stems from a bit of jiu-jitsu training when I grew up.

My usual combat strategy, if you even can call it that, was to run up to the enemy and just kill them by sheer force. Disregarding the fact that I used my body potential to its fullest with all its assets, I have to admit, that at its core my tactic has not evolved at all. Pure gut instinct and psychological warfare are all that I currently rely on. Sadly this proved as not enough after I saw those group of 5, my whole instincts were screaming at me to run away.

There are several aspects of combat I have to direly improve if I ever want to stand a change and contending with such monsters. I have to look out for the flow of the combat and for patterns as well. I neglected that aspect because at first, I thought it would only be useful in melee fights against monsters. I still have no idea what limitations magic has but while magic itself is strong the wielder is still human.

Human nature in itself is full of flaws and irrational acts. So if magic is currently out of my reach I will just target the other part. Even If I might be a man with a complex thought structure at times, that does not mean that I refrain from doing things the easiest way.

Looking back at that last fight, there are several things I do have to reflect on. I came close to my demise several times. I took way too many unnecessary wounds, whether it was due to arrogance or severely underestimating the enemy.

I hate to admit it, but the illusion saved my ass. Without it I would not have been able to reverse the tide of the battle, would not have noticed that my body is way stronger under the influence of strong emotional stimulations. I could not have foreseen that chain of events, but I took way too many risks leading up to that fight.

Should I have eradicated that whole crowd and was it really important to stay and murder them over and over again?

A valid concern, but I did not mind facing that kind of danger, overall it was truly thrilling. Furthermore, it is impossible to be prepared for every little detail. So a certain uncertainty comes with it no matter what. Still, I should consider finding ways to minimize the risk before my luck runs out eventually.

Speaking or rather thinking of luck, I have no clue whether I should consider my constantly burning hair as a misfortune or a blessing in disguise. It helps me out in many ways, now that I have an endless supply of fire, I can smelt with it and can use it to test several things. On the downside of hiding with such a thing is very unlikely and it is a constant drain of resources. The tradeoff might seem to be worth it at first, but the handicaps that come with it are quite severe.

As always life is what you make of it. Instead of pondering on what could have been, I will think about what might be.

Repeating the punches I once learned should be a good introduction towards this whole topic and should serve as a way to get some variety into my attack pattern. While jiu-jitsu is primarily known for its defensive orientation, there are still some attacks you do learn.

While it is nothing fancy it still is enough to work with. A straight punch to the nose with a simple step forwards is a nice beginning. The punch in itself is really simple the key to this technique lies in the prior movement. It may seem like a simple step, but you do not keep your legs straight when punching. Your legs are supposed to be slightly bent so that your step is much more a slide than an actual step. Your balance is stronger that way.

At first, I started slowly, to let her see my movements and copy them if it invoked enough interest. But strangely it repeating such a movementstill felt great even after such a long time. Was it a throwback to the times, when everything was still good and not torn to pieces?

I switched between several different kind of attacks, to see whether it was the same for each one of them and it was always the same kind of feeling to it, which is strange because Jiu-jitsu was not something I was very good in. It took me way too much time to actually be able to use a technique. I was always way too stiff. It is quite envious to be that kind of talent.

Still, it was a good feeling to have and looking back at those golden times. How many push-ups I had to do because I had misbehaved, how often I had to practice my front or back role. The practice of my battle cry and how proud I was after being complimented on it. Looking back it was much more enjoyable as my worldview was still pure and not tainted.

Even Jiu-jitsu was just like any other activity, chosen by my parents, it did not feel like a chore at all. Rather there was that strange feeling of unity. It was always a time, where I was able to stop thinking about my troubles. What a healthy way to cope with problems, just ignoring them.

Maybe just a distant dream, something that is not meant to last. Even if it wasn't, men can dream.