Ding!
[ Assigning Trainer... ]
[ Velocity Trained Assigned: Tralalero Tralala! ]
Tung tung sahur disappeared and a shark appeared, with the lower part of its body white and the upper part blue. It was wearing three blue Nike shoes: two on its pectoral fins and one on its pelvic fin. As it absentmindedly looked around, it mumbled.
"Tralalero... tralala... tralalero tralala... tralalalalerooo~"
It was a strangely melodic, half-cheerful, half-robotic hum.
At first, Hope was confused, but eventually, he became addicted to this sound. It was like it had drugged him!
"Tralalero... tralala... tralala... tralalerooo... tra-la-la... traaaalero... tralalero tralalà... tralala! tralalaLAAAA~... tralalero..."
Hope started to experience a major brainrot. The more he got into it, the more he got sucked in. He started humming along to the melody without realizing it, then started singing it out loud, even replacing his inner monologue with this tune!
Hope had caught the "Tralalero Tralala Syndrome," but he wasn't even aware of it!
Bzzzzt!
[ System, a negative condition has been detected in the host. ]
[ Negative condition will be removed. ]
Hope's vision began to clear up, and he started recovering from the brainrot.
[ Negative condition removed. ]
For the first time, Tralalero Tralala stopped humming and looked at Hope with a mix of shock and interest. Based on its own experiences, there should be no cure for this syndrome other than listening to Mozart (temporary solution), messing up the brain with an another brainrot (e.g., skibidi toilet), or radically throwing away three shoes in the trash (a radical solution).
...
"U passed, buddy."
I saw the corners of the shark's mouth slightly lift. I think he's smiling...
"I am Tralalero Tralala. I'm a veteran of the First Great War: Bomber Planes vs. Sharks. I'm the fastest being you'll ever see, and I've been assigned as your trainer to improve your movement abilities."
As Tralalero Tralala spoke, the 10-square-meter stone platform changed into a stream, water reached up to my ankles. We were in the middle of the stream and the flow was irregular, sometimes rising or lowering a bit and the speed slightly changing.
While my feets were underwater, Tralalero Tralala stood on the surface. His feets (fins) were touching the water, just barely above it.
He noticed my gaze and said "In your current state, standing still on the water is impossible. But if you develop the stepping technique I'm going to teach you, you'll be able to stay on the surface by using surface tension—as long as you keep moving and don't use that freaky sword.But to learn this technique, you need to understand the water. More precisely, you need to understand how it flows—really well.
The technique is called 'Three Steps of the Flow.' You're going to become a flowing stream yourself!"
"Now watch carefully what i do next."
He suddenly dashed forward in a seemingly chaotic pattern. Instead of moving in a straight line, he advanced with curved zigzags. His speed was incredible and his blue Nike shoes didn't touch the water at all.
"If your speed exceeds 100 km/h, you'll be able to walk(run) on water quite easily with the technique I'm going to teach you. However, as a human, reaching that level is nearly impossible.
When your foot touches the water, surface tension will support you for a short moment. So theoretically, if you keep switching feet fast enough, you can walk on water. Your goal is to minimize contact with the surface. In a normal step, your foot stays in contact with the ground for about 0.5 seconds. We need to reduce that to under 0.05 seconds. That means taking at least 20 steps per second. Now, give it a try!"
I lifted my right foot out of the water. As soon as I stepped with it, I pulled my left foot out and moved forward. My right foot had already sunk halfway into the stream. I pulled it out and took one more step, but by then, my other foot was completely touching the ground. I could only take three steps...
Tralalero Tralala had an amused look on his face. I could feel the arrogance and mockery in his eyes. He had started humming again for a while now, but thanks to the system, i could endure it.
Ding!
[ Congratulations to the host for unlocking the skill: Three Steps of the Flow ]
[ Current skill mastery: 1% ]
"You're stepping onto the water at a perpendicular angle, so all your momentum is directed downward! Use the flow behind you and step onto the water at a slanted angle—imagine you're sliding over it. Transfer part of your momentum forward!"
From that point on, Tralalero Tralala began pointing out my mistakes one by one and correcting them. It wasn't progressing as smoothly as my sword training... By the time i reached 5% skill mastery, I was about to wake up, and my slow progress was a bit demoralizing. Tralalero Tralala tried to comfort me by explaining that surface tension is weaker in moving water, which makes water-walking more difficult.
Before I woke up, he told me to find a shallow stream and try to feel the flow, the force, and the surface tension of the water. There was a shallow stream just north of our clan. (I'll probably go with "clan" instead of "tribe" from now on.) I had gone there a few times with dad and Kato to shower after training. The water reached slightly above my knees, but the flow wasn't that strong, so it shouldn't be a problem.
After weapon training, I told Kato I wanted to shower. Thus we headed to the stream together.
The water flowed at a relatively slow pace. I could feel the cool water pushing against me. I tried walking against the flow a few times, but as soon as I lifted one of my feet, the current swept me off balance and I fell.
After around 30 minutes of this "shower," we returned home. And just like that, a new 30-minute shower session had been added to my daily routine.
...
--- A month later... ---
My mom told me I was going to have a sibling soon.
I was strangely excluded by the other kids in the clan, so I had no friends. Other than my family, Kato, and a few pretty sisters from the clan, i didn't talk to anyone.
When i found out that I'd have a sibling around my age, i was really happy...
Throughout this past month, i kept summoning Tung Tung Sahur to ask questions about the things i was stuck on in sword mastery. I realized that whenever I had questions, i could summon him into the Slumberveil Realm just by thinking about him.
Anyway, as i spent more time with Tralalero Tralala, i started to build some kind of mental resistance to his humming. It barely affected me anymore.
After all this time, my sword mastery had reached 83% and my Three Steps of the Flow mastery was at 7%.
The footwork technique was really difficult—after just four steps, I would completely sink in the Slumberveil Realm. Not to mention, in the real world I could barely stay standing in flowing water.
By the way, Kato suggested that I start doing weapon training inside the stream. Ever since I started working on the footwork technique, my balance had noticeably improved.
That's how my new training routine started!