Put in the hours, that was James's motto. I thought he was a chunk talking about cultuvating. How all you need to do was put in enough time to martial arts, cultivation, and magic. Then the year his parents took me under their wing finding me almost as gifted as James in martial arts and a slight gift in magic (I'll change that slight bit in the future I have a certain Infinite that should help). They still thought James was a little out there talking about cultivation, thinking he was talking about his love of plants.
The man is obsessed, saying he willbe better than comic book Shang-chi without his cultivation. He's considered a master in several martial arts. He has leatned even beaten his dad in the martial arts of K'un Lun that the man knows. He's made all of it his own into a crazy style that takes into account his superhuman abilities and his magic. He's literally turned his magic into martial arts moves from cultivation novels. One of his favorite moves is actually a bato jutsu at hyper sonic speeds from just a single step forward.
This is the guy that is making me the healer spar with him. Yes I'm considered a master in some forms of martial arts, but I haven't even begun to make my own. I can't even use my mutant abilities right now, its literally lethal and my life absorption needs time to suck out his 500 year lifespan.
When he came to get me this morning his parents were already ready as well. Standing at the top of stairs seeing their family dressed together with their robes on it was hard not to feel somewhag envious. Not because of how beautiful they all looked; I mean they literally looked loke Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Levon Hawke; but because they were such a united and loving family. In this life my parents and I already had a strained relationship before I activated my x-gene.
They gave me a smile before James's mother opened up a portal, we filed through to our usual training ground, a pocket dimension. We've been training here since I was 10. It's a gorgeous place, but the most important part is it is stocked with a literal armory. It has all sorts of weapons and armor. It has the usual and unusual martial arts weapons like James's favorite jian and the hardly usedbkanabo. It also has modern weaponry like a serious gun collector's wet dream.
We do our usual warm up routine, with a lot of stretches and meditation. We each walk over to our personalized tables where our kits are awaiting. I grab my training versions. Grabbing all my backup weapons first and putting them in place. A blunted balison, tanto, a few throwing knives and a Colt M1911 making sure the clip is empty the chamber clear and loading a chamber flag. Next was my main weapons a blunted hagibis and a Colt M1911A-1 doing the same safety measure checks. I slap on some training talismans on the colts and on myself.
I walk over to our usual face off area. James was already there waiting with his dad. They don't do guns, so their prep was fast. Mr McEwen literally juat slapping on the same training taliaman on himself, while James had his jian, a katana and a few hidden weapons. When Mes. McEwen joins us James and I take our positions about ten feet from each other and bow to each other.
Mr. McEwen signals the start and James starts with his flying sword stikes, which I know for sure he is screaming the name of the move in his head. I knew how would as he started off with his Jian drawn. I deployed the shield spell I had readied while also dodging to the right. As I was dodging I aimed my gun at him and triggered the talisman which projected bullets that would react to our training talismans if it hit. But, as I triggered it I saw Jian had already deployed an unsual shield spell. Before I knew it the training talisman on me shook and emitted an loud noise indicating a deadly hit. I couldn't tell where, but I saw Mr. McEwen pointing to my head.
"How?"
"Reflective shield! You killed yourself."
"Since when did you have something like that?"
"Just perfected it a few days ago, but only worker out how to deploy it so quickly yesterday."
Mr. And Mrs. McEwen aproached and he said , "well not much to critique here. You bous did everything right, just dnow you know what can happen even if you technically did everything right. Another round, or did you want to proceed to individual training?"
"I think indivodual training, I need to work on my newly awaken powers. Although, I could use some advice after your spar."
"Oh about what?"
"Well, I'd like to incorporate my power into my fighting style. Although my personal style is in the nascent stages I'd like to address the issue now. My offensive capabilities include disease inducement and life absorption. Although I can use it at a range, it is more potent with physical contact."
"The biggest advice we can give you would be incorporating restricting spells and grappling moves if that is the case. Maybe extending the range and trying to do multiple targets as well"
"She's right, especially the range part. You've seen what range can do. I also recommend working on your reflexes, cating speed, and precognition. The three of us would have had no problem casting a shield right after James throw his up."
I nodded in acknowledgement as I excused myself to go to my training spot.