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TOSDAG Chapter 6: Past and Present
🕑 Added 2024-09-07 08:27:19 +0000 UTCPresent
Third Person P.O.V
“I'm leaving, father.” When the conversation came to an end Ning'er gave a slight nod as she said goodbye to her father, she now had all the information she needed about her technique and knew why she had gotten sick before.
And although she already had a solution to this problem, this piece of information could be useful to Leek, along with that, without any of the elders finding out, her father had given her a copy of the other 5 techniques that were above the one she already practiced so that she could use them and find out if any of them worked better on her.
Although he had made her promise that she would not show the techniques to anyone else and that she had to destroy the copies after finding out which one was best for her.
Ning'er had no problem with these conditions, Leek was not a cultivator so he had no real interest in cultivation techniques beyond a slight curiosity about their effects.
Walking out of the mansion while holding a particularly large basket, Ning'er leisurely walked through Glory City with a smile on her lips as she hummed a peaceful tune.
She didn't remember doing this before, she had always been busy training her cultivation, and when she wasn't doing it, she wasn't in the mood to do anything "fun or relaxing", after all, her concentration was on suppressing the pain of her injuries, this added to the fact that she could hardly sleep at night, when her pains reached their highest peak, all this had turned her into a person who had almost forgotten what it was like to smile.
But now her body was in perfect condition, her cultivation was advancing rapidly, she had had her second night of uninterrupted sleep, and she was able to think clearly without the stinging pain bothering her with every step she took.
With all these blessings falling into her lap, how could she not smile? Even more, all these blessings came from a single person, a person who offered Ning'er all of this without asking for anything in return, no money, no techniques, no items, no resources, no anything else.
Remembering the smile he gave her when she expressed her thanks made her heart flutter, she never thought she would find someone so selfless, but she was thankful that she did.
And when she reached the entrance of the training camp she nodded to the half-asleep guard who was sitting in the small booth before entering.
#####
A Week Ago
Leek P.O.V
“DAMN IT, LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DAMN GORILLAS!!! DON’T YOU SEE I HAVE A MONKEY TAIL?!! WE ARE DISTANT RELATIVES!! SO STOP ATTACKING ME!!” I shouted as I jumped through the tree branches, trying to avoid being caught by the huge apes, however, it seemed that my words, far from calming them, made them chase me even more frantically while roaring in annoyance.
“I KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE TAILS, BUT YOU UNDERSTAND MY POINT, DAMN APES!!” I shouted in response, because, although I didn’t understand their growls, I wanted to make an assumption about their annoyance at my words.
Jumping and narrowly avoiding one of these animals catching my leg, I used their face as a springboard and jumped with all my strength, I had to get this pack of apes away from the place where I had left my ship.
I had spent a week in relative peace, fishing in a river I found and sleeping in my pod, but today, while on my daily reconnaissance walk to map the area, I came across a huge gorilla.
This ape gave a roar before chasing me, and before I knew it I was running while several dozen gorillas were chasing me.
It was fortunate that I had enough time to make a fire, that way, even if I wandered off, I could still come back following the trail of smoke rising into the sky, though sadly that was perhaps what caught these guys' attention in the first place.
“!!” As if my body was instinctively warning me that I was in danger, I felt a chill run down my spine, and as I jumped from one tree branch to the other like a ninja, one of the apes came out from behind a tree with a trunk thinner than the trees around us, but thicker than the width of an average person.
Unable to dodge the attack, the improvised club hit me, and I went flying until I crashed into the base of one of the trees.
My head was spinning, my whole body hurt, and my vision was slightly blurry for a couple of seconds, but when I was finally able to see, I noticed that I was now surrounded by several of these apes, with no chance of escape.
“Uhhhh!!” One of them, the one holding the improvised club, cheered happily while pointing at me.
I didn't have to think about it for more than a second to know that if it had been my previous self, a normal person, I would be dead right now, a mass of flesh and bones crushed against a log.
That would normally produce an emotion like fear in an ordinary person, but for some reason, that wasn't what I felt.
My heart rate was high, I was sweating, and I felt my arms and legs shaking, all of which pointed to one emotion, an obvious one, fear.
But that wasn’t what I felt, as a warm stream of red liquid fell down the side of my face, I felt… alive, elated even, even though I was outnumbered by dozens, I wanted to punch them, I wanted to crush these beasts that tried to kill me.
So far I had avoided throwing a punch or stopping to fight, because running away was the first logical thought anyone would have when being chased by a bunch of giant gorillas, but something deep inside me was more than ecstatic at the idea of me staying to fight.
Was this Saiyan instinct? My tail, which was once wrapped around my waist came loose, and the fur covering it stood up a little, I was sure my brain was shooting out a bunch of chemicals that were making me feel the equivalent of getting high, and before I even noticed it, my mouth was already moving.
“ALRIGHT, YOU WANT ME? THEN COME AT ME, YOU BASTARDS!! I WILL CRUSH EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!!” I shouted with a smile, causing the gorilla with the club to be the first to jump towards me, followed by the other giant apes.
#####
A Week Ago
Third Person P.O.V
Huyan Xiong was returning to Glory City with a handful of his family members, a little disappointed by the fruitless trip made, during the last few weeks there had been strange activity from the demonic beasts in the sector that his family was in charge of protecting, so, as a patriarch, and black gold rank spiritualist, he went to investigate with a group of 18 of his best men.
Unfortunately, they didn't find anything too unusual after 7 days outside of Glory City, just some demonic beasts a little agitated, but nothing that was a reason for further investigation, so now they were back.
Huyan Xiong thought that at least it was a time that he could rest from the responsibilities of being the patriarch and dealing with his unruly daughter, so it wasn't completely a waste.
But when everything seemed calm, everyone could hear the sound of an explosion in the distance.
"What was that?" One of the men from the Huyan family asked.
And right after that, another sound echoed in the forest, although this time it seemed to be a bit closer to where they were.
"It's coming from that direction." Huyan Xiong said, pointing to the northeast.
"Glory City is almost 5 days away, we have to go check what's going on." The patriarch ordered before moving at full speed, followed by the men.
Since the weakest of them was at 4-star gold rank, it didn’t take them more than a few minutes to get close to where they had heard the last crash, and when they did, they all looked shocked.
Lying on the ground were many corpses of Blue Armed Apes, and not far from where they were, they saw the figure of an ape bigger than the ones lying on the ground, this demonic beast was turning its back on them, jumping from one tree to another while seeming to be trying to hit something.
One of the soldiers accompanying the patriarch stepped forward. “Patriarch, let me take care of-” The man’s words were cut off when, in his attempts to hit whoever he was chasing, the ape turned around as a smaller figure passed by him, narrowly dodging a punch.
“A child?!!” Several of the soldiers let out their disbelief as they watched a child with a body full of wounds, bruises, and bleeding cuts dodge a second punch, jumping and putting his hands on the gorilla’s huge arm, using it to propel himself and managing to kick the beast in the cheek.
“ROAAAAARRR!!” The giant ape’s scream echoed as he steadied himself, swinging his fist at the boy, who was unable to dodge as he was in the air.
“Shi-!!!” The child’s swearing was interrupted as he received the blow, barely able to cross his arms in an X shape in an attempt to reduce the impact.
The boy was sent flying, crashing into the ground, bouncing a couple of times like a ball, until his body crashed into a huge tree with enough force to make the wood creak and split, splitting the tree in two and with the part where the fighter's body was nailed falling to the ground.
“He's dead.” One of the soldiers said, which brought the rest out of their shocked state, and when they were about to jump to kill the ape, something surprising happened.
Getting up once more, with his left arm hanging limply, with his back hunched, and blood running down his head like a small waterfall, the young man shouted his challenge.
“What's with that pathetic blow? I'm still standing, idiot!!”
And to answer him, the ape showed its fangs before roaring at him and jumping off the tree branch where he was, landing and running towards him once more.
Breathing heavily, a small light was born in the young man's still functional hand as he began to move forward, each step being faster than the last, going from almost crawling to walking, then to a light trot, and finally, running at full speed.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" The beast and the boy screamed, jumping towards each other, and when they were about to collide, Leek felt something surround his body, a pair of arms held him while in front of him, he saw a man stabbing the huge ape in the head with some kind of sword.
Leek's eyelids felt heavy, but he could gather enough energy to look at who was holding him, it was a muscular man with a big beard that extended to his sideburns as if he were Wolverine.
At that moment, a thought crossed Leek's mind. 'Ok, either they are good people, and I am saved, or they are bad people, and I am screwed, at least let's try to appeal to a good first impression, and if it doesn't work... at least I tried'
"Hey man, thanks for saving me." He said before letting unconsciousness embrace him.
#####
Present
Third Person P.O.V
"Is all this really for me?" Leek asked, his eyes shining at the huge variety of food in front of him.
"Yes, I made them all myself, I hope you like it, please don't hold back." Ning'er replied with a slight blush and a small smile, happy to see Leek's expression when he saw the food she had put so much effort into making.
Leek looked at her with still shining eyes and a grateful expression before bowing to her. "Thank you so much, I really appreciate it, you are an angel"
Ning'er's poor heart jumped in happiness and the red hue on her cheeks deepened even further.
With that said Leek took the first plate, which looked like some sort of fried rice with vegetables and chunks of meat, and began to eat with a smile as she tasted the delicious taste of the food.
Not even 20 seconds passed, and the lunch box was completely empty, Ning'er, who had once seen Leek's huge appetite, tried not to be too surprised, but was still very impressed when she confirmed how much and how fast the boy in front of her could eat.
Taking the second plate, which consisted of noodles with a copper-colored sauce, Leek looked at Ning'er and asked. "Aren't you going to eat too?"
"Eh?" Xiao Ning'er was surprised and shook her head. "Don't worry about me, if I eat too it might not be enough for you"
Leek put the box down before speaking. "Don't say that, come on, join me to eat, it will be like a picnic, after all, food always tastes better when you eat it with good company." He finished saying, smiling and offering her one of the boxes that contained more of the fried rice he had eaten earlier.
The girl couldn't help but feel shy and took the box before starting to eat as well, although at a much slower speed than Leek, who, after giving her the lunch box, took the one he left before and continued eating, although this time he made sure to slow down a bit so as not to look like a person who hadn't eaten for a week.
Time passed, and once all the food was gone, Leek helped Ning'er put everything inside the basket she had brought with her.
"I really appreciate it Ning'er, that meal was one of the most delicious I've ever eaten in my entire life." The boy said, patting his stomach a couple of times.
"I wouldn't mind bringing you food every day." She replied a little embarrassed, surprising Leek.
"I... I don't know, I feel like if I accepted, it would be as if I were taking advantage of your kindness, I have nothing to offer you in return." Leek said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Of course it wouldn't be like that!" Ning'er hurriedly stopped him from thinking this, after all, how could something like that be right? He had given her so much, how could the fact that he healed her and helped her with her cultivation compare to a few plates of food? "I really want to do it"
"R-really?" The Saiyan was surprised to hear the girl's sudden rebuttal, now he felt that if he refused he would be snubbing her. "Well, if you really want to, then I wouldn't refuse"
"Leave it to me." She replied instantly.
"Well, now that we've eaten, would you like to train a little to digest the food? I was really interested in the martial arts you showed me yesterday, after that we can review what you asked me about your cultivation"
"Yes, I'd like that." Ning'er replied, and once they were standing face to face, both took a fighting stance, Leek smiled a little excitedly while Ning'er's features became more serious.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"Come with everything you've got." Was Leek's response when he finished adjusting his ki, matching it as much as he could to Ning'er's.
The girl didn't wait for another signal and jumped towards Leek, her leg forming an arc, the tip of her foot traveling at incredible speeds towards her opponent's head.
The young Saiyan raised his arm, blocking the kick while raising his other arm, forming a fist that moved towards Ning'er's face, but before it connected, she ducked, and all Leek's fist could touch were the tips of her ponytail.
At that moment, they both jumped back, gaining some distance from each other.
"Hahaha, your martial arts are very good, you move much better than me." Leek praised.
Ning'er, with a smile as small as the slight blush on her cheeks, shook her head. "You are much more incredible, your reflexes are extraordinary, and your movements are more fluid than yesterday, that punch was the same one I gave yesterday, I have not seen anyone learn and adapt my family's way of fighting to their own style so quickly"
"Then let's continue, I feel that I can improve even more"
Without saying another word, both ran towards each other, Ning'er feeling like she was fully enjoying training for the first time in her life, and Leek excited at the prospect of learning even more.
In the middle of the night, the kicks, punches, feints, and jumps gave rise to a beautiful dance for which there were no spectators.
X-X-X-X-X
A little bit about how MC found his way to Glory City and a little bit about Ning'er's life and her interactions with MC, which I always like to write about, nothing else to say, see you in the next chapter.
