Tear A Path - 15 The Pole
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15 The Pole

Lined up next to these spears was one particular stick. He'd tried to carve it, but even with Panda's horn he couldn't even leave a mark. Zhao Wei rubbed the rough cold surface, it's pattern seemed almost hypnotizing. Besides it's toughness, Zhao Wei hadn't noticed anything different about it which was why he'd collected it with the rest, only now did he notice its peculiar nature. Standing at 170 cm it didn't look that big, but this pole gave off a feeling of stoutness.

Once he had all this done he prepared to take his penance. Throughout the process Panda was constantly regretting how it had saved the human, mostly it felt violated, like it had been used forcibly. Zhao Wei couldn't hold it in the trap forever as he knew that even the skill had a limit and after putting in a certain level of strength or struggling for a long time it would break.

Calculating from its escape, Panda should be able to escape right about now.

As soon as he thought that the trap dissipated. "Dear Panda, lets not take this too far..."

Before he could continue, Panda already dashed towards him. With the pole in hand, Panda didn't want to hold back from using his full speed. In their spars Panda could never use his full speed for caution against impaling Zhao Wei. Everytime it's have to slow down to focus on using its limb, or to turn to deliver a kick with its back leg. Now however there was no mercy.

Within 45 seconds into the fight Zhao Wei had 5/6 cuts on him, it was no contest. Although it couldn't use its full speed in close combat, Panda still jumped circles around Zhao Wei who in comparison could only swing the stick around like a baseball bat.

As Panda noticed that the strikes were simple, it moved faster, even antic.i.p.ating gaps in defense. Zhao Wei on the other hand became more sluggish the more the fight progressed as the weight of the pole bore down on him. His lack of control and experience with the equipment made it extremely difficult for him even if he could see Panda's pattern.

At the end, Zhao Wei was panting on the floor after a whole hour against the rabbit. It had actually been more lenient with the force as it knew if it beat him quickly, the human would just be back up after some time, opting instead to tire him out.

As Zhao Wei sat, he tried to review the fight, why his reactions were slower, how his reactions were off, the way he handled his weapon. All these were thought through. Standing up, he held the pole in the middle and started spinning it left and right.

Thinking he might've had something, he challenged Panda again. Without any suspense, he lost again. Reviewing it, he noticed that although it let him swing much more comfortably, every swing left him open and to reverse it for defense actually took more effort and time.

While thinking about this night had fallen. In the cold Zhao Wei ran for another 2 hours before it reached its peak outside the house. Panda just sat in front of the entrance while watching this human maniac.

Animals never had a sense for training, their lives are built on surviving, if they died it was merely part of the process of nature. Humans even start weak, being the only species to gestate outside the womb. As they grow, the lack of need to fight to survive limited their development.

Naturally to challenge the world Zhao Wei knew he needed to match not only humans but also beasts, he had a lot to catch up with. Slowly but surely he needed to push, if he couldn't handle the cold at all, how would he travel away where there was the possibility of no shelter to keep himself warm.

After his run, he wiped himself with a wet cloth in his room before charging his skills again and training in between. Through all this, Panda watched him silently.

When day came, Zhao Wei did not go down again, he still had 2 days worth of food and decided to make sure he could survive down there. In the day hours he'd train with Panda, improving himself slowly, his skills were non-existent but his judgement gave him little insights in every spar. This was coupled with physical training in between. At night he'd do physical training mixed with charging.

He was getting faster and stronger at it too, At the start he'd need the whole night hours to make 5/4 but slowly he was sure he was completing them by seconds and minutes faster with each trap he charged.

It might seem quick, but with a day and night totaling over 2 days he'd trained 8 days in total. 7 if the night he took to recover was taken out. His hands were in patches and his feet was constantly scabbing and breaking from the continuos exercise.

Waking up the day his food would finish, Zhao Wei didn't train, he focused on charging his skill and reviewing his spars with Panda. The last climb down had taught him alot, by next morning, 2 days in normal world time would pa.s.sed before he started his climb.

Picking 2 short spears he'd prepared as well as the pole, he bundled them together and tied it to the side of his back pack. One of his last few canned foods were stuffed in as well as a flask of water in preparation of an early departure the next day.

Finally night came again.