When I woke up the next day, it was to a loud noise blaring in my head. I recognized the commotion instantly and knew exactly what, and who, it was. Rabbit was trying to rattle me with noise that was as annoying as my morning alarm, only louder. “Aww, man. I can't believe you didn't jump!” Rabbit exclaimed, clearly disappointed.

  “Guess you’re going to have to become more clever,” I replied silently, smirking inwardly at his failed attempt to unsettle me.

  “Challenge accepted,” Rabbit replied.

  Oh no. I couldn’t believe I had done that to myself.

  “Morning, teacher,” I said while sitting up and turning to Carrick, who stood over me like a tower. This time, I wasn't going to lie down and be an easy target. “What is today's lesson?”

  “Ignoring pain for progress.” Seeing my face, he continued, “Don’t worry. I will also teach you how not to punch like a toddler. And I am going to learn how much you will complain today."

  “Doesn’t sound like a fair trade to me,” I replied.

  “I know. You whine too much, but I think I can survive.” He then flexed his arm.

  “So more sparring with an emphasis on punching?” I questioned.

  “No. Your greatest advantage is your Ability to heal naturally, and your greatest weakness is that you suck at everything else. Training to fight takes time because the body needs to recover naturally to adapt and get stronger. Even healing magic doesn’t change that since the injured person’s body reverts to its previous state, but your natural healing doesn’t have that limitation. Take this tree, for example." He gestured to the birch tree’s missing bark. "Hitting it would normally hurt, but over time, your skin toughens, and your bones harden. We call this process strengthening."

  Carrick struck the wood directly, then pulled back, revealing no blood. The force of the blow was greater than necessary and harder than he should have hit it.

  “It takes decades of strengthening to be able to master this technique. If you hit the tree that hard right now, your bones would break. Even if I were at your level, I would not be able to hit the tree that hard without breaking my hand, even with all of my training. Your level and Constitution will help, but they will be aided by practice, natural healing, and time. Today, we will teach you some basic blocking and hitting techniques while also starting your strengthening exercises. I believe that in a short time, your durability will be formidable."

  He beckoned me up to the tree and said, "Stand here. The key to this is not to hit with your shoulders or body. Hit with your arm and wrist. Now, hit the tree lightly in the center without rotating your body.”

  Since he said to hit lightly, I did exactly as he instructed. I hit the center as softly as I could without moving my body. “Good, you can aim. I was half afraid you were going to hit the ground. You seem to do that a lot when we spar. But seriously, hit it with half power.”

  Half power meant it would hurt, but pain was part of the process now. I just hoped I wouldn't break anything. I did what he said, and I could feel the impact on my bones and wrist. As soon as I pulled my hand away, the bones felt fine, but my knuckle stung.

  “Do the same with the other hand.”

  I performed exactly as he ordered. That hand didn't exactly make it to the center, but afterward, I could still feel the same stinging on my knuckles.

  “Your aim is far off on your left hand. We will have to work on that. Your right again. Slightly harder.”

  I nodded, knowing exactly where this was going.

  I struck a little harder, and the pain was immediate. It was more intense than before because my hand was already hurt, but I continued. Then I repeated, but this time, I hit the target with my left hand on the second punch.

  “You hit harder with your right hand over your left hand. You don't want them unequal, even if one is dominant. How did that feel?” he asked.

  “It was painful. I could feel it in my bones, and now, my hand is stinging.” I looked down at my hands, and the knuckles were already raw.

  “Good. It looks like we need to go a little harder,” he said.

  We continued to do this until my hand broke on the tree. I screamed and danced around, holding my hand. “Ow! That freaking hurts!”

  “What?” Carrick was staring off into space while I was hitting the tree harder and harder until I finally injured myself.

  “I broke my hand. Why weren’t you paying attention?” I complained, angered by the pain.

  “I was, kind of. It’s just hard to focus sometimes. I’ve found it’s easier to stay interested if I pretend people are sexier than they actually are.” He looked at me, and as I didn’t reply, he continued, “You know, more like me.” He smiled at me as if he were trying to sell me a car. As I continued not to respond to his random remark, he said, “You know you can do it for free. It doesn’t cost you anything to imagine people are sexier. It is so much easier to concentrate on what they are saying.”

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  At this, I just lost it. “I broke my hand.”

  “Perfect!” Carrick said gleefully.

  “Perfect? My hand is broken. It's not going to heal nearly as fast as my knuckles.”

  “You are right, not perfect. You keep hitting softer with your left hand, but that’s as good as we are going to get it,” Carrick replied with a smile.

  “Hey. Don't be so mad at Carrick,” Rabbit said. “This isn't the first time you hurt your hand playing with someone else’s wood.”

  “You’re a dick, Rabbit. You know that’s not true,” I said in my head.

  “Sorry. I know, I know. Carrick’s wood is the only wood you want to pound,” Rabbit replied with mirth.

  “I'm going to kill you,” I snarled at him.

  As I was talking with Rabbit and dancing around, Carrick moved to the tree again and said, “Listen up. Take a short break and watch me. I'll perform a sequence you’ll need to copy. Pay close attention to my hands, arms, and feet. Imagine these were blocking moves against an opponent instead of branches on a tree.”

  He did it slowly so I could see, then he repeated it quickly, and it was like a cycling blur. Since he was hitting more than one spot at a time, it was too quick to follow exactly what he was doing, even though he had shown me in slow motion first.

  “Did you get that? Do you think you can repeat it?” he asked, with a mocking smile spreading across his face.

  My first thought was hell no. How the hell was I supposed to have memorized that? It was way too quick, and I was confident Carrick knew that. Even if he were to write down the instructions, the movements would be too complex to be easily understood. I’d bet it would take about 20 to 30 minutes to memorize that layout without screwing up. Fortunately, I had Rabbit on my side.

  “Hey, Rabbit. Did you get all of that?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, he struck his right palm against the left post and blocked the right post with his open left hand. Then, he backhanded the left post with his arm and simultaneously hit the left post with his left palm while striking the trunk where you had been hitting. He dropped his left hand onto the left branch while striking the trunk with his right hand, followed by a backhand to the right branch with his left hand as he hit the trunk with his left fist. Finally, he blocked the right bough with his left hand while striking it.”

  Even though Rabbit just explained it, I still had no clue what to do. “How about a blue outline?”

  I heard Rabbit sigh, but he still started forming the first pose.

  “Of course,” I said confidently. By this time, my hand was feeling a little better, even though it wasn't fully healed.

  Carrick’s smile widened. I bet it was from him thinking about how foolish I was going to look in a minute.

  When I got to the tree, I lined up with Rabbit’s blue outline of what Carrick had done, step by step. It looked like just the limbs making contact slowly in front of me, so it was easy to copy. Of course, I didn't actually hit the tree with my recovering hand, but I made the same type of motion that Carrick made.

  When I was done, Carrick’s mouth hung open. "Wow, I have to give it to you. You might be garbage at fighting, but you have a great memory. I have trained people over the years, and it often takes a long time for anyone to learn basic techniques. While your form was horrible in so many ways, I am impressed you could remember.” He smiled. “Is your hand healed yet?”

  “No, but it's almost there.”

  “Change of plans. I was going to insult you for your bad memory until I got bored,” Carrick commented.

  “Okay, then what is the new plan?” I asked.

  “I’m going to spend the rest of my energy insulting your technique,” Carrick said, an enormous smirk spreading across his face.

  “You need some ointment?” Rabbit questioned.

  “For my hand?” I asked.

  “No. For that burn!” Rabbit started laughing.

  “You know those penis enlargement pills you took? They are working because you are twice as much of a dick as you were before,” I said to him in my head.

  “Let's go slowly. One motion at a time,” Carrick said.

  I immediately smiled and thought, “That's what she said.” Oddly enough, Rabbit said it at the same time as I did, and we both laughed like school children.

  I went through the first motion before Carrick decided to interrupt. “You’re using your body to move. Focus on using your arm and your wrist instead of your body. The action isn't about raw power but about control and accuracy. If you can control your opponent, then you can win. Try again.”

  This time, I tried using just my arms and wrists without moving my body. “No, faster, like a snap,” Carrick ordered.

  I tried again, this time faster. My hand hit the branch a lot harder, but without moving my body. It had a snap to it that could easily push an arm away.

  “Good. Now, continue with the rest,” Carrick said.

  I made it to the third movement, where I moved my left hand from blocking the right post to backhanding the left post.

  “No, no, no. Not with your hand, with the back of your arm. Put your hand flat above the branch. This keeps them from sliding up and sets up for the next moves,” Carrick instructed.

  Once again, I started over. He kept criticizing me for my technique until we reached the part where I hit the tree directly.

  "Hit it harder. To achieve this, most people take years, gradually increasing their efforts. But since you can heal, you should go right near your limits each time to build up your resistance," Carrick complained.

  I repeated and hit the tree harder this time, then moved down to block the branch.

  "Wow. You should be glad this tree can't hit back, because you are horrible. When blocking down, do it closer to the arm and don't move your arm away. You need to drop it directly down. If you move your arm out, then it will make it easier for your opponent to control you. You need to keep your arms in to keep the moves tight.” Carrick kept explaining without taking his eyes off what I was doing.

  This went on for hours, and I quickly wanted a break, so I asked, "Can you teach me something new?"

  Carrick smiled and said, “Sure, fishing and girlfriends are exactly alike. There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but until you catch one, you are stuck there playing alone with your rod. Now enough talking and concentrate.”

  And it continued like that for a long time. It became intense training for my willpower.

  Taking a hit was one thing, as I usually tried to avoid those when I could. But this was different. This was me deliberately hurting myself, ignoring the pain, and doing it again and again.

  It was brutal.

  But I pushed through.

  I no longer believed there would ever be a fight where I cowered in fear again.

  “Your healing is impressive. It only took you one day, and it looks as though you have trained for a month punching this tree. I think we are ready to see Sophia,” Carrick told me at the end of the day.

  “I hope that is a good thing,” I replied.