novelraw Chapter 183: Awakening
Chapter 183: Awakening
At the exact same time, near the verdant Klein Mountains covered in green everywhere, beside that crooked river bend, Jasmine gently retracted her palm placed within the river water. She subsequently took a deep breath, slowly adjusted the center of gravity of her body as if freed from the restraint of gravity, and gently fell into the water.
There were no splashes, no sound of water waves, only the still-flowing river water and Jasmine who gradually sank to the bottom of the water.
Watching the training officially begin, Fisher found a stone close to the shore himself, leaned his back against that stone, and watched the situation inside the river.
Xi Yate was also attracted by Jasmine's graceful movements when entering the water. She trotted closer with her horse hooves. In her gaze, a revolving shadow in the river rapidly floated upward.
In the next second, like a blooming flower in the water, Jasmine slowly surfaced from the water, looking toward the direction of Fisher in the distance.
A smile was carried on her face. Her proud softness was hidden beneath the water surface, but she was breathing freely very forcefully. Compared to her restrained state on land, her state was obviously much better.
Her gaze looked straight at Fisher. Waiting until Fisher nodded at her, only then did she turn her head to look at Xi Yate standing on the shore.
It seemed the method Xi Yate gave was useful. Fisher wasn't adept at combat training; he could only rely on purely theoretical methods to teach Jasmine, and had even thrown her onto the ground once, which didn't sound very reliable to begin with.
After all, Fisher was merely a scholar. Being reprimanded by Eliog previously wasn't without reason.
"How does it feel now after entering the water?"Meeting Xi Yate's words, Jasmine submerged her body a bit further into the water, nodded, and responded.
"It... it feels very comfortable, quite a bit easier than on land."
"That's correct... mhm, I thought about it just now. Making you train on land, isn't it quite a bit similar to making us train at the bottom of the water? It's very normal for you to feel afraid and uneasy like that."
"Miss Xi Yate, then what should I do next?"
After hearing this, Xi Yate didn't answer. She instead folded her arms across her chest, pointed at the river in front of her, and said.
"The mystery of Centaurs learning to run and fight lies in concentration. When running, one must concentrate on the road in front of them; when fighting, one must concentrate on the enemy in front of their eyes. Regarding a timid child like you, I have a lot of teaching experience. First use your fastest speed to run in the river... ah no, swim and try."
Hearing this, Jasmine nodded as if she understood but also didn't. She subsequently spun a circle in the water, and right at the instant her head faced the bottom of the river, a long tail like a whale's slapped the river surface open, forming a void-like water fan on the water surface. Afterwards, her tail swung, instantly swimming toward the bottom of the water.
The speed at which Whale-kin swam with full power in the water was extremely fast. Standing on the shore, Xi Yate could only see a shadow like a bow and arrow darting back and forth at the bottom of the water, brushing past the river weeds and stones at the bottom of the river, scaring the gathered schools of fish into scattering and fleeing in all directions.
The blue water flow in Jasmine's eyes gently circulated. Seeing a fish so frightened it plunged upside down into the silt, continuously flicking its tail and struggling, she stopped motionless perfectly in place like she was playing a prank, watching that fish slowly escape from the dirt.
Waiting until that stupid fish sized up the surroundings to see if Jasmine had left, Jasmine then abruptly bared her fangs and brandished her claws, pretending to pounce. It scared that fish into rapidly darting away again, repeatedly crashing into several river weeds, dizzily running God knows where, leaving only Jasmine in the water covering her mouth and chuckling lightly in place.
Fisher on the shore saw the situation in the water. He looked at Xi Yate standing beside him and asked.
"Is this level of playful intensity truly enough? Our training time this time is very short, we have to leave in a few days. By that time if she still hasn't profusely grasped combat, I'm afraid it will produce disadvantageous consequences."
"Rest assured, Jasmine is different from other Centaurs who need combat training. Other immature warriors not only require training in combat conviction but also require training in combat constitution, whereas Jasmine doesn't need to. I can see the massive potential contained within her body; the only thing she needs is a method to release that potential."
Speaking as she went, Xi Yate extended her index finger and wagged it at Fisher, confidently saying.
"Nervousness and constraint will oppress her, making her increasingly restrained. Only when relaxing can she know herself to be herself, which will thus allow her to exhibit her full strength."
Fisher nodded understandingly upon hearing this, and sat down in front of the stone once again.
Since he had handed the guiding authority of training to Xi Yate, he wouldn't interfere too much with the other party's training methods. After answering his own question, he peacefully leaned beside the stone, taking out the Demi-Human Completion Handbook invisible to others to record Xi Yate's traits.
Although she wasn't bound right now, as long as he possessed a certain amount of knowledge regarding this population, it could also be considered accumulating progress. By the time he bound her, it might directly jump to roughly ten-something percent, right? It was exactly like this when researching Witches previously.
However, recording the data of this Centaur Xi Yate while Jasmine was training, no matter how one heard it, why did it feel a bit somewhat strange?
Just as mentioned previously, the research progress of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook was extremely bizarre. If following ordinary normal research, one would only be able to reach twenty-something percent at most, as if without conducting in-depth research with the demi-human lady, there would be no way to progress...
What a pity the Demi-Human Completion Handbook didn't possess spiritual intelligence, otherwise Fisher would most probably condemn it.
Fisher shook his head, temporarily focusing on the records on hand, handing all training matters over to Xi Yate.
Jasmine swam several laps at the bottom of the water before slowly surfacing. She seemed to know no fatigue; even her body seemed to have its vitality stimulated by the exercise just now. The tail behind her, which ordinarily only swung when she was shy, energetically flicked up and down at the bottom of the water right now, churning the water flow into a whirlpool.
"Alright, Jasmine, since you have pretty much warmed up, then now I will officially begin teaching you how to fight... But before that, you need to tell me the specific problems you encountered, so I can think of a way to solve them for you."
"Yes!"
Jasmine straightened her body in the water, and then recounted the matter of her being somewhat afraid of fighting to Xi Yate.
"Every time I encounter terrifying things and enemies or whatever, I feel very afraid, so afraid that I want to hide. I don't want to fight at all... And once I want to evade, the body of a Whale-kin will produce severe consequences... I am very distressed by this matter."
"So it's like that..."
Xi Yate touched her chin somewhat distressingly, and then suddenly thought of something. Her eyes lighting up slightly, she said to Jasmine.
"I've got it, actually we can change our line of thought. Previously when Fisher trained you, he definitely continuously made you fight, made you face fear directly. But since this method isn't very effective for you, we can try other methods... Jasmine, I want to make you generate emotions that belong to yourself, this way you won't want to evade, but instead will want to solve the problem yourself."
"Emotions that... belong to myself?"
Jasmine tilted her head, wearing an innocent and puzzled look. Xi Yate conversely placed her hands on her hips and stood up, stealthily glancing at Fisher who was sitting down writing something nearby. The arc of the smile on the corners of her mouth grew increasingly large, slowly sliding toward a "sinister" degree.
She pulled the puzzled Jasmine to walk a distance in another direction. Only until she confirmed they were very far from Fisher did she sit down by the river bank once again, speaking somewhat softly to Jasmine.
"Then, let's toss the matter of fighting aside first. I want to ask Jasmine, what are your feelings towards Fisher?"
"F-F-F-Feelings!?"
She had never expected the topic of training to abruptly change. Merely hearing this simple sentence caused Jasmine's face to turn completely red again, and her ears also flapped rapidly.
"Regarding feelings or whatever... T-T-Teacher Fisher is on... only my teacher, he treats me very well, and... and he looks at demi-humans with a very gentle gaze. He is the kind of human Lord Ramastia spoke of who respects life very much... I mean, I mean, Fisher is indeed an exceptionally good person... I, I also have... a little... a tiny bit, I have a little bit of a favorable impression toward Fisher."
"Oh? Just a little ah?"
Cupping her face in her hands, the auntie smile on Xi Yate's face wouldn't stop, putting on an appearance of a melon-eating spectator. The ponytail behind her also lifted a bit, wanting to hurriedly hear the next sentence of reply.
The blue water flow in Jasmine's eyes had already begun to frantically rotate exactly like a whirlpool, as if losing focus and thereby being at a loss. Accompanying her swinging hands, she provided an explanation for the words just now.
"It... it's also not a little. The little I said is actually, actually it should be, probably, maybe it's still a lot."
"Oh, a lot, oh..."
Jasmine was toyed with by the chin-cupping Xi Yate's few sentences until she was both ashamed and annoyed. She opened her mouth and trembled a few times, yet no words could pop out. Evidently she was still savoring those few sentences of inquiry from Xi Yate just now.
"D-don't bully me anymore, Miss Xi Yate..."
Anyway, in the end, Miss Jasmine could only blushingly use this kind of pathetic, completely non-threatening words to make Xi Yate stop talking. But Xi Yate's original intention wasn't to bully her either, so she very quickly changed the topic, tilting her head and asking quizzically.
"But if it's Fisher, he should be extremely popular with human girls, right?"
"Eh..."
"Think about it, although I don't understand human affairs very much, I should still know more than Jasmine. He is a gentleman whose appearance even demi-humans can approve of, and he is also a scholar possessing principles and knowledge. How many Naris ladies, or rather young girls of even higher status, would like this kind of gentleman?"
Jasmine still kept her mouth open, but this time her tail and long ears all entirely stopped moving. The water flow beside her trickled quietly, but the water flow in her gaze was exactly like the prelude to a coming storm. There was no black curse spreading, but that familiar dangerous feeling appeared on Jasmine at this exact moment.
For no other reason, following Xi Yate's words, Jasmine suddenly thought of her friend Milika, and the "Kadu Holy Maiden" Renee she met once previously, as well as Her Highness Elizabeth who lingered on like a nightmare...
If, if Teacher Fisher chooses other ladies, what should she do? If Fisher only wanted to conduct research on herself, and the appreciation for her beauty he spoke of was also just basic polite remarks towards females, what should she do?
If so, she could only knock Fisher out and bring him back to the sea...
But until the very last moment, Jasmine would definitely not act this way, because she was not an idiot, naturally knowing this wasn't the correct method.
Seeing that the aura on her body began to unconsciously develop toward a terrifying degree, the corners of Xi Yate's mouth stiffened, and she backed away a distance backwards. Then, not minding making a scene, she added the final bucket of fire.
"Therefore ah, Jasmine, if you keep stagnating continuously like this, you will lose completely and utterly, oh~"
Seeing it was effective, Xi Yate kept outputting to Jasmine without minding making a bigger scene.
"As the common saying goes, success comes to those who strive. Only by regarding all the difficulties you face as obstacles hindering you and Fisher from being together, whether it be ladies approaching Fisher, or enemies wanting to hurt you and him... all of them, all of them, must be eliminated."
The blue water flow in Jasmine's eyes at this moment had already collapsed exactly like a volcano, capable of erupting at any time. And Jasmine took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, that pair of pupils was already as transparent as the ocean, simultaneously mixed with pitch-black and containing boundless azure blue.
"I understand, Miss Xi Yate."
"Very good. Go into the water and try to exhibit all your strength again."
Xi Yate gave a thumbs up, and Jasmine's body flipped and disappeared into the water surface on the spot, unknown toward which direction of the river she went.
While looking at the water surface, Xi Yate walked toward Fisher's direction. Fisher didn't hear the contents of the whispers between those two ladies just now. Only when seeing Xi Yate return did Fisher raise his head, look at her, and inquire.
"What did you guys talk about just now?"
Xi Yate was just about to open her mouth when she abruptly thought of Jasmine's somewhat terrifying gaze before she submerged. She also didn't know if saying this was correct, but since Fisher's request was to make Jasmine able to join combat as fast as possible...
In a certain sense, doing this could be said to be extremely effective...
It was just that whatever consequences might be produced afterwards was not something Xi Yate needed to worry about.
Thinking to this point, Xi Yate's gaze was rather evasive. She touched the ponytail tied into a bunch on the back of her head and softly said.
"The mystery of fighting, haha..."
"...Really?"
"Rea..."
Before Xi Yate's words finished, Fisher had already perceived danger one step ahead of time. The physical stamina bonus of the Dragon-kin reached its peak in an instant. His fine hairs stood on end slightly, and he subconsciously turned his head to look at the river surface.
"Boom!!"
It was as if the calm river surface had been crushed across by Schwari's most powerful explosives. A water pillar of roughly ten-something meters explosively blasted out of the river surface with a boom. On the riverbed at the bottom of the water, precisely when a deep crater abruptly appeared, that massive force transmitted along the water surface, almost blowing up the entire river to take off on the spot.
That astonishing strength was evidently stimulated by Jasmine in the river water. Fisher could only see her long blue hair fluttering in the water, not looking the slightest bit infected by the curse. Does that mean the current Jasmine was acting her true self?
That instantly appearing water pillar of ten-something meters high was gradually pulled downward by gravity in mid-air, turning into raindrops falling on the faces of Xi Yate and Fisher on the shore. Afterwards, it slid down their cheeks, not dropping until reaching the chin.
In the next second, the two of them exchanged a glance, mutual astonishment reflected within each other's eyes.
Immediately following that, Fisher was just about to open his mouth, yet Xi Yate had already covered her ears and run far away.
"Waah ah ah, don't look at me, don't look at me, I said nothing, said nothing at all!"
The hoofbeats gradually grew distant, leaving only Fisher standing perfectly in place and that Klein River which had started to flow anew. Fisher was just about to go to the river bank to take a look regarding Jasmine's situation when at the edge of the sky, a crooked paper airplane slowly flew entirely toward Fisher's direction.
Fisher noticed the shadow of that airplane, and subsequently reached out to catch it, grasping that airplane in his hand. The golden paper inside indicated this letter was sent over by Elizabeth.
On the quiet water surface, wearing a happy smile, Jasmine slowly surfaced. This was the first time she had completely utilized her full strength exactly like her power was stimulated. Therefore, she immediately appeared on the water surface first, wanting to report her progress to Fisher. The result was seeing Fisher lower his head and unfold a letter paper.
The contents of the letter largely expressed she knew Fisher's situation here, and tactfully hinted that although Lensis would be arrested by Dexter on the weekend, according to Dexter's personality of prioritizing brotherhood, it was highly unlikely he would use forceful methods to pry open his mouth. Which meant, to truly settle accounts with Black, concrete evidence was still required.
According to Elizabeth's description, Dexter currently equally wanted to make a move against Black, but before there was concrete evidence, this kind of action could only be considered a minor lesson. And Fisher's evidence was the "sharp blade capable of killing."
In the letter, Elizabeth expressed Fisher still needed to help Anna destroy the Relic restricting her life, or obtain other evidence; only this way could Black's forces be thoroughly eradicated.
At the end of the letter, Elizabeth repeatedly exhorted Fisher to be careful of his own safety. Her army would surround the Healing House on the weekend, so if there was any danger, he should immediately abort the operation.
After finishing reading, Fisher stored the letter paper into his embrace. While still chewing over Elizabeth's information, he suddenly saw that pretty Jasmine looking at him in the water. That cute girl looking so harmless to people and animals could in no way be compared to the human-shaped steam engine that struck out a ten-something meter water pillar bare-handed just now, right?
Strange to say, if it were someone else standing in place and seeing Jasmine looking at them like this, they would definitely not know what she was thinking. But having spent a long time with Jasmine, Fisher guessed her thoughts at once.
Fisher was seen slowly walking to the river bank. Jasmine also swam to the shore swinging her tail back and forth. She watched Fisher squat down and extend his hand towards her.
Originally, that hand was supposed to want to shake hands with Jasmine, but Jasmine blinked her eyes at Fisher, and subsequently submerged into the water. By the time she came out again, her small head had already automatically been placed beneath Fisher's hand, taking the initiative to let Fisher's hand touch the crown of her head.
Fisher was slightly stunned, leaving him no choice but to rub her head, simultaneously smiling and saying.
"You did very well, Jasmine. Your progress is very great."
That's right, Jasmine staying on the water surface and looking at him for so long without saying a word was actually just wanting a sentence of praise from Fisher. Perhaps she wanted her teacher to acknowledge her progress and excellence, or perhaps it was because she wanted his gaze to fall on her for a longer time... Who could know?
Anyway, Jasmine merely chuckled foolishly, her tail also slapping on the river surface and splashing a little bit of water.
"Hehe..."