Like John hoped, Kelly found amusement in what he did. He knew that even if someone loves doing something, they also need to have fun doing it to improve. He knew that if he trained Kelly in a strict manner, she could come to hate martial arts. Such an unenjoyable experience could lead her to having results that weren’t what she wanted for the effort and time she put into training. If that were to happen, she could potentially quit training altogether.
With that in mind, they spent the next hour training and goofing around. When they were done, John knelt down and told Kelly to climb on his shoulders. Once she had a solid grip on him, he took off running further into the jungle, but this time Kelly didn’t scream. John figured she had gotten used to it, or maybe she was just too tired to scream.
A few miles into the jungle, John came to a steep cliff that was about sixty feet in height. As he began to climb the cliff, Kelly tightened her grip on him and squeezed her eyes shut. Before she knew it, they were at the top and she was amazed that it only took him a few minutes to complete the feat.
At the top of the cliff, the strong sunlight shone on their faces and they could feel the heat coming off the ground. All their eyes could see for miles was a sea of trees in different shades of green and brown. A large mountain pierced into the clouds in the far distance.
John stood at the edge with Kelly still on his shoulders. “When you’ve trained your body to the extreme like your mother and I have, things like this cliff, and even that mountain, will feel like nothing to you. In fact, climbing such a cliff by yourself should only be a small goal of yours. You might be able to accomplish it after five years, if you work hard.”
John held on to her tiny feet. Although he knew he could save her if she were to fall, he didn’t want to take that risk.
Looking at the top of the trees, John asked, “What do you see?”
The sun was high in the sky and the weather was clear, letting her see further. From this new, spectacular view, Kelly could see everything for miles. Shielding her eyes with her hands, she replied, “Nature, beauty, and peace.”
John chuckled at her innocence. “I see an ancient battlefield that’s still being fought on, even to this day. It’s not that your view is wrong, Kelly. It’s simply that our experiences in life are completely different.
“I’ve only started teaching you the basics. Those techniques we worked on earlier have been passed down for hundreds of years through masters who have tested and perfected the process. They’re the best no matter who trains with them.
“Later on, I’ll be teaching you different martial arts which haven’t had many people working on them. That means that what may work for me, might not work for you. You’ll need to alter the technique to suit you and your fighting style.”
Kelly looked down at the top of John’s head and opened her mouth to ask what he meant. A tingling sensation came from her stomach as she caught sight of the sheer drop below John’s feet. Her hands and legs, which were relaxed, tightened up around John.
Is she scared of heights? Before she could even panic, John took a few steps back and continued speaking.
“Every tree, every vine, and every blade of grass are at war with one another. They need to conquer the space for their roots, so that they can grow taller than the rest and absorb the most sunlight for survival.
“The same applies to humans. We hunt animals and grow crops for food, but if ever there’s not enough food to sustain life, humans will fight to the death to steal food from each other to survive.
“I want you to remember this for the rest of your life. In the future you’ll meet people and even call some of them your friends, but you need to be prepared to fight when your survival is at risk—even against friends.”
The pair remained silent as they watched a flock of birds fly overhead. Noticing the sun drift down to the horizon, John broke the silence.
“It’s time to go. You’ve got a language class to attend, and if we’re late, your mother might just kill me.”
“Mom’s that strong?” Kelly asked with a cute giggle.
“Let me put it this way; If the king knew about your mother, he would’ve paid any price to hire us both instead of accepting my meagre demands.”
In his Scan, he saw Kelly’s eyes widen and her mouth drop open. Her adorable face in a state of shock almost caused him to burst into laughter.
John proceeded to climb down the cliff. He noticed Kelly was much more relaxed than when he stood at the cliff’s edge. Once he climbed down, he made his way home with Kelly still on his shoulders.
Chapter 4: Retaining
The next morning, John woke up to find Sarah and Kelly sitting at the kitchen table.
Kelly wasn’t feeling 100% because of the miniscule poison Sarah had given her the night prior, so John decided to let her rest for the day. Today was also the day that Isabel and the others were leaving, so Kelly was feeling a little down because of that.
John and Sarah planned to let Kelly stay with Isabel for most of the day, but they were standing firm on putting them into their Storage Space later on.
Since creating the
