Valley Training

The wind howled through the valley. It was not yet dawn, but Ryan was already up. Leaning against a boulder, he flexed his wrists and brushed the dust off his bracers. A light rain had fallen the night before, leaving the ground slightly damp and filling the air with the scent of soil and fresh grass.

The valley floor lay low, with steep slopes on either side blocking the outside wind. Only birdsong and the occasional sound of falling rocks disturbed the silence. Ryan had set up a simple camp here, surrounding it with a defensive line of thick branches and burying sensory barriers in various corners. Outsiders could not get in, and for the time being, he did not have to worry about wild beasts either.

His training plan was simple: continuous combat and physical recovery under heavy loads, combined with Aura circulation and compression. He adjusted the weights on his body to their limit, loading his legs, arms, and shoulders with alloy hammers and sandbags for a total weight of more than five hundred kilograms. Every swing of his blades, roll, leap, landing, and sprint heated his entire body. He habitually counted out the rhythm: one, two, three... After every ten slashes, he had to change direction with his footwork, ensuring his movements did not fall into mechanical repetition.

On the first day, he discovered that his body was not adapting as smoothly as he had imagined. After thirty consecutive slashes under heavy load, his elbows and shoulders began to ache, his steps slowed, and the paths of his blades gradually drifted off course. Ryan did not panic. He merely slowed his pace, focused on coordinating his breathing with his movements, and worked each detail into place. He had never expected to regain the explosive power he had