When the fight resumed, Kyle charged at his opponent again.
The man with the rapier saw that Kyle was about to use Fire Trail again and suddenly became barely a meter tall.
He ducked beneath the strike and managed to avoid the Fire Trail.
Now, he could see Kyle's entire body.
Naturally, Kyle had been prepared for that and struck with the butt of his hammer, but the opponent easily sidestepped it and jumped up.
In the next moment, the man's rapier was pointing at Kyle's throat.
Both of them stopped moving, and then the opponent jumped away again.
Naturally, the fight was over.
'This time, he used his True Body, but he didn't use any techniques,' Kyle thought. 'There's still a lot I have to learn, but I can definitely say that I have already become stronger.'
The course continued, and Kyle lost a couple more times.
Funnily enough, Kyle lost even faster than yesterday in every fight since people were no longer taking it easy on him.
They were actually using some techniques, and some of them even used their True Bodies.
'Well, at least they have to use something to beat me now,' Kyle thought.
When the course was over, Gill gave Kyle more feedback.
Naturally, Kyle also received some more recommendations for new techniques, but none of them were cheap.
Techniques that cost ten to twenty Ether Pebbles were for Adepts. Even Fire Trail was only on the border between Adept and Fighter.
Techniques for Adepts were useful, but they couldn't compare to proper techniques.
Sadly, proper techniques were pretty expensive.
Techniques for Initial Fighters were generally priced between two and five Ether Stones, and the really good ones needed contribution points.
However, despite Kyle's lack of funds, he realized one thing.
'I am no longer stopped by time and opportunity,' he thought. 'During my journey to the south, I simply had no way to acquire techniques, and while training with Nervon, I was limited by time. I mean, we had jobs. We couldn't train all day, and Nervon was also busy.'
'But as long as I fulfill missions, I can earn money, and with that money, I can become stronger.'
'The only limiting factor is my willpower.'
When Kyle realized that, he looked at the other Fighters in the training hall.
Their "dances" were almost beautiful.
They had so much skill, and they looked so experienced.
In a way, Kyle felt like he was out of his depth.
He was surrounded by people who were much better than him at basically everything.
Over the past months, he had seen powerful beasts and had come into contact with Theodor's golems.
He had heard about the powers of Nature Gods and King Skysand.
He had seen the size and power of the Colossus.
Mountains destroyed by battles.
It seemed unreal.
It felt like the gap between Kyle and these powerful beings was like the gap between a normal human and a tsunami.
How could a normal human stop a tsunami?
It felt hopeless.
It didn't feel real.
How could anyone become this strong?
How could humans accomplish such monumental feats?
Yet, as Kyle looked at the other Fighters, he didn't feel like that.
'Yes, they are much more skillful than me, but they are not unbeatable. With enough training and work, I'm pretty sure that I can overcome them.'
'I just gotta work harder.'
Kyle groaned.
'I fucking hate working. That's also the reason why I never went to the gym, despite paying for it every month.'
Then, Kyle looked at his hammer.
'But swinging this thing around doesn't really feel like work.'
'Work isn't supposed to be this fun.'
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
'I want to become stronger.'
'I want to achieve something.'
'I don't want to be a nobody.'
'The only thing stopping me is my own laziness.'
At that moment, a meme from Earth popped into Kyle's head.
'Just do it!'
'Don't let your dreams be dreams!'
Kyle sighed.
'You know, if you ignore the ridiculous nature of that video, it's actually pretty motivating.'
'He's actually right.'
'Just do it!'
'Everything is in my favor.'
'I have the Predator's Being.'
'I have an Aristocrat's Body.'
'I have an old, powerful, grumpy stone in my head that speaks to me.'
'If I fail, it's either really bad luck or my own fault.'
'Just do it!'
'Yes, I will just do it!'
The next moment, Kyle walked out of the training hall and went to the cafeteria.
"Bonk, train?" Kyle asked, seeing Bonk.
"Train!" Bonk said with excitement as he stood up.
"Wyveria, Bonk train!" he shouted at Wyveria.
"Okay," Wyveria answered without looking away from what she was doing.
For the next two hours, Kyle swung his hammer, and Bonk gave feedback.
During the training, Bonk started to move around.
He wanted Kyle to learn how to strike properly while the enemy was moving around.
Naturally, Kyle's performance became worse immediately, but that was to be expected.
Eventually, Bonk had to get going, but Kyle didn't stop training.
'With my instincts, I should be able to avoid most dangerous situations in the wild.'
So, Kyle walked into the wilderness to find a good opponent.
After around 20 minutes, he found an Initial Ferocious Beast.
A big pangolin.
'These things look funny and scary at the same time,' he thought.
He charged at the pangolin, but his goal was not to kill it.
His goal was to make his Ether Strike ability useful during battle.
The thing Bonk was teaching him didn't have a name. It was just about striking properly.
However, as a human, Kyle could see that this was not just about striking properly.
This was similar to an actual technique, and because of that, Kyle decided to give it a name.
Ether Strike.
Ether Strike referred to moving one's Ether in this special and complex way that allowed Kyle to strike faster and stronger.
Kyle fought the pangolin, but within less than five seconds, he realized something.
This fight did not go as expected!
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.