Chapter 16 - Comparison

"Wow, that was surprisingly easier than I thought. I mean, at first I thought you had lost it and given me an insane task but that wasn't that hard," said Julius as he got up from the ground and dusted the dirt off his palms. Hearing his words brought Jun back from his own world of amazement in which he stared at his student with awe.

"Yes yes, now check your status points for physical strength and tell what it was changed to now," Jun requested.

Julius did as he was told by going to the top middle gear like icon and pressing it to view his status points.

[Physical Strength: 200]

"Wow! Already at 200? That's like 8 times what I used to have! Thinking about it now, my father at maximum should only have 2000 in that aspect. That would mean I'm 1/10 as strong as the strongest man in the world!" said Julius out loud in excitement.

"... well that's impressive but the second part isn't true at all. You might think just because the points say that 200 is 1/10 of 2000 so that must be the ratio at which your strength is measured but that's false. Just like if you were to reach level 20 in cultivation through battle. It might seem that you've completed 1/5 of your journey but in fact, the gap is much larger as the exp you need continues to increase drastically. So while what you accomplished is impressive, do not compare it to that of your father. He is hundreds if not thousands of times stronger than you," Jun corrected his student which made Julius disappointed in himself once again.

"If it makes you feel better, the reason your father is stronger than you is because he spent years continuously training. This is only your second day here and you've managed to grow exponentially so you should be proud of that," said Jun as he tried to cheer his student up.

Although Jun tried his best, Julius was still adamant about becoming as strong as if not stronger than his father. However, the words which his master had said brought sadness to him as he realized that he would have to work hard every single day to catch up to his hero.

Seeing as his student needed a moment to recollect himself, Jun went inside his house and allowed Julius to think about things. Once Jun went inside, Julius walked near the side of the mountain and sat down on the edge of it as he looked at the many other mountains, forests and rivers around them. It was truly a sight to behold. However, even so, Julius could only think about going back to his royal castle and live in the comfort of his home instead of being tormented each and every day by his master.

Filled with pent up anger, Julius slammed his fist on the ground which he sat on to let out some anger.... However, that would backfire quickly as 2 metres of the mountain top's edge broke off and began to fall. Scared to lose his life, Julius quickly grabbed hold of the new edge and began to climb it until he was back at the mountain top.

As Julius gasped for air due to him nearly dying a moment ago, Jun came outside to see what happened.

"I heard a loud sound, what happened here?" Jun asked as he finally saw the broken mountain top.

"Why didn't you tell me this mountain was on the verge of collapsing?! I barely slammed my fist on the ground and it broke off completely. I could've died!" Julius yelled as he continued to comprehend that his life was about to come to an end just a moment ago.

...

"This mountain isn't crumbling... it's just you who grew in strength. I should've taught you to control your new found strength so you don't accidentally do too much damage previously but you seemed like you needed a moment so I left you alone for a second then I come back to this," Jun looked to be getting more angry.

"Wait so... I did that with just my fist?..." Julius asked as his smile grew.

...

"Yes you did. I shouldn't bother with lecturing you. It's not like you would listen. Anyway, talking about almost dying... I think there's a way we could prevent that," Jun said as his face grew to be more sinister.

"Oh no, I already know whatever he has planned comes at the cost of me losing my sanity," said Julius to himself.

"Come on, don't be scared, it'll be worth it in the end," said Jun as he grabbed the prince by the shoulder and began to drag him towards a wooden pole which looked to be stuck to the mountain pretty well. After dragging him there, Jun forced his student to put his back on the pole and close his eyes. Once his student complied, Jun quickly brought a rope and tied Julius up to the thick wooden pole.

"Hey what are you doing! Let me go already!" Julius complained as he opened his eyes.

"Silence! I have come to bestow upon you an ancient training technique which has been passed down secretly for generations. Once you master it, your body will become as strong as steel," said Jun as his whole facial expression changed to that of a gentle warrior. In his hand was a skinny stick the length of an average sword.

...

"Please don't tell me that you're going to..." Julius began to speak before Jun started the training or more specifically, abusing his student. Jun began to constantly whack the stick on his student's body, increasing the strength at which he did so as time went on. Of course during this Julius yelled out many times for help but no one listened as they were the only ones in the mountains.

As nightfall came, Jun stopped whacking the stick on Julius' body or more realistically, the stick broke. Once he had untied Julius, he realized that his student had bruises all over his body yet he stood as if nothing was wrong with him.

"I was right...."