I breathed roughly, the cold air made my warm breath into small steam as I looked in front of me.
Nova was running towards me again at blurring speed. Now normally, I would defend myself from it but I was too tired from all the fights we did.
I glanced at the countless bodies of me all around the area, some had decapitated heads, sliced in half and so on. It was bloody but I knew that it was not real as I just passed through them like Nova.
But something came out pretty good from all fights we did. Nova was now wielding a typical Fire Nation weapon, a long spear with a dark handle. She changed into that after I had managed to kill her one time by trapping her in the snow and piercing her back with a snow spike in the back.
Though I doubted that I really managed to do that.
She probably let herself be trapped and killed to encourage me more.
Due to the length of the spear she wielded, she stood some range from me and pierced me with the tip directly into my heart.
I didn't blink, I'm now used to it.
The spear just passed through me without a problem, but another image of me was probably now lying on my back with a bleeding chest.
"Alright, we will stop here for now..." Nova said as the spear in her hand suddenly vanished. "Do you want to continue after a simple rest?"
"Yes, please..."
Nova smiled at my reply then waved her hand. All my faked dead bodies all around as well as her single one instantly disappeared.
I wonder how she can do that.
She would probably tell me 'It's a secret' when I asked her, like she did about the Essence of Blank and its creator. She's not even taking the initiative to tell me about herself so there's no point.
"By the way, Nova, can you also teach me about your martial skills?"
"Hehe, you don't need to ask me anything, I will give you everything I know," she said. "However, we need to focus on your bending skills first for now since it's the most important."
I nodded. "About the weapons you use in our fights... How many times do I have to kill you before you switch into bending style?"
"Hundreds times more, 136 to be exact. But I'm skipping most of them since many of those weapons are wielded by weak people who you can now defeat." She continued. "I won't tell you the specific weapons so you have a surprise and to train your mind to adapt into any battles quickly. However, what I can tell you is that you needed to kill me 8 times more for close range weapons then after that hidden weapons which you need to have me killed 3 times."
That may seem like a small number but Nova is the most skilled person that I've ever seen and battled with. I have to die hundreds of times over to just make her switch from a Southern Water Tribe spear into a quality Fire Nation spear.
Though I'm improving really quickly so the number of deaths will probably lessen as we continue.
And soon, I found myself fighting her again.
My fake dead bodies scattered around.
Instead of standing in one place due to the amount of concentration that I needed to snowbend, I'm now able to move and walk while shooting different projectiles made of snow at the running Nova.
She was circling around me at high speed. Seeing that my attacks don't work, I switch my moves.
I focused then with a slight movement of my hand created a long whip made of snow slightly far from her. The whip quickly blasted towards her at astonishing speed. She acted surprised but then smiled again.
Unsurprisingly, at that speed, she still managed to slide with the intention to evade, but I expected that so I gestured my right hand and a wall of solid snow was created in front of her, stopping her instantly.
I grabbed Nova using the whip.
I didn't feel a thing through the snow whip I controlled, but her movements were synced to what my whip did on her as if she's really tangible.
It doesn't make sense to me how but it's good that we can practice like a real thing with all we got without dying.
"Good job, Haru," she said as she was held in the air.
"Yeah." I clenched my hand into a fist then three spikes made of snow immediately formed and punctured her in three different directions.
Imaginary blood formed through her body. I destroyed my control of the snow which made her dead body fall to the ground.
Then a second later, another Nova was created from her dead body and she was now standing with a machete with bones as a handle in her hand.
Yeah, that was similar to the machete that one of the best warriors of my village mainly used.
I'm wondering if she will change her fighting style this time.
Nova held the machete with one hand and played with it around, like tossing it and rolling it around her hand with perfect movements. Then she immediately tightened the grip on it and her eyes became deadly.
It does seem that she will do a different fighting style this time.
She attacked me with a more direct approach like beheading me from the side or cutting my torso halfway. Her movements this time were harder to predict as she now held a short melee weapon.
Overall, I died about the same amount as when she held the Fire Nation spear. That's not because I was not improving but Nova visibly upped her speed and fighting ability with no problem like she was just holding back before.
I asked her about it and she confirmed that my observation is right. She won't just change weapons and fighting style, she will also improve her strength to better match the changes and to also make it more challenging.
For the past two hours, we fought continuously with short breaks here and there.
I've managed to kill Nova 4 times after dying countless times, probably over five hundred times, and she was now wielding a dagger.
It was a lot of dying but it's not like I didn't gain anything from it. Now I'm confident in defeating the strongest non-bending warriors at my village.
Who would have thought that I was just dying from starvation yesterday?
We have stopped the battle practice for now to continue our journey to the coastal village half a long day walk from here. I agreed easily. I may be able to sleep outside but that doesn't mean I wanted to if I can just have the village we're going to let me sleep inside.
Nova told me they'll agree but there's still some doubts in my mind...
I packed all my stuff without leaving anything just in case I would still have to stay and sleep outside.
"Let's go," I said as I nodded to Nova.
--
After a long two hour walk, I decided to take a rest for the time being.
"Hoo~" I released the heavy breath that I seemed to hold for a while now.
All of my lower body really hurts. Though I didn't say anything about it since it can't be fixed by saying it, and it will just make me look weak.
And I'm used to hardships by now.
This is nothing compared to what I've experienced, even this had a reward for it at the end. A place far away from my former village and somewhere I can train without a problem like what Nova had said.
I looked at Nova who's been watching me nonstop for a while now. "When can I learn ice bending? I think I'm already good at snow bending."
"There's a water source here around one hour long walk away. I could start teaching you about it if you want once we reach it," she said. "Or you can just wait till we get into that village, rest and then start the training for it? What do you think?"
I sighed. "Alright, I'll wait till we get to the village..."
"Hm, since we're resting anyways, I'll just explain to you about the basics so you can have an idea before we get straight to your training..."
I perked up and looked at her.
She said that ice bending was just like Waterbending and snow bending, you just need to be familiar with the water and control it. It sounds simple but it's very hard to do because it requires a great amount of concentration to feel the water when it's in a solid state.
Snow bending was not difficult since it was not tough and connected to each other like ice.
As for ice bending, it will require a lot of concentration since I'm basically turning a liquid form into a solid one which is not easy. But she said that I'm guaranteed to get it with enough practice which we will do once we reach our destination.
"Now that I think about it, why don't we start your training now?" Nova asked herself.
"How so?" I'm thinking that she's going to ask me to melt some snow but with all the time we're together, she's unlikely to ask that. We're already getting close to our destination so we cannot stop.
"It's simple, you just need to lower the temperature of the air that's coming out of your mouth. I wanted to have you train when there's water since that will be easier and more effective but we can start your training right away and it won't need anything except your breath," Nova explained.
She just asked me to close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing, telling me to breathe in more slowly while breathing out quickly and feel the very small water that's coming out of my mouth.
Hm? There's indeed water on my breath.
"Now put your hand far from your mouth and continue what you're doing," Nova said. "Then start on trying to lower its temperature."
I have no idea how I will do it but I just did what she says and focused on the sensation I felt while bending the snow.
I'm so focused on my breathing that I didn't even notice the time until I felt my arms shaking and feeling sore from having it stayed up.
I didn't know if I really did manage to icebend but I opened my eyes anyways... I found my gloves were full of ice sticking around it. They're very thin but that's not what the focus is right now.
"I did it!"
Nova floated in front of me. "Yep, congratulations again, Haru! You'll be the best in no time..."
"Yes, thank you, Nova. This is all because of you," I said.
Then I felt a pain in my arms. "How long was I doing it?"
"About half an hour, to be exact 27 minutes and 33 seconds," she said. "I didn't want to stop your concentration after seeing that you're close to doing it. I'm sorry about that."
"No, there's no need for it. This pain will be long gone after a few rests but the reward I got from doing it is that I'm now familiar with ice bending." I reassured. I will not blame her for anything since without her I would have been long dead.
She smiled. "Great, now once we arrive at the village then the training will become easier."
"... Yeah."
I couldn't help but be excited for the training. Ever since I saw ice bending for the first time, I've been wanting to get it and would always imagine myself using it when I have nothing to do. And now that I will be experiencing it now, excitement was just one of the emotions I'm feeling right now.
Slapping away the ice in my glove, I grabbed my stuff and began walking again...
--
I set up a campfire again and sat down.
My legs are very sore now. I could still walk but I wouldn't want to arrive at the village with a weak body. I could be attacked by anyone, and the only thing to protect me is myself since Nova was just here for my support.
I made a makeshift large tent using snow and compacting it in place to make it harder to be destroyed.
"Ah, finally, some heat," I said with relaxation.
I'm now about one and a half hour long away from my destination based on Nova so it shouldn't be that a problem to relax for ten minutes or more.
I decided to skewer one medium size blue fish after feeling a little hungry.
"Haru..." The voice of Nova suddenly came. "Do you want a pet?"
The question came out of nowhere.
So I processed it for some time before nodding. It's not like I will lose anything by getting a pet, though I don't know why she's asking that.
However, I know Nova wouldn't just ask a question just for a question's sake. She must have seen something around with her eyes that seem to see everywhere.
"What animal is it?" I asked.
"It's a Polar Bear Dog," she said like it's normal.
Polar Bear Dogs.
It's the type of animal that I wouldn't even want to get close to. I saw them as dangerous as before, even with all my abilities. If there's a ranking of every dangerous animal around, they're probably at the top.
If you're a non-bender, no matter how skilled, the only option you have to prolong your life is to run away when encountering them. Even that is short lived as Polar Bear Dogs are pretty fast, and that's still an understatement.
I'm lucky to have Nova tell me to climb an iceberg before. If I haven't then I'm as good as done.
"Are they around me?" I asked with worry.
"Hehe, don't worry about it. It's only one and it's still a pup," she said with confidence.
If she had that much confidence then I guess I have the ability to kill that thing if it attacked me.
"It's a lost one and looked hungry so the best way to make it yours is to feed it, and if it tries to attack you, just subdue it without hurting it," she said.
"Even so..." I still didn't want it. But before I could say that, Nova put her intangible finger on my lips, stopping me further.
"It's going to be a lost opportunity if we let it die. If it grows up, it's probably the best mount, pet and partner anyone could ever ask for," she said. "So will you take him or leave it be?"
A mount, pet, and a partner, huh? It seems like a great offer so I agreed. "Alright, I will take it."
Nothing to lose anyways, and from how Nova talked about it, I will benefit from it a lot.
And if that thing really became my pet, then I will gladly treat it like my own.
It's been a long time since I thought about something like this...
"Haru, here it comes..."
I walked outside my snow tent to look in the direction of the polar bear dog and spotted it just some walk away from me. It's walking slowly with weakness as if it hadn't eaten for days and its expression showed sadness. It's the smaller of its kind that I've ever seen, just about my waist.
It's still sniffing something towards me which was probably my skewed fish when it suddenly noticed me and we looked into each other's eyes.
"It's cute, right?" Nova said proudly.
Yeah, it's certainly cute when it's not attacking me.
I entered my snow tent again and grabbed my skewed fish and headed outside again.
The pup was still in the same position.
I placed the stick on the ground and waited. This is the turning point of this interaction. If it didn't take it then so be it. If it takes it then I will do everything to make it my pet.
It looked towards the skewed fish for a few seconds then me, before walking slowly forward again.
My eyes widened and I couldn't help but smile.
It was now in front of the cooked fish and it quickly started eating it.
I slowly reached my hand towards its head to pet it, but then it looked up, surprising me. It looked at my hand for one second and then went back to eating again.
It looked like it gave me permission so I went for it and started petting its head.
Hmm, Its fur is very soft.
It just continued to eat the fish before there's nothing left and then it goes back to looking at me...
"I have some more, wanna come?" I know it couldn't understand me so I gestured towards my snow tent where all my fish was there.
I led it inside my tent where I skewed three more, two for the pup since it seems really starving and one for me. I don't know any way to form a natural bond with it other than petting so I did just that every time I feel like it.
After we had eaten, I let it sleep by my side. It's probably too tired and decided to rest now since it's not starving anymore.
Now, about the name...
I looked at Nova who's been so quiet the whole time...
I planned to ask her for suggestions.
As if sensing my thoughts, she just shook her head in disagreement.
So be it.
I had already thought of a name for some time now.
"I will name him Dakun." I said to her then looked at Dakun.
The pup for some coincidence blasted a strong air from its nose. I couldn't help but smile.
I finally found a friend.