"But unlike the rest of the trials which was more of a journey of self realisation, Suzaku does not appear whimsically like the others did." Ming said to Jin as he relaxed on the wooden bench.
"It took me quite some time to find her and even more to get her to talk to me." Ming said as he tried to recollect how long it took but he had trouble remembering. "She was something like the transcendent phoenix, coming when you really need it rather than when you want it."
"All these people who tried to find her, risked their lives and even died in the name of finding this mystical bird. But not everyone had the privilege to meet her. You could say that even asking her to leave a partial part of her presence in this subconscious was considered to be an achievement."
"So, The Four Cardinal Lords in my subconsciousness is something like Mr Derpy? Being plucked by a little from the main body to stay inside me?" Jin asked and Ming thought for a while, thinking the right way to describe it.
"Hmm, I could only describe it that they are omnipotent enough to transverse through your subconsciousness and their domain to entertain my request," Ming replied and Jin wondered what his grandfather did that allowed them to be indebted to him.
"Hahaha, from the looks of your expression, you are wondering how I managed to coerce them? Am I right?" Ming queried and Jin acted like the curious grandson, nodding his head furiously for an answer.
"For that, you got to thank Kraft. He was the one to who they were indebted. I do not have the rights to say his part of the story and he probably would downplay his deeds for them, but you can be sure, they are here as a trial to get you up to shape." Ming said as he slapped Jin's back, telling him he had enough rest for the moment.
"Stamina! You need more stamina! No rest until you hit a week of continuous fighting!" Ming said as he snapped his finger and Jin disappeared right in front of him, emerging right beside his former dead body as his resurrection point. "Any deaths in under a week would cause you to spawn right at the same spot you died immediately, with no breaks or anything!"
Before Jin could even react to Ming's condition to have the next talk, he was greeted with a large gigantic sword diving to his position from the top of his head. There was no time to think of a comeback either when Jin realised that the fight was already multiple times harder when he first started.
The animated soldiers were not throwing blows at him slowly and their defences were tighter. Each slash Jin did was met with a feint and sometimes a counter parry. It made Jin feel that the difficulty of the fight had ramped up significantly and he had to be on his toes to fight against them. Still, in hindsight, Jin felt grateful for it since he believed that he truly needed this amidst the current situation he was in.
Unlike his previous fights, he always had the luxury to have his minions fight for him. Once they died, they could spawn again at the minor cost of some resources to bring them back. But the fight with King Baal made him rethink the fights. The System was somehow unable to interfere with the demonic magic cast by King Baal, forcing Jin to fight almost alone. The only loophole was through the System Rider where Jin drew his powers from his various minions.
While it had been fortuitous that the System Rider had worked well, Jin now knew that his powers had their limits too. It was more obvious against the Loopa Oofpas where he fainted and if he did not have any other comrades around, it would have already been the death of him. So, there were indeed limitations to how much his minions could achieve alongside him and Jin got to buck up as well.
At the same time, he believed it was the best time to polish his techniques. Although Ming had taught him Panda related skills, most of Jin's sword work was from Zeru. Through the System's capability, Jin was able to review footage of how Zeru does his swordplay but there was never enough time to practice.
Even as Zeru was not around at the moment, both in reality and in the subconsciousness area, Jin tried his best to remember a few of the basic ones. However, the more he fought with the soldiers around him, he realised that these soldiers were also rather formidable in their sword work. (Especially since they were able to injure Jin before he was able to attack them back.)
It was then it struck him that he could also learn from them. Not just sword work since there were axe brigands, spearmen, archers and even some exotic weapon users in the mix as well. If anything, the battlefield itself was filled with teachers of unknown origin. As someone who did not have a specific way of fighting, and preferred a versatile array of weapons at his disposal, Jin understood that this was a treasure trove to learn.
"Damn it! If only I had the System with me, I would be able to review some of the animal styles along with the weapon attacks!" Jin thought to himself as he was being struck by a shuriken from the side. The pain was sharp and dull at the same time and yet Jin continued to preserve his attacks.
He continued to use his Inverse Eyes to predict the attacks as well as learning how the fights unfold, what he believed was the optimal time to attack. After which, he attempted to take any opportunity to practice what he saw. Although that caused him to have an additional lag in his movements, allowing his opponents to have an upper hand at times, he took it in stride. A cheap payment for the lessons he learnt from these animated soldiers.
An endless battlefield but an endless bout of experience too.
