The Human Giant



With breakfast out of the way, Evi and Yoze began their daily training. Like before, Yoze quickly stripped his clothes, exposing his powerful body to the elements.

"Evi, what is wrong? You haven't taken off your clothes yet?" Yoze asked, with concern in his voice.

"Are you serious? Do I really have to take off my clothes in front of strangers?" Evi blushed with embarrassment when he saw the clueless look in Yoze's eyes. 

"I see you are embarrassed about your body. This is a common problem with people our age, so you shouldn't be embarrassed about sharing this with me." Yoze smiled and placed his hand on Evi's shoulder.

"Evi, you are beautiful the way you are, so there is no need to be embarrassed. Plus, I think they would love to see your body." Yoze said as he glared at the two brothers, who immediately understood his hint and fiercely nodded their heads.

"That doesn't help at all! I would prefer it if they didn't want to see it."

"Whatever, if you insist on me getting naked, then I guess I have no choice." Evi slowly said.

He felt speechless after seeing Yoze's attempt to cheer him up but took off his clothes nonetheless.

He would never admit to Yoze that he indeed felt more confident after his speech.

"See nothing to be embarrassed about. With our constant training, your body is becoming leaner and stronger. Once you reach the second stage of Boneless Man and begin to produce inner vigor, I will start teaching you another body cultivation method." 

"This will be the foundation of your Martial Formation. Though common knowledge says that your progress will slow down, your martial art prowess will be far ahead of martial artists who only practice one body cultivation method." Yoze explained as he examined Evi's body with interest.

After traveling with Evi for the last few days, he could see the results of Evi's training better than anyone else. Compared to before, when Evi's body was thin but lacked any muscle definition, he now started to show some muscle. 

This type of progress was incredible, and most people would not be capable of achieving this even if they had better talent. Though Evi's talent in martial arts wasn't high, the combined effort of eating demon meat and Yoze's teaching accelerated his growth to genius levels.

With Evi's current progress, Yoze had to re-evaluate their training schedule as Evi was making more progress than he initially thought. 

"Two more weeks, and he should be able to reach the peak of level one of Boneless Man. Though this ruins what I had planned before, it doesn't matter. I will just move some things forward." Yoze's eyes shimmered as he stared at Evi, who didn't mind.

"Yoze, how well am I doing?" Evi suddenly asked.

"Evi, you are doing well above my expectations. Not only were you already good-looking, but thanks to the weight loss and muscle growth from training, your body is much more well-proportioned."

"If I had to grade your looks, I would give you a five out of ten. With ten being as beautiful and handsome as me. So you are doing fantastic!" Yoze nodded with a kind smile.

"I was asking about my martial arts skills."

"Oh, you are doing alright."

"Seriously, I just beat up two people and saved you, and all I got was alright," Evi shook his head with disappointment and started to train while ignoring the part where Yoze graded his looks.

After their banter and body cultivation training, Yoze helped Evi fix some of his mistakes with the Spiral Twin Fists techniques he made during his battle with the two robbers. Once Evi found himself lying helpless on the ground for the third time, they finished up their daily training.

"Follow me. We are going to be changing directions and instead go to a small town called Jelly Town," Yoze said.

"Is it to turn these two into the authorities?" Evi asked.

"Of course not! We are going to collect these two robbers' bounties. From how broke you are, you desperately need the money." 

"I am not broke. I make a good amount of money as a scholar, plus don't I make more than you?" Evi folded his arms.

"No, that was true back in Jade City, but I got a pay bump in New Swampscott City. In any case, as your number-one teacher, you should start paying for my lessons." 

"Screw off before I sue you for sexual harassment. I never heard of a teacher making their students strip for them daily. I wonder who will win the lawsuit if I take this to court?" Evi said with a wide smile

"Evi, we are family. How could you be so cruel?" Yoze pouted, seeing that he was on the verge of getting sued.

As Yoze and Evi were enjoying their banter, they suddenly heard a muffled voice coming from Blood Stepper, whom Yoze was carrying like a bag. Knowing that he and his brother were about to be turned over to the authorities, he knew that he had to make a gamble on his life.

Interested in using what Blood Stepper wanted to say, Yoze untied the rope on Blood Stepper's mouth. Once he was free to talk, Blood Stepper hastily began to convince Yoze and Evi to let him and his brother go.

"If you don't turn us in, we promise to give twice as much as you will get for our bounty." 

"How much are we talking?" Evi asked somewhat interested in Blood Stepper's offer.

"40 silver! We can get it to you tonight. I promise on my brother's life." 

"...that is an interesting offer, but we will have to pass. 20 silver for just you two sounds like a good deal."

"That is more than a month's worth of money for a poor scholar like Evi. Any more than that, and he might get greedy." Yoze answered in Evi's steed and turned down Blood Stepper's offer.

The money that Blood Stepper offered was incredible and could change a person's life. However, at the end of the day, he wasn't doing this for the money.

There were hundreds of ways for him to make money and numerous ways for him to make so much money that it could drown Evi. What Yoze was really after was to start spreading the news that two wandering scholars were up for hire.

Preferably, there would be someone rich enough in Jelly Town who could afford to hire them so that he could start buying the ingredients he needed for the next part of his plan.