Ball of Nothing

Chapter 233 Hua Tuo“s Hypothesis

Zero mastered the art of stitching quickly after he designed a method to cheat. Unknown to him, Merlin who peeked in on Zero’s progress was stunned. Parallel Minds were not easily developed and rigorous training in Mathematics was a requirement to unlocking more Parallel Minds. Truen and Merlin had both trained hard in this area to the point of near madness and yet, Zero had easily overcome his inability to do Math and created his first Parallel Mind, all through a sewing exercise.

Merlin felt tired. Was his research a joke? If it could be done so easily without subjecting his brain to mental torture, Merlin would have exchanged his entire library collection for it. Zero broke through the boundaries of splitting his mind so easily by finding inspiration in laziness. Where had the Wizard God gone wrong? Wait no, maybe it was Baal? He knew that the Demon Lord of Laziness was a divine fragment. Could it be that after receiving parts of the Divine Entities’ memories, Zero gained new knowledge that surpasses even Merlin’s own?

Yes, that was likely to be the case. The Wizard God certainly couldn’t believe that the creator who’d lost all his memories would be capable of inventing new magic discoveries that took thousands of years to understand. It simply wasn’t right... Merlin was a waste of a God and a huge laughing stock if it were true.

Back in the backyard of Endow Hill’s homey hut, Mitchnew and Ruth were taking turns to occupy Zero with basic combat training while designing a new style of combat through observation of the brunet’s natural talent.

Zero was not naturally well in sync with his five senses but he has a very wide range of awareness thanks to his cheating abilities. Ruth and Mitchnew also soon realised something strange. Zero never fell for feint moves that were direct. The vampire switched up techniques and realised that there was a flaw with that ’instinct’ Zero had. While he was able to easily dodge moves with the intent to hurt him, Zero was often unable to react in time with things that come as a side effect of the ambush attacks.

For instance, while mana bombs were easy for Zero to dodge and throw up magic shields against, Zero wouldn’t be able to guard against fake mana bombs that acted as a flash grenade instead. As usual, the young doctor threw up his barrier but quickly yelped in pain when bright lights attacked his eyes. Mitchnew also discovered that Zero was slow to respond to changes in the battle flow.

Ruth had snuck up on Zero again by using a doppelganger and Zero wasn’t ready for the pebble that flew his way as he blocked the clone’s stab to his torso by catching the clone’s hand.

The pebble skittered through the air and struck Zero’s elbow painfully, causing Zero to lose his grip on that arm. Mitchnew saw that slip-up and decided to add fuel to the fire by dropping low and sweeping Zero off his feet by kicking his ankles.

With such a powerful one-two combo, Zero didn’t have time to retaliate and he found himself lying on the grass all over again. The healing magic worked quickly and Ruth dismissed his clone, jumping off the huge rock he was sitting on. Mitchnew calmly walked away and gave the vampire a hi-five to swap out. It was now Ruth’s turn to do a review with Zero and spar while Mitchnew recovered her stamina and observe for Zero’s habits.

The dark-elf couldn’t help but be merciless during her combat training with Zero. It was like teaching Sekkin all over again and the seamstress had to admit, she was frustrated with Zero’s inability to understand simple concepts. Things like constantly keeping an eye out for the surroundings while in a battle was lost on Zero as the boy would panic each time something gets too close to his personal zone. It didn’t really help that Zero’s first instinct when he panics is to grab ahold of something nearby or run.

If Zero loses his balance and falls, his first reaction would be to pull the clone holding a knife down with him. Mitchnew was thankful that the knife was merely a blunt practice blade crudely crafted by Ruth and not the real deal made by Tambolt. Somebody could have been seriously injured and from the training over the past few days, Zero would have died at least twenty times.

Ruth didn’t look pleased and Zero didn’t dare meet his teacher’s eyes. He knew what he did wrong this time. It wasn’t his first offence either and the young doctor grew more miserable with that judging stare. Although Mitchnew and Ruth didn’t say it out loud. Zero knew that he was disappointing them both terribly.

Normally, Zero would be able to understand his mistakes and correct them. Whenever Hua Tuo told him to correct his posture or method of flicking needles during acupuncture practice, Zero would get it corrected immediately and it wouldn’t happen a second time. The only time he ever made the same mistake more than once was during the time Zero tried to perfect revival magic. Even so, Zero was able to feel like he made progress with revival magic each time he failed. He knew what to pay attention to and the margin of error reduced each time he tried.

Seeing that the apprentice was close to tears, Ruth sighed. Combat really wasn’t Zero’s calling. If Hua Tuo wasn’t as insistent about having Zero master basic reflexes to react in emergency situations, they would not have forced this upon the poor teenager. While Ruth and Mitchnew felt their hearts aching for Zero, neither of them turned soft on him. If anything, they were the epitome of tough love. Both experts dished out training more merciless than the previous one in hopes that Zero would overcome the insurmountable obstacle that is himself.

"That’s the twenty-sixth time you’ve died," the vampire commented and said nothing more as Zero bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

Instead of continuing the training, Ruth communicated with Mitchnew using eye contact to ask if he could allow Zero some self-reflection time. It didn’t take long for both combat teachers to figure out that Zero was the type to brood over his failures alone under the cover of night.

Mitchnew nodded slightly and Ruth glanced at Zero.

"We’re stopping for today. You’ve not learnt a single thing ever since we started. Lunch will be ready in an hour, don’t be late."

Zero listened to Ruth walking away and didn’t move from his spot on the ground. He stared at the innocent ants crawling on the grass blades. The words cut his heart deeply like a knife and Zero screwed his eyes shut tightly in frustration, feeling the burn of tears building up in his nasal passage. Ruth wasn’t wrong with what he said and Zero knew why they were disappointed with him. Mitchnew explained over dinner last night that he had to change his instinctive reflexes to something less dangerous.

Mitchnew didn’t truly leave, she was still watching Zero from the hut as she prepared the ingredients for lunch. Ruth excused himself to hunt but after spending enough time with him over the last week, Mitchnew knew that it was an excuse. Ruth was going to do some self-reflection as well while he hunted. It was funny how not even Hua Tuo discovered this adorable side of the vampire. If Mitchnew was able to hunt something within twenty minutes, it wouldn’t take the vampire who was more agile than her to get something in that time frame as well. However, Ruth was usually gone for a good hour or more on some days.

While the boys sorted their thoughts and feelings out, Hua Tuo made his way back feeling somewhat accomplished. Now that Zero’s weapon was in commissioning, there was one less thing to worry about. Unlike combat training, Zero’s medical training was moving along smoothly. With a strong basic understanding of meridians, Zero was able to accurately locate the points in a human body to administer acupuncture. Sometimes the teenager would misjudge the depth and use too little force in fear of hurting his patients.

Other than that, Hua Tuo thought that Zero was doing well. Still, Zero looked like he was spiralling into something akin to depression with his continuous lack of improvement for combat training. The teenager wasn’t able to reprogram his natural instinct to grab onto people and things. Zero was the kind of person who held onto anything close by like a drowning person. Hua Tuo thought that it might be more of a psychological thing than a physical reaction.

Hua Tuo may not specialise in psychology but he knew the basics as someone who learned philosophy. The human mind was not as simple as the mind of beasts and monsters who were true to their instincts. Humans constantly fought an inner war with the minds, hearts and instinct. It was a rather complicated blend of things but it was what made them so individually unique and powerful. Zero’s current body was fashioned after humans even though it doesn’t have instilled instincts.

As an all-powerful creator, Zero doesn’t follow the natural instinct of self-preservation. However, from the stories told by the Great Gods, Zero spent a long time alone in the void. If anything, the fear that Zero had wasn’t about dying like all mortals and living creatures with souls. He didn’t fear the void because that was his origin. It was something fundamentally important to remember and the physician followed this trail of thoughts to further identify the logic behind Zero’s reactions.

The clinging onto people and things was something done by people who were afraid of loneliness. Zero often surrounded himself with people regardless of gender, species and personalities. His all-encompassing heart was because of the huge emptiness in it. It was almost accurate to assume that Zero would rather be with the company of hateful people than go back into the silent nothingness in the void again.

Mitchnew and Ruth often feedback to Hua Tuo’s about Zero’s tendencies to be too trusting of his cheating abilities like the visions he would see from Amaraline’s borrowed gift. He didn’t doubt them and would trust them completely, making it easy for enemies to mask their intentions with a layered trap. Zero’s personality was too straightforward and battles were usually equal parts of skill and wits. Zero might be powerful but with his inexperience and naivety, his combat teachers were worried about his safety.

The hut was now in sight and Hua Tuo saw how Zero was sitting in the backyard like a statue. For the hyperactive teenager to be reduced to such a state, something terrible must have happened. Deciding to put his hypothesis aside, the physician summoned his cloud summon and hurried back home. His disciple’s mana and qi were encompassing everything in the area like a heavy fog. They didn’t feel good and Hua Tuo had many questions for Mitchnew.

Exactly what happened in the short time that he was away?