Chapter 27 The Girls' Plan
The orcs who saw her were whistling, cheering, and laughing showed no respect or admiration at all by Anna's heroic arrival.
She ignored them and continued to walk through the orc line. Some orcs were approaching, some were giving way, and some were blocking her like the huge orc whose fist was as big as Anna's head, Vakgar.
Vakgar and Anna looked at each other but neither of them moved. The orcs who saw Anna and Vakgar stand off cheered cheerfully.
Vakgar's lips curled up showing his long and large lower fangs. His sinister green face looked scornful and his red eyes looked at Anna from head to toe as if appraising some delicious sumptuous meat.
Anna didn't move and just stared straight into Vakgar's eyes without any fear. Seeing Anna who wasn't scared, Vakgar got even more excited and pointed at Anna's sheathed sword with his chin.
As if to say 'can you really use it, Beautiful doll?'.
Anna's lips curled up and grabbed the handle of her sword and said "Do you want to know?" Her blue hazel eyes shouted a challenge.
The atmosphere became more lively, the orcs became very happy with this brave beautiful doll. They wanted to see Vakgar destroy Anna and turn her white skin to blue.
But the fun stopped after hearing Moku's clapping, "Okay, enough playing around! We don't have much time, let's start practicing!"
Anna, you have to practice basic moves first before you can join the orcs!"
"Yes, Ku!" the orcs answered firmly, Anna just nodded and walked past Vakgar.
Vakgar gave way and rejoined his ranks.
"Put on the load on!" a voice commanded from Moku
The orcs then mounted their respective weights. Currently the heaviest amount of weight they can carry is almost half a ton, which is by Goku who still holds the title of the second strongest orc after Moku in the tribe.
Because of the weight he was carrying, every time Goku stepped his feet would sink into the ground and leave a trail as deep as 2 centimeters.
And the weight just keeps growing over time, it might only take 2 months or so for Goku to have to lift more than half a ton of weight.
Moku didn't put up his weight, physical training became useless for him at this time. If he is required to lift weights then Moku must lift at least 3-4 tons.
This will only sink his feet and lead to a funny scene where he just stands still like a hot nail slowly sinking in the middle of a pile of cheese.
Anna looked at the weight the orcs were carrying on their backs with wide eyes. She had never seen an exercise like this before, she didn't understand what the point of lifting such heavy weights was.
"Anna, you have to put on some weight too." Moku's voice snapped Anna out of her shock.
"Huh? oh .. yes" Anna answered.
She looked at the mounds of timber there and took some. Then tie them to her back with ropes.
"How much should I bring?" Anna asked.
"As much as you can" Moku replied curtly.
Anna just nodded and added a few more twigs. She felt a pain in her shoulder and her back hunched over.
"Anna, every day you have to increase the weights you carry even if it's just a pebble" Moku told.
"Huh? eh!" Anna gave up her intention to increase the weight and began to reduce it.
The orcs who saw Anna lighten her load giggled, especially Vakgar who laughed loudly and said "weak,, the white doll is weak"
Even though Anna didn't understand the monster's language, she still knew that Vakgar was calling her weak. Anna's face turned red and she gave up on trying to reduce the burden.
Moku saw Anna struggling to stand up and keeping her body from swaying, he remembered their conversation last night that made Moku allow Anna, a pregnant woman, to join the orcs' strenuous training.
....
[Last Night]
"How?" Moku asked and put his body forward.
"You once said that orcs respect warriors. This is also the reason why you asked me to duel with you.
If I win that duel the orcs will let me go free because I have defeated you, the strongest orc in this tribe.
Is that true?" Anna said with a smile on her lips.
"That's true. Then?" Moku doesn't understand yet.
"Then how about we show the orcs that women can also be strong warriors?" asked Ana.
"That's a good idea, but none of you can beat me even if I relent, the other orcs won't buy it.
Then if you want to fight with other orcs then you have to choose Goku or Boku as your opponent.
You can't beat them barehanded and after they learned silat with me, their weapon skills have progressed a lot, for now I even doubt if you can beat them Anna" Moku explained honestly.
"I don't mean to win the duel with you or the other orcs, I mean to show that we girls are warriors too.
You explained to me that warriors are not about talent or swordplay, but an unyielding spirit that will not be extinguished even when walking alone and being hit by various obstacles.
I will show that I am a warrior to all the orcs.
I will join your training and receive the same treatment as the other orcs!" Anna said her brilliant idea.
Moku's mouth fell open, he felt that Anna had gone mad, "That's a bad idea! What exactly are you thinking?!
The orcs' training was designed with their endurance, fast metabolism, and regeneration abilities in mind. You as a human don't have all that!
Following the training of the orcs is tantamount to suicide for you! After all, You are pregnant! strenuous activities can harm you and the fetus in your womb!" Moku tried to resuscitate Anna.
"Moku! I can't believe you of all people underestimate me!" Anna was offended.
"I'm not underestimating you but I'm just telling the truth" Moku shook his head.
Anna stood up and sat in front of him. She held Moku's hand tightly and looked into his red eyes seriously.
"Moku! As your woman, you have to trust me a little. I won't do anything stupid that could harm myself or our baby.
I have a plan and a hypothesis, if this hypothesis is true then this plan will also work. Trust me! I'm not crazy! I promised to give birth to our first child.
If you really think of me as a warrior then believe me I will keep my promise!" Anna promised.
Moku was silent, once again his logic told him that this was a bad plan and could harm Anna and their baby. But there was a voice in his heart to believe in it.
"Okay, but only for one month!" Moku believed his heart.
....
[The Morning]
Moku saw that Anna was able to maintain her balance, even though the weight she was carrying made Anna almost unable to move. Moku just kept quiet and waited for her to be ready.
While on the other hand the orcs had already done their training. Even though they started training at the same time, the orcs' individual abilities gradually became more visible as the training became harder.
Some of them have reached the second level of breathing techniques, but many are still stuck at the first level of breathing techniques.
This was not because of the lazy orcs but because of the inborn talent they brought with them. Just as humans are born with various hidden talents, so are orcs.
Many of them had overflowing power but couldn't channel it so making their movements required more energy.
Just like Vakgar, who has the second strength and body size after Goku, is still stuck at the first level of breathing technique.
He had a hard time concentrating his overflowing energy and channeling it into a single attack. As a result, when using breathing techniques, Vakgar's movements become slow.
This also happened to several other orcs who were still stuck in the first level of the breathing technique.
Exercise at this level is in the form of paired formation movements. Two orcs will walk in pairs to form a circle.
Opponents are like mirror images, they will have the same steps and movements but in opposite positions.
The movement of the Tagak footwork is a fundamental and very important part of silat, because the essence of all silat movements comes from these six steps.
In each step there is an initial movement to start an attack, dodge, parry, or lock. Because it is very important to be able to harmonize the energy and understand it by heart.
Their steps and movements are a combination of the steps of Tagak footwork. Just as now Swa and Torgan are imitating each other's movements.
Starting from the water step—valley step—lightning step, then the combination changes to a wind step—mountain step—fire step.
Swa throws a punch at the fire step, while Torgan moves to parry. But their movements look very slow and heavy.
Swa pushed his fists like he was pushing tens of kilograms weight, the same thing happened to Torgan who raised his hand to parry. This is due to the lack of smooth movement of energy they channel to the limbs that they want to use.
BAK!
However, the moment Swa's fist touched the outside of Torgan's hand there was a loud crash sound like two wooden blocks colliding.
The result of the collision almost broke both of their hands. This will not happen if the energy blast is done in the right way.
The orcs who managed to enter the second level of the breathing technique had different training. The combination of moves, punches, parries, and dodges becomes increasingly complex.
This is because they have been able to detonate their respective energies and are learning how to implement it in a combination move.
Likewise, the three forms that Moku used in the Palaka duel with Goku were a combination of Tagak footwork and practical techniques or what Datuak nan Sabatang commonly referred to as 'Picking the Fruit'.
Picking the Fruit is to use reason and logic while studying the physical properties of the human body and where the weak points of the body itself are.
By using all limbs that can be moved, Picking the Fruit has two concepts, namely that all limbs must be utilized and in any position they must be used as much as possible to defend and attack.
Moku returned his attention to Anna. Her pale face showed that Anna was almost at her limit.