EPISODE 77; THE RINGS OF OLYMPUS PART VIII: CIELLA COMMENCES ELEMENTAL CONTROL PRACTICE PART I: DISCOVERING CIELLA’S AFFINITIES PART I: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND EXECUTION

While Keiran busied himself with trying to help Concordia break out of her limitations, I had also made plans to tutor Ciella. Arlene had informed me of her efforts to train Ciella as well as the vast improvement Ciella had made in terms of Physical Ability. However, Arlene had also pointed out that Ciella was currently in the exploration phase, in other words, she was still attempting to discern her affinities. It was for this reason that Concordia and Arlene had prioritized Physical Training in order to raise Ciella's basic combat ability.

Arlene had also informed me that Ciella was also undergoing some level of Mental Exercise in the form of Image Training.

"Her style of training is quite similar to yours when you started out so perhaps you'd be better suited to guiding her" Arlene had suggested privately during the time we had logged out of the game.

I invited Ciella out to a park in our Peristylium.

"Ciella" I called.

"What's up San?" she asked.

"I've heard a bit about the training you've had to undergo under Arlene and Concordia. Your physical and mental ability have improved quite tremendously from what I heard" I said.

Ciella nodded.

"Yeah, but the training style Concordia adopted focused on training my ability to match her movements. My movements are gradually beginning to develop into fighting stances however I find it difficult to train without a mobile target like Concordia. Concordia said she trained my reaction instead so I'd be able to defend myself when attacked" Ciella explained.

"I see…so that's why Arlene suggested you do some image training" I said.

"What do you mean?" Ciella asked.

I smiled.

"Well, do you know how babies learn?" I asked Ciella.

"By imitation?" Ciella asked as though she were unsure of her answer.

"By the time we humans reach adulthood, we are able to apply sensory, cognitive and conceptual knowledge, in other words, we have a good comprehension over both the physical and the abstract. A baby begins to learn by honing his or her sensory memory first. In other words, things related to the five basic senses of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. For babies to understand a concept, they first need a visual reference. This visual reference is then matched to a word and that is how a child develops their vocabulary. By imitating the more experienced, a baby then begins to acquire various skills" I explained to Ciella.

"I see. Sounds very interesting. So Arlene suggested I do some image training to gain some visual reference of actual combat styles?" Ciella asked.

"Exactly. First, you observe, then you conceptualize and finally execute. Your greatest hurdle now probably would be the ability to translate your conceptual knowledge to actual body motion and that's why my parents and Concordia's designed this game. The entire game uses conceptual knowledge to generate unique skills for each player. To develop your physical ability, you're going to have to repeatedly execute simple combat motions until you're able to bypass cognitive memory and encode the motions into your sensory memory. Once you're able to do that you won't need to think about a move to execute it. It will come naturally like a reflex" I explained to Ciella.

Her eyes widened in surprise and then she smiled.

"Thank you San" she said gratefully.

"I had to undergo a similar sort of training in the past" I said.

"I'll try it" Ciella said.

"So what sort of Dream Knight would you like to become Ciella, a combative type or support type?" I asked Ciella.

"A bit of both actually. Arlene suggested I should do some combat training so that I won't be vulnerable if I ever find myself in a situation where my allies cannot help me" Ciella said.

"That's good advice" I said.

Ciella laughed.

"Technically, you're not a Dream Knight yet you know?" she pointed out.

I sighed with a laugh.

"Yeah, I know. After the deal with the Solar Eclipse and Nightmare Rampage, I've had to relearn all my combat capabilities from scratch. My Gramps focused on teaching me precision and restraint" I explained.

"Was it that serious?" Ciella asked in surprise.

"Imagine suddenly running at top speed when all you wanted to do was take a single step. That's how tough it was" I explained.

"I see. So that's why you spent so much time in the Dream World" Ciella said.

It seemed as though she was starting to realize why I had to leave to train with my Gramps.

"Uh huh and my Gramps' training method was really harsh. To put it in simple terms, he basically got me to attempt fighting while being weighed down by tremendous limiters. It was like attempting to utilize the same speed you utilize swimming that you use running on land. It was finally Concordia's intervention that finally got me to utilize my strength precisely" I explained.

Ciella laughed at me.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

"For now, I'll teach you Elemental Control. I can pretty much guess a number of your affinities. We'll start from there" I said.

"Okay, I look forward to it" Ciella said and raised her eyes to stare at the Sky.