Learning the Sword

The students all rushed to gather training equipment.

Before everyone could get too far away, Benjamin approached Evan.

"Hey Evan," Benjamin said.

"Yo," Evan replied, turning around.

"I hate to interrupt, but could you teach me some sword techniques?" Benjamin asked.

Evan was taken aback by the sudden request.

"Sure," Evan replied.

He and Benjamin both grabbed training dummies.

"Show me what you can do," Evan said.

Benjamin turned to the training dummy and performed a series of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slashes, finishing with a thrust.

Benjamin turned to Evan, slightly winded.

Evan tapped on his chin while he was thinking.

"You've got the basic motions down, it's just that your technique is unrefined," Evan said.

He pulled out his sword and performed three slashes.

Benjamin was mesmerized.

Though the attacks came out at blinding speed, the skill was evident.

Each strike hit with purpose and intent.

They flowed like liquid, reducing the time between each strike.

Evan leaned on his sword.

"I've figured it out," he said, "You more or less just swing your sword wildly.

This gives your opponent way too much time to react to your attack. You need to attack with intent and purpose."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Benjamin asked.

"Hold up your sword and I'll show you," Evan said, raising his sword.

Benjamin did as he was told. Evan suddenly rushed at Benjamin and slashed at his neck.

Evan stopped the sword right before it hit Benjamin. "See," Evan said, lowering his sword, "By attacking with purpose, I can eliminate unnecessary movements and increase my attack speed. Even if I wasn't ranked third, it still would've been extremely hard to block, dodge, or counter that attack."

"So I need to focus on the point I'm attacking and attack there, right?" Benjamin asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Evan replied, "Just be careful not to tunnel vision and watch your opponents movements and body language."

Benjamin turned to the training dummy.

He focused on the dummy's side. "Strike directly at the point you have im mind," Evan instructed.

Benjamin slashed, his blade flying through the air and slicing through the dummy.

"Nice," Evan said, clapping.

"What about the follow up?" Benjamin asked.

"Same concept," Evan replied, "Focus on another point and strike directly there. Use the momentum of your initial attack to reduce the wind up time on the follow up attack. Think of it like parkour. You need to maintain the momentum so you don't need a wind up."

"Alright," Benjamin said, focusing on the dummy's side again.

He stuck fast, slashing through the dummy.

Benjamin let the momentum of his continued and spun it around.

Quickly focusing on another point, Benjamin slashed his sword.

He felt a little drag as he sliced and he missed his focus point by less than an inch.

"That was a little slow," Evan said, "Make sure you let the momentum carry your swing. Don't pull against your sword. Eventually this'll all come naturally to you so you won't have to actively focus on a point every time you swing."

"I look forward to it," Benjamin replied.

He focused on the dummy's side once again as Evan walked away.

In theory, what Evan had said wasn't hard.

But consistently shifting his focus while having focus on the momentum of his sword was too much to do at the same time.

I think I need to leave the momentum of my sword to feel, rather than trying to focus on it actively, he thought.

Benjamin performed three slashes.

His new method worked fairly well.

He was able to land his attacks accurately and use the momentum to reduce his.

Since I don't get tired as easily, I'll practice this for two hours and then find someone to spar with me, he thought.

"Benjamin definitely learns fast," Evan said to Corey, as they both watched him train.

Corey was currently lifting weights with Lennox, Isaiah, and Charles.

"Yeah, that's why he has all A's," Corey replied.

Corey curled the 40 pound weight three more times and put it down.

"I've never seen him so determined to train," Lennox commented.

"Maybe something good happened to him that inspired him," Isaiah suggested.

"The only problem he'll probably have is being off by a few millimeters when he strikes," Corey said.

"That difference won't be a problem in the lower ranks," Isaiah said.

"True, but it could be the difference maker in higher ranks. I think the tournament is a great way for Benjamin to get better," Lennox said, "Especially after years of not training."

Isaiah let go of his weight and used his abilities to lift it into the air. "You weren't reducing the weight using your powers were you?" Charles asked.

"Of course not," Isaiah said, "I'm offended you would even suggest such a thing."

Charles shook his head and put his weight down.

"You wanna go for a jog Isaiah, Lennox?" Charles asked.

"I'm down," Isaiah said, dropping the weight.

"Keep up this time," Lennox said, standing.

"Catch you later Corey," Charles said as he, Isaiah, and Lennox walked to the gym doors.

"What's Jackie up to?" Corey asked, standing up and stretching.

"She's practicing her assassin technique," Evan replied, pointing over his shoulder.

Corey looked to see Jackie throwing her daggers at a training dummy.

Once the daggers landed, she quickly dashed to them.

She moved so fast that Corey lost sight of her a couple of times.

"Jesus," Corey said.

"Yeah, the lightspeed step is crazy," Evan replied, "Wait, I thought your speed was comparable to hers."

"I wish I was that fast," Corey said, waving his hand, "I carry way too much metal on me."

"Well that's just unfortunate," Evan said, "Maybe you should just drop the metal and switch to a sword or something."

"Let's spar and find out just how effective I am at speed," Corey said, raising his hammer.

"If you insist on embarrassing yourself," Evan replied, shrugging.

He raised his sword and pointed it at Corey.

"Be my guest," he said, grinning.