Perception and Prediction

Finishing one last lunge, Ava finally felt like she had digested enough to get back to training. Although Kassidy had left, sword training wasn't just about getting into fights and knowing how to swing a sword. It was also about setting a solid foundation so that she could keep a steady and stable sword no matter the situation.

Grabbing the two swords, Ava returned to the center of the training hall and started training from the most basic downward slash. Although she had two swords, Ava didn't use them both at the same time, swinging once with her left hand before swinging once with her right hand. After doing about three repetitions of either hand, she would then swing both swords down together, making a Y motion as the swords came down first slightly from the sides before meeting up together and gathering their force.

Originally Kassidy had only wanted her to train in being ambidextrous, as his own tragic experience had taught him that it never hurt to have a backup. When he had lost his hand, it wasn't a single blow that had done the job. That day, his right hand had been injured, and with his leading hand injured, although Kassidy had shifted more of the weight onto his left hand, he had been unable to fight with even half of his full ferocity, and his opponent had pressed at his weakness over the rest of the fight, eventually resulting in him losing his entire hand.

But Ava, this young little brat, while agreeable to learning how to use a sword with both hands, also couldn't help but ask why she shouldn't also use that experience on a regular basis.

Somewhat stumped and unable to answer, Kassidy had simply let her do her thing. He had never been great with words, and while he could roughly parrot the rants that his instructors had let out when he was a youth in military camp about how using more than one sword would prevent either sword from being as strong, Kassidy had never quite understood it himself and his voice lacked conviction when he repeated it to Ava, and of course, Ava, in turn, didn't pay it much mind either.

At first, Kassidy had still been a little worried, but after watching Ava's progress over the past week or so, he had stopped being concerned. The greatest concern he had was that Ava's strength couldn't keep up. After all, although they were using short swords, there was no promise that Ava would continue down this route. It was simply because it was what Kassidy was best at, so that's what he taught. On the first day they met, Kassidy was slightly disappointed when he saw how weak Ava was.

Although it was true she had won quite a few fights against fully grown men, that was mainly because she was vicious to herself and willing to put herself in harm's way. Her actual strength was a bit lower than a fully grown man, which, while still strong for her age, still put her below the average benchmark.

But after a full week of proper nutrition and training, Ava's strength had grown leaps and bounds, to the point that she could go an entire sparring session with Kassidy without breaking too much of a sweat. Of course, her actual strength was still nothing too special, perhaps only a bit stronger than the average adult, but it had to be remembered that while Ava had had a week of nutrition crammed down her throat, she was still somewhat malnourished, and perhaps more importantly, still a child. In a few years, Kassidy was fairly confident that Ava's strength would be greater than his when he was at his peak.

Perhaps the more important realization over the past week of training was that Ava's stamina was phenomenal. Contrary to her previous style, where she burst out with all of her strength in single resolute strikes, Ava's ability to fight prolonged battles was perhaps her greatest improvement over this past week. If her stamina could keep up with her strength, she would be a monster to be feared on the battlefield.

But of course, the person in question wasn't aware of all of this and instead was swinging her sword alone in a training hall. Going through each motion, she would stop after every set and pause for a moment to think about her movements. Finishing three full sets, Ava paused for a moment, although she felt like she still had the energy to continue. After remembering Ahri nagging her ear off the day before, she reluctantly put down her swords before heading back to the table where she had had her lunch and peeled another banana, and enjoyed it with a cup of barley tea. Of course, she drank the barley tea before eating the banana.

Eying the remaining apple, Ava hesitated for a second before picking it up and walking back to the center of the training field, only grabbing one sword this time. Kassidy had mentioned that one of the things she could try if she had free time was perception/prediction training. Although they sounded similar, they were quite different in nature. Although funnily enough, the entry-level training that Kassidy recommended for both was the same.

Honestly, when Ava had first heard what Kassidy had said to do, she had thought that the man was playing a joke on her, but remembering the man's cold demeanor, Ava quickly shook the thought out of her head.

What he said was simple, throw an apple in the air and then cut it as it came down. If she was training perception, she was to close her eyes and try to feel the apple falling and would try to cut it as it fell. If she was training prediction, she threw the apple and… still closed her eyes but tried to cut where she assumed the apple would fall instead of reacting.

When she had heard of the simple training method, Ava's only question was, "Does it have to be an apple?"