Chapter 09 - Training

She jumped right at me after saying "So little dude ... shall we begin?". I mean I was barely holding that sword and I don't even know the basics of a sword and she is attacking me already that's painful.

As expected I fell to the ground, I tried to get up but her foot was already on my belly and it was very hard to move. I get it you want to teach me a sword and even I want to know them but you don't have to be so rough. Well, then she said, "It's just beginning, it will be rougher.... get up you have a lot to work on".

After saying that she removed her leg and I was able to take a good amount of breath. I got up and she said, "Now let's begin". "Whenever you hold your sword, your sword should be in front of you and your hand should be on the hilt of the sword, holding it firmly. Your object should always be to cut down your target. If you don't follow those basics things you will be in trouble.", she said.

I was listening to her and I was trying to do what she said. I was holding the sword in front of me and I was holding it firmly. But when she hit my sword with hers my sword fell. She said, "Still not enough... " you need to work on your grip first, when you will achieve that we will move to the next step

Well, I tried and tried ... and tried ... I just took a break in the middle and that was to attend nature's call and I kept failing every time Koharu hit my sword with hers. By the evening ... I was finally able to get a good grip ... I have lost count of how many times I have failed but that doesn't matter because I have finally achieved the first step. Koharu was happy and she said, "Tomorrow we will move on to the next step. Take a good amount of rest today because that will be necessary for tomorrow's training."

I was happy too but more than happy ... I was exhausted, I am sure today I will sleep like a log. Well, we ate the same good ol' soup and I passed out after that.

I woke up the next day and Koharu was already waiting for me. I was still sleepy and I was yawning a lot. She said, "You are still sleepy, you need to get up and get ready for training." Well yeah, I forgot my objective, I need to get prepared because eventually, I need to take revenge.

I first washed up my face and then I ate some fruits and headed towards the training area which was a small area of forest that Koharu cleaned overnight.

Koharu was standing with her sword's tip on the ground and she was waiting for me. I was standing in front of her and she said, "Now we will move on to the next step. Since you have a firm grip on your sword now you will have to move on to the next step ...

There are 8 angles from which you can attack your opponent. You can attack from the front, back, left, right, top, bottom, left diagonal and right diagonal. You need to practice all those angles we will begin with the first angle which is the front angle. First, swing your sword from the front and then hit my sword with yours.

Don't forget you need to come with the intent of killing me while hitting your sword otherwise you won't be able to hit me"

I was listening to all that Koharu was saying but I was unclear about various things here like the angles from which we can attack, also she says that come with the intent of killing her but to be honest I don't hold a grudge or something against her and I don't know how to do that either. But I guess I will learn about it eventually so I will just move forward and charge at her with all I have got.

I started moving and attacked her from the front well I did that but I was the one who wavered and fell to the ground. She said, "You are still not able to hit me, you need to work on your speed and power." Well I stood up again and did that again and again and again and again ... I don't remember how much time passed and how many times I failed to hit her, she was still unwavering.

"Enough for today, It's already getting dark I need to collect some food, you go back to the cave and wait for me there. I don't know how long will it take to train you but I will have to do that because I promised chief anyways, Today you have failed to hit me but you have also improved especially your posture while holding that sword, well it's still janky but it's better. Get going I will be back soon.", Koharu said.

Well, when it was getting dark ... I feel disheartened a bit because she said she don't know how much time it will take to train me ... well she also said that I improved a lot so that was something of relief but still how can I cover up for the lack of experience I was thinking that while I was laying on the ground beside my sword when Koharu already left the training ground.

After a while I started to get back to the cave, we had fruits this time for dinner and since I was exhausted I thought I again will sleep like a log. Well, that's what I thought ... but that wasn't what happened I woke up in the middle of the night fully drenched with sweat.

I was in the darkroom ... does that mean I died? I wonder about that, was the fruit poisoned and Koharu killed me? I highly doubt that so does that mean she picked poisoned fruits? I will re-render again but that isn't the case for Koharu and she will probably die for real.

What can I do? I don't even know. Well ... I was thinking that but then An voice came "Don't worry you are not dead and no one betrayed you or no one is going to die, I am here to help you with the training yours", that voice said.

First of all, how he knows about my training and second that this isn't the voice I first heard here. Well if it's saying it's going to help me train then I don't see any hostility but I still wonder. I mean I don't know who he is and I don't know what he wants from me. Well, I will just go with the flow and see what happens. Because I can't see anything in this room so it's not like I can do something.

He began to talk again, "I wonder if She is going to tell you this, most likely not but there are 5 attributes of a sword they are speed, power, accuracy, range and weight and to become a good swordsman you need to master them all but you can begin by mastering one of them, your power is already good so you can begin with speed and then accuracy, well it might not sound much of help but you will soon realize it and for why she won't tell you this because she doesn't know about this even after many years because nobody told her about this, Now you might think that why does it matter ... to tell you the truth you can say it's a rule or something when you do something when you are aware of it, it produces better results and because she doesn't know about this she can't produce better results, well that's all I can tell you for now. Also, you can't tell her about this because if you will then you might really die"

Well, what he said was interesting but when he said... "if you will then you might really die" I felt a chill down my spine. I don't know why but I felt like I am in danger. and I felt like I was being stabbed by a sword.

That was the time when I woke up all drenched with sweat ... Koharu was still asleep ... I thought about his words and then slept after a while.

The next morning I reached the training ground after breakfast and today was the same ... well I was not able to waver even a bit, when I fell after 2 times I tried to apply the advice that he told me to I tried it with more speed and power but it was no good. I was still not able to hit her. What stupid advice it was ... I thought that while I was lying on the ground. Well, another day passed well I am good at power at least for now.

Well, I again found myself in the darkroom today and I was able to hear again the voice, "Well you don't believe me do you? Well, that might be the reason why the advice I gave you didn't work after all ... ok here is something interesting about you, you might like ... there are primarily 5 natures of sword style and they are fire, water, wind, earth and lightning and another one which is shadow and you have the shadow nature, shadow swordsman can control all the natures ... you know what that means right? right? you can learn all sword styles. Well, that's all I can tell you for now. Ah, I forgot you can't say any word here and I was thinking for a while why aren't you surprised? Well, whatever my bad."

What he told me was amazing but I don't know if I can learn all styles because I can't even attack from the front for now and yes I never tried this but when he said I can't speak ... I was shocked that my mouth was not opening, not like I really wanted to say something so I was fine with that much. Also, he said that I don't believe him, what does that mean I wonder.

The next morning I woke up and reached the training ground as soon as possible, I am not sure if I can ask about sword styles but I won't take risks. Well, today before starting I thought let's try to believe THE VOICE and see what happens. Well, so I have the power I need to increase weight and speed ... yesterday I only tried with speed but alright let's give this one a try too and at that very moment ... I felt a different sensation that ran down my body and the next moment I saw that Koharu's sword was on the ground and I was standing still.

I was shocked and even Koharu was shocked after this happened, she said, "What happened? How did you do that? I was not able to hit you even once and you were able to hit me with one blow? Were you training behind my back?" Well, I don't know how can I explain her, to be honest, but I said, "Well yeah, kinda I guess."

After this ... my training went smoothly but it still took 2 weeks to learn all the angles ... attacking from the top was the most difficult because I had to jump and attack and I was not able to do that for a long time. Well, I was able to do it after a while but it was still difficult.

After 2 weeks of training, she told me ... "We can move to the next step most probably that is the last step before you can fight with me, I will teach you how to use your sword in a fight and how to defend yourself" and we started training for defense ... Well it was hard at first because I was not able to defend myself from her attacks but after a while, I was able to do it and I was able to defend myself from her attacks.

and after a while, she said, "Well, I think you are ready to fight with me, I will give you a sword and you can fight with me, I will give you a sword that is similar to mine", she said. I was about to get finally a sword of my own ... and after telling the nature of sword styles The Voice never came again.

After a week we had a duel and out of 3, I won the last one by luck because Koharu tripped and I was able to hit her with a sword. Well, I was happy that I won but I was also sad because I won by luck and not by skill. That day she told me that there are 5 natures of sword styles but she can't teach even one because she is not perfect to teach them. So that means that she knows about the sword styles but she didn't mention the 6th one which is shadow. Well, I don't know what to think about that. It might be something that she doesn't know about. She said that my training from her is over and I can fight low-level goblins by myself now but to fight the bigger ones I need experience and I need to perfect what I have learned.

That day I went goblin hunting with her and I was able to kill 10 goblins all by myself although there was a time when I was surrounded by them and she saved my ass at that moment.

When we came back to the cave instead of being serious she was laughing while eating ... we were talking about how she saved my ass today and all about training and after that, we went to sleep. We went on goblin hunting every day and also incinerated them ... they were good fodders, to be honest, but at the same time I felt guilty while killing them. But they are related to those same people who laughed at Hyde's corpse and that suppressed my guilt probably.

Well, it was now nearly 1.5 months since I first re-rendered and met Koharu and today ... well today I went to the training ground because I wanted to practice the swings today and there I saw someone standing with armor ... that armor was familiar it was the armor of the 3rd general of goblins ... A sudden flashback of prison struck me when I saw that armor.