Enhancement Training: Day Three
“Alright! Today it’s my turn, but since Ferno gave us instructions, we’ll be following those! Well, compared to the first day, this is easier and simpler!”
“I’ll be in charge as well.”
It was the third day of Enhancement Training. The three of us stood before Zem, a muscular powerhouse, who was our instructor for the day. Next to him, with a wooden sword slung over her shoulder, stood Fana, arms crossed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Now then! Today’s training will focus on defense, parrying, and evasion. You need to be able to make quick judgments and act accordingly! Knights!!!”
“Huh?”
“Hmph!!!”
“Uh… like this. Fana and I will launch attacks, and you need to respond. As a rule, you should aim to defend against them.”
“Right! I’ll vary the power and method of my attacks, so if you determine you can’t defend against them, then parry! If you can’t parry, then evade!”
“That’s the gist of it. Since there are only two of us in charge, we’ll have to switch off, but… I’ll take one of you on my own.”
“Sounds good!”
“Then until lunch break, it’ll be Rio, and after lunch, it’ll be Fon. Stella, keep sparring with Zem. According to Ferno, the two who need the most improvement today are Rio and Fon.”
Zem and Fana calmly conveyed the training instructions given to them by Ferno, who was absent this early in the morning. Fana then picked up Rio and moved her to a spot away from Zem and the others.
“Alright! Let’s get started!!”
Once Fana and Rio were at a safe distance, Zem shouted, and at the same moment, he delivered a powerful punch to Fon’s exposed abdomen. Fon instinctively tried to block the blow, but his delayed reaction from being caught off guard sent him flying backward.
“Just because it’s easy and simple doesn’t mean you can slack off!!”
Zem declared as he firmly planted his feet on the ground.
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At the same time that Stella and Fon began their training with Zem, Fana and Rio were also preparing to start their session. Facing each other, Fana held her wooden sword in her left hand, while Rio, slightly further away, took a defensive stance with her dual knives.
“Let’s keep it simple for now.”
With that, Fana swung her wooden sword straight down toward Rio. In response, Rio crossed her knives above her head to block the descending strike. Confirming the block, Fana raised her wooden sword again, snapping her wrist mid-swing to launch an upward strike diagonally toward Rio.
Rio hesitated for just a moment but quickly switched her grip on the knives, positioning them to intercept the upward swing.
“…That should do it. Now, for the next one, defend.”
Having assessed Rio’s defensive capabilities through their exchanges, Fana switched the wooden sword to her right hand and prepared for the next attack.
The third exchange began. Fana’s strike with her dominant right hand was faster and heavier than before. As a result, Rio found herself pushed back, barely managing to block the blow that had initially been aimed at her head.
And then came the fourth strike. Feeling the pressure of the attack rising, Rio anticipated another upward swing and, just as she began to shift her focus from the wooden sword to the upward response, she caught sight of the sword’s tip approaching her forehead. She quickly shook her head, gathering her strength in her legs to leap backward and create distance from Fana.
“Don’t evade; block it. If you can’t stop it, then defend.”
Fana calmly stated as she closed the distance, launching a series of relentless wooden sword strikes at the unprepared Rio.
Downward slashes, upward strikes, sweeping attacks, thrusts, feints, downward strikes followed by upward swings, thrusts into thrusts, a three-hit combo from a shifted angle, and a feint from a two-hit combo leading into a downward strike…
Over fifty continuous attacks without a moment’s pause. Fana relentlessly pressed her assault, while Rio fought with all her senses, using her knives and body movements to block and defend against the onslaught.
Minutes felt like hours as the intense exchanges continued, but it all came to a halt when Fana’s wooden sword snapped mid-swing.
“Hmm… Let’s take a break for now. Drink up.”
“…Mm.”
“Just answer me as you are.”
“Mm.”
“Did you grasp the feeling of it?”
“Power? Speed?”
“Both.”
“Mm, I’m fine.”
“Then you can handle attacks of that speed and power, right?”
“…Probably?”
“…Perhaps we should do this two or three more times.”
A brief conversation passed between Fana and Rio. While Fana remained completely dry, Rio was pouring a potion down her throat, drenched in sweat. As they glanced over at Zem and the booming sounds of training, a quiet moment passed between the two, who were not particularly chatty. Then, without a word, they both took their stances and faced each other again.
“Same rules apply; no evading or parrying.”
“Mm.”
“Grasp the sensation. You must be able to confidently say you can block or defend against this level of power.”
“Mm.”
“I’m coming!”
With that exchange, Fana and Rio resumed their training. Just like before, Fana swung her sword while Rio responded with her knives and body techniques, a simple yet intense exchange.
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“Assess the situation!! Not everything is the same!!!”
Meanwhile, the scene shifted to Stella and Fon. They were enduring Zem’s storm-like attacks, sometimes blocking, sometimes parrying, and at other times evading. However, the power behind the strikes varied too greatly, and they were continuously sent flying by the follow-up attacks.
Of course, they weren’t just being tossed around without resistance. They managed to perfectly block some strikes, evade surprise follow-up attacks, defend against blows aimed at them, and even parry strikes that would normally break through their defenses. By ordinary standards, they were handling the situation well.
But they lived in a world of the extraordinary. Ordinary measures were far from sufficient, and a single mistake could lead to death, making their “adequate” response merely the bare minimum. Thus, they were sent flying again and again.
Judgment.
This was the goal of the training that Ferno had conveyed to Zem, and it was the skill that was being honed as the two were tossed around. In battles against those of greater strength, this ability was paramount, a singular force capable of momentarily overturning the insurmountable gap in power.
It was the power that distinguished the living from the dead, a unique strength that could be relied upon in a world of the extraordinary.
Training to acquire that power.
“Ugh!!!”
“Hoho! Not bad!!!”
The first to grasp that power was Stella.
Seen as not lacking compared to Ferno, she responded to the expectations placed upon her by perfectly handling all of Zem’s storm-like barrage of strikes. She blocked the light initial strike, parried the pushing attack, defended against the third blow, evaded the fourth that came with an opening, and finally, she blocked the fifth strike that came from her blind spot, countering the sixth with a perfect nullification.
Aside from the minimal damage inflicted due to the inherent power gap, Stella emerged unscathed.
Since the first day of training, she had embraced the idea of not overthinking things and simply acting, which allowed her to achieve this feat. Naturally, having acquired that sense, she was able to adapt to the timing and spacing of the attacks, responding not only with her arms but also with her legs and headbutts.
“Alright! Now, how about this!!!”
Thus, Stella’s training began to outpace Fon, who was training alongside her.
“Ugh!!!”
“Well! But it’s too easy!!”
The afterimage.
A power that Zem had developed through rigorous training, achieving the extraordinary. A follow-up attack that hunted down evasion and parrying.
Since Stella was a human stepping into the realm of the extraordinary, this power became integrated into her training.
In a sense, it was an unfortunate reality, but…
“Not bad at all!!!”
If one could adapt, it could also be seen as a stroke of luck.
※※※※※※※※
– Four chapters remain in the training arc.
– The protagonist possesses an extraordinary power that defies common sense, yet he cannot reshape reality or impose his unique theories; in a sense, he is merely strong as a normal being.
– By the way, within the protagonist lies a smoldering essence that is not a “cheat” but rather the source of his uniqueness.
- The author is feeling anxious as their stock of ideas is running low.