The story was different to what Nick told me, but I believed that Nick either knew only a short version, or simplified it by a lot. There was nothing to ask, it was only a story. Even if it was true, that wouldn't change much. Nathan gave me no clues about the Art of Hidden Weapons. I said "You want to test my skills now?". Nathan nodded, and replied "Yes, show me what you got. I warn you though, you are allowed to use the skills from the Art of Hidden Weapons only".
I agreed, and began attacking him. Daggers started flying left and right. All at tricky angles, and all hard to dodge. The strength behind my daggers, could easily pierce through people. Yet, Nathan evaded them or deflected them. He said "Is that the extent of your strength?". I smiled, and threw a few more daggers, this time with my Domineering Aura silently imbued. When he deflected them, the Aura travelled into his body.
Nathan though, only smiled and replied "Those petty trick will not work on strong people. Not only I could feel your Aura, I could easily destroy it. I allowed it to enter my body on purpose". He then threw something himself. I was barely able to dodge, yet some cuts appeared on my body. What he threw, looked like arrows, but made from metal and without the feathers. They were also smaller, about palm sized. That was his weapon of choice, small metallic arrows.
I knew I had no chance against him, but he told me to show off my skills, and that's what I intended to do. With a heavy step, I lunged forwards at great speed. Ten daggers appeared around me, floating on either side. Nathan didn't try to run away, he stood his ground, and waited. I arrived in front of him and released my Stringed Hidden Weapons skill, with the Aura attached. "Swosh!","Swosh!", "Swoosh!", "Swoosh!", "Swoosh!", "Swoosh!".
A barrage of attacks assaulted Nathan, but he was able to somehow deflect them all. I increased the speed, and aimed at his pressure points. This was the apex of my abilities in the Art of Hidden Weapons. Stringed daggers with Domineering Aura, aimed at pressure points. "Clang!", "Clang!", "Clang!", "Clang!", "Clang!".
The daggers were being deflected by something, I didn't even leave a scratch on Nathan. I stopped my attack, and backed off. I knew what he was using, because he himself told me about it. "Wires eh?", I asked. Nathan nodded, and said "Correct. My wires can be used as a means to defend, or support. You went a different way, and used string to aid your attack. Your defence on the other hand suffered. How about your supporting skills?".
I shook my head, and said "I don't really have anything like your wires. I can only block with this", and showed him my right arm. He smiled, and said "That right arm of your is indeed different, but that is not Art of Hidden Weapons skill. Now you realise, what you have to work on?". I nodded, and replied "I do". Nathan continued, "It will not be easy boy. You have to figure out how to defend yourself properly, and how to use Hidden Weapons as a means to support you. Remember, we are not swordsmen. We fight by trickery, and hidden means. Full frontal attacks are the last resort. From what I saw, you went in the direction of close combat. Not a bad choice, but this requires even greater skills in defence and support. If you have none, you will lose very quickly".
I replied "I get it. I need to work on my defence and support". He smiled, and said "I will leave you to it then". I stood there thinking. 'What could I use as a means of support, and defence? I can't copy his wires. Besides, I have none…'. I thought about it for a while, when suddenly a gust of wind blew my hair up. "Wind! I forgot about the wind!". There was a skill I trained before. A skill so ridiculous, it seemed impossible to master. 'Wind can help me a lot. Almost unpredictable, and ever present. I need to resume my training of sensing the wind' I thought.
Initially, I wanted to use the wind as my attacking move. I realized that wind could be used in many more ways. 'Although I can use wind as support, it's not really useful as defence. Natural Path skill would probably benefit more than my defence. What am I supposed to do for defence?' I thought. Although I had my answer about support skills, I still lacked in defence.
What Nathan said, was completely true. I had nothing for my defence except my clothes and right arm. 'But what exactly can I do? Use a shield? This is not a skill either' I thought. I could use my Stringed Hidden Weapons as a defensive skill, which didn't cross my mind before. 'Will that work though? It needs different patterns and manipulations. It is feasible though' I thought.
With my new plan formed, I began from improving my defence. I had to adjust my Stringed Hidden Weapon skill, to that of a defence skill. I already had an idea. 'If I rotate my daggers well, I can deflect stuff. If my daggers and control is good enough, I might even be able to deflect elemental skill' I thought.
It was a bit of a copy, from what Nathan used, but different at the same time. I started my practice, and tried to adjust the manipulation. It wasn't easy, I always learned to attack with my stringed daggers, not defend. The concept of defending was much different. I spend a few days, just on the manipulation, but I got the hang of it. 'I'm no master yet, but I think I know where to go with this' I thought. There were three major Defensive Forms I figured out. One was a ring of daggers surrounding me. The difficulty of forming that, laid in the rotation of the daggers around me at all times. I also had to move each dagger separately, in order to deflect something.
This Defensive Form allowed for all round defence of single attacks, especially arrows. But, it was very difficult to figure out, and required my instincts. This was not a problem though, instincts were part of me, not something that could be sealed away or required an item to use.
The Second Form I figured out, was a dagger shield. Although it acted like a shield, it was something completely different. I would place the daggers in a circular pattern in front of me, and use the strings as a sort of spring, to deflect or stop the attack. This Form was easier to manipulate, because all the daggers were in front of me. I figured it out when I recalled the elemental skills the Royals used. This Shield Form was perfect for such situations.
That Defensive Form was by no means easy. It required from me to move the strings just as the attack arrived. Otherwise, the elemental attack would simply break through my shield. The Third and final Form, was different. It was a Defensive Form, but not against physical attacks. I figured that I needed something to fight against the illusions, and skills which affected my mind. Which is where the Third Form comes from. Not only was it difficult to pull off, it was deadly to me as well.
The Third Form had to be manipulated in a way, where it could pierce my body from different angles, with my Aura imbued. I wasn't sure whether this Form would work, but I knew someone who could help me with that. 'I will focus on practice first, then call them over. There is no point practicing Defensive Forms a lot, when I have no opponent' I thought. In order to figure out whether my Defensive Forms worked or not, someone had to attack me. A Silver Bear or Wolf, wouldn't do. Nevertheless, I had to be able to manipulate my daggers, to assume those Forms in the first place. That is what I focused on.