Blink felt totally embarrassed by Senior Gart's speech that he almost bolted in the middle of it. Being called a heartthrob had embarrassed him the most. It was his first time to hear such a thing about him, and he had to hear it from a senior who only got to visit the academy four times in a year.
If he knew the Kasgar martial arts training center young master was going to introduce him in such a manner, he wouldn't have come and left his senior out to dry.
Since it could no longer be helped, Blink just braced himself for the worst and just hoped for his introduction to be over soon.
But when it was all over, Blink somehow still felt like running away. Even nearing the end of his speech, Senior Gart still managed to embarrass Blink further.
For a couple of minutes after the speech, Blink stood rooted like a tree, his mind numbed by all the bombastic assault on his sense of modesty.
"Brother Blink!"
Suddenly he heard Senior Gart's alarmed voice and snapped out of his dazed stupor.
"Oh, yes," Blink addressed the trainees. "Let's begin!"
"See, even you were mesmerized by my splendid little speech!" Senior Gart proudly declared.
Blink rolled his eyes then stepped into the center in front of the kids, facing them.
"I would like to start today's training session by assessing your foundation!" Blink announced loudly.
With that Blink asked the trainees to come forward, ten at a time, and show him their foundation skills. Just as he suspected, many of them had very messy foundations.
He separated those who had better foundations from those whose foundations were in an awful state. Not that the first group could be said to have a good enough foundation already. On the contrary, their foundations were actually so-so but they were at least an easier case to handle than the latter.
Among the first group was Hubr, who was feeling mighty proud of himself to not have been mixed with the 'awful' crowd. He didn't realize that he should have actually been standing on his own as the only trainee whose foundations were already good.
The foundation assessment took over two hours. By the time Blink was done, it was already lunch time. Blink dismissed the kids then went over to Senior Gart to discuss a few things.
Blink let the trainees rest for a good while after they had had their lunch. He then called them back to their formation.
"Starting tomorrow we will follow a new scheme in your training," Blink announced. "First, I would like you to form your lines according to the village where you came from.
"I want those who live here in Kasgar, including those who have board and lodging here, to form the first line on the left to be followed by those living in the villages closest to Kasgar.
"Those who live the farthest and walk all the way to here, form your lines at the far right."
After everybody had formed their lines, Blink grouped a few villages together according to their distance and number. In the end there were four groups in all, with the Kasgar residents and boarders forming the largest group.
Blink announced that he would train first the group who had to walk the farthest in order that he could send them home earlier. The last group to be trained that day would be the Kasgar group.
Blink clarified however that for the next training session, the order would change.
"From tomorrow onwards, the Kasgar group and the group from nearby villages, will have their training in the morning. As for the two other groups, I shall expect you to report for training in the afternoon. Eat your lunch on your way, so you won't come in late."
After the announcements had been made, Blink started training the group from the farthest villages. He separated the trainees based on their ratings during his assessment that morning. He gave the 'not-so-awful' ones a set of training to improve their foundation, then went to work with the 'really awful' ones to fix a few major flaws. He then went back to check on the 'not-so-awful' trainees and checked their stances, footwork and execution before going back again to check the progress of the 'really awful' ones.
He repeated the procedure for all the three other groups.
Before the day was over, Blink would train by himself at the training center after all the children had gone home. Senior Gart would watch him while he was at it.
Blink wished that Senior Gart had something else to do besides watch him practice his fighting techniques. He wasn't the bothersome senior who's always trying to correct some imagined defect on his junior's form. What was irksome about him was that he kept acting like some newbie who must always gawk and make exaggerated noises as if he were seeing an amazing move for only the first time.
Then, the next day, before the sun was up, Blink would run to the forest to work on his new techniques as well as hone his old techniques further.
He still trained Hubr every morning before they went to the training center together.
This daily cycle went on for ten days. During those ten days, he was able to impart to Hubr the first set of movements for his palm technique. In a few more days, the boy should be able to reach the beginning level of mastery for the technique. Blink would then impart to him the second set of movements for the technique.
At the same time Blink was also keeping a hawk-eyed watch on his nephew's development on his foundation skills as well as on the techniques he had previously taught him.
Meanwhile, the trainees' foundation skills had improved considerably. Some of the 'really awful' ones had even managed to be promoted to the 'not-so-awful' group whom Blink started calling as the 'no longer awful' ones.
By this time, many of the boys started clamoring for sparring sessions.
"I'm already itching to get some action," Cross-eyed said.
"Me too," Fatty Cheeks seconded.
"Yeah, foundation training is boring," Thick-Lipped Bushy Eyebrows complained.
The rest of the boys wailed their agreement in chorus.
Blink stared at them coldly. They all immediately bowed their heads like meek lambs before a big bad wolf.
"If you do not master your foundation, I'll make sure to throw you out of this training center with no chance to return ever again," Blink warned them.
The boys were obviously scared and did not make a reaction. However, it was clear from their facial expressions that they were still not willing to accept the situation.
"Did you understand?" Blink asked them coldly.
"Yes, Senior Brother," they all answered reluctantly.
"What's that?" Blink asked.
"Yes, we understand, Senior Brother!" they all shouted clearly.
"That's better!"
Senior Gart's injury had healed up nicely as well. For the past three days, he had been practicing with Blink. When he first brought it up, he went about it rather awkwardly and in a very roundabout manner, too. Blink always managed to rile Senior Gart up by bringing up the subject of the latter's awkwardness when he requested to train with Blink.