"But, since you can't be faster all the time and it isn't easy to train on this path, there are many other ways to wield a sword."
Going back to her previous spot, Maria said, "I'll move even more slowly than before, that's why try to evade my attacks for as long as possible."
Once she finished saying those words, Maria immediately made a move.
Moving much slower than before, Maria looked so slow that the Felix from even before inscribing the True Dragon Rune would've been able to easily see her movements.
Due to this, even though he knew that he shouldn't turn overconfident he couldn't help but show a disdainful smirk as if to provoke Maria and ask what she could possibly do to him while moving so slowly.
The reality however soon destroyed Felix's confidence.
Drenched in sweat, Felix kept on evading every time the sword was slashed towards him. But, despite him easily dodging the swords which were moving so slowly, Felix was filled with an ominous as if he was being lured into a trap.
And no matter what he did, the sinking feeling in his gut kept on increasing not showing any signs of decreasing no matter how much he changed his movements or how erratically he ran around.
In the end though all of Felix's efforts turned out to be for nothing with Maria who had yet to break even a single drop of sweat was pointing one of her swords towards his neck while he was left with no place to escape since he had been cornered in one corner of the room.
"How is it? You've understood what I did right?"
"Yes. What I don't understand is how you did it."
Honestly, Felix had understood what was happening not too long after Maria had begun moving. This was also why he tried so hard to break any possible pattern he was following and behave as out of character and expectations as possible.
Unfortunately, no matter what Felix did, it was almost as if Maria could see the future because she was always one step ahead of him despite moving as slowly as a tortoise.
"I predicted your movements and calculated how a way to drive you into the corner with no hopes of ever fighting back. To this though, you need a lot of combat experience and need to be stronger than your enemy or many times smarter than him. At the same time, you need to learn as many sword based combat skills as possible to make sure you are always prepared for whatever your enemy might do."
Explaining what it was that she did and another possible way of sword-wielding for Felix to pick, Maria suddenly shook her head and no longer showed any interest in teaching Felix any more of the various sword-wielding paths there were.
"While I can reveal many more ways of how you can wield a sword, you've already made up your mind, haven't you?"
Nodding his head with an excited smile, Felix who had decided to pick the path which focused on speed could already imagine how strong he would be in the future if he travelled on that path.
With the ability to control time, Felix could already see what would happen when he combined it with super-fast sword-wielding skills.
Just thinking about this made Felix smile excitedly and look towards Maria who said, "You are making decisions which will affect you for the rest of your life way too easily. Don't you want to at least think about it overnight?"
"There's no need for that. I already know what path I'm going to travel on and focussing on increasing my speed is the best way for me."
"If you say so. Just get ready for a very long training which has no end."
Nodding his head Felix understood what Maria meant by saying those words.
Since he wanted to focus on being the one who was always faster than his enemy, Felix could never slack during training and would have to keep training himself for all eternity to keep on improving his speed.
"Since you've decided, I'll teach you the only way you need to train to improve your speed of wielding a sword. It's known as Sword Draw."
"Sword Draw?"
"Yes. Now draw your sword as swiftly as possible."
Looking a little awkward as he heard those words, Felix pointed to the sides of his waist and said, "I don't have any sheathes to draw my sword out of."
"You don't need one."
Shaking her head, Maria said, "All I wasn't you to do is slash your sword. In any way and in any direction you want. Just make sure to use all your strength and focus on maximising the speed behind it."
Nodding his head, Felix raised the white sword above his head and slashed it straight down with all his power due to which he staggered a little when he attempted to stop it abruptly after it reached the level of his waist.
"How was it?"
Blushing a little from thinking that Maria was making fun of him for messing up such a thing, Felix began scratching his head when she continued speaking.
"Putting aside your awkward posture and failing to control the momentum, you can now roughly tell how fast your sword moves when you use all your strength, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now repeat the same slash ten times."
Doing as he was told to, Felix while using the same power other than fixing his posture unconsciously and managing to come close to stop his sword where he planned to, Felix despite not possessing the same sight and awareness as Maria could tell that his sword was now travelling the same distance it did than when he first did at a faster speed.
Though it wasn't anything like two or three times faster and just a difference of a few nanoseconds, but still a difference was a difference. And this difference appeared just after he swung his sword ten times.
This was also when Felix understood why Maria that this was the only method he needed to train in for him to improve the speed of his sword.
"Seems like you've understood it."
Nodding his head Felix was about to say something when Maria showed a demon-like cruel smile and said, "That's why, do five thousand more."