On the next day, on Bran Village, at a house with a green roof, on the backyard of the house, a mannequin is flying on the sky when Judah has thrown a spell which send away the people hit by it a few meters back. The mannequin lands on the tree, which is going to make my training much interesting. I, Judah Gremory, aims my wand at the tree's branches, and I shoot the mannequin with the same flying spell, sending the mannequins farther into the sky and then, landing on the ground, at three steps from me.
"Nice attacks." says a voice from behind me.
I turn around, then aims my wand at that person. I immediately raised the wand to the sky, because the person there is actually Ulfred. I let the wand down, put back on my sheath from the belt, and he laughs at the reaction I got.
"I thought you were one of the assassins." I say to him.
"Well. I thank you for not killing me." says Ulfred feeling happy that I did not shoot him by accident. "Plus, is your training going in a good direction?"
"Yes."
"Nice to hear it from you."
"So. What are you doing here?"
"Nothing. I was just going to spare with a mannequin. You know. Going back into my fighting peace." he walks to the mannequin I sent earlier flying and landed on the ground. He puts the mannequin on the ground, and he takes a fighting position in front of that mannequin.
Ulfred is everyday wearing those heavy gloves. I did not saw him ever taking off those gloves, not even when he is walking outside, or going to eat, and I don't know if he ever takes them off when he goes to the bushes to do his business or take a bath at the nearest river from his village or at a common bath from this village. Yes, we were once at a common bath here, it was a weird and awkward experience to say for both of us.
Anyway, Ulfred is punching that mannequin with his gloves so hard, the thing it is almost breaking. He punches the head of the mannequin in such a hard hit, it breaks the head into two pieces. Then, Ulfred hits the upper body area of the mannequin, and it sends him flying a few meters, it smashes into the wall of the garden. At the hit, the mannequin is braking apart, and the "limbs" were laying on the ground.
I go to Ulfred and I told him without thinking much more about this.
"What are those gloves for?"
"For fighting, plus..." he says to me with a worried look. He takes off one of the gloves from his hands, and he shows to me his missing hand, palm and fingers. Then, he puts his gloves back to the hand revealed to me. "I got a bad health condition. But I can still fight to combat, thanks to these gloves who were made by a friend of mine in Bulgaria Kingdom."
"Wow. You are so strong."
"Yes. I am. But not the strongest... I do not look for power, kid. All I ever wanted in life it was to get a job and a house. And friends. and now I have those. Well. without these and the sword, I would literally remain a freak for my Kingdom" he was a bit emotional there. Then, Ulfred smiles and asks me. "How do you think about my punches?"
"Amazing." I praise to him. "Hey! Could you teach me to do some fighting from combat?"
"To you?" says to me with a smile. "Of course, little guy."
I and him are going to the mannequin, and when we saw his state, we were feeling quite let down because of how it broke down by only some hard hits, but it didn't broke down when I was throwing him in the air, threw superfast rocks, and set him on fire a few times today's and yesterday. I and my friend, Ulfred, are heading to the small building on the garden, we are taking from there another mannequin.
"Listen up, Judah." he says while he is assembling the mannequin on the ground. "I understand why you need to train your fighting skill. But, these types of fighting shouldn't be use when you are only to close combat."
"Or when I use my battle skill?" I asked him because he knew that I have a battle skill.
"Correct. And, as a first lesson," he goes at me, gets at my back, and he looks at me. "Show me your punches."
I go at the mannequin, and I proceed to hit him. Since I don't know I should hit a mannequin I mostly threw light punches. These punches could be described as a small kid trying to hit his big brother who is going to the GYM much more days than at his own house. Ulfred laughed at me because of how I am trying my best to hit the mannequin with these weak punches of mine. But when I turned back with sweat on my face, he tried to hold his laugh.
"Alright, alright. I am sorry, young boy." says to me trying to stop from the laugh, but he smiles, then he laughs again. "How cute you hit the mannequin, boy? You look like a small kid while you were doing that."
"I am a kid."
"Yes. An 11 years old kid. But on't worry, everyone has a start in their life." he encourages me. He makes me step back, and he shows he a fighting position. He raises both of his hands to cover his head and he told me. "This is high guard. A position which is used as defense mostly. Can you do that?"
I do the exact same position, I face the mannequin as he does. Then he told me to inhale and exhale. I do this, and after that he told me to hit as hard as I can the mannequin. Then, I hit him, and I feel as the same I hit that mannequin earlier. Ulfred told me.
"This is a breathing technique which is powering your punch. It takes a long time to be learned and if it is doing correctly, it can provoke some serious damage. Now. Let's make you learn how you threw a punch."
Ulfred goes to the mannequin, and he throws three light punches to that mannequin which is making it to move back and forth. Ulfred told me to do the same as him. As I threw those three punches at the same area he threw them, on the head, I felt some pain, that is because the head part it is wood and not a bag with weed tied to the mannequin. Ulfred put his right hand on my shoulder, and he tells me.
"You should not always aim for the head on the close combat. Use the weak spots. Those are the vital ones."
"Weak spots? What are those?" I asked Ulfred.
"There are the unmarked marks who could put even a giant to the ground. Have you ever saw a giant?"
"No."
"Well... These weak spots are not known by anyone, there are thousands of weak spots everyone has. I, for example, when I am in a hard fighting position I either aim at the liver or the groin."
"Groin?" I ask Ulfred looking down. "So if you hit this it will make an enemy go down?"
"Yes."
"So. If I hit Fiona groin she will be down?" I did not intend to do that, I just wanted to know in the worst-case scenario.
Ulfred is feeling awkward for some reason, he is looking around. He then, tells me feeling shy or awkward.
"Lesson over, Judah."
"What, now?" I ask him.
"Y-Yes." he says going into the house.
While I look at Ulfred going into the house, I stare at him, clueless about the thing I asked him. Then, I turn back to mannequin and I threw some punches at him, on his upper body until I am enough tired to head into the house I will stay for a short while.