Varchaswa continued, "As for the Meditation, you can understand easily. It is essential for all. Whether you are a mage, martial artist or a warrior, you need to have the ability to concentrate and be calm and composed during the chaos of the battle. This is especially true for a Strategist. Meditation will help in all battle scenarios.
The good news is that the best person known for this advanced meditation techniques has agreed to be your tutor. Prime Minister Vidura will guide you in meditation techniques for the upcoming month. For the ladies, the Minister of Education Princess Geeta will be your guide.
For the last two hours of the day, the practice for martial artists and warriors should be clear. However, I want you to focus on your second weapon ability. This is for cases when your primary weapon or technique is ineffective against your opponent for whatever reason – whether they are a natural opponent, or their skills are your weakness, or your weapon is destroyed; for all such cases a second weapon ability including hand-to-hand combat is important.
As for mages, you are generally protected by martial artists and warriors; however, no one can predict the battle exactly, so you should have at least a few non-magical self-defence skills. I know that you depend on your magic barriers, but I hope you do not forget about anti-magic weapons and fields.
In conclusion, we are grooming specialists with basic all-round capabilities.
I hope this has cleared all major doubts regarding the training schedule."
By the time Varchaswa had ended his explanation, most of the students' doubts were resolved. They were also amazed by his simple yet unorthodox logic. So far, most academies around the world focused on producing specialist individuals and strategist military commanders. For them, this was a new way of doing things. They were awed by the simple yet unorthodox logic for this era.
Varchaswa asked again, "We need to start the training soon, this is your last chance if you have any questions, feel free to ask."
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At this point, Vijaya the representative of the Final year students spoke, "Pardon me Principal Varchaswa, I have an unusual question that is on minds of many students. Permission to ask the question."
Varchaswa replied, "Representative Vijaya, as I mentioned earlier, please feel free to ask any question related to training or training schedule, especially if it is not mal-intentioned."
"Thank you Principal Varchaswa. Now I can ask my question without worries. As you know we follow the Lunar Calendar in Dwaarkaa. After 40 days from now, we will be welcoming a New Year. The Kingdom celebrates the festival for a week. Usually, the National Academy has a two-day holiday, but the students can apply for 5 days leave.
Many student wish to know if we will have the holiday this year. We understand that the training schedule is packed and with the Mock Battle is so close. Our pride is on the line for this match. However, we also want to wish to spend the New Year with our Families."
Varchaswa was silent for a few moments. He was doing some calculations to best express his views on this matter. This led some people to believe that he was displeased with the question. So Lakshmee spoke up, "Principal Varchaswa, we understand if you cannot grant us leave this year. It is obvious that we have a tight schedule and…"
Before Lakshmee could complete, Varchaswa smiled and said, "Well, you are all young people, I am too. It would be sad to not been able to spend a Greatly Celebrated Festival of the Kingdom with one's family.
However, as you mentioned the schedule is already tight. However…" He paused for a dramatic effect and gazed at the students from left to right. He knew for a Commander, stage presence and performance was important to keep troops in line.
He continued, "However, it is like I said during the Banquet, one must not over do things. Rest is important and mental fitness is as important as physical fitness. So, first off all, if we win the Mock Battle against the Ayodhyaa Kingdom, the Academy will have a 10 day vacation for all Students. You could enjoy your time with family."
Hearing this, many students were delighted. This was because he said 'vacation for all students'. They knew that only the select few will be participating. And even if they didn't get the chance to participate and win, they still would get to have the vacations. But some were disappointed as well. Because a 10-day vacation after the match meant no vacation on New Year.
"Also…" Varchaswa continued after waiting a for a couple of moments, "You all will get a full 7-day vacation for this upcoming New Year Celebration Week. You can go and enjoy this time with your family. However, you only get 7 days including the travel time. You must be back on the morning of the 8th day."
This unexpected announcement led to cheers from all the students.
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Chapter End.