'Ah, this feeling again. I need to get used to it.' He thought.
His senses force him to regain consciousness once he senses someone or something near him. Only to find the girls and two unfamiliar people before he stood up quickly.
"Um, what happened during my fight with Abi?"
"A lot that happened. Things would've gotten worse if Rhett and Moira didn't save the day." Bianca replied, pointing at them.
"Ah, you must be Liam. I'm quite jealous that you're getting more attention than I do" Rhett stated, inviting him for a handshake.
"Honey, this is not the right time for that."
"What? A little joke wouldn't hurt. Besides, humor would ease this type of situation. Anyways, name's Rhett." Liam accepted his handshake, which he shook excitedly with both of his hands. Liam chuckled nervously as he felt his arm is getting slowly dislocating from Rhett's happy handshake.
"Sorry about my boyfriend." Moira stopped him from shaking his hand too hard. "He is a little bit on the high side. So forgive him for being rude."
"Come on Babe, I'm trying to ease the situation here."
"Yeah, by being rude."
"I'll make it up to you. How about a kiss-ow ow ow." Moira grabbed him by the ear and started dragging him away from the group.
"Interesting...people?" Liam stated as he stared at them.
"Rhett is careless and always displaying his love to his girlfriend in public" Abi responded. "And sorry for attacking you out of nowhere. I just want to test you out and see if you live up to your potential."
Liam widened his eyes and started to worry about his potential. What did the Guardian Mode show to the kingdom? He hopes that they are not planning for him to stay and serve the Valerie Kingdom.
"I never had the chance to see it. What did I do to get everyone's attention?"
"Your fighting style in general?"
"Mine? First of all, never once in my life I had ever picked to be in the military due to my talent. And second of all, there's no way I would get that kind of attention."
"To be honest with you" Kiana stated. "Your sword skills and style are average or maybe below that." Liam felt his heart stung a bit.
"E-Eh...thanks...a-alot."
"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Everyone is very picky because...the Hell-Beings are more experienced in combat. They probably knew every single martial art and won a fight easily despite the equipment we had. Until you came along. I never seen any potentials from newbies that did that before, and there's no way you could've known that all along."
Liam remembered throwing a strange punch at Aniya and the demon. Almost striking similar to the haymaker. But it's not. The moment he threw those punches. It just felt right to him.
"Alright, that's enough chit-chat. Let's get ready for his training" Abi stated and pulled an egg out from her pocket. "Grab this egg."
"Okay?" Liam grabbed the egg softly and it broke. 'That's all it took just to break an egg?'
"Try again." Abi whipped her hand as the yolk flew off and grabbed another one.
"Why can't we just do this with a normal rock? We're wasting it for no reason."
"A rock or anything that has no purpose. It will not help you to control your strength and I need you to be worried about what you're holding."
His face turned pale. If he grabbed Shae after gaining her trust, he would surely kill her. She was lucky that she crawled into his arms.
"Okay, you're right. Are we gonna focus on controlling my strength cause I don't want anything else to happen?"
"It will take some time, which is why forming a habit will help you out. Controlling your strength is the very first part of training as a Champion. It's easy for us humans since we can adapt faster than other races." Liam nodded his head, sweating.
For a few hours till dawn, he kept on grabbing the egg as gently as possible. Failing, failing, failing, and failing. Until he grasped the egg with a slight crack.
"I don't like this at all." Liam was struggling to stop his hands from shaking. 'I hope this won't last long.'
"Good. Now you get the feeling of controlling your strength. Tomorrow morning should be easy and for the final lesson. Pulling out your weapon is easy to learn. Do what you always do whenever you have a sword in your scabbard."
Liam followed Abi's advice and pulled out his potential sword made for him. A short sword with a guard caressing his fingers. He looked at his weapon and noted that his weapon is used as a last line of defense in today's time, but was often used in the past. He wondered if this was the case due to his capabilities and his power foresees.
He slowly put away his sword and pulled it out again before putting it away.
"You're still staying in the inn at the crossroad, right?" Malinda asked.
"Yeah, but do you know if there's a library around there?"
"Yes...It's not that far from where you are staying and it's just a couple of blocks. Why?" Malinda and the others gave him a curious expression and Liam shrugged.
"For research purposes..."
"Alright, well...be safe on your way back." Liam nodded his head and they both departed their ways. On his way back, Liam had been thinking about what Abi stated about the demons having tons of fighting experience.
'They've been in this world for eons, so it's common sense they would easily win in a fight no matter who they are, especially if they are Omegas.' Whatever his power is guiding him to his future, he'll take it.
Liam mimicked the punch he threw in the past few days. It does not look like a haymaker. He observed the shape of the attack and noticed that it was in the shape of a hook.
'If they have fighting experiences and faced every style around the world, then a new style would have the upper hand.' He needed more. This type of attack is not enough for him to win in a fight. Creating a new martial art is the key.
He arrived at the library and noticed that it was still open during the glimpse of dawn. He wasted no time and entered the library. Speed walking through every aisle till he came upon a book he was looking for.
'Secrets in Sword Fighting. Simple enough.' Liam found a spot where he could read the book peacefully.
He flipped the book to the table of contents.
'Chapter 1: Introduction page 5. Chapter 2: The Style's Purpose page 20. Chapter 3: Fencing page 35.'
Liam went to chapter three. He knew fencing was the most basic sword style every soldier had learned since it grasped the importance of all sword fights. Distance and Timing. He observed the picture of the stance and then one of the basic attacks. Thrust. He is not going to look to make improvements from a basic attack to its perfected form. He is taking ideas.
'The lead arm is bent forty-five degrees and giving the attack more of a spring-like.' Liam performed a long guard and then bent his lead arm, bringing his fist close to his shoulder. He diverted his attention to the picture before throwing a punch.
'No, that's not it. They would see my elbows out before I throw it.' Liam had to fight his muscle memory. Throwing an attack he's familiar with is hard to change. He changed his stance to fencing and thrust his arm out.
His elbows weren't out when he did it without a weapon. Liam tried it again to his modified guard. Then, he threw a new type of punch. Liam was surprised to see how fast he could throw.
'Was it because of my capabilities as a Champion?' He did it again and shook his head. It wasn't because he is a Champion. The way his arm came back to its original position seems effective. However, throwing a punch from a lead arm is way faster than usual. Liam worried about the lack of power if he threw a lead punch. It didn't look powerful until he noticed a gust of wind flowing through the aisle.
'What if I step in with the punch?' The wind is even stronger in the aisle. Liam is intrigued. With a little change in his attack, it exceeds his expectations.
'What if I rotate my fist?' It did again with a much noticeable change of power. A wide spiraling wind from the force.
'If I rotate my fist even further to my thumb facing down...' A spiraling wind that is so compact and focused on a single point.
These steps are starting to make Liam think back about his stance. Maybe he just needs to bend his arm a bit for his punch to travel twice as fast. But he can't be so sure unless proven in a sparring or a fight.
'Maybe this is not a new martial art, but new techniques in Pugilism.'
"Ahem..." Liam stopped his track and slowly gazed over his shoulder to find the library attendant staring at him annoyingly for making gusts of wind in the library.
"Hehe...sorry." Liam closed the book and put it back to where it was before leaving the library to avoid trouble. He headed back to the inn while thinking about the techniques.
'Let's see how these work in training.'