Arriving in his training clothes and a light, fur parka, Rolf looks for Grant. Leaving the Manor and walking towards the subsidiary building behind the manor, Rolf enters the training grounds and walks towards the biggest building with the words "Training Hall" above it.
Entering, Rolf finally finds Grant cleaning and polishing weapons on the weapon rack in one of the corners of the giant training hall. Curious, Rolf asks him if they were actually using swords today.
"Correct, today you will officially begin your sword training", Grant responded. After putting down the sword he was holding, Grant proceeded,
"Before we start, you need to start warming up, go run 4km, and then once you complete that, come back to the training ground and drop and give me 30 push ups, if you mess up any of the push ups, you will do 5 more for each one you get wrong", with a dry gulp Rolf agreed not letting his hesitation be shown and swiftly left the training hall and assumed the path he took yesterday for running. By the time he got to 2km he took off the parka, as at this point it was only hindering him.
Around 30 minutes in total, Rolf came jogging back to Grant. Seeing Rolf sweaty and winded, Grant knew that with time, Rolf would have the endurance close to a seasoned warrior.
"Good, now drop and give me 35 pushups", Grant ordered.
"Don't you mean 30? That's what you said before", Rolf corrected him.
"It's 35 since it took you so long to run and now it's 40 for talking back, now drop and give me 40", Grant quipped.
Holding in the urge to retort, Rolf began to do his 40 push ups. Although easier than the day before, Rolf began trembling near the end and had to make sure his push ups were all correct otherwise he would just have to do 5 more. Several minutes later, Rolf got on his knees and was panting loudly while waiting for Grant's next instructions, however, when he looked up Grant was nowhere to be seen. Getting up, Rolf decided to look at the weapons that Grant was cleaning up earlier that morning.
Walking back into the training room where all the weapons were, Rolf observed all the different kinds of weapons there. Lined from long to short there were wooden swords of nearly every weapon you could think of, from the Central Continent's modern gladius and its variations, to the East's and West's Katana and Dadao, respectively. Although there were a bunch of wooden swords he couldn't find the actual metal swords that Grant was cleaning, the only actual weapons that he could find was a bunch of polearms sticking out of a giant cylinder. Uninterested, Rolf went back to examining the wooden swords.
Going through them all for the umpteenth time, a katana and a short gladius seems to have caught his interest. Although unusual, a novice swordsman would usually go for either a regular gladius, a bastard sword, or a broad sword. Much like a claymore, a katana requires special attention to draw out its full capabilities, however, unlike a claymore the katana wouldn't have as many problems dealing with smaller spaces should the wielder find themselves in one.
Grabbing the katana in one hand and the short gladius in the other, he notices the differences in weight, although he liked the curve of the katana and they way it looked, it was much heavier compared to the compact and short gladius, even if they were made from wood they wouldn't be that much heavier right?
Although they were both under 2kg Rolf could feel the small differences in weight.
*CLAP CLAP CLAP*
Turning around to see who was behind him, Rolf saw Grant looking at him with a weird gleam in his eye.
"I see you've noticed pretty quickly", Grant commented. Rolf had an inkling about what Grant said but still tilted his head in confusion.
"These are all enchanted weapons, specifically these are enchanted to act as real weapons," seeing the amazement in Rolf's eyes, Grant continued,
"They were enchanted to be as strong as real weapons so they are as tough as regular steel, and perhaps one of the most important details is that each and every one of them are tailored to the same weight as if they were the weapon itself", Grant finished and then smirked towards Rolf.
"Want to see a little trick?", Grant asked. Still speechless by enchanted weapons, Rolf just nodded. Grant then reached towards the katana and said "You might want to hold it with both hands", Grant laughed.
Listening to Grant, Rolf put down the short gladius and gripped the katana with both hands and was ready for Grant to do something cool with it. Contrary to Rolf's beliefs, Grant just inwardly laughed at him and messed with a rune inside of the katana and quickly Rolf knew that this was not cool.
The katana's tip immediately hit the ground and Rolf understood what Grant did. It seemed that by Grant's meddling with the rune he increased the weight tenfold (~10kg or a little over 20lbs). Seeing Rolf's struggle Grant laughed and said,
"Sorry, sorry, it's always fun to mess with newbies and show them the intricacies of magic, usually when a soldier gets stronger we bump the weight of their weapon especially since it will provide better results then pure physical training", Grant explained, but Rolf just glared at him in response.
"Well then, until lunch time we will be sparring, grab whichever weapon you fancy and come bring it to the small arena" Grant added before walking towards one of the arenas.
Unsure of what weapon to choose, Rolf put the short gladius under his arm, and began pulling the now 10kg (20lbs) katana towards the arena Grant was in.
Seeing as Rolf didn't go back to choose another weapon and stuck with the ones he already chose, Grant felt conflicted. When Grant started learning the sword, he chose one and stuck with it for years before he decided to try something new, in which he turned out to be naturally gifted with the newfound weapon of his. Yet here Rolf was with 2 weapons of his choosing in order to give him a better chance of finding something better that he liked. Grant felt conflicted that a 3 year old kid did something he didn't when he was younger. Seeing as Rolf was struggling to haul the katana towards him he sighed and walked to Rolf and undid the katana's weight enhancement.
"Choose one for right now, you can always try a different one tomorrow or next week" Grant commented, although one month may not seem like a long time, that was plenty to learn the basics of the 2 weapons.
Although Rolf felt indifferent to which weapon he would learn with, he chose the katana.
"Now come at me with all you got, no need to for you to learn stances or techniques as I will just be getting a feel of where you are at with this weapon, feel free to do whatever seems natural" after saying that Grant grabbed his wooden stick and beckoned Rolf to come at him.
Rolf heeded his words and rushed in at him.
*CLAK CLAK CLAK*
"Gruh!", Rolf was hit in the stomach just seconds after they exchanged blows.
"Always focus on your enemies movements, not just where you are hitting", Grant instructed.
And like this they continued for hours until noon had passed.
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After eating what the servants prepared for him, Rolf reviewed what he learned today.
'Regardless of whether you strike first or not, keeping your guard up is the difference between life and death on the battlefield. Always keep a firm grip on your weapon, never trust your opponent's words, and strength and technique are most important in sword battles.' Memorizing what he learned, Rolf left the manor once again and headed towards the Training Hall again only to be stopped outside by Grant with a sword on his waist and holding the katana he was using earlier.
"Are we sparring more today Mr. Grant?", Rolf asked while looking at his wooden katana.
"Nope, we're continuing your physical conditioning, and we're going to implement the enchanted sword into it", tossing it to Rolf, Grant began speaking again,
"First I'll teach you the first pose and form for nearly all sword users", understanding that he would be learning his very first sword form, Rolf was ecstatic. "Now watch carefully, I will only show this to you a couple of times" after saying that Grant got into the pose.
The pose was very basic and simplistic but with proper form and practice, this pose would leave you no openings on the battlefield as well as be the foundation to your career in swordsmanship, failing this meant failing the ways of the sword.
With one foot forward and one slightly behind, Grant legs seemed to become a tank and his hands unsheathed his steel sword. Gripping it firmly in both hands, he positioned the sword in an "A" grip with his arms, not locking them but loose enough that he could easily contort in order to block an incoming strike. Slanting the blade away from him and keeping it straight, he raises his arms slowly and makes a slow downwards slice.
"Understand? It should look like that in the proper form and of course you will be doing it faster since this was only demonstrational practice" as Rolf's heart began beating louder and louder, Grant then said,
"At its peak form you will eventually be able to do this," soon after Grant stops speaking he raises his sword once again, however, this time he closes his eyes. Feeling the elements and air around him Grant takes a sharp breath and does a quick horizontal slice towards a dummy across the field around 10 meters away.
As Grant closed his eyes Rolf became confused until he saw Grant's sword begin to shine and emit a clear deep blue color and got brighter as Grant swung his sword, seeing what looked like light shooting out of the sword he followed it as quickly as he could but ultimately could not see what it hit.
"And that Rolf, is the pride of a swordmaster, it's called Sword Aura, it allows you to reach targets far away just like I did with that practice dummy over there" Grant said with a haughty and wide smile.
Rold turned to the practice dummy but it was still standing, before he was able to say anything to Grant though.
*THUMP*
The practice dummy was cut cleanly in half, as Rolf's jaw dropped, his heart was beating out of his chest and his eyes were shining so bright Grant could have sworn they could have made the sun run for its money.
Before Rolf could say anything, Grant chuckled and added,
"Well, it'll take you years before you can get that good, so here's your next exercise, after you do your 20 push up, sit ups, squats and 2km run you will be doing the first form I showed you, with accuracy until nightfall everyday for the next couple weeks, now start exercising!~", after hearing that Rolf knew that it was too good to be true and grunted as he began his exercises.
After finishing his exercises Rolf was told that every day for the next 2 weeks Gran would increase the weight on his katana by 1kg starting at 2, adding that to the 1 day that has already passed that brings us to a grand total of 15kgs by the end of this 2 week period.
—--------------
And just like that 2 weeks flew by…