Chapter 6 Force Training Montage
Rayleigh spent his first two days on Tython getting acclimated to the campsite and getting to know the Jedi.
The Iktotchi Jedi, Dasee Viz, was an out-of-the-box thinker and big-picture guy. The main concern when it came to him was that he often over-extended himself and created more problems than he solved.
The Twi'lek Jedi, Room Drista, could fix and program anything. Every piece of machinery they had was assembled and maintained by him and him alone.
The red-skinned Zabrak Jedi, Tray Scoffmo, came off as a grumpy orc with a bad sense of humor. He was the first to take credit for anything and the first to push the blame onto someone else if anything went wrong. He was often seen reminding Master Viz to put his name down when taking credit for certain discovered relics or theories.
The brown-skinned Zabrak, Galar Meed, was a Karen, through and through. According to Master Viz, his upright and rules-oriented personality was more common among the Jedi than the laid-back attitudes some of the others in the team possessed.
And the human female Jedi, Lisarra Dyanameez, was the mother hen of the group. Though most of the time she was a hardass, you could always feel the care behind any reproach she dealt out.
Right from the start, Master Dyanameez had forbidden Rayleigh from using Psychometry on anything until he had received some proper training. She educated Rayleigh and the others on the dangers of Psychometry and the possibility of being polluted by what he touched. She even claimed Rayleigh's high level of maturity was a result of the bleed-through of things he had touched in the past. Though he seemed fine, it wasn't wise or healthy to allow that to continue until he was older and had more of his own experiences.
Since this meant receiving an accelerated crash course in training, Rayleigh was quick to agree, and on the third day since his arrival on Tython, he was given his first lesson on using the Force by Master Viz.
"First, we must start with the Jedi Code. This is how all Jedi interact with and communicate with the Force. Only through meditating on the Code can you strengthen your connection to the Force. Are you ready?"
Rayleigh nodded. On the inside, he wondered if it was like some complex cultivation scripture that allowed one to harmonize with the Heavens and Earth.
Master Viz became solemn and recited in a completely emotionless monotone.
"There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force."
Rayleigh waited for more but was dumbfounded when he realized that was it. 'Cultivation my ass! It's just more kool-aid! This was nothing more than in-depth brainwashing and indoctrination from a young age to create obedient little followers who don't ask questions!'
Since he was still in Character Mode, none of his incredulity was observed by his new teacher.
Master Viz continued, "The Force is a mysterious energy field created by life that binds the galaxy together. It is present in all living things, and when they die, the Living Force within them returns to the Cosmic Force. The Comic Force then returns to the Galaxy with the birth of new life."
He wasn't expecting the four-year-old to understand a fraction of this, but there was a reason he mentioned it, even if it was above the child's learning capacity.
"There are three aspects to using the Force. The first is Control. Control means controlling the Living Force within your own body. The second aspect is Sense. Sense means expanding your awareness of the Force within your body to include the Force outside of your body. The final aspect is Alter. Alter means controlling the Force you sense outside your body as if it was in your body, effectively becoming one with your surroundings."
Even if Rayleigh didn't understand what Master Viz was saying, he would remember the lesson. This was due to a skill that all members under the Council of First Knowledge were required to possess, Impartation. It was a Force skill that allowed a teacher to impart their understanding of a subject to a willing, Force-sensitive student during a lecture. Impartation could only be used properly when children were under a certain age. It was mostly used to impart a teacher's understanding of a language, allowing students to learn dozens of languages very quickly. A teacher skilled in Impartation could also accelerate their student's advancement in other subjects. This was how younglings of the Jedi Temple could learn a High School Diploma's worth of subject knowledge before the age of twelve.
"We will start with the first aspect, Control. Now, what do you believe is the best way to learn control?"
Ray answered, "Meditation?" He'd seen some of the Jedi meditate in their downtime and knew not to disturb them.
Master Viz nodded, "That is the primary way. Now, what do you think is the first step of proper meditation?"
"I don't know." He was still in Character Mode and Rayleigh Rush had never meditated in his life.
Master Viz nodded with approval. It was better to admit you did not know something than to act with unfounded confidence on an unproven guess. Anticipating this answer, Master Viz replied, "The first and most fundamental step is to control your breathing. There is nothing more fundamental. You can't expect to control anything if you can't even control your breathing. So first, I will teach you how to breathe."
Master Viz's lesson on breathing wasn't as simple as, 'inhale for three, hold for five, exhale for three.' It was a tad more esoteric and focused on listening to your heart rate and creating a proper breathing rhythm using your heartbeat as a base. Of course, this led to the practice of trying to feel your heartbeat at all times. As Master Viz said, "If you cannot even feel your own heartbeat, you cannot expect to feel the Force."
To the Inner Rayleigh, this was better than he expected. He originally thought meditation would consist of quieting his mind, but the Jedi's meditation was far more advanced than his simple interpretation. He didn't understand the concept of Impartation yet, but he did notice that he was absorbing the lessons quickly, which made his biologically four-year-old brain happy.
The reason that the directions on breathing were closer to a guideline than hard numbers was that most species were not identical when it came to lung capacity, breathing rhythms, and heartbeat patterns. The guidelines Master Viz imparted, on the other hand, had undergone tens of thousands of years of evolution and were the foundation for the Jedi's strength over the last few millennia. It applies accurately to just about every species with lungs and a heart.
The Iktotchi Jedi Master spent two weeks teaching and guiding Rayleigh on how to breathe and control his breathing, which also led to listening to his heart rate. This form of breathing training led perfectly to the next segment of Control Training. To listen to your heart rate, you had to silence your body. By practicing breathing in a way that required you to always listen to your heart rate, you were also practicing silencing your body at all times. This was incredibly important, as it was only possible to sense the Force within the body at first when the mind and body were completely silent.
For the next lesson, Master Viz guided Rayleigh in his meditation session. "Once you have silenced your body, you must silence your mind. Only when your mind and body are still and quiet will you feel the motion and hear the sound within you that is both a part of you and not a part of you."
Rayleigh exited Character Mode and took full control during these lessons, since practicing while in Character Mode wouldn't do him a lot of good if he didn't always remain in character. At first, he thought it would help him, but only later did he realize he was wrong.
It reminded him of a Zen Master stating that a full cup cannot receive anything further. Because Rayleigh had a lot of prior knowledge and was filled with expectations, it held him back a lot at first. It was only after abandoning the preconceived notions he held, after unlearning what he thought he knew, that he was able to advance further and reach this point. That, and Master Viz was very exacting. Proper breathing basically allows you to indirectly control your heartbeat, which is why his Breathing Control lesson took two weeks to finish. Though he was delayed by his need to unlearn and remove his bad habits, that was still quite fast according to Master Viz.
When Rayleigh brought his mind and body to the utmost stillness, he did feel something. His first thought, once he had a grasp on the sensation, was if this was how it felt to have a tail. The sensation came from something that was almost like another limb. It was difficult to describe using words. If asked, 'how does your hand feel,' the answer would be, 'like a hand.' Still, he decided to just go with the tail analogy. It was a new limb and a part of him as much as his hands and feet. It was almost completely numb up until this point, but it was waking up and he was learning to control it.
When Ray described the feeling of his new limb, Master Viz smiled and nodded. It was a bit early to feel the Force, but Master Viz just attributed it to his skillful teaching and Ray's open-mindedness.
Unfortunately for Rayleigh, that was also when the easy lessons ended. Once an Initiate could feel the Force flowing within them, they started the training to get used to the feeling of using the Force within them. The best way to train this was to exhaust the child thoroughly through extensive exercise and get them to subconsciously use the Force to enhance their performance. Doing so multiple times a week for many months was the long-proven best method to get an Initiate's body to remember the feeling of using the Force to enhance their body and, from there, learn to control the Force within them for other means as well.
When Rayleigh answered that meditation was the best way to learn control, Master Viz replied that it was the primary way. However, it was primarily the first step. A majority of an Initiate's proficiency over the Control aspect of the Force was gained through Self-Discipline practices. Intensive, exacting exercises were the most effective forms of Self-Discipline practice.
The Jedi Temple of Coruscant had an extremely elaborate, convoluted obstacle course that could be mechanically adjusted to multiple levels of difficulty and skill. Tython lacked such a thing, so Rayleigh's training was done the old fashion way. Running and swimming.
The valley between the cliff faces that the base camp was set in had two specific historical sites of interest. One was at the southern end of the valley, in a location called the Tythos Ridge. It was the ruins of Kaleth, the Temple of Knowledge. This location once had computer data banks with thousands of years' worth of knowledge and history. Much of it was destroyed, though, and the remainder of it was declared off-limits by the High Council.
The team's expedition focused on the second site of interest. Three thousand six hundred years ago, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was sacked, and they came here and built a new headquarters. It was abandoned during the following Sith Wars, but much of it still remained. Though large, there were few if any decorations or embellishments. The Temple was built on a foundation of piety and simplicity. The only adornments around the Temple were the statues of honored Jedi from the past.
In front of the old Temple was a massive stone veranda that stretched for hundreds of meters and included many stairs. This was the running course the Jedi assigned Rayleigh to run until he dropped. This was also where the team set up their base camp.
The veranda in front of the Temple was devoid of trees which meant little to no wildlife in the area, which is what made it relatively safe to run around in. There were dozens of species in the surrounding forests alone capable of killing a tiny child like himself, and he was not permitted to run outside a designated safe area.
Although the former Jedi Temple was massive, the team did not camp inside. They erected what were basically modular steel tents to be used for rooms and shelter. The Temple's exterior was built into the face of the cliff, and the Temple's interior was inside the cliff. The possibility of rooms collapsing and burying them alive was ever-present, which is why they did not spend any longer inside the site than needed.
The veranda also had dozens of massive stone statues, some intact, others not. Each was a Jedi with a story, and there were many such statues littered around the valley.
Rayleigh's schedule for the next year was decided after being given a physical education routine. In the mornings, he'd eat breakfast with the Jedi. Then he'd meditate for half an hour. Then he'd run a course that the Jedi would sometimes add to by instructing him to climb or jump from some rocks at the end of the veranda. Next came the second meditation session of the day and lunch. And then study time with the Education Droid. Following that was more meditation, followed by dinner. Then another session with the Education Droid and another meditation session. Finally, he'd have some one-on-one tutoring with a Jedi, usually either Master Viz, Master Dyanameez, or sometimes Master Drista.
He initially thought it was excessive until he found out from the General Chat that the Initiates on Coruscant also had about five meditation sessions a day.
Every day Rayleigh would use his study time with the Education Droid to go to the Tavern. He'd basically go into Character Mode Auto-pilot and everything he learned during that session would be recalled when he returned, so it was the best time to go each day.
At the Tavern, Rayleigh timed his arrival so he could meet up with either Lord_of_Madness, Book_worm, or Miracle. It was a coincidence that they also chose around the same time to show up at the Tavern, where they'd get their free beers and complain about everything together.
Lord_of_Madness was a Sith Player, or at least that was his master plan. Secrets involving Metaknowledge weren't carried outside the Tavern, so they could share some of their secrets quite easily over a glass of beer. Lord_of_Madness got the Immunity to the Dark Side Personality Change Talent and intended to become a knowledge-stealing, lifeforce-draining, god of destruction. He didn't purchase a Lightsaber during Character Creation, so he had more points to use on Easy Masteries. Although their Metaknowledge-filled conversations would not be recalled outside the Tavern, they could still complain about the hypocrisy of the Jedi and the boringness of their respective training regimens.
Book_worm was a girl in the MCU. Her parents were quite rich, and she was known as a genius. She planned to plagiarize every single book she could remember and publish them herself in the MCU. She even offered to pay any of them who could write a book from their past lives and let her publish them. She was quite surprised when Rayleigh offered to write the Kingkiller Chronicles.
At the time, she asked, "Was there already a third one when you died?"
Rayleigh answered, "No, but I can guess what happened using clues from Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear."
"Hmm, I haven't read either, so I'm definitely interested. When will you come to the MCU?"
"No idea, but not for a few years."
"That's fine. I can wait." She would get her first Class eventually, but it seemed there were some advantages to starting in the MCU without a Class.
Miracle was also a girl and a Witch from a neutral pureblood family in the Wizard World's Britain. She wanted to learn how to invent her own magic spells so she could do anything. One would think Pure Bloods would have an advantage over muggleborns when it came to learning magic early, but such an opinion did not take into account the word "tradition." It was against tradition to learn magic before getting your wand. It was against tradition for a girl to handle the family business. It was against tradition to read any book written by a non-magical being or half-blood.
Not that Wizard children had nothing but free time. Pure Blood children from old families were basically taught how to read and write through the long and boring introduction of their family's honorable history. Even basic math skills were imparted simply by dealing with historical dates and time frames when learning about what their ancestors did and when they did it.
The rest of their pre-Hogwarts education came from magic workbooks that could be purchased from Flourish and Blotts. Said workbooks were often paired with a children's story and taught basic reading and writing skills. More advanced workbooks teach other subjects like handwriting and maths. Since the workbooks were magic, the parents could just give them to their children and tell them to finish up some of the pages each day until the books were completed. This was how "modern" magical children were traditionally homeschooled before Hogwarts in Britain.
Of course, since their reincarnation included a complete set of knowledge for reading and writing in the local language, none of the Wizard Players had any use for the workbooks and would spend the next seven years trying to either practice magic without a wand or hide the fact that they had a Wand and practice magic using it in secret. Miracle fell into the latter category.
Rayleigh did not tell them his name and only used his Chat Room title of Swordsman in person. This was because Rayleigh Rush was an alliteration, and since the main world was the MCU, Rayleigh would not put it past the Tavern to give everyone who got the 20 Talent Bundle an Alliteration Style Name. The other Players would likely figure it out eventually, but since everyone else was using their Chat Room names, he wasn't going to try and end the trend himself.
A year after arriving on Tython, the Jedi collectively admitted Rayleigh was probably not normal. It was one thing to get a feel of Force Valor through repetitive, intensive exercises. It was another for it to be grasped by a five-year-old to the point that they were unable to tire him out after an hour of running and climbing. Only swimming had an effect, and they didn't let him near the river without a lot of supervision.
Rayleigh had also grown a full head taller and looked much healthier than his previous scrawny four-year-old self.
In any case, since his physical control over the Force had reached beyond the minimum pre-requisite, they decided it was time to teach him the Lightsaber Forms. Lightsaber Forms were the best way to advance from teaching Control to teaching Sense.
Master Dyanameez took over the next lesson and provided Rayleigh with a training saber. Of the Jedi on Tython, she was the strongest with a Lightsaber and the most qualified to impart and teach.
Although Rayleigh had never trained in fencing or with a sword, he did have some weapons training in his past life and started the first lesson with high expectations. This led to a repeat performance of his first meditation sessions. His expectations did not do him any favors.
According to Master Dyanameez, "The Lightsaber allows you to extend your Force presence outside your body. Once outside of your body, your Force presence will sense everything around you. Learning how to interpret that sense and react accordingly can only be done through endless practice."
As with everything, they started with the foundations, Form I: Shii-Cho.
The katas for Lightsaber practices were called Velocities, and the Velocities for Shii-Cho included the basics of attack, parry, and body target zones. For each body target zone, there was a method to attack and a method to defend. There were two methods of practicing, Ideal, and Live Combat. When practicing using Ideal form, you hold the blade perfectly horizontally for sweeps, or perfectly vertically for chops. When practicing using the Live Combat Form, you hold the blade diagonally for slices. When sparring, you block perpendicular to your opponent's blade. Parries were only performed diagonally to minimize unnecessary movement.
Shii-Cho was simple. Although it could be raised to a far more complex level when using variations, at its core, it was incredibly simplistic. There were no fancy acrobatics, no risky maneuvers, and no chance of slicing off your limbs. Because of this, it was an ideal method to teach the basics of Lightsaber combat and the first form every Initiate was taught.
During an attack, the attacker's goal was not to break their opponent's defense and cut them in half, but to push against their blade hard enough to disarm them. Shii-Cho's simplicity allowed room for aggression and strength, which in turn required restraint when practicing, lest the user end up feeding the form with their emotions to reach greater heights of power.
Winning a sparring match using Shii-Cho required pushing the opponent back until they were tired out and then disarming them. Shii-Cho was used to prevent yourself from being harmed and also to prevent yourself from harming your opponent. Because sparring using Shii-Cho required endlessly pushing yourself against your opponent, the winner was not the stronger fighter, but the one who had the most determination. Thus, Shii-Cho was also called the Determination Form.
According to Master Dyanameez, younglings spent a year or two on Shii-Cho before spending a year or less on each of the sequential forms. Slower Initiates spent several years on Shii-Cho and then a full year or two on the sequential forms.
Mastering the Forms was not required. Not even an accomplished Jedi Knight would claim to have mastered any of the lightsaber forms. Practicing each Lightsaber form built upon the foundations of using the Force, so it was simply a means of exercise that taught different ways to use the Force in practice.
Form I, Shii-Cho, taught the basics of the sword and how to read the flow of the Force.
Form II, Makashi, added weak point targeting, footwork, and feints.
Form III, Soresu, added linked, stance-based maneuvers and Force Precognition for defense against multiple blasters.
Form IV, Ataru, added Force Valor, along with jumping, controlled falling, and spinning maneuvers along all three axes of flipping, spinning, and side-rolling.
Form V, Shien, taught how to deflect a blaster attack towards the shooter, while Form V, Djem So taught how to use the Force to increase the strength of your attacks.
Form VI, Niman, added Force Push and Force Pull to combat and taught how to integrate them into attacking and defense while creating your own style through personalized assimilation of the previous styles.
Each form also had an associated image that contained the philosophy of the form.
The image associated with Shii-Cho was 'waves on the beach.' The flowing and receding of the tide represented Shii-Cho's philosophy of pushing using strength and pulling back when appropriate while fighting an opponent. This was also why practicing Shii-Cho was perfect for practicing Sense as getting the hang of Shii-Cho naturally allowed you to feel the ebb and flow of the Force.
The image associated with Makashi was 'an argument.' To win an argument, you do not use emotion, you use concise, well-grounded logic without straying from the point onto any meaningless tangents. You must understand and aim for the weaknesses in your opponent's logic and not let up until the argument is decided. This represented the balanced nature of Makashi and the use of the most efficient positions and maneuvers to end the fight using as little energy as possible.
The image associated with Soresu was a 'spinning ring that expanded and contracted.' Anything that strikes a spinning ring will be deflected. Anything within the ring is protected from all sides through the most efficient form of deflection, dodging, or reducing target space.
Ataru's image was that of a 'spinning leaf being carried by the wind.' The philosophy of Ataru adds three axes of rotation and constant movement combined with jumping and falling to move in a completely unpredictable manner while being empowered and guided by the Force.
Shien and Djem So share the image of a 'waterfall.' From up close, the force of a waterfall crashes down with unstoppable might, crushing anything beneath it. From a distance, its waters calm down and form a river that takes the path of least resistance after it reaches the ground. This shows Form V's philosophy of strength in close combat and direct flexibility at long range.
Niman's image was that of 'calligraphy.' Easy to learn, easy to personalize, and difficult to master. Niman was a hybrid of the previous five forms and allowed its practitioners to pick and choose which aspects of each to use to create their own style. Its imagery matched how complex and personalized it could become, the more effort one devoted to mastering it. It was the weakest form when insufficiently trained, but if mastered, it was the strongest.
There was a seventh form, but it was not taught without permission.
Rayleigh was very motivated to master every form as fast as possible. Why? He had not understood the reason for the pitying gazes of the other Jedi when Master Dyanameez volunteered to teach him, but he understood it clearly after the first lesson.
Master Dyanameez had a very clear understanding of Lightsaber combat. The greatest weakness one could have was a lack of experience. More specifically, a lack of experience with pain. To ensure Rayleigh did not have such a weakness, the training saber she used was set to maximum pain and every hit hurt like a bee sting rubbed with pepper spray. Ray wept like a baby after the first hit.
Her reasoning for this was that while in pain, a Jedi may make the wrong choice and choose to use that pain to empower their emotions and use those emotions to give them strength. This was the path to the Dark Side. To guarantee Rayleigh would never consider such a thing, she would inflict the maximum amount of pain on him every training session, so he would be experienced at fighting while in pain and never make the wrong choice in real combat.
This was not a weakness most Jedi had to worry about, since, after a certain point, they could use the Force to remove or dull their sense of pain. Master Dyanameez decided to train Rayleigh using this method before he reached that point to get the most out of this training. Anytime it looked like he wanted to quit, she would offer him a ride to Coruscant. He refused every time, of course.
At the end of his first training session, Rayleigh slowly moved his sore, stinging body over to the metal tent that was his room. After closing the door and collapsing on the bed, he went over his options for how to master Lightsaber combat faster. The first option was to use the Lightsaber in his inventory. Using a personalized Lightsaber had a far greater effect when it came to mastering the Force than using a training saber did.
When thinking about his inventory, he remembered something and opened it.
[Inventory
-Lightsaber
-Lightsaber Customization Kit
-Mandalorian Melee Shield
-HK47's Head
-Zoldyck Family Adjustable Training Weight Set]
Now that he knew more about lightsabers, he understood his inventory a little better. But there was one object he had no clue about and, up to this point, had not tried to bring out.
After selecting it, a rust-colored robot head appeared on his pillow. Its eyes glowed with life, showing it was not lacking a power source.
[Query. Why am I in a room with a miniature incontinent meatbag?]
Rayleigh did not know how to respond to that. Not to the question, but to the comparison of a small bag of meat who was unable to control his bowel movements. He was young, but not that young.
Rayleigh decided now was a good time to get out his Lightsaber too. He removed it from his inventory and ignited the blade, revealing a calm blue and white line of light. He felt a strong connection to it and decided to keep the hilt in his hand from now on during meditation. Even without extending the blade, just having a matched, awakened kyber crystal in his grasp greatly expanded his Force Sense.
Rayleigh pointed the lightsaber at the droid's head and politely asked, "Who exactly are you calling incontinent?"
[Retraction. Uhh. I did not mean any offense. May I ask for your designation and my present location?]
Rayleigh retracted his lightsaber and answered, "I'm Rayleigh, a Jedi youngling. We are on Tython at the ruins of the Jedi Temple."
[Query. How did you come into possession of me and what is my current status? I cannot feel my legs.]
Rayleigh picked up the head and spun it around, allowing the droid to figure out its status for itself. "I purchased you a year ago and only recently activated you. I know a little about you. You were built by a Sith, right?"
[Objection. My first Master was far more than just a Sith. Just as I am far more than just a droid, despite my current state. If you purchased me, then you are my new Master.]
"Well, I do need some assistance, but I'm not sure if you can help."
[Qualification. Master, I have killed more Jedi and Sith than you have seen in your short meatbag existence. Even without a body, I am extremely useful.]
"Alright, what do you know about the Lightsaber forms?"
[Commentary. I have seen countless battles between users of every fighting style and have killed dozens of masters of each myself. Query. What is it you wish to know?]
"How to learn them faster."
[Analysis. From my observations and understanding, each form is a program the Jedi installs into their processors which directs the Jedi's body based on input received from what you call the Force. As the Force is not bound by the Jedi's fleshy limitations, such a system allows the Jedi to perform actions at a rate of speed, precision, and efficiency far surpassing what their water-filled bodies should be capable of.]
[Extrapolation. Jedi program themselves slowly, using experience to code their programs one line at a time. If you wish to circumvent this inefficiency, I recommend installing the entire program at once, and making adjustments to it through trial and error.]
That got Rayleigh's attention. It reminded Rayleigh of Street Fighter and similar arcade games. From what the droid explained, each Lightsaber form was like a character from Street Fighter. They had specific movesets, combos, and styles. Using a form was like choosing that character. The Force acted as the guy with the quarters. An arcade game fighter could move far faster when its buttons were being rapidly mashed than a master martial artist could move in real life. So what if he becomes that arcade game fighter?
The theory was worth looking into. Before his reincarnation, he, like every one of his generation, had learned some coding for one reason or another. If he used the individual Velocities as lines and used the image the form's philosophy was based on as the script for the coding, he might be able to directly program himself with each form as he learned them.
Was it dangerous? Yes. But it was still better than Dyanameez's training!