~Stab~Stab~Stab~
"For how long do I have to keep doing this." Karn asked Ian, as he got seemingly tired of continuously stabbing the air with his wooden stick, the one that he has been carrying around his waist for months.
"I told you not to stop didn't I" Ian roared furiously like any strict instructor would. "you'd be doing this for the rest of your life now, so stop complaining and start practicing. "
Karn grumbled due to Ian's menacing tone, but still didn't left the training in the middle, as he clenched his wooden stick and continued stabbing in the air.
With Ian's help, he has atleast been assured that his family won't starve themselves, as their lifestyle got improved significantly with the money he got from the herb.
Atfirst his parents were suspicious about source from were he was bringing back such excessive amount of food, as they were even afraid that their son might even started resorting to stealing. that's why he had to come up with a convenient lie about him getting a job at a local herb shop right across the town, and since his are parents usually busy with their work they won't have the time validate his statement.
As his family is well fed he could tell the condition and atmosphere in his house has changed on a positive note, and it was all thanks to this strange cat he picked up from the forest.
So the last thing karn wants to do is argue with the person who was the source of this sudden good fortune.
"Alright, Now start practicing Vertical slash, I don't need explain it again to you do I?"
"I know what Vertical slash is" Karn said with a irritated tone before taking a deep breath while correcting his posture according to Ian's instructions.
As he raised his stick, high up in the air before slicing it downwards. Karn continued repeating his actions for a few times before finally getting interrupted by Ian.
"No you Idiot!, You are supposed to use all your strength while bringing that sword downwards" Ian roared with a scolding tone "Listen carefully if you don't put your heart into training while practicing swordsmanship, then you are just wasting your time swinging around that stick."
Karn didn't dared to argue back with Ian he was looking into his pasionate eyes, he could tell just how serious Ian was about this art form, as it even made the usually stoic and nonchalant Cat lose his control. he immediately followed Ian's instructions and started performing the Vertical slash according to his guidance.
'Not good I just lost control of myself' Ian thought inwardly. 'These brings me back to the days when I started learning swordsmanship from sword King krugel.'
He reminished about the old days when he was particularly curious about the swords and swordsmanship and asked his friend krugel for guidance, just a week after he started practicing, Ian wanted quit immediately, but krugel always dragged him back to training, saying he won't quit until Ian completely master's his swordsmanship.
Ian shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts 'this is not the time for reminiscing the past, I should not forget why I am here, I have a goal to achieve, and for that I need to make that kid as strong as I possibly could.'
After Continuous strides of Vertical Slash, Ian instructed his to move on and start practicing Horizontal Slash.
After practicing for nearly 12 hours, Ian eventually called the day for practicing.
"Usually our training ends within 3 to 4 hours, why did it took so long today." Karn asked.
"For now onwards this is going to be a regular occurrence" Ian said as he looked at karn "I told you didn't I, the intensity is only going to increase from now on, So what do you say are you on for the challenge ?"
Karn nodded after hearing Ian's provocative tone, as even he felt, it would be a waste to give up now after all the efforts he has already put into it.
For the entire next month Karn kept training 'Straight stab' , 'Vertical slash' and horizontal Slash' Repeatedly.
As each day passed by, his proficiency with all these three swords moves increased little by little.
After Ian felt, like karn made an satisfactory progress he decided to move on to the next step.
"Swordsmanship has millions if not billions of variations and combinations, but all those variations are the root of three basic sword concepts." Ian spoke with a heavy voice as he took his lecturing stance. "Now can you tell me what those three concepts are."
"Hmm, A straight Stab, a Vertical Slas...." Before Karn immediately interrupted him.
"WRONG" Ian shook his head with a sharp tone "Just because I told you to practice those three moves, you thought that would be the answer to my question didn't you."
"He hee" Karn laughed slightly, cause Ian's reasoning was completely spot on.
"From now on just say you don't know honestly, don't go around randomly guessing it, see you just broke my flow, So where was I, Ah yes three Basic concepts are Stabbing, Cutting and Slicing"
Ian bellowed.
"So no matter how strong a Swordsman gets, he always has to keep polishing those three core concepts"
"Got it" Karn said while responding to Ian with a nod.
"Those three sword moves you have been practicing have all the basic concepts ingrained in it"
"Now pay attention to everything I am about to say, without missing a single bit detail." Ian murmured with a very low voice "I'm about to teach you one of the best swordsmanship in this continent."
"It's called Nine Heaven's Swordsmanship, If you managed to master all the Nine stances of this swordsmanship, you're quaranteed to reach atleast the Rank of a ' 7 Star Sword Master."
"There's a limit to how much your going to brag, you should know, currently there are only Four Sword Master's in the entire Continent" Karn immediately refuted.
"Believe it or not, it's completely your choice, it doesn't change what you have to do" Ian responded to Karn's suspicion."Now quickly prepare your stance and follow every single step I mention without making any mistake."
The Nine Heaven's Swordsmanship is an ancient Swordsmanship that dates back tens of thousands of years ago, it was the main Swordsmanship of 'Mayan Empire', an ancient superpower which perished in the war against the Demons.
As Ian slowly started imparting all the knowledge about the Nine Heaven's Swordsmanship, and Karn obediently followed every single step, as his focus completely shifted on mastering this new swordsmanship.
It took several weeks for Ian to just, explain every single intriguit steps consisting in Nine Heaven's Swordsmanship.
Karn could feel the complexity and arduousness of this swordsmanship, as it seems to be the most difficult thing he ever learned in his life, it has had it's own sets of movement's, which just raised the bar of its difficulty even higher, making it even more complex than it already is.
He almost quit several times, but immediately stopped himself after first hand witnessing the amount of effort and hardwork Ian was putting through to teach him.
After what seems like eternity, and after going through several trials and error ,the duo finally succeed on learning the basic entrquit of Nine Heaven's Swordsmanship.
But Both of them were well aware that it was nothing but the start of long arduous path that is up ahead In front of them, as Karn still has to master all the Nine stances to the point, that he can use it on practical terms, and their current self hasn't even taken their first step towards towards reaching that unprecedented realm.
But all those new Knowledge and challenge ignited something deep inside Karn's heart which even Ian was unaware of, all these sudden influx of knowledge and a common goal to strive for, a spark of fire filled with passion ignited inside his heart, which wasn't present before due to his upbringing and lack of knowledge.
Months passed by one after another, but the intensity at which the duo dedicated themselves into training didn't cease to exist, on the contrary the intensity only kept on increasing as time slowly kept on passing by.
In a blink of an eye, two years passed by, since Ian came back to the past, and roughly around 21 months, Since he has been teaching Karn Swordsmanship.
"In just a month, he will officially turn into an adult." Ian murmured softly while looking at the tanned young man, with black hair and brown eyes, swinging and training his sword diligently with utmost focus, as if he and his sword are the only thing around in this world.
In the Continent of Cresentia, one is officially considered an adult once they reach the age of fourteen, But this also meant a new issue for Ian to deal with, as Karn would officially become a serf belonging to a noble, and would need to start tending on the fields,just like his parents.