My afternoons for the rest of the week were spent on the training ground.
Luca made me do a recap of what I'd learned, working on my proper stance again and demonstrating the basic blocks. And then we moved on to the dummies, just so I could practice whacking on a stationary object with all my strength.
The dummy's torso, made of thatch, was very satisfying to whack, but whenever I hit its arms, which is a horizontal wooden pole, it caused uncomfortable vibrations to travel from the sword to my hands. Luca randomly rotated the dummy's arms so I could practice on different angles of blocking.
By the fifth day, and due to my persistent insistence, Luca finally allowed me to handle a real sword. Not a fully-functional one though. He gave me a sword with blunt edges. It could still cause damage with enough force, but it wouldn't slice off my skin if I were to touch it accidentally. It wasn't easy. I realized I was way over my head as soon as we began training with the real sword.
