"Enough slacking now, let's get back to work. At the rate you're training, forget about beating Henry. Even defeating one of his lackeys will be a miracle," he said.
"Fine I understand I need to push myself harder," I replied with a determined expression.
"That's more like it. Now repeat what we did before, but as soon as your front foot hits the ground, throw a jab. As you may know, your jab is your longest punch and is mostly used to gauge the distance between you and your opponent."
Using the palm of my hands, I wiped the sweat off of my forehead before dropping back into my stance. When I trained using the martial arts book, I stayed mostly stationery while striking, so this would prove to be quite the challenge. Each time I threw a punch while moving, it felt awkward and plain wrong sometimes.
"This isn't working," I yelled.
"Do you know why?"
"No, tell me," I said.
"Figure it out yourself," Jasper said while laughing.
"You asshole - "
"But I'll give you a hint. It all has to do with energy," he interjected.
What could he possibly mean by energy. My brain rattled, striving to understand what he meant by that and after a couple of minutes, it finally clicked.
The reason why my striking felt off was because I wasn't transferring the energy correctly. The movement of my feet should match the rotation of my hips and my arm should follow that same rotation for maximum power and speed. Only then would my body behave as a singular unit instead of several separate parts.
I seemed to have hit the nail on the head as Jasper gave me a nod of satisfaction when I fixed my mistake. My attacks were far more cohesive now!
"You can begin using the way of the wind to move and punch with more speed and power. You have a great advantage over others as you are aware of the best time to close the distance between you and your adversary. You also know where the streams of air are moving towards and you can see the gaps between them."
"Try to advance in those gaps or lunge with the wind pushing you forward," he added.
Jasper's words were full of wisdom so I did my best to assimilate as much as humanly possible. Were all orcs as knowledgeable as him? As soon as he noticed that I was fairly proficient at the task he had given to me, he switched things up.
"Now, each time your rear foot makes contact with the ground, throw a cross. Your cross is your power punch and you should rotate your foot and hips when striking. Remember, the jab is used to gauge the distance, but once the opponent is in range, use the cross to finish him," the orc said.
"Also, keep your hands up at all times. If you can reach your opponent, he most likely can strike you as well," he added.
Occasionally, my heels would touch the ground and Jasper would take great pleasure in whacking the rod into my flesh.
"Why are you hitting me harder!"
"Because you don't seem to understand when I ask you not to put your heels on the ground," he said while laughing.
My deltoid muscles were aching after throwing hundreds of punches and my legs were burning, not only from the numerous hits they endured but just staying on the balls of my feet was physically taxing.
My back became more hunched as the session progressed and my pace decreased.
"This looks pathetic. My grandmother could punch better than you, and she's dead. Put some life into it!"
"Three more laps and you're done. Come on, push harder," he shouted.
Listening to his motivational words gave me a boost in energy and morale which made me fight through the exhaustion. I thought back to my tribe and my family who were brutally snatched away from me. What was my goal? To never lose anything again! I yelled at the top of my lungs as I punched.
A cloud of dirt was kicked up each time my feet thumped the ground, making me cough. My body was covered in a layer of putrid sweat as the blazing sun kept shining over me.
"He's progressing fast and his determination is through the roof. Maybe he will be able to shake the orc society to its core," Jasper mumbled to himself.
Even though I felt like I was dying a couple of times, I managed to complete the three laps and overcame my limits; I thought that we were returning home, but I couldn't have been more mistaken.
"Take ten minutes of rest then we'll continue."
"Wait, but you said that we would be done."
"I did say we would be done. We'd be done with footwork training, not training in general," he said with a cunning smile.
"We still have to complete our regular regiment," he added.
"My blood will be on your hands if I die," I replied.
"Oh don't be such a coward. You'll be fine. Hurt, definitely, but you'll still be breathing," Jasper said.
"Those are some reassuring words."
It felt as if I donned a weighted vest while performing the exercises. Every movement was much harder to execute due to my tiredness; no matter how tough things got, I did not give up and pulled through.
"Are we done now?" I asked as my body crashed against the ground. My chest kept expanding and contracting as I tried to catch my breath.
"Who's going to run for you?" he asked.
"You're really enjoying my suffering, aren't you?"
"You bet I am," he replied while laughing.
"Get up and begin running. We don't have all day!"
"One day I'm going to kill him," I murmured to myself.
"What was that? Do you have something you'd like to share with me?" Jasper asked.
"Nothing much, I was just reminding myself of how awesome of a master you are."