[0/1000 Hits on the Training Dummy]
"Attack the training dummy as if it were a live opponent. Kill it with your sword,"
I swung my sword with all my might, aiming for the training dummy.
"You swing like a child. That doesn't count," Leo scoffed.
"The dummy isn't moving, kid. Aim for the vital spots like the head, shoulder, leg, or thrust into the stomach with your sword. Treat it as if it were a real opponent," Leo advised.
Taking Leo's guidance to heart, I adjusted my aim and swung at the shoulder of the training dummy.
"Your grip on the sword is incorrect. You're holding it too tightly and your hand position is awkward," Leo commented.
Leo demonstrated the proper gripping technique, and I tried my best to emulate it, but ultimately, he had to reposition my hands for me.
With the improved grip, I was able to swing the sword more smoothly, without the previous awkwardness.
"Excellent. Keep swinging and aim for different vital spots each time," Leo encouraged.
My downward swings on the shoulder and head were better, but I struggled with thrusting.
"Thrusting requires proper footwork and engagement of your back muscles," Leo explained.
Leo positioned himself in front of the training dummy, his feet planted firmly on the ground and his back straight.
With a burst of energy, Leo lunged forward, driving the sword straight into the dummy's chest with a quick and powerful thrust. His feet moved in a swift shuffle, seamlessly transferring his body weight to maximize the force behind the stab. His back muscles flexed, adding an extra push to the sword.
"Stab it in the stomach and quickly release your sword to let the blood flow out. Alternatively, you can aim for the chest, specifically the heart, but that requires more control and precision," Leo demonstrated.
I attempted to imitate Leo's technique, thrusting my sword into the back of the training dummy and quickly pulling it out.
"It could be better, but it counts. Keep going," Leo urged.
I practiced vertical slashes, horizontal slashes, diagonal slashes, and thrusts, as Leo demonstrated all the basic techniques.
[Sword Training Level 1 Completed]
As I completed the Sword Training, I had hoped to gain some new skills, but nothing seemed to have changed in the system.
"Not even basic swordsmanship?" I wondered, feeling a tinge of disappointment.
Seeing nothing popped up on the screen, he couldn't help but feel unsatisfied with the results. Without wasting any time, he immediately resumed another training session, determined to improve his skills.
"Even after a thousand swings, you've learned nothing. You're like a disposable side character that I accidentally kill," Leo remarked, his words sharp and cutting.
Augustus couldn't help but feel dejected. "I know I'm not good, but you don't have to say it like that," he muttered under his breath.
Leo, the old man who was supposed to be his instructor, seemed to be enjoying the situation a little too much. "Fortunately, you have unlimited time to learn from me," he said with a smirk.
Leo then explained the training requirement. "Transition between each slash quickly and complete a thousand slashes within five minutes. That's the basic prerequisite," he said, a challenge glinting in his eyes.
With determination in his heart, Augustus swung his sword, trying to meet the requirement.
[Sword Training Level 1 Completed]
"How long did it take me?" Augustus asked anxiously.
"Eight minutes and eighteen seconds," the system responded.
"Keep going, don't stop," Leo urged, suddenly looking excited, as if he had found something interesting other than sleeping.
Augustus couldn't shake off a sense of foreboding as he continued his training.
[Sword Training Level 1 Chosen]
As the training progressed, Leo decided to add a new rule. "Hey, System, this isn't interesting enough. If he fails to meet my requirements, shock him at least once with a level 2 shock."
[The instructor deployed a new rule for the training]
Augustus felt a shiver down his spine. He could feel adrenaline coursing through his veins as he desperately swung his sword, making mistakes in his haste to beat the time.
"This is what I'm talking about. Desperation. Keep up the good work, kid. This is more fun than sleeping, I guess," Leo commented with a sadistic grin.
Augustus had awakened Leo's twisted sense of enjoyment in seeing others suffer.
Leo had been trapped here for billions of years and had almost lost his bloodthirsty nature, but today, he had brought it back.
[Sword Training Level 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[Eight minutes and thirty seconds]
The time it took had increased due to Augustus' mistakes in his desperate attempt to beat the clock.
He felt a jolt of intense pain as the lightning shock hit him, even though he had pain resistance.
It was clear that this training was not going to be easy, and Augustus braced himself for more pain that's going to come at him endless as he failed.
The pain lingered, a torment that lasted for what felt like an eternity before finally fading away. I gritted my teeth, determined to push through.
Leo who's enjoying my suffering decided to brag instead, "Just so you know, every time I got shocked, I got the highest level of it."
I had no energy to spare for his boasting, so I simply resumed my training.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[7 minutes and 50 seconds]
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[8 minutes and 4 seconds]
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[7 minutes and 41 seconds]
...
...
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[5 minutes and 11 seconds]
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
[4 minutes and 59 seconds]
[You have learned 'Basic Swordsmanship']
Finally, I made it through before the five-minute mark.
The grueling training even resulted in leveling up my [Pain Resistance] skill.
"Just so you remember, the sword training remains at level 1. We still have so much to go through before you can start forming your sword aura," Leo reminded me, his tone serious.
"Start it up. Quickly," Leo urged.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 chosen]
"Now we focus on attacking enemies that can defend. The training dummy is moving now," Leo instructed.
As he spoke, the training dummy came alive, leg emerged as he rooted from the ground, resembling a human but made of straw and wood.
The training dummy grasped a sword with its flimsy-looking hand, but to Augustus' surprise, he felt that the dummy was actually better than himself.
As Augustus tried to attack the training dummy, he was unable to land a single hit as the dummy effortlessly parried his attacks, making him stumble and fall to the ground in embarrassment.
"I'm losing to a stupid training dummy," Augustus muttered in frustration.
The dummy's sword parry was flawless, as if it knew Augustus' every move.
Determined to improve, Augustus tried again, this time with a diagonal slash aimed at the dummy's chest and stomach. However, the dummy immediately angled its sword to intercept the attack, as though hitting a slippery barrier that couldn't be sliced through.
"The training dummy is equally as strong as you," Leo remarked, watching Augustus' struggles. "He's as fast as you and knows everything about you from watching you attack him over and over. It's his turn to take revenge against you."
As Augustus swung his sword at the training dummy, Leo watched with a critical eye. The dummy moved with surprising agility, parrying Augustus' attacks effortlessly.
Leo offered guidance, urging Augustus to throw feints and change his attacking pattern to keep the dummy guessing. Augustus recalled his experience with trapping and decoy tactics, and began implementing them in his swordsmanship.
With determination and strategic thinking, Augustus started to break through the dummy's defenses, landing hits one after another. Leo nodded in approval, impressed with his progress.
"Ho... Now that's what I'm talking about," Leo exclaimed. "You might not be talentless after all."
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[7 minutes and 27 seconds]
It took him 7 minutes and 27 seconds to complete the first level of training, which was faster than Leo had anticipated.
"Not bad for a first try. I thought you would take longer than 10 minutes," Leo commented.
"Again," Augustus said, determined to further improve his skills.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[5 minutes and 45 seconds]
This time it took him only 5 minutes and 45 seconds to complete the training, a significant improvement from his previous attempt.
As Augustus got used to the dummy's patterns and to topped it off with his improved swordsmanship, his time needed to complete the training drastically improved.
"I'm very close this time," Augustus thought to himself.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
Bzzt*
[5 minutes and 18 seconds]
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
[4 minutes and 51 seconds]
[Basic Swordsmanship Leveled up]
Without delay, Augustus continued again.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 chosen]
"Next, the dummy can now attack you. Both of you will now use wooden swords. If you get hit once by the dummy, you instantly lose. But for you to win, you need to land one thousand attacks on the dummy," Leo instructed with a serious tone.
"Start now," he said, signaling the beginning of the intense training session.
Bzzt*
Augustus had barely started when he failed within ten seconds. The dummy had become faster compared to when he was only parrying its attacks. Frustration boiled within him as he realized the challenge ahead.
"The dummy is now slightly stronger and faster than you. Since it's swordsmanship versus swordsmanship, your only choice is to defend when you fight against someone clearly stronger than you," Leo advised, his eyes sharp with expectation.
Augustus nodded, steeling his resolve. "Find an opening as you parry your enemy's attacks. There's no time limit this time, feel free to take your time," he reminded himself, focusing on maintaining his stance and keeping his eyes on the dummy's movements.
The training dummy launched its attack, and Augustus clashed swords with it. However, his parry was not as effective as he intended, and his posture collapsed, leaving a slight opening.
The training dummy seized the opportunity and struck him with its sword, causing Augustus to curse in frustration.
Bzzt*
Augustus chose the Sword Training Level 1 again.
This time he managed to perfectly parry one of the dummy's attacks. However, he forgot to counterattack, wasting the opening he had created earlier.
"It's fine," he reminded himself, taking a deep breath. "I'm just have to learn how to parry for now."
With multiple failures, Augustus started to get the hang of parrying attacks.
With it I started to counterattack against the training dummy, seamlessly switching between defending and attacking. Augustus quickly landed a thousand hits on the training dummy without a hitch.
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
['Basic Swordsmanship' Leveled up]
[Sword Training Lvl 1 chosen]
"Now, what's next?" I asked eagerly.
"Your footwork is not bad. You've learned some movement skills. So, we'll skip footwork for now, as it's an entirely different skill set. We're going to the main part," Leo said, his voice filled with excitement.
"System, make me as weak as him so I can spar with him," Leo requested.
[The instructor deployed a new rule for the training]
"You'll get shocked every time you get hit by me. Now, come at me with all you've got, unless you want to get shocked endlessly," Leo warned, tossing me a steel sword while grabbing a branch from a nearby tree to show off the strength difference between us.
As the sparring match began, I charged forward, throwing some feints along the way, but Leo easily saw through them.
He didn't even bother to intercept the feints I threw at him. When I finally threw a real attack, Leo effortlessly dodged it with minimal movement, displaying a level of skill far beyond the training dummy.
Swoosh*
Leo struck me with his tree branch, and I immediately got shocked by system's lightning.
Bzzt*
"This will continue until you hit me once. Come on!" Leo taunted, his skill and speed leaving me in awe.
I tried to use everything I had learned throughout the sword training, deploying feints, thrusting, slashing, but none of it seemed to work against Leo.
The intense sparring session continued, with Leo easily evading my attacks and me getting shocked every time I failed to land a hit.
I ended up getting toyed by Leo, treating the branch as a magic wand that can use lightning magic whenever it hits someone.
"You're not improving when you fight me, weird. Usually, people would improve when they fight stronger enemies," Leo mockingly said to Augustus, who's lying on the ground in pain due to the numerous lightning shocks.
"You're just too strong."
"What do you mean? I have the same stats as you, meaning we're at the same strength."
"Yeah, but you have more experience in swordsmanship."
"That's just your imagination. I'm not doing anything related to swordsmanship. I'm relying on my eyes to see through your movements."
"I'll give you a hint, throw a fake feint. Yes, I mean it, a fake feint."
"Chop, chop, get up, or I'm hitting you again."
A fake feint? I don't understand how, but I'll try it.
Continuously throwing attacks, this time I did something out of the box to get someone like Leo. I'm doing a cheap attack.
I secretly grabbed some dirt from the ground while I was lying down just now. I hid enough in my hand, hoping he didn't see it.
As I throw continuous attacks without letting my guard down, as I found the opportunity, I then throw the dirt at Leo.
Surprisingly, he was caught off guard by it.
An opening is available.
"Hm. Playing dirty huh? Nice try, but it won't work."
Leo tried to dodge by predicting me rushing forward and trying to do a vertical slash, but I wasn't.
'A fake feint.'
'I expected this much, he should be behind, trying to catch me off guard.'
Leo immediately turned back as he noticed that it was a fake feint, trying to block Augustus' attack with his branch. As he brushed the dirt off and opened his eyes, Augustus was nowhere to be seen.
Clang*
Augustus' attack landed on Leo, but it bounced off as though it had hit a hard stone.
"Not bad. You utilized the fake feint very well, but to think you tried to slash through me without hesitation."
Gulp*
Leo glared at me with killing intent. "It looks like I should have gone harder on you."
"My sword bounced off; you used aura twice to try and block my attacks. That's not fair." Augustus flustered, trying to reason with Leo.
The first time was when Leo turned backward and covered his branch with his aura to block a steel sword; otherwise, the attack would have gone through.
The second time was when Augustus tried to attack from behind, striking his shoulder.
"You're right. What you said does make sense. It's not fair for me to use aura since you didn't use your qi and your whatever footwork skill," Leo said, continuing to glare at me.
"I'm sorry?" Augustus apologized out of instinct, unsure of what Leo would do to him if he offended him in any way.
"Puhahaha, who would apologize to someone who's trying to kill him? That's so embarrassing, you should look at your own face."
"You definitely pissed yourself just now. Puhahaha."
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want, as long as you're happy."
Piece of shit, man-child.
Augustus shrugged, letting the old man laugh all he wanted. "Right, that concludes the basic sword training."
[Sword Training Lvl 1 Completed]
['Basic Swordsmanship' Leveled up]
Another level up, my swordsmanship is now at level five.
[Augustus Gray]
[Cultivation Realm: Qi Refinement Realm]
[Mana Rating: Two-Star Mage]
[Learned Skills: Wind Step Lvl 3, Pain Resistance Lvl 2, Basic Swordsmanship Lvl 5]
STR: 23 CONS: 10
AGI: 17 DEF: 5
INT: 18 MAG: 25
Unique Stats:
Qi: 10
"Next is forming sword-aura. It depends on your talent, and if you cannot form aura after a long time, I suggest you change weapons and learn the basics of a new weapon from the beginning."
"For this one, I can't help you that much. Each person has their own way of understanding how to form sword-aura, especially when you already have two types of energy in your body." Hearing Leo's serious expression, my expression also dimmed as he was saying that if I'm untalented, time might not help at all.
"From my past experience, there was one person who managed to balance all three types of energy in his body, but as I predicted, he was an all-rounder, a master of none."
"He didn't have an endless amount of time like you have. Maybe it's possible for you. I'm a master of aura and combat; I can't say anything about Qi and Mana."