As Lukas made his way down to the waterfall, Bene explained what the goal of this week's training would be.
"Grab a weapon from the box, you'll be training with it for the entire day. You can choose the sword from last week, or something new. You can change your weapon every day, or stick to one. It does not matter to me, so long as you are learning something."
Lukas stumbled his way over to the box. Of course, he wasn't as sore as last week, but he was intensely tired. His body didn't move as fast as his mind and was still recovering from the constant training Bene had put him through.
Inside the box were a variety of weapons. Some of which Lukas wasn't even sure if they were weapons or simply tools and various materials.
There were bows, arrows, two-handed swords, one-handed swords, single-edged, double-edged, daggers. The non-traditional weapons, that Lukas had either never seen or didn't think were weapons, baffled him more. There were chains, farming equipment, and various small sharp objects no larger than his palm.
He was overwhelmed with choice. He thought for a long time about what to choose, but couldn't decide no matter how hard he tried. Part of him wanted to just try and master the sword, but he also wanted to try something new.
So, he decided to just reach his hand in and grab something. Whatever he found, he would at least try, just for a day.
When he pulled his hand out, he had a sickle in his hand, connected to a weight via a long chain. He didn't know how to wield such a weapon, nor had he even seen it before. He asked Bene how to use it, but he simply shrugged.
"It depends on what you intend to do while fighting. You can use the weight-end to tangle someone in the chain, then run in with the sickle-end. Or lodge the sickle-end in their defences and bludgeon them with the weight. Battle is not a straightforward back-and-forth. It's a game of tactics. You need three things to succeed. One; To know yourself. Two; To know your enemy. Three; To throw everything else away. So, to answer your question. You need to know yourself and your enemy to decide what to do. For now, one of those is out of the question."
Lukas... didn't quite understand. But his attention slowly drifted from Bene's words to the chain that lay strung between his hands.
He thought about how to use such a weapon. Perhaps he could throw it like a rope? He at least knows how to do that. But then what? His weapon would be entangled and/or lodged in the enemy. Would he just have to abandon it? That didn't seem very practical to him.
But, he did say he would use whatever weapon he picked, at least for today. So he threw himself into a fighting stance and twirled the chain before throwing the blunt end of the weapon like a rope.
It caught around the dummy's neck, but the momentum naturally pulled to be drawn closer. Either the dummy or Lukas would have to move. But the dummy was heavy, far heavier than Lukas. So Lukas was destined to be the weak link in the equation.
He, of course, did not anticipate the momentum of the chain. As a result, he lost his balance and fell face-first into the soft, chilly mud that surrounded the dummy.
He got up, and after he wiped himself off, did it again. This time, he let himself be carried by the momentum and stabbed the dummy with the sickle end.
It was strange...
He had never had to use a weapon. His father never let him use his bow for hunting. He didn't even see the sword from last week as a weapon, more so a tool to train his strength. But now, he was training to fight, to kill... something or someone.
The knowledge that he may have to kill someone... was hard to bear, and slightly unsettling. But, he wasn't going to kill anyone! No! He wanted to kill the monster that killed his family. That thing... that thing was not human.
In the end, it didn't matter if he rationalised what he was doing or not. Because he could decide if something was good after it happened. But his emotions would be present regardless, those would never leave.
Then, a strange thought entered Lukas' mind. What if he could temper his emotions like one tempers a blade? Does that even make sense?
'Probably not...'
Still, if he could control his emotions, and distance himself from his actions, he could temper himself. Maybe that's what he should focus on, or had he been doing that this whole time? Wait, was that why Bene was so cold? Did he already go through what Lukas was thinking about?
'So many questions...'
But Bene saw Lukas' inaction and called out to him.
"Stop standing around. Every minute you waste will be another day you have to train to make up for it."
'Right...'
These thoughts lingered in the back of Lukas' mind for the next couple of days. During this, he continued to train with the chain-sickle.
He wasn't sure why, but he just had an intuitive understanding of it. The way you needed to shift your balance, follow its momentum, and dance between weight and blade. It just... made sense for some reason.
Although, despite this, he wasn't sure if he was learning everything fast enough. The next and final week of his training cycle was fast approaching, and when it came, he would have to fight against Bene for the entire next week. Could he do that?
'What did he say again about battles? There were three rules, I think.'
Lukas tried to remember what it was that Bene said. He mentioned three rules for combat; The first was to understand yourself. The second was to understand your enemy. And the third... the third was...
'Oh! It was to throw everything else away. What does it mean to throw everything else away anyway? Did he mean what you don't need for the fight? Or was it not so literal... Maybe he meant to only focus on your enemy? But wouldn't you be doing that anyway?'
Well, he was going to find out what those words meant soon enough.