Lukas didn't want to move. He barely could. His whole body was sore, and he suffered with every step like he was pushing a mountain. At least he didn't have to do any more strength training for a few weeks. But making his way to the waterfall made him think he wasn't done.
There stood the training dummy. Along with the sword, which now lay along a flat rock.
"This week, you will learn the basics of hand-to-hand combat. Along with how to wield a sword. Today I will teach you how to properly draw energy from yourself and apply it to your strikes. Tomorrow, I will teach the basics of wielding a sword. Every day after that, you will learn both, alternating every six hours. Now face me. You will attempt to hit my palm while I explain the basics to you."
Lukas stood as Bene instructed. Facing him, prepared to strike. But Lukas had never thrown a punch before, and he had no experience in hand-to-hand combat. He had so much to learn and nothing to learn from.
He started by standing in a similar position to swinging an axe. Then tried to make his best guess at throwing a punch. It, of course, missed. Not to mention that his form was terrible.
It lacked power, it was too slow, it wasn't accurate, and it left him overextended. There were hundreds of things one could say. But there was only one that Bene focused on.
"For someone who came from the outskirts of Shorstone, your initial stance wasn't half-bad."
Despite every minute mistake he made in those few seconds, Bene focused on the one thing he got somewhat correct. That being his stance.
His father taught him how to swing an axe, and he learned the basics of chopping down a tree. But according to Bene, that stance was similar enough to that of throwing a punch. Maybe he did have something to learn from. Some very slight foundation to build off.
"However, there was one fatal flaw you made. It was how you threw the punch, it lacked strength."
Lukas threw a punch as Bene finished that statement. This time, nearly stumbling over.
"Strength does not come from your arms, it is gathered from your legs. You must use your entire body, honing it to a fine point upon your fist or blade."
After this, Bene demonstrated an ideal form. Then he broke each minute movement down, step by step. Lukas attempted to follow this movement, trying to shadow Bene. But something wasn't right, it was like his body rejected it on some fundamental level. Like he wasn't meant to do this.
Bene explained that strength does not come from one part of yourself. It comes from the entire body. It starts at the feet, your positioning, keeping yourself grounded. It travels up your legs and twists with your torso into your arms. Finally, it is your arms that form this built-up energy to a single point.
Of course, Lukas was no prodigy. And spent most of that day simply practising basics.
Which was both a blessing and a curse. As his body was still very sore from last week's intense training. So while on the one hand, this was far simpler, at the same time it was far from the break he needed.
Come the next day, he was taught a very similar lesson, but with the blunt training sword rather than his fists.
With this blade, every mistake he made was shown in excruciating detail. Even Lukas could not ignore how poor his form was.
And despite not wielding a weapon of his own, Bene too noticed everything. Perhaps he understood more than Lukas, it would make sense with him being somewhat of a mentor to him. Why wouldn't he have more knowledge and experience?
Even with only learning rudimental techniques. He had the monumental task of learning everything and shortening it down to be as fast as possible. He had to simplify everything he was learning while keeping it just as efficient.
He didn't even learn any proper forms or techniques beyond what little he knew. Instead, he spent the entire week practising the basics. So for twelve hours, he was practising the same fundamentals. Six hours with his fists, six hours with a sword.
Speaking of that sword, it was truly incredible. Lukas had never seen anything like it. It was a curved single-edged blade. Whose length was more than half of Lukas' height. He estimated that the blade was around 80 centimetres. The entire sword being closer to 100 centimetres, when the hilt and everything else are added to it.
It was difficult to use such a lengthy blade. But because of the way Lukas had to shift his balance and centre of gravity, it caused him to use it to his advantage. Feeling its weight and reach, he found using the sword much more intuitive than his fists. But it was more exhausting, and so much easier to make mistakes.