At night, outside the gate of Stormwind City.
The refugee camp is not as it usually is on nights when there are occasional singing, laughter, or crying. Instead, it is silent in the rain.
In the woods a few hundred meters away, one can still see the faint light of the refugee camp.
Gerred is holding a stick that can barely be considered straight. While pacing back and forth, he says, "In the past, the way dwarves used swords was to deal with heavily armored enemies. Because no matter what, dwarves are good at making all kinds of armor. There has never been a shortage of metal mines in Khaz Modan. Now the Bronzebeards and the Dark Irons still adhere to the ancient traditions because they still have to be on guard against ancient enemies. But the Wildhammers are different. We are now more inclined to deal with lightly armored enemies because our main enemy now is the trolls. And the forest trolls who like to fight in heavy armor were all burned to death by the pointy-eared ones with magic thousands of years ago."
"So which one should I learn?" Jess wiped the drops of water from his forehead and eyebrows and asked, "To deal with enemies without armor or heavily armored enemies?"
"Of course the former." Gerred said, "Can you imagine a gnoll in an iron can? Remember their leader, the one who shouts 'Hag! Hag!'? He only has a shoulder guard snatched from the orcs on his shoulder."
"Speaking of the Blackrock orcs." He tugged at his beard and said, "Don't worry. After they fight with the Dark Iron fools in the north of Redridge Mountains for a few years, there won't be any proper armor left to wear. Come, attack me with the swordsmanship you've seen."
Jess looked at the dwarf in front of him, then at the long stick in his hand. He weighed it and began to search his memory for the swordsmanship he had seen.
He hadn't seen much real sword fighting. The decisive battle between Gerred and that elf on the slope was already the most terrifying duel he had ever seen.
For the rest of the so-called battles he had seen, most of them were just a group of people pouncing and brandishing all kinds of weapons in a mess. They clashed and hacked for a long time without hitting anyone. If they were grazed a little, they would howl and retreat several steps and never dare to step forward again.
So, he began to extract memories from his previous life, games, movies... Mount & Blade, Star Wars, The Witcher, For Honor, Game of Thrones.
Holding the stick firmly, Jess wiped the rainwater from his eyes and said, "I'm ready."
"Come on." The dwarf beckoned, then held the stick with one hand and pointed it slightly forward. Jess guessed that he was ready to parry his attack.
Jess suddenly took a step and swung diagonally. The dwarf easily parried it. Then he thought about turning around and making a beautiful spinning slash like those powerful swordsmen in movies. As a result, just as he turned halfway, Gerred behind him tapped him on the neck.
"What are you doing? Are you preparing to turn around and run away?" Gerred asked with a frown.
Jess awkwardly gestured to show his original intention and asked, "I want to turn around. Wouldn't swinging like this be more powerful?"
"Perhaps." Gerred threw the braid stuck to his neck behind him and said, "But it needs to be unexpected... Wait until you need to quickly close the distance, when dealing with multiple enemies and need to compete for space, when the opponent loses balance and can't attack you immediately, and so on. Then try to do this! Don't rigidly memorize routines!"
The dwarf was a bit impatient and kept gesturing with the stick while talking.
"The most important thing is to be fast, be fast! Don't gently slash around like a showy bard. You are trying to kill the enemy, not asking the enemy to throw copper coins at you!"
The gesturing suddenly stopped. He pointed at Jess and said, "In short, now you are a novice, and you are a human novice. Try not to do those special moves that exceed your strength limit. Do the basics well first."
"Control your weapon. Try not to let the weapon get out of your control range too much, for example, swing it behind you... Keep your sword tip pointed at the opponent as much as possible and maintain a threat at all times."
After saying that, the dwarf made continuous quick diagonal slashes, vertical slashes, and stabs in front of him. There were no powerful chops or horizontal swings.
"Just like this. Every strike is fast enough and sudden enough to make it difficult for the enemy to predict. Don't dance. I repeat, don't dance like that elf in battle."
The dwarf sighed and said, "Frankly speaking, I'm not saying his fighting style is useless. In fact, his sword dance is very threatening, very, very threatening, and very confusing. But only elves can do that. They are completely different creatures from you. Forest trolls and the elves of Quel'Thalas can all make some unimaginable moves, like a group of six or seven-foot-tall meerkats scurrying around on the battlefield. But as a human, you can only find ways to deal with it and not imitate it."
He leaned against a small tree and said, "For example, if an ogre loses his weapon, he can pull up this tree and continue fighting with you. But you can't. However, you must think that he might do this and take advantage of his slower movements and faster consumption of energy after pulling up the tree... Consider this as your newly gained advantage. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand." Jess said.
"Try again." Gerred shook the water off his head and said, "I'll try to correct your movements and help you practice to find the feeling most suitable for humans as much as possible."
Jess nodded. This time he forgot those fancy sword dances and thought about the movements of Olympic fencing athletes.
After all, the athletes' movements are fast enough and sudden enough. Moreover, the sword tip is pointed forward at the opponent and the weapon will not get out of control. It perfectly meets Gerred's requirements.
He turned sideways, held the stick with one hand, took a deep breath, then took a big step forward and splashed a patch of rainwater. At the same time, he extended his right arm and suddenly stabbed at Gerred!
The dwarf widened his eyes and took a quick step back in surprise. He parried it with a look of surprise. Jess didn't hesitate and seized the opportunity to pursue. He took another step and tried to stab forward. This time, Gerred received his stab and turned it, knocking Jess's stick into the air.
Gerred picked up the stick and handed it to Jess. He asked, "You guy, who did you learn this from, huh?"
"I saw others fight." Jess said.
"Was it from the nobles of Lordaeron?" Gerred said, "It's threatening, I admit. But while it's powerful, it also has great limitations."
"Your movements can tell that it's the desperate assault in the duel game played by nobles. It looks beautiful, but the nobles themselves won't use it on real enemies. Once there is a mistake, on the battlefield, there won't be any mercy. I teach you swordsmanship so that you can survive, not so that you can show off in front of women. If you want to attract women, you can completely use another sword. It can also stab people and is much more effective."
Gerred patted his crotch and then said, "Moreover, this stick is still a bit light. If you get a heavier real sword, you won't be able to achieve the same speed. I will be able to parry your attack or disarm you more easily. Then you will be at the mercy of others. Unless you are a mage. Alright, watch my movements and then practice following them. Do the basics well first."
Looking at the dwarf seriously chopping down and thrusting up, Jess felt a bit ashamed.
Swordsmanship and combat skills are abilities that require years of practice and battles to develop. How can one defeat experienced enemies just by relying on some tricks that one doesn't know where they came from?
He must progress step by step patiently. Gerred is willing to teach him like this. He should be more serious and work harder in return instead of thinking about taking shortcuts.
Because of the labor and work in the past few years, Jess's physical fitness is still quite good. So he imitated Gerred's movements quite well.
Looking at Jess seriously doing the movements, Gerred couldn't help but smile and say, "That's right, that's right. It looks like something now, my little Jess. When you become proficient in this set of movements, I'll teach you a few more. Then you can practice by yourself when you have time. I don't have to watch you every night. You must persevere!"