"Let's start" the elder spoke to signal the beginning, and like some sort of cheetah cross-bred with a polar bear, Edrick did not hesitate for even a split second and rushed the old man down, forming a fist.
'That's one hell of an acceleration' remarked Gang, for one, he hadn't expected a supposed rookie to be so bold and just come right up to him, and for two, Edrick had been positioned like a boxer with his feet poised up, which typically indicated that he intended on standing his ground.
And yet, from this unfavourable position, he had suddenly broken out into what was only able to be defined as a sprint, the sudden burst of speed from a standing position was impressive, and the speed was als noteworthy, although less surprising as Anoteros's height made it pretty obvious that one stride from him was worth at least two strides that of an average man.
The special disciple had concealed his intention well too, although that wasn't enough to actually take the elder by surprise, it brought a smile to his lips, bringing his defence up, Gang decided to test the brute force the youth was capable off.
But instead of enduring Edrick's fist, whomst he noted to be absolutely gorgeous in execution, with his thumb over the mid-section of his fingers, the way his hand and wrist were perfectly-lined up, the thumb pointing at the sky, the angle clearly showing that the index and middle finger knuckles would be the one to deliver the strike, how perfectly relaxing the movement was, there was no way around, Gang wanted to stop and comment on how well it was being executed.
One could feel that Edrick wasn't just punching at Gang, but was trying to punch through him, with his hips pivoting and the entire weight of his body supporting that strike, the elder was impressed and waited for it to land, but it did not, as in the last second, Anoteros canceled everything and instead grabbed the elder's forearms, bending it away and grabbing his robes, attempting to pick and throw Gang to the ground.
"Damn boy-" the old man realised that he had perhaps been too focused on the punch itself and had forgotten to think that it might be a diversion, he certainly hadn't expected such a sweet feint from a disciple that hadn't even started his cultivation, nor had he believed that someone could so easily cancel a punch of this calibre.
In fact, with his previous stance, Gang had assumed that Edrick had been taught boxing, so a grab hadn't been in his list of obvious expectations, and certainly not one that was so well done either, clearly, Anoteros had been instructed in more than one martial art.
'Aight, I should be more serious than usual' he was dealing with a special disciple after all, this wasn't an outer disciple but an Elt he was sparring with.
Gang allowed himself to be picked off the ground, which happened very cleanly, even without the proper technique, the old man was not heavy enough for Edrick to have a problem lifting him up, but in mid-air, he contorted himself like a snake, wrapping his legs around the disciple's neck, this particular position forced Edrick to let go as following through would be like wrapping a noose around himself.
Gang casually kicked off Anoteros's shoulder, did a fancy backflip for no other reason than to look cool, and gracefully landed as distance away.
"You took me by surprise there, who taught you?"
"I honestly can't remember the names, but don't worry, I only learned the basics from unimportant people" Edrick had indeed learned martial arts from many different people, but none of them had left a lasting impression, not to mention that martial arts practitioner weren't exactly en vogue in his old world.
He had just learned from a bunch of people and read upon it before mixing everything into one big soup.
What happened just now was rather pleasing, he hadn't been convinced that he had properly acclimated to this new body, but it seemed like his concerns were for naught, he did exactly what he intended to do.
"I see…" Gang didn't know whether to believe what he had heard or to assume he had been taught by someone linked to the Elt whose name he wasn't allowed to divulge, but what he had shown so far already demonstrated that he was one skilled dastard.
"...Try again" the elder said, but this time, Edrick didn't rush forward and instead slouched over, his steps deliberately odd and random, with a most suspicious smile stuck on his face and his eyes so utterly focused on the old man that it was doubtful he would notice anything that wasn't in his direct line of sight.
One thing that Gang found rather impressive was how well Edrick concealed his intention, and it wasn't about the eye he positioned his eyes, moved and the likes, it was also impressively done but what was truly shocking was the covering up of the intent.
Intent was a general term for often associated with killing, killing intent was something someone might sense when someone charged at them with a knife for example, beasts were competent at concealing this intent, but intent took many forms, Gang knew how to grasp and dissect someone's intent when in combat, as such, he should be able to tell if Edrick considered to attack and when he would actually attack.
The elder was pretty proud of this as it wasn't something any cultivation methods or whatnot had taught him, it was all him, and yet, he wasn't feeling anything from Anoteros, you could see it in his gaze that he was preparing something but as to what, Gang was none the wiser.
'Honestly impressive, how does one learn to hide their intentions so well?'
Concealing killing intent was rather common, but Edrick wasn't trying to kill anyone right now, or was he?
Gang eyed Edrick suspiciously, when he heard the sound of dirt, soft dirt moving, his keen sense of hearing never betrayed him and neither did his instincts, and somehow, they were telling him that this was important.
Edrick had just stepped on a molehill, and without looking down at it, kicked the fresh dirt with awful precision at the elder's face.
Gang had no words, mostly because he kept his mouth shut, but he was honestly baffled that this sort of trick was being put to use, truly however, it was a manoeuvre as old as time, getting dirt or sand in your eyes was always rather debilitating, after all, what sort of technique could prevent the invasion of these things or stop you from blinking when it happened?
'What a rascal…' but Gang had seen this before, and even as he closed his eyes, he did not truly lose touch of his adversary, even as Edrick made an elegant spin to end up to the senior's side instead of in front, the elder knew it all and blocked his punch, pushing Edrick's long arm away before counterattack with a strike to the disciple's stomach, only then did he have time to get rid of the dirt and reopen his eyes.
"You have tough skin" he commented, that strike was a staple of his, it always made the disciples, be they outer, inner or core, vomit their stomach's content out, although he had scaled it down to strike a non-cultivator whose durability he had no clue about, he was impressed at how well Edrick took it, especially how he tensed his abs up to receive it, in fact, he had already tensed up well before getting close to Gang, showing that he had not went in with confidence despite his successful blinding.
"Now, just strike me repeatedly at full force, I will only block"
"Alright then" Edrick's eagerness and expression were seriously starting to creep the elder out.
'That guy might just hit it off with that madwoman…'