Way of the Knights

Chapter 10: Training

The triplets woke up early and head outside.

They were in front some training dummies holding out their weapons. Paul was holding out a circular shield on his left hand and a simple wooden spear on the right. Mark was holding a wooden broad sword that has a straight arm guard. Raven was unarmed but both of his fists were wrapped in an old looking bandages that covered both of his arms completely.

Paul and Mark were weirded out by this but they didn’t say anything, they believed that Raven has his own ideas in his mind.

“Bro? Are we seriously going to hit dummies all day?” Paul asked. They don’t have any classes today and for the rest of the week at that.

The institute’s classes are only once a week and the rest could be spent however the students want. Everything that’s being taught in the classroom are just general knowledge and theoretical ways, they don’t actively facilitate on the student’s training, another thing that really has to change according to Raven’s opinion.

“Yep! But these dummies aren’t gonna be the normal ones.” Raven grinned fiendishly and told them, “I tampered with these guys right here. Once I turn this on, thee will start attacking you.”

“Oh! Such a genius idea!” Paul was honestly impressed but Mark seemed a little unnerved by Raven’s grin. This wasn’t the first time that he showed this kind of grin, he was even having some spooky flashbacks as of the moment.

Raven walked behind the dummy and activated the rune that he placed, Paul and Mark saw the dummy shiver and it’s hollow eyes brightened. Raven held it’s head and aimed it at the excited Paul.

After staring at him for a while, Paul saw the dummy’s eyes turned red which was also the signal for Raven to release it’s head. Paul watched as the dummy took a very familiar stance and charged at him with red eyes.

“Shit!” Paul grimaced as he was caught unprepared, he was too late to raise his shield and the dummy’s punch landed square on his face. It didn’t stop though, it readied another strike aiming at the other side of his face, luckily Paul was able to move his shield in time but he didn’t expected that the dummy will kick him afterwards.

Mark shivered as he Paul being beaten up by a training dummy, he glanced at Raven and saw that he was still wearing his fiendish grin. All of the hairs on his body stood up as he realized that Raven had already activated dummy that was holding a wooden sword and he just released it’s head.

“Damn! You’re a demon!” Mark spat harshly while glaring at Raven, but he soon had to concentrate since the dummy already arrived at him.

Raven laughed maliciously, he placed both of his hips. “This will be the fastest way for you to learn. Remember the Foundational Arts and the stances, that would be the key to prevent the dummies from hurting you.”

Raven turned around and started his own training as well. Unlike them, he won’t be training against a dummy not because he didn’t want to but because he had to make his body remember the Foundational Fist Arts first. He also planned on using the Basic Leg Arts as well but he would do so at some other time.

This time around, he pushed the gravity suit to emulate 4 times normal gravity, which made his body curl in heaviness. He placed a determined expression and straighten his back. He went into a horse riding stance while both of his arms are placed in his waist. He held this stance for a solid minute before performing a straight jab.

Hu!

The sound of air movement echoed, he slowly placed back his right arm on his waist and waited for a solid minute, after which he punched again. Raven repeated this actions multiple times, soon minutes turned into a whole hour, and an hour turned into hours.

Raven’s clothes had already been soaked in sweat, his arms were tired and shaking, nonetheless his body is still standing straight and the fiery determination on his eyes had never faded even for a second during these training. He had long since forgotten how many straight punches he threw and no matter how many he did never mattered to him. His thoughts were simple, observe how his body reacted under pressure and perfect this one movement. Nothing else matters, not even the fact that he was hungry, well he can’t even recall when he felt the sensation anyway.

His punches went through a transformation as well. When he started, his punches will only make a soft sound each time it was thrown, after hours of unceasing effort, each of his punches now produce a clapping sound which will definitely hurt if it landed.

Throwing one last punch, Raven concluded today’s training was over. He let out a long exhale and stood properly. He turned off the gravity suit and took off his upper garments, he also unzipped the suit up until his belly and left it hanging on his side. He took out a towel on his spatial ring and a gallon of water. He emptied the whole thing in one go and took out some snacks as well.

He turned around and saw how his brothers were faring. He almost choked on the jerky that he was chewing as he saw them lying on the ground and on the verge of passing out. He laughed slightly and walked towards them.

“Hey! Still breathing?” He jokingly said.

“D-damn you. We thought we.. .were brothers.” Paul said while panting, his clothes were all dirty, his hair was a mess and his face were slightly bruised.

“Honestly.. .those things are better than my dad when it comes to beating.” Mark whined while panting as well. Both of his hands were shaking, even the webbings between his thumb and pointing finger are bleeding. His face were also bruised as well as some parts of his body.

“Well, you have to learn how to grow under pressure. You will experience tougher situations compared to this.” He said while helping them sit up.

“Says the one who did nothing but threw punches all day.” Paul can’t help but to feel slightly sour. They too were watching his training, they thought that he will just do that for sometime but no, he ended up doing it all day.

“Hey! Don’t underestimate the way how I train.” Raven smiled and pointed at the suit hanging on his waist. “You guys should know what this is right?”

Paul and Mark widened their eyes to look, well they have to since they can’t even open it normally because of the bruises.

“Oh! A Gravity Suit! When did have this?” Mark exclaimed upon realizing it. He never thought that Raven had one of this not because it’s rare, but it was extremely unpopular.

“Exactly, I had this under my clothes ever since I came here. It was always set on 2.5 times normal gravity and I never took it off. When I was training earlier, I pushed it to 4 times normal gravity and stayed like that the whole time. Now can you do that?”

Paul and Mark were stumped for words. They thought about how long he stayed like that, and didn’t even took a single break, and still managed to persevere for 6 hours. That thought sent shivers down their spine and also made them ashamed by their inferiority at the same time.

“Don’t think like that.” Raven said, seemingly knowing what they were thinking. “That won’t help you in the long run. Find ways on how to improve instead and concentrate on it. Here let me help you guys.”

Raven stood up and picked up the spear and shield that Paul was using. He then activated the dummy and stood before it.

“When you see an enemy be on guard, do not think they won’t attack since they aren’t charging. If you have a shield, raise it to your chest and brace the ground for a better footing.”

Without further ado, he started giving lessons to them. Just as when he finished speaking, the dummy charged and threw out a punch. Raven easily maneuvered the shield to intercept it and the blow didn’t even make his body budge. Paul instantly found out why. This was because of how he stood.

Raven was crouching slightly while the shield is raised. His left foot forward and his right foot behind it. When the attack connected, it just made a loud ‘Clank’, Raven used this to send poke the dummy straight in the chest but he didn’t used the pointed end of the spear and used the blunt end to push it slightly.

“Seek chances to counter attack. Do not prolong the battle if you could, you never know if the enemy has a back up.” He withdrew the spear and the dummy charged once more.

Raven made sure that each of his movement were solid and slow, he was deliberately doing this for them. Paul on the other hand, was experiencing his own eureka moment. Being the one who saw both the Foundational Pole Arm Arts and the Foundational Shield Intercepting Art made him knowledgable of the movements that Raven was doing.

Raven finished demonstrating for Paul he also demonstrated the Foundational Sword Arts for Mark and the movement arts for both of them to see.

Undoubtedly, both guys were etching the lessons deep within their minds.