The man stared at Arthur silently without uttering a word for a few seconds. His cold expression hid his thoughts and made Arthur a little confused.
“Mm, am I doing something wrong?” He asked hesitantly. Arthur was so engrossed in his training that he completely forgot about everyone around him, including Theodore. But, that simple touch snapped him back to reality.
“What are you doing?” Theodore opened his mouth and responded with a question of his own.
“… Huh?”
Theodore stared him up and down before he replied. “Your form is completely off.” He said. That made the boy look down at himself. He inspected the way he was standing but couldn’t really see what the teacher meant.
‘Off? Isn’t this the stance I should be taking when fighting?’ He asked himself. This was the way Arthur fought the entire time and it proved to be good enough. He knew it wasn’t optimal, but to say that it was completely off… It was alarming, to say the least.
“Your center of balance is completely off. You’re using your feet alone to carry momentum when it should be your entire body. You aren’t using your energy optimally to deliver a decisive strike.”
Slowly, Theodore started listing all the wrong things Arthur was doing. The boy listened quietly as he stared at every single part Theodore pointed at. His head almost started spanning from the sheer number of mistakes.
‘Goddamn, I did all of that wrong?! I might as well not even use a sword then!’ He thought to himself.
“Uh… I wasn’t aware of that. I never learned how to use a sword.” Arthur replied awkwardly.
“I can see that.”
‘Screw you, old man! I don’t need to get roasted alive!’ Arthur sucked in a small breath to keep his calm.
“Look here,” Theodore said as he put his hand on his shoulder. “You don’t seem to realize the meaning behind what I’m saying. A sword slash, while sounding inherently very simple, is still by far the hardest thing to master when it comes to swordsmanship.”
“The hardest? How?” Arthur raised an eyebrow.
“Because it is the very foundation of every single thing you might learn as a swordsman. No matter what techniques you learn, complex or simple, the sword slash is at the heart of all of them. So, to be able to learn all of that, you must have a perfect foundation you can build on.” He said.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“The very first step is to know how to stand first,” Theodore said as he stood next to Arthur and then slowly took a fighting stance far more different than Arthur’s. “Try to stand like this.”
Arthur stared at the man for a second before he nodded and tried to replicate what he was seeing.
“No, push your leg more forward. Your torso should be upright and your arms should be at chest level.” The professor quickly started adjusting Arthur’s position. Moving him small inches forward and backward.
“Your biggest problem is the momentum. Your attack loses a lot of its strength before it hits the target due to these flaws.”
‘What is even happening? Is this really the optimal position?’ Arthur didn’t resist and did everything the professor told him to do. He wasn’t arrogant enough to oppose him. But, he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t really feeling any difference than before.
In fact, the position he was getting put into felt like it was making him way weaker and less effective. Arthur couldn’t feel like he could truly put all his strength into moving the sword as he wished.
A minute or so later, Theodore stopped speaking and took a look at Arthur.
“Good. Keep that exact stance.” He said.
“Mm, are you sure this is how it should be?” Arthur asked confusedly.
“You will understand in a moment. Now, I want you to take one single step forward and swing the sword down while keeping your torso upright. Try to use your legs to create more momentum but use the muscles in your body to actually deliver the hit. Not just your arms and legs, but the entire body.” He explained.
“… Ok… I will try.” Arthur nodded and focused on the dummy in front of him. Quickly, his entire aura changed completely as he instantly got into battle mode.
“Hm.” Theodore noticed that. ‘Interesting.’ He thought to himself.
A few seconds later, Arthur took a deep breath before he stepped forward and slashed down with all his power. He tried to follow every single instruction he was given. What happened next completely shattered his expectations.
*BANNNNG*
The sword hit the target’s head with immense power. The noise it created echoed across the entire place, making the students look up curiously. The sound drowned everything else in an instant.
“…” Arthur blinked as he stared at the sword in silence. He was completely speechless.
‘What?… That was… Way stronger than any attack I have done so far…’ He thought to himself. It wasn’t merely the noise, Arthur’s entire body felt that hit. It felt like his arms had just gained a strength booster out of nowhere.
“Did you notice the difference?” Theodore asked.
“… Yes.”
“That is what good technique can do. It doesn’t require you to become stronger. You simply have to use the cards you have in the right way and the results will be something you could never expect. But… This is still not your full potential. You didn’t do everything I asked perfectly.” Theodore said. “Take the same stance and start again.”
‘So that’s what he meant. I don’t know how this is far better. But, I’m feeling! Goddamit! If I can perform such an attack with my normal character… The result will be ridiculous.’ Arthur thought to himself.
“Understood!”
With that, the boy quickly shook those thoughts away and focused on the exercise again. ‘I’m definitely going to master this!’
***
For the next two hours, the class trained intensely on the basics. Nobody was given any complex techniques to practice as Theodore kept finding flaws with every single student and made them repeat the training again and again and again without any sign of stopping.
Many felt frustrated as the professor kept stopping them and adjusting many things. But nobody spoke out about their frustration with each small change; they felt the improvement very clearly. Theodore was making them better slowly.
The one who benefited the most from that was by far Arthur. During those two hours, Arthur underwent a change that rivals the change he went through in DO. His sword technique, while still very lacking, had taken a huge leap forward.
The way he used the sword and the way he slashed became way faster, stronger, more lethal, and less taxing on his body. Before, swinging the sword around wildly would use a lot of stamina and make his longevity in battles way worse than it could’ve been. Now, even with a way weaker body, he was able to easily train for two hours with no problems at all.
His sword slash had evolved.
*BANG*
Hitting the dummy with his sword, Arthur stopped for a moment as he heaved up and down audibly.
‘My technique has improved a lot. But, it seems I’m still nowhere near mastering the sword slash. Theodore doesn’t seem to be satisfied yet either.’ He thought to himself as he looked at the professor.
The man had roamed the entire place for two hours straight, helping every student in their task. He didn’t spare a moment to rest or watch. His ability to know the mistake instantly and fix it was horrifying. He almost behaved like a machine.
When the class came to an end, he finally made everyone stop.
“Good work today. You have worked very hard. But, there is still a lot to do. Most of you lack a lot and need to work harder. Try to practice inside the game on your own time too and improve what I told you to improve. You’re excused.”
Hearing that, the students felt a relief wash over them. Everyone was exhausted after training arduously for two hours straight. With their basic characters, the stamina was a problem again unlike with their high level characters.
“We can finally leave…”
“Ah, I’m beat, man.”
“Just let me out of here.”
Quickly, students started logging out of the Training Realm one after the other. This was the end of the first day so they were eager to go home, take a shower and rest. However, as Arthur was about to leave too, he was suddenly approached by Theodore.
“Mister Arthur, can you stay for a moment? I have something to talk about with you.” He said.
“Uh… Sure.” Arthur frowned as he glanced at Isla for a moment. ‘He has something to talk about with me? What is it?’
Isla noticed that and waited for a moment. But, Arthur signaled for her to leave first. She stared at Theodore for a moment before she nodded and logged out herself. She knew it was pointless to wait there when something was happening.
‘Arthur will take care of it.’
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
