Summer 17, 116
When Caelum woke up the morning after his last training, he was eager to see what his body could do. He resolved to improve his weapon skills and planned to practice striking dummies by walking down to the complex. He picked up his practice sword and proceeded to walk to a training area. He was shocked to see an elderly looking aelf performing pushups on the floor inside the arena roof. He asked the aelf, "Who are you?" after being taken aback to see someone else here besides Alfred.
"You must be Caelum. You may call me Gunnar. I am the one who built this place to train aelves. Alfred is one of the many in my service. He once served under me for military matters but time has not been kind to him. He may not be the best, but he is… adequate at teaching."
Caelum nodded – it made sense. "Will you be teaching me today?"
"No, dragon. I do not teach beginners. Furthermore, I find this kind of training unsuitable for a dragon." He was not shy about hiding his distaste for Caelum's form when it came to fighting. Still, it wasn't his decision. If the boy wanted to learn how to use a weapon, his more useless faelnir could do the job.
Gunnar left shortly after Alfred arrived. "I didn't know you served," Caelum commented.
"Twas a long time ago. Now, onto lessons. Today I thought we would work on a primarily freestyle exercise. It tests the physical limits of the body through leg-and-hand and hand-to-hand fighting. In fact, the style is very similar to hand to hand fighting, but it's much better at pushing your body. Do you want me to demonstrate a couple of the basic moves for you? Maybe starting with a stance would be wise."
The man abruptly finished his sentence and turned with his left hand drawn back behind his back and his palm facing Caelum. The man's shirt rolled back as his hand rose, exposing the edges of some bandages. "Easy enough?"
Caelum did his best to imitate the stance and nod. He wanted to ask about his injury, but thought better of it. It wasn't his business. He raised his arms, pulling one back while keeping the other palm facing the man. While performing this action, he experienced a sensation of his body's rigidity dissipating, leaving him with the capacity for abrupt, fluid strikes. Caelum exclaimed, "I can feel the power of this stance!"
"Good, now grab your sword. We will move to the training dummies. Try to use this stance."
Caelum began striking it. The training dummy was pushed back and held at its angle by the sheer quantity of strikes. The attack was now occurring so quickly that the sounds were growing louder and more amplified by the second. When one of the dummies' legs could take no more, it broke off with a loud "Crack" and fell to the ground, breaking into three pieces due to the short fall. The dummy paused to assess the damage he had caused before finally swinging forward, free from the onslaught. He tipped forward in a swinging motion, teetering before landing on the ground, where the impact caused the other leg to shatter into three pieces.
Alfred looked at the now-panting Caelum and said, "Well, I'd say your about ready to work with a moving target." "Well, I guess you can relax for a little while I get some protective equipment," he said, finally glancing at the damaged dummy.
Alfred rested for a short while before giving Caelum a wooden training spear and covering some leather hide pants with multiple layers of thickly padded cloth. "I've used this method a few times before, and the blows from the wooden weapons can still inflict some harm or even result in a temporary loss of leg function! That explains why I'm using so much cushioning."
Caelum took a stance and raised his weapon, slanting it toward the ground and pointing the wooded blade in Alfred's direction. He exhaled in anticipation as he advanced to strike. Alfred sprang backwards and was a difficult man to hit. The older man moved with a grace few his age possessed, despite Gunnar's criticisms. He moves at such high speed that Caelum wondered if he was using Aeris to help. He was struggling to land a single blow. He moved in such an erratic manner! It was like attempting to catch a toad that was moving at a hundred miles per hour! At last, as he moved, his thoughts slowed. Before Alfred could move again, he had to strike. He would wait for the elderly man to jump before striking.
Caelum noticed Alfred's opening as he moved. Alfred didn't have nearly the usual amount of room to maneuver as he rounded a corner. Instead, he leaped forward and struck the elderly man in the inner thigh. He opened his mouth to groan, but before the six strikes could land, not a single sound came out of his mouth. Alfred had fallen to the ground.
As he began to stand up, he moaned, "Nice job, but you need to get better at predicting movements. The power was correct. I know that things will be different in a battle, but you have to be ready because you are the one who has to win, so move more quickly and confidently!"
The dragon waited a moment for Alfred to prepare before starting to jump around without following any particular pattern. Feeling more energized than before, Caelum leaped forward and took off for a hit. Initially, he was only able to strike the man's thighs prior to his jump, but he gradually started to identify the warning signs, such as the eyes fixed on the impending leap and the legs trembling before the action.
It took him a few seconds to notice it. The body movement, the slight twitch of the eye! In an instant, Caelum leaped to his left, striking Alfred as he landed, a look of sudden surprise spreading across his face. Alfred appeared to take a hard blow to his legs, which were already starting to fold in preparation for the jump. To Caelum's surprise, even though he felt the connection and the strikes hitting his targets,
Caelum turned to attack once more after realizing the harm he had caused. Alfred landed with his legs unresponsive, toppling to the side and landing on his side gradually. Leaping forward to assist his teacher, he discovered Alfred laughing so hard he was crying. "Oh my, how painful it is. I haven't felt like this in a very long time! Well done!"
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