The process of refining was quite simple, and Alfred picked it up in minutes. It involved a more circulatory motion, and all he had to do was control the energy he "focused", as Cysandoth said, into whatever part of his body he wanted to enhance. It wasn't just limited to limbs. Specific muscles, joints, tendons, bones, organs, and even veins could be enhanced at will.
HSM made the initial process easy, but Alfred made sure he wasn't relying on it fully at the end of the short lesson.
Cysandoth shook his head. "As expected, you picked this up fast.
"Now, let's jump into your refinement plans." Cysandoth sat back down in front of Alfred. "You and I both know your reaction speed is quite frankly insane, and would still be insane for a master martial artist. Taking that into consideration, you will be focusing on three specific things.
"First comes your eyes. They would get better through the passive residual äura that will result from your refinement, but I believe you would benefit from the effects that come from enhancing them further. Fast moving objects eventually get blurry, and this will slowly make their image more clear among other things to take advantage of your reaction speed.
"Next is your joints. Many martial arts that you will be focusing on will be (at least for now) speed-based ones. It is basically a requirement to enhance joints for extra power and stability. You won't be leaving out any in particular.
"Last will be your leg muscles in general. This is self explanatory when it comes to producing speed and power."
"Also, as a general idea, your muscles and bones will take full priority over your skin. All organs can be left to the residual energy except for the heart. Give a slight, and I mean slight, focus on it. You'll need extra blood and air for your martial arts. Breathing techniques will take care of providing the blood with it."
Alfred was surprised. From only one fight, one exchange, and two days, Cysandoth had figured out Alfred's reaction speed secret, and created a comprehensive plan for his refinement. A slight fear built up in the back of Alfred's mind at the idea of him possibly knowing the extent at which Alfred could perceive time, but he discarded the idea since that was only something he could know.
'I think it's fine that he thinks my reaction speed is where the insanity stops,' Alfred thought.
"In the following week, eight hours a day must be spent refining. Also, for Friday during the colosseum events, except when it's your turn, you are to spend the whole time refining. Nothing on that day has any use to you."
Cysandoth just confirmed Alfred's thoughts on Friday's events, so he nodded in agreement.
"Now, Get back to your training!"
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Alfred spent the entire time practicing the Isolation footwork's first exercise till ~2am before Cysandoth let him sleep. He rested for only four hours under the tree before he was woken up by his master. Without needing to be told, he went over to the grimoire, as he learned it was called, and started the second exercise. He did this for the initial hour until the wisp disappeared, and then he went to an early breakfast.
On the way there, Alfred noticed that he had improved slightly from the day before due to his efforts with the first exercise. He felt an almost childlike excitement for getting better. This eagerness translated into him vacuuming down his breakfast so he could get back to the courtyard that much faster.
There, he practiced the first exercise for another three hours before his master got back from his own breakfast.
When Cysandoth paused the exercise, Alfred initially didn't know due to a sudden stroke of perfect movement executions. Suddenly, he felt that he had messed up, but didn't receive a shock. That anomaly finally shook him out of his trance and alerted him to his master's presence.
Alfred bowed in a half assed way as an apology, but Cysandoth waved it off.
"Öthe, begin your refinement. I'll wake you up when I get back, I'm going to collect martial arts in the Exchange."
Alfred nodded and sat down under the tree. 'I need to have more awareness when practicing. I know I would have reacted if someone attacked me, but what if they wanted to steal from me? Or what if I didn't notice until it was too late?'
Alfred allowed himself a short sigh before pushing the notion to the back of his mind.
Proper refining has its benefits. Those being more efficient power growth and more targeted enhancements. There is a major flaw though, it takes more concentration. For Alfred, this compounds his sped up perception of time.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
'If I didn't have Master to wake me up from these sessions, I might go until I starve to death. I need to build up a better internal compass quickly on top of improving my awareness.'
The parts of Alfred's mind that weren't focused on refining wandered off to other places. 'I need to master this footwork fast. If Master's predictions were correct, I should finish the first level of it today.'
He knew he was close to finishing. Throughout the early morning practice, he felt his mistakes only amounted to 15% of his actions, bringing him to ~85% on the grading scale the grimoire uses. His main issue now was keeping the movements automatic. Too much of his actions were still thought about, which was bad.
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Faster than Alfred had anticipated, Cysandoth had returned.
"If you're wondering, it has been four hours since you started."
Alfred tilted his head in slight confusion. Both at the seemingly random answer to a question he wasn't really asking about, and at the fact that four hours had passed without him knowing.
"I know I sometimes lose track of time when I refine, so I thought I'd let you know. Also, here-" Cysandoth handed Alfred a tray of food. "Eat up, you'll be training till dinner."
Alfred retrieved his plate and quickly picked it clean. Even though it was less than he would have liked, he didn't complain.
Just as he got up to make is way to the grimoire, Cysandoth said:
"You will be doing the third exercise until you master the first level. You won't need anything."
He nodded and pulled up the description of exercise three. 'In this exercise,' he read, 'you will combat against a perfect version of the first level of the Isolation footwork while still having active the second exercise's wisp. There is no time limit. The opposing wisp is physical only for your body.'
Alfred couldn't help but be surprised at how intricate the exercise could get. This revelation only excited him more.
He stood up and selected the second exercise. Immediately, a wisp came out and copied his height and general structure, like the previous ones, but this time it didn't align itself with him (or allow itself to be aligned with).
Although Alfred knew he would "combat" against the wisp, he didn't know how hard it would go. While following the teachings of the first level, he didn't feel confident in a real fight despite being 85% proficient in it.
'No point, waiting. Let's go!'
At his command, the program started. The new wisp shot forward with vigor, but it didn't reach speeds where he was even close to being forced to rely on HSM. He didn't plan to anyways. He knew he was at the point where the only way he would get better is if the teachings of the first level became automatic.
Alfred reacted by pushing forward at a much slower pace with a low, orthodox "boxing" stance.
The wisp arrived and threw a fast punch to prod Alfred's defense. He took a half step back and perfectly dodged the punch, luckily correctly executing his movements. With that correct execution, he shot back with a low kick to the legs of the wisp. It didn't take that standing, though, and sent another punch towards Alfred's side.
Alfred was forced to reduce his commitment to the kick and block the undodgeable punch, resulting in a slight shock from a misplacement of his hips.
A low kick is inherently low-commitment, so he quickly regained his footing and ducked an incoming punch from the wisp. It turned out to be a feint, and Alfred saw a knee coming up to his nose. He was surprised, but without HSM, his lack of experience is slightly more evident. Still, he was able to properly react to the knee and just barely move his face out of the way.
With this opportunity, Alfred got a decent body shot in unchallenged. The wisp rotated slightly with the impact and continued on.
It stepped forwards and sent two sharp jabs at Alfred's face, which he quickly moved his body and guard to reduce the damage. The wisp continued its combo with a right hook, which Alfred had to lean back to dodge.
Alfred went for a quick jab, but his movements were slightly off, which impacted the power greatly. The wisp retaliated with a low kick, which Alfred saw coming, but couldn't dodge due to his positioning. He moved with the impact to lessen it, and traded with another right hook that landed again on the wisp's right side.
The wisp barely reacted, and instead rotated its leg and kicked Alfred's right side, sending him reeling a few feet sideways.
He made sure to get back into stance and shot further to the side so he could ready himself.
"*Feew~*"
'It seems the whole point of this thing is to force me into awkward situations, not to "beat" me. I have to start thinking differently too, since this isn't a life or death situation.'
Ever since Alfred started his reincarnation only about five months ago, he had never fought without fearing for his life. Now, he would have to learn how to spar.
'The whole point of sparring is to learn, so I have to take risks.'
This time, Alfred was the one to shoot forward. He messed up a bit, as he had never really gone that fast when practicing the Isolation footwork, but the mistakes weren't significant. He abruptly stopped out of the wisp's striking range and threw a kick towards center mass. He executed the stop and kick decently with minimal mistakes.
As Alfred's arsenal of moves was almost nonexistent, his methods of attack could only rely on instinct, and were thus very straightforward.
This straightforwardness made it easy for the wisp to almost completely negate the kick, grab his foot, and sweep Alfred's still grounded leg in the same motion. Alfred couldn't jump back, so he lifted his leg and kicked off the wisp. His position didn't allow him to get his feet back under him, so he rolled once he hit the ground and stood back up.
Far more mistakes were made during that exchange, as he had never done anything close to what he just did while practicing the Isolation footwork, but his previous experience helped him realize his mistakes.
After recovering, he shot forward again to continue his onslaught.
Each exchange brought new insights, but also new injuries. Nothing ever went deeper than bruises or sore muscles, but after 30 minutes, things built up.
Alfred sat down on the grass panting. However, in spite of his exhaustion, he had an excited look in his eyes.
Without wasting time simply recovering, he got to refining. He still needed four more hours to complete his daily quota, and he only had ten more hours left in the day.
During his refinement, he activated a low level of HSM to counteract the accelerated perception of time. Alfred chose to do this to review his performance while fighting. 'I must be nearing 90% completion…' he thought to himself. 'I believe that, within the maximum output of the first level, I can almost comfortably move without thinking. Fighting really is the best way to learn.'
He still made a few mistakes. The weight distribution of the Isolation footwork can change rapidly in the manner of seconds, and Alfred has had trouble using a southpaw stance in those situations when it becomes necessary. This was a glaring flaw that could mess up an advantaged position, so he decided to intentionally use it the next round whenever an orthodox stance wasn't necessary.
…
Alfred's one hour refinement session was quickly over, and he felt a little more refreshed than before.
'Start!'