The training for the Perfect Jab was as rudimentary as it came. And, although boring, progression was fast.
He spent the rest of his day (only about four hours) punching away. It turned out that there was no third exercise for the move, and he was just left to figure out on his own how to fully integrate it into his stance(s).
At the end of that period, he was closing in on mastering the technique. At that pace, he would be able to master and completely integrate all three 3rd Division techniques handily before the end of the next day.
Waking up the next morning, Alfred completed the first hour of the second exercise, which happened to provide enough insight for him to fully master it. All that was left was to integrate it into his stances, which wouldn't take long.
When he got to the cafeteria, there was a slight buzz of voices going around. At least, a lot more than usual for the morning.
Alfred quickly grabbed his food and sat down, but instead of wolfing down his food, he opted to eavesdrop.
"I couldn't believe it either! We can't complain, but if I could, I'd say this is probably the stupidest decision imaginable!" one middle aged man said in a hushed voice. "Only bad things will happen if you put those barbarians, freaks, and weirdos in the same space as those they'll be fighting with."
"Mhmm. Mhmm. Still, we're bottom feeders, so I don't expect much attention. The kids'll have it rough, though" the other man said with a pitying voice.
"Don't kid yourself! We can't afford complacency. Bottom feeders may be harmless, but they… no, we make great punching bags! I've heard stories about the last time something like this happened!"
They both did a very conspicuous look over their shoulder, which Alfred found a bit comical, but made sure he looked like he couldn't hear nor see them.
"A… a few people died!" he whispered. "Slaves, mind you! The Emperor was fucking peeved, from what I heard. I was only a kid at that point, not even in the colosseum. You'll have to ask some of the older guards about it if you want to fact check."
The other man shook his head, "No no, I believe you. Wouldn't put it past them."
He looked like he wanted to spit to the side, but opted not to and went back to his food. Their mood seemed to be ruined after that, so the two went quiet.
Other conversations had passed around some names and countries, along with the story he just heard from the two middle aged men sitting in front of him, a narrative was formed.
'This yearly tournament is a big thing, but it shouldn't have the slaughterhouses all riled up' he thought. 'This time, for some reason, the other countries' slaves are being housed in "the same space as those they'll be fighting with," presumably us. They happen to arrive late tomorrow (Thursday).'
"Tsk~"
'It seems,' he thought, 'that it was a bit too good to be true. Only one day of stress an entire week. Free time, free food, free bed, free martial arts, next to no talking to people outside master. Now I'm going to have to deal with people who may or may not try to kill me.'
Alfred had enough information now. He cleaned his plate in record time and sprinted back to the enclosure. 'I don't have much time to get prepared'.
Alfred assumed that his training would be less peaceful or, even worse, he would have no time to do it, after Friday. At least for a while, that is. Due to this his motivation for finishing off the last two 3rd Division techniques for Joku alongside everything for Nidas al-Djol had increased dramatically. Alfred calculated that if he woke up earlier tomorrow, he might have enough time to fully master Nidas al-Djol and possibly all three of the 3rd Division techniques that went with it.
These were only passing thoughts he had on the way over to the enclosure. Once he arrived, all his mind was hell-bent on mastering the next two techniques in record time.
On page 325, he read: 'The perfect roundhouse kick is a formula for a roundhouse in any situation. It will increase the speed and power of the attack while reducing the startup and energy/effort required to perform this classic move. This was created through a transcontinental effort and a collective hundred million hours of work. All those who worked on it are credited in its entry in the Library of Gone on the Island of the Five.'
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"... Hmh" he said aloud.
'It seems there might be a suite of "Perfect" moves. I'll have to learn all of them once I get the time.' Alfred quickly scanned over the notes. As expected, they were few and far between as these moves were quite straightforward.
It took him a few seconds in real time to finish the video, and he then got to practicing it.
.
.
.
Mastering both "The Perfect Roundhouse Kick" and the last one, "The Perfect Cross" (which Alfred suspected his master had written out of order) took only 7 hours. Despite this impressive feat, Alfred only had 12 hours left in his day, and 8 of those had to be spent refining, leaving him with just under 4 hours of dedicated practice for Nidas al-Djol.
'I wish I could slow down time too…. the day doesn't have enough hours.'
Alfred shot up, spun around, and sprinted towards the medical wing as fast as he could. With how close he would be cutting his training, even the few minutes he would lose not sprinting may add up to him not reaching his goals.
His athletic figure zipped through the hallways at speeds an olympian could only dream of without losing any speed on even 90 degree turns.
This was truly the first time he had the opportunity to do an all-out sprint after mastering the Isolation footwork, and it felt liberating. The technique made it feel like his feet were glued to the ground only at the times he needed to, and his body listened to his mind perfectly.
Soon, he had arrived at his destination. Right next to the medical wing he saw a room simply labeled "Locker Room".
Inside, he saw a few other slaves chatting or retrieving things from their lockers. His footsteps were too quiet for anyone to notice outside those physically looking in his direction. Alfred paid no heed to said slaves and darted through them following the progression of the locker numbers.
'2820… 2820… 2820… there!'
He stopped on a dime and placed his hand on the handle, injecting äura.
"*Click*"
Inside, as the clerk had said would be, he saw a simple silver claymore, two silver daggers, and a silver short sword and small shield. Alfred filled out a small piece of paper he found inside the locker titled "Log" and filled out the boxes with the respective date, rough time, and weapons he planned on using. He then took the short sword, shield, and daggers, and darted right out.
On his way out, he almost ran into a group of slaves entering the locker room, but he jumped over them completely despite carrying all of that equipment.
The group stopped for a second and processed the information.
"O- eh? D'that kid just fucking jump us? Today's a damn strange one…"
"What's the rush girl? Gotta pee? *Snort*"
"*Slap*"
"Shut up numbskull, that wasn't funny in the slightest. One 'O ya's gotta cut my head off if I ever laugh at something like that."
Alfred only heard the group laughing as he disappeared around the corner at full speed.
Back in the courtyard, Alfred laid down the weapons and opened the grimoire.
His routine scanning of the notes preceded him reading the description:
'The grand head of the Nidas family once said: "The twin headed snake of our insignia is a testament to our strength and skill, and Nidas al-Djol reflects this." A twin headed snake is a good way to imagine this style. It will teach you how to completely split your consciousness to control both weapons as if you are two people. Utilizing this in battle gives you impressive advantages in all fronts (one versus one, one versus many, etc.). Once mastered, you aren't limited just to two splits, and the splits don't always have to be of the same strength. Such an effect makes Nidas al-Djol useful even outside of dual wielding (although it shines the best with it).'
Alfred gave the description some thought for a moment (while in HSM, of course). Initially, he imagined this would be practically useless for him, as he could focus on a ridiculous amount of things at a time with HSM simply due to the fact that he had the time to do it. However, Nidas al-Djol's teachings may provide him a way to combat his greatest weakness.
That being: he cannot be 100% aware of his surroundings all the time.
Despite his instant reaction speed without HSM, he cannot pay attention 24/7. If he could, activating it at crucial times would protect him from assassinations (if they ever occurred to him).
Going off of the last part of the description, he should be able to leave a minute part of his consciousness the task of surveilling his surroundings 24/7 with the sole purpose of activating HSM to give him time to react to something like an assassination or kidnapping attempt.
'Honestly, when I think about it, how well would I be able to split my focus on two weapons throughout the duration of an intense life or death battle? I can't use HSM for everything, and even with it, nothing will compare to being able to do something unconsciously,' he thought.
Alfred knew he couldn't dilly dally any more, so he went straight to the videos.
All three levels, but (obviously) level 3 in particular gave the impression as if the wisp were two people. Many of the scenarios showed the wisp being attacked from multiple angles, block or dodge the attacks, and respond to each as if it were a one versus one.
None of the movements were in some sort of beat or directly connected to each other. Instead, as stated before, each engagement was taken care of by an individual with full focus on that fight.
When the wisp was in a true one versus one, the other wisp was overwhelmed with odd angles and offbeat attacks that complimented each other in ways only a team should have been able to do.
Alfred was thoroughly impressed.
'I can't help but wonder, how am I supposed to learn how to do this? I don't think I can learn a mental skill through movements…'