It has been two weeks now since I started rigorously under master’s guidance. Every day is pain day. Not just ordinary pain. Broken bones from being hit too hard, dizziness from my head being bashed, and numbness in my limbs from too much force exerted.

Master said that I am improving every day. That I was able to start reading movements of the enemy and I have been dodging reflexively on my own now, and that I begin counterattacking at the tiniest chance as possible.

But I don’t feel it.

I can’t feel any improvements at all.

It has only been two weeks since we started. Even if we train day in day out, the chances that I actually improved are none. Not to mention, my body is petite and weak that I can’t almost keep up every single day, every single hour, every single minute, and every single second if I don’t push myself to the limit.

Blackening out in the middle of training because of lack of oxygen is a common happening. Getting scolded or yelled if I slack in a single moment and getting repeatedly slammed into the ground until I feel like my flesh is grounded meat.

My regeneration keeps up with whatever happens to me. But I will never ever get used to pain. My resistance to it is building up slowly, though.

Master always holds back his attacks so I never really catch any serious attacks from him at all. He is just toying me around like playing soccer.

I have survived his hellish training. I have to improve further. Not in a repetitive process of getting beaten up. Even though he is been teaching me about dodging and blocking that I don’t even know if I am improving or not, I want to learn something aside from that.

So today, I am going to ask him.

…

I meet master today at the training field. Weirdly enough, no matter how much I bathe in the blazing sunlight, my skin never get tanned.

I wonder how I look like with tanned skin.

Anyway, I greeted master and the first thing I did is ask him.

“Master! Won’t you teach me something new?!”

“So, you finally got impatient?”

“Eh? Uh… yeah…I… I wanted to…learn more.”

“More…huh…”

“Yes!”

“It might be too early for you, but let’s give it a shot.”

“Yay!”

Master gave the ok!

I wonder what he is going to teach me.

“Asagao, I am going to teach you Calm Dragon Tempest.”

“C-calm dragon tempest? Is that like… a dragon skill?”

“No. It’s a form of arts you use in a battle. In short, I am going to teach you how to fight.”

“M-martial arts?!”

“Yes. But the essence of this martial art is dodging, blocking and parrying.”

“What?! So that’s the reason you are training with those!”

“Yes. This is the martial art I created many millenniums ago.”

“Eh? You made it yourself master?!”

“Yes. I passed it down to all my children and grandchildren and they taught their succeeding family members until it had many variations that today, it lost all essence because of people dirtying the art.”

“And… you are teaching it to me?”

“You will be the last child I am going to teach, the last apprentice that I will have.”

“You have so many families…”

“Yes, in fact, my bloodline is the one leading the Dragon Capital. I have much more, though, thick or thin of my blood flowing into them, they are still a family to me.”

“It means you have mated with many…girls…”

“A male dragon mating sole purpose is to produce offspring. Whenever we have an opportunity, we leave our mark to a female. It’s a common instinct to us.”

“So, Violetta-nee…”

“…”

“Master?”

“Violetta is…kind of different…”

“?”

“I mate…with her not for the sake of offspring… but…”

“But??”

“Intimacy, for the sake of love and affection for each other. It’s really weird, though.”

“Why?!”

“Commonly, dragons who live a long life and is about to face from existence find more dragons to mate to leave as many offspring as possible, but, I don’t see Violetta as something like that.”

“…”

“I just want…to be by her side, to spend more sweet time with her.”

“Master.”

“What the hell are you making me talk about?! Anyway! The training! Are you really prepared?!”

“Eh?!”

He suddenly diverts the talk.

I too, feel a bit emotional, but we have something to do at the moment.

“I am!”

“Then let’s start immediately. Recall everything you have learned from the previous weeks, the basics of dodging, blocking and parrying and the usage of that sword to you.”

“Ok!”

Let’s see.

All of it is about reading the opponents movements. When I was still blind, I read his movements through the prodding of my barrier to the surroundings.

The initial and end process of a movement, the observation of the trajectory of the attack and moving the sword in my hands to intercept it, the exact timing to dodge when an attack is initiated if it is too strong to block and parrying an attack for a counter chance.

Dodging is like dancing. At first, I always do a roll in the ground to avoid attacks, but as time passes, I tried dodging by shifting my body to the side will still maintaining my footing so I won’t lose balance and prepare for the next movement. Squatting is also a good form of dodging that elevates my whole body below and enables me to attack from below ground which an opponent is defenseless but the cons of that are that I can easily lose balance and may miss the attack or the opponent can dodge quicker too and may able to counter easily. I have tried many kinds of dodging like spinning too. The perks of spinning are that I can parry the next attack and do a countermeasure to the next but I can also easily lose balance from it, but a successful spin may land a successful hit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Not that I ever landed a hit on master, but that what he said.

Blocking is substantial too in battle if dodge is not an option or vice versa.

I cannot use my limbs to block any strong attacks. I learned it the hard way with this small body of mine. So, a weapon such as a sword is essential. Maybe a shield or even a spear is ideal but master flatly refuses for me to use any other weapon.

The trajectory of the upcoming attack and the positioning of the sword and my body is the utmost importance. There are circumstances that if I try to block an attack from above, I will reflexively use my sword and hold it up horizontally supported by my other hand. The problem is the footing. If I misstep, there will be a problem regarding my spine or bone breaking down given my size and proportion or percentage of muscle my body have.

So I figured that blocking strong attacks is bad so I tried having the attack slide off from my sword. Misdirecting it into another trajectory could render them unable to do their next attack and a chance for me to counter attack.

So far, this is what master taught me in the past two weeks for my training.

“Master, I’m all set! So, what are we going to do?!”

“I want you to clear your mind of everything.”

“Yes! That’s already done too!”

“I hope so.”

“?”

“We aren’t really going to do any different than the usual, we are just going to add another twist to this training.”

“Oh?! What is it?!”

“Calm dragon tempest is done calmly and its play is in defensive, analyzing the enemy’s weakest point and targeting it. That’s the only form I can teach you since you are basically a child and doesn’t have much strength.”

“…”

“So, I am also going to fight with a sword with simple art. I want you to calmly analyze my movements and try to land an attack to an opening.”

“Is that…it?”

“No. I am teaching you the basic of it. Calm dragon tempest, incidentally, can be used in any form of weapon, but I want you to master one weapon, for now, the sword. I want you to learn its essence for now.”

“Yes!”

“Remember that you have to fully connect your dodge and block. Like a gently flowing river, you have to smoothen your movement. Continuously dodging and blocking while you try to hunt for the weak spot. With a rhythmic movement of your feet that will repeatedly make cautious steps, you will dance calmly but deadly.”

“I get it! Let’s start!”

Master draws his wooden sword and made a simple attack by swinging the sword upfront. I shifted my body to the side and try to strike at his flank.

Suddenly… I was rolling on the ground again.

THUD

“Uhhh…”

“Naïve! You really think I won’t use my feet?”

“T-that’s…”

“You easily fell for that. Let’s redo.”

“Okay!

I was kicked but I won’t be bothered by it. He made a sweeping strike with his sword starting from his left going to the right.

I dodge it by ducking and supporting my body weight with my right foot and planting my left foot into the ground for my next movement.

My eye focuses on any incoming attack in the span of that movement.

Is it another kick? Is it another swing of his sword? Will he use anything in his body?

Without getting further disturb by those questions in my head, I dash through his right side and try to attack his flank again.

THUD

Ah!

My face got hit with his right elbow this time!

“Ow, ow… “

“You are being brash. Why are you rushing?”

“I-I am not rushing!”

“Is that so? Are you calm?”

“Y-yes!”

“Let’s continue.”

.

.

.

The whole day passes and I wasn’t able to land a hit.

Even though master is using simple movements, I kept falling for his feints and tricks. I kept rushing at him keeping an open eye on his movements.

What the hell is wrong?!

“M-master! One more time! Please! One more time!!!”

“Enough! Aren’t you too agitated?! Haven’t you had enough?! As I thought, you are not close to ready to learn something like this!”

“I am! I am calm!”

“No, you are not!”

“Why the hell are keep repeating about being calm!”

“…Enough, you need to rest.”

“Master!”

“I’m disappointed on how you act.”

“Master…”

“You are too eager. But it won’t help you. I know this is not easy, but you still haven’t grasped the essence of this art. You are pushing yourself too much. Why is that? Are you trying to impress me? Laughable. Your diligence will get you nowhere at this point.”

“…Is it…because I am really that talentless…”

“…”

“I know! I know I am becoming too overbearing! But I have to!”

“Yes! It is exactly as you say.”

“…*sob*… I am...*hic* for being…talentless …*hic*…like Higan or any students you have taught!”

“…”

I left. I run while sobbing and crying. His words hurt so much because it’s true. Even with all things that I experienced. Some emotions still linger. I can’t help it.

My insecurities regarding talents and aptitudes against diligence and hard work, a barrier that separate classification of people, no matter how hard I think, there will always be a limit to what I can do…

I want to break that limit.

I don’t have anything against Higan or even to Alstroe-nee but, still, being with them whittles down my confidence. I have said many words of going all out and going to do my best. But remembering these facts, even in the middle of training, makes me think how pathetic I am.

It’s a long hard path…

Can I…keep up?

I haven’t done much and yet…

It hurts so much. This emotion, this insecurity…