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With a full belly and heavy limbs, Mel, Barrell and I entered the training hall to find the dojo had once again changed. Ten humanoid shaped, life-sized training dummy stood in the middle of the long rectangular room. Along the walls before the pillars were racks of a variety of weapons, shields and armor made of modern alloy and mesh. We took our seats on the matt near the center of the room. I admit I was tempted to grab a sword and test out the dummies.
A few minutes later, Achilles clapped his hands together to get our attention and said. “You have all returned. The next thing on the agenda is meditation.”
A couple murmurs were came from behind me. Achilles ignored them.
“Someone tell me, what is the goal of meditation.”
Mel raised his hand and replied when permitted. “To clear your mind?”
“Absolutely not.” Achilles replied with a smirk.
Mel's slowly lowered his hand.
“But that is a common practice. When I speak of meditation I don’t mean the religious practice from eastern religions. Instead of clearing your mind, I want you to fill it. For the next hour you will further consider you moral weaknesses. In addition to trying to figure out what they are, I want you to try to figure out the practical ways they can hurt you.
The trick here is to be close minded.” He said, stopping for a moment as if expecting an objection. “Only allow your mind focus on what you desire to think about. Close your mind to everything else. It is natural for your mind to wander or focus on things that are emotionally simulating. Don’t let it. If you lose focus then reign it in your thoughts and start again.
You will find your mind is like a muscle. The more you exercise it the more control you will have. Now start.”
Looking to Mel, he had the same idea as we both took an Indian style position I had seen in pictures of meditation.
Immediately, I had a problem. With a full belly and a body that yearned for rest, I was drowsy and growing more so. After about five minutes I had soundly failed any attempt at meditation and was nodding off.
“What are you doing?” Achilles rebuked, although there was an undertone of humor in his voice.
Startled awake, I looked at him, snorting air in defeat. How could he possibly think trying to do this after a full morning of working out and eating lunch was a good idea?
“Sorry.” I shrugged.
“If you are tired then stand up, pace, talk to yourself out loud. Meditation is about focusing your mind. It doesn’t matter what you do with your body.”
“Seriously?”
He grinned.
At least three other people in my group stood up at the revelation.
Well I felt stupid. I had been so focused on imitating what I thought meditation was that I had missed the point entirely. The basic principle behind the meditation Achilles was talking about finally clicked.
As I stood, Mel joined me.
“That's a relief.” He said under his breath while stretching his arms up over his head.
Taking Achilles' advice, I stood up and started walking around the parameter of the dojo. Turning my attention to the assignment, I found that as I thought I lost track of what my body was doing and where I was at in the room. Pacing seemed to be a natural way for me to focus my mind, and the activity kept me from getting tired.
My moral weaknesses...
Yesterday I had admitted that my desire to become the best gamer, that prideful desire, had put me in a position to choose what would further my career above other people. How many times had I purposely embarrassed another player to gain followers? If I was honest it was multiple times a day for about two years; maybe more. It was true I didn't enjoy the other player's destruction like Chewme, instead, I was only as ruthless as I had to be to get what I wanted.
Part of me really started to not like what I was learning about myself. My first reaction was to deny it, but Achilles had mentioned that we needed to be internally honest. His reasoning was sound. If I really wanted to be the best, then I didn't think something so foundational could be ignored.
I stopped walking. I was about to run into a gunmetal wrack of weapons. Their overall design had the traditional shape, but these weren't designed to look like historical pieces. The blades had mirror finishes, with a synthetic mesh material on the grips. The spear shafts were the color of blue-tinted skin. It was a biomaterial weaved into a solid structure that gave superior flex and spring for ultimate durability. It also had a limited ability to self-repair.
What, had it been a minute? I was already distracted. Close your mind, Lucius.
Achilles hadn't given us this exercise to just tear ourselves down. Where was I?
What were some practical ways my weaknesses could hurt me?
My next thought staggered me. I leaned back against the closest wall.
Even though my actions in the last battle against the goblin's western army had been to protect the other players, I had abandoned my group. It had been to overcome the fear that was hanging over my head in regard to facing another hobgbolin, the creature that had injured me. It even worked out okay, and they were free to come help out in the end, but my actions could have been determental to them. What if they were attacked by a large force after I took off to fight the hobgoblin, or when they had come to help me they were overwhelmed? It would have been my fault. The other players, and especially my group deserved more than that.
My ambition could be an enemy. I determined right then to protect my friends from it.
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What about Chewme? When the time came we would compete, I was sure of that, but I wasn't sure I could continue our rivalry in the same way. I could no longer disregard others in the way I once had. Not now that I was aware of it. He might not accept that. What would I do then?
The hour passed surprisingly quickly. I didn’t want to stop once my mind was fully engaged.
An odd revelation presented itself to me. This kind meditation was liberating. Though the questions were uncomfortable and not something I would normally think about, I couldn't help but feel that I was progressing to better understand my own mind.
Achilles stopped our meditation. “That's enough for now. I recommend everyone make a practice of meditation as a daily part of life. Finding time to focus your mind is critical for every part of life. Now, everyone come over here.”
He stood with a spear in either hand in front of a practice dummy. The dummy glowed with him, meaning it was in a different training room and being augmented before us. Mel had been standing leaning against a pillar with his hands across his chest while meditating. I had ended up on the far end of the dojo, still in the middle of pacing back and forth.
There was an intense apprehension that Mel and I shared.
Barrell came up beside us. A large grin told me he had been waiting for this as well.
It wasn’t spoken, but it could be felt in the room. There was no hiding it. Everyone was thrilled to be able to finally get to some weapon training, even if it was just on dummies.
“Sit.” He motioned with his hand before him.
We obeyed, looking up at the massive man. In that moment I realized how easy it would have been for him to kill us. Perhaps, the greatest warrior alive stood over us, a master of the weapons he held. Turning my focus to his bearded face, any imagined fear faded. He held the spears with gentle grace. I realized he had probably spent more time holding a spear than I had been alive. Maybe two to three times that. Something told me that it was more than a weapon to him and less. I didn't understand where that feeling came from, but I also knew there was no reason to fear him.
“Ladies and gentleman, what weapon would you like to use for your main weapon?” He asked, pointing to Mel.
“Sword.” Mel replied like it was obvious.
Achilles face didn’t give away any judgement. He asked other players, some in our group, some outside of it. He opened up the auditory system to let us hear a girls voice cast her vote, then other players outside our room followed.
There were a few votes for axes and spears, but sword was the most common answer.
When he came to me I answered. “Spear.”
There were only a few others after me, then he continued.
“Those of you that picked spear, was it because I happen to be holding two?”
He raised his brow in question.
“In the majority of situations, swords hold no advantages over spears. The opposite is true. The one exception is in close corroders where you can’t utilize the spear's length and versatility. This does not mean that the sword is superior when your opponent is close to you necessarily, but in the tight spaces where it can’t be maneuvered. Mark the difference.”
After the goblin battle we had just been through I thought it was pretty obvious you needed both a spear and sword, but you should always start with a spear. After it gets stuck in a goblin, then you unsheathe your sword.
“Do not take this as an excuse to neglect sword practice. It has its place and use like all tools do. I merely want to make sure you are not intoxicated in the illusion that myths and legends give to weapons like the sword. They can be amazing weapons, but real fighting is more a calculation of angles and advantages. The spear's utility is farther reaching, literally and figuratively.
Fighting is like any job; with the right tool it becomes easier. It is true that a person with a sword can defeat a person with a spear, but as I said before, to be the best you must seek to see things the way they really are. Reality is much different than our imagined fantastical version of the world.”
Leaning one spear against the dummy he continued. “This is traditionally called a Dory.” He slid the shaft up and back in his hand, feeling its weight and texture. “It is the spear that the infamous Spartans used. When you go to buy a spear, I recommend it become your weapon of choice.
The main spearhead is leaf shaped. It gives you the options of a sharp point for thrusting, or razor edge for slashing. It also causes a lot of damage due to the wound inflicted from its wider shaped spearhead. Traditionally, the shaft is made of a dense wood bringing the spear from 7 to 10 feet long. You will start out with 7. The butt of the spear has a spike, or sauroter, meaning lizard killer. It's very good at piercing highly durable targets like armor. Because of its overall effectiveness and versatility it will be your main weapon while in my class. Let’s begin.”
We were each directed to grab a spear from the wrack. These were not like the traditional one's he described but made from the blue biomaterial.
Standing before one of ten training dummies close to the back of the room, I was armed with both spear and shield. My stance had my feet comfortably apart with my shield foot forward, as I thrusted at the chest of my target.
“Let the turn of your torso drive your spear arm forward. Don’t make your arm do the work. Not only will you lose power, but also tire quickly.”
My body was exhausted already, but the small rest during lunch and medication had helped enough for another go. It was too early for soreness to set in, but I was dreading tomorrow. The round Spartan style shield called a hoplite was nearly 30 pounds(13.6 kgs). It was very similar to my own bronze shield, but a little larger all around. It was truly amazing how far I had come in six days. The first day it had been so difficult for me to even hold up my spear for extended periods of time, but now my body had started to adapt to the weight and understand how to manipulate it.
“Do not let your elbow lock, or fully extend while striking. In theory you never want the angle of your elbow joint to reach 0 degrees. Forget theory. If you extend your arm too far it will hurt. Your body will naturally teach you through that pain what to do and what not to do.”
As the spear blade entered the dummy, I felt the blade seep into the flesh like gel torso. When you drew the spearhead out of the dummy, it immediately repaired itself.
“You will slowly learn weapon presence. Without thinking you won’t just be able to hit your target, but you will be able to control how it hits and how deep it penetrates. The muscle memory you are building will work with your mind in the execution.
Every blow does not need to be a kill shot with all of your strength behind it. You will find it easier to let the spearhead do the work on an opponent instead and save energy in the process. A shallow piercing takes finesse not brute strength, in addition to less strength to pull the spear point out of the target. You want 3 to 6 inches of the blade to pierce the target.
Even when you do go for a killing shot, if you have mastered weapon presence then you won’t throw all your strength into the thrust, but only what is required. You will also only pierce the target with the spear blade and not ram it up to the shaft, making it even more difficult to remove.”
It was fascinating at first to experiment with how the dummy reacted to different depths of attack. A shallow wound took little strength to remove. A deep wound took more. When fighting goblins winning had been the only thing on my mind. Having a stationary target was helping me part the feel of my action with the result of the strike. In the past, this had been an important thing to understand in Virtual Reality Gaming as well. Understanding the physics of your skills and spells was one of the things that separated a good player from a great one.
After a while I started to get an idea how deep the spearhead could penetrate without making it too difficult to remove. There seemed to be a sweet spot of sorts and anything past that was much harder.
We learned only the most basic thrusts from an over hand and under hand position. The practice lasted for two full hours. There were a few breaks, but, despite them, it turned into a time of grueling effort.
When he had us sit I was ecstatic.
“That’s it for today. I will send you a message with a full break down of your recommended nutrition plan. It will inform you of which foods your body will best respond to and how much protein, fat and carbs to eat. Bring any questions with you tomorrow.”
Achilles seemed to be considering us for a moment before he suddenly faded out again and disappeared.
The suddenness of it all was lost on me because of my exhaustion. Part of me missed the days when VR was as simple as putting on a head set and relying on your characters stats to determine your endurance. Normally practice with my guild could have lasted 8-12 hours. Today we had done maybe 6 hours and he had given us time between to eat and rest. Endurance in the real world was painful.
Next on the agenda? More food.