“The most important element of wielding a spear is distance. The better you are able to feel it, the more versatile you are. It is a weapon best used to keep your enemies at bay. Or so they say in the traditional teachings. However, my way of using the spear is entirely different.” Ulmak said, handing Zeke a spear he picked off one of the corpses the group found while treading through the caverns.

Zeke clumsily grabbed the spear, barely able to grip it tightly. He felt the rough wooden handle digging into his soft skin. Making him even more uncomfortable. As he lifted the weapon, he felt its weight within his hands.

“It’s heavy,” he thought to himself. Something he wouldn’t have expected after seeing how easily Ulmak wields his weapon. A Spear entirely constructed out of metal, making it far heavier than his shabby wooden spear.

“Familiarize yourself with the weapon, feel it’s shape, memorize it to the finest detail. The spear is long, the handle allows for versatility. But only if you know your weapon,” Ulmak explained.

Zeke felt his spear. Gripping along every crevice and indentation. Every scratch and notch. He thought about every detail of its story. He thought about the weapon’s previous owner as he looked over at his bones.

“Can I?” he asked Ulmak.

“Do not worry about the dead. They have no important stories to tell. It is only the living who matter,” Ulmak responded.

But Zeke wasn’t convinced. He wished to know what caused the previous wielder to perish. How they fought using the weapon. He wanted to envision their battle experience.

“Now thrust!” Ulmak suddenly shouted.

“What?” Zeke stumbled.

“The thrust is an essential motion of the spear and its strongest asset. You must carve this move into your mind. It will be the fundamental of all fundamentals. Do it like this,” Ulmak said, flipping his spear around into a more efficient grip.

His mind went blank. Eyes took on a much more serious expression. His gaze reflected a phantom figure as an imaginary enemy appeared in front of him, only visible within his own mind’s eye. With great force, he moved, positioning the tip of his spear away from himself, akin to pointing a gun before shooting it. Anticipation built up. Shivers went down Zeke’s spine as he earnestly watched this display with great anticipation. And by the time Ulmak finally thrust his spear, for a moment Zeke could see it. The imaginary opponent, receiving consecutive strikes to his head, chest and legs.

“Did you see it?” Ulmak asked after once again taking on a casual stance.

“I’m not sure,” Zeke replied with a dazed expression, attempting to replay everything he just saw inside of his mind.

“Good,” Ulmak responded. “That’s the way it should be. Now try it for yourself!”

Zeke, slowly stumbled into position. His hands shook violently as he attempted to grip the weapon in a comfortable way. His legs and feet lacked a certain stability, a quality that he saw Ulmak possess during his display. Despite being able to comprehend the basic concepts, Zeke could not seem to put them into practice.

This was the same exact situation Zeke found himself in during his time at the Babel academy. While his peers had no issues learning martial arts and techniques, he would often lag behind. Because of this, Zeke focused on building up his physique the best he could. And even though he had much better stamina than average humans, his physical abilities were lacking when compared to the overwhelming powers of contractors.

Zeke repeatedly moved his body in an attempt to replicate Ulmak’s technique but he failed each time he tried. Sometimes the strikes were too shallow. At other times, they were too weak. And then again, his overall movements appeared to be far too inconsistent for Ulmak’s liking.

“I see” Ulmak, said, pondering.

“Am I that bad?” Zeke asked with an awkward smile.

“It’s not that,” Ulmak sighed, “You see, in regards to learning, there are mainly two types of people. The first type learns with their head. They are able to effortlessly replicate anything they understand and put it into practice. But after watching you just now I’m sure that you’re the second type,” Ulmak closed his eyes.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So What’s the second type?” Zeke asked.

Ulmak took a deep breath.

“The type that learns with their ass!” he shouted. “Elaine!” He screamed even louder, calling their companion to his side.

“What?” Elaine replied, coming from the distance, dragging a crawler corpse along the ground.

“What is that?” Ulmak questioned.

“Dinner. Now that we’re all out of rations it’s best to see if Zeke can cook these guys as well,” Elaine approached the two and sighed.

“Can you?” Ulmak shifted his gaze to Zeke.

“I’m sure I can whip something up,” Zeke smiled while nervously scratching his head.

Ulmak cleared his throat.

“Anyway, that’s not why I called you over,” he smiled, lightly. “I want you to spar with him,” he giggled.

“WHAT!” Zeke screamed out in terror.

“Are you sure about this?” Elaine doubted.

“He needs to learn somehow,” Ulmak shrugged. “Help the poor guy out,” he said grabbing Elaine by the shoulder and whispering something into her ear.

“Alright,” she sighed. “Okay, Zeke, whenever you’re ready,” she signed while getting into a stance.

Zeke clutched his fists tightly, gripping the spear in his hands. His eyes focused intensely on her entire body. He approached her slowly, anxiously moving his feet one after another.

“How come you’re this scared of me, but you’re entirely calm when we fight monsters?” Elaine giggled.

“Women are a mystery to me,” Zeke jokingly responded.

The moment he finished his sentence, Elaine rushed in, leaping towards him in a fast dash, lessening the main advantage of the spear – its reach. Zeke attempted to back away, swiping with his weapon. However, Elaine easily blocked his halfhearted attack and struck him in the stomach. Causing the boy to drop to his knees throwing up.

“Get up, your ass is yet to learn the importance of the thrust,” Ulmak retorted with a serious expression.

Zeke slowly got up, slamming the dull end of his spear into the ground, using his spear as support for his shaking legs.

“Let’s continue,” Zeke expressed with determination in his eyes.

This determination would not fade away, no matter how many times Elaine would knock him down. For the next 6 hours, the two fought. Each time Elaine would strike the boy down, he would fall to the ground and then, after a brief rest, get up and continue as if nothing happened. This lasted until eventually, Elaine collapsed from exhaustion, unable to continue sparring.

“How are you still moving,” she said while gasping for air, covering her hair with her elbow, before looking up at the boy, whose face was red and blue, swollen and badly bruised.

“Because I learn with my ass,” Zeke remarked, attempting to smile with his battered lips.

“Yet you were still unable to use the thrust even once,” Ulmak stated with his eyes closed.

After a quick rest, the group set up camp in another dead zone, a place with little to no vegetation. Zeke prepared food, boiling the crawler meat in hot water. Which surprisingly tasted very similar to lobster.

After dinner, the trio went to sleep.

Zeke couldn’t stop thinking about his spear. His mind wandering back to the corpse of its previous owner.

“I want to know how he died,” Zeke thought to himself.

And so, he came to a decision. He snuck out in the middle of the night, leaving the hollow area, coming back to where they had previously trained. He sneaked around, carefully avoiding crawlers and other beasts.

When he reached the corpse, Ulmak was already waiting for him, standing over it with his arms crossed.

“He died from a stab wound, killed by a human. A man with a rapier, no doubt. The stabber pierced him perfectly through the windpipe. Whoever did this may in fact be stronger than me,” Ulmak calmly stated.

“How did you know I was going to come here? I checked to see if you were sleeping before I left,” Zeke asked with a vacant stare.

“Only a fool would not be curious of how the previous wielder of their weapon died, what mistakes they made. Truth be told, had you not come here, I would have likely not continued to teach you.” Ulmak smiled awkwardly.

“Chastiefol is the name of demon I am contracted to.” Ulmak explained.

“’Chastiser of fools’,” Zeke remarked. “Fits you well,” he laughed.

Another week passed. Zeke continued training under Ulmak’s tutorship. At first progress was slow but after spending his days sparring with Elaine, Zeke obtained the ability to keep up with her movements, he could see them, feel them, he recognized her habits and patterns for what they were. Their bouts would no longer end in a single strike, often dragging on. And although Elaine remained as the clear victor, something within the boy began to gradually change.

While his companions were sleeping, Zeke would spend his nights imitating Elaine’s movements, copying her stances and practicing her attacks. His moves lacked grace and precision, but with time they improved.

At that moment, the reason why he couldn’t learn combat-oriented skills at the academy became plainly obvious to Zeke. It was because they were not rooted in real combat experience, he didn’t perceive them as real. He only saw them as some flashy distractions and feints to win fights, and not something one would rely on to protect their life.

Elaine couldn’t tell, but Ulmak knew. At some point, Zeke started holding himself back during their fights. As by the time he had learned her martial arts, Elaine could no longer pose any real threat to him.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/zBjjqXBq/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]