Scoffing, William forces a firm fist upon Roman's giant head. It goes as expected, while William's jumping strength increases the strength of the fist as well. He jumped high, and the forward heaviness of his own attack surprises him.
Feeling all so acrobatic and strong is definitely an interesting aspect of having this sort of new power. Although he never felt... not acrobatic, since he worked with what he always could, it feels strange to be in some sense... inhuman. William always practiced some form of self-defense, and tough work in the past camps provided him with a lot of opportunities to get stronger. Even without being a Walker, his muscles wouldn't be weak, and so would his flexibility.
Adding the factors of what Vectors did, it multiplied the potential that he had by an unknown number. Strengthening what wasn't weak, to begin with, will only add stronger effects in the future.
William jumps like a madman. From left to right, he has to be like that in order to strike Roman's tall body. Striking, swiping, and trying to pierce Roman with his Claw, he is trying his very best.
A palm, finger attack, slap, pinch, jabs, and so on, William continues with the use of this Claw for 10 whole minutes.
Even when the timer of the 1st round is gone, he still feels he can go on for another.
“Calm down, for my sake.” Roman's words echo into William's focused ears. “I see you are so energetic and ready to rumble, but do this for 50 rounds, and I shall see what are even your capabilities. I bet you wouldn't even recognize a timer at that time.”
“50? Are... Have I heard it right?” William speaks while taking a slight breath of fearfulness. “You want 5 series of 10 rounds?”
“What? Are you complaining? I see how eager are you to see how much you can strike with your Claw. 5 series, with 30-minute breaks between them. We have all day for this, and I have more than enough time.” Roman laughs at his own words and partly at William, whose face speaks nothing but fear.
“I mean... Not right now, but I will be complaining later though. Is there a rest between the rounds at least?”
“Of course. I will give you an overview of your technique in the 5-minute breaks. See how generous I am?”
“Sure, Sure. I see that clear as the sky over my head.” William mockingly said, flipping his arms high into the air. Obviously, there is no sky over his head in this sort of room.
Stopping his giant form, Roman sits in front of William, who stops his emblem too.
“Right, time for the explanations and talking. Your fierce strikes are fine as I see that. Their strength and flexibility are quite good, but you have to remind yourself of your open left side. Nonstop attacks aren't a problem for you but they could be redundant against tougher, or glass-canon Dark beings.
“Glass cannon?”
“We call that the monsters that have extremely well offensive powers, but limited defenses. In a way, they are tough opponents that can kill high-rank Walkers, but lower-ranked Walkers can kill it because of low defenses.”
“Then why it would be redundant? Would I not be able to kill such a monster with my Claw?”
“That is as questionable as peculiar situations when one fights against the Dark.” Roman sights. “ A 100 weak attacks or 10 stronger ones? What do you think is better when one fights for life and time?”
“Strong ones?”
“Wrong.”
“Then weaker ones? 100 seems like a lot...” William argues, not knowing where Roman is going with this conversation.
“That is also not right. It all depends on the context of the Dark beings. This is where the knowledge of the monsters comes into play. The force necessary to injure, or kill the dark beings is one of the prime methods to think about when hunting. Your attacks can have numerous variables, but one firm one would make those numerous kinds of attacks less than optimal. Using the right efficiency towards the kill is what you should think about in the future. Although, I can't really teach you about it now, for obvious reasons. Academy will do so better if you know what I mean.”
“I see... That makes sense.” William hears Roman's more than sensible explanation. It makes a clearer picture in his mind.
“For now, maybe. But how to make your attacks stronger, and variable enough to work into many kinds of situations? Right? You just used the basic form of your Emblem to see how it will go. So let's go over the optimal ways you can attack at your current stage. This sort of method of training and my words will work great for your future, so don't hold back, while I won't too. Alright?”
William nods in enthusiasm. He feels like Roman is a completely different person when teaching. It feels kind of great, but seeing him in a different light somewhere else? That is rather different.
Soon, the 2nd round comes.
William summons his Vector Hand this time around.
Unlike the Claw with spiked parts and a tougher appearance, William notices many underlying problems this Skill has. A smooth surface of the fingers is good for grabbing but not so much against something big like Roman. There are no spiked ends of fingers, while attacks are more or less the same. A fist is probably the most correct attack with this Hand, but what else?
Wondering about it, he still forgets his hesitations. He keeps on attacking for another 10 minutes while feeling adventurous, so he uses his legs to kick from time to time. Those kinds of adventurous methods of attacking did absolutely nothing, but hurt his own legs.
The end of the 2nd round comes with the same results. Though, William feels a bit clumpsy in his chest. “Breath. I should remain calm breathing,” he says to himself as he sits on the ground.
“Yes. You should remain calm in all situations.” Roman replies, going back to his normal form. “Breathing is very important when fighting. Especially for the kind of Walker you are. Cycles of our Vectors can make our bodies undergo unlikely stress, and I doubt you feel it that hard now. No matter how monstrous we are, we are still humans. Our lungs are a great source of power, as our blood and Vectors are still connected to our physical body. In your case, it is a bit different, as Rank 1 is still very human, but further down the line, it will feel kind of extreme.”
“I heard about it already... What about this round? How well I did?” William shakes his head, unwilling to hear the same thing he heard in the past.
“Well, it went as I expected. The hand is normal, while the rest of your body is less than optimal, but it goes according to the standards of beginners. It's the same shit as any other Walker that has a peculiar form of Body Emblem. In your case, it is a hand, so feeling right where to attack should be something to consider. So, with that said, I will move into the upcoming round with something else. I still won't be attacking of course, but I will be trying to dodge some of your attacks instead.” Roman explains.
“Dodge?” William raises his brows, thinking how could this monstrosity in a form of a giant can dodge his fast attacks. “Alright. I have no problem with it, so I shall go with the Claw again.” William decides, and goes by his choice.
3rd round.
William strikes Roman in a similar way as in the 1st round. This time, he tries to feel the difference in his first firth, then the motions of it, and then his own breathing.
Catching his breath, or inhaling before attacking is the usual practice that he is used to. When attacking, it's a focused motion, so most of his focus is on the attacks or the opponent. Although, one could always do something bad when it comes to fast-paced, or dangerous combat. William quickly figures that he has a lot to learn. In fact, so much can be improved, that he feels a bit ashamed to be as confident as he was before.
Roman steps back and forward, using his tall body. He sometimes dodges aside or moves quickly as if his size doesn't matter at all.
Hence, his quick, and familiar moves cause William to strike empty air many times. However, he still charges at him without limitations, not thinking about the status, or power that Roman has or not.
This sort of training is very different than the one he did yesterday. Yesterday was torture. A time that was more than exhausting, rather than exciting. William knows it jsut from these 3 rounds, so he goes on and on, even though he knows this could still get him exhausted. He feels it should be right to feel some tension, so he does his best, unaware of his bearing that is tense, excited, and unwilling to give up.
Wrong... Oh, so wrong for him to think like that after yesterday.
Middle of the 9 round. William has already been at this sort of training for more than 1 and half hours.
He is struggling on his feet, yet he still charges at Roman who barely moves his large body to the left, dodging his incoming fist in a single step.
Swiping his claw to the concrete, William ends up stumbling to the ground in exhaustion by Roman's less-than-fast sidestep.
Huffing, he gets on his feet, trying to calm the storm in his chest. “Bloody... chest. I... feel like on fire. My lungs.” he mumbles, shaking his head, and feels his straining right arm. His limits are not one bit better than yesterday. It's jsut the case of different kinds of exhaustion from it, which is more than apparent when one hit or is on the opposite receiving end.
“Yeah. I bet it feels like that. Come one, continue. This round still has a long way to go.” Roman replies in a deep voice, unbothered by the degree of exhaustion William forced upon himself.
“Ugh! Fine! I can go on. WATCH! I said I can do this... So I will.” William shouted, not seeing Roman's mocking face, but his voice is speaking for his face. He can already imagine that sneer on his cheeks amidst a burst of laughter.
Jumping forward to face Roman, William slams his palm, missing him by just a couple of inches. Noticing his obvious miss, he uses this chance to twist his legs to swipe his whole right arm and to 360 to meet Roman for sure. It works, but as usual, the first that strikes Roman's shadowy belly does nothing much.
It is the same as many rounds before, so William has no choice but to make all kinds of strikes with his right hand, but as usual, barely half hits the target. His claw by this point got many times faster, but William doesn't think of it as something good. Exhausted, tired, and fed up with any kind of results, he doesn't feel right in mind when is close to the 10th round.
William feels a strange sensation raising in this exhaustion. It isn't like yesterday that he had a different kind of helplessness. Today, he feels as free as he could, but his body and ability are a prison which doesn't make him feel good at all. He is thinking about many things, yet the majority of thoughts end up hurting him in the process. Figuring out a style of fighting that could work best for him, he tries all kinds of forms of fighting that he heard or read about. His claw is unfortunately nothing that a normal martial artist would have, so it goes as expected. William struggles, and that goes along with what Roman wants.
“Hand, Claw. Fists, piercing strikes, clawed hands. I don't know... What to do...” William stops in his tracks, adjusting his strategy by walking circles around Roman.
“What is good, what is not? Does it matter now that I can try them all? Well, so what if am about to try them all? Everything seems like a disaster when my stamina is so poor over the course of these rounds. The use of quick strikes sounds most reasonable to come and creates some openings and experiences while striking harder or weaker has many forms that can come from these openings. I shouldn't be thinking much about some arts, or whatnot. It went over my head. The whole premise of this training and being a proper Walker. Just using my head isn't enough. I need to properly work with what I have since being too excited, greedy and in hurry, doesn't help me. Right, of course, it won't.” William thinks to himself, encircling Roman all the way to his back, where he strikes again.
His fist facing forward, William hit Roman back. “Oh, you really hit my back? Shameless kiddo!” Roman says while mockery is obvious in his tone.
Just now, Willaim used the claw and hand for the majority of the rounds. He feels most powerful and comfortable with this peculiar form.
The use of the other form, the Hand, is basically not so different from the Claw. Over the course of the past days, since he got his Skills into a form of System, his Vector Hand doesn't feel more draining than the Claw. On the other hand, the Annihaiation claw could be very different, but attacks could be the same, or more drastic.
Though, William still doesn't incorporate any of his Annihilation Skills, since it's still too early for that. Forcing his already poor mentality with additional control over the Annihilation isn§t something he is ready for.
By the lack of telling or lack of ideas, Willaim still fights without Inner enchantment, Touch of Vectors, or anything else. Even Velvet Eyes would enchant his vision, enabling him to view things clearly and move better. In that way, he could follow up with some counters against Roman's casual moves.
The price of using more Skills would of course drain more power, so William doesn't even consider it to be important right now. He wants to experience the art of striking, so he got what he wanted after a long time of excited waiting. All of this is a precious experience he should have, and Roman doesn't hesitate to act according to William's self-teaching attitude. From time to time, he still gives him some hints and information that could be useful, but he talks as less as possible because William is too focused.
Roman noticed it long ago. Perhaps even before he started, he already formed a plan in mind to use for this day. If William won't start to show a steep rise in the use of his Emblem, in the next series, he will mention another change.
This isn't about some stamina training, but figuring out fighting as a Walker. Skills are what really matters, and William doesn't work too much with them at all. Almost 10 rounds with basics are more than enough in Roman's opinion.
All that William is using is his enchanted stamina and endurance. All of them are an aftereffect of the awakening, so that is about it. Proper cycles of the Vectors are another thing too, but Roman is yet to talk in detail about that topic. The physical capability of enchanted stamina, strength, and so on aren't even worth it to relate to any Skills. In general terms, it's nothing special to be able to go into a fighting frenzy for an hour and walk away as if nothing happens in less than a minute. William is a bit far from that, but that is just because he is new to this. Physical ability isn't anything special to become a singular Skill on its own.
Of course, there are some cases where abnormal stamina, speed, strength, and so on will become a Skill on its own, but they all follow the distinct roads and decisions of the System and its acknowledgment. However, the requirements and talents to get them aren't that common or easily trained. Most Rank 4 Walkers don't have some passive, offensive, or Defensive Skill related to the physical conditions of their bodies.
“Come on. This weak attack wouldn't pose much threat to anything. A simple fist has to have a deep and powerful force behind it, or it's like slapping a mosquito with cotton. Use your head a little better than this and come up with something better next.” Roman scolds William after the end of the 10th round. William looks a bit haggard on the surface, but he takes everything that Roman tells him into his mind. 10 rounds after him, and he is still standing on his feet, massaging his right shoulder.
“Yeah. Weak that and this. I never worked with this sort of situation before. Give me some slack since it's less than an hour since I got somewhat comfortable while striking another human being.” William retorts, his answer still caries more sense than complaints.
“That could be understandable if you aren't going for the Trials.”
“But I know where I am going too. Well... A little bit... It's gonna be tough, and that's all that matters.” William argues, folding his legs to sit down to calm down a bit better.
“No... I don't mean it that way.” Roman argues back. “What I want you to understand is the basic concept of expectations. I will give a THOROUGH lecture about something that you have no idea about. I thought Mi-Yung taught you a little better but expecting something is already too much to ask for, I guess...”
“Huh? Why are you taking her name out again? Mi-Yung barely told me something. Some rules or whatnot.”
“Oh right... Assembly or so I heard. It isn't something that I am familiar with, and her idea behind can be also strange. She had quite a messed up ambition in her head if she thought it was a good idea to join the Assembly. I swear... Anyway, calms down, and relax for a bit. This is the least I can do for the next 30-minute break after this 1st series of 10 rounds. Got it?”
Already sitting down and relaxing, Roman sights and also sits down. There is no need for arguments between him and William.
Roman is aware that some people are more clueless than others, but finding a clear line between them isn't something he is good at. That's just how things are with him. Roman met a lot of people in the past. Both young, and old. He also learned a lot about how to deal with all kinds of people in the midst of an apocalypse.
Even when the Academy has high standards for entrance, there is a limit to the mind and kind of people they want. That means the effects of the Emblems and the Systems matter the most, while the personality or knowledge outside of the Emblem and the System doesn't matter all that much.
Someone can be questionably dumb but have a very high talent with corresponding progress to go along with it. It could be completely out of the ordinary, so Academy would try its best to nurture a good potential. In fact, all sort of other organizations thinks in a similar way. It's how things go, where talent and need for powerful Walkers are never good enough.
Even such people can join the Academy since the requirements are simple. It's to make an even greater Walker out of the good one. There is no need for average ones.
Taking a seat before William, who ends his little straining stance, Roman is preparing himself for what to say next. Seeing the obvious face of interest on William's face doesn't please him. William is willing to listen to any of Roman's words.
This incoming conversation will be something similar to yesterday, where he made countless improvements from Roman's hints and his general overview.
Alas, this is an offense. A very different kind of action from the defenses.
There are many similarities in human actions when fighting. When defending, or striking, the motions of the body remain somewhat similarly strained. Movement of the legs and general position of the human body can, or may not change all that much. Posture, as well as stamina management, are still manageable in both ways when one keeps on striking or defending. On the other hand, the Walkers have a different kind of assessment of this common sense.
“So, where do I start?” Roman asks himself, scratching his head in the process.
“I mean, you said Throughout!” William shouted, exaggerating the last words as Roman did. “It's been jsut a single series so far, so how about my movement for a good start? Striking in many ways is quite easy with my claw, but my hand feels weaker in comparison. Each deserves at least a couple of individual discussions.” Willaim offers his side of ideas.
“Right, that is not a bad assessment. So, movements? Don't even let me start on that. Your clumsy follow-ups, or tries of ones, weren't even that great. You have a lot to learn in the shape of smooth combat. For now, I will give you small praise that you went for 10 whole rounds without yesterday's troubles. There is a reason for that. Can you guess it?”
“That my stamina is better than yesterday, or my Vectors and Emblem isn't as striking on my body as yesterday?” William gives the most likely answer that he believes in himself.
“That's true, but that isn't the kind of answer that should be great to expect. What you did is great for you. No doubt about that, but you wasted a single series for the most basic things that you could have tried with more meaningful methods. Are you aware of that? Whole 2 hours gone, which could be used better.”
“Oh? This?” William frowned. “I don't regret this one bit. Finding a proper standing where I belong is more of what I needed to know. I never had a chance to experience such wild combat. You know, because I AM a walker for less than 10 days!” he shouted the last part of his spectacular speech.
“Alright. Alright. Don't be agitated. I hear and see your perspective now.”
“Tell me about yours then.”
Sighting, Roman can't properly scold him when he changes the topics like that. What a student he met. He can't even start to imagine what sort of situations will occur in the Academy. Some instructors will hate him for sure, while others will love him. There won't be any in-betweens, but that's his own guess for the time being.
“It's about the use of other Skills. Why haven't you added the Inner Enchantment or your Velvet eyes? They can provide you with little or no straining cost, while offensively, could add some benefits. Finding those benefits, while figuring out the costs of operating and using them is something that you need to see for yourself. I can see some sense in not using the Annihilation for this series, but forgetting the supportive Skills makes a huge difference when maintaining control over the Vectors.”
“Oh? Should I have used my Inner Enchantment? I mean, when I was doing that time thing, I didn't move or do a thing. Using them simultaneously with a Claw seems like... I mean. In combat?” William tries to come up with a good argument. “There would be some nasty side effects of burning too much energy. I bet I wouldn't last even a round in such a state.”
“Then why guess when you can try it?” Roman sneers, giving him the most shameless answer that a teacher can give.