“You get the first strike I won’t make a move until after you, now here goes the stone show me what you got.”

Old man Kemoro chucked a stone into the air, I watched as it flew into the air and started dropping to the ground. It suddenly felt like everything was going in slow motion.

Should I go for a punch? Or maybe a kick? No what if I go for tackle? Yeah, that would probably be what he least expects. Screw it let’s go for it.

My eyes focused on the rock that was about to hit the ground as soon as it hit the ground I was going to start charging straight towards the old man.

The moment it did I sprinted as fast as I could towards his direction, he didn’t seem surprised contrary to my believes he didn’t even look like he was trying to dodge.

The moment I got in range I lowered my shoulder and extended my arms, I was planning to prevent him from moving out of place.

When I felt the most confident that it was too late for him to escape and that I had secured contact at the very least, he did a twisting side step and disappeared from my field of vision, next thing I knew I felt a great force strike me in the center of my lower back immediately with the momentum of my running I plunged forward and ate a mouthful of dirt.

Just like that, the spar session was over.

He completely wrecked me and I didnt even land a blow yet again.

“I thought you were going to go easy on me what the hell was that, are you trying to break my back?!”

“Trust me if I was trying to break your back I would’ve, I really did go easy on you all I did was employ the appropriate stances and timed reaction to your charge. You were so off balance all I had to do was nudge you with a kick to send your butt flying.”

I had no idea what he was saying all I knew was that I had lost and now I had to do an extra resilience exercise. Life truly was unfair.

“Well I definitely got a good gauge of what your fighting skill level is, you were right you’re pretty horrible, bad enough to make me question whether the Seeiers vision is suffering because of age and made a mistake by making you a Ranker. Nevertheless, I did see a couple of glimpses of hope here and there.”

Despite his attempt at giving me hope at the end of his assessment, this old man probably did more damage to me with his words than with his kick. Did he have to be so ruthlessly honest?

“Despite fighting like a deranged psychopath, your attempt at trying to catch me off guard with an unconventional move was a step in the right direction and not one I can blame you for making, often times when there is a disparity in power and skill, the element of surprise will be your best asset. Excellent usage of deception and strategy. Furthermore although executed with no technical skill whatsoever your attempt to try to seal my movements with your extended arms was also done with the right fighting instinct in mind. It actually forced me to use a stance change I’m not very fond of, as it momentarily exposed my back. Had you been more skilled perhaps you could have taken advantage of that. Unfortunately, that’s where my good news ends, your knowledge of the fundamentals is almost nonexistent, as is your knowledge of all other fighting mechanics. But it’s ok that’s what I’m here for, soon you’ll be able to do what I did to you to any fighting scrub, that's enough reason for you to rejoice.”

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He walked over and effortlessly picked up a medium-large sized rock from the surroundings.

“First thing we have to do is fix your stance and posture, one of the biggest lessons of my fighting Do’s and Donts is to never let anyone break your stance and posture let alone breaking it of your own accord. Today for your action repetition training we will practice your stance strength and beginner stance transition all in the same action. This rock should be just big enough for you to hold in your chest, hold it firm while performing the Fierce Fort Stance then throw at me by transitioning into Wall Topple stance. Although these two stances arent the most battle optimal, the exercise will strengthen your base and show you the beginnings of the importance of stance transition. We will do this exercise until you tire for what’s left of the day and tomorrow we will begin Fighting Fundamentals. Now copy what I do.”

He got into a very wide stance and put the rock directly pressed against his chest. I proceeded to stand a couple of feet in front of him per his instruction and assume the same stance.

“Now observe the motion I use as I toss this rock directly to your chest, if you keep your stance strong you should be able to catch it.”

I wasn't even surprised he had managed to come up with yet another rock-throwing exercise. But it didnt seems like his aim wasn't to hurt me this time.

I saw the way he slightly changed his stance by moving his feet forward and simultaneously pushing the rock off his chest. It didnt take long for the rock to hit me square in the chest since we weren’t that far apart.

It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would since the old man chose a very smooth and flat rock probably specifically for this exercise. Only the weight of the rock almost knocked me off my feet. The Fierce Fort Stance did its job and allowed me to resist the force.

“Now copy my movements and throw it back.”

I did as he told me and I copied his exact movements to throw it back. It wasn't that difficult since the movement wasn’t all that complicated.

The old man caught the rock effortlessly without even flinching. I really should respect the old man more, I had no doubt in my mind that Kemoro was an Expert that anyone should think twice about messing with.

And here I was often getting into verbal arguments with him. I should stop maybe one day I’ll catch him in a bad mood.

“Ok you got the hang of it we will repeat this exercise until the sun goes down or until you get crushed by the stone hahahaha.”

Ok, nevermind screw this old man he’s asking to get insulted!