You’re doing fan-ta-stic, soldier! One-two, one-two!

  See, told you the Strength is the best! Look at these muscles, how big they are, look at them bulging! Hell, yeah, partner!

  The Leader is not building up the muscle, Mister Nailhead, he is training his precious stamina! You are scaring him, gym junkie, let him finish his training in peace!

  You are all getting in the way, gentlemen…

  He decided to go a physical training route. Being a sniper is great and all, but he had to get ready for the night. Raw capabilities of his own body would always be useful.

  Of course, common sense would tell him not to do a full training before an actual activity, but now that he knew from Pat how exactly Inner State was affecting his basic body capabilities, he decided to take advantage of it.

  That’s one good example of clever thinking, student! You are exactly right!

  Now he had a company with himself at all times. They weren’t quite as annoying, as he was afraid of them to be, but sometimes he wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. Fortunately, his Stats were understanding (he-he) enough and didn’t bother him much.

  In case he would ever get tired of them, he could simply turn off the messages anyway.

  The time had finally come. Captain said to find him in the Control Room, or Wardroom, so Joseph went to the Upper Deck first.

  He did say to find him after the sunset, so Joe was actually very late. Which would not make Alchfrid happy for sure, but he was ready to work twice as hard to compensate.

  He got up to the Control Room. Surprisingly, only Theo was there. The helmsman did not notice him at all, being completely absorbed into the map on the wall. Joe didn’t dare to distract him from such important business.

  He glanced outside. The familiar tricorne hat had shown up near the very front of the ship, behind a huge metallic ball with five lens on the outside and two giant steel boxes on stands pointed at the skies for unknown purposes. Captain was standing there, looking into starry Threshold, the mad color veils of which had taken hold in the sky once more, after their trio left the island behind. Tearing had ended some time ago - no more lighting walls, or destructive rays of doom in the falling apart reality.

  Joe approached Alchfrid, who only nodded in response to his presence, without even looking back.

  “You are late. I did tell you to look for me after sunset, didn’t I? Or did your triumph cloud your sense of self-worth that much?”

  Joe stuttered, trying to pick his words.

  “No… No! I was hungry, dirty, and wanted to prepare before!”

  “And what if our ship was under attack? Would you tell the same reasons to me?”

  Now that was nitpicking.

  “Obviously, not. I would be on the Upper Deck post-haste!”

  Captain chuckled.

  “Alright lad, I will take your word for the future. Remove your arm guard and chest piece. You can leave the shooty bits.”

  Fair enough. If he wanted to do it right, relying on the invincible armor during a fight all the time would get him nowhere close to the level he wanted to reach.

  Alchfrid turned around.

  “Say, it is a beautiful place, the Threshold?”

  “It is.” It was breathtaking, each time he looked at it.

  “What do you think, then? Do you have the resolve to traverse an unknown? The island was a trial, and you passed it marvelously, but to continue forward, you need big balls, a big beard, and a tight crew behind your back. How are you doing with that?”

  Alchfrid stepped closer and leaned on the left low gunwale, still looking into the endless void.

  “Well, Xander is a good man… who sometimes is way too overprotective of his crew. Ralf… he is very helpful, although his idea of help is… specific. But effective. Pat… he is reliable when it counts. When not, he can be… difficult to deal with. Theo, I’ve seen only once during the Tearing. He seemed like a competent and sarcastic man, but we had only one meeting.”

  Alchfrid nodded, signaling him to continue.

  “Grigory is… I don’t know. It seems like he is bitter about Empire… or not… I have no idea, I have met him only once too. You, Captain… is an enigma.”

  The tree-man burst out, laughing.

  “Me?! Enigma?! Oh lad, you’ve just given this old tree a free couple of years of life right here! I am glad you are thinking of me like that, of course, but that’s not good. Not good at all.”

  “You are the Captain, and I am only a crewmate. You have way more responsibilities than just me.”

  Alchfrid made a sound, similar to a pressure chamber releasing all gathered air at once.

  “A good point. Say, you see anything on the island?”

  Joe turned to his left.

  A gust of wind flew right through him. He felt a sharp point of the saber on his side, between the ribs, right on the same level where his rapidly beating heart was.

  “Well, here is my first lesson for this night and for all eternity, lad - never lose your guard! Do not keep your nerves strung up all day long like a mental patient, but observe your surroundings! If your opponent loves to talk, let him, look for an opening, and shoot his arse! If he spills something important, shove it in your brains for later, and keep looking!”

  Captain put his saber away.

  “Every second- even quarter of a second counts. In any fight, it means death. This is why almost every duel is decided within the first two seconds flat. Either you see it coming, or you die.”

  His words were calm and collected. He was no stranger to war, and Joseph felt that in his Spirit.

  “But let’s not get ahead, of course. Say, lad, do you have any experiences in the fighting prowess?”

  “I tried boxing one time, for a year.”

  “Boxing? That’s the word I am unfamiliar with. What would that be?”

  “This is a sport, where people learn how to properly punch each other, and protect themselves from punching. Since it is a sport, it has rules and everything, nothing like groin shots or the like.”

  Alchfrid nodded.

  “Oh, I see. In the Capital, we were calling it ‘Face Fisting’. So you call it ‘boxing’, huh? It was popular for some time before Knight Tournaments and such didn’t replace them. I guess you have a good beginning position, then. Should we try sparring?”

  Sparring? Straight away? Joe didn’t even remember half of the things he has learned back then! He knew that footwork was very important, sure, he somewhat remembered how to pivot and protect himself-

  Oh. This wasn’t this type of sparring. It was a sword sparring.

  Don’t worry, Darling, I am coming to your rescue!

  Well, if there was any better time to rely on Memory, it was right now…

  Joe slowly unsheathed the sword.

  “Officer straight sword, huh… interesting choice. Take your time, give it a try. Get used to its balance. You won’t get another shot.”

  The tone was very ominous. Joe swung his weapon to the sides, top, and bottom a couple of times. He wasn’t really sure, what he was supposed to feel there. Simply get used to it?

  The Captain’s gaze was unmoving.

  “When you are ready, just say the word.”

  When he was supposed to be ready? He changed his stance a couple of times, waved his sword around. He had no idea, what else he could’ve done.

  “I… am ready.”

  Alchfrid nodded.

  “Good. Hit me.”

  Hit him?! Alright, Captain, if you say so…

  He went for a basic overhead first. The Cap’s saber easily parried it downwards to the side.

  Joe immediately swung at his right side. Opponent parried it too, extending his sword arm forward and meeting the hit halfway, deflecting it up.

  Joseph attacked from the bottom, the other side, and overhead again. Captain was redirecting his attempts with the grace of a water current.

  Joe swung diagonally in desperation. Alchfrid sidestepped, and lightly poked him into his exposed stomach.

  “Lesson number two, Joseph,” he began, while Joe was catching his breath. “Do not parry too much. Yes, I know that was exactly what I was doing, but it is a lesson, and I have to act the part! Use the footwork to evade some predictable strikes, parry when necessary, not all the time. Oh, and I can see that you do have some skills, but you are very rusty. When you hit my legs, I could’ve simply pushed your sword higher, and cut your own leg on the way back, as you didn’t move it away in time. Now, for the lesson number three, you would have to think outside of the box a bit. A hint - don’t focus on the sword. Now, I will be attacking.”

  Joe barely reacted. The first strike was heavy, almost knocking the sword out of his hand. The rest weren’t any easier. He blocked an overhead strike, struggling to move Cap’s saber out of the way, then the side strike came. Captain's hits were methodical and surgical.

  Alchfrid raised his saber. Joe prepared to parry it when a powerful blow launched him backwards. He fell down coughing, his stomach was revolting in pain.

  Alchfrid lowered both his weapon and his fist.

  “Told you - do not focus on the sword. Focus on the opponent. In the real fight, no duel rules apply. Kicks, punches, guns, bombs, Magic, sand and dust for the eyes, oil and water, fire and electricity - whatever you can use, use it. They will do the same to you. They will feint, lie, distract you. Shoot you. And that’s one enemy only. Now, what would happen, if you are fighting several at once?”

  Joseph took his words into the mind and nodded, trying to stand up. The pain was almost gone.

  “That said, you haven’t finished the third lesson yet. Let’s do it again!”

  This time, instead of blocking a hit, Joe stepped backwards. He had to parry the next one, but it was much easier with the distance.

  Left side, turn the left shoulder away.

  Low, parry.

  Overhead, sidestep.

  Diagonally, parry.

  His eyes were following the Captain. He was getting the hang of this, but still caught himself following the saber instead from time to time.

  They had circled around for a bit. Captain swung from his right shoulder. The hit was impossible to dodge, forcing Joe to block it, locking their blades.

  He couldn’t hope to overpower Alchfrid. His sword was slipping away.

  Captain's words flashed in his mind.

  Gun!…

  He pulled out the pistol and shot.