13 Training (2/2)

No… No time to think about such possibilities now.

Shaking all of these thoughts away, Shesmu focused on the task at hand.

I should first get the cancel down, only then can I focus on other stuff.

Shesmu took his fighting stance, shut his eyes and breathed deeply. He then reopened his eyes with force, only to witness an incredible scene. A white shadow materialized in front of him, its form hazy, and its movements silent. This was a figment of Shesmu's imagination. For the longest time, he was able to shadow box against humanoid lifeforms that his mind created and visualized. This was one of Shesmu's secrets. Focusing on the neck of the creature he performed his Empowered Slash Cancel.

Shesmu's sword went through the white shadow, however, as if it was made of gas, it rematerialized again.

Again

Once again, Shesmu took his fighting stance, swung his sword and activated Empowered Slash, slashing through the white shadow. This time too, he successfully performed Empowered Slash Cancel.

This pattern continued for a while. Ten times, twenty times, fifty times. Time seemed to stop for Shesmu as he focused only on the sword in his hand and the white shadow in front of him.

Plop

Sweat dripped from Shesmu's face and plopped on the pool of sweat next to his shoes.

”Swoosh”

Once again, Shesmu performed Empowered Slash Cancel. To the inexperienced eyes, this slash may look the same as all the others, however, it still made Shesmu's heart pump from excitement.

Great, that one felt clean.

While not flashy, Shesmu's last Empowered Slash Cancel was the fastest and most streamlined one he ever performed since his reincarnation. His other attempts might have looked good to one without any experience, but any decent player from Shesmu's past life could discern all of its weak points. First, they were slow as the fighting position they emanated from and their trajectory wasn't optimal. Second, they were easily blockable as they left a big interval between the normal hit and the Empowered Slash one. In that interval, a pro player will be able to use Dash to escape the second wave of damage.

However, Shesmu's last Slash didn't suffer from any of these. Not only was it fast, but it was also fast even with Shesmu's past life standards. However, this wasn't what made Shesmu the happiest, the reason lies in the timing of the Empowered Slash. In that one slash, the interval between the damage done by the normal attack and the skill was so small that Shesmu couldn't even discern it.

If I were in the receiving end, then maybe even I wouldn't be able to dodge it consistently.

Hard work does pay off, even though Shesmu spent an unknown amount of time trying to perfect his technique, the results left him satisfied.

Fatigued, Shesmu dropped on the ground, on his bottom.

”Ah, huff, huff.”

I shouldn't get carried away. This was a good strike, but it's not as if I can do it consistently at this level.

However, even though Shesmu thought this, his smile couldn't hide his happiness.

”Ahem.”

At a sudden cough that came from behind, Shesmu jumped in surprise. Turning around, Shesmu found both DepressedRyan and Leo behind him.

”Well, wasn't that the intense training session? We waited until you finished before coming to talk.”

”Oh, so you guys finished already?”

At Shesmu's question, Leo almost let out a chuckle.

”I mean, of course, we did, it's been more than three hours already.”

At the mention of time, Shesmu finally noticed that the sun which was high in the sky was already close to setting. He then looked back at the duo, before standing up and saying.

”Sorry for the wait guys. Let's get going, the forest of beginning is still waiting for us.”