50 Strength of Arms (1/2)

Structurally, the sword practice was fairly similar to the exercise Eric had done under the instruction of Firin back on Cloudview Island. Drilling them in basic sword movements and techniques. However, this was where the similarities ended. Unlike Firin, Zwei was a much kinder teacher. Disregarding the loud, brash, military-style yelling that Firin had been fond of, Zwei preferred to move amongst them, quietly helping and correcting their movements and form.

Overhead strike, diagonal slash, horizontal slash, pommel bash, straight thrust, Zwei demonstrated movement after movement for the group to copy. After demonstrating each movement a few times, he would then spend the next ten minutes helping them to correct their swings before moving on to the next movement.

In particular, Zwei focused upon Eric for his corrections, endlessly fixing the mistakes in Eric's swings.

”Raise your sword higher, your arms should be fully extended!”

Swing.

”Keep your pinky and ring fingers on the hilt, relax the rest of your grip! Use your other fingers to grip the sword even tighter as it falls!”

Swing.

Don't look at your sword, look at your target! You have full control over your blade, your target's the one you need to watch.”

Swing.

”Sloppy! Just like in the battle of Lichfrost. You rely too much on your magic to make up for the flaws in your swordsmanship. That works against weaker opponents, but anyone good will exploit it. I don't care if you plan to be a magic swordsman, a magician who uses a sword, or a sword who uses magic. If you're going to use a sword, you're going to do it properly!”

Stumbling slightly at Zwei's strange turn of phrase, Eric caught himself and swung once more, earning a nod of approval from Zwei.

”Good. On the battlefield, the opponent won't care if you're confused, they'll attack any openings they can find. So you need to ensure you won't be caught flatfooted due to a strange situation. Now then, again!”

Swing.

Over and over, Zwei corrected Eric's form. Using his words and the flat of his sword to nudge Eric closer towards something that resembled proper swordsmanship.

”And… Stop! Alright everyone, let's take a short break before doing some paired drills. Rest up and make sure to grab yourselves a quick drink,” Zwei shouted.

With an agonized groan, Eric let the sabre tip fall to the ground, burying itself in the soil below. His arms felt like they were on fire, each movement he made was agony. He hadn't even felt this exhausted during the Battle of Lichfrost, although granted, there had been a lot of adrenaline coursing through his veins at the time.

”It's tiring, eh?” Ryan asked with a grin, sitting down beside him and taking a sip of water from a flask of his own.

Lacking the energy to respond, Eric gave a half-hearted nod, too busy engaging himself in the act of voluntary drowning to provide a better response. Ryan chuckled.

”Yeah, it might not display on the status page. But Fate definitely has a stats system of some sort. The more training I do, the easier it gets, and not just because I'm getting better with the sword either. It's the same story for everyone here. Everyone seems to have a similar baseline that we start at, regardless of their strength in the real world.”

”Everyone? I mean, I suppose it makes sense, but everyone starts out exactly the same in terms of strength?” Eric asked.

”You know it. See Alice over there?” Ryan replied, pointing to the plump lady who'd been teasing Zwei earlier. Seeing Eric nod, Ryan smiled. ”Well she's actually paralyzed from the waist down in real life, even has a wheelchair and everything. She lost her right arm in the same accident that paralyzed her, but here she's actually one of the strongest members in the entire group, and her attacks with her right arm have been getting stronger every day. She's way stronger than she was when she first joined the group, as if everyone else here.”

Pausing for a moment, Ryan amended himself. ”Well, everyone except Jun I suppose. But he only joined yesterday, so it's not like he's had time to notice the effects yet. But yeah, the effects are great. And the skill levels aren't unwelcome either,” he ended with a chuckle.

”How are the skill levels?” Eric finally managed, having finished off the entire flask.

”Pretty damn good. My Zedel Swordsmanship is actually at Journeyman 9, and my Militia Swordsmanship is at Journeyman 3. Most of the others in the group are at the journeyman level as well,” Ryan replied.

”Pretty nice- Wait, you've learned a new form of swordsmanship?” Eric asked, his tiredness forgotten as he turned to look at his friend. Ryan nodded.

”Yeah, after studying with Zwei for a little bit, a new type of swordsmanship was learned. I think it's because he knows swordsmanship in real life. So he isn't just using the same stuff we learned in the tutorial. Either way, it's helped me level up and made me way stronger than if I'd just kept using the militia swordsmanship. So I'm pretty thankful towards Zwei.”

Going silent, Eric pondered this news. If the use of real-world techniques really could create new skills, then it was possible that he could create some skills of his own using his knowledge of Tae Kwon Do. However, despite the fact that he regularly used Tae Kwon Do and other martial art moves in combat, he still hadn't gained any skills relating to martial arts, nor had his Basic Martial Arts skill been replaced by a new skill like Ryan's Militia Swordsmanship had been. Was there some hidden requirement to create a skill that his martial arts hadn't met?

Engrossed in his thoughts, Eric almost didn't notice that Zwei had called for them to regroup at the centre of the field. Luckily, Ryan wasn't so absentminded. Hauling his friend to his feet, the pair made their way back to where the rest of the group had already gathered.

The second part of the training was paired practice. Similar to what Jun and Mikasa had been doing when Eric arrived, the group paired off to practice their techniques against each other. Every few minutes, Zwei would call for them to switch, trading partners so that they could gain experience against different tactics and fighting styles.

The hardest part about this new exercise for Eric was holding back his strikes. While he had plenty of practice with making sure that his blows didn't connect in traditional martial arts, he'd never had a reason to prevent his sword from cleaving through his opponents at top speed before today. Quite the opposite in fact, given all the things that seemed intent upon killing him in Novanalba. As a result, more than one of his opponents today had gained a couple of bloody scars after Eric failed to stop his attacks in time.