23 Chapter 23- Shadow fighting (1/2)

Dubs awoke in the early morning and forced himself out of bed. After a quick shower, he got ready and headed out to the training grounds.

Technically speaking, as of right now it was not required for him to get up so early to train, but Dubs was intent on becoming as strong as possible as soon as he could, so he got up early to train all day long.

Entering the training grounds, Dubs realized that this morning he was the first person to arrive.

”Haha. I get lectured and punished for arriving a few minutes early yesterday, and today not a single person has arrived before me. Peter certainly isn't what I would call a consistent teacher.” Dubs retorted.

”No matter. I need only to focus on myself. Lets get started.”

Dubs walked through the dark gymnasium,illuminated by lanterns along the walls. Coming to the end of it, past the dummies, there were a series of training rooms specifically meant for one to test their own power.

The rooms were made of the sturdiest metal that the resistance had access to, and protected also by magical barriers. The metal itself had many resistive properties, however it was extremely heavy and thus could only be used as armor by the strongest of warriors.

Dubs entered the safe-like room and shut the large metal door, closing the hatch. Inside, it looked like a room from straight out of a mental asylum, the walls and flooring covered with a mattress like material- obviously one that was also resistant to magic and protected by barriers.

Dubs had a slight amount of trouble walking at first on the fluffy material, and wobbled into the center of the room. Regaining his balance, he found a foothold and managed to walk properly.

Dubs unsheathed his dagger, and held it awkwardly in both hands. Any warrior would be disgusted by how unnaturally he was posing with the dagger, and how inefficient the following moves would be.

Dubs began to thrust forward with the dagger, but he lost his footing and tripped.

”AHAHA What a klutz!”, Dubs other self mocked.

Dubs got up slowly and his face became annoyed.

”As if you could do any better!”, Dubs shouted.

The voice snickered and began to boast.

”Oh? Well why don't we find out then?”

Dubs, confused, muttered ”Huh? You don't even have a body! Don't even consider taking over mine. Whatever you're planning, if you take over my body and do all the work for me then I won't become any stronger myself.”

”Then let me show you something interesting. Ever since we've been able to communicate like this, our synchronization has slowly increased little by little. Just last night we reached the 2% threshold. Now take a look at this...” The voice ominously stated.

Dubs felt a tingle in his head, and it began moving downwards in his body to his feet. His shadow then began to squirm as it became a 3 dimensional blob, which then formed into the shape of himself.

The shadow figure stretched his arms and began looking around.

”Ahhhhh!!!! It feels so good to be outside again!” The shadow figure exclaimed.

”....”. Dubs stared at the figure confused. ”Eh? EHH!?”

The shadow figure grinned. ”As our specialization is dark magic, I can now control the shape and figure of your shadow. However, this is no more than a projection- you could even think of it as a hallucination. I have merely transmitted my consciousness inside your shadow, and because I am one with you, you are aware of my existence here. Anyone else would not be able to see me.”

Dubs slowly nodded in disbelief, however soon came over it. ”I've seen a lot weirder things than this over the past few days. I'm sure I will continue to see even stranger things.”, he thought.

The figure also had the same clothes as Dubs, and the figure took out the dagger on his side. Holding it firmly in his right hand, placing his left in a fist near his chest, he positioned himself.

”This is how you hold a dagger. One handed, ready for quick thrusts or slices. When you attack an enemy, your best advantage will be stealth and speed. If you can attack someone from behind quickly, your dagger and be in and out of their neck before they even know you existed.” Dubs other self explained.

Dubs positioned his dagger and his left hand similar to the way his other self had taught him. His other self turned around, showing Dubs his back, and pointed to his own neck.