Chapter 157
Basics
Translator : PolterGlast
Thanks to my painstaking explanation of the importance of Change
of Pace, I managed to get Aoi to understand. Her instincts are good,
but her flaw is that she's slow on the uptake compared to Ginia.
"I see! So monotonous movements are easy to react
to!"
"Exactly. It’s not just about varying your attack
patterns; adding a Change of Pace makes you much harder to deal with. And
once you become able to apply even greater shifts in pacing, your world should
expand all at once."
"I still can't believe Change of Pace alone makes such a
huge difference... but I'll believe in you, Graham,
and practice."
"Yeah. Good luck."
After that, Aoi
set aside her sword and began training to improve her explosiveness. She
wouldn't need detailed instruction for a while, so I decided to check on Ginia,
Ria, and the others.
"I was thinking of instructing you next, Ginia...
or do you not need it?"
"Listening to your advice for Aoi gave me an
idea I want to test out! Can you give me advice once I've got it in better
shape?"
"Of course. I'll be watching over Ria and the
others, so call me if you need anything."
"Understood!"
It seemed Ginia had an epiphany regarding Change
of Pace as well, as she began training silently on her own. I had other
things I wanted to teach her, but there was no point in stopping her when she
was so motivated.
I left Ginia and returned to Ria, Gree,
and Anne. The three of them were swinging their swords exactly as
instructed, and thanks to that, their form was starting to look quite decent.
"It looks like you kept swinging your swords just as I
said."
"This is way harder than I thought. I thought it'd be
more fun."
"Building a foundation is generally boring work.
Ideally, you should swing your sword all day to hammer it into your body... but
that would just be pure torture."
If they were in a situation where they had to protect a
village from the Demon King's Army like I used to be, I would have
forced them to keep swinging. But these three don't have such a grave mission.
Since they've taken an interest, I wanted to teach them in a way that wouldn't
make them hate it.
"Are you going to teach us something else, Graham?"
"Yeah. To teach you the importance of the basics, we’re
going to do some sparring now. ...That said, I won't attack. You can come at me
with the intent to hit me."
When I told them this, their slightly sour expressions
instantly turned into smiles. Sparring really is the most fun part. I knew that
feeling well myself.
"Me, me! Graham-sama! Can I go first?"
"Sure, I don't mind. Don't worry about your stance;
just come at me seriously trying to hit me with the wooden sword."
"Okay!"
Ria replied
energetically and started swinging her sword from a chaotic stance. Her
movements were wild and unrefined, yet surprisingly agile, making them somewhat
hard to track... but her swings left huge openings and her movements were
predictable, so I could dodge without even needing to block.
At first, Ria moved wildly with enough momentum to
exhaust all her strength, but she quickly began to tire, and her movements
slowed down drastically. If she swung and missed, her posture would break, and
she'd have to use extra energy to recover, which made her tire out faster. She
was showing me a textbook example of poor stamina management.
Without the sense of accomplishment from hitting the
opponent, it’s even more exhausting than one might imagine. As I recalled my
own bitter memories—Ria finally ran out of stamina and sat down on the
ground.
"I can't... Graham-sama, you're too
strong..."
"Ria failed. Now, who's next?"
"I'll go!"
"Alright. Next is Anne, and last is Gree."
I sparred with Anne and Gree in succession,
but the results were exactly the same as Ria's. All three of them took
my instruction to "just hit me" literally and attacked with wild,
chaotic movements as I expected. This should help them understand the
importance of the basics.
"All three of you were hopeless."
"That's because you got serious, Graham."
"That's right! There's no way we could hit you!"
"It's true that I was your opponent, but your movements
were terrible. ...Why didn't you use the sword swings I was teaching you just a
moment ago?"
"...Eh? Because if we just had to hit you, wouldn't
moving wildly make it easier to land a hit?"
"That thinking is wrong. Gree, come at me again,
but keep the stance I taught you earlier."
Gree didn't
look entirely convinced, but he listened to me and readied his sword.
"Right. Keep your sword pointed at me like that and
close the distance slowly. Then, the moment you enter striking range,
strike."
"Got it."
I circled around Gree, focusing entirely on evasion,
but Gree closed the distance slowly just as instructed. Being approached
with a steady stance was definitely more pressure-inducing than wild movements.
Even with the difference in our skills, I felt that way, so
others would feel it even more. Gree, who was actually closing in while
maintaining his stance, must have felt a better response too. Whenever he
entered my range, he launched a downward slash. I didn't want to go easy on
him, so I dodged them all. The result was the same—he didn't land a single
hit—but...
"Did you feel the difference?"
"...Yeah. I couldn't hit you, but it felt like I was
actually fighting! I shouldn't be wasting my
energy!"
Gree's
expression was visibly brighter, and his voice was louder and happier than
usual. Seeing Gree like that, Ria and Anne looked like
they wanted to try again too, so I decided to take them on one more time. For a
first session, this was quite a fruitful lesson.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
-
[Gold]
B random
Nepheos
ShitaiNoKootoRyuu
[Silver]
Corey Hicks
Creris
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Jake Seagraves
Matthew Fraser
Xavier O'Donoghue
Alan Sharman
Anton Lim
Austin Lorenzo
Ctdela
Curious Panda
Didntpassit
nick nasca
openope
SD Fox
Yosua Lumbangaol
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
