Spirit Taming

Chapter 467: Three Training Methods.

"Nova academy students? Why are you here?" Reese, Brad, and Jerold found that they had caught the eyes of three instructors who had just sent off students to do sparring along with other one on one training.

"To get tougher." Brad didn't bat an eye and responded without much thought. This was what he was after and he wouldn't be taking any other path.

"To refine the swordsmanship that my family had used for generations. To be strong enough to wield my partner under any circumstance." Reese was more eloquent but he also had the vibration of his abyssal sword as proof that it also wanted to help its tamer become stronger.

"I need to be a scout. I plan to hide and evade within the groups of students here. Without using my partner's skills." Jerold had made a different decision. He relied on his armored chameleon's ability to turn him invisible for attacks and scouting. But Jerold himself, was far behind in any physical abilities to hide and scout by comparison.

The three instructors looked at the three Nova Academy students before them with some skepticism. "Pretty sure these are first year students that fought in the tournament.' the sword instructor glanced at the three again with knowing eyes.

"They couldn't be. They aren't even as strong as the top first years we have. They had to be carried if they did. They can't hurt a fly." The most muscular of the three instructors, the shield instructor, looked down on them. His words hurt all three members of the group enough to make them wince.

"Already trying to make them quit before they start? That's your usual move being a muscle head. All about being tough and resilient. Shield arts are weird, I get it." The third instructor was a basic fitness instructor. It was clear that he was the youngest of the two but easily the most fit and powerful by comparison.

"Join us for some work outs. You can train however you want or follow what we tell you. But if you think this will be anywhere near what your academy does, you will be wrong. When it comes to sword arts, this man here is able to beat every student around him without taking a single hit or graze. This man here has never been moved by a student.

And I mean his shield has absorbed every attack without budging."

the fitness instructor pointed at Brad who had clearly used a shield before. The physique was very similar to the shield instructor's therefore, that made it easy to guess what he would be capable of. Brad also noticed this. "I will learn from the sword instructor too. I need to balance shield and sword because my beast is both.

The possessed armament showed itself from the taming space. While the possessed helm was something many knew about as one of the beasts that appeared in nearby dungeons, the instructor had not seen this form before. A possessed armament was not normal. Normally a different form would appear which was a full set of possessed armor as the possessed helm grew.

"An outlier that wants to use both. A larger sword and a larger shield. Black iron. Yeah kid, you can join up. But you have to handle both of our training methods." The shield instructor looked down and nodded. He approved of the beast that Brad wanted to wield.

Especially because he could already see that Brad had well prepared himself physically to do so. But that was just a start.

"So, are you going to show me that family sword style that you use? I have seen abyssal swords before. They are beasts that are found in ruins and ruin dungeons around Terra city. They don't impress me with their spiritual slashes. They can easily discover sword attacks that use the tamer's energies as well. What makes you different?"

The sword instructor hadn't worried at all that the shield instructor was already saying he would help Brad too. That was fine. But for swords, it was another matter. This student before him wanted to train in something pure, only a sword to attack, defend, and represent him completely. That meant that there could be no hesitation to put everything in to battle for the student before him.

"Then what do you want to see?" Reese slowly drew the abyssal sword and prepared. The rest of them gave the two space as the sword instructor picked up a basic training sword. It was made from dulled metal that normally just focused on weight and ignored potential damaging effects.

"Everything." The simple answer was full of doubt as the sword instructor watched Reese take a stance. But as Reese began to step forward, the sword instructors' eyes brightened slightly.

It wasn't strength that surprised him. It was the fact that Reese had a clear and controlled stance holding balance. This was normally something that new students were unable to develop for the first month. Muscle memory was hard to ingrain quickly.

However, Reese had more than muscle memory. As Reese dashed forward and used a side slash against the instructor, the instructor saw the fluidity in the move that allowed Rees to halt the blade and change to a piercing attack without any hesitation. The sword instructor had not seen someone counter his dodge so quickly. It proved that Reese had experience along with a proper start in the next step.

"You can adjust and alter your style. Let's keep that up. Now show me what happens when you find yourself with only a thought of where your opponent might be." the speed that the sword instructor showed easily trumped what Reese could do. He had a very low speed compared to an adult that had trained and battled for many years to reach this point in their life.

As the dashing movements and speed tested Reese's perception, Jerold felt he had been left out. "Stop looking at how the two are fighting and watch his feet. You are watching a swordsman that can tread both with loud strength and silent sharpness. That is the style he developed. It's called clashing sword style. One that is both quick and silent while also changing to loud and powerful.

It disrupts opponents by changing pace constantly. You can learn that footwork. Silent and quick."

The fitness instructor had not taken his eyes off Jerold while he tried to witness some of the test that Reese and the sword instructor were doing. He had felt that Jerold might go off and train alone. That would be a waste. Completely useless since Jerold had managed to get the courage up to come right before three instructors and request to join their class for the day.

"I can-"

"No can here kid, all about will and when. So get copying slow and steady. If you go over there after you watch his dodging and movement style for a bit, you will find the open space for training exactly that. an entire stone platform spread out with multiple common foot work prints made.

Or you can figure out his and use multiple common footwork prints to create your own classing styles." the shield instructor pointed out one spot before grabbing a set of what appeared to be vests.

"And put this on. They are weighted vests for your training purposes. All of my students wear them. Since you are a guest I will give you a heavier one." The evil smirk was only evil to Jerold since he had just tried to take the weight from the shield instructor. It nearly dragged him to the ground too when the instructor released it.

The place that had been pointed out was one that multiple students seemed to be using. The stones had been placed over a large area to make a stone platform with what seemed to be too much space. But the small carvings all on the top proved to be something invaluable.

The footprints put on were all basic footwork patterns that anyone in the world could easily learn or find. However, the idea that they could all be placed here so that someone could follow them and alter them was brilliant. If Nova Academy did something similar, then they could easily improve the lowest student's strength significantly. Let alone the stronger students.

"Don't think I didn't take you in to consideration kid. You need the heaviest weights we have. From the looks of your body, you already trained your physical strength. So we will put things up a notch and start some harsh training. You'll need a healer after this." The shield instructor took a weight from his spatial ring and placed it on the ground.

"That has what we call, vampire alloy in it. It's a few metals put together that force energies to bleed out of the body. You will need to focus on that while training your body. Helps you control energy and emotions." The potential rage filled nature of Brad's beast, taming space, and battle style were clear to such an experienced instructor.

It left all three of the group with new ways to train and a challenge.