Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 191: Training

Stanley looked around at the shallow grass and small trees.

I had never seen a place like this, so I was quite surprised by how small it was.

"There was such a place so close to the Starhall city," Stanley said, ignoring everything else. This was just a small distance away from Starhall City, which was quite surprising to him.

"There are many places that you know nothing about," Max said walking past the small trees.

Stanley looked at the open grassland around him and soon found himself enjoying the scenery a lot more than he would normally.

He smiled, turning around to look at everything.

"Don’t get lost in things that have nothing to do with you," Max’s voice came, pulling him back again. "You are here to train, not to sightsee."

Stanley shook his head, most of the thoughts running out of him as he straightened to take find himself standing in the grass with a blank look on his face.

Max slowly walked toward him and shook his head. "They really can’t leave you alone for a single moment, can they?" he asked. Then, he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, as if ice-cold water was poured down onto him, Stanley suddenly returned to being a young man with a that was trying to find a way to get stronger. It was only then that he lost all interest in the beauty of the surroundings and got practical.

He looked at the blonde Max and lowered his head slightly. "Thank you for your help," he said. "It must be difficult to take your time out of your busy schedule to help me."

"No need to thank me," Max said. "It’s a trade, remember? I help you train, you help me get stronger as well."

Stanley nodded.

"Alright, let us start then," Max said, bringing out his spear from somewhere. Stanley looked at the spear and tried to see if it was retractable, but that didn’t seem to be the case either.

"Where did that spear come from?" he asked.

"From somewhere," Max said. "Bring out your sword."

Stanley nodded and pulled out the sword from his back.

Max looked at the sword with narrowed eyes and asked, "If I remember correctly, it can glow, doesn’t it?"

Stanley nodded. "I can use plasma through it, turn it into a plasma sword," he said. "Do you want to see?"

"No," Max said. "There will be no need. For today, you won’t be using any plasma sword and will instead be using it as a normal sword."

Stanley nodded. "Okay," he said.

"Do you have any good sword training?" Max asked.

"I learned what I could back in my town," he said. "I’m not sure if it is good training or not."

"Well, let me check," Max said. "Get ready."

Stanley nodded and pulled his sword close as he got into a stance.

Max looked at the sword and the stance for a few seconds before stopping. "Nope," he said, stopping. "The training is there, but it is quite mediocre overall."

"I can understand that you might never need this in your life as a nova, but you in fact have bad sword training," Max said. "Well, bad might be going too far. Let’s just keep it at mediocre."

Stanley didn’t get angry when hearing that at all. "My town was more village-like than most villages here, so I’m sure the people there weren’t very talented in many things, including the sword," he said. "Will you be teaching me about the sword?"

Max nodded. "Somewhat," he said. "I’m primarily a spar user, but I can teach you a thing or two about swords as well. However, I think it would be better if you saw the flaws in your swordsmanship yourself and sought to improve that way."

"Okay," Stanley said, narrowing his eyes. "So we are fighting then."

"We are fighting," Max said. "Come on. Give me your all. Do you worry about killing me on accident? Trust me, you won’t be able to."

Stanley nodded. "Very well then, here I come," he said.

Suddenly, time slowed down to a crawl and Stanley pushed on the ground to rush forward. The sword in his hand created a drag, but he could move along with it if he gave up a bit on how much time he slowed.

As it turned around, the speed at which time was slowed determined how much strength his body held. So, when the time was slowing at a normal speed, he had an incredible amount of strength.

When it did move at an incredibly slow speed, Stanley’s strength would instead be normal like a human being.

Since there was no way for him to do anything with his sword while he was a human being, Stanley either chose to leave his sword while he moved at a very fast slowed time, or he simply chose to not slow down time that much and instead did it just enough that he could still hold his sword.

That was why even though the sword was incredibly heavy while time was slowed down, he could still move it around.

Stanley swung his sword at Max. It was a faster process than normal, and he was sure that he would hit Max.

However, Max seemed to see the sword coming. He didn’t attack with a full swing, but instead just tipped his spear to the side and hit the end of the sword, sending it sideways.

Stanley was surprised by the force of the spear and the fact that he had been parried. He used everything he could to stop that attack and instead come back with a swipe from the right.

He did so, but before his sword could reach anywhere, Max’s spear moved as well. And it had moved a step earlier than his.

Stanley tried to stop the attack in time, but it was too late. Max’s spear landed on his wrist, making one of them slip from the sword.

At the same time, the butt of the spear moved up and hit the flat side of the sword, sending it flying up, over Max’s head.

Then, the spear’s blade pointed at the disordered Stanley, who couldn’t even see it coming at all.

Stanley looked at the edge of the spear that pointed at his neck and breathed heavily. Time flowed back to normal as everything sped back up and he finally realized, he had lost.

It had been a simple exchange, but it showed just how talented Max was.

A parry, leading to a hit to the wrist, followed by a redirection of the sword, before finally ending on the blade at his opponent’s throat.

It was such a simple way to use his spear, and yet it was so effective.

Stanley wasn’t even sure if he made any mistakes or if Max was just that good.

"How was that?" Max asked. "Did you see what happened?"

Stanley shook his head. "I’m not sure I understood what happened. Can you explain?" he asked.

Max nodded. "Why did you attack me with a stab instead of any other try of swing or slash?" he asked.

"A stab was faster," Stanley said.

Max shrugged. "Sure, it does feel faster," he said. "But it is also much easier to parry. Your first mistake is using an attack that can be easily parried."

"Not just parried either. If you slash or swing, you have momentum with you that is so hard to redirect under normal circumstances. Even if you are redirected, you can still make use of the previous momentum to add to your next attack."

"With a stab, it all dies the moment it is stopped," Max said.

Stanley thought to himself about the suggestions he had just been given. Was a stab so bad compared to a swing or a slash?

As if to answer his question, Max continued. "Of course, each attack has its own place, but you need to use one that is advantageous to you. For example, a swing is far more advantageous than a stab in this scenario."

"Choose the right type of attack for the right moment," Max said. "That is my first tip to you."

"I don’t expect you to learn much from this tip right away as you don’t have much experience. Train with me for a while and you will learn what to do and what not to do."

"My second tip is that you need to hold back a little," Max said. "Not a lot, just a little. I parried you once and redirected your attack once, and that was enough for me to beat you. Why? Because you could gather yourself before I attacked."

"You are giving your all into every fight, and while that works amazing against someone who can’t see you coming. Against those who can, it ends up becoming a crutch to your fighting."

"Hold back a little. Give 80% of your everything in an attack, instead of 100%. Only use 100% when you know for a fact that the hit will land. Otherwise, you are just wasting effort and tiring yourself out."

"Being able to pace yourself in a fight is also something a swordsman should be able to do."

Stanley nodded slowly to himself. "I see," he said. "So I need to take it sword and make the correct choices in a fight, huh?"

"Yes," Max said. "Of course, you won’t learn anything by just me verbally teaching you, so let’s get into some practical training."

"The best way for you to learn here is through actual battle after all."