Cain rolled against the ground as Sonia swung right above him in an attempt to cleave him in half.
"Can't you hold back a little bit!"
Quickly standing and learning his body to the right, Sonia swung diagonally against him, as Cain leaped into another roll to make distance.
Seeing Sonia charge at him with a stab, Cain pivoted his body sideways and shot his body into a C-shape to dodge her follow-up.
Getting tired of all the dodging, Cain tried to retaliate back with a punch, only for his fist to be grabbed as he was pulled into a full moon motion before clashing against the ground.
Seeing Sonia bring her sword down on him, he threw his arm over himself to roll out of the way and jumped to his feet as a clash sound could be heard of Sonia's sword embedded into the group.
Easily pulling the sword out, Sonia looked at Cain with an impressed face.
"Seems like we've finally gotten somewhere, and it only took an entire month. While the dodging is pitiful, it's a start."
Seeing the sky start to darken, Sonia took a moment to think.
'Looks like it's time to start the polishing.'
Looking at Cain, she ordered. "We are done for today. Tomorrow, we will add something extra as we polish everything. Seeing how your reaction time is feasible to start, I'll start teaching you the first step."
Cain nodded as he recovered his breath before heading home.
As Cain was about to exit, he heard Sonia's voice.
"Don't think I didn't know how fast you can heal now, I'll make sure to keep the training up."
Without looking back as a cold chill ran down his back, Cain ran home.
Upon arriving home, Cain had a saddened appearance as Tess was still gone. She had never been gone this long before, and it started to worry Cain. He told himself he would ask Sonia about it if she didn't show up in the next few days, but having one's house to themselves wasn't a bad feeling.
After grabbing a bite to eat, Cain headed upstairs to finish memorizing the book on the beast that lived in the Aldarien forest.
The next day came rather quickly as Cain had spent his entire night getting ready to complete his first quest. While he was confident in his knowledge now, his skills were debatable. Especially for an expert rank beast.
He was getting stronger each day, and he believed he would be ready soon.
As Cain got to the training grounds for another brutal day, he noticed Sonia had something in her hands
It was his sword!
Quickly running up to Sonia, he asked in a rapid tone, "Is it done?"
Slowly holding her hands out, Cain carefully grabbed the sword as he felt its weight.
While it was initially heavy when he got it, it was a lot more tolerable now, even usable.
Cain studied the handle of the sheathed sword, as the leather was completely replaced and refined. The entire handle was smooth and chipless.
Slowly unsheathing the blade, Cain saw the sword glimmer, as if the blade had never been used. All the rust and dull edges had vanished as if the sword had just been forged. The runes gave a feeling that an unknown power had just awoken.
Slowly looking at Sonia, Cain asked. "Why did it take seven months?"
With a slight grin, she responded. "The materials that were only compatible with this sword were extremely rare, as the one who fixed it was our own clan's blacksmith. You couldn't imagine the cost it took to get it ready. That leather on the hilt alone could buy a nice castle, as it was the leather of a dragon."
Cain gave a dreaded look as he heard about the price before looking at Sonia.
"But… I can't afford this?"
With a waving hand, "Don't worry, just assume it's your reward for all the hard work you've done."
Sonia's face scrunched closer to the sword before finishing. "The cost was also reduced, as our blacksmith was very intrigued by this sword. Even he couldn't figure out how it was made. All he could discover was that it was made by someone very powerful, and that it possesses a power even he couldn't determine."
With a slight pause, she asked. "Where did you find this sword again?"
"At the bottom of a crate in a rundown shop."
"Uh huh…"
"Well, it seems like you will need to figure out what he couldn't, if that's even possible. But now that you have a sword, I can finally teach you how to use it.
Quickly vanishing and reappearing, Sonia held a training dummy and placed it on the ground.
"Before we start, I'll teach you the first step."
Fashioning the sword around his back, Cain readied himself for the lesson.
"Now that you have a better reaction time, you will need to learn how to ready the flow of your opponent. This is not done just by seeing, but also by feeling. It's like a half-baked sixth sense. While the real sixth sense comes from enlightenment, it won't be needed here.
"Now, take your sword and swing at me."
Cain looked at Stonia with a stumped face at what she just said.
"For real?"
"For real."
"What if I hurt you?"
"Really? If you can hurt me, then the world would have ended a long time ago."
With a slight shrug, Cain grabbed his weapon and raised his sword high.
With a diagonal cut, Cain slashed down as he watched Sonia side-step the sword perfectly.
With just a single movement, she had dodged the attack, but it seemed as if she was just an inch too close; it would have hit her.
"Again," Sonia ordered.
Following up with a horizontal slash and putting more power into the swing, Sonia stepped back as the sword fell just short of hitting her.
"What are you noticing?"
"That you barely dodged my attack?"
Bam!
"I didn't just barely dodge your attack, I only used enough strength to avoid it, as I minimize my stamina use. While creating distance can be correct, in most situations, you're in a close combat where you need to be smart about how you use your strength and how to conserve your stamina."
"You don't need to dodge the attack by a mile, you only need to not get hit, no matter the distance from your body to the weapon. Hell, the closer you dodge it, the less movement and stamina you use."
With a new understanding, Cain shook in excitement at the new technique he was learning while feeling the pain of his head getting hit slowly vanish.
"Once you get the flow down on dodging, I can teach you how to use that to reduce the forces around you to increase your speed. But for now, put your sword back and close your eyes."
Putting his sword back in its sheath, Cain closed his eyes. Feeling a cloth tied around his eyes, he tried to look around in confusion.
"What's the poi-"
ACHK
Feeling as if a wooden bat had slammed into his stomach, Cain stepped back as he knelt on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
"Based on our recent training, you have been too focused on what you could see. You have four other senses we need to train."
Hearing the sound of the bat hitting against her palm repeatedly, a deep horror washed over Cain.
"Do your best to dodge this. Remember to feel the flow."
—-
Hours passed as Cain was stuck in an everlasting loop of beating. While it had started horribly, Cain was starting to get an understanding of the flow she was talking about.
Pushing his senses to the extreme, Cain listened for the sound of movement as he tried to feel the wind of motion around him.
After getting hit repeatedly, he determined the length of the bat while also using the sound of the wind cutting from when she first swung to its ending.
Hearing Sonia take a step forward, and the sound of an attack coming from the side like an arc, Cain took a step back as he felt the gush of wind push against his chest before cutting across.
'I dodged it?'
As if he were double-checking, Cain felt no pain as he realized he had dodged the attack!
Stuck in a euphoria, Cain heard the sound of the bat coming back again, but due to the rush of excitement, he didn't have time to dodge as the bat hit him cleanly on his side and knocked him back against the ground.
Argh.
"Well done, Cain. It seems you're getting the hang of it."
Taking the blindfold off, Cain took a deep look at the wooden bat Sonia was holding.
'Where did she even have time to get that? I never saw it earlier!'
"You really might kill me one day, Master."
"Hm…?" With a quick thought, she concluded. "Well, this would of if you didn't have your healing."
…
"Now, we'll conclude the movement training on that for today."
Heading over to the training dummy, she pointed at it and said. "We will start small to make sure your basics are correct."
"500 vertical swings."
"500 Hortzitonal swings."
"500 thrusts."
With a small smirk, she finished.
"I'll be watching your every move to make sure it's done correctly with proper form. If you mess up once, you start all over again.
Cain looked at Sonia with dead eyes and thought.
'You might as well triple the swings at this point!'