Two months passed.
Throughout these two months, Koji had focused on becoming a better swordsman and in the meantime had learned a few things about weaponry--in fact, these things were very interesting.
The progression of martial arts.
Currently, Koji was at the lowest level--Rudimentary--turns out, there were levels to martial arts in which Koji was ignorant of, and they each held different entailments.
Koji only currently knew of five levels, which was the scope of Cecilia's knowledge--of course, there could be more, but Cecilia wasn't completely well versed in martial arts.
The five levels were as followed:
Rudimentary.
Apprentice.
Intermediate.
Master.
Enlightened.
Though Koji did know the names of these five, he only knew the meanings of three of them.
Rudimentary was the lowest form of martial arts, and at this level one was just a beginner in the field--no inherent, intuitive knowledge could be grasped just by being at this stage.
Apprentice was the second form, which was the stage in which new qualities started to arise--the persons senses would greatly amplify once they reach this state, and their reaction speed would in some cases, depending on their talent--triple!
Intermediate was the third, and in this form one would experience a slight foresight during the fight through interacting with the Xin energy flowing throughout everything around them; basically, once the opponent targets a specific part of you the energy will react--this is because the energy within humans is the same within the earth when reduced down to its lowest form, so if their attention is directed somewhere then that place will experience a slight shift in energy density.
Of course, these can be inaccurate as the opponents attention may be directed towards different parts of the body--in this case, then an intermediate who can already barely feel the difference would ultimately not benefit much.
Though, this was not the only benefit to becoming an intermediate--at an intermediate level, the senses are once again highly amplified; not only that, but ones mental capacity is amplified too.
At the intermediate stage it allows one to retain information better, which obviously benefits one outside of combat too.
But all of these thresholds, they seem to grant someone new abilities--this is for a good reason, and that is because martial arts themselves are a Mantra; except, the Mantra is incredibly unique as the tiering system is different from the average Mantra, and the reason for this was unknown to Cecilia.
You could not simply nurture your Xin cores to advance in this Mantra like you could normally for one, as no Relics were involved in martial arts--the only way to advance in martial arts--well, it was to practice it.
The achievement of a new level in martial arts come from a sudden moment of enlightenment, and this can be achieved only through consistent training.
Ones talent in martial arts was undetermined until they reached the Apprentice level.
If one reached it in 500-599 hours of training, then they would be considered grade A talent for martial arts.
If one reached it in 600-799 hours, then they would be considered grade B.
For grade C, it was 800-999.
For beyond 1000, they were considered D talent--though, most would be written off as completely talentless.
'So where do I fit into this?'
Koji was rather dissatisfied with the fact he was unable to gain any clear information on martial arts, and was also rather annoyed that his talent wasn't able to be clarified until he reached Apprentice.
He frowned, currently he was in the training grounds of Cecilia's school--everyone was either swinging a wooden sword, or just talking to each other.
'These hours are insane! Even more insane if my talent isn't good, and Cecilia even said that barely anyone experiences talent over B level--most likely, I'm probably C!'
Koji's eyes shifted towards where multiple kids were training, and his face grew into a smile.
'It's nice seeing kids in this world doing actual productive things... Well, I guess I can't speak on it--whatever, it's still nice to see.'
Koji in his past life was also extremely unproductive, so him criticizing people on earth was rather hypocritical.
However, he couldn't deny the feelings he was experiencing--plus, even if it was hypocritical--who cares? It's not like they weren't doing unproductive things back on earth, it's just that he was too; right now, he was much different--Koji was constantly trying to improve himself and not getting distracted.
Considering this, he was slightly proud of himself.
Koji decided to get off his ass and head to where the other kids were training.
'Eh, some are dueling each other...'
There was a specific area where there were kids waiting in line to duel each other, and it seemed that if one was able to successfully win a fight, then they would get to stay and fight the next person.
Of course, Koji was curious if he could win consistently against the other children so he made his way over to the line.
In the square there were two children fighting each other, one was a kid who looked rather similar to Koji--having black eyes and black hair, though his hair was considerably longer.
'Wow, he's rather good with his sword.'
The kid with long black hair, and considerably pale skin was demolishing his opponent--coincidentally, his opponent was one of the girls that Koji knew in the other class.
Though Koji had a hard time remembering her name, he eventually was able to recall it.
'Oh, Emilia!'
Yes, the little girl who seemed like she--no, she did not seem like she hated men--it was absolutely obvious that she experienced a hatred towards men!
'Can't exactly say I feel bad she's losing--annoying ass little girl.'
Of course, Koji didn't wish any violence upon the girl--it's just that none was being really inflicted, it was just a friendly spar after all.
At least, Koji thought that much.
'Well wait... This is a bit odd.'
He noticed the boy would press Emilia, swinging his sword and disabling her defenses--though, the second it came to hit her lightly to win he just stopped and let her regain her footing.
He was tormenting her!
'What the hell? I mean isn't that a bit too far? She's like 10 or something--well, he looks around 12.'
Emilia's eyes showed a look of tiredness and pain, though she could simply resign from the fight--it was not as if she was forced to continue.
Her small hands were shaking as she continued holding the wooden sword--her stance which was once firm was now wobbly, and her face was covered in sweat.
Meanwhile, the boy resembling Koji looked like he was barely exerting himself--only a small bit of sweat covered his forehead and he was still swinging at full force.
'It must be her pride, there's no other reason she'd keep going... I guess the torment in a way is slef inflicted, but she's just a child; he should really chill out.'
'Should I tell Ms. Cecilia?'
Even if he wanted to, he had no idea where she currently was--finding her could lead to no results anyway, what if she went out for a bit?
'No, it should be okay--eventually she'll give up.'
Koji's prediction ended up being correct, and Emilia--who at this point, was utterly exhausted--resigned from the duel.
Though, her efforts were not without vain--in the end, the boy fighting her ultimately expended a lot of energy; for awhile, he kept his composure.
Though now, well...
The next fight ended rather quickly, with the boys defeat being predictable by his now exhausted state.
After awhile, it was now Koji's turn to take a shot at fighting another kid.
As Koji stepped upon the so called "battlefield", he analyzed his opponent to the best of his abilities.
'A male... He's only a little taller than me--he doesn't seem too experienced.'
His opponents stance was rather weak, and it was clear that his confidence was lacking.
'This time, I won't try and get used to their style--now, I at least have a bit more experience...'
Cecilia had taught Koji a couple key things about swordsmanship, and he now had much higher confidence in fighting someone.
'Just disrupt their balance, and I should win.'
That's right, everything he learned these past two months was based upon disrupting your opponents balance and taking advantage of it.
The fight started as one of the kids who volunteered to be a referee clapped.
Koji's feet quickly moved, his wooden sword swiping through the air--a predictable strike it was.
No one would be surprised by it, and therefore blocking it was easy.
Why would anyone send out such a predictable strike?
A counter attack would be near impossible, unless Koji's opponent was miles faster than him--and since they were around the same level, this was completely impossible.
Dodging was one viable way to deal with the strike, but it resulted in one's stance being disrupted if they lost even a slight bit of balance.
Blocking was also an option, and it seemed like a flawless one.
Of course, one could try and parry it too.
Koji's sword struck from over the boys shoulder, aiming at his neck.
The two swords clashed together, Koji's sword being hit to the side violently.
A parry, the boy chose to parry!
In this position, the boy only had a single option to how he could strike.
If he tried to adjust the angle, then Koji would strike back too quickly.
Therefore, the boy was forced to send a downwards slash towards Koji's shoulder.
As his strike tore down through the wind, his sword--in which would have forced Koji's loss within mere seconds, simply hit air!
This downwards slash, there was a reason Koji forced it out of his opponent.
Compared to other strikes, this one was rather slow.
Koji was easily able to side step it before he was even at risk of being hit--though why didn't his opponent notice that and change his strike?
Once one commits to a downwards slash, the sword would not simply stop.
Maybe if the sword was lighter, but the wooden swords were rather heavy--though, this didn't mean that he couldn't stop his sword at all.
It's just that it wasn't instantaneous.
'He fell for it, he fell for my bait!'
Koji's sword slashed from the side, and he stopped it right before it hit his opponents upper waist.
He had won his first fight.
'His stance was completely disrupted when his downwards slash missed me--not only that, but his mental state was thrown out of proportion... But damn, that shit was risky.'
If the boy had blocked his strike or dodged it, then it would have been much different.
Of course, he still had methods prepared for such an outcome, but they were both inferior to if the boy had parried him.
'I guess it's time to fight the next...'
Koji's face turned to a slight smile, and he could feel his blood pumping--this small interaction, it had filled him to the brim with excitement.
'Maybe this isn't so bad... Even if I don't win the upcoming tournament, it may just be fun to get to fight people!'
'Oh right, the next fight.'
Koji snapped out of his trance, and raised his sword for his next duel.
...