[Flashback] The Way Of The Sword II/i (Solo)

[Eridanus]

The vantha figured that he still had one bell to practice, and he might as well revise what he was taught while the short-term memory was still fresh.

Thus, for the next half-bell he went through the series of guards. The Half Iron Door, the Tail, the Short and the Boar's Tooth. He paid most attention to the first two, especially the transition from the Half Iron Door to the Tail, for he felt that his body was the least adapted for these guards.

If they were going to be the first two steps of the 'guard progression drill' his mentor mentioned, it would probably be beneficial to get a head-start in getting familiar with it.

His legs burned, especially his thighs and even his arms were beginning to tire as he progressed constantly through the four 'stable' guards he was taught, not stopping until he was satisfied. He did them slowly, and painstakingly increased the speed of execution, his mind swearing at the monotony of it.

The vantha cleared his mind several times from the ache and sheer boredom, instead consciously filling it with thoughts of future greatness when he had mastered these forms. The foundations were of the utmost importance.

Putting in an image of Oliver Camlach's disappointed expression served as quite a big motivator to the vantha as well, and with that he struggled on, his body gradually settling into the motions, from consciously doing the steps to perhaps half-consciously.

[Eridanus]

He practised until he could not bear it any longer, and with about a third of a bell left he decided to condition his body instead. It would be relevant to this, for stamina was required if he wanted to survive the next lesson. Circumstances like this only came once and he would make sure that his body was prepared enough to handle the physical stress from Camlach's next taxing lesson.

He was aware that his body was quite well-honed, no doubt. The problem lay in the muscles that happened to be those that were relevant to this style of swordsmanship, but which he did not use in his usual, instinctive way of fighting. That part of his thigh that was burning, for example. He rarely used large stances that stretched the legs, instead mostly keeping his legs closer together, and so the muscles there were undeveloped.

Holding the sword upright in front of him with both arms, he straightened his arms completely and placed his legs slightly more than a shoulder's width apart. Slowly, he lowered himself, arms and legs trembling a little as he forced himself to maintain a steady pace of breathing and descent. When he lowered himself until he could go no more in a squatting position, he raised himself again, keeping the rest of his body straight and preventing them from helping in his ascent.

His legs and thighs would be the main muscle groups responsible for bringing him up, and with his body weight pushed down by the leverage granted by straightening his arms while holding a iron-cored practice sword, he would give his legs and body a good workout.

He repeated this slow set eight times, breathing steadily as he did so, and when he finally went up for the eighth time it took all he had to prevent himself from simply collapsing on the ground in an exhausted puddle.

His arms were shaking from having to maintain that stress and his legs felt wobbly, but he had one last thing to do.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus went out of the courtyard to the outer boundaries of the Academy. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he steeled his resolve and grasped the blade with both hands, one on the hilt and one on the blade, with the sword laying straight across his chest. This will provide the necessary workout for his arms.

Breaking into a steady jog, he ran a laps around the boundaries of the Academy to warm-up, then proceeding to interval training where he burst into a sprint for ten seconds, then maintaining a constant jogging speed for five chimes. He completed enough sets to cover three laps around the Academy, all the while keeping his sword in that position with his arms. His lungs burned, his arms burned, his legs burned.

But Eridanus knew that such pain meant that his body was undergoing the necessary pressure needed to improve.

Looking forward, he planned to finish up with a long distance run to train stamina before turning in his sword to the armory clerk and going back to his room and taking a short nap to recover.

There was much to learn.

[Legion]

Thread Award Eridanus Long Sword +4, Observation +3, Bodybuilding +3, Meditation +2, Running +1 (Suvan/Denvali) Swordsmanship: Stable Guards, Benefits of Endurance Consequence & Commentary Eloquent and detailed as ever. As Eridanus is now at Expert level in Long Sword, his training has to be stepped up to continue earning max skill points. I felt that the techniques he was learning in this thread were advanced and based on that, the detail and length still awarded you 4 in Long Sword. Further, I’m on Team Relevant & Useful Lore as you’re aware. I did not agree with the phrasing of your request for pain being good in training but felt that Benefits of Endurance was applicable instead. None of this is at all criticism. Your threads are unfailingly well done. As ever, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.