Finishing his bathroom break thalien arrived back at the training grounds, now properly greeting sir thomas.
"Ahem… I apologize for my rude behavior" said thalien embarrassed.
"No, no, the young master has nothing to apologize for" said sir thomas with his usual warm smile.
Sir thomas thornevale a young, somewhat handsome and talented 25-year-old sword expert from the virelion knight corps.
To put that into perspective, in rankings between
Novice
Apprentice
Adept
Expert
Master
GrandMaster
Thalien who is considered a sword prodigy is a sword adept at 17-year-old, though he doesn't have any flashy techniques except claws descent-because much like his mother his father wanted to focus more on the basics swordsmanship-in terms of raw skill and aura, thalien is better than any other sword adept, and is at the verge of breaking through to sword expert.
It's a virelion tradition that once a new child of the family head is born a talented young knight is specially selected to become their personal knight, the personal knight is then subjected to special training from the virelion knight corps commander himself, while simultaneously training the young master or mistress to build a relationship from young age.
They keep training them until they are ready to learn the virelion advanced secret forms and techniques after which they start learning from their parents or another family member, but the personal knight never stops serving their masters, It happened with caelan and the current commander of the virelion knight corps, and now it's happening with thalien and thomas.
Thomas himself is a gently handsome guy, hazel eyes, sandy blond hair, and a gentle genuine smile always on his face, the kind of knight who places people's safety first without hesitation, not only because it's his duty, but because it's just who he is, he has a warm presence like a gentle breeze, easygoing, respectful, and approachable, the kind of guy that children and animals always seem to like, he wears the virelion crest with pride, adorned with only a sash gifted to him by thalien himself when he was a child.
thalien and thomas used to be so close to the degree that thalien thought of him like a big brother, but as time passed, thomas grew distant keeping a professional space, it seems he has been fed with lies like he's too close with me or that he's ruining my reputation, or he should be more professional with nobles like me by his jealous colleagues.
It's a pity because thalien still looked back fondly at his memories with his warm-hearted big brother, by all means thomas is still the warm-hearted big brother he has always been, but thalien didn't like how distant they grew, and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get everything back to normal.
He hoped it'll be better once they go to the academy, since every student is allowed one guard and one servant in the academy.
"The viscount told you what we're doing right"
"Yes you're going to help me master the first form second movement "lion's sweep" by the end of the month"
"Right, while it might seem impossible at first glance I believe that with young master's talent everything is possible"
"Completely mastering claw's descent in six months was great, but I know that wasn't the young master's best"
"That being said I will try my hardest to bring out as much of the young master's potential as I can, I know I'm not the capable experienced teacher the young master deserves and needs to bring out his full potential, but I promise I'll do my best not to disappoint you"
"You sell your self too short sir thomas you're more capable than you think"
Sir thomas gave him a small smile with a sad look on his eyes, as if doubting that.
"Thank you young master, now let's start"
'What was that all about' thought thalien before moving on
"As you already know the first three movements of the first form are the basic vertical slash, horizontal slash, and thrust movements"
Demonstrated thomas with his sword.
"They're all basic movements powered by normal aura without any special properties, but"
Thomas turned back to look at two training dummies, those dummies are specially made by a specific metal with specific enchantments allowing them to withstand hits from up to mid-tier experts.
He then proceeded to perform two aura powered horizontal strikes.
One barely made it an inch into the dummy, while the other almost went halfway through.
He turned back and said
"What's the difference between those two strikes young master"
They looked the same, the same blue glow, the same amount of mana, and everything, they looked exactly the same.
"The first was normal horizontal slash empowered by aura, while the other was lion's sweep"
"And why was lion's sweep so much stronger"
"Because while the normal slash empowered your entire arm the entirety of the slash, lion's sweep empowered specific muscles in specific intervals of time during the strike ensuring efficiency, conserving mana, and delivering an overall more powerful strike"
"Correct, every muscle in your body has a use during a strike, and martial arts techniques are all about using those muscles efficiently, empowering this specific muscle by this specific amount of aura, during this specific part of the strike ensures a much faster strike, this one ensures a stronger strike, this one a precise strike, and just like that you have thousands of possibilities, and all that with just normal raw mana, add a special property or an elemental affinity, and you suddenly have endless possibilities of how a single strike can be done, that's the beauty of martial arts" said thomas with a wide smile on his face.
"The first three movements of the first form are all simple movements, with simple structures and concepts, but what makes them brilliant is the ability they give you once you master them all, you see, their simplicity and structure allows for a much easier use in battle, and more importantly a much smoother transition between them"
thomas started to perform the first three movements of the first form, but each time he would suddenly change movements halfway through it.
"A vertical strike that suddenly turn into a horizontal strike once the opponent side steps, a horizontal strike that turns into a vertical strike once the opponent ducks, a thrust to the head that turns into a horizontal strike if the opponent side steps, then a vertical if they duck, that's how those movements were meant to be used"
"Alone they might seem unimpressive, but together they make for a pretty unpredictable and overwhelming fighting style"
"Which is why we will first start with how to perform "lion's sweep" and then we will learn how to chain it with "claws descent", and then we will have light spars where you will get used to using them in real combat, until you completely master both of them, understood"
"Understood" said thalien with a serious nod.
And just like that started another 5 hours of grueling training.