Trash: Chapter 170 Trying New Things (Patreon)

Chapter 170

Trying New Things

Closing my eyes, I feel the moment the world flows away from me. The moment, when everything around me is reduced to the simple action and reaction of battle. Immediately in front of me are the large lumbering feet of my opponent, an opponent who is still trying to grow into their oversized weapon.

Either to be overconfident, or to also push myself, I also try to meet the sentiment being presented. This is a safe space, and I am training to be a healer, as such we should be pushing ourselves. Just as my opponent is clearly trying to grow into a weapon that is at least one size too large and bulky for their frame currently, I am trying to grow into my own Skills and talents. That is why I take the chance to see just how much I have grown as a fighter by closing my eyes and relying on my instincts, and above all the information that the earth below us is telling me, thanks to my Earth Resonance Skill.

Just closing my eyes lets me realize how much of a disadvantage my opponent was by challenging me. Their feet are not just flat, but weighed back on their heels, making it so most of their force and energy will be lost with each strike. The reason being is that just holding and trying to control the weapon they are using is almost too much for them.

By contrast, I am on the balls of my feet, as my body has already adjusted to the heavier weight of my own weapon. From a purely tit for tat ledger, we should be roughly equal. We both have larger weapons that we had to grow into, but I was brought in slowly. Using my weighted stone sword only after I was used to fighting, and after spending time with weights on standard practice weapons. By contrast, my opponent seems to be focused on jumping straight to proficiency by using the weapon they want, versus practicing where they are at.

There is a moment of calm, as both my opponent and I just wait for the other to move. The match has started already, now it is just a matter of us moving.

“You are not going to open your eyes?” My larger opponent calls out, his words sounding oddly chivalrous, even though they seem to have an air of condescension supporting them.

“Nope, we will both be disadvantaged for this fight,” I call out. Then after another two heartbeats, I begin moving. Not straight forward, or towards the voice of my opponent. Instead, I begin walking in a circular rotation, to my left, around my opponent. Each step clearly measured, as I step balance, step then balance. With each step, I make sure to keep my head forward and my body in profile. Offering as little of myself to target, as I force my opponent to move.

Not much. They only shift their feet at first, but even this is telling as they mostly glide their feet over the ground, always keeping the weight on the outside of their feet, versus a balanced step. My mind is reading all of this as it is happening, for at this moment my mind and the ground beneath us are one and the same. I can feel my body slowly using energy, but I am already cycling more mana within my body to cut off any future problems. My body doing naturally what others in this class might have to focus on doing at the same time, that is channeling two or more Skills at the same time.

Finally, at long last and nearly half a dozen steps taken in a circular rotation, my opponent makes his first move, a large decisive step forward.

Even if I didn’t have my Earth Resonance Skill, the sudden intake of breath by everyone watching would have been enough for me to realize he had moved. Yet, my Earth Resonance Skill did more than alert me to the fact that my opponent was moving, in that it showed how he moved, right foot forward. This means that most likely, my opponent is also right-handed, a mental recall of the way he held the giant axe, with his right hand up high further confirms this assumption. Again, nothing is concrete, as he could be feigning, just as I have been striding to my left this entire time, hoping that my opponent thinks I am left-handed. Thinking that I will focus on using my dominant foot first.

Then moving quickly, my opponent almost runs for his size and how cautious he has been. Taking one stabilizing left foot forward, to plant at the base of his body, before lunging forward with his right foot to cut off my leftward movement, I know he is moving.

With a weapon so large, he requires a lot of rocking momentum to swing and angle his strike effectively. From this angle, he can really only take two movements, either giving a half-hearted backhand swipe from his left to right, to try and go with his momentum, an attack that I instantly discard as it doesn’t seem to be his style. He is more aggressive, going for the one hit kill, versus the surefire attack. That is why I am already raising my blade up high over my head, in a flat defensive posture, going for the sheer width of my blade to be my only protection against his axe that I expect to come from an overhead strike.

As I am already moving, my mind is relaying the signals that I have guessed correctly. For there is a slight backwards rocking motion as more of my opponent’s weight is shifted backwards onto their heels before pivoting and rolling forward with an explosion of force and inertia.

Having already moved my blade into place, I steady my own feet, and slightly pull my hands back to my right, ensuring that my hands are out of the way of the downward strike.

For a moment, I think he might have stopped his momentum, only to feel the strike, a beat too late, as our weapons collided in a resounding clang. The moment there is impact, I immediately drop my strike. My mind having practiced enough times by now to mentally visualize where the giant blade of the axe is, and how to drop my blade in such a way that causes the axe head to slide its way down away from me. All the while, my opponent must make a quick step forward with their left foot for balance, not much, but a quick enough shift, that I am already anticipating the reaction. For they have already committed to the overwhelming force of the strike, forcing their body to stumble a half step forward to regain their balance.

Simple physics, actions versus reactions, and force versus counterbalance. Everything that I have been taught in both this life and my last, which is why I am able to capitalize on the miscue. With the tip of my sword against the ground and knowing that my body is safe from any half-hearted backswings, I plant my left foot and strike out violently with my right. Aiming my foot to land at the exact spot where I mentally track my opponent’s knee to land. I miss, at least, I think I miss, but my foot is out and fully extended by the time my opponent slides their leg forward, seemingly unaware of my foot being fully extended. The result is as one might expect, there is a thrust forward, until my left-planted leg, aided by the counterbalance of my blade holds redirecting all the momentum and force directly into the exposed kneecap.

There is a sickening pop, as I can feel bone crumble under my force and feel the moment when my opponent tumbles to the ground, barely missing the moment they throw their weapon away from them, lest it come down and strike them in the head.

As my opponent falls, I take two steps back, and take up a defensive position, back towards where I originally started the match. Meanwhile my opponent moves towards the edge of the matted area and tries to reach for their weapon, only for the instructor to call out, “if you leave the ring, then your forfeit the match.”

Hearing the instructor’s words of warning, my opponent pauses and then faces me. Realizing, I’m not done yet, and that my opponent is clearly injured based on the way they are resting the full weight of their body on their right knee, while dragging their left leg behind them, I decide to keep it mostly fair. Realizing that my opponent had to get rid of their weapon, I let mine clatter to the ground, letting it rest just inside the ring in case I need to get it again, before taking a few steps to my left once more.

Seeing that the match isn’t over yet, my opponent gets up to a standing position, placing all their weight on their right leg, with only a minor balancing weight on their clearly sore left leg.

Then I prepare for round two.

A round that sadly will never come.

“It’s a draw,” my instructor calls out. I am about to complain, but the instructor clarifies, “both fighters have been disarmed, and since this is Advanced Weapons Training, this evaluation match is unable to continue.”

Hearing the response, I feel a wave of annoyance fill me, as I assume I will have to go through another fight. One that I won’t make the mistake of throwing away my weapon or practicing my blind fighting for that matter.

“Still, Healer Candidate Bloom has shown enough proficiency to remain here as a provisional student,” the instructor calls out. With that, I open my eyes, to make sure I heard him correctly. Seeing my instructor’s nodding face, I realize I made it, even if I was a bit cocky about doing so. Then I consider my opponent and realize he is in pain.

I am about to run to him, but then I almost feel this is another test, as I can feel my instructor’s gaze piercing into me. Turning back to him, I feel his eyes, then I see him make a quick glance at my still discarded sword. Seeing the sword on the ground, I mentally kick myself.

“Right,” I call out, running to my sword before quickly picking it up and sheathing it while going over to attend to my opponent.

Getting to my opponent, I reach out a hand, one that he instinctively flinches away from, only to fall back. Where I catch him, and then gently lower him to the ground, before healing the damage that I just caused by one brutal kick. Fortunately, it is just a minor fracture, but it seems that this act of healing is even more concerning.

“Wait, you are a Healer candidate?” My former axe-wielding opponent asks. I just nod as if he is particularly slow, since the instructor just noted that very fact a moment ago.

“Yeah,” I reply, as intense waves of green energy flow from my fingers directly into his knee. While this is happening, I make sure to move and manipulate the kneecap back into position.

“And you are here, because?” The fighter asks.

“Yeah, a girl needs to protect herself,” I reply, before he shuts up and just stares at me. It takes a moment, but a quick sideways glance out of my periphery shows that everyone else in the class is also quiet and staring at me.

That’s when I feel a touch self-conscious.

***

(Lucia Brack)

Panting.

Luna and Lucia both were panting by the time they made it to their Tactical Groupings class. Realizing that they had a few minutes to compose themselves, before the class began, Lucia felt this was the exact time to bring up just how dumb their plan to wake up early and practice was.

“Can you explain to me why we decided to thoroughly exhaust ourselves before our classes began?” Lucia asked, a note of annoyance in her voice as she had to give up not only valuable sleep time but was now hot and sweaty before the day even began.

“You heard the Lieutenant, we need to awaken at least Epic tier classes, if we want to be considered for Cat’s squad. With it being highly likely that we need to achieve Legendary Classes just so she doesn’t have to worry about us holding her back,” Luna responded. She was tired too, but knew that the further she pushed herself now, the higher her base Attributes would be, which often correlated to the quality of a Class she could unlock.

“Fine, but you know even with Epic classes we would be highly sought after,” Lucia responded.

“Yes but getting a Legendary Class would almost guarantee that we could stick with her,” Luna responded a note of determination in her voice that Lucia could only nod her head in acceptance of.

“You know, there are better—” Lucia began only to cut herself off as she saw the conviction in her friend’s face. A conviction that was both inspiring and frightening, as it meant one thing that Lucia had been fearing for a while. That their seemingly inseparable bond might be coming to an end. Just seeing Luna’s determination to stay next to Cat, only made the weight of what Lucia held in her inner pocket all the heavier to bear. Taking a moment, Lucia reached up and placed a hand on the very weight she now bore, a weight that crackled slightly as her fingers felt the smooth edges of a paper missive. A paper that let Lucia know she had options. Options that her oldest friend and only true sister in the world did not.

“There are better what?” Luna asked, realizing that Lucia had cut herself off. Yet, the moment for reflection had ended, as the first few students began to trickle into the classroom, showing that the moment of feeling like they could share anything was over, as others could hear their conversation.

“Nothing,” Lucia replied, shaking her head and mentally preparing herself for her first class. Then as if seeing her friend for the first time, Lucia started, knowing that their time together might soon come to a close.

“What? Are my scars showing?” Luna asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious, as if her still unhealed wounds were showing on her face. Seeing her reaction, Lucia just smiled.

“No, you look as amazing as ever,” Lucia responded and meant it, before giving one past pat to the piece of parchment in her pocket, before she too prepared for their class together. For the moment the two were together, and that was all that mattered.