Elias exhaled, his concentration leaving him with the breath in his lungs.
The rubbery flooring of the dojo felt soft beneath the soles of his feet, yet just as stable as stone or concrete. It was crafted from the wood of a Rare Silky-Rubber Tree, a natural treasure harvested from within the dungeon. Despite its exorbitant price, the wood felt as smooth as silk, with a gentle pushback like soft rubber or dense foam.
Peter stood in front of him, wearing his usual easy smile, while Rebecca stood a few meters off to the side, watching them with hawk-like focus and furrowed brows. Elias still thought she was a long way from being able to enter a combat trance herself, but his dad believed she would benefit from watching the two of them spar.
“Did you catch the transition this time?” Peter asked.
Rebecca nodded. “I think so.”
“Good! Now, I don’t expect you to pull it off just yet, but there’s an important lesson here. Can you guess what it is?” He spoke with a glint in his eye. “I’ll even give you a hint—think about what changed and what stayed the same when Eli and I entered a combat trance.”
Rebecca’s eyes took on the distinct look of remembrance, even as her brows furrowed deeper. She considered the question for a while before answering.
“I’m not sure if this is it, but I think the time between each move was shorter. That seemed like the biggest difference. It was like… at first, you were exchanging blows. Then, you were fighting.”
“Good, that’s exactly it! I couldn’t have put it better myself,” he said with a wink. “The biggest change when entering a combat trance is how seamlessly you flow between movements. The actions are no longer isolated, or even just a part of a pre-planned sequence. Instead, like you said—you’re really fighting, reacting and adapting without pause.
But what I really wanted you to notice was what didn’t change when we entered a combat trance. The moves themselves, our posture, the way we stepped—all of that stayed the same.
Visualization helps, so think of it like a jigsaw puzzle. If the moves are the individual pieces, then the fight is the completed image. You need both the pieces and the understanding of how to fit them together. Entering a combat trance is like solving the puzzle—but first, you have to have the pieces. Because the pieces won’t change.”
“So… you’re saying I need to learn how to better fit my moves together?” Rebecca asked.
“No,” Peter said with a dry chuckle. “I’m saying you need to focus on having all the pieces first. You’re thinking too much about the fight itself, when what you really need is to step back and correct the technique—and the individual mistakes—you’re still making. Once the foundation is in place, the pieces will fall into place. But they never will if the pieces themselves weren’t made to fit in the first place.
I can see you’re listening to Eli’s instructions, which is good. But I think it’s just as important to understand why the instructions matter. Like I said, visualization helps—and being able to see where you’re going can make all the difference.”
Peter then proceeded to point out every minute flaw in Rebecca’s form and technique, some of which even Elias hadn’t noticed. She was clearly flustered, but to her credit, she swallowed her pride and did her best to correct each imperfection he highlighted, determined to meet his expectations.
That wasn’t going to happen, since Peter would never really be satisfied with anything short of perfection—but she didn’t need to know that. Hell, even he got this treatment on occasion, and his technique was excellent.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Elias sighed.
He’d invited Rebecca to train with him at the dojo this time, since neither of them had any reason to head into the dungeon today. Rebecca had either completed or passed on all of her scheduled power-leveling appointments, and Elias had already reached level 10 in all his attributes. So, he figured they could have a longer training session before leaving for the Temple tomorrow, instead of their usual one-hour sparring before lunch.
More than anything, though, it had just been an excuse to hang out.
What he hadn’t expected was that his father would take her lacking technique as a personal offense and immediately step in to correct the issue.
The reddish light of the setting sun was beginning to filter into the dojo by the time they finally decided to call it a day. They had taken a few breaks throughout the day—and a long one for lunch—but their training session had still lasted several hours. Even then, Rebecca clearly wanted to keep going, reluctance written all over her face.
Elias understood. While he wasn’t a poor instructor, he simply couldn’t compare to Peter in this regard. His dad could spot imperfections in form from a mile away, and knew exactly how to fix them.
Elias had already seen her posture, her greatest shortcoming so far, improve significantly during just this one session.
“All right, good job, kids. I’ll go see if Vivian needs help with anything for dinner. Can you close down the dojo, Eli?” Peter asked.
He didn’t wait for an answer, already heading toward the house. But as he reached the door, he stopped and turned back to face them.
“Oh, right—almost forgot. Rebecca, feel free to come by more often to train with Eli when you two get back from your trip. There’s still a lot you need to work on.”
Rebecca’s eyes widened. “Thank you, but I couldn’t possibly intrude like this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Peter said, waving her off with a relaxed smile. “You’ll be partying up with Eli from what I hear, so think of it as me helping my own son. Plus, you’ll make a pretty good sparring partner for Isabela too—you’re actually closer to her skill level than Eli’s.”
Rebecca hesitated, glancing at Elias for confirmation. He smiled and gave her a small nod. Then she turned back to Peter, her voice thick with emotion.
“Thank you.”
After letting the moment settle, Elias turned to Rebecca with a grin. “So… excited for tomorrow?”
Her face lit up, a grin spreading across her own lips.
“You have no idea!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to finally get my Skills. Though, a part of me still can’t believe this is really happening.”
“I know, right? I picked out my Skills years ago already,” Elias laughed. “Which ones are you planning on getting?”
“That’s for me to know,” she said with a teasing wink, “and you to find out.”
Elias rolled his eyes.
“I’m glad you came over today, by the way. I probably would’ve gone crazy if I had to sit around doing nothing, just waiting for tomorrow to come.”
“You’re telling me!” she laughed, then leaned in surreptitiously. “I actually packed my bag over a week ago. And re-packed it, like, twice. I’m not even adding anything new—just taking everything out and putting it right back in. It’s actually gotten worse since I stopped scheduling new power-leveling sessions. I’ve had way too much free time.”
She grinned sheepishly and added, “I kept practicing the things you taught me whenever I got too anxious. That’s probably the biggest reason why I’ve been improving so much this past week, I think.
Anyway, I should get going. I want to be well rested for tomorrow—and we are leaving pretty early.”
“Yeah… Mom wants to reach the Temple before dinner to pick out a good camping spot,” he said. He cocked his head at her. “Wait, you’re not staying for dinner?”
“No, I promised to have dinner with my dad before I left. I should’ve actually been home already, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to train with your dad a little longer,” she said with an embarrassed smile. “I know you said he was a good trainer—but wow—he’s really good. No offense, but he’s a lot better at explaining things than you are.”
Elias rolled his eyes and scoffed.
“Of course he’s a better trainer than me,” he said. “I’m not a trainer at all.”
Rebecca smiled warmly.
“Don’t worry, you did well enough. I’m just teasing,” she added with a playful wink.
“See you tomorrow, Eli.”