Legend of Ransera

Until Shuai had successfully cultivated his foundations, his teacher had left him to continue his training and only came back to the Chisuo estate to check on his progress every so often- seeing if the young boy was doing everything as he had been instructed to do and more importantly, that the boy was doing it properly without cutting corners. Logs not corners, he reminded the boy, logs not corners. After the first few weeks of doing nothing else but to repeatedly swing that axe and chop the logs every day to failure, the only change to the regime was his teacher sometimes giving him a brand new axe to use not because he had worn the last down, but because Shuai had become much stronger that the lighter axes no longer provided him any resistance in his training. It was all about him progressively getting stronger, that was what he remembered his teacher saying. There see? He had been paying attention but that was only because his teacher had already proven himself to Shuai and his father after a month of what Shuai believed was a punishment of some sort for him for the way he had treated his teacher in their first meeting. No matter how much trust his teacher had cultivated in his student through the results however, that was still not enough to hold the young boy's impatience at bay.

"I've been chopping these logs forever. Ask anyone here. Check the piles of wood over there. Look at these guns!" he said trying to get his teacher to train him in something else. Anything else. As long as it was not chopping those accursed logs again. But had Shuai really been doing it like he was supposed to? Properly? Without cutting any corners? "I told you, ask anyone or check those things. I'm not lying. Honest. I've done everything you've told me to!" and to be fair to the boy, the results could not be faked. Maybe if his teacher was only evaluating him through the amount of logs he chopped each day, the boy could have forced the help to chop the logs for him or reuse the logs he had chopped in the days before but without a doubt Shuai had become stronger and his limbs, his dumb kiddy limbs had grown thicker. It was like a horse! A child horse. His age. It was foul, uhhhh, foal You get the idea. And they were still a lot stronger than Shuai was even after his training. Lucky for him he was only training to fight other people not horses so he had no reason to compare himself to a horse, even a child ho- foal. The only one he had to compare himself to was his past self.

But his teacher, even he if could see the boy was speaking the truth did not take Shuai's words at face value. If he did now, it would mean Shuai being more and more bold to learn how to fake his results at some point if he thought his teacher was lax in following the young boy's progress and could be tricked into rushing through Shuai's training. So in order to avoid such a possibility his teacher decided to make a show of it so his young student could see the man was serious in training him properly, comparing the young boy's results and keeping him disciplined, so if Shuai even thought about trying he remember would remember the extent of effort his teacher would put into his duties. And it all starts with "show you how I chop the logs? This is a nightmare which will never end right? Tell me I'm wrong or do you want me to say it? I'm sorry?" Sorry for what? Sorry for whatever was keeping that man's grudge over the boy and Shuai did not actually care what it was if there was any at all.

Unperturbed as Shuai went on with his demonstration from holding the axe firmly to lifting it high above his head, to holding it steady while it was in the air and then until he finally hit the log set up in front of him, his teacher stopped him at each stage to test the boy's actions. A firm and strong grip which is of course true or Shuai would not have been able to carry all those different axes. Good, not too high and under your control so your hands aren't quivering like when you started and you're still strong enough to keep back straight It was good and Shuai agreed but not for long if he still had to be stuck standing like that. It was lucky that his back was the first thing his teacher checked because he could already feel it bending over from the strain but unfortunately his teacher had yet to allow him to continue because there was still something he wished to check. Your guns, good. Solid. If you aren't good at fighting at least you can show them off and scare people off before they start a fight with you. Was he done already? Why was he still feeling up the boy's arms? Come on, come on. The boy was starting to get weak and would not be able to hold the axe any longer.

So imagine Shuai's relief when he was finally allowed to send the axe down. It was like a good p-. There was nothing more to be said. Nothing at all about what was similar to the sensation or by his teacher who only nodded satisfactorily. Actually there was one more thing he wanted to comment on which he only told the boy after he had a little rest and was brought closer to the log he just cut. Right in the middle, very accurate. A hundred points for you. That actually made Shuai proud, very proud and he let it go to his head when he started to boast about how "I told you I've been training everyday. I did everything you asked me to. Followed your instructions perfectly. To the letter. And I didn't bother doing anything else because I respect you so much so please. Can I learn something useful now?" Was Shuai trying to imply his training since the last season had been useless for anything else other than the obvious of making him stronger? His teacher was insulted at that remark but nonetheless cautioned Shuai not to underestimate what he had just learned because it was still useful for one reason. He could now chop wood really, really fast and one more thing. If he ever had to fight with a lumberjack and he was not fully confident he could win, he should run. Imagine the logs as his head or his limbs? One good strike would be all that was needed to take out even the most well trained of combatants.

But enough of that, the moment Shuai had been waiting for. The chance to finally train with an actual weapon! Well technically not an actual weapon it, there was no live steel or anything but a training weapon which was close enough to the real thing to simulate the experience while he trained was a good start. As his father was a duelist of some reputation himself and the Kalzasi nobility had this infatuation with the weapon what else could Shuai start with other than the sword? With the training sword he was given in his hands, Shuai waved it around a little before he asked "so what am I going to learn? Will I be stabbing or slashing or poking? Or am I going to be fighting you first again? Could we skip that? We know I'll lose anyway like last time." Well the first thing he was going to learn was how to be disciplined with the sword, like to not wave it around if he had no intention of using it on someone or using it to protect himself. "Oh ok, I'll stop. Now what?" Now they will go back to the time Shuai first handled a sword with his teacher, that one time just for the man to prove his point with the young boy with his methods.

Shuai remembered that quite well and almost immediately lost his energy and enthusiasm because it was like swinging the axes all over again. But wanting to get it over with fast he did not argue and instead went through the motions quickly. He had both hands holding firmly at the hilt, lifted the sword high above his head, held it steady, braced himself and sent it down. Perfect. Too perfect. "What do you mean I've not been following your instructions?" Yes it had been too perfect because Shuai had secretly been training that one move he learned on his own until he grew bored of it but as the boy was not about to admit it, he simply gave the possibility that "maybe I've become too good with swinging that axe it made me really good at swinging the sword too?" That was entirely possible, it was after all a transferrable skill as his teacher had demonstrated back then when Shuai learned of it but again, it was too perfect. The man pointed it out. From the start since Shuai held the sword he was doing it in the way most suitable. First his hands, both hands, on the hilt fitting snugly against the guard which as the boy knew was not something on an axe's handle. Without any errors in his his handling it and treating it the same as the axe it was more likely than not the sword would have slipped out of his young student's hands or he may have disarmed himself from his own clumsiness like a lot of his student's had.

Then there was the fact the boy was able to lift the sword up too steadily. Had done the same with the axe, he might have overswung the sword back and cause himself to fall if he did not at least throw out his stance and neither had happened so the teacher could only conclude Shuai had been practicing enough that his body just did not have to compensate for the lack of familiarity he should have had for the weapon by treating it like an axe anymore. Then there was the way he swung the sword down. It was... too accurate. How could he have a problem with that? Accuracy was good and "How can I be too accurate with the sword? You just swing it down even a-" well actually he was a kid so that would not work, "even a commoner could do that as long as they get their hands on the sword. Like you said? Lumberjacks with their axes could be scarier than any trained fighter?" Yes but a lumberjack would be using the weight of his weapon to bring it down, a commoner would use all his strength to strike down as hard as possible. To the teacher's eyes and with his experience with teaching so many student's, he could tell Shuai was doing neither of these things and so, his young student was caught without any excuse to use to get out of it.

But still it was a good effort by Shuai and proved if he really wanted to he could train himself well enough to be one of the greats with any weapon he chose and since he loved training so much, another week of swinging with the sword this time. And then with the axe. Axe with the blunt side to the ground and not the edge. Shuai will learn why in a week's time. Another week of the same old boring movements. "Am I being punished?" Yes. but because he still did the first exercise to the teacher's satisfaction, the punishment was not as severe. He was only being punished because he was caught lying and broke his word. Looks like Shuai would have to train in those under his own initiative for the sake of his health in the future, not being caught in a lie that is.