Mature Content Warning: None really

Author's Note: So, the basic training begins... Also, I lied. There is obviously one more update tonight... Here it is. lol

Chapter 18.1: Basic Training - Valkyrie Booty Camp

Night had come once again, and with it blessed sleep. However, during his slumber Scott had dreamed a dragon dream. He had become the dream warrior mage, Blackthorne. In this dream he had followed a heavenly vision into what would become the training from hell. However, before that he had to learn what his sword was and how to use it.

“OK, so this is the true edge, and this is the false edge?” asked Scott. He pointed at one side of his longsword and then at the other.

“No... That’s backwards. Look again, the side closest to your forearm is the...?” she asked.

“False Edge.” said Scott with a nod.

“Right. The edge of the blade closest to your knuckles is the...?” she asked.

“True edge...” said Scott.

“Yes! Good, he can be taught. Praise the high maiden...” said Sonja with a smirk.

Scott snorted at her. “I’m still learning...”

“Yes, well you need to learn properly. The way you swing your sword makes my eyes itch.” replied the warrior maiden.

Before he could retort she waved him off. “When I call out the parts of your sword, touch them.”

“Alright.” said Scott.

“Pommel.”

Scott touched the little ball thingy at the bottom of the sword handle. Sonja nodded at him.

She said, “Weak.”

He raised his hand then touched the part of his sword close to the tip. Once again, she nodded.

“Short edge.” she said.

Scott blinked then widened his eyes and touched the blade near the edge closest to his forearm. Sonja smiled at him in response. He had remembered that the false edge and the short edge were the same thing.

“Strong.” she said.

Scott touched the base of his blade. She nodded once again.

“Cross-guard.” she said.

Scott touched the little cross thingy between the grip and the blade. Sonja was happy to see him remember everything so far. The only parts remaining were the grip and the point. If he couldn’t remember the difference between those two parts of a double-edged long sword then he was in real trouble.

“Right then, why are they called the weak and the strong?” she asked him casually.

“The... amount of leverage that can be exerted?” he asked as much as answered.

“Yes, but try to sound more confident about it. The weak is faster than the strong, but the strong can be used more successfully when leverage is important, and you don’t want your attack batted to the side as easily.” she said.

Scott nodded to her then glanced down at his sword. He now knew what each part of his weapon was actually called. That miniscule amount of knowledge somehow made him feel like more of a swordsman than before.

“Now, hold your blade ready.” she said.

He lifted up his sword then immediately felt a stick lash down on his left shoulder. He cried out in annoyance, and more than a little pain.

“Don’t tense your shoulders. You’ll ruin the flow of your movements.” she said.

Scott relaxed his stance but then felt a hard lash of her willow branch across his left thigh. He yelped then glanced at her.

“Your legs are too close together. Get them shoulder width apart.” she said.

“You could just tell me these things, you know.” he said in annoyance.

“When you know how to stand properly, and walk properly, I will talk to you properly.” she said, a sadistic smile on her lips.

Scott muttered something about her slave tattoo and how he’d agreed to this.

Sonja’s smile turned sweet. “It hurts me more than it hurts you, master.”

It was true. Every time she whipped him, it physically hurt her more than it had hurt him, but she did not seem to care. That was the true horror story as far as Scott was concerned.

“Basic step forward, go.” she said authoritatively.

Scott blinked then tentatively raised his front foot then pushed off with the ball of his rear foot. When his front foot touched the ground he gripped with his toes and the ball of his front foot and drew his back foot forward to return to his original stance.

A hard whipping strike lashed across the back of his head. “Good! Next time don’t bob your head.”

Scott turned and glared at Sonja. She gazed back at him impassively. After a tense moment he nodded then returned to his stance. He had asked to be trained properly, and admittedly it only took one or two whippings to get him to move properly.

After the better part of an hour Scott was able to take proper steps like a real man and everything. He could even step left and right without tasting the willow whip of discipline.

“Do you know why the willow weeps, Scott?” asked Sonja after several minutes passed without a whip strike.

“No...” he said carefully.

“Because she was once a maiden who watched her lover be killed in battle.” she said with a smile.

He blinked at her. That was interesting folklore, but why share it now? He asked her that and she said, “To honor her memory, a Valkyrie must use a branch of the willow tree to discipline the ones she loves so that they will become better warriors.”

“I see.... You’re going to start beating me again, aren’t you.” he said, a half-smile forming on his lips.

“Look at my smart master.” she cooed at him.

Sonja led him over to a wood dummy then drew his attention to its chest region. She placed one hand just below where the sternum would be, and placed the other around the kidney area. “I want you to step forward and slash horizontally at the torso of this dummy, but only in the area between these places.”

“Alright.” Scott made an effort to do that but immediately felt a series of willow whip strikes across his shoulders, lower back, and right thigh.

“Relax your shoulders, spread your legs shoulder width apart, don’t slouch.” she said in quick succession.

Scott bit off a retort, and then did as she instructed. If he wanted to actually learn, he would need to learn from the very beginning. When he struck the wooden dummy he felt a slight shockwave reverberate up his arms that made his hands hurt a bit.

“Dammit!” cried Scott. He had not felt that the rebound so badly when he struck monsters, even the scorpion.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” asked Sonja with a smile.

“Yes, what the hell?” he asked.

“It hurts to use a sword, Scott. A real fighter must learn to reduce that sort of pain through skill and precise movements. If you were to fight something besides soft bodied monsters you could lose your grip altogether, especially if your hands were sweaty or soaked with blood.”

She took a breath and continued, “Have you considered the vibrations that your hands would receive if you struck an opponent clad in steel?

“I noticed that it sometimes hurt a little when I struck that scorpion.” It had a hard shell, but even it did not cause as much pain as he had felt when striking the dummy.

“You’re using your arms and hands too much, for starters.” she said.

“How do I fix that?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “Good question! First, relax and use the movements of your body to lead your weapon. Don’t try to hit the target hard. Just flow with the swing and let your hips and shoulders do the work. Your arms and hands just guide the blade.”

Scott did as she asked. He repositioned himself then stepped forward and used the momentum of his step to start his slashing movement. He attacked the target in an almost lazy manner. There was little pain involved and he still managed to cut into the wood a little.

Sonja nodded at him then continued her instruction in the basic arts of sword mastery. After about an hour of explanations and disciplinary actions, Scott was left alone to perform one thousand repetitions of each basic attack movement. He had to step forward, slash, and then step back.

He was greatly surprised to discover that his sword mastery level rose during the first five minutes alone. His lack of actual knowledge really had been holding him back.

Once he completed that training exercise, he was introduced to what Sonja referenced as a rapid retreating strike. He did not know if that was a name for the attack on Earth, but it was just a basic overhand strike. He stepped forward and brought his sword down in a precise cut, but took a short half-step back again just as the attack struck. Sonja whipped him mercilessly for the better part of a half hour before he actually performed the movement correctly.

He had to step forward attack and step back as a single fluid motion so that only the tip of his blade struck the dummy. The purpose of the attack was not to do damage, but to draw an opponent off guard so that he could lunge forward when they tried to block his weapon. If he did not do it precisely, their block might succeed.

It was apparently a reasonable way to get around a shield if the attacker was fast enough and maintained their positioning. The shield use would try to block the strike, but if the technique worked the attacker would already be moving into the quick lunge as the entire movement was designed to flow together.

Scott learned many basic movements that day and occasionally, Sonja taught him something slightly more advanced to keep his interest high. By the end of the day his sword mastery level had risen by five in total and he could actually feel a sense of accomplishment.

It did not grow with anything resembling the quickness of his magical skills, but he was fine with that. He had gained more skill in swordsmanship in one day of legitimate training than he had in months of screwing around on the plains.

After Sonja had seen the speed of his growth, she smiled. “Good, far from a lost cause. That growth should slow down once you start to get close to your racial level, but by then you’ll be far more competent than you are now.”

“I should probably train my skills during the day, and hunt in early parts of the evening to maximize my time. That would give you time to sleep, and also keep our bank account moving.” said Scott.

“Now that sounds like a plan.” said Sonja.

***