Gripping the swords handle Ryan shot towards Richard closing the distance in mere moments. As soon as he was only a meter in front of Richard, he drew the sword from its scabbard slicing upwards.

The one facing the attack, Richard stood there until the last moment, clutching the sword with one hand, he effortlessly met Ryan’s sword.

“Clang!”

The sound of metal clashing against metal rung in the air, his sword was pushed back easily, the force of Richards strike pushed him off balance, but, his expressions showed that he wasn’t surprised by the first clash. Using the momentum, twisting his body he lifted his left leg and kicked at Richard to keep him a distance away.

Although he managed to keep Richard at Bay, he looked down at his hand that was trembling under the irrepressible force behind Richards’s sword.

As soon as his sword hand became stable he once again sprinted towards him, sword clashing against sword sounded forcing him into retreat; quickly adjusting his movements again he stabbed.

Richard moved towards Ryan his sword tip meeting the other sword, the sword in his hand moved fluidly along the flat of Ryan’s sword, deflecting both the sword and the boy to the side.

Forced off balance by Richards unexpected swordsmanship Ryan fell to the ground sword first.

“You’re attacking without thinking, going in without a plan or countermeasures in place and fully relying on instincts; use your mind to handle the sword and not your heart, use your cunningness to create a plan and enact it.”

Ryan turned around in the dirt to face Richard, replying to him in a tone of confusion: “I understand that I rely on my instincts when I fight, that was the way of the streets, but even in battle instincts is what keeps me alive.”

“Even in street fights when a brawl begins, a plan can only see a few moves ahead, after that plans mean nothing in those quick exchanges and only instinct keeps you alive.”

Richard frowned, “This is not a street fight, and brawls with weapons require a lot more thought. There’s no point in me explaining it to you, otherwise, there is no way you’ll truly understand its meaning outside of its proverbial meaning.”

“Let’s carry on; I’ll make sure that I can at least beat it into you so you understand.”

Step by step he drew closer to Ryan when he was right in front of Ryan his sword was already arcing down from his left shoulder diagonally at Ryan. Knowing all too well how powerful the sword strike was Ryan rolled out of the way as he briskly got back on his feet once more.

Without letting up Richard once again struck at Ryan, with barely any time to readjust Ryan raised his sword.

Yet again he felt his body shudder under the power. Like this Ryan was battered by the casual display of Richards’s swordsmanship.

“Move your arms up!”

“I can still use my legs and my free hand to attack!”

“Your sword lacks weight behind it!”

“Transition faster, you’re wasting too much time!”

“Don’t let your guard down!” Richard instructed as he kicked Ryan off his toes making him fall onto his back.

In that period of a few minutes, he lost count on how many times he was forced to the brink or bruised to the point he couldn’t register the pain under the adrenaline to survive.

“In the end, you still don’t understand, even if you train for 10 years in nothing but the sword you still won’t rival me in a head to head clash of skill.”

“Use your mind to handle the sword not your heart and become accustomed to it, there was no way you were going to win, you should’ve held back and waited for an opportunity to hit back or you’ll reveal openings for me to strike.” Richard explained: “Ok that’s enough for now.” He yawned, the sword in his hand crumbled and disappeared into tiny specks: “You can go back to fix on your mistakes before our next session, you can at least be able to solve your own mistakes, right?” By the end of the sentence, his conceited tone was pronounced through the smirk on his face.

After being bruised and battered, Ryan couldn’t stand the smirk on his master’s face and without much thought said, “I can only get so much help from a frivolous old man,” putting extra emphasis on the word ‘frivolous’ he turned his back to Richard and walked away.

“Hm?” Richard’s eyebrows wrinkled, his eyes slitting and his smirk grey wider furthermore his aura changed to a foreboding malice.

---------------------

“AAAAHHH!”

A shriek similar to that of a dying animal reverberated through the forest, on the floor was a boy covered in countless bruises all over the visible parts of his body.

“Please do stop squealing, a frivolous man like myself doesn’t hit too hard,” Richard explained with an innocent manner, yet there was a look of content in his eyes.

Ryan groaned in pain, his poor body wasn’t ready for the beating that he had taken. At the start of the spar, there were no signs of what was about to happen, that was until he took the initiative to attack. Every opening he revealed Richard countered leaving no room for mercy, leading up to this moment.

Hearing what Richard said Ryan groaned louder before uttering with resentment: “Yes, you’re not frivolous, you’re petty, a petty old man.”

“Huh? What did you say? I didn’t hear that properly.”

Ryan disregarded his words and slowly stood up and sat down near a tree and begun meditating on the spar.

During the spar, even though Richard was blowing off some steam when countering he didn’t shrug off his responsibility in the spar.

Every time I try to counter Richards always ready and prepared as if he knows what I’m going to do. I give him too much time between my transitions and movements…” Ryan’s thoughts slowly focussed on the fact that Richard always had an idea of what he was about to do.

Is it because he knew what I was going to do before even I knew what I was going to do? But how?

While Ryan was seated contemplating over his spar Richard valued his resolve to improve and decided to leave him be.

“The only way you’ll learn to use your mind is through experience; your arms are merely tools in battle just like weapons or information, in the end, they’re all tools to be used by the mind, I hope you can comprehend the meaning in its true sense,” Richard mumbled as he walked further away.

As far as Richard was concerned the more focus Ryan put into his training the better, at his level nothing was more important willpower, patience and discipline. It was true even for life and death battles where countless schemes form through calculations and planning, to the point that it becomes a new form of instincts.

Walking into the cave his body lit up with a slight silver hue as silver particles came together to form a cauldron, it hung in midair as he lit the flames.

“Initially I expected him to take 2 years to reach the Sage Warrior level but my expectations were too low, he’s improving daily, he’ll reach the Sage level in slightly over a year.”

“The Sage Transformation pill is coming along perfectly; I need a few more materials for the pill and materials to forge his first Sage Weapon.” He murmured to himself in thought.

A few moments later his eyes lit up with an expression that Ryan knew all too well, one that he feared.