章 29: Dodging

Locus reached the top at dawn.

When he arrived, he immediately went into the tent, crawled into the sleeping bag, and tried to get some rest before Genken showed up.

Locus didn't even care enough to remove his blindfold for the few steps.

As promised, Genken woke Locus up at noon.

"Wakey, wakey! It's time to get strong."

Genken sent Locus to the inn to clean up and then sparred with him for the rest of the day.

By the end of it, Locus was able to attack Genken without thinking twice about the location, even though he didn't see him.

"Very good. Don't use more senses than you need to. You'd be waisting precious energy."

"Did someone teach you that at the Mastermind Guild?"

"I taught it to myself."

Locus wasn't wearing his katana anymore. He had no use for it, so it was just staying at the tent.

"You usually duck down or step back when I attack. Those are openings I could use to attack you."

"And how do I change that?"

"I suppose, now that you can see Aura clearly, we can work on your movements."

"So?"

"Relax, we'll start with the theoretical part."

Genken teleported a board with some paper to his right. Then he pulled a pen out of his pocket.

Locus just didn't question it.

While explaining everything with words, Genken drew the respective situations on the board.

"Your goal should be a combination of low energy requirements and receiving the least damage you can. Of course, the damage you get dealt is more important than the energy consumption."

"Obviously."

"This means that, while trying to not get hit, you need to be really careful about your energy levels."

Genken waved his index finger in the air.

"Dodging like that takes lots of energy. I'll teach you a better technique."

"Nice!"

"The first rule is that blocking is more effective than dodging. Moving just your arm takes less energy than moving your whole body."

"Whatever you say."

"Rule number two: No matter how you avoid getting hit, make it a close call."

Locus raised an eyebrow.

"A close call?"

"No matter whether you dodge or block, there is no need to waste extra energy. Why drop down when you could have just moved your head a few inches to the side?"

That made sense.

"There are some specific ways to block certain attacks, but I think experience is the second best teacher."

"The second best teacher?"

"Obviously. After all, I'm the best. Experience is just my assistant."

"Sure."

Genken looked up in the sky.

"It's getting late."

He looked back at Locus.

"I think that you have understood just how useful Aura is, so you don't need that blindfold anymore."

"I thought the blindfold should help me learn to perceive Aura?"

"That was just a side effect. The real purpose was showing you how useful it is, to show you that you don't need your eyes."

"Mission accomplished."

Genken let the board disappear.

"So do you want to sleep at the inn? This training will continue for quite some time.

"For how long?"

"That depends on how fast you learn and how strong you want to be at the end of it. It might take us a few days, but it could also take us five years."

"Excuse me?"

Actually, Locus had expected as much.

"And during that time we won't go and take on any quests?"

"That depends... But in any case, we won't accept any in the coming days."

"Then why did you join my party before we started training?"

"A wise man once said, 'I was in the mood, and I had the time.'. There was no real reason not to, and we had to do it sooner or later, so I just did it sooner."

In Locus' opinion, Genken told him too much about how to live. Was he supposed to remember all of that?

Of course, Genken knew what he was thinking about.

"You don't need to remember every piece of wisdom I share with you. Wisdom is nothing more than the application of logical thinking in a specific situation.

I just want to show you how to think logically. Then you can figure everything I could tell you out by yourself."

Locus' head couldn't even keep up with that. It was late, and he wasn't the smartest.

It seemed like those next months with Genken would not be easy...