Chapter 77: Chapter 77 – Training
Kyle went back home with Samson, and Samson’s family was happy to have Kyle back as well.
After spending a night telling Theodor to let him sleep, Kyle went back to the Hunter Hall.
The first thing he saw was Nervon, who was already waiting for him.
"Today is my off-day," Nervon said.
Kyle was surprised since this wasn’t supposed to be Nervon’s off day, as far as he remembered.
Every hunter in the Hunter Hall got one day off per week.
Nervon and Lancel were usually in during the days the other three took off.
"And it will also be your off-day," Nervon said.
Kyle looked at Samson for confirmation.
"Sure, go ahead," he said. "You can take the day off."
The next moment, Nervon pointed at Kyle. "You! We are going to train for the entire day!"
"Sure!" Kyle shouted with excitement.
Kyle had never received any formal training when it came to wielding his weapon.
He had only swung it around, and while he had quite some success with it, he knew that there was much more to learn.
’I’m becoming a warrior! I always wanted to be a warrior!’ he thought.
Nervon led Kyle out of the Hunter Hall and brought him outside the city.
The two of them entered a big clearing, and Nervon stopped in front of Kyle.
Nervon just eyed Kyle for a while.
"You know, you’re lucky," he said.
"How come?" Kyle asked.
"You can wield a two-handed mace. I can’t," Nervon said.
"Why not?" Kyle asked in interest.
"Size," Nervon said.
Kyle looked at Nervon with an uncomfortable expression.
Yeah, Nervon was quite small.
He was probably between 165cm and 170cm.
"I’m not insecure about it. I’ve made my peace with it," Nervon said. "Luckily, on the path to power, almost all sizes are useful."
"On our level, this is not very relevant yet, but when you become stronger, your Realm decides most of your power. Only a small part of your power comes from your actual size."
"A person with my size would be almost as strong as a person who is quite a bit taller than me."
"Huh, didn’t know that," Kyle commented. "Wait, so, if you’re smaller and basically have the same power, wouldn’t it be better to be small? I mean, you would be more compact and faster."
Nervon smirked a bit. "Correct. Later down the line, a small person would be a bit faster than a tall person, but that’s not everything."
"A tall person has something that a small person doesn’t, and that’s reach."
"You are quite tall, and your reach is a big advantage. By using a big weapon, you build on your advantage."
"In comparison, if I were to use a long weapon, I would only be compensating for my weakness instead of building on my strength."
BANG!
Nervon rammed the bottom of his huge shield into the ground. "Instead, I use this to build on my strength."
"I’m small and compact. I’m essentially a boulder, and my shield covers more of my body than if I were tall. Additionally, since the shield doesn’t need to be so big, it is lighter."
"But that’s not the right path for you. You would need a big shield, which would slow you down."
"Instead, you need to build on your strength, which is your long reach."
"Hold your mace forward," Nervon commanded.
Kyle did just that.
Nervon approached the hammer until his chest touched the head.
Then, he extended his mace forward.
"You see this?" Nervon asked. "My mace would need to be over twice as long to reach you from here. If I were to charge at you, I would need to deal with one of your strikes to hit you. This means you get the first strike."
"In a battle, a single strike decides life or death. If you hit me with this mace, I will be out."
"That is your advantage. In a melee battle, you always get the first strike unless you’re facing another tall guy with a spear. In that case, the guy with the spear gets the first strike since spears are even longer."
"Of course, I am talking about a fight where both parties know what they are doing."
"If no party knows what they are doing, or if both parties know what they are doing, it plays out like this."
"If one party knows what they are doing while the other doesn’t, the more experienced party will win."
"If you were experienced in battle, I would have quite some issues in fighting you since your fighting style perfectly counters mine."
Nervon rammed his shield into the ground again.
"I use this Shield to block an attack so that I can come closer to deliver a strike with my mace."
"Works wonders against swords, spears, one-handed maces, and similar weapons."
"But a two-handed mace is a different story. If you hit my shield, I would be thrown across the clearing and maybe even break some bones."
Nervon took a couple of steps back and readied his weapons.
"Try to hit me with all you’ve got," he said.
Kyle looked with discomfort at Nervon. "Are you sure?"
"Kid, you are not going to win. I could be three times weaker than I am already, and you wouldn’t be able to win. If you manage to injure me, I’ll give you a beer," Nervon said.
"Well... okay..." Kyle said nervously.
He grabbed his hammer and swung at Nervon.
BANG!
Nervon blocked the hammer with his shield.
He wasn’t even pushed to the side.
"I said, try to hit me," Nervon added. "Your body is a bit stronger than mine. If you actually tried to hit me, I would not be standing here."
Kyle took a deep breath.
"Okay, but be careful," he said.
Then, Kyle used quite a lot more power.
Nervon noticed that the strike had quite a lot of power behind it.
It obviously wasn’t Kyle’s full power, but if that strike hit Nervon’s shield, he would definitely be pushed to the side quite a bit.
However, Nervon just casually smirked.
BANG!
Kyle’s eyes widened as Nervon’s shield angled diagonally down, and his body crouched below it.
The hammer hit the shield at a 30° angle.
The next moment, Nervon pushed upward, and Kyle’s hammer flew upward.
Kyle did his best to regain control of his hammer.
But then, Nervon’s mace poked Kyle in the chest.
This completely destroyed his equilibrium, and Kyle fell on his ass.
"The more experienced party always wins," Nervon said. "Your strategy might counter mine, but as long as you don’t know the counters to my counters, you are going to lose anyway."