Huff... Huff...
Kato is currently attacking me with a wooden sword and i'm trying to block.
It wasn't as fun as healing people, but fighting was still really enjoyable… If i didn't get tired, i could do this all day.
I've been entering the Slumberveil Realm for two weeks now, and after learning the vertical slash, i've learned the horizontal slash and the thrust. For the last 3–4 days, i've been learning how to block.
While Tung Tung Sahur was attacking me, i was practicing my blocks. As i adapted, he gradually increased the speed, power, and technique of his strikes. After my mastery hit 80%, like with all other skills, my progress began to slow down.
Tung Tung Sahur said a sword technique should be simple, unflashy, but effective. My technique would be built on these moves.
Thanks to Kato's training, my flexibility and endurance saw a huge leap in these two weeks. At first, i would be exhausted after walking for two hours a day at an adult's pace, but now my limit had risen to three hours. As a child, shaping my body was easy, so i won't even mention how much more flexible i've become…
I also practice the things i've learned in the Slumberveil Realm with Kato for 1–2 hours each day. My body is supported by the spirit of nature, but i was still only one year old.
My daily routine was as follows: Wake up in the morning, eat, go on a run with Kato until i was exhausted (run... which was just a slow walk for an adult), stretch, return home and sleep again. After waking up, eat once more, then have an hour of sword training with Kato, eat again, and go back to sleep.
I spent more than half of the day sleeping. I was able to train for about 5–6 hours in the Slumberveil Realm.
Two days ago, I told Kato I wanted to learn how to block, and he started throwing extremely slow and weak random slashes at me… He wasn't taking me seriously at all and was afraid I might get hurt. But today, I had something different in mind.
"Uncle, let's spar!" I said firmly, puffing up my chubby cheeks.
Kato smiled and nodded his head.
I dashed toward Kato and delivered a horizontal slash with 80% of my strength as Tung Tung Sahur's said. Kato blocked it but once he felt the force behind my strike, his eyes widened in shock. My blade bounced off his guard, and using the remaining momentum and power i had saved, i pulled my sword wide toward my support hand side and followed up with a powerful thrust.
Lead hand: The hand in front of the hilt, usually the dominant hand.
Support hand: The hand behind on the hilt, mainly used for control and balance.
Kato redirected my attack with a deflect, but since i hadn't used my full strength, i only staggered forward slightly before regaining my balance.
i'm starting to understand Tung Tung Sahur better now… if i had used all my strength, that one parry would've thrown me off balance and slammed me into the ground.
Seeing me off balance, Kato went for a vertical slash. The attack looked too strong, so i didn't even consider a hard block. i shifted slightly to the right and held my blade at a 60° angle to deflect Kato's sword to the left.
The closer your blade is to 0°, the more impact it absorbs. As it gets closer to 90°, your chance of blocking properly drops. A nearly vertical blade can barely block at all…
When Kato's blade touched mine, i swept my sword to the left, executing a perfect deflection, then followed up with another thrust toward his stomach.
At this point, Kato was frozen in shock. Hope's redirection was nearly flawless.
Kato's hand suddenly moved and grabbed my wooden sword, stopping it in place.
"You win."
Kato had never been serious from the start. Not only was he using just a tiny fraction of his strength, but his attack had also been incredibly slow—and twice, he had frozen in shock because of what I did.
The sparring match ended with my three attacks and only one from Kato.
i gave him a dissatisfied look, but i was too tired and hungry from the training, so we called it a day. At the time, i had no idea what was going through Kato's mind.
i found my dad at the training grounds, and the three of us started grilling some meat together. As we ate, Kato began telling him what had happened earlier that day. My dad glanced at me with a huge chunk of danger beast meat hanging from his mouth, as if wondering whether i was even human, then turned back to Kato.
"You should've seen that thrust! if it had hit me, i'd be lying on the ground right now with a pierced stomach..." Kato laughed, clearly exaggerating.
"Jokes aside, your son has incredible potential. i've trained most of the kids in the clan, so i know—he already has the physical strength of a 5- or 6-year-old. And i don't even need to talk about his weapon mastery..."
Scratching his head, Kofi added, "To be honest, i probably couldn't even pull off that deflection—hehehehe."
Then my dad turned to me."All you do is sleep, eat, and train. Don't you have any friends, son?"
With a sad look, i replied "The other kids are scared of me dad... i'm usually alone but spending time with dad and uncle makes me happy!"
"Are you alone?" my dad said with furrowing his brows.
Kofi started patting my back to comfort me...
"Then how about having a sibling? No little brother is ever afraid of his big brother! And he'd keep you company too! Yes, hmm hmm, YES! From now on, I'll make sure you're never alone, son..."
Author's Note: I'll gradually start skipping time and building the main character's personality. It might take around 50 chapters before we reach the beginning of the Akame Ga Kill! Zero storyline.
I'm having a hard time writing canon, dialogue and fight scenes since this is my first time writing a novel (fanfic). I also don't want to add too much detail to battles or other events because it can become tiring or boring to read after a certain point.