Walking towards the training room that Agni Igris showed to them earlier, Iris was thinking back to the lesson from Albert.
'So many things that I've never experienced' she thought wistfully about how the siblings ended up here.
'At least from now on, I am free to go on any adventure I want'! She thought with a passion in her eyes.
Opening the doors to the training room, Iris found the beastkin woman sitting in the middle of the room, floating a few inches above the ground!
She was in a lotus position and there was a brisk air flow surrounding her that made Iris curious.
'Is that the Ki that Albert was talking about' She thought as she silently observed Mira with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Hello, Iris" Mira suddenly said with a wide grin as she slowly descended to the ground.
Iris' eyes widened as she quickly tried to say, "I didn't mean to–
"It's all good" Mira interjected as she stood up and stretched.
"Let's get started?" She asked with a grin.
Iris nodded and smiled back.
Mira then gave Iris a book that seemed to appear out of thin air, from her point of view!
"Pick any weapon from the book to use," Mira said before her expression suddenly turned serious, "But don't rush your choice or pick a weapon that seems uncomfortable to you. I will be teaching you how to use that weapon and it will be hell on you to try to change weapons later on"
Iris nodded as she somewhat understood what Mira meant. The book on the basic arts of combat that she read yesterday had said something similar.
A warrior's weapon was bonded to them for life and they shouldn't use weapons that didn't fit them. The book said that it would only lower one's prowess and strength because one could always progress more with a weapon that was comfortable.
Keeping this in mind, Iris scrolled through the book and was excited at the vast images of different weapons!
She asked Mira about every weapon that caught her interest and she explained what the weapon's advantages and disadvantages compared to other weapons were.
However, she felt that none of them really called out to her. Eventually, she reached a weapon that she found intriguing!
"A Katana?" Mira looked on curiously as she rubbed her chin.
"They are good for precision strikes and flowing movements. All moves on a katana link together and sharpen each strike. It's a well-rounded blade that can be used for thrusting and to keep range like polearms" She explained, "But its main advantage lay in the precise and clean movements that accompany it"
Iris felt excited as she heard about Katana. She felt like this weapon was the perfect choice!
And like that, her decision for a weapon had been made!
After choosing her blade, Mira handed her a steel katana! It had a blue sheath and was a tempered silver. Although it was just a regular blade.
Iris hadn't awakened yet, making her unable to use a weapon that was created with Ki.
As she held the sword and admired the beauty in its steel, Iris felt comfortable. As though, as long as she had a sword, she could tackle any challenge!
Mira then pulled out her own katana as a dummy made of malleable metal appeared in the middle of the training room.
"Alright, watch carefully," Mira said with a smile as she saw the determined expression on Iris' face.
'Cute' she thought before saying aloud, "I am going to teach you the first of six basic sword movements. The overhead chop"
Mira then took her sword and put the tip of it on the dummy's nose. Afterward, she took a split stance with one leg bent and drawn behind her lead leg.
She calmly relaxed her shoulders and gripped the Katana with both hands. She then raised the blade above her head and tensed her core and grip!
Then, in one smooth motion, she stepped forward and swung the sword downwards!
*Twiing*!!
The blade clashed powerfully against the training dummy, impacting the middle of its nose un-erringly while Iris' eyes shone in awe!!
The sword swing was so beautiful and graceful that it left a wave of steel coming from the swing!
Mira grinned and puffed her chest in pride as she told Iris, "Now, for the next hour you will be practicing that movement"
And practice she did. After every swing, Mira would correct her form or tell her where to apply more force.
Eventually, the hour passed and Mira dismissed Iris, "Good practice today but your form still has many flaws. We'll work on them. Dismissed."
"Thank you," Iris said with a wide smile as her clothes stuck to her body. She was exhausted but content as she felt herself come to enjoy training with her sword!
At the same time as she was leaving, she saw Rudra entering. Rudra saw the huge smile on Iris' face and became excited for the lesson.
However, that changed as he saw Mira.
He realized that because of his earlier behavior, this lesson might be awkward, to say the least!
However, Mira greeted him with the same enthusiasm as she did Iris.
He was just a kid, after all. As much as she was a light-hearted and immature person, she wasn't petty enough to hold a grudge against a kid.
Especially since he realized his mistake and apologized for it.
She told him about her book of weapons and after going through it, Rudra eventually decided on gauntlets!
Mira nodded and chuckled, "Uncommon choice but a good one. As long as you have yourself you won't ever have to worry about losing your weapon"
"The King told us to let him teach you martial arts so there's nothing for me to teach you quite yet," Mira said as she handed him a pair of black and red gauntlets with clawed fingertips.
"So for the time we are training together, you will work on your martial arts techniques by practicing against the dummy and you will spend the other half of the time sparring against me," she said thoughtfully.
And that's what happened. Rudra faced off against the dummy, imagining fights in his head and working on his efficiency and fluidity with the punch and kick that Agni Igris was teaching them!
He managed to perform the kick with a decent amount of proficiency after failing to do so in today's earlier training session!
Afterward, he started sparring with Mira. She started light, figuring out his level.
However, after finding it, she put pressure on him and used her experience to show him the openings he left in his defense.
In other words, she beat him black and blue! Every punch and kick he threw was blocked, dodged, or countered!
She didn't hurt him too badly but he was definitely going to feel it tomorrow morning.
Right before their training session ended, he managed to slip past her guard and land a punch on her side.
However, it came at the cost of being kicked hard enough to send him sprawled out on the ground.
He panted as he heard Mira sarcastically say, "Wow, I'm genuinely impressed that you managed to land a hit. I saw it, but didn't think you would actually commit to it. I forgot that you were new to combat" She finished with a smirk as she teased him.
Maybe she did hold a teeny tiny grudge after all!
Rudra felt his desire to fight heat up again as he heard her taunt, however, it would have to wait for next time as Mira told him that their time was up and dismissed him.
He glared at her for a few seconds before clicking his tongue and saying, "Tsk, Thank you for the training"
Mira knew that he meant it, he was just feeling his ego deflate.
She nodded with a grin and said, "Go rest"
Thor was the last one to train with Mira and he eventually chose a halbert with a flat hammer-headed side and a bladed side.
The weapon of war!
She taught him basic slashing movement of the halbert because it's a long range weapon not meant to be used for overhead chops!
At least, not at the beginner levels of mastery!
Because the halbert had two sides, it would be harder to master than Rudra or Iris's weapons.
So, Mira had Thor do the slashing strike with both the hammer head and the blades side!
She did the same as she did with Iris and corrected him when he made mistakes in his movements and answered his questions patiently.
Mira thought that Thor was talented in comprehensive as although neither Iris nor Rudra were slow to improve their flaws, Thor needed only a bit of advice before he could immediately incorporate it into his swing.
'A true prodigy' Mira thought with a smile, realizing that she was training some real monsters here.
After their time was up, Mira dismissed Thor as well.
He ate some food by himself as he thought about the lessons from the day before he went to his room to sleep.
*****
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