Chapter 95: Elena’s Sword

With the introduction of the veteran teachers, the training soon commenced.

Twenty-five veterans were chosen to match the twenty-five Awakeners, ensuring that no one was left idle at any moment while the remaining veterans carried out their other duties.

Right now, teaching swordsmanship, Elena and Kenjiro were locked in a sparring session.

Bang!

Throwing Elena backward with one hand behind his back, Kenjiro remained calm as he waited for her to get back up.

"Now, now, young lady, you’re putting way too much strength into your swings."

"Swordsmanship is not about who can strike the other the hardest; it is about understanding their movements, predicting their actions, and knowing when to strike."

"If any game were to be compared to swordsmanship, this old man would say it’s chess."

"Now get back up and don’t use any abilities. During this battle, this old man will help you unlock your senses."

Stretching out a wooden sword to her, Kenjiro’s calm voice resounded through the room.

Despite being thrown back, Elena got back up, her body healing on its own.

Even though she couldn’t use any other abilities or mana, her healing factor made it possible for Kenjiro to train her without holding back, a situation she more than welcomed.

’Damn it! This is completely different from my martial arts, where I could just overpower my opponent. Even with his eyes closed, why can’t I land a single hit on him?’

Muttering to herself, Elena took a deep breath.

Looking at Kenjiro, who stood ready, she raised her wooden sword again.

Rushing toward him, she decided to go for a feint, pretending to stab toward his stomach, but at the last second, she changed directions to swing for his waist.

Clang!

Raising his sword slightly, Kenjiro easily blocked it, his eyelids trembling just a fraction.

"Nice attempt. However, your body movements were too large; I could see that feint coming from a mile away. Try again!"

Boom!

Kicking her in the stomach, Kenjiro sent Elena rolling backward several meters.

"However, going for a feint isn’t a bad idea. In that sense, it means you’re learning fast!"

"So fast, in fact, that I’ve decided to edit your training plan a bit!"

Smiling slightly, Kenjiro, for the first time since they started training, held his sword in an active attack stance.

"From now on, every time you try to attack and miss, I will launch a counterattack."

"Not only that, but that counterattack will target your right arm. As much as you need to learn to attack, you also need to learn to defend."

Explaining himself, Kenjiro made it sound simple—he even told her precisely where he was going to strike. Whether it was actually easy was another question entirely.

"Alright, old man, I was already getting tired of you just blocking!"

"Just don’t tell me you’re tired later, because I’m not going to stop until I land a solid hit on you!"

Standing back up, Elena readied her sword for a strike, to which Kenjiro simply pointed his wooden sword right back at her.

"Come, this old man wouldn’t want it any other way."

Calm as ever, Kenjiro looked forward to Elena’s growth. With her hyper-speed regeneration, perhaps he could finally find a true successor to his sword skills.

Time soon passed, and under the new rules of engagement, within two hours Elena had launched around two hundred attempts.

All two hundred attempts had been blocked. Not only that, but under the repeated bashings to her right arm, the limb had broken and healed so many times that blood now stained the floor of the training grounds.

It was a sight that would have left anyone else entirely horrified, but for Elena who was practically immortal thanks to her regeneration, this was just a walk in the park.

"Huff, huff~ Didn’t you ever hear that it’s wrong to hit women? If you keep going like this, it’ll be hard for you to ever get married."

Cursing angrily, Elena looked at her right arm, which was currently twisted at an unnatural angle with exposed flesh and bone.

Snap!

Clenching her teeth, she wrenched it back into position.

Watching it rapidly heal, she was able to flex it calmly within just a few seconds.

"Is this the two-hundred-and-first time my arm has broken? You really don’t pull any punches, do you?"

Once again settling into a combat stance, Elena readied herself to attack again.

However, this time, Kenjiro stopped her with a raised hand.

"Wait a minute. First of all, this old man will let you know he’s quite popular; in my younger days, quite a few women wanted to partner with me."

"However, I only ever had my eye on the sword; otherwise I would already have a granddaughter about your age."

Speaking matter-of-factly, Kenjiro continued:

"More importantly, I’ve finally understood your core problem: you’re relying far too much on your healing factor, so much so that you’ve lost touch with your fundamentals."

"No, it’s not that you never had them; rather, these awakened abilities have made you complacent in your skills."

"If we continue like this, this style of training is pointless."

Saying this, he dropped his wooden sword, walked over to the door, and calmly sat down.

"Instead, let’s go back to a foundational method, one I practiced when I was a kid."

Hearing this, Elena suddenly had a bad premonition. Sure enough, Kenjiro’s next words confirmed her worst fears:

"Next, I want you to swing your sword one hundred thousand times."

"No fancy styling, no tricks. Just a simple, repetitive downward slash."

"Once you can complete that without relying on brute force or sloppy habits, we can move on to the next step."

Hearing this, Elena twitched her lips in absolute disbelief. She couldn’t believe her ears.

What did he mean, one hundred thousand times? How many days would that take her?

To accomplish this as soon as possible, how much precious sleep would she have to sacrifice?!

Yet, looking at Kenjiro, who sat calmly with his eyes closed, she knew he wasn’t joking.

"Damn it..."

"One... two... three..."

Swinging the wooden sword one monotonous stroke at a time, she couldn’t help but wonder how Victoria and the others were faring.

Hopefully, they were having much better luck with their instructors than she was.