The Art Of Sword

*Inside the Dream*

When he opened his eyes, white, white was all he could see, spreading infinitely in all directions. Then there is Sword standing in the middle of this infinite white void.

Sunz: Not as colorful as other dreams.

Sword: I’ll change it between sessions.

Sunz: So, what is your training plan for me? Getting better with basic sword techniques or something to do with ‘Elements’.

Sword: For the first session, we won’t be training your ‘Elements’. About the basic sword techniques... they don’t matter much when you have your own style.

“For now, just go with the flow.”

Sword then equipped Sunz and himself with the sword that Grimm gave Sunz yesterday.

Sunz: This sword—I've never seen it before. Why does the weight feel familiar?

Sword: It’s the weapon that Grimm gave you. You haven’t seen the inside of it, but you did hold it. Because of that, I can replicate it to perfection in here.

“We are killing two birds with one stone. Getting familiar with a new weapon while training.”

“Now let’s start! The next eight hours will feel like eternity for you!”

…

Just like what Sword said, during those eight hours, not even one second was wasted. Sword is constantly attacking Sunz with a wide variety of tactics. For the first hour, Sunz started getting used to everything that Sword threw at him.

But an hour later, his body feels like it has used up all of the energy he has, which resulted in him being hit and thrown around the dream for the next hour. While being treated like a sandbag during that hour, his body was still capable of moving, but all of the movements were slow and sluggish. Those movements are only good at helping him recover and pull himself up. Fighting was not an option during this hour.

Then, after that hellish hour, his body suddenly felt energized. For the next five hours, the training is exactly like what happened during the first hour. But for some reason, his body was never tired, he was at his peak performance.

Throughout the eight-hour training session, Sunz wasn’t able to access his ‘Elements’ at all. While at the same time, he had to counter Sword’s ‘Elements’. The variety was the same as Sunz but was used at a higher level.

The training was like some kind of torture that helped him experience all types of pain, like burns, frostbites, shocks, instant death, etc…, while raising his endurance.

After the eight-hour mark, Sunz's appearance was the same as when the training began, but what he felt had been ingrained in his mind and body.

Sword: Time’s up! How do you feel about the training, kid?

Sunz:… Like hell, but way worse... Is this going to be the core training for the rest of my life?

Sword: I wouldn’t call that training, more like bullying. Also, that was only a warm up.

Sunz: Warm up? Really! Kill me already.

Sword: The simple mind of a student. Already giving up... It's always fun for me to see you guys reactions to knowing that… that was the ‘Hardest lesson’.

Sunz: What? That was the hardest. Damn you! I thought you were about to drop some old sage quotes like “...”. I can’t think of any.

Sword: More like none of those quotes relate to your situation, and those people don’t have as much experience in training as me. I teach you to see how far you can go, while they teach their students to turn them into elixirs or new hosts.

Sunz: Is that common? The turning students into elixirs and new hosts.

Sword: 75 percent of all the kills I have witnessed include them. There are just so many that want to be god. But these types of people are being killed on a daily basis anyway.

“Now, let congrat you on finishing the hardest training of your life. Finally, we can get onto the fun stuff.”

Sunz: Fun stuff?

Sword: Elements testing.

Sunz: Oh, that... then why didn’t we skip the ‘Hardest lesson’? Even you felt relief after it was done.

Sword: That will be a surprise for you when fighting Grimm. And the ‘Hardest lesson’ is not a normal training that helps improve yourself by a long shot. If use too much, it can kill you. No matter how strong you are.

Sunz: Jeez… So no begging you to use the ‘Hardest lesson’ to help me defeat God.

Sword: You mean asking Death to reschedule your appointment. I can do that. But first, experience the side effects.

Suddenly, Sunz drops the sword that he was holding, followed by losing the sense of feeling his arms.

Sunz: I can’t feel my arms. Oh no, this is not fun. Lesson remembered, not to ask for that.

Sword: Also, this will affect your real body too.

Sunz: Goddamnit!

Sword: Since you’re not freaking out, let me ask you one more thing before letting you out.

“You remember how many Elements you have?”

Sunz: Let’s me think... Lighting, Water, Force, Dark and Light, Ice, Fire, Blood communication.

Sword: Good, then have your break, and then I’ll see you in three hours. Let's give you a second phase.

Everything then turns from white to black, having no indication of whether he is still dreaming or not, except his whole body is sweaty.

Sunz (Look like I’m back in the real world….. and both my arms are paralyzed… Now, I could scream out to get their attention or roll myself off the bed. Am I that moronic? No…)

Sunz constantly kicking the blanket, and after around a minute, he got out of the cocoon. When he sat up after freeing himself from the blanket, he felt an intense aura in his room and saw what appeared to be a scoreboard with names and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th under them.

Sunz still groggy: What happened here?

… Suddenly, a book was thrown across his face, which startled him. Then follow up with a familiar voice.

Voice: You ok sleepy head?

Sunz: Yeah… who talking? The person who threw the book?

Voice: It’s Grace.

Sunz: Oh hi… should you be throwing your book around like that?

Grace: You ok? You are less responsive than usual. You know what is going on?

Sunz: What you guys did to this room in the last eight hours. No idea, haha.

Grace: What about now? Like, in the moment I’m talking to you.

Sunz: You’re talking to me. That’s all I know. Haven’t looked around yet.

Grace: Then you didn’t notice that I’ve been poking your arm when you woke up?

Sunz turns to the side the book flew from and sees that Grace is standing in the crevice and poking his arm.

Sunz: Were you sitting in that crevice and reading your book?

No Name: I’m going to kill you both.

Sunz turns to the other side and sees No Name sitting in one of the chairs with a book in her hand and another book on the table beside her.

Sunz: Or were you two passing books across the room?

No Name: I’ll pass you out if you don’t stop sidetracking.

Grace: I think she is not kidding.

Sunz: Agree.

No Name: So, 'Butterfly', what's wrong with your wings? Did metamorphosis give you amnesia?

Sunz: Yes, it did. My arms are temporarily unusable.

No Name: You sure? Maybe your brain just needs to be rewired. The book I’m holding can help…

Grace: As much as I would love to see that. Please don’t hurt my books.

No Name: I thought you would care more about him?

Grace: Umm, well, we have someone that can heal him but no one to fix my book. Moving on.

(What next…?)

Jihu: FUCK!!!

Sunz, Grace, and No Name:!!!

Sunz: That’s wake me up.

No Name: Lost again?

Jihu: Yeah.

Grace: How bad?

Jihu: 13 – 0

Sunz: What the hell did you play to lose that badly?!

Jihu: Go Fish.

Sunz:… You actually did not get one pair.

Jihu: Maybe you haven’t heard, I have been cursed, and our ‘Silent Protagonist’ has been blessed.

*slam his hand on the scoreboard*

“Look at this, me in 4th place all the time, and him in 1st and 3rd. No 2nd. What kind of joke is this!?”

Sunz: Maybe you just have really really bad luck.

Jihu: Want to add another “really” just to hit the spot?

Sunz: Never seen this angry side of you before... The competitive Asian coming out?

Jihu: Nah, I’m not angry, just frustrated. The competitive Asian was last seen four hours ago… So how was the training?

Sunz: Pretty good, got some side effects tho… want to stab me with all that frustration?

Everyone:…

Jihu: Man… I’m frustrated, not psychotic. I’m not gonna stab you unless it's for medical reasons… It’s for medical reasons, isn’t it?

Sunz: It is. As you can see, my arms are paralyzed.

*trying to lift them up*

Jihu: I see, more like clotting that leads to paralysis. Let’s see what I can do. But first, everyone who is not the patient, please get inside the bathroom or out.

“Include the crazy lady that is about to throw her extra book at me.”

No Name: Yeah, I’ll take care of that.

She lowered Grace’s weapon and then dragged her inside the bathroom.

Sunz gets off the bed.

Sunz *whisper*: fear?

Jihu *whisper*: terrified!

Sunz *whisper*: me too.

Jihu: Well then let’s patch you up.

30 minutes later of testing different techniques and weapons.

Jihu: That was my last option… nothing worked.

Sunz: But I have to say, very skilled. No blood coming out.

Jihu: Common stuff. But damn, what did you do in there that led to this?

Sunz: Training, hard training.

Jihu: Then the only option left is to throw you back in there.

Sunz: Now?

Jihu: No. I didn’t heal you, but that doesn't mean I didn’t get other information. Right now, you need to eat. You are running on zero energy. Like you’ve been starved for days.

Sunz: I guess, let’s all go down to the dining area again.

Jihu: With your condition, I don’t think so. You need food that gives you a lot of energy and goes fast through your throat.

Sunz: I think they call that soup. Eat with a straw.

Jihu: Just because that's the only thing you can cook, doesn’t mean it's your only option.

Sunz: I won’t call that cooking, just throw everything in a big pot and boil it.

Jihu: Point still made. At least, my idea will satisfy three people, you, me, and Grace.

Sunz: You haven’t told us the place and what we are having. Plus, the girls are still in the bathroom.

Jihu knocking on the bathroom door: Ladies, you can come out now.

…

No Name: You know stress reading is a thing. She just finished three books in there.

Grace: No need to talk about the one trait I hate most about myself. So what place do you have in mind, Jihu?

Jihu: Can’t tell you the place yet, but it will be sweet and bitter.

Grace covered her mouth with her hand after hearing that.

Sunz: Is she hiding her smile?

No Name: Apparently, she has a big space in her heart for sweets.

Jihu: Can he still fit in there? Grace?

Grace still covering her mouth:… well, if he can make sweet, then he can claim my whole heart.

Jihu: Hear that, buddy?

Sunz: Yeah… I heard. I’ll be practicing baking in the summer.

Jihu: Well then no time to wait. Meeting down there in 10 minutes, go change into your casual clothes.

No Name: You sure it won’t be like the Tower situation?

Jihu: Let’s hope so. Mostly drunk office workers are still active at this hour.

*Picking up Yama and walking out the door*

“I need to wash down the bitterness you gave me with more bitterness. Meeting in 10 minutes.”

Grace and No Name said their goodbyes while walking out the door.

…

Only Sunz is left in the room.

Sunz: Jihu, you fucking bastard.

Fifteen minutes later, Grace came to pick up Sunz to reunite with the group.

Sunz: You look great!

Grace: Thank you… we all forgot.

Sunz: Let’s just go.

Grace: Let’s fix you up a bit.

*She adjusts his clothes, pulls up the ‘Windbreaker’ head, and tucks both of his hands in its pocket.*

“A lot better... now let’s go! I can’t wait to taste those sweets.”

Sunz: As your wish, my Queen.

Grace: More like you are the Queen, because I’ll be feeding you.

Sunz: What?

Grace: Don’t be shy!