Morning Training

Loud sounds blared at my ears, my eye lids heavier than lead. My mind was still muddled and I could feel mud on my face and body.

Confusion hit me like a truck, and I quickly stood up. I heightened my senses as a feeling deep within my body warned me.

Quickly I shifted my upper body, I couldn't see with the mud still in my face but I could feel wind blow by my chest.

I immediately retaliated, my fist reach out expecting to smash onto the attacker's chest.

I missed.

Without a break in momentum, a leg came and aimed to kick my feet throwing me off balance.

Yet again, a feeling within my body warned me beforehand. I shifted my weight onto that leg and flexed the muscles.

It nullified the kick, but I wasn't hopeful that whoever attacked me injured their leg kicking at me.

My mind was clearing up and my thoughts flew quickly while my body seemingly moved by itself.

The other person was most likely either an instructor or another trainee, meaning their bodies were on the level of his.

I didn't give up the chance to lose my opponent and in the quickest motion I could muster after the kick landed. I tilted my feet up and hooked my opponent's ankles.

I then lifted my legs up high as fast as I could, throwing my opponent of his stance. When I felt his leg fall off, I quickly jumped back and hurried to clear the mud from my eyes.

The scene in front of me was somewhat what I had expected. A fellow trainee was on the ground, hurrying to get up.

A circle of orcs stood around us, at first they were quiet but when they saw that I had the mud cleaned off they immediately started cheering.

No one came in to stop the fight as my opponent got up and charged at me.

His fist was reared back ready to punch me when he got close, but I didn't let him. With practiced motion, I turned and my leg flew out to meet his head.

The exercise from the book was still in my head, and the various muscles I used could still be felt. I understood what and how to achieve as much power as I could.

The trainee's upper body recoiled backwards as his lower body continued with his momentum, making him look like he had slipped.

I didn't give him a chance to get up. I moved up and stomped on his chest without using my weight.

His back which was rising slightly was slammed back down by my stomp knocking the wind out of him.

I looked around the circle in defiance. Someone was going to explain this.

The cheers became deafening as they saw my victorious figure, one of the orcs broke the circle and announced.

"The victor is the new comer!"

"YEAAAAAAH!"

The orc was still holding my forearm as he spoke this, raising it above my head. My face was slightly ugly now, but it was hard to tell with the kind of face orcs were cursed with.

"What the hell is going on?!" I said with some rage in my voice.

"Hahahah, brother no need to be so angry. This is a tradition! The new comers will fight each other! He was the newest of our camp before you came and now you are the newest."

I looked around and day light had not yet arrived. The light was produced by a the few orcs who carried a light crystal to shine onto the ring.

"Come now, let's get going. It's almost daybreak, wouldn't want to be late on your first day eh?"

"Surely there's time to clean up..." I sighed, it seemed that despite being reborn as an orc I still hated being dirty.

"There is some time but not enough. It doesn't matter regardless, I'm sure your sweat will clean off the mud in no time."

"What...?"

"Hahaha, come on now!" The orc didn't let me reply and walked off with the rest of the crowd.

I sighed and did my best to wipe off the mud still on my body with my hands while following the crowd.

When we reached a field with patches of grass and mud, five orcs of roughly 2.5 meters height stood there each with a different weapon.

I ignored them for a moment as I looked to the sky. The stars were still visible but from the distant horizon, orange hue peeked from the boundary.

The picturesque sky calmed my mind and I returned my gaze to the field.

The five orcs wore the usual berserker garments with their half naked upper body. Tattoos of different patterns adorned their bodies, behind them the orcs from the crowd had formed a group their own tattoos seemingly growing to be the same.

The orcs each held a great sword, a spear, twin axes, gloves and finally a shaman's staff.

The orc that congratulated me earlier came from behind the shaman's crowd and spoke to me.

"Brother, you need to choose one of the orcs to join. The weapon they hold is roughly the weapon archetype they teach. The spear master also teaches the staff. If you have any interest in magic join me at the group behind the one with the staff."

The orc than quickly returned to his group. The five orcs stood at the head of their group, each one still looking at me as I thought over what weapon I wanted to use.

'I have great sword mastery so I'm already leaning towards that... but they do call the spear a weapon of war for a reason. The shaman's staff user probably teaches magic that is specifically helpful to a berserker. Twin weapons and unarmed is a no.'

I quickly thought over my choices as their gazes burned into me. I recalled the excerpt from the Apex orc, he swung his blade and all before it was cleaved. Surely it was a great sword?

'Great swords do use the most muscle and the most destructive... yes let's go with the great sword.'

I moved to the group behind the great sword wielding orc silently.

As I passed by, from the corner of my eyes I could see the various reactions the five orcs had, mostly of disappointment.

The five groups separated to their own spots on the wide field, and when they reached their spot the leading orc then said, "Go and do your warm up, I will talk to the new guy. Come."

I followed the leading orc to a corner of the field as the others went to a pile of great swords that were stabbed onto the ground.

"Here is how your morning is going to go from now on. Come to this field at day break and join a group.

If you join my group, I expect you to join your brothers in warm up. Swing the great sword you pick from the pile a thousand times. If you do not meet a standard I set during that thousand swings you will redo them until I am satisfied or until lunch time.

After that you will spar with your brothers. There will be no killing, I will be overlooking the spars. I will not excuse any accidental swings. I expect you to be in full control of your blade.

The spars will stop an hour before lunch, where I will then advise the group on how they can improve and the weaknesses that I spot.

This will be how your mornings will go from now until you leave this camp."

'A thousand swings...?!' It was all my mind could repeat as I listened to his explanation.

"Go on and join your brothers in warm up."

I nodded and walked to the great swords left over on the ground. From what I could see, their handles were all worn and their blades blunt and chipped.

The great swords didn't differ too much from each other so I simply moved to grab the largest one. It took some effort but I was able to pull it off the ground.

The great sword I chose was a simple one, the blade was wide and long almost two meters and had a simple handle at the end, the handle was a little long as it had room for my two hands and more.

I held the great sword on my shoulder and moved to the back of the group. Shifting into a common stance, I started to swing the heavy great sword.

At first even I could tell that my swings and forms looked horrible. I didn't let up and continued to swing as I quickly got tired, the great sword was extremely heavy.

Surprisingly however, my form and swings got better the more I was tired. My body seemingly taken over the swinging.

My mind at some point detached from my tired body, it thought without exhaustion and yet it seemingly had no control over my body.

It moved and swung as it pleased, the giant blade singing in the air as it was swung.

Eventually I stopped trying to control it and let my body swing the giant sword. My mind became secondary as I sunk myself into the sensation of my body, of my muscles flexing and stretching as the blade danced.

After a thousand swings I stopped myself and looked around. There were still a few orcs who were still swinging their blades but many had broken off to do their sparring.

I turned to look at the instructor if there was anything and without turning to me pointed towards the sparring group.

I walked over as I inspected my status.

<>

Name : Tima

Level : 5 [0/32]

Race : Orc Berserker

Class : Berserker

Skills : War Cry, Berserk

Abilities : Madness Resistance, Growth Up+ , Bravery Up, Pain Resistance, Fatigue Resistance, Great Sword Mastery III, Instinct II, Regeneration I, Tough Skin I,

'What the hell?!'

My abilities were pretty insane for a level 5 by human standards. I wasn't sure about orcs but this was definitely above what I had back when I was level 30.

'It must be the Growth Up+ ability... still this is amazing! Instinct II probably from letting my body do as it pleased as well as the reason why I was able to defend against that orc before when blinded...'

A smile on my face as I reached the group and dismissed my status, my confidence growing.

The sparring was simple and no orc could turn down a challenge if they were less than 50 levels apart. I didn't know this.

Maybe due to me looking a little lost, the orc I fought earlier came up to me and introduced himself.

"Hey new guy! I'm from this morning, Taku. Want to spar?"

"Gladly, I'm Tima."

We moved to a free spot and got ready. I took the stance reminiscent of the dragon art I imitated while Taku had a relaxed stance, his great sword still on his shoulder.

"Ready?"

"When you are."

"Heh. Good."

Taku gave me a smirk and my body tensed. My body screamed, a mix of fear and excitement rushed my mind.

My mind still held onto my body, and I commanded it to attack. Surely someone who lost to me while I was blind wasn't that strong?

As my body moved forward and my blade rushed forward, Taku swung his great sword with seemingly no effort. The swords clashed and I was pushed back a distance.

My mind was blank from the impact, thinking over how this happened. My body was different.

It was almost as if it had a mind of it's own and rushed towards Taku with surprising dexterity. I could only watch as my body jumped and swung the great sword as he descended.

I could see Taku's smile as he moved a little, bracing himself and then swinging his great sword forward meeting mine.

I was sent flying again, this time my body turned in the air and landed in a crouching manner. Immediately upon so my body launched forward yet again, my sword and Taku's met and I was sent back again.

At this point my mind had recovered, I discovered a pull on my mind and body. I recognized it.

My mind was dragging my body back, it was like I had an ankle weight attached.

'...our bodies move purely on instinct.'

I recalled the phrase as I felt the burden. I didn't know how to truly surrender to my instinct, it was slow and awkward but by the fourth exchange the pull was negligible.

I felt one with my body yet separate. My mind was not afforded time to have long thoughts and I could only think up short precise thoughts.

'Right. Left. Turn.'

My body moved faster and faster, my mind struggled and barely managed to keep up.

The distance I was sent flying quickly decreased and Taku quickly adapted and fought properly.

Eventually I was able to fight toe to toe, but not in strength.

Taku still overwhelmed me in brute strength and so I did not allow our duel to compete in the manner anymore.

My mind and body were synchronized to a degree and the swings of my blade changed.

'Fake. Fake. Real. Fake. Real. Real. Real. Fake.'

I still couldn't think long thoughts, and short words were communicated to the body. The body understood regardless and feints started to appear in the exchange.

Taku was still able to keep up with pure force, something I envied with all my heart. Even with falling for feints he was still able to defend against the real strikes due to my slow speed.

Using a great sword for such swordplay was absolutely stupid.

I wasn't able to find a solution as my body was too tired. My mind and body then separated again, and I lost the exchange.

"Hahaha. Good brother! See you later!"

"....wait. Wait. What level are you?" I managed to squeak out between pants, my body was exhausted.

"Hehe Taku is level 100!" Taku then flexed his biceps and left.

"Shit."