7.4

The master raised his fist in the air and left his thumb up.

"You passed this test, my disciple. We can move on to the next level. Don't take this the wrong way, but I really want to knock you unconscious, only then I can rest easy and know that I really did my best as your master. See that tree?" As soon as Rey nodded, Heroclades continued." We will fight until you fall unconscious or touch the trunk. It is not superfluous to tell you that by touching the trunk you will pass my training.

The master put up his fighting stance and waited for Rey to do the same.

Rey with a gesture of his gaze gave the little fellow to understand that he could leave, and then reevaluated the situation before his master. "The grass around his feet is acting weird. It's not like it's moving in the wind like the other one is either." On the ground around Heroclades, nothing was moving. "He's waiting for me to make my move. Considering Hero is at least 'God' rank, the barrier around him is indestructible. He plans to fight with his strongest moves, yet he's also giving me an immense advantage by giving me a chance to win the test just by touching the tree... Hmmm! I remember he said that as long as there is someone inside his perimeter, or he moves from place to place, he can't use the barrier. The best thing to do is to pretend I don't know anything and attack to buy time....".

Rey crouched down, opened his hands as if they were claws and jumped as hard as he could against his master to hit the barrier that his master had created and protected him.

Heroclades, bringing his hand to his face, expressed:

"I was always left in doubt as to whether you would go after me first or the tree. Now it is clear to me that you will try to distract or incapacitate me before going to where your exit is," he said as he looked into the eyes of his disciple, who was stopped by the barrier.

Making an expression of someone who was noticing, he decided to take advantage of the moment to make an educational point.

"Your movements make it clear that you adopted the style with which the beasts fight, just as you had adopted the murderous intentions of them. You move as if you have claws, though you do not have them nor do you know how to transform them at all. But that's not the problem, the problem is that your body is badly programmed. It's not a good idea that every time you are attacked you defend yourself, or attack every time your enemy defends himself...."

Rey as soon as he returned to the ground, he threw another claw with which he shattered his nails, but since he could already control his perception of pain, he pretended nothing had happened. "He's a sorcerer, so the only way to defeat him is to force him to use his weak point. If I can move him from place, he will no longer be able to use his barrier, he will have to block my blows even if he doesn't know that I have knowledge in martial arts. That is my chance. With just one second to make him move I will have enough time to beat him and touch the tree."

Heroclades, seeing how concentrated his disciple was, continued speaking:

"In the night you repeated those moves countless times, didn't you?" Rey looked at him and continued attacking. "Let me tell you that you cannot afford to let any enemy have control over your moves. The opponents around you can act a certain way and the question is how are you going to respond?"

The master dropped the barrier. Rey stopped dead in his tracks and with speed ran sideways with the intention of approaching the tree, while still facing the tanned-skinned subject. Heroclades, meanwhile, opened the book to a specific page and added:

"See, now that I'm going to attack, you think about defending yourself. It's not good for you to be programmed because you become predictable. Sometimes the best defense is offense and the best offense is defense. We can agree that what they do is problematic and inconvenient, but in the future make sure you don't get the reaction your enemy wants from you. If you let yourself be controlled by emotions, they will basically have you on their hands...."

From the book rose a whole symbol composed of figures, letters and strokes.

"It's easy to talk when you have the power, isn't it," Rey thought as he stepped back and watched his master pretend to attack with a spell. "I didn't think it so complicated when I read it in a book, but predicting a wizard's movements is even harder than I expected. If I could describe it, it's like walking in the darkness of the Ever-Changing Forest without being able to see. It takes time to get used to knowing where you're going." The incantation circle lifted, the wind changed direction, the green grass stirred. "I must get out of my thoughts. I can't let them distract me in the middle of a fight. I already have the plan, I just lack the opportunity... My body aches, my eyes blur, still, I feel better than usual. Will is power...". With determination, Rey focused his gaze as much as he could until he saw the exact patterns and symbols rising in the air. "Good spellcasters always have to use the fairest and most necessary clamor they consider in the situation to avoid dying if they don't meet the conditions. The spell cast in the air has solid properties and will be fired... it can be a 'Stone Bullet', it is enough to pierce my body from side to side. Perfect, I will walk in the dark...". Already with this in mind, the little guy took a distance while zigzagging and beating his arms.

At his disciple's new behavior, Heroclades tilted his head suspiciously. He was no longer so sure of the effectiveness of his attack. Since it was solid, his disciple could use it to his advantage and go flying against the tree that represented the culmination of the training. Formulating a second spell with which he would attack from above, the master closed the book and ran away with a smile on his face.

Rey did not have to evade the boulders, but he was forced forward by the impact of a powerful lightning bolt behind him. "Hmmm, you're adapting, Hero. It's time for you to start being wary. As a sorcerer, I know you are quite cautious, you make sure to use the most basic and necessary to be able to defeat the opponent. You're going to increase the difficulty of the training with a more complicated clamor. Ahhh, but if I tell myself that this could be much more difficult, I won't change what's going on. If I tell myself that I can, maybe I can make a difference. I have to give it my all, even if I'm at a disadvantage. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity. It's not a problem, it's a challenge... running in the dark."

Heroclades, with his open fist, tried to grab his disciple by one of his limbs, but could not. Then he tried several more times. Each attempt was more aggressive and violent.

"I almost can't believe it, with what can you predict the element with which you are going to be attacked?"

The little boy flashed a proud smile.

"One of the pieces of advice I was going to give you was to be careful with first impressions. But I don't consider that it applies to you. Your movements look more refined and solid, you control your killer instincts to perfection and you have an unwavering fighting spirit... Something tells me you haven't given your best yet!" he shouted with a grin on his face.

Heroclades planted a solid step forward and from within his garments took a few papers, which he tossed sideways. From among the drawn sheets that exploded into a thousand pieces, five black wolves appeared and attacked the little one. As they did not differ much in size and the little one already knew how to deal with the beasts, Rey did not have much trouble incapacitating the five animals while, at the same time, escaping from his master.

Heroclades, not holding back his desire to corrupt:

"Hmm, while everyone slept, you made productive decisions. You learned to accept yourself. You sought and achieved. You understood stress. You created good habits. You followed an ambition that had meaning. But don't you think that ambition is what makes you miserable?"

Rey had no time to answer, he could only think and escape from his master without taking his eyes off him. Knowledge was his ambition, he was already aware that he might not be the smartest in the herd, but he could become the most dedicated.

Heroclades, after analyzing his disciple's expressions, took away an answer and continued:

"Rey. You are wrong. Hard work is not everything, neither is talent. And if I am right, if you change your way of seeing the world, tell me... What's left?"

"Power" he answered with wide eyes, moving from side to side without even blinking.

Heroclades flashed a Machiavellian smile:

"Indeed. If there is absolute strength, unmatched speed or unlimited knowledge, there is no room left for technique. Techniques were created in order to compensate for weaknesses. Now, what's the point of having so much power, so much strength, speed or knowledge if you can't control it and don't know how to use it. The lack of control of what you already have becomes a weakness in itself. Let's take an example: among thousands of arts, there is the art of "fighting spirit", a method to compensate for our weaknesses. Our bodies are vulnerable, we are prone to give up in the face of difficulties, our mind prefers to be in the most comfortable place. But if we convert will into energy, we surpass the limits of the body and deceive our mind. We can harness the magical power that resides within us and explosively increase the physical limits."

"Another example is bodily reinforcement: despite having smashed your fingers, you still attack with the same power. If you manage to envelop every part of your body with the magical power that willpower creates, they will harden like steel and ignore the pain! Regardless of whether he bathed in the fountain of Arkadia, the invulnerability of your father's body is that it can be hardened with this method... You can learn from the other arts, but they are almost infinite and tell me: can you really be good at one thing if you learn a little bit of everything and never perfect anything? Don't misunderstand me and don't think that you should focus all your efforts on perfecting something in particular to increase your level in combat. The first thing you must do is to have control of your power, of everything you can do and what you can't do. The way to be the best warrior is to be adaptable, never depend on your best power and always learn from your enemy without underestimating. Listen to my words, solving a complicated situation with simple methods is much more ingenious than solving it using complicated methods, like now."