A New Turn [3]

Inside the same kind of dojo-looking classroom like the one we had been in during Ms. Lee's lecture, the unarmed course had finally begun. 

"Good morning! This will be your first introduction to the unarmed combat course led by me, Phoebe Sterling! Pleased to meet you!"

Inspecting the tall woman whose long, dark-red hair was flowing down her back in a ponytail and seeing her somewhat moderate womanly curves hiding beneath her gi, I had a hard time not feeling a bit awkward about this whole thing. 

Because even though I was literally the only student here, her eyes were burning with passion. 

"So! What do you want to learn, Mr...?"

"Flowers. Ray Flowers."

"Then I'll call you Ray! So, Ray, what do you want to learn during the course?"

"Umm... aren't we supposed to follow some kind of curriculum?"

"Don't have one!"

Putting her arms to her side, my teacher looked oddly proud as she answered what I thought was a very logical question, putting me in an even more awkward spot. Then again, it wasn't like it was a bad thing, it was just a bit unexpected. The thing was, though, that it also forced me to truly think about what I wanted to learn during this course.

It was incredibly likely that I would learn more general knowledge about melee combat in QCQ, and as I had picked both physical skills development as well as magical skills development, there was probably no need to practice skills with Ms. Sterling. Which meant...

"I would like to learn how to fight against different kinds of weapons, if possible."

Raising a brow, my teacher didn't look displeased with my answer. However...

"It's a good idea, but unfortunately that won't be possible."

"I see... May I ask why?"

"Well... the truth is... I can't really use any weapons. Hehe!"

Wearing an innocent smile, my teacher somehow didn't look as competent as I would have liked her to. In fact, I was currently having a very hard time seeing her as a professional at all after my first impression of her.

"But don't worry about that. I'm assuming that you are under Instructor Folm's guidance in the QCQ, right? Then you will have plenty of chances to spar against other students who use all kinds of weapons!"

"Okay? So... what can you teach me?"

*BOM!*

All of a sudden, a shockwave was produced as my teacher threw a punch in the air and her jolly eyes suddenly turned extremely dangerous. 

"I can teach you how to kill them all."

-------

"It fits you."

"Thanks..."

It felt very unnatural to be wearing a gi, but as my teacher had more or less forced me to change into it, I could do nothing but bite my tongue. 

*Clap!*

Just as cheerful as ever, Ms. Sterling clapped her hands together.

"Then, let's begin by reviewing some of the basics! Please take a stance."

"Alright."

Putting my left foot and left hand forward while lifting my heels slightly, I took the most comfortable and efficient stance that I knew.

Yet, as I did, my teacher's brows creased a bit as she began to closely inspect my stance.

"Hmm..."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No... not necessarily. But... do you not use any kicks while fighting?"

"I don't. But how could you tell?"

"Because of how you are distributing your weight. Your knees are bending a bit too much for you to comfortably execute kicks. But it also doesn't seem like you use a lot of grappling, or am I wrong?"

"No, you're correct."

"So a punching specialist... a bit unusual but I don't dislike it."

All of my suspicions about my instructor being incompetent were blown away as she was able to instantly judge what kind of fighter I was just from my stance, showing that even if she was a bit odd, she had a lot of experience.

Putting some distance between us, she looked at me with a smile before surprising me yet again.

"I think I got it. Then, please go ahead and attack me."

"Huh?"

"I said, go ahead and attack me. Don't worry, I won't retaliate at all, I will only defend."

Being afraid of getting hurt wasn't the reason why I was hesitating, I was hesitating because she was so casual about it. There was no sense of tension at all but in the end, I just had to follow her orders. 

"Okay... then, here I go."

As we weren't all too far apart, it was enough to simply do a single step in, which brought her into my range. 

'Let's start by feeling the water...'

I threw a jab while making sure to not commit too much. However...

"Too slow!"

*Pa!*

A slapping sound could be heard as my jab was moved to the side, completely missing my target.

It was weird. I could clearly see her move, how her right hand was lifted and softly swatted away my fist, but I had no way of countering it as I wasn't able to stop my fist in the middle of the jab. 

"That's no good, Ray! If this had been a fight, you would have lost your left arm right there!"

Even though she was still smiling, her words still sent shivers down my spine as I imagined what that would look like. 

"Do it again but make it sharper! Don't think about technique for now, just make sure to punch as fast as you can."

"Yes!"

Somehow, I was now completely fired up, as a strange sense of childish frustration welled up inside of me. Therefore, I launched a barrage of jabs as fast as I possibly could, wanting nothing more but to prove that my punches weren't that slow.

*Pa! Pa! Pa!*

"Faster! There's no way anyone will get hit by such slow punches!"

*Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!*

"Still too slow!"

Unfortunately, even if I set my mind to it, nothing changed as Ms. Sterling kept swatting away my punches, still wearing a bright smile. And after what felt like an eternity, my left arm was too heavy to continue.

"Huff...huff...

'Damn it...'

"Don't look so down, Ray! Your technique is really great! A bit strange, but it seems like you are good at throwing efficient punches!"

"..."

The smiling lady's encouragement only led me to feel even worse. Luckily, she also had some pretty harsh critiques to give me as well. 

"But your body is too weak! I'm assuming that you are getting condition training from Mr. Folm, but I know from experience that he likes to focus on stamina more than anything. You, on the other hand, need to increase both your strength and agility if you want your punches to become more efficient!"

As frustrating as it was, she wasn't wrong. I was already well aware that the specs of my body weren't sufficient and that the only reason I was getting by was thanks to my Temporal Synapses. 

"So... please wait here for a bit."

Disappearing into another room, the same storage room where I had changed into a gi, and after a few moments, she came back while holding something strange in her hands. 

"Put these on. From now on I want you to wear these whenever you train."

Ms. Sterling showed me four white, circular objects that were very reminiscent of ankle and wrist weights that I had seen on Earth, only much more modern looking. 

"Go ahead, put them on!"

"Gh!"

As she put the weights in my hand, I was forced to use my whole lower body to catch them as they weighed a lot more than I had expected. In fact, they weighed so much that I had a lot of trouble imagining that training would even be possible with them on. 

In the end, I had to sit myself down to make sure I didn't drop them, as I couldn't hold all four in my hands. They were simply too heavy.

"Um... how much do these weigh?"

"The ankle weights are about 25kg, and the wrist weights are 15kg."

"I see..."

"Now, put them on! We don't have all day!"

Tapping her feet similar to a rabbit, I understood that even if I complained, it wouldn't matter. My teacher had already made up her mind about this and I had no choice but to trust her judgment. 

Putting them on one at a time, feeling the pressure of the weights pulling me down, I had to use the strength of ten men to even rise to my feet again. 

"Good! So, how does it feel?"

"It feels... really heavy..."

"You'll get used to it! Now, let's continue the session! Oh, by the way, in case you do, please don't do weightlifting in the gym from now on. That will only inhibit your development. If you do feel like you want to train in your free time, just go running and do some calisthenics with these weights on."

I couldn't quite understand why weightlifting would be bad, but I had already committed to trusting her as she appeared to know what she was doing. There was one question I had to ask, however...

"Okay. But... do I have to wear this during the QCQ as well?"

The bright smile on her face didn't quite look as jolly and inviting anymore as she answered me, now becoming something much more sinister and evil. 

"Of course! Anyway, let's continue! Let's start with 100 punches!"