Rein stood up, closed his eyes, and folded his hands. The rays of the setting sun penetrated through the forest canopy, falling on their faces and clothes. Iziro began speaking over the crackling sound of the fire.
“You can think during a battle. For many, this is challenging, but it’s not enough to fight a legion alone. I will teach you control over your emotions, allowing your mind to unlock its potential and enabling you to calculate more and feel better. Breathe deeper and feel the slightest breeze of the spirit in your body. Your task is to feel and understand how the soul is connected to each organ in your body. With the mind and spirit, you will learn to control your emotions. It’s difficult, but it’s possible. It requires a strong mind and an even stronger spirit.”
“I have a strong mind and spirit,” Rein said.
“Your spirit is broken,” Iziro countered, “and it has only just begun its recovery, and your mind is not strong enough.”
“I defeated everyone I fought before, and I’ve fought a lot…” Rein argued.
“Don’t argue with your teacher! Back in my day, you’d get a beating for that. All your previous opponents were children,” Iziro said.
“Then maybe you can fight Magala for me?” Rein suggested.
“Be silent and meditate!”
After that, Rein took a deep breath and got to work. Throughout the evening, Rein tried to identify the movements of his soul in his body but found nothing.
The next day, as they set out on their journey again, Iziro began moving strangely in the middle of the forest, smoothly progressing along the path sometimes facing forward, sometimes sideways, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another.
“Tie up the horse!” Iziro said. “Our path is important, but it makes no sense until you have enough wisdom to continue our journey.”
“Is this some kind of dance?” Rein asked.
“Your body is large and strong, allowing you to fight against the weak and slow, but I will show you how to fight against the strong and fast. What I am doing is the defensive technique of the mountain monks. But to fully grasp it, you need knowledge and wisdom; understanding all the interconnections of this world; you need to achieve unity with it… with everything that surrounds you. This will allow you to temper your body and mind, enabling you to toughen your spirit so that it cannot be broken again,” Iziro explained.
“And will this dance help with that?” Rein asked in surprise.
“It only seems simple, but to apply it in combat, you will need to train your body every day… I thought this would be familiar to you,” Iziro replied. “And to apply it most effectively, you’ll need the next lesson.”
“I’ve trained not only my body but also my mind… You’ve heard my story,” Rein argued.
“Then your mind was trained by your teachers long ago. Remember when was the last time you seriously did it yourself, unlike training your body?” Iziro said, looking at Rein’s muscles.
“Alright… maybe not for a while,” Rein admitted.
“Repeat after me,” Iziro said.
“Hmm… okay.”
“This dance is a set of movements used for attack and evasion in most possible situations, and this dance is not the only one.”
“It looks strange,” Rein said. “I feel even stranger doing it.”
“Don’t you see the resemblance between what I did in battle before and this dance?” Iziro asked.
“It looked different back then!” Rein retorted.
Then Iziro turned to Rein and, dancing, slowly began moving towards him.
“What are you doing?” Rein asked.
“Dodge!” Iziro commanded.
“If these are attacks, they are too slow. I can just step aside,” Rein said.
“Approach and dodge!” Iziro insisted.
“Alright… but it’s too slow, so it’s too easy!” Rein remarked.
“You want it faster? Fine…”
When Iziro sped up, Rein dodged for a short while, or more accurately, until he was sent flying into a tree from a strike to his body.
“Ah… When you sped up, it felt more like how you fought before,” Rein said, rubbing the spot where he was struck. “You hit hard!”
“Do you want to do it too?” Iziro asked. “Train your speed and striking power every day on anything.”
Afterwards, Iziro approached the tree under which a bewildered Rein sat, and he struck it hard and fast with his palm and then with his fist.
“Like this!” Iziro said, offering a hand to help Rein stand.
“Alright… I got it… The dance is good… Train the body every day… But what about the mind?” Rein asked.
“I’ll tell you about that in the next lesson. Usually, it’s done earlier, but I thought this lesson would be closer to your understanding, so I decided to start with it.”
On the long journey, they stopped near water bodies and large boulders, as Iziro instructed Rein to train his spirit and body.
Once, during spirit training, Iziro said, “Meditation is the pinnacle of concentration and also the most powerful manifestation of spiritual strength. You must learn meditation, but it is extremely difficult. Preceding it will be concentration, as it is easier. Still, it requires practice as it is challenging for the unprepared. For now, just practice meditating and focus more on sensing the movements of the spirit in your body.”
Frequently, during the regular breeze, they stopped so that Rein could feel it, concentrating his mind on these gentle gusts. Iziro said that the wind is one of the manifestations of the soul of this world.
During their physical training, in addition to the regular muscle workout, they trained something else. Moving slowly, they practiced dance-like combat movements with and without weapons like sticks. One day, Iziro said:
“While training, it’s not always about hitting faster and harder… When starting to learn something, it’s smarter to move slower so that your body can adapt. Then it’s important to build up strength and speed.”
When they took a break near a river, Iziro, noticing a fish swimming near the riverbank, said:
“Watch that fish and mimic its movements. Fish are one of the many animals that can be in harmony with the world almost from birth.”
“So, wisdom is in their blood?” Rein asked.
“Not entirely,” Iziro replied. “Some might say that to some extent, fish are wise, but for now, it’s important to learn how they move, so mimic them.”
“Just
