523 DXXIII. The Blind Tes

"If we fought in the snow, their footprints would be visible and we could pinpoint their location!" Kane intervened, with his usual first-class spirit.

"Excellent observation! Still... what else could you do in that situation?" Atran continued, turning his head and placing his ear towards the recruits, to hear every word.

"We could throw mud or any other sticky, clearly visible material around us... if an enemy warrior was in our vicinity, we would be able to locate him immediately and he would be disadvantaged!" another of the group leaders said, thinking carefully about the question.

"All right, yes! It could work!" Atran answered, satisfied with the interventions of his new students.

Even Dag marveled at that unusual 'lesson', which was almost more interactive than his own, attracting more attention from recruits because of the important topic, to which they were particularly sensitive, fearing those enemies more than others.

"What if you fought them on snow-free rocky ground and when threw mud into the air, wouldn't hit anything? How could you do then?" the blonde bearded general asked again, trying to put them in trouble with a tricky question.

The recruits looked at each other, without finding a common answer, and silence fell in the arena.

"The answer is always the same... hearing! You will have to take advantage of your hearing and try to anticipate the moves of your opponents. That's why we're going to train wearing these" Kron exclaimed, raising his hand and showing everyone a bandage of black fabric.

"Blindfolded, you will learn to rely on your other senses and this will make you much more efficient during battles, not only against the Lies Of Loki but against every other enemy you'll face in your life. All clear?!" Atran continued.

"Yes, sir!" the warriors exclaimed in unison, ready to begin the practical phase of training.

"So let's start! Form pairs in which one will wear the blindfold and the other will not. Don't take any weapons, you won't need them in the trial phase" Kron replied, beginning to hand out bandages similar to the one he had in the hands to the soldiers, intrigued by the unusual training they were about to undergo.

Dag turned to Freydis and winked at her, implicitly advising her to take a bandage from Kron's hands and wear it to train against him.

She reciprocated with a smile and took one, clutching it around her eyes and tying it behind her head.

Meanwhile, Dag looked at Kron and Atran.

"Fuck, I can't see anything for real! Hahaha!" the girl chuckled, making sure the bandage was well fastened and placing her hands forward as if she already wanted to defend herself from an incoming attack.

While Clan soldiers practiced dodging blows with their bare hands, being positioned in front of each other, Freydis and Dag continued their personalized training on the sidelines.

The young Master began to walk around her and the girl, slightly late, followed his movements with her head and then with her body, gradually turning clockwise.

"Good... listen to my footsteps... feel the air moving as my body passes... I'm very close to you, so you're facilitated, but we'll start like this and then gradually increase the difficulty" Dag said, suddenly changing direction without making sudden noises.

Freydis nodded but continued to turn in the same direction until Dag touched her back of the head from behind.

"What? How did you do that?! I was sure you were ahead of me!" she exclaimed, slightly lifting her blindfold and discovering only one eye.

"Yes, because that's what I wanted you to believe... I just had to distract you with the sound of my voice so as not to allow you to listen to my sudden change of direction ... if I was armed, you'd already be dead" he said, gesticulating with his hand and telling his girlfriend to lower back her blindfold and continue training.

"Let's do it again! This time I will amaze you!" she replied, determinedly.

Dag, Freydis's and recruits training lasted several hours, during which the warriors were asked to undergo gradually more difficult tests: they began by increasing the distance between the members of the couples and then changing companions, so as not to standardize the sound of footsteps, different from person to person.

As soon as they finished the first phase with their bare hands, they repeated everything with wooden weapons, dodging simple blows such as slow lunges and frontal swings.

When the first day of training came to an end, the warriors took off their bandages and noticed that compared to the previous days, they had finished earlier than expected, but had accumulated more fatigue, due to the battle without sight, which required considerable energy.

Although Wrage and Gunnar were quite upset to send all the recruits home, the two generals ordered the young soldiers to exit the arena, with the promise of meeting them for the second lesson the next morning. 

Dag and Freydis walked out of that place, noting that Kranus had remained in the same position all the training long, keeping attention to the details.

"I think it's time to let the Outposts warriors in, Kranus. We must hurry, when Thyrius' men will arrive, we must already be ready to go" Dag said, who every time he thought of the impending war, talked about it rushing, looking forward to completing his revenge.