Chapter 313 313. CRUMBLED

The days started to go by quickly as Elder Sarah began her training with Noah. In mere days she had spotted the many flaws that rid and hindered his fighting prowess and moved quickly and brutally to cut them down.

Their training began with leg movements and breathing exercises. Although she had forced his body into flexibility it only remained a premise to the real techniques.

Precise leg movements that followed each other to create something smooth, almost akin to dance choreography. During such sessions she had Noah hold his breath, and punishments would be dispensed if she found that he had failed to do as she said.

The training lasted weeks since there were constant additions whenever Noah mastered what she had given him. The result was a smooth dance-like series of movements that allowed Noah to switch between moves halfway.

The dance helped him put his newfound flexibility to use, while the minimum intake of oxygen helped him learn energy conservation. Even if he believed he didn't need it.

Soon after that was power practice. Noah was required to perform those moves while also adding power to them. The idea was easier said than done.

He had to master the moves while also adding power and force to them, This would be easy if not for how intricate the moves were themselves, and the fact that they required different energy outputs.

Noah spent days in the underground training area performing experiments with each move, testing how much power was required to allow him to transition into the next move without breaking his form.

With each successful execution, he was required to increase his speed until he could perform the intricate dance containing exactly 88 different body movements in under thirty seconds.

Bones had broken many times. He would also find himself unable to keep the intake of air low, while Elder Sarah showed that she could perform it all with one soft breath.

The hardest thing to master was eventually his breathing control, and only after a month of practicing did he manage to execute the dance without requiring more than four breaths.

With mastery came more speed and precision. Until Noah felt he could do it without much thought.

His success had brought him great joy, but unfortunately, according to Elder Sarah, he had just begun.

The duo moved on to close combat practice, where Lady Sarah taught him the various basics of hand-to-hand combat. He learned how to read moves to an above-average state of mastery, he learned what it meant to control the pace of a battle and how best to utilize his body in brutal and destructive ways to his opponent.

The training had been slow and long. Many at times Noah pondered giving up due to the sheer amount of things he has been required to learn. Lady Sarah wasn't giving him many breaks. And since she understood that his body could take much of what she threw, she pushed him to his limits.

Noah broke one particular session and threatened to fight her even if he knew full well how such an event would go down. Unfortunately for his anger, Lady Sarah had been calm and shockingly apologetic.

The matter had ended peacefully, and for about a week she had allowed him to take things slowly. Even if a week after his break she returned with full force, this time without a shred of pity in her.

Noah suffered physically and mentally, but he found his body continuing to adapt to her methods. A grim reality for his fury.

Soon he could hold his own in hand-to-hand combat, even if it featured kicks, grapples, head butts, agile evasive maneuvers that even had them running on walls, as it was incredibly fast-paced. All the while such battles ended in his defeat, but he continued to learn nonetheless.

Noah found his attacks beginning to get faster with more power, while he retained a large amount of his stamina during them. Surprisingly elder Sarah could still outdo him in a battle, but this would only be after they had fought for days!

His confidence increased as he acquired more knowledge about the world of martial arts, a world he would soon dominate.

It had taken him two months and a half to get to that level, which felt slow to him, but according to Lady Sarah was incredible. She even called him a profound genius.

They had never started learning the various moves, but at some point, she deemed him ready to begin their mastery.

The more time Noah spent with her the more anxious he got. He had somewhat expected the training to last that long, but the closing danger still managed to weigh on his mind even more. His mates were out there gaining ranks while he had been stuck with her getting trained, but not exactly increasing in power, only technique. Notwithstanding he continued.

The first form; Static surge, had been the easiest to learn, even if it had taken him a whole week of literally non-stop practicing.

It consisted of all the training he had been through and was mostly based on his breathing control since it required him to move his fists at speeds that even managed to cause internal injuries.

He attained an above-average level of mastery only a few days later, and by this point, Lady Sarah's respect could be seen in her shining eyes. After that accomplishment, she permitted him to call her Master or her name. Needless to say, he opted for the former. However, he also occasionally teased her by calling her old. She hated it.

Noah practiced the first form until he could go from zero output to maximum output in mere seconds, and he had to admit how powerful it was. It wasn't the flashiest, but he could imagine how perplexed his opponent would be if he abruptly started sending abnormally quick punches their way. Each preceding one stronger than the last.

He had never trained with weapons since Elder Sarah continued to postpone it, emphasizing that he had to make his body his first weapon. But even without any training, Noah could generate simulation on how a weapon would play with the technique.

He never tried them in front of her and opted to do so only when she had gone for missions.

The results were astonishing, especially with his daggers. He even tried the silver sword that had been given to him but found that its structural integrity couldn't handle the speed of his technique, that it eventually crumbled like dust.

It didn't matter that it was an inscribed weapon, it couldn't withstand the power required by the Roiling thunder technique. Nevertheless, he would find a use for its orange mana stone.