"Um, well enough about that. I need to explain that first challenge of mine, right?" said the man, as he knew that he was a little behind schedule.
He had talked a little too much which was most of the time quite a problem with him which was why he needed to get right to the point and not talk about meaningless things.
"Yes, that's actually what we are waiting for," replied Aiden, as he wanted what sort of challenge they would have to do, or rather that he would have to do, to learn Melinda's technique.
"I like your enthusiasm, but you'll probably lose it soon which is why I didn't reveal it yet," said the old man, acting as if this was all part of his plan when it really wasn't.
"Alright, that's the last time I'll say it, but enough. I need to talk to the two of you about the challenge that you'll have to go through."
"To put it in perspective, the first challenge will be easiest and it will start to grow in terms of difficulty, so don't get too excited if you succeed in my challenge quickly alright."
"Now, what you will have to do, to reach the second challenge is quite simple. You saw the position in which I was earlier, right?" asked the old man with a smile.
Aiden had obviously seen him as did Isolde, so they knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Yes, what about that position?" asked Aiden.
'Wait, don't tell me that this is something that resembles what I did back in my third trial,' thought Aiden, as he was already thinking that it was a meditation technique that would help for whatever.
"Oh, I just wanted to know if you had spotted me earlier, the position isn't related to the challenge, ahaha."
Hearing that, both Aiden and Isolde started getting extremely annoyed by his behaviour as he never wanted to reveal anything relevant.
"Just tell us, alright, we only have 30 days, right?" said Aiden, this time, without hiding the anger that he was feeling in his tone.
He made sure that this old man knew how annoyed he was feeling right now so that he would play around and actually become serious.
This wasn't a time to be playing around, this was training and they only had thirty days to reach Melinda's technique and Aiden wanted to use all of it to the best of his abilities.
"Alright, alright, just a bad habit of mine, sorry about that."
"The first challenge is simple, you see those two boulders in front of both of you," said the old man as he was looking at both of their feet as if there was actually something there.
However, when Aiden and Isolde looked down, they noticed that there was absolutely nothing there.
"What are you talking about, there's nothing like a boulder there," exclaimed the two of them.
They were getting tired of this whole thing, this man was constantly making them lose their time when they needed all of it.
"Um, there is though look again," said the man as he snapped his fingers out of nowhere.
Then, as they looked back down again, they noticed that there was a huge boulder that was almost reaching both of their chests.
'When the fuck did that appear?' thought Aiden as he immediately thought of the snapping of fingers.
He realized that something must have happened when he snapped those fingers which was probably related to the appearance of those big boulders.
"Alright, looks like you see them, ahaha," said the old man as he chuckled.
"Now, all you have to do, is cut it in two," said the old man without adding any information.
After hearing that, the two of them were confused as this made no sense.
Why would an Enchantress need to learn about doing such a thing since she practically never used a weapon?
It seemed that Isolde had that exact thought on her mind as she asked, "What do I have to do this exactly?"
"Didn't you notice it in your fight against him, you lost because of how trash you are with actual weapons, so go ahead and pick up that short sword of yours," said the old man.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Melinda told me before organizing this whole thing," added the old man as he didn't like the gazes he was receiving.
"We simply need to cut it in two, right?" asked Aiden, as it seemed to be a really easy task for him, especially since he had done this all of his life.
The only change was that he needed to cut necks and not rocks, but did that even matter?
"Yes, just cut it in two. Oh, but in a single strike, wait let me show you," said the old man as he slowly approached the gigantic boulder opening a little portal on his right which was his inventory.
He pulled out a gigantic sword which was as tall and as wide as Aiden.
'What is this weapon, can he even move it around,' thought Aiden as he couldn't even begin to imagine fighting with such a massive weapon, it simply made no sense in his mind.
"Oh, don't move back," said the old man as he snapped his finger once again which caused a third boulder to appear right in front of him.
As he was preparing himself, he glanced at Aiden and Isolde and muttered, "Look closely and remember all of my movements."
Then, right after saying that he lifted the sword over his head, and waited for a second or two making sure that everything was ready to swing.
After that, he actually slashed downwards.
The boulder which was almost as tall as Aiden and even wider than him was cut in half in a single without any struggle.
The strike had been perfect from start to finish with excellent control, that massive old man didn't even seem to be putting in force when he slashed which was even more impressive.
This strike hadn't been a show of strength at all, contrary to Aiden's expectations but a show of technique.
Aiden honestly didn't think that it was possible to cut a boulder like that in a single strike, however, seeing what that man had just done, all of his doubts disappeared and determination appeared instead.
'Maybe this training won't be as useless as I thought,' said Aiden to himself as he glanced at the boulder that was still in front of him, waiting to be cut.
"Did you see that kids," said the old man, as he slowly put back his massive sword into his inventory.
Aiden and Isolde nodded with shocked faces as the two of them didn't grasp how such a thing had been possible.
It gave motivation to Aiden, to break that boulder no matter what.
It had been a long time since he had felt such pure motivation which wasn't because he wanted more strength like last month.
"Do any one of you have an idea on how I did it?" questioned the old man.
Aiden, hearing that question, didn't respond right away as he was currently thinking about an answer.
However, no matter how much he was thinking about it, he had no idea.
The only clue that he had was that his strike hadn't been related to strength, but technique and mastery of his weapon.
That was the only thing that he knew about this whole thing.
"Cat's got your tongue, huh?" said the old man, as he sat back down in a meditative pose, closing his eyes.
"Wake me up, when you have an idea on how I cut it," said the old man, as he stayed still with a steady breathing.
It seemed that he really had fallen asleep.
"Any ideas?" asked Isolde as she knew that Aiden was a lot more experimented with such weapons.
"Um, no. I don't, let me think," muttered Aiden, as he sat down not even attempting to strike down the boulder.
It seemed that Aiden's strategy was to remember every single about that incredible strike.
He replayed it again and again in his mind with his eyes closed.
The only sound in the training grounds was Isolde who was trying again and again to cut this boulder in two.
*CLING*
*CLING*
*CLING*
However, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't even see a simple dent in that boulder, it seemed that all of her efforts were for nothing.
So, she decided that she would adopt the same strategy as Aiden which was to sit down and think about what that old man had just shown the two of them.
Would that help her?
Probably not since she had almost no knowledge regarding weapons and slashing stuff in general.
But, who knows maybe she would make a breakthrough by doing that.
However, she had to admit that she was currently betting on Aiden to show her how to finish this first challenge which seemed impossible at the moment.
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