Tear A Path 157 The First/Last Lesson

As Zhao Wei's carriage moved through the kingdom, he could almost remember how the streets looked exactly where he stood right now before the Jormugandr came. A little ways back would be the house where he met Solith's family and shared many a happy moment with them. Somewhere in to the left was where he woke up from his fall to be taken care of Kitsi. And on the edge, an empty patch where he once met Guru.

Speaking of which, the man himself was right in the center right now, leaning on his cane as if in deep thought, mirror image of his demeanor on that faithful day. "Quite early to be so vigorous young one..." Guru spoke.

Zhao Wei leapt off his carriage and stretched. "Well I find it's the most refres.h.i.+ng way to start the day.." He replied, "What about you?"

Guru couldn't help but chuckle, "Well I find the morning air refres.h.i.+ng to these old bones."

The old man sat down, holding his walking stick straight under his chin and seemed to be sleeping while Zhao Wei watched him intently. A smile forming on his face.

He felt something aim at his left leg. Moving it, he felt something breeze just in front of it, an inch forward from where he stepped.

The concentration he required was like nothing he'd ever experienced even from beasts.

Next something aimed for his right leg, and it landed right on the spot it was supposed to be on, something else breezed just in front of it, ready to hit if he inched forward.

Another aimed for his left, but like the two previous times, he stepped away perfectly.

"Craz..." He flipped back wards as this time something was coming for his head. Rolling back into position before standing perfectly still.

His legs began to move side to side in a wave like motion. His body moved forward, swiveling through a flurry of attacks that demanded perfection from every direction unless he wanted to feel the pain.

Once he was stopped, he was standing right in front of Guru Pitka, "Thank you for your guidance" Zhao Wei bowed.

Guru looked at his carriage and pointed at something he had resting on deck. "Can you use that?"

Zhao Wei didn't even have to to look to know he was pointing at the staff. "Not that well yet..." He hadn't used it at all for any of his recent training.

"Well I guess the schedule for our last cla.s.s is in order then..." Guru smiled.

Back in the field Guru simply wielded his own cane and swung it up and down a few times. Zhao Wei of course became confused thinking it was a prank Guru had prepared for him. Guru understood his student very quickly, smacking him on top of his head.

"Where do you think the staff stands in the ranks of weapons?" Guru asked.

"Well... I'm not too sure... 7th" Zhao Wei answered before receiving another knock on the head. He really had no answer, so far he'd been using his half as a club and half as an obstruction for the fangs and claws of monsters.

"The staff may not be the strongest weapon but at the same time it's the purest of them all, only limited to the person's thinking." As he said s he began to move his own cane around.

"With a slash it becomes a sword, a swing an axe, with a jab a spear, a flick a whip, there is no form that is limited by it's body." As he said so he struck his own cane out at Zhao Wei in all these forms before finally using it to coil around his own staff and pulling it away with the tip of his cane as if he were doing it with his own hands.

"But!" Gur exclaimed, "it all begins with your first step." Guru repeated the very maneuver he showed Zhao Wei at the start. A simple up and down motion, but this time, he saw the unwavering strength that made a perfect line from up to down, stopping just as the staff was level to his hip, he released a deep breath each time the staff finished a moment. There was an elegance and yet a practicality to this move.

As he saw that Zhao Wei focused, Guru began to do all the maneuvers with the staff he showed Zhao Wei earlier but after each maneuver finished the staff would end up in the same place, level to his hip and not a single difference in position from the swing before or the swing after after. If Zhao Wei's eyes couldn't keep up, all he would see was probably a blur around Guru while he maintained the same stance, returning to it no matter what.