Chapter 146 - Shield Bashing

"Hhmmm.." murmured King Michael as he was lost in his own thoughts, trying his best to form a proper training method out of this as he was stroking his Chin, which helped him focus rather well.

Seeing that King Michael is nowhere near this place(With his mind at least), Mogranius and approached and slightly yelled, "Hello..." While waving his hand in front of King Michael's face. Trying to snap him back into reality. 

"Hmphh. Okay, Oh right, sorry." Good, his mind is here too now. And with fresh thoughts and ideas too. Sometimes it is worth it to zone out, but make sure you have someone who would slap you back to reality when they noticed that you sunk down too deep. He turned his attention back to Commander Alia and explained, "While seeing other people who were skilled in Swordsmanship train before, i noticed a key defensive move."

Being confused about which one he means, since there are tens of defensive moves, both with a Sword, with a Shield, combined and some even not fitting the professional training schools, having its own uniqueness. She had no choice but to ask. "Which is?"

"Shield Bashing. It's where a Swordsman or woman(respectfully), who is armed with both a Sword and Shield, uses the Shield to bash an opponent. It often staggered the opponents, forcing them to drop their weapons."

His enthusiasm was infectious and there was a shine in his eyes, comparable to a young lad who discovered something new. But he is the oldest in the game here. He isn't exactly the best with a Sword considering his GrandMastery in the Arcane arts of Fire Controlling giving him barely any reason to learn Swordsmanship up to Level 6. But he did study a lot of non power based fighting styles and arts, which only helped him progress faster and have his spells become more unique and respectfully more powerful compared to what most Fire Controllers can cast.

With him having his longer lifespan as an advantage to learn more and enhance his spells, he can be considered the best(non Electus) Fire Controller to ever exist. If other Ignites lived over 70 years and up to 700 like the Kastarians, King Michael's unspoken title would be stolen easily. He is half Kastarian after all which may restrict his powers or slow them down from progress, but considering his lifespan, it isn't really an issue to worry about.

Calming the rageful storm of thoughts in her mind as soon as King Michael pointed out exactly which defensive form he was talking about, she stretched one sentence."Ohhh." For a bit too long before she expressed. "I know that. Its something that even the Beginners(Level 1) learn to do."

Feeling relief when Commander Alia confirmed that she knows the move, instead of having to find someone else who knows it(likely Woldemir), which would take a bit longer and would slow down his current raging enthusiasm towards this spell. He expressed gratitude to her skills by asking her. "Yes Great! I want you to teach Eric how to do it if you are okay with it as well."

But now, new questions stormed her mind. Considering that she doesn't have Fire Controlling abilities herself, makes it a whole lot more confusing for her. "How will him learning to bash with a Shield help him from his own Fire Shield?" Giving it a little thought, she decided to say. "Arlight i heard myself outloud, let's go!" Shields were mentioned enough in her question to make enough sense. Enough to answer half of her questions.

"Perfect." Answered King Michael as he gestured for everyone to follow him, in aims to reach the training yard.

Commander Alia grabbed a Shield from the training yard in aims to demonstrate it against the training dummy. It isn't really comfortable to demonstrate it against a living being, it doesn't feel nice to be thrown against the ground with an Iron Shield. In general, Shields weren't exactly her fighting style. But she still can put out a great demonstration. Because shields require 2 key skills, strength and agility. And she fairly has both.

But before she was about to show this dummy who is boss, she decided to give this move a brief explanation. "The key on doing the Shield Bash, is to know when to do it. If you do it while an opponent is wielding a Sword against you, you can easily sprain the opponent's wrist, even if you aren't that strong. The opponents own strength can be used against him." Looking at Eric, aiming to ask him a question which might define his overall knowledge in shields or his perception towards them, she proceeded to ask. "Do you know the risk of performing the shield bash while an opponent is swinging at you?"

The thought of bashing a shield against an opponent mid swing, is what got him uncomfortable at the very start of her explanation. So he chose to use that as his answer. "The opponent could cut or stab you?"

Feeling very satisfied of his answer, she proceeded with. "Precisely." with a little joyfull yell following along. Which got Eric a little bit nervous, but also happy. Being praised by her never feels bad, but it still makes him just a small little bit shy if not more. "So you always need to be agile. Or you can be severely cut." She added to assure Eric how important agility really is. Agility can fairly even upbeat strength's importance in Shield Bashing specifically. On other moves, the importance ratio can change.

Although this wasn't what King Michael meant when he wanted for Eric to learn the Shield Bash, with just knowing this move or at least see someone demonstrate it, being enough for the Fire Shield to be more effective, he saw this explanation too deep and specific. But at least Commander Alia knew what she was talking about so it isn't a complete waste of time.

He wanted to interrupt her lesson and ask for her to cut to the case, but she just seemed to Adorable when she described it, her enthusiasm was sky high. Imagine asking someone to talk about something they love and have a passion for. They could go on and on with their explanations without ever finding themselves running out of sentences. So he decided to not say a word about this and just be patient until she cuts to the case.

But to King Michael's luck, he didn't have to wait any longer. Commander Alia was finally ready to put up a small demonstration. "You just need to grab the Shield's handle firmly and bash your shield forwards when you feel ready to attack your opponent with this move." While already pushing her strength against the shield, she let out a couple of louder rageful words "Like this!" as her shield was heading towards the training dummy. 

She got a tight grip against the ground with her left foot in front and her right foot pulled back. This way her stance would be more firm and reliable against attacks plus giving her a little extra burst of strength against the "opponent".

And since she is right handed, she has to keep her Sword on her right hand and the shield on her left one. Which is why she put her left foot forward, to put more power to her left side with her right foot (if it makes sense) her left side can be considered almost half the time weaker since she doesn't use her left arm too much especially considering that she doesn't prefer shields.

When she bashed on the training dummy though, it was broken off of it's firm foundation to the ground and tossed around 15 feet away from its former position, tumbling another 7 feet through the fairly flat muddy frozen walkway nearby.

King michael was amazed of her strength. Simply stunning. But you know what else he was amazed from? The costs. "Oh that will cost a lot of gold." He whispered to himself but Commander Alia did hear his little complain.

Eric however looked at her in amazement, stunned by this strength that she actually barely showed throughout the few months they knew each other. If Mogranius had such strength, he would brag about it nonstop. Mogranius did find reasons to cheer and praise her strength from afar. "That's my girl."

"Calm down old man." Answered Commander Alia back, it sounded rather harsh but the intentions were playfull. Mogranius was used to it by now and felt no offense, understanding about the way she can't often control how she sounds like. Her tone does equal her strength(respectfully). "I'm trying to teach the Kid a lesson!" She expressed, having her head turned towards Mogranius, he simply gave him a little wink instead of flirting in public. Because frankly, it made Eric gag sometimes and she is a bit shy to act like that in front of everyone unless she missed him to the extreme.

Turning her attention to Eric again, with a way calmer delicate tone. She proceeded to say. "Okay darling now you try it." Handing him the Shield and helping him to handle it properly by positioning his form. Fairly moving his limbs like a ragdoll until she felt like he has a proper pose. It got Eric a little bit shy when Commander Alia was all up on his personal space, trying to help him hold the shield right. But that didn't last long, and he found himself dragged to the next training dummy. Now since he has a bit of knowledge about the pose, he should try it himself instead of heavily relying on someone else to prepare him.

"Its okay to not break the training dummy. We trust your skills." Added King Michael before Eric even attempted the move. Reasons behind it clear. The Kingdom doesn't need further expenses considering that a lot of Gold is needed to get this place near or above its former glory.

Gaster Kingdom just needs another stream of income to finally pay the hard working Guards with gold too instead of just free meals, considering how much work every individual is putting in, it really is mandatory to pay them, King Michael didn't at all ignore Woldemir's request about paying Guards, he just found it a bad timing to pay them now. Although, with a monthly income of around 9,600 Gold Coins and of course an outcome of around 5,000 Gold Coins, there are 4,600 Gold Coins which the Kingdom can spare half of it or more to invest on the Guards, but that would equal to the loss of above a couple thousand Gold Coins which the Kingdom needs to progress. So another stream is essential before managing to pay 100 Guards, and they don't need unnecessary expenses slowing them down. Luckily, King Michael has an idea which can possibly double the income if not more. Tapping into an expensive market is a good idea if an entire Kingdom can work behind it. However cutting back to the case....

Mimicking Commander Alia almost completely correct, helped him towards this rather strange process of Fire Shield training. Why does everything about the Fire Shield have to lead to an actual Iron Shield? I mean, even Mogranius made a whole custom training method with it! Also, since Eric is right handed as well. It will at least improve his form.

While Eric was getting ready to bash, in the Background Mogranius felt the urge to ask King Michael about this since he still didn't understand the point of this little training. He can't link King Michael's words and this training method together well enough for it to make sense. "How exactly will Shield Bashing improve his Fire Shield progress? I don't follow." He whispered in aims to not interrupt and or distract Eric.

Trying to focus on Eric's practice and also hoping that there won't be any further expenses. He answered. "You will know very soon. Be a little patient."

Looking at the training dummy as his worst enemy, and feeling sure of his capabilities to hurt the enemy badly. He started feeding his rage while resisting the urge to burn down the training dummy.

Crack!

He Shield Bashed the training dummy with all of his might, putting his body weight forwards along with the shield and detaching his right foot from the ground. Which was his first mistake and it could have gone for the worst.

Due to putting too much weight forwards, he hurt his arm a little bit. But luckily, his arm isn't the thing who cracked. What cracked is of course the "opposing" training dummy.

Its foundation cracked a little bit, but not enough to be knocked down with a small little push by anyone after. The training dummy was also moved from the ground a little bit and tilted backwards. Before it had a 90° angle. Now it's angle is 105°. This can be considered a lot of strength for a 15 year old child. If some technology could accurately scale this strength, Eric's would be considered a firm 2.5/6. While Commander Alia's strength would be considered 5/6. It really is a lot.

"Damn! This kid can bash!" Complimented Commander Alia as she messed his hair, giving him genuine compliments to raise his motivation.

Feeling his arm with his right hand, Eric answered these results with, "Yes but I hurt my arm a little bit." 

"Let me see." After giving the arm a firm glance she stated. "Oh it's nothing, it isn't even a bruise. The chances of receiving damage like this is very common for a beginner and even a Grandmaster. Learn to live with it! Just keep your legs nailed to the ground before attacking, while attacking and after attacking. Your arm will be just fine like that."