Backwater Champion by Traversky AL

Author:Traversky, AL
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ALT
Published: 2024-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23 – Shared Skills

“Count up now from one to five slowly,” Angel’s voice startles me. And yet strangely maybe, the shock doesn’t increase my heart rate. I do as she says and open my eyes.

“Show me your combat moves,” she pulls me to my feet.

I clear my head of the idea of her hiding her levels. That can wait until later. I’ll also hold back from telling her that most of what I know about melee fighting (besides what I’ve learned on the go since coming here), I took originally from the self-defense classes at high school. And maybe more recently from reading the ‘Art of War’ and watching YouTube videos.

No sense in undermining her confidence.

But maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I mean, I’ve progressed to a level 3 pretty fast since I’ve got here. As a fighter. And didn’t I just defeat two intruders? Not to mention the robber at the market plus, a pair of wild boars.

“So in a confrontation,” I say, recalling the similar introductory script from most ‘responsible’ self-defense videos I’ve ever seen, “Your first instinct should always be to try and get away from the whole situation. Without it escalating to physical violence.”

Angel gives me a little smile and then laughs. “Like you do every time, Bryson?”

“Well, no. If you have no option, then that’s different,” I say and somehow it feels a bit ridiculous giving tips to a girl who’s lived in Pentauria her whole life.

But her sapphire-blue eyes persist.

“You don’t let the adrenalin dump get the better of you,” I say but her brow knots like she doesn’t understand, “Keep as calm as you can in any confrontation,” I say “So you can make the best decisions. Use one of your own calming techniques. Like you showed me,” I say, “De-escalate the situation verbally if you can. Like when I asked that guy to put your book down and leave us alone. Try to diffuse the whole situation. Maybe hold your hands up where the other person can see them, let him - or her - know you don’t want any trouble.”

Angel grins at me like I’m telling a lengthy joke. One she already knows the punchline to.

“Make some eye contact to show confidence,” I say and look into her eyes, “But don’t stare at them too long. That can be seen as provocative.”

“Like when you look into my eyes?” her eyebrows arch.

“Do you want me to carry on with this, or not?” I sigh and plant my hands on my hips.

She nods enthusiastically.

“Show me moves,” she gestures impatiently.

“Stand tall,” I say, “Like this, shoulders back, head high but balance your weight evenly on both feet.”

“You say I have a lot of weight?” one of her eyebrows cocks.

“Hardly,” I say and laugh, “The idea here is that spreading what little weight you have is to keep you stable and ready to react to any quick movements. Keep your body at a slight angle to them. Rather than facing them directly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.