When David awoke the next morning, he was still eager to get started with his knife training. The entire incident the night before had really gotten him angry and ready to improve himself. Taking the knife book and his new practice knives in hand, he walked down to the gym and headed to Mr. Lester's apartment. After David knocked on the door, Mr. Lester opened the door with an odd looking mannequin looking practice dummy. The female form was wearing a one piece jumpsuit that looked like a mixed up jumble of colors and patterns....it looked like a piece of abstract art....or a weird sex doll.

"What the hell is that thing for? Is this your fetish?," David asked while backing away at the sight of the old man.

"What?...You fool.....it is for your training," Mr. Lester said looking at David like an idiot, "but that will have to wait until after we talk. Let's go sit and have a chat."

David and Mr. Lester sat down at a table to begin planning his training schedule. For the 14 days before the tournament, they decided right off that today would be a planning and testing day....and the day before the tournament would be a day of rest. So David had twelve days of intense training left before the tournament.

After a few minutes of discussion, Mr. Lester thought that he had a training system figured out.

"Alright.....since you need to get practice in actually using the knife skills, I think it would be best to run the training in three shifts. An early day shift where you focus on strengthening your wrists and getting comfortable with some knife attacking forms. Around mid-day, you can go try to hustle up someone to spar with you for weapon versus weapon combat. Those guys are always looking for someone new to beat the shit out of....so you shouldn't have any problems. In the evenings, we can stick to our usual training routine with Chaz. He needs to learn how to fight against people with weapons anyway...and someone needs to be able to really smack you around a bit," Mr. Lester said as he noticed that David was starting to lose interest in his continued talking.

"Okay, so what do we do now?," David asked while completely ignoring Mr. Lester's last comment.

"Now, you are going to review the information that you learned from the book with me....I need to make sure you have a basic understanding before we start doing the physical stuff.....it will make going forward much easier if you understand the basics correctly," Mr. Lester say.

So the two men sat at the table discussing what David had learned from the book.

David had learned that similar weapon users all followed the same basic set of skills...however, the actual style of execution for these skills varied greatly among users and schools of training. This principal is the reason why....five unrelated people attacking with a sword will most likely attack in a different style....but a cut with a sword is still a cut with a sword.....regardless of the style. One particular style may increase the strength of the weapon user greater than other styles. One superior sword may be able to cut through another weaker sword. Not all weapon styles or weapons were equal, but the basic skills all serve the same purpose.

From the book, David learned that there were six basic knife skills that every knife style was based upon. The basic knife skills were Chop, Slice, Stab, Pommel, Deflect, and Defend. In the discussion, David started to learn how Mr. Lester had converted these basic knife skills into his basic fist skills. Mr. Lester said that he made these comparisons to make sure David got the point of the skill.

The Chop Skill is essentially an repetitive knife action to cut the target into pieces. The skill focus on numerous repetitive blows. Imagine how a chef would cut an onion in rapid chopping motion...then imagine how that rapid chopping motion can be used against an opponent. Physically, the chop skill focuses on rapid movement at the elbow and allows for repeated rapid attacks with the edge of the blade. Per Mr. Lester, It was like speed punching....but with a knife.

The Slice Skill is one simple, clean cut into the target. This skill is the most forceful of all knife attack skills and relies on one fluid motion to cut the target. This attack generally utilizes full body movement with the blade to exert the most speed and strength possible down the arm. Mr. Lester had equated this move to a haymaker punch in his fist style.

The Stab Skill is to thrust the knife into something or someone. Stab is a skill used with the intent to kill. The attack would typically originate from below or overhead and followed a direct line to the target. Stabbing was not typically used in knife fighting unless you were trying to deal a catastrophic internal injury. The stab was knife skill equivalent to the jab in Mr. Lester's fist form.

The Pommel Skill is to hit with handle end opposite the blade to cause blunt force trauma. This type of attack is typically used for convenience or as an attack lacking the intent to kill. Mr. Lester said that this would be similar to a knife hand strike in Karate.

The Deflect Skill is to cause an incoming attach to change direction. The skill is typically used in knife fighting because the light weight of knife makes defending difficult. Most time it is easier to deflect than defend against larger weapons like swords. The skill focuses on feeling the incoming attacks direction and immediately redirecting that force in another direction with the knife.

The Defend Skill is to completely resist an attack with a knife. This skill is typically used for smaller attacks, such as projectiles, bullets, arrows, and other knives. The skill also focuses on fast movements.

In addition to the basic skills, the book went into detail about the different styles available. Of the different styles, Mr. Lester's brother had chosen to develop a two bladed knife style. From his philosophy, he didn't see the point of keeping a hand unarmed or shielded for battle. If the Deflect and Defend knife skills were practiced to their peak, then a shield would not be needed.....the knife would serve as defense. David chuckled every time he read the name of the knife style, Fangs.

"Why did he call the knife style Fangs?," David asked Mr. Lester, "It didn't say why in his book."

"I don't know either. Probably because it sounded cool. He would do stuff like that," Mr. Lester said while smiling, "....uuuh.....I named my fist style World Destruction Fists."

"oh....you two are something else," David said as he continued explaining what he knew about knife skills.

Mr. Lester and David continued to talk for some time about the information in the knife book. Eventually, David told Mr. Lester that he had learned enough and gave him the book back. This old man could talk forever.

"Alright now it is time to get started in some training. My bother's Fang style focuses on delivering direct blows to critical areas...this is a method used to kill the opponent. This method is not just stabbing someone in a vital organ. A slice to the wrist...Your opponent will bleed to death. A pommel to the side of the head....Your opponent will go unconscious. A chop to the fingers....Your opponent can no longer hold a sword or make a fist," Mr. Lester said with a bit of madness.

"My fist style is the same. I focus on incapacitating or killing the opponent. Break their fingers. Hurt their guts. Punch them in the chin. No movement is not without the intent to injure or kill," Mr. Lester said with a bit of blood lust in his voice.

Snapping out of his weird little world, Mr. Lester grabbed the dummy that he had sitting next to him and started carrying it over to his practice floor at the center of the room.

"Alright, first part of this training involves memorizing critical body areas to attack. This practice dummy has color coded locations to practice attacking. For example, major critical organs are directly identified with red. Critical joints are indicated in yellow. The miscellaneous spots that just make fighting difficult are in blue. You should be able to attack one of those locations on a whim and on reflex," Mr. Lester explained.

David understood. Most of the knife skill book had focused on anatomy of people and beasts. After all, you had to know where the heart was to stab it in a fight.

"Alright...I have to get started packing. I want you to fight against the dummy like you would against a standard wooden dummy training that we have down in the gym. Instead I want your knifes to rapidly attack those vital indicated areas. This will help you get some semblance of a form that can later be perfected in actual sparing," Mr. Lester instructed, "I want you to do this non-stop for the next couple hours. Move slow at first and pick up speed as you go. Do not concentrate on one vital area. Hit them all. I will yell out an area to attack while I am cleaning to keep you on your toes.....and don't think that I won't know what you are doing when I am doing other things. After years of training on this thing, I can tell what is going on by the sound of impact to the dummy. "

David began training on the dummy. It was very slow at first but he was starting to get familiar with some of the angles required to hit vital areas on the dummy. Mr. Lester also kept yelling out body parts every now and then.....David would freeze for a second or two as he tried to locate the appropriate location with his knife. The pause wouldn't earn him a fussing from Mr. Lester...usually all that he heard was "faster" or "attack another area" coming as instruction.

After about 30 minutes of non-stop sparing with the wooden dummy. David had to take a break to catch his breath. Mr. Lester didn't let him sit and made him help pack boxes instead. It seemed it was either train or pack boxes...David would rather train, so he got back to fighting with the dummy.

________________________

At around 11 AM, Mr. Lester finally told David to end the training. The first part of his day was over. The next part of training would be trying to spar with someone in the gym.

"Thanks, Mr. Lester. I think I understand the basics of this part of training and it should be helpful. I'll see you in the gym's private training room around 4 PM as usual," David said as he was leaving the room.

David walked directly back to his apartment to get some lunch.

While he was sitting at the kitchen table shoving a sandwich into his mouth, his cell phone rang. Looking at the screen, David was surprised to the name "Karine Carmine" flashing.

"Hello, beautiful," David answered in his usual manner.

"Hello, handsome," Karine responded, "I got your voicemail after I got back from the event last night. They wouldn't let you through the gate?"

"Yes...it was most likely Gabriel's doing. None of the guards were familiar people to me and they treated me like I was a stranger. How did your dad and Mr. Gauge handle the event?," David asked. Although he had questioned his own attendance, he still wanted to tell Mr. Gauge bye before he left for The Other.

"Oh...yes, it was probably Gabriel.....My Dad and Uncle Gauge...They were ..... as to be expected by the circumstances. It must be melancholy to be very excited about advancing in cultivation, but disappointed that you are leaving the rest of your family," Karine said with a few pauses in her speech. David could tell she was trying to think about something.

"Yes...it must be weird. Feeling both happy and sad at the same time," David said realizing the small talk was coming to an end.

"David, I need to give you a warning," Karine suddenly said through the phone in a hushed manner.