20
My new life after the incident with Gabriel went on much as it had before. We kept working on fighting to survive and using basic weapons. I spent most of my time attacking straw dummies, but in addition to that, Ariadne taught me how to dodge enemy blows and block them with a shield. I actually wasn’t bad at these defensive tactics, possibly because I much preferred the prospect of hiding behind a shield to actually having to attack another person.
My fighting skills were still patchy. It was odd. When I was having a real live fight with another person, I was a very fast and skilled fighter; that much had been shown by my first sparring match with Ian. Yet when I was only confronting a faceless dummy or a figureless target, my reaction time slowed down, my limbs felt heavier, and sud
