Jack walked over to the bench where I'd set the manual and opened it to the first art's detailed section. He gestured for me to approach.
"We begin with First Light," he said, his voice taking on a lecturing quality. "It is called First Light because the technique embodies the concept of dawn, the moment when darkness transitions to day in a single instant. That transition, that threshold between states, is what the art captures."
He pointed to a detailed anatomical diagram showing proper stance and muscle engagement.
"The technique is not merely about drawing your sword quickly. Any fool can yank a blade from its sheath at high speed. First Light is about optimizing every single component of the draw-and-cut motion to create explosive acceleration while maintaining perfect control."
Jack moved into the ready position, settling into the stance with practiced ease. His body looked relaxed, but I could sense the coiled potential there.
"The foundation is the stance itself. Weight distribution is critical. Sixty-five percent on your back foot, thirty-five percent on your front foot. This creates a stable base while loading your back leg like a compressed spring. When you initiate the technique, that back leg will push you forward while your front leg guides the direction."
He shifted his weight slightly to demonstrate, and I could see how the loading created tension in his rear leg.
"Your upper body must be perfectly aligned. Shoulders level, spine straight but not rigid. Your center of gravity should be low but mobile. Think of yourself as water about to begin flowing, not ice frozen in place."
Jack's hand settled on the practice saber's hilt, his grip loose and natural.
"The drawing hand rests on the hilt without tension. This is critical and difficult to master. Tension is the enemy of speed. A tense muscle is slower to contract than a relaxed muscle. You must remain completely loose until the precise moment of initiation, then transition to maximum tension in a fraction of a second."
He demonstrated the grip, showing how his fingers curved naturally around the hilt without squeezing.
"The off-hand serves multiple purposes. It stabilizes the sheath, controlling the angle of draw. It acts as a counterweight to maintain balance during the explosive motion. And crucially, it provides a reference point for your drawing hand. Your body uses the position of your off-hand to calculate the exact angle needed for the draw. If your off-hand position is wrong, your entire technique will be off-target."
Jack's left hand moved to the sheath, thumb pressed against the guard in a specific position.
"Now we come to the technique itself. First Light happens in three stages that must blend seamlessly into a single continuous motion. If you can perceive any pause between stages, your execution is flawed."
He began to move in extreme slow motion, each component of the technique broken down and isolated.
"Stage one: Initiation. This is where most students fail. They telegraph their intent through unnecessary preparatory movements. A shoulder twitch. A weight shift. A change in breathing. All of these warn the opponent that an attack is coming. First Light must initiate from perfect stillness. The first indication your opponent has that you're attacking should be the blade entering their body."
His hand tightened on the hilt, the only visible change in his entire posture.
"The initiation happens through mana circulation. You gather energy in your core, then release it in a controlled explosion through your entire body simultaneously. This provides the force needed to launch the technique without any external preparatory motion."
I could sense the mana moving through Jack's body now, flowing from his core out through channels that reached every limb.
"Stage two: The draw-cut. This is the heart of the technique. As your grip tightens and you begin pulling the blade from its sheath, you are simultaneously initiating the cutting motion. The draw and the cut are not sequential. They are concurrent. The momentum of the blade leaving the sheath becomes the momentum of the cutting stroke."
His hand moved incrementally, the blade beginning to clear the sheath while already angling toward a target.
"The path of the blade must be perfect. Typically, First Light executes a rising diagonal cut from low left to high right, though variations exist for different situations. The angle is approximately forty-five degrees, intersecting with the opponent's centerline at the optimal point for maximum damage."
The blade continued its path through the air, still moving at a fraction of normal speed.
"Stage three: Extension and energy release. As the blade reaches full extension and the cut completes, you channel concentrated mana through your arms and into the weapon itself. This is the moment where the technique's true power manifests. The mana doesn't just enhance the cut. It extends it beyond the physical blade, creating a pressure wave that can strike targets at range."
His blade reached full extension, and even at slow speed, I could feel the intent behind the motion.
"The timing of the mana release is absolutely critical. Too early, and the energy dissipates before the blade reaches full extension, wasting power. Too late, and the cut has already completed, making the enhancement meaningless. The window of optimal timing is approximately one-tenth of a second. Missing it by even that much reduces the technique's effectiveness dramatically."
Jack completed the motion and straightened, returning to a neutral stance.
"That is First Light broken down into its component parts. Now observe it at full speed."
He settled into the ready position again, and I focused every bit of attention I had on him.
CRACK.
The technique happened too fast to see properly, but this time I understood what I was looking at. The explosive initiation. The concurrent draw-cut. The precise energy release at the moment of full extension. All of it blending into a single motion that generated enough force to cut through space itself.
Another training dummy twenty feet away developed a diagonal cut from lower left to upper right, the severed portions falling away.
"The mana circulation pattern for First Light is relatively straightforward compared to the higher arts," Jack said, pulling out a small notebook from his belt pouch. He sketched quickly, showing a diagram of energy pathways through the body.
"Energy gathers in your core, here." He pointed to a spot just below the sternum. "When you initiate, it explodes outward simultaneously to three primary channels. First channel: down through your legs, providing the explosive push-off. Second channel: through your torso and into your drawing arm, powering the draw-cut motion. Third channel: into your off-hand and stabilizing muscles, maintaining balance and control."
He continued adding details to the sketch.
"At the moment of full extension, any remaining mana in your core surges through your drawing arm and into the blade. This final surge is what creates the extended cutting pressure. The key is not holding anything back. First Light is an all-or-nothing technique. You commit completely, or you don't use it at all."
Jack handed me the notebook.
"Study that until you can visualize the energy flow with your eyes closed. The physical motion is important, but without proper mana circulation, First Light is just a fast draw. With proper circulation, it becomes a technique that can cut through steel plate and kill from thirty feet away."
He gestured to the courtyard around us.
"The optimal target for First Light is the opponent's upper body. Neck, shoulder, or chest. These areas are large enough that even with imperfect aim, you're likely to connect. And a solid hit to any of these locations will end a fight immediately. Precision comes with practice, but initial focus should be on simply executing the technique successfully."
Jack walked over to one of the intact training dummies and tapped it at various points.
"Neck: instant death or incapacitation. Shoulder: severs major blood vessels and disables the sword arm. Chest: penetrates to vital organs. Any of these results is acceptable for First Light's purpose, which is to end combat before it begins."
He turned back to me, his expression serious.
"Understand something crucial: First Light is not a technique you use casually. It is not for sparring or practice duels. It is for killing. When you draw your blade using First Light, someone dies. Either your opponent dies because you executed properly, or you die because you failed and left yourself vulnerable. There is no middle ground."
The weight of that statement settled over me. This wasn't a game. These weren't fantasy techniques from stories. This was real combat methodology developed over generations and refined through actual warfare.
"Now," Jack said, walking to a weapons rack and selecting an extremely basic wooden practice sword, little more than a shaped stick. "We begin your training in earnest. You're going to learn First Light. Not today, probably not this week. But by the end of the month, you will be able to execute it properly, or you will not leave this estate."
He tossed me the basic practice sword. "We start with the absolute fundamentals. Stance first. Everything else builds on proper stance. Get into what you think is the correct ready position."
I set down the better practice saber I'd been holding and gripped the basic wooden sword. I tried to remember everything Jack had explained and demonstrated. Weight distribution. Body alignment. Hand positioning.
I settled into what I hoped was approximately correct.
Jack circled around me slowly, examining my posture from every angle. After a complete circuit, he stopped and began pointing out flaws with methodical precision.
"Your weight distribution is maybe fifty-five, forty-five. Needs to be sixty-five, thirty-five. Your shoulders are tensed upward by approximately two inches. Your spine has excessive curve in the lumbar region. Your left foot is pointed fifteen degrees too far outward. Your grip on the hilt shows tension in your ring and pinky fingers. Your right elbow is locked instead of maintaining the slight bend necessary for explosive extension."
He adjusted my posture physically, pushing my shoulders down, correcting my foot angle, repositioning my elbow.
"Feel this position. This is correct. This is the foundation of First Light. If your foundation is flawed, everything built on top of it will be flawed."
I tried to memorize how the corrected position felt, burning it into my muscle memory.
"Hold this stance," Jack commanded. "Don't move. Maintain perfect form."
He stepped back and waited.
Ten seconds passed. Twenty. At thirty seconds, my legs began to shake slightly. At a minute, I was actively fighting to maintain position. At two minutes, sweat was running down my face and my muscles were screaming.
"This is the baseline," Jack said, completely unmoved by my struggle. "The stance is the foundation, and the foundation must be unshakeable. If you cannot hold proper form under no stress, you cannot possibly maintain it during actual combat."
At three minutes, my form broke down. My weight shifted forward, my shoulders hunched, my grip tightened.
"Stop," Jack said immediately. "Reset. Again."
I straightened and settled back into the stance, trying to correct the errors he'd pointed out.
"Hold it."
The shaking started faster this time. My body was already fatigued from the initial hold and the warm-up exercises.
"This is what your training will look like," Jack said as I struggled to maintain form. "Endless repetition of fundamentals until they become so ingrained that your body maintains them automatically, even under extreme duress. This is not exciting. This is not dramatic. This is the reality of mastering the Flash God Technique."
My legs gave out at the two-minute mark this time. I staggered and had to catch myself.
"Reset. Again."
I wanted to protest. Wanted to argue that there had to be a better way to learn. But the memory of what I'd seen Jack do, the sheer devastating power of properly executed technique, silenced any complaint before it could form.
If this is what it took to wield that kind of power, then this is what I'd do.
I settled back into stance and began the process again, knowing this was going to be a very, very long month.