“Today, we’re going to try something new,” Paul said as Colt and Mike sat on the mats. “I asked Jay to have the latest holographic training methods installed in this room. They’ve already been set to mimic your spells from Pantheon Online.”
“What?” Colt asked with a frown on his face. “Camelot never had anything like that!”
“That’s because they had you use the training arenas built into Mayhem. That way you could use your stats to support your fighting methods. This just adds your spells to your arsenal for real-life combat training. See this?” Paul pointed above his head as a health bar appeared. “Using this technology we can replicate the fighting environment of Pantheon Online while drilling everything into your muscle memory and your mind. That way it’ll become second nature and stop you from overthinking inside the game.”
“You need to face reality.” Paul continued as he stared at the brothers. “Your real-life body will always be worse than your in-game one. So, if you’re capable of defeating enemies in your worst state possible, you’ll have less to worry about when playing.”
“Now, both of you will attack me at the same time. I assure you that this will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.” Paul tossed a headband to each of them before putting one on himself.
“What’s this for?” Mike asked as he studied it.
“This connects to your mind just like the gaming capsules. It allows you to activate your spells with a thought. Put it on and let’s get to work.”
Mike nodded at Colt as they put them on and stood up. Colt wielded an axe and a round shield this time as he tried to find a more suitable weapon under Paul’s guidance. It brought back memories for him as a smile spread on his face.
“I’ve set my stats to be Tier 1 Level 10. So Colt has the advantage while Mike is at a disadvantage. So think before you act.”
Colt frowned as he raised his shield and advanced on Paul. Mike skirted the edge of the mats to flank their opponent while an uncaring expression remained on Paul’s face. Colt launched a lightning bolt to test Paul’s defences. But what happened next left him reeling in shock.
Paul snorted as he casually raised his left blade right before the bolt struck him. Colt could only watch as the wooden sword cut the lightning bolt in two! One half missed Paul while the other was directed toward Mike!
When it struck his brother a beeping noise sounded in the room, alerting them that Mike was already out of the fight!
“What the hell! You can’t do that in the game!” Colt shouted.
“Who says you can’t?” Paul shrugged as a sly smile appeared on his face.
Colt wanted to complain again, but he stopped himself. ‘The game is still new. We don’t know everything about it. We’ve just gone with what we thought was the truth of the game.’ Colt frowned as something in Paul’s expression told him that his instructor knew more than he did.
Sparks danced around Colt as he rushed forward. Even if Paul could cut spells apart, this was bound to be something that would allow him to do some damage. As soon as Paul was within range, lightning leapt from Colt to strike Paul. However, the latter cut it apart again before parrying Colt’s axe with his spare sword.
Colt grinned as he punched out with his shield as another lightning bolt discharged from his body. Paul chuckled as he redirected Colt’s axe to divert the lightning bolt as he stuck the underside of the shield with his right elbow! Colt gasped as his shield went off target and completely missed Paul. However, his opponent was not done.
Colt wheezed as a knee struck his ribs and pushed him away. Which gave Paul enough time to deal with the next bolt that flew his way. Colt studied him at that time as he tried to understand what Paul was doing to cut the spell. However, he was unable to learn anything.
‘I’ll just need to push him until I can understand it.’ Colt thought as he charged at Paul.
Mike studied the situation from the sidelines. Paul never made a single mistake as he countered Colt’s attacks and spells. ‘He isn’t doing anything special. It’s just a simple slash.’ Mike frowned as he replayed the streams he had seen of Pantheon before joining Ragnarok in his mind. He distinctly recalled seeing spells hit weapons and shields. But nothing like what Paul was doing had ever happened.
‘Maybe it really is impossible in the game and Paul is just using this for training?’ Mike thought that was more likely. After all, Paul had never played Pantheon and was not using any spells. It was likely just a way to even the field and see if Colt would get distracted by cut down his spells. ‘It’s a fool’s errand. He’s drawn Colt in with that and now he can predict everything Colt will do. He knows what my an unknown ability. ‘If that’s what Paul is aiming for then he’s succeeded.’
Mike sighed as he saw the determined expression on Colt’s face. His brother fixed his attention on Paul’s sword every time it moved to cut down his spells. ‘It’s a fool’s errand. He’s drawn Colt in with that and now he can predict everything Colt will do. He knows what my brother is after which is making it easier to manipulate him.’
Mike shook his head as he made a mental note to scold Colt once the training was over. ‘How did Arthur put up with training him?’
Mike continued to watch, but after several minutes had passed, he noticed something even more shocking. ‘Paul hasn’t moved more than a metre from his starting point!’ That left Mike speechless. Although Paul was moving around, he had limited it to a small radius from the centre of the mats!
A grim expression appeared on Mike’s face as he wondered if they would run into other players with the same level of skill. Colt was known for being a powerhouse in close combat, but Paul was toying with him as if he were a noob.
‘This doesn’t make sense!’ Mike could understand it if it were simply because they were training in real life. However, with the addition of spells, he felt that Colt should have been able to put some pressure on Paul.
Colt started to show signs of fatigue as his attacks became sloppy, and mistakes appeared in his form. A glimmer appeared in Paul’s eyes as Colt slashed with his axe. A dull thud sounded as Paul slid his sword up its shaft and caught it below the blade. The axe went flying off the mats as Paul struck Colt twice on the ribs with his other sword before striking him behind his knees.
Colt groaned as his knee gave out. He collapsed onto one knee as Paul struck him on the back. A beeping sound echoed in the hall, announcing the victor of the sparring session. Colt struggled to catch his breath as Paul helped him back onto his feet. ‘I couldn’t understand it at all!’ Colt complained. However, as he was about to thank Paul for the session his eyes went wide!
He had been so focused on learning Paul’s strange technique that he had not even once checked his opponent’s health! Colt let out a long groan that made Paul laugh. After all, the brothers had failed to deal even a single point of damage to him!
It was clear to them that they had a long way to go. However, they were grateful to have Paul on their side. They did not want to consider what would happen if other teams started to hire personal trainers like him.
Colt sipped on his water bottle as Mike joined him to sit on the mats in front of Paul. It was time to go over the mistakes they had made and ask any questions. Paul had an expectant expression on his face as he waited for the brothers to ask him the question he knew would come.
“You messed with settings, didn’t you,” Mike said with a slight smile that made Colt raise an eyebrow.
Paul returned Mike’s gaze with a slight smile. “No. Contrary to what you might think. Everything I did is possible in Pantheon Online.”
Mike’s jaw fell open in shock as Paul chuckled. “The software we are using comes directly from the game’s developers. You might not know this, but this style of training has been around since deep-dive games first came out. So every company has real-life holographic training available for their games. It’s just that nobody uses it anymore.” ｂｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐
“Why don’t they use it?” Colt asked with a hesitant expression.
“It’s simple. The new versions of the gaming capsules rely solely on your thinking speed. Which removes the need to be physically capable of what you do in the game. It was supposed to even the field for those who don’t have much mobility in real life.” Paul shrugged as he stared into the distance. “Plus, by training in the game, you can get your mind used to how your stats affect you. So this method became obsolete.”
“Why are we using it then?” Mike asked after contemplating Paul’s response.
“To give you a solid base to build your fighting style from. Although this has become obsolete, it goes a long way to bridging the gap between thinking about your next action and reacting by instinct. This has to become second nature to you guys. That is if you really want to reach the top.”
“So are you saying our real bodies affect our compatibility with weapons and armour in the game?” Mike asked.
“Of course! If you’re incapable of using the weapons in real life. Or moving well in heavy armour. Then your mind naturally rejects it in the game. Even with your stats helping you. So you’ll never reach your full potential unless you can bridge the gap between reality and virtual reality.”
Colt nodded for a moment as he considered Paul’s words. ‘What he says makes sense. But why has this never been brought up before? I’d expect other teams to still use this method if it has such benefits.’
“Because nobody wants to waste time on anything but basic fitness these days,” Paul said as if he could read Colt’s mind. “Everyone is so focused on the games they play that they don’t want to spend longer than they have to in the real world.”
“So, how did you do it then?” Mike asked as he remembered what had brought them to that subject. “How can you counter the game’s spells with just your weapon?”
“It’s actually pretty simple. Pantheon Online uses part of the code from Colisseum. Which is why Jay hired me as soon as he found out.” Paul grinned. “Trust me when I say that I believe there’s a lot more to this game than you think.”
“So, about your technique?” Colt grinned as he caught on to what Paul was trying to do. ‘There’s no way I’m letting him divert my attention now that he’s confirmed it’s possible in the game!’
Paul shrugged as he raised his sword to point at Colt. “Hit me with your axe.”
Colt showed a confused expression to Mike before standing up and slashing at Paul. The latter deflected it with a twist of his blade. The brothers stared at him with confused expressions as Paul wore an expression that said what he did explained his technique.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Paul sighed. “What did I just do?”
“You countered my slash by diverting its path,” Colt said with a frown.
“There’s your answer. Think of a spell as a solid weapon. They can be countered, diverted or blocked. Your lightning bolts act like spears for example. So I can either attack to split it down the middle or create a surface that will cause something like a ricochet.”
“But that’s not possible!” Mike blurted out as he explained about the streams he had watched.
“Mindset is everything in these games,” Mike said as he shrugged. “If you think something is impossible, then it is.”