Chapter 193: Reading the Opponent

The morning light cut across the training grounds, sharp and cold. The air carried that familiar smell of iron, leather, and the faintest trace of snow.

The trainees assembled once more in neat lines, wooden weapons in hand. Their breaths rose in small, visible clouds.

Orion stood before them, the wind tugging faintly at his cloak. Everyone present was eager to learn, their gazes trained on him as he let his words settle over them.

He let the quiet stretch, then began pacing in front of them. "Before we pick up where we left off yesterday, there’s something you need to understand first. One of the most important things that makes a good fighter and a good warrior isn’t strength. It isn’t speed. It’s not even how long you’ve trained. Experience helps, yes, but it’s not just about that."

His gaze swept across them, cold but steady. "It’s how well you can read your opponent."

A murmur rippled through the trainees. Orion waited until it died down.

"Every move your opponent makes says something," he went on. "Their stance, their breathing, their rhythm. Sometimes they tell you they’re afraid. Sometimes they tell you they’re reckless. Sometimes they tell you where they’ll strike next without realizing it. You just have to be the one paying attention."

He stopped walking. "Footwork," he said, lowering his voice. "That’s where it starts. Footwork can be deceitful—it can make you think your opponent is moving one way when they’re going another. If you can read that, you can survive. If you can use that, you can win."

He turned to face them directly, his voice cutting through the morning air. "The person who wins a fight isn’t always the strongest person. It’s the one who sees the opportunity first. The one who notices what others don’t. The one who knows where to strike, how to strike, and when to strike."

Silence followed. Even the usual whispering from the back had gone still.

"And we get all that just from observing their footwork?" a trainee asked him.

"And every other thing. When I tell you to observe the footwork, I don’t mean to concentrate on just the legs and how a person moves. Footwork extends to every part of a person’s body. It shows you intention; it shows you the opponent’s stance. It helps you stay observant and lets you know how your opponent moves. It’s one of the most basic steps in reading your opponent, but not the only one," Orion told them.

"I thought being a warrior was all about fighting—but there are theories too?" someone moaned.

"It is mainly about fighting, but also about being smart and observant," he told them.

"But how do we take footwork into practice and at the same time observe everything else about the opponent?" another asked him.

"Practice," Orion said with a smile, then nodded at Tobias.

From the far end of the field, Tobias stepped forward, his bow already slung across his shoulder.

Sophia’s gaze followed him curiously. Tobias had this bored look on his face, like he didn’t want to be there with them but had to be.

"What’s happening?" Laia whispered beside Sophia. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Goddess knows," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Tobias and I are going to do a little display to show you guys what I mean by reading your opponents and also using good footwork," Orion told them.

He nodded to Garron, who brought him a sword from one of the racks, but it wasn’t a wooden sword like the trainees held—this was a real sword.

Tobias unslung his bow, testing the string with a soft twang. The sound was enough to draw every eye on the field.

A trainee in the second row lifted a hand. "Uh, sir... those aren’t training weapons."

Orion paused, the edge of a smirk playing on his lips. "Good observation," he said. "You’re right. They’re real."

A ripple of concern moved through the group.

"Then why are you using them?" another asked hesitantly. "I thought we were using wooden swords for training?"

"No reason," Orion said lightly. "I just feel like it."

"But... isn’t that dangerous?" a trainee asked.

Orion turned to the trainee with a raised eyebrow, while Tobias looked suffocated with the laughter he was holding.

"You do know we’ve used the sword before, right? We’ve used weapons like this before," Orion told the trainee, gesturing between him and Tobias.

"Well... yes, but—"

"Don’t worry," Orion said with a laugh. "No one is going to get hurt. And besides, where’s the thrill in this if both of us use wooden weapons?"

The trainees nodded, but there was still this hesitant look in their eyes as they alternated between Orion and Tobias.

Orion turned the sword once in his hand, testing the weight. "All right," he said, looking toward the archer’s quiver. "Before we begin... look closely at Tobias’s arrows. Do you notice anything different?"

The trainees leaned forward, murmuring. A few squinted. Then one of them—a sharp-eyed girl who was also training with the bow—spoke up. "They’re smaller. Thinner than normal arrows."

Orion nodded. "Exactly." Then turned to Tobias, giving him the signal to explain.

"There’s a reason for that," Tobias said. "I’m a terrible shot with normal arrows."

A few of the trainees laughed.

"That’s a joke," one spoke up.

Tobias just gave him a stare. "Would I lie or joke about something like that when he’s around?" Tobias asked them.

That made the trainees keep quiet.

Tobias continued, his tone calm. "Normal arrows are too heavy for me, especially with the rhythm I shoot in. I had to make something that suited me, so I spoke with Mary and she made these," he said, showing them the arrows. "They are lighter shafts, narrower fletching. They have less drag and more speed too."

Sophia blinked, intrigued. "But wouldn’t the wind throw them off?" someone called out before she could ask the same question.

Tobias turned toward the voice. "Only if you fight the wind," he said. "The wind isn’t your enemy. For an archer, it’s supposed to be your ally. If you know how to read it and study it... it tells you where your arrow will land before you even release it."

There was a quiet murmur of appreciation from the group.

Orion smiled faintly. "There’s a reason I told you all yesterday to make your weapons an extension of yourselves," he reminded them. "Every fighter has flaws. But the best ones learn to make their flaws work for them. Tobias didn’t force himself to fit the arrow, the normalcy—he changed it to fit him instead."

Tobias turned to Orion with a raised eyebrow. "Rare praise from you."

"Don’t get used to it, you swindler," Orion muttered lowly.

Tobias’s lips curved into a smirk. "We reached a conclusion after a successful bargain."

Orion rolled his eyes, then turned to Garron. "Clear the ground, please."

"Everyone, give them space!" Garron barked.