“That the Gellers really teach their kids how to fight,” Jason said. “I lost a lot of times.”

“What else?” Rufus asked.

“Only using a fifth of your martial arts is like… only using a fifth of your martial arts. The forms aren’t just five mini martial arts bundled into a skill book anthology. It was only when I started mixing things up that I realised the key to the whole thing.”

“Which is?” Rufus asked.

“The real trick to the style is understanding how and when to move between forms. A well-timed, well-executed change in approach can clinch a victory.”

Rufus took up a fighting stance.

“Show me.”

Rufus was faster and stronger, with more skill and experience. In all their time training, Jason had never landed more than a glancing blow. Not only did this latest sparring session follow the same pattern, but Jason was performing worse than he had since the early days. Farrah and Gary watched from the side, using piles of bricks as furniture.

“I’m not impressed,” Rufus said after knocking Jason into the dirt again. “You’re full of openings, more than when you first used the book. I think your attempts to change things up are making you lose what the book gave you in the first place.”

Jason picked himself up from the dirt, body aching from the punishing lesson. He brushed himself down and resumed a fighting stance.

“Prove it,” he said.

Spectating from the side, Gary chortled.

“It’s on now,” he said.

Jason’s clear eyes locked on Rufus, who shook his head.

“Some people need the truth beaten into them,” he said.

He came at Jason, hard and fast. Jason floundered back, narrowly avoiding a clean hit while almost tripping over his own feet. Rufus held the momentum ruthlessly, pushing Jason into a corner both figuratively and literally. Jason stumbled as a finishing blow came ramming at him, but then his body shifted. Rufus’s blow hit nothing but air as Jason shunted into his body, pushing Rufus off-balance. Jason’s elbow crashed into the side of Rufus’s head, ringing it like a bell.

Rufus staggered and Jason pressed, but suddenly Rufus was moving twice as fast and a fist slammed into Jason’s gut, doubling him over and lifting him right off his feet. An elbow crashed down on the back of Jason’s head, but Rufus stopped it before he smashed open Jason’s skull. Jason collapsed to the ground anyway.

“Good,” Rufus said, stepping back.

“Doesn’t—”

Jason barely got a hoarse word out before a coughing fit sent blood speckling into the dirt. He pulled a healing potion from his inventory and tipped it down his throat.

“I think you might have gone a bit hard, there, Rufus,” Gary said.

“He did well,” Rufus said. “Made me use my full strength for a moment. It was good.”

“Doesn’t feel good,” Jason croaked.

“On your feet,” Rufus said coldly.