Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Frameworks
Bones, tendons, skin. The three aspects that created the endurance of a warrior. Endurance in a witch hunter’s eyes wasn’t your body endurance to physical workload, that was Stamina. Endurance was how your body reacted with pain and dealt with it.
To strengthen the defense of your body, you must do it from the inside and from the outside simultaneously. And in the end, once they met in the middle, they would create an impenetrable wall.
Endurance was the monk’s specialty in Siderius’ old world. They excelled in figuring out the composition of the body and enhancing it.
The body was improved by a set of movements. The monks called these movements Harmony Frameworks and had developed many different sets that were specialized for different tasks.
One could not train his body to excel at everything. He must choose which would be his specialties and his weaknesses.
The first Framework involved the hands. By conditioning the hands, you could make it into a perfect harmonizing partner in your combat.
Steel Hands, a Hand Framework dedicated to fortify the skin and the bones with a little bit of focus to the tendons. This would make your hands become living weapons, suitable for those choosing the path of unarmed combat.
Flourish Hand, a Hand Framework dedicated to increase the hands’ flexibility and movement. This training did not increase the hands’ defense but its dexterity only. This was used for hunters and monks that focused on ranged weapons. Bow, sling, throwing projectiles would benefit greatly from this framework.
Monkey Hands, a Hand Framework dedicated to strengthen the tendons and a sub focus to the bones and skin. This allowed the practitioner to improve their grip on all kinds of weapons and unlocked a variety of difficult movesets that would be difficult to execute for untrained hands. This was also a half unarmed combat framework where it could benefit grappling and wrestling greatly if the practitioner was well-versed in the art.
Siderius’ main weapon had always been the sword. He occasionally used long weapons like spear and halberd, or blunt weapons like hammer or mace. The best choice would obviously be Monkey Hands for Siderius.
The second Framework involved the feet. People usually called Feet Frameworks as Stances. Stances were slower, more concentrated movements than other frameworks that would allow the muscle, bones and tendons to develop their resistance to tension and force. There were three main stances that were popular in the Hunter Association.
Tiger Stance, a middle of the way framework that focused on explosive movement and power. Practitioners of this Stance would gain more power to their lunge, snapping movements and quick reaction. A power-centric framework that had a little bit of range and stability.
Crane Stance, a framework that sacrificed all power and stability for a range of motions. This framework opened up the flexibility of the legs, allowing for a wider and longer reach. However, it had much less power than other leg stances and was very frail. It wasn’t bad in any way and many tall, long reach hunters had success with it.
Horse Stance, a low framework that was all about defensive and stability. If one trained this framework, they would gain what would be called a rooted pair of legs that was difficult to sweep. Even when an enemy tried to imbalance you, unless their power was extraordinary, the horse stance would stand immovable like a tree.
Siderius got rid of Crane Stance first thing. Its reach would only benefit from close combat with other warriors. It would be useless dealing with Witches and their unpredictability.
Tiger Stance was a good well-rounded option but Siderius chose Horse Stance in the end. Horse Stance developed your body better, even though you may sacrifice the explosive power. It was better to gain a good foundation first and if Siderius wanted, he could easily switch over to Tiger Stance once his legs were strong enough.
The first two practices focused on endurance and functionality at the same time. The third training was purely physical conditioning.
There wasn’t a specified framework for physical conditioning, only different parts of the body you would choose to enhance.
The head, the neck, the shoulders, the elbows, the wrists, the chest, the stomach, the back, the hip, the thighs, the knees, the shins and the ankles. Thirteen different parts of the body that the hunters splitted into different categories of conditioning.
Conditioning your body parts did not guarantee that you would survive a devastating blow. But it would for sure help you to have a tiny better chance to survive. That was enough for Siderius. He was harsh upon himself and torturously conditioned all thirteen parts of the body.
The fourth day involved Stamina.
This time, the Frameworks of the monks were present again but only in one training session.
The first training was called Elemental Framework. These frameworks were developed by the alchemist after they had researched and experimented with the Harmony Frameworks.
Elemental Frameworks followed the four classical elements of Alchemy. Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Each was called Fire Path, Water Path, Air Path and Earth Path respectively.
Fire Path involved short bursts of physical activity that focused on power.
Water Path offered a long, more consistent stamina that allowed a hunter to do heavy lifting for a long period of time.
Air Path was all about speed and how to conserve one’s energy for the perfect agile movement.
Earth Path was about preservation. It did not offer power, long-lasting stamina nor speed. But it made sure that the energy of the practitioner would be preserved perfectly. Even in the heat of battle or when you’re injured, Earth Path made sure your body wouldn’t shut down and kept pumping oxygen to the blood.
Siderius went with Earth Path for the first training session for his Stamina.
The second training and third training was all about fatigue.
The second session was simple cardiovascular health. Siderius would do cardio workout to improve his blood circulation and get his body to be well familiar with pressure. This involved a series of marathons and heavy bursts of movement repetition.
The third session was similar but now with weapons. Previously, Siderius trained with weapons but he focused on refining his skills, the strength, agility and precision of one’s strike. This session was purely physical endurance. He did his sword skills for as long as he could and practiced with his bow until his fingers gave up and were bloody.
The final day, the fifth day of meditations was Mentality.
Meditations, both psychosis and Truth-Seeking, calmed the mind and allowed the body to heal. The essence of the beast that he absorbed would also be incorporated into his body, becoming the fuel to enhance his conditions and attributes.
And with that, Siderius followed his strict training regime to elevate his body.