Keiichi watched as Mike sat down on his knees to meditate, holding the sword in both hands, which in Keiichi's opinion was a good way to practice meditating with the blade.
Mike Meditation: 32 - 25 Focus = 7
Meditation seemed alot easier, Mike able to focus his thoughts in and through the blade as Keiichi instructed. Obviously the best learning would come from practicing with the sword while focusing, but through practicing focusing his thoughts, self, and being into the blade while sitting there would give a bit of a feel of how to do it while swinging it. Keiichi would tell Mike to stop after a good ten minutes have passed, Mike recovering a bit of his stamina during the meditation. "That's good enough. I can tell by the subtle shifts of your hold on the blade and by a few other things that you seem to have a better understanding of how to focus upon it while practicing."
After Mike had finished his meditation three windows also appeared in front of him.
The Meditation Skill has gone up in Level by 1.
The Meditation Skill has been updated.
Meditation (Active) (Lv 3: 0/100 EXP): The art of focusing and clearing your mind to relieve stress and tension or to increase focus. Raises MP recover rate by 240% when used. Cannot be used in Combat nor can you move while using this Skill. If used during an attempt to focus towards something or during natural meditation your Focus is increased by 7%. To Level Up: Use to recover MP. Meditate Naturally. Use the skill while performing a meditation oriented task.
It seemed that from this that Skills could be updated or upgraded, which was something useful.
Keiichi, not knowing that any of these windows were appearing, offered a hand to help Mike up. Once he was standing Keiichi took a few steps back. "Now then, I want you to practice once again. 100 more swings as you did before.
Mike Vit: 0 (Critical)
Mike Focus: 99 (Fumble)
(Both of them Cancel each other out, so reroll time)
Mike Vit: 41 - 15 Vitality +10 Crit Bonus = 16
Mike Focus: 57 - 25 Focus - 10 Meditation Usage bonus = 22
The first few couple of swings were strange. Mike's stamina did not give out, but his mind was off, as if he got an extreme headache from a temporary complete loss of focus. Thankfully he was able to bear through the pain of this sudden and almost migraine inducing headache to shrug it off after the first few couple of swings to quickly restart once again. With a small burst of that vitality to go upon the task seemed a bit easier, especially with the meditation earlier. Mike seemed to begin to develop an understanding of it, pouring more of his spirit, mind, and self into the blade, becoming one with the blade more with each swing, Keiichi watching the entire time.
While indeed there was no way the unity was perfect, it was still quite excellent nonetheless. While it didn't net another free point of Str, as that took alot of effort and time to farm free stat points, something that probably getting two in a single day or even in two days was not easy, Mike did get another couple of levels in Katana Mastery. After his swings were done Mike would have a grasp of what Keiichi was trying to teach, a rather firm grasp, Keiichi giving a small nod of approval. "I could feel you putting more of your self and your will into those slashes. You seem to have a firm grasp on the basic principle of the Senshin no Ken. This is only just a grasp though, you seem to have yet to realize this principle within your self. Still though... you seem to be a rather quick learner... that is quite impressive."
Keiichi picked up his own Bokken, getting into a stance. "I want you to strike at me now, using all that I have taught you. Only by striking at me with your will and spirit through your sword, and attempting to block my own spirit and will within my blade with your own can you attain the realization of the basics of the principle of the Senshin no Ken. Yes... this way you can take that step onto the road, for right now you have not even set a single foot on what is a very long and arduous journey..."
With that, Keiichi got into a stance and waited for Mike's attack.