My training went smoothly, and honestly, I wanted to punch myself for not doing this any sooner. Why didn’t I just adopt this training method from the beginning? I could take a break anytime I wanted, I could adjust my sets or techniques depending on my stamina, it was refreshing how free I was right now.

I was still mid-training when a group of knights entered the courtyard. They looked like a circle of friends, they weren’t patrolling or anything. I tried to pay them no mind as I kept swinging my sword and my legs.

Unfortunately, the knights stopped in their tracks, the one leading them pointing at both of us. Not long after, they began watching us train from the sidelines.

Why are you guys just standing there? Don’t you guys have a break to enjoy? Is my training really that interesting?

Again, I tried to ignore them as I continued minding my own business. But then, several of the knights split from the group and approached both of me. They asked if there was anything they could help with when talking to Carine, while offering advice while talking to Feyt. It was unexpected, but they really were trying to help. Fixing my jogging posture, bringing me towels, and even offering advice.

I said my thanks to them before they returned to their group. They began walking away, I could hear them murmuring to each other.

“Even without classes, Lady Carine still trains, huh?”

“That’s expected, really. She’s the future heir and Duchess, right? She’s going to take over the school someday.”

I flinched a little. I definitely had thought of that possibility in the future, being a sword instructor, I mean. But do I really possess the confidence to teach like both Mother and Father? Agh, that’s a problem for future me. If I wasn’t strong enough to reach that point yet, why bother?

The knights continued to walk together in a group, I noticed one of them glancing my way, Feyt’s specifically. 

“That boy… he’s the new student, huh?”

“Yeah, a shame he had to join amidst all this mess. Seems like a good kid though, he seemed energetic when I gave him pointers.”

“Looking forward to seeing him join us one day. Ahh, I remember when I joined for the first time…”

The knights slowly disappeared from Carine’s view, and their voices progressively faded away in Feyt’s ears. 

To have even the knights working under Father and Mother praise me, don’t tell me… I’m a genius at this?! 

Nah, I’m joking. They only liked me since I seemed energetic or kind, which was consistent with the gossip surrounding me. I assumed they saw me as a breath of fresh air compared to Carine and the rest of the students.

If Carine looked distant and cold, I guess Feyt would be the total opposite. And just like Carine’s default dead face, I wasn’t even trying to be enthusiastic or vibrant as Feyt, I just was. It felt like the most natural I could be. 

To have two opposites as both of my personalities though, fun coincidence, huh?

The sun was still beaming down at us, but I had managed to run more than a few laps around the courtyard as Feyt, in addition to solidifying my stances and sword techniques as Carine. I was delighted to find that I wasn’t all that tired yet. A bit sweaty, but that’s it.

Wiping my sweat with the towels the knights gave me, I made my way to the center as Feyt and sat down on a bench as Carine.

Alright then, with basic technique and stamina training out of the way, on to the next thing on the list.

Co-op body coordination.

Alright, how should I do this?

So far, I was already proficient with moving my bodies individually. I could already jog as Feyt whilst dancing as Carine. Had to do that once during my day-to-day life. I was panicked at first when I noticed my schedule collided, but it turned out alright.

The key thing to moving my bodies work individually was to just… let it flow. Imagine a river, being split into two smaller rivers that each have their own path. The further they close in on each other, the more they return into a single river.

The splitting of the river was me, attempting to do different things on different bodies. The two smaller rivers are my thoughts and actions on those respective bodies. The closer I associate myself with the other body, AKA, the closer the rivers are, the higher the chance of those thoughts ending up on both bodies.

Okay, as you can see, I’m not great at metaphors, but you get what I mean right? The more I thought about myself as an individual, the better I could control each body individually.

However, individual movements weren’t the subject of my next training. It was coordination.

The way I moved in battle back during the cave incident was still mostly individualistic. I had each body deal with each enemy or I had one body be more active than the other. I was still far from doing a coordinated attack. 

Fighting with two bodies wasn’t all about just attacking twice. I could only imagine myself fighting an enemy and decided to do a coordinated attack. It could just be a simple pincer attack, a diversion for an opening, or a flurry of attacks from two directions. 

If the timing was slightly off, or if the enemy had moved before I could change course, or perhaps I lost focus for just one blink. 

If any of those things happened, at best, I would clash my own swords together and create an opening for the enemy. At worst… I could only hope friendly fire wasn’t turned on. In the heat of battle, I wouldn’t have the luxury of thinking through every move, especially against a relentless enemy. 

I needed coordination that was instinctual, not planned.

So how exactly do I train those instincts?

Having both of my bodies work together seemed like the best course of action. But I still had no idea what to do.

I scanned my eyes throughout the courtyard and kept my ears open for any inspiration. Outside of seeing a couple of servants walking about and knights patrolling, I didn’t see anything particularly inspiring as Carine. Feyt’s ears were a bust too, since all I kept hearing were the typical grumblings of an overworked maid, along with the chirping of birds.

Eventually, my eyes landed on mine. I stared at myselves intently, focused.

I needed something that would involve the two of me working together. Anything that requires synergy, synchronicity, but not necessarily symmetric. I prefer not to duel myselves, as I didn’t want to bonk myself again.

I racked my brains, trying to find an answer that would fit all those criteria.

Then, I found it.

My bodies slowly froze over as I realized… there was one thing I could do. It was unfortunately perfect too, as there was a facility for it here in this mansion, and I had trained significantly about it in one of my bodies.

Dancing…

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