A cruel and unusual teacher.

And no, I am not talking about Master Burns. Though I imagine he has already amused himself with thoughts of me doing so. No, Master Burns as well as every other master I’ve had the privilege of training with has pushed us to out limits not to make us feel pain but only because they want us to grow stronger. They do it in a respectable way that shows how much they just want me to improve.

No, I’m talking about this thing:

This, is a blunt steel training sword we use for strength training and conditioning ourselves. Every time you do something wrong with this thing, it rewards you with new and exciting aches and pains. If your swing was wrong, it rewards you with a splitting pain to your shoulder and a noticeably sloppy swing. If your grip is bad, it rewards you with burning pain in your hands…