The Grand Project: No Secrets for the Chosen one (The Child Who Speaks with Animals Book 5) (English Edition)

The Cobra Dagger A disturbance in time brushed Thibault’s consciousness.
The boy remembered the burglary:
a short blade, ordinary in appearance, which suddenly shot forward and pierced his gaiter. The wound had seemed light,
but the blood began to flow, insidious, like a hidden spring that widens over minutes.

The Master pointed to a blade in the
 glass cabinet.
— « This is the Cobra Dagger. Rare in Europe, but known in India. It is wielded laterally like an ordinary knife, then suddenly it thrusts forward. Its wound appears harmless, but it widens over time, like venom that acts slowly. »

He placed his hand on Thibault’s shoulder.

— « Do not be afraid. The one you hold is only an imitation. But remember the lesson: it is not the appearance that matters, it is what the weapon hides.
You must learn to see beyond
appearances. »

Thibault repeated the gesture, clumsy at first, then more assured. The blade vibrated in the air like a serpent’s tongue.

The Master concluded:
— « The Cobra is not only a weapon, it is a lesson in vigilance:
to foresee the unforeseeable.
Danger hides in what seems weak. »

Thibault felt that this weapon spoke of himself: his own wounds, invisible to others, but widening with time.

The Switchblade The Master snapped the blade with a sharp gesture. The metallic sound echoed in the room like a warning.

— « This weapon seems common, but the aggressor always betrays his habits. Most repeat what they know:
a lateral strike, sometimes a thrust,
rarely a feint. »

He drew markers on the ground.

— « Eight out of ten opponents strike with a horizontal blow, two with a frontal thrust, one with a feint. You never know which one you face, but you know that the majority repeat the habit. Your first defense must target the most frequent gesture, while keeping part of your attention for the exception. »

Thibault dodged, arm raised, then stepped back.

The Master concluded:
— « This is the lesson of the switchblade: foresee the ordinary, but never forget the extraordinary. Defense is not a raw reflex,
 it is attentive reading. »

The boy understood that the blade was only a mirror: it revealed the monotony of human gestures, the repetition of errors, but also the rarity of the unexpected.

The Dagger The Master took a dagger, heavier, longer. He raised his arm, blade pointed to the sky, then slowly brought it down.
— « Look closely. The warning sign is different: the shoulder rises, the arm extends, the body leans. The parry is no longer lateral but vertical: raise the arm or pivot to absorb the descent. »

He added in a grave voice:
— « Here is the difference:
the switchblade deceives by trickery; the dagger imposes by force. One plays on surprise, the other on power.
But both reveal their intentions in the preparatory gestures. That is what you must learn to read. »

Thibault watched the blade descend like a sentence. He understood that brute force was not invincible: it always announced its arrival through visible signs.

The Master’s Conclusion
— « The dagger teaches cunning,
the switchblade probability, the long dagger strength. Three weapons, three lessons.
But remember this: whatever the weapon, all reveal their intentions in the preparatory signs. Vigilance is universal. »

Thibault contemplated the three weapons aligned. They seemed to be conversing among themselves, like three voices of the same choir: the cunning of the serpent,
the habit of men, the brutality of iron.

He now understood that training was not only a physical exercise, but a school of the spirit: to see beyond appearances,
to calculate the unforeseeable, to deflect brutality when it arises — in the arena
as in life.