Once I arrived back home, I immediately went and fell asleep. When I woke up, I found myself in a Japanese pagoda style dojo, with a wide variety of weapons on racks around the edges. The warm glow of late afternoon sunlight illuminated the space. To my left, I saw a balcony with tatami mats covering the floor, just like the rest of the dojo. There was a simple tea set, made out of white clay sitting on a table on the balcony.
"Welcome, welcome. This is your first Dream Trial. To pass it, all you have to do is land one hit on me."
"Wait- huh, what? Where are you?!" I asked, hearing a voice.
"...Open your eyes. I'm right here." Said an old man, hunched over and using a cane to help keep him up. "Call me Adam."
"Oh. Uh, hi?" I said, a bit confused as to how he got there, since I didn't hear or see him arrive. "Are you sure I need to hit you? Won't it hurt?" I asked.
"Yes. You don't have to worry about me. If anything, you should worry about yourself." Adam chuckled, haering my concern. "Grab any of the weapons laying around. I'll fight unarmed."
I wandering around the area, grabbing and doing a few test swings with a few of the weapons. Eventually, I decided on a shortsword in my right hand and a shield on my other hand.
"Let's go." I said as I rushed at him. Swinging my sword in a wide horizontal slash, I prepared to slow it down to try not to hurt Adam.
When it seemed Adam was just going to let the attack hit, I suddenly found myself sprawled on the floor, my sword a few feet aways from me.
"Like I said, Don't worry about me. Again." Adam said, standing in the same spot.
"How am I supposed to hit you, let alone see you?!" I asked in shock.
"I'll slow down to your level." Adam assured me.