Chapter 10

Jay was apprehensive, to say the least. “What in the hells is this?!”

Jay took in his surroundings once more, “...Well, I don’t know what I was expecting, really. Maybe something less depressing.”

Yes, Jay expected many things, that his tan skin and black hair was now the same pale blue as his portal and his hair being white were well within his expectations.

That the room looked like a cross between prison and training grounds that recently held a smurf orgy was another thing Jay could have guessed.

The blue fire that came off of him in waves was almost a given.

Jay spoke at the thing in front of him, “I mean, it’s obvious now that I think of it. The description the system gave said you had your soul divided into fifths, it also said ‘spar against’, not ‘train you’.”

Jay felt a little silly, “But I expected the ‘hidden master’ type, not the ‘zombie skeleton looking motherfucker’ type.”

The ‘zombie skeleton looking motherfucker’ didn’t look up from it’s sitting position. If Jay wasn’t in fantasy land, he wouldn't even think it could get up. It was as if someone had taken a skeleton, draped skin over it, and clothed it in an ancient looking robe, chestplate, and sandals.

Oh, and it had a wicked looking sword in it’s dead hand.

Oh, and it was all blue, of fucking course.

Jay poked at the thing, “Oi. You alive? You know, in any given definition of the word?”

Jay walked away, “How in all the realms am I supposed to train wit-”

Movement. It had started moving at the word ‘train’.

Jay watched as it fumbled out of it’s seat, “Ha, I guess you really are for training, aren’t cha’?”

As Jay watched the ghoul stumble forward, he drew his spare sword.

It was then, as Jay was distracted, that the ghoul struck. It crossed the remaining distance lighting fast, and stuck it’s sword into Jay’s stomach.

Or it would have, if that were possible. Instead, Jay watched as the blade slid off of his gut, “Fuc-!”

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Jay barely moved his sword into the way of the follow-up aiming at his face.

Jay stared as the ghoul’s blade dug into his. Him doing so may have been what allowed the ghoul to grab Jay’s sleeve and headbutt him to the ground.

Though, honestly, it was mostly the ghoul’s skill that allowed that to happen

Jay, the opportunist that he was, quickly took advantage of his position to swipe his blade at the ghoul’s shins.

Ghouly simply backsteped and plunged it’s sword into Jay’s midriff.

And so the scuffle continued for a while, neither side being able to exhaust or injure the other. Eventually though…

Jay and ghouly faced off against each other. It was a rare moment that chance allowed for them to gain distance away from each other. It was one of those moments that showed that Ghouly knew what a guard was, and Jay… didn’t.

Ghouly held it’s sword, which was a whole handspan longer than Jay’s, in a position in that it was clearly tensing to either defend itself or jump into attacking Jay.

Jay held his sword out in a manner that he hoped would help defend himself.

Jay would have shot out a quip at this moment, but had already used most of his good stuff. Though him not doing that made his next attack a little less unpredictable.

While Ghouly casually batted away Jay’s thrown sheath, Jay used his signature move.

All or nothing really fast sword-poke into his enemies' vitals.

It wasn’t a very good move, and it needed a new name, but it had served Jay well. To be fair, putting the pointy bit of your weapon into a vital area of the enemy does quickly end most low level opponents, and Jay had trained that skill well.

But such a move was ineffective against one once called a swordmaster. All it took was a simple turn and hilt bash to leave Jay without a weapon and with a theoretically broken wrist.

Worse yet, when Jay went to fetch his sword, he saw that it had shattered at the lenth of the blade. He was even able to see the essence of the blade leak out.

Essence being what gathers in all beings recognised by the system. So most all things really. Jay thought of somehow trying to ‘cultivate’ that essence, but figured that the path of money and elitesim suited him better.

Jay looked at the ghoul still trying to push it’s blade through his armpit. “Enough already, dammit. You broke my sword.”

The ghoul stopped at enough, but Jay was trying to blow some steam. “Just look at my blade! You could hardly tell it’s a sword with all the fractures and chips in it, and it was even bent before it fractured in half! You can go sit down or something!”

The ghoul obeyed, and Jay continued, “I don’t even know how much time has passed! How am I-”

Jay paused, “Before I forget. System scan, Description!””

Jay watched as his ‘essence’ gathered around his eyes for a second before dispersing.

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???

Soul Fragment

Age: 2,340 (2,503)

Class: N/A

Strengths: Physical, Light

Weaknesses: Magical, Dark

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Description:

Fragment of an upright warrior from before the downfall of the Stansa Church and the subsequent rise of the Stansa Kingdom.

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Jay frowned, “I was expecting a name, but I didn’t even get a damn gender!?”

Jay sighed, “...I guess I’ll keep calling you ghouly until you are proved ghoulina. You don’t know how to get out of he-”

Intense nausea assaulted Jay as he was shifted back into his normal realm.

Jay did what people who have intense nausea do, and was now looking at the floor in disgust. “...Fucking great, metal dust, ...cloth scraps, sweat, … and now fucking sick of all things.”

Jay grumbled as he went to get a broom and a mop.

He grumbled at how exhausted and sweaty his body was.

The noble even grumbled as he discovered that it was now early evening!

When Jay was done cleaning up his mess, he mentally decided ‘fuck it’, and took a bath and an early night in.

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Swordsmanship

General skill

Level 2 (00.26)

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To Jay, it was a fruitful day.