Serenity hadn’t seen anyone else he wanted to ask to fill out the team, which meant he needed to move on to the next thing. The first Trial would open the following day, and there was a lot to do before then if he wanted to be ready.

He really didn’t remember the “Class” area from the last time… but he suspected he’d signed up for the one required class and spent the rest of his time in Trials. It was a dark time that he didn’t really want to look back on.

The most interesting thing he found was that there were a bunch of introductory classes running. They would only last for the first three days - up until the first mandatory Trial for those who hadn’t signed up early - so he’d need to hit as many of those as he wanted before time ran out.

He quickly looked through the major options for signups and decided that he’d do a morning class each day, then a Trial, and see where that left him. His goal would be two classes and two Trials a day, but he wasn’t sure he’d manage that reliably.

First things first. Weapons and magic … weapons should be faster.

Serenity headed over to the Armory, where one of the introductory classes was running. This one was a mix of demonstration, individualized testing, and some very basic training - designed to get the student armed and equipped (in some really terrible gear), and hope that they would figure out how to put the pointy end in the enemy, rather than themselves.

The instructors were very good, even performing at significantly reduced speed so that the low-stat combat-incapable civilians had a chance to see what was going on.

The students were mostly terrible. There were a handful that Serenity made a note of to keep an eye on, but even they weren’t really very good yet. He knew they’d improve rapidly once they chose a Path, but for now it was all their hard work.

Finally, it was his turn. He knew it was very unlikely he’d beat the instructor - the instructor was a high tier 2 or maybe low tier 3 - but at the least, he wanted to make a good impression.

“So. You’re next. What’s your preferred weapon? Or do we need to help you choose?”

The instructor had clearly said that a lot today.

“Uh, help me choose I think. I’ve used quite a few but - I’m very out of practice, and I’m not sure which would be the fastest to pick up again.” It was the truth. He hadn’t used an actual weapon in … he wasn’t sure how long. Plus, his body hadn’t been trained. Maybe he wasn’t quite as ready as he’d thought.

“It’s not what’s fastest, it’s what works best for you and your path. Not that you know what that is yet.” The instructor led him over to the racks of practice weaponry. “Pick them up, try them out, see what you’re comfortable with. It’s not always what you think it is. When you’re ready to give it a real trial, head to the front of the line - one of us will come get you.”

Serenity picked up weapon after weapon. None of them felt right.He eventually picked up a waraxe and swung it. That brought back memories. He’d used an axe for a long time. He worked with it for a while, then put it down. How to use it was coming back to him, but he was afraid it would lead him down his old path.

Staff, scythe, spear. Each brought back memories, and each felt natural in his hands but not quite right. He had hope when he tried the sword - it was something he’d used for only a few Paths - but it, too, didn’t quite feel right for his Path.

He hadn’t realized quite how many melee weapons he’d used in the past. Whatever came to hand … or whatever fit his current Path. And he’d had a lot of Paths.

It was too bad there weren’t any weapons balanced to be thrown -

“So, you’ve got training. Quite a bit of it.” The woman’s voice startled Serenity. He had noticed the instructor walking his way, but hadn’t expected her to speak. “Looks like you’re having a problem choosing.”

“None of them feel right. I don’t want to lock myself in - “ Until he’d said it, Serenity hadn’t realized that was the problem. Several of the weapons would work for the vague idea of a Path he had, but since his Path wasn’t fixed, he didn’t want to limit himself.

“Then don’t. Let’s see if you have the makings of a weaponsmaster. Choose a weapon, any weapon. Attack me. Each time I disarm you, choose another weapon. Let’s see how long you can last without repeating weapons.”

There were a lot of weapon options.

He picked up the weapon closest to hand - a spear - and moved cautiously towards the instructor. He knew she wouldn’t intentionally hurt him, but he also knew accidents were easy to have happen when there was a Tier difference, and she was definitely Tier 3. He also knew that rushing her would just have him on his ass, weaponless, immediately.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

They circled and Serenity moved in for a strike. She saw it coming - of course - and deflected it. He saw her hand start to wrap around it, going for the disarm, and pulled the spear away from her hand. He dropped the butt of the spear to hold her in place as she charged; she sidestepped and nearly batted the spear out of his hand.

It took her nearly ten minutes to disarm him. He dove for the weapons, grabbed a sickle, and turned to face her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t prepared for her to already be on top of him, and she smacked the sickle right out of his hand. He reached over and grabbed a small handaxe.

After an hour, the other demonstrations had stopped. There was no point - everyone was watching the two of them fight, including the other instructors.

Lunchtime came and went, and they were still fighting. He knew that if this were a real fight, he would be dead at least half a dozen times - he’d seen the openings she didn’t take, and where she didn’t follow up as quickly as she could, to allow him to get a weapon. He was not avoiding using potentially lethal attacks - they both knew that he had no chance of significantly injuring her, even if an attack landed.

It was midafternoon when he finally ran out of weapons he hadn’t used. Some had worked well for him (he’d held the waraxe for over half an hour, by far his longest), while others had not lasted long at all (he’d managed to avoid another as bad as the sickle, but several hadn’t lasted much longer). “That’s the last one.” He stepped back, expecting the match to be over.

“Unarmed, then! What have you got left?” Apparently it wasn’t.

The instructor charged at him, and he reflexively stepped to the side and threw her to the ground. He followed her down into a pin, but she almost immediately escaped. Mass mattered in this sort of fight, and he was nearly twice her mass. He used that to the best of his ability, but eventually her greater strength and skill won out and she trapped him, unable to move.

“I yield.”

The instructor stood up, and offered him a hand up. He didn’t feel all that tired, but he accepted anyway.

“Come here in the morning before breakfast, we’ll talk about your options. You may use the showers in the Armory. I’ll have a snack sent in, you look like you need it.”

Serenity had no idea what she meant until he made it into the room with the showers in the armory and caught sight of himself in one of the mirrors. Thomas had been on the pudgy side, carrying more weight than was really good for him. He now looked positively emaciated, except for the muscle he seemed to have added - all in the past few hours.

The hells?

Name: Serenity

Species: Human (Altered Template)

Path: N/A

Level: 0

Tier: 0

Path History: None

Condition: Starving

Mana: 110

Stamina: 180

Might: 4

Agility: 5

Phys: 8

Understanding: 2

Will: 3

Mind: 1

Perception: 8

Luck: 6 - 106%

Resistances: Unknown

Affinities: Unknown

Concepts: Unknown

Aspects: Unknown

Titles

Previous Supreme Existence

Altered Template

Named

That was … that was impossible. Physical abilities could - and for most, would - go up as people got into better shape, but two or three points per stat was generally all most people would manage, and that could take months. One exercise session - however long - simply wouldn’t do it. The body couldn’t work that quickly. And it didn’t affect the mental stats at all. Yet apparently it did work that way for him now.

This was either 29 or 35 levels’ worth of stat points at Tier 0 or Tier 1 - he wasn’t sure how Luck worked after all. It wouldn’t matter much later, but for now it was impressive, especially since he seemed to have a much higher baseline than normal for a Human.

He pulled up his notifications to see if they’d give a clue.

[+1 Agility]

[+1 Might]

[+1 Luck]

[+1 Phys]

....

[+1% Luck]

[+1 Perception]

[General skill with weapons, both armed and unarmed, has been Noticed. Additional Paths are opened.]

[Willingness to fight at a severe disadvantage through repeated failures until the absolute end has been Noticed. Additional Paths are opened.]

There wasn’t any information on what had happened, so he had no idea if the changes were finished or not. Maybe it was something from his Altered Template? It was really too bad that he couldn’t see what was in there.

Still, he now knew that the two Luck stats grew separately. That …. could be a major problem if his path needed them. Stat points are limited, and an extra stat to fill in could really hurt. On the other hand … if they were useful enough to take, they should be strong enough that it wouldn’t matter, hopefully.

There was a stack of simple outfits in a corner of the shower room, so he put those on instead of his sweat- and dirt-stained clothing. They looked like the clothes a few of the weapons instructors were wearing, but without the patch that identified them as instructors. When he walked out of the shower room, he found the “snack” the instructor had promised. It was far more than he - or any Tier 0 - could possibly eat in a single sitting. It was simple things - mostly meat, with some vegetables, bread, and cheese - but it was delicious. Probably because he was ravenous.

He ate all of it, and was still hungry.

A look in a mirror afterwards told him where it had gone. He now looked underweight instead of starving.

I think there are some Paths that can use weight to heal or restore mana or stamina, but … I didn’t think any of them could affect stat gain. I never had any of those Paths, though. Where is this coming from?