Watching as his dagger flew out from his hand was a rough experience for Damien. Ever since the System had given him his class as a rogue, he had felt safe while he had his blade in his hand. He thought that as long as he had his weapon, then he could find a way through any situation, but he was wrong. His sword soared through the air and dug into the ground of the forest as it landed. He had lost, the instructor reigned over him.
She approached his downed form, "Don't look so down kiddo, the whole thing about me losing is a fantasy. I am one step from becoming a Primer and I have a few thousand levels on you, so pick yourself up," she reached out her white hand for him to hold on to, he did with little hesitation. She was kind enough to dust his shoulders off the dirt that hit on him when she kicked him on his ass, "I'm actually impressed you held on for so long, I was honestly trying to disarm you after the first 30 seconds but you slipped your way out of my plans like a true rogue, you did good."
Receiving her praise took him a nudge of the hard reality he just faced, it's not possible to beat everyone, he learned that he had a long way to go before he as anywhere near a relevant level. It was one thing to hear about the Primers and high-level Climbers being like gods compared to newbies, it was a whole different experience actually crossing blades with one. If she had wanted to, a flick of her sword would have been all that stood between and becoming paste on the ground.
"Alright, go rest now. Next one, I don't expect you to last five minutes like this one but do more than the freebie 30 seconds I give you," the next rogue that went up against her had better gear than Damien's, likely from the Mercenary Guild.
"Hey sweetheart, if I last more than five minutes, how about you and me go out on a date as a reward for my hard work?" this new rogue was rather bold, his confidence allowed him to speak to the instructor as though she were a chick he found at a bar, the instructor barely reacted to his flirting though.
She looked him up and down before she answered, "I've lived thousands of years, I see you more like a baby than a man," the insult make the smooth-talker's ears go red, "But if you somehow manage to last the five minutes, then I wouldn't mind going out on a little date, hope that motivates you."
And motivate him it did, the excitement of going out on a date with the beautiful rogue was enough to get all the other rogues to start stretching for their turn, "Alright! Just you wait, I'll have you eat your words during our romantic dinner."
The instructor simply picked up her rapier and placed it into the same position she used to defend against Damien's assault, "Whatever you say."
The young rogue began his mad dash and swung his sword wildly, it came towards the instructor in wide predictable patterns which were easily deflected by small turnings of her rapier. He continued to run and went around behind her, he thrusted his short-sword to her back and his attack was parried without her needing to turn around. It was easy to see that the new rogue either underestimated the instructor severely or overestimated his own ability by a large margin. With each passing second his attacks became more predictable and his frustration grew. The 30 second mark was approaching.
Damien counted as the seconds ticked down, even if he wasn't the one doing the attacking, watching the unnamed instructor defend was a lesson in and out of itself. The way she conserved her motions in order to keep her sword at the center of her mass was not lost on him, she ensured that every move of her blade had purpose. And by keeping her sword near her core, she was always keeping the strength of her sword to the highest point possible, essential for defense.
The 30 seconds were up. The next frantic strike the rogue performed was the last, with a simple swipe of her hand, she caught his blade and yanked it off his grip. The spar was over.
The rogue started at his empty hands, "You should really learn not to talk big if you can't back it up, I hope you learned something from this. Next!" he was dismissed.
The enthusiasm from the rogues that were hoping to earn a date had quickly been killed on the spot, there was no chance to last more than a minute. More and more glances were thrown towards Damien, originally when he had lasted five minutes, it didn't seem all that impressive. Now it was clear he was an outlier, the fact that the next attempts from the rogues resulted in each and every one of them being disarmed at the 30 second mark cemented that.
Damien himself didn't think he performed all that great, still, he acknowledged that in comparison he had outperformed the others. The seeds for rumors regarding his ability were quietly planted.
The weeks of training went on like this until the training was almost over. Over the course of the two weeks, they had been training with the instructor on how to properly dodge, something they will be doing quite often from now on. How to properly see an enemy's weak spot and when to attack, it was all drilled into their heads, she called it the basic tools for a rogue to know.
Today as the last day of training, they would be sparring amongst each other; the anxiety of the group was palpable.
"Pair up, I want to see how much you have improved from the day we met, I've seen you grow, but I want to see those results in action," seeing the rogues awkwardly try to avoid being paired up with Damien gave the instructor a mild frustration, she hates cowards, "Alright fine I'll pair you up myself."
It only took her a moment to get all three pairs ready to go, she really wanted to see them fight already, "You two will start, you win by disarming your opponent, if serious harm will occur I will interfere so don't worry about hurting someone."
The two rogues she picked to go first stared at each other as they pulled out their blades, the wind ran through the forest leafs, then she gave the signal, "Start!"
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Damien observed the spar with a keen eye, he had quickly figured that in order to grow stronger he would have to internalize everything he could about the fights he witnessed. Even spars like these, you never knew when something useful would appear.
The last day of training progressed very quickly, people were eager to be done and get into their prearranged teams to tackle on the first test. The spars themselves were much like Damien had anticipated, something about the other rogues' technique he found rather lacking. He just didn't know what it was, maybe it was just that the instructor had raised the bar or it might have something to do with the extra EXP he earned from killing that Minotaur, either way, he was not too worried about his turn.
"Alright your turn, you've been doing great all this time so I'll kick your ass if you fail me now," the instructor's words were crude, but Damien understood that it was simply the way she way and it was her weird way of complimenting him. He stood up and went to his side of the clearing, they had been sparring on a clearing in the middle of the forest, his opponent stood a few yards ahead of him. The way he glared at him made it clear that he was still upset with him about what had happened on the first day. It wasn't Damien's fault he had run his mouth and ended up embarrassing himself, Damien thought nothing of the event and had not even bothered to remember his name. To him, his opponent didn't matter all that much.
Desmond had lived his life since waking up with excitement flowing through him at all times. He has woken up in a dark cave with a group of people, although he didn't remember anything about his past, his future was full of possibilities. A weird System had granted his a choice of classes, although warrior was tempting, he had ultimately decided on rogue because it seemed way cooler to him. The way the System augment his body and allowed him to do things he didn't even think were possible was amazing.
He passed the test on Level 0 with the help of a party he was drafted to, it was a fantastic experience. They ganged up on several small goblins and cleared the test with ease. When he arrived on this world-sized Level he had been shown the promise of greatness. Immortality, power, treasures of the greatest magnitude, and all the good that came with reaching the upper Levels and becoming a Primer. He thought that it was all within his reach, that it was all for him. He had yet to face hardship and assumed that he would have a grand adventure to the top. That was when training began.
When he saw the beautiful elf that was going to be his teacher, he thought that his luck was just increasing. A girl that had the allure of a goddess was dropped right on his lap after all. That was when that guy had the first spar with her.
He fought much more ferociously than what he had seen with his party, his strikes were all deliberate and quick. He was honestly impressed with his ability, but he was not jealous at all. If that guy could be that strong, then he thought he could as well. It was his turn. He tried to make a move on the teacher, although she ridiculed him, she gave him a chance. If he could last longer than the other guy, then he would be in.
But all his attacks were easily deflected and trivialized, she had called him a baby before the spar and as she played around with him, he truly felt like her words were true.
His frustration grew as time went on and soon he was disarmed and beaten. The possibilities he has thought endless were now becoming more grounded.
But it was not over, his chance to redeem himself stood in front of him.
He had trained hard over the past two weeks in hopes of improving far beyond that guy, he couldn't have asked for a better final spar. The rogue stood in front of Desmond with a blank expression, he hated to admit it but his handsome features coupled with his nonchalant attitude made him look composed and calm before the battle. It added a bit to the psychological aspect of the fight, but he tried his best to not let that get to him. He just needed to focus on winning.
"Start!"
The voice of the instructor was all he needed, he slowly approached the passive rogue. Unlike last time he was not about to get reckless and lose his temper, that was a major part of winning.
The rogue watched as he approached and observed every move that Desmond made, it was eerie. But the moment he stepped into his opponent's range his blade was unleashed. It swings with speed and precision at this side, the sudden attack caught Desmond off guard and he had to make a hasty backpedal to avoid getting hit. His opponent took advantage of his lack of footing to advance on him and press the attack.
Again the blade went out in slashes that wasted no movements, they only struck directly to their target. Desmond struggled to keep his guard up to parry and block each attack, each time he stopped an attack it would be less than a second before the next one arrived, it felt like a barrage of attacks from multiple people rather than a single person.
This motherfucker! He's too much! I have to use my skills!
Perhaps the thing that Desmond found to be more impressive than everything else was the skills that the System afforded you. With Shadow Step and Shadow Strike, he was able to move around quickly and deliver a blow with massive damage. It was his trump card.
As Desmond kept trying to regain his footing among the strikes that kept coming at him, he activated both his skills and felt the difference almost immediately. The way his body grew lighter spread around from the center of his body and soon reached his fingers.
For the first time in the spar, he was able to properly dodge an attack and have enough room to launch his counter, the blade felt heavy with power. The rogue immediately noticed Desmond's increase of speed and very likely activated his own skills.
It's too late! Even if you activate them now, I still will reach your neck first!
It was then that a new feeling reached Desmond, a push on his forearm. His eyes widened with surprise as he slowly realized that his Shadow Strike was being redirected by his opponent pushing with his hand. He had been too distracted with his opponent's blade that he failed to pay attention to his free hand. As his attack was redirected to a place where all damage would be avoided, Desmond recalled that this was exactly what had happened with the instructor and this rogue when they first sparred.
He had thought he had won, but the instructor deflected the attack with her wrist. It was the exact same. He was wide open for a counter-attack now, the rogue moved his blade to disarm Desmond and despite his best efforts, he failed to keep his hands on the sword. It flew out of his hand.
The realization he had lost settled on Desmond as his sword clanked as it landed on the floor.
He learned... What the instructor did to him, he learned from that and did it on me, I thought I was improving but I was just copying what he did. Why couldn't I improve like he did?
"Match!" the instructor's voice called the end of the spar.
As he sat on the dirt and his opponent looked at him with eyes that quickly dismissed him, Desmond had come to realize that natural-born talent was not something you could easily overcome.