I was stretching in the training grounds when they showed up, all four of them. Part of me had only expected the two swordsmen to come, but I wasn’t upset at seeing Liana and Amelia either. I figured they were only there for the foxes anyway, but that was okay.
“Hey, are those the adventurers?” Ento asked conspiratorially. “The one in the robes is pretty cute...”
I glanced between him and Liana, after having noticed she was an elf I realized even without enhanced senses she could probably hear Ento despite being far away. I assumed all of them could. I waved at them as they approached, wearing a strained smile as I was loosening up my muscles. I couldn't help it when my eyes flashed to Amelia, she was looking gorgeous as always, as if I'd known her longer than three days now. Her black hair shimmered in the budding sunlight, and her eyes gleamed as she sat in the sand, unworried about dirtying her skirt. I blushed when I caught her gaze and looked away.
“Yeah, they're pretty high level so they can probably hear ya ya know.” I mentioned casually, now bending over to touch my toes as I continued to limber up.
“Over the sound of the swords clashing? Doubt it.” Ento finished up his stretches and stepped a few yards away, giving his greatsword a few practice swings. “Are we sparring? That's why they're here right? To watch you spar?”
I nodded and lifted my training falchion, stepping back a bit to give us a decent circle to work with.
“No spells, Lios,” Calimax called out as he approached the adventurers. “You here to watch him? Or did ya want to spar too?”
I tuned out the conversation, taking a few deep breaths as I took a stance with my sword held in front of me. Ento had gotten much, much better and won one in four matches with me now. It didn't help that I put myself at a bit of a disadvantage by using a shorter sword against a greatsword, when I decided to use a glaive or a spear, something with longer reach, I typically had him beat. I nodded at him and we both began to circle each other to find an opening. Ento was holding his sword behind him pointed at the ground so that when I approached he could quickly react and swipe up at me using his full body to gather the momentum instantaneously.
It was a few moments before he moved, but the second he did I moved to intercept him so he couldn't build up more momentum. I was forced to deflect his sword rather than catch it as he rushed at me and slashed upwards towards my torso. I pushed the flying slab of steel upward as I ducked beneath the blade. I heard it whisper in the wind, the whistle shwooshing above me. My sword flashed towards him, at his unguarded side forcing him to leap back. No longer under his guard, I slashed again, this time grinning as he expertly caught the blade with his own. Sparks flew, despite these being training blades we still had enough force to shear the thick rounded edges enough to cause the flashes of steel to heat up and splinter.
“You’ve gotten really good Ento! But don't think just cause you're a higher level than me you’ll be able to beat me!” I taunted before slipping into a sword dance, moving with a certain rhythm that made me a touch more unpredictable. I weaved under his blade as he slashed horizontally, lunging forward to slash again at his unguarded side. He used his knee to push the flat of my blade, redirecting it before slipping under my strike.
“Come off it Lios, I cant even be that much higher level. Prick.” Ento rebutted, panting from the exertion swinging the heavy sword. He cleaved downward this time, which I parried and side stepped.
I had some sweat beading up but was breathing fine. I glanced to the sidelines seeing the adventurers watching us while casually chatting with my father and Calimax. Liana was sat cross legged in the sand teaching Luka a trick with a scrap of meat in her hand while Amelia was chasing the ever energetic Sky. I laughed and weaved my way around another of Entos strikes, the sword wooshing past me, almost too close for comfort.
“Am I such an easy opponent you can afford to get distracted?” The older boy yelled out, starting to use a skill that would increase his momentum by having him move in a circular spiraling pattern.
“Oh shit, taking it seriously?” I yelped as the blade fell near me. My dad didn't mind when I swore amongst the guards despite my mothers insistence that I keep myself proper. I knew from experience that once it got going I’d be hard pressed to block it, and he would only grow faster. I brace myself, my hand on the ridge of my sword as I took his second strike against my blade. My arm trembled from the effort of stopping it, I heard my elbow crack though as painful as it was it felt almost nice. I felt myself being pushed back, two gouges forming in the sand and I bit back my growing smile, attempting to focus. I breathed in deep, activating [Meditation] to keep my focus on what was important and prevent my mind from wandering, and felt myself calm. I slipped from under the oppressive weight of my friend's skill, his sword, and most importantly his overwhelming strength. The sudden release of resistance as I slipped back caused Ento to pull forward, in the direction of his force. Taking a deep calming breath I started to take it more seriously.
He resumed his spinning, forcing me to dodge the spiraling blade. I weaved past it, under it, even leaping over it as needed as he sped up. I kept my [Meditation] going, difficult as it was to do so during a fight, occasionally being forced to parry and block his strikes. My arms were growing tired from the constant impacts, even if they were deflected. I steeled myself as I finally saw the opening I was looking for. My opponent wasn't able to keep his skill active forever, the longer it was up the more fatigued he would become. As soon as he faltered, slowed down the slightest amount, I slipped beneath his guard and raised my sword to his neck. He stopped instantly, a frown breaking out over his features.
“Damn. I thought I had ya this time.” Ento muttered as he lowered his blade, panting.
“You were damn close a few times. Your whirlwind skill is spooky once it gets going.” I patted him on the shoulder, turning my attention to my potential future party. “Hell, Elric looks like he might just recruit you instead of me.”
“You're not wrong kid!” Elric called out and stepped towards us. “Ye almost have your second class other kid?”
“One level away, sir.” Ento straightened up when Elric directed his attention to him.
“Wondrous. You got some potential. If ya want I can show you a couple techniques or you can watch Adrien test your buddy. Up to you, if you need the breather.”
“What do you mean, Adrien wants to test me?” I interjected, glancing at the tattooed man. His arms were crossed as he looked over at me. After a second of staring he said something to my father and walked in my direction.
“I-I would be glad to receive some tips.” Ento was staring at the huge black bladed greatsword on Elrics back.
“Great, let's step over there. These two will need some room.” Elric dragged away my friend without answering my question. I was beginning to notice a pattern with the man.
Adrien walked forward until he was about fifteen feet away from me. Before he could say anything the Captain of the Guard called out, “Listen up folks, our guests wanna have a full spar with Lios, if you dun wanna get caught up in the crossfire make sure to step back. Or if ya wanna watch it.” Then he gave me a thumbs up and giant toothy grin. “Show em who's boss Lios!”
“You can use your magic. Come at me with everything you've got. We need to know what you can do before we take you with us.” Adrien drew his sword but left it in its sheath. “Remember, don't hold back. I can hold my own, Lios.”
I grinned at him as I took up a stance and began circling him. I had developed a few more sword dances over the years but my favorites were the two they had seen already. Aside from them I had come up with one that acted as a shockwave and another that created stone spikes around me. These could be adjusted to make a more direct attack as well, but most of them were created as defensive spells initially and expanded on from there. It was a single rune difference, so it wasn't hard to make the adjustment on the fly. I started to subtly trace the first few lines as I stepped around the elder warrior.
Gulping and finally steeling myself to strike, I leapt forward, twirling while I was out of range to build momentum and draw another rune, and slashed low at Adrien. He responded in kind, his blade thrusting forward forcing me to side step. We exchanged a few blows before I jumped backwards, back to where I had started to trace my runes. I panted a bit. It was clear the man was holding back but it wasn’t enough for me to not have to exert energy in the fight. For one, he didn’t strike out at me all that much unless I left a clear opening.
I started another spell as lightning formed over the blade of my falchion, the first spell having been activated. I twisted and launched a blade of lightning at Adrien, whose eyes widened in surprise as he leapt over it. As he was still in the air I launched another, the spell providing enough energy for three blades. As soon as the third entered the air, Adrien having blocked the second, I released my next spell feeling some of my meager mana supply flow into it. This time I waited a few moments, holding the flames on my blade and rushing him. On my approach I began a third runedance. These dances consisting of only five runes made them quick but weak when facing opponents stronger than me, but that didn't make them worthless. I clashed blades with him, mine engulfed in flames.
I waited, holding the third spell and starting a fourth. I was intending to use the same combo from the goblin camp except as a slashing attack. I had no illusions that Adrien couldn't just jump into the air to avoid the wave version, plus the direct attacks were a bit more powerful and had a much higher chance of reaching my opponent as long as I was smart with them. The fire on my blade dissipated as Adrien only blocked my strikes, pursing his lips.
He grunted as I attempted to slip behind him. “That won't work on me kid.”
As he spoke I finished the fourth spell and activated them both, the mental energy of holding them both together as wind and flame blazed over my blade was significant. I had only ever tried this as a wave and instant activation spell, but I was excited to see what my ranged attacks would look like using inferno. I stepped back and slashed vertically at Adrien, who promptly sidestepped but I noticed his pants had caught some cinders and were lighting up. The fire was close to burning me, my own hand was starting to redden from the proximity, and I was sweating quite a bit. I’d need to launch the last two quickly.
I spun to the side and launched a second then a third in quick succession, the sizzle in the air proof of the heat being exerted by the inferno slash. I grinned even as Adrien parried the first, the other was just behind it and he didn't have time to parry it as well. He reached out a hand and caught the inferno, closing his hand he dissipated the spell. I frowned in disappointment.
Just as I was about to begin a fifth dance he raised a hand up. “That's enough.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Looking closer I saw that there were blisters on his palm. “So, did I pass?”
He ignored my question and turned to his companions. Elric was still on the other side of the clearing with Ento, but the other two were staring at us intently. They each nodded at him. “You can travel with us. We will discuss terms on the road. How do you cast your magic, that wasn't sorcery was it?”
There was a gleam in his eyes as he asked. Sorcery was what we called system based magic, whereas wizards used runes, incantations, or other means outside of the system to cast spells. I wondered how much I should tell him before Liana stepped up, Luka trailing behind her,
“It was wizardry but I couldn’t tell how you did it...” She gave me an approving nod. “Quite impressive to be able to even lay a mark on someone nearly four times your level though.”
Four? Was Adrien that strong? I thought to myself. “Thank you, and you Adrien. I trust you saw enough?”
“I did. You're quite capable for your age. I saw some areas of improvement but we can discuss that later, too.” The tattooed man walked close to my father, Max and the captain. “Whoever trained him did a great job.”
I walked towards them as my father sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “He mostly trained himself, I just set him on the right path.”
“I apologize, I feel like I should probably head to the forge, is the plan still to leave tomorrow at dawn Adrien?” I interrupted the conversation.
“It is, see you then,” The tanned man replied.
I picked up some bread and a skewer of meat on the way over. I wasn't sure what the meat was exactly but I was guessing it was rabbit. I took a large bite, my stomach growling after using so much mana to throw so many sword dances at Adrien. Grease trailed down my cheek and I split a second skewer between Luka and Sky. The girls had offered to watch over them but quickly acquiesced after Adrien informed them they had a job for this afternoon that they needed to complete if they were to stay on schedule. I knew there was a lot of work left on my sword, although I had shaped out the blade already. I gave the two apprentices a nod as Derren was speaking to a customer. From the snippet I heard before tuning it out it seemed he was taking an order for a metric ton of nails, the customer was a carpenter who I recognized but couldn't recall the name of.
I verified that there were no orders for me to work on and immediately set out to work on my sword. Despite having the shape there was still a ton more work to be done: designing and installing a handle, pommel and hilt, heat treating, polishing the blade, sharpening it, and making a sheath. Normally I’d have a few hours over a couple days to accomplish this series of tasks, and even with the systems help it took a while which is why I'd come to the forge early.
I got to work heat treating the blade. I heated it in the forge, pumping the bellows for a few moments to ensure the forge was hot enough, until it was glowing. Then, I quickly but carefully dunked the sword into a tube filled with oil, lighting the surface layer as the oil quickly boiled before settling down. When I pulled it from the oil I checked to make sure the blade was still straight, making sure it hadn’t warped from the treatment. Next I set it in one of the regulated ovens over top of the forge to bring it up to temperature to temper. While I waited for it to heat back up, slower this time and more controlled, I selected a scrapped piece of a hard dark wood to use as the handle.
I started hollowing out the handle with a hand drill, prepping it to wrap over the tang of the sword. It didn’t take long for the blade to reach my desired temperature and once it did I held it over open flames carefully tempering it, heating it until the steel glowed like wheat and the center of the longsword shone blue. The quicksilver and orichalcrum mixed throughout gave the sword an interesting gleam, the dull blue-gray of steel clashed with the bright quicksilver and greenish orichalcrum. It wasn't overly visible just yet, but I knew once it was polished and given an acid treatment the damascus would be gorgeous and the metals would contrast all the more.
I worked patiently, falling into a trancelike state as I fitted the handle. It took a ton of precision, I would be using this sword for the foreseeable future and wanted to ensure it would be comfortable and would fit over the tang without any wiggle room. Once I got it fitted I removed it, there was still more work to be done. I carved the exterior of the handle, shaping it to fit perfectly in my hands. Given that the sword would be amorphous, or shapechanging, I wanted to be sure that the handle was comfortable for a variety of different sword shapes. Once I was happy with the handle I took a bit of the scrap, a chunk, of damascus that I’d used to craft the blade and began to forge a hilt. I made something simple, just a flat crossguard that I twisted near the ends to add a little bit of flair.
I barely noticed as Derren stopped by to check my progress, though I did stop long enough to tell him I’d be leaving the next day. He looked a touch sad about it, but didn’t press the issue. He knew this would always be the case, that I would leave eventually.
It wasn’t until dark that I was happy with the handle and hilt and that I could start working on the pommel. At this point I was happy with the hardness for the blade as well and I decided to give it the acid treatment. I dipped a piece of scrap damascus first, I wanted to make sure the ratio of acid to water was correct before accidentally ruining my sword. I pulled it out after around ten minutes and rinsed it, gasping at the pattern. The ratio was exactly what I’d wanted. The orichalcrum positively glowed and the steel shone with a blueish tint. I was still nervous as I tentatively dipped the blade into the tube, if something went wrong now there was no time to fix it.
“Lios, dear, I brought you supper.” I turned, startled, to see my mother and father standing next to Derren who was stroking his beard as my father and him spoke.
“Is it already supper time?” My stomach made itself heard as I asked. Luka and Sky were already beside my parents, definitely not begging.
“It is. Will you be able to make it home tonight? Or should we plan to see you at the gate in the morning.” She handed me a box that was warm to the touch. I opened it to see some stew, and felt myself tear up a little bit. This very well could be the last time I'd enjoy my mothers cooking, at least for a long time. Despite my complaints in my earlier years I knew I'd definitely miss it. Something about a parents cooking, and especially since I’d be on the road a while I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to enjoy fresh meals every night. I set the box down and wrapped her in a hug.
“I'll be home... I love you. Thank you for supper.” I sniffled a bit. I withdrew and immediately started chowing down, I hadn't realized just how hungry I was.
As I was eating my dad stood by me. “How’s the sword coming? Will you have it done?”
“Of course I will, was there any doubt?” I replied with a mouth full of potato, keeping track of how long the blade had been sitting in the acid. Just before I could pull it out myself Derren did so.
“Lios, boy, le’ me take cur o’ da rest. Go home, get some sleep. It’s practly done as is aint it?” my teacher said, keeping the sword from my view as he wiped it off. He let out a low whistle.
“Derren, I can't ask you to stay up to finish-”
“Damn ya, Lios, let yer teacha do one lass thing for ye.” He growled at me and I smiled. “I’ll see ya at da gate, dont ya worry it’ll be a beauty.”
“You just want to take credit for my masterpiece!” I protested jokingly. I let out a chuckle as my parents started to drag me away. “What was the point of bringing me supper if you're just gonna take me back home anyway..?”
“You need rest before tomorrow, you’ll be starting a long journey you know.” My mother didn’t stop as she forced me to follow, pulling on my arm. “You'll want a bath before you depart too, divines know when you’ll get a chance at one.
I let them drag me away. They were right. I'd need the rest and time to pack a bag. I went to bed as soon as we got home, intending to wake up earlier than normal. In the morning I stuffed a couple changes of clothes, my light coin purse, and my journals filled with my spell ideas and practice. I also shoved in the book of flora that my mother had gotten me a while back. I had only seen maybe a quarter of the items in it in person, as the rest was in different parts of Jorial. I wanted to take the rune books with me too but they were heavy and my [Rune Compendium] skill gave me perfect recollection of any runes that the system deemed I had learned, which was all of them in the two books. I glanced at the moon falling over the trees and knew I only had about two more hours till I was to meet the others. I grabbed one of my sets of self cleaning, self repairing clothes and rushed to the stream.
I was without my companions this time. I slipped into the frigid fall water, colder still due to the dark, shivering. Recent rains had raised the water level and it rushed past me excitedly. I hadn’t had a great chance to check my notifications since meeting the adventurers and decided to see what I had earned.
You have slain Goblin Warrior LVL:31
You have slain Goblin Matron LVL:36
...
You have slain Goblin Warrior LVL:46
You have slain Goblin Chief LVL:48
Congratulations you have leveled up!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
...
Congratulations you have leveled up!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
I had killed a total of fifteen goblins and leveled seven times up to forty eight, but that wasn't all of my gains. I had a spattering of skill increases as well, mostly just skills that I had reached a cap in. A skill couldn’t rise to a level higher than my highest class level. On top of all of that I’d received two achievements as well.
[Assassin!]
You have stalked, watched, and executed your target to perfection! Not much else is as satisfying as coldly, callously slaughtering an unsuspecting foe. Be they an innocent or a sinner who you were hired to kill, they have perished to your blade hidden in the shadows(which is pretty shocking because you are not the most sneaky). The poor goblin you stabbed through the neck was dreaming about tearing asunder the countryside with its kin and raiding the small towns, so perhaps you did the world a favor.
+3 to Dex
I stared at the comment about my sneakiness for a moment but figured this message was significantly more tame than the previous ones. I turned my attention to the second achievement.
[Merciless Executioner]
You successfully slew ten or more enemies who weren't even aware of you within a fifteen second period. You could do better, next time try for twenty of those icky goblin fucks. They were hardly even aware they were being so heartlessly murdered, you monster.
Deal increased damage against those who are unaware of your presence.
I didn’t particularly care for the second achievement. I wasn’t pushing to be an assassin or anything of the sort, nor would any of my future skills facilitate that, so I wasn’t sure if I'd even get use out of the benefit. Even so, I wasn’t upset with it. I was a little put off by how easily I had killed the goblins, creatures with fairly humanoid features, considering I had never killed anything in my previous life. I didn’t hold any guilt, which I wondered about. Am I a monster? Or will I feel something different when I kill another human?
I knew it wasn't a question of if this world was violent even without my added influence. The life of adventure was rife with cutthroats and bandits, of dangers from the world as well as from its people. They were only human after all. Well, and dwarves, beastfolk, elves, gnomes and... I don't know how many others.
I shook my head of the thought as I pulled myself out of the stream, I had been hoping to see Brook before I left but I hadn’t seen her for a number of years. I suspected it had something to do with the Dread Wastes, but I couldn't be too sure. As I walked through the woods I opened my status, to check my levels for the first time in a long time. Unless I was trying to train a specific skill I often didn’t check my levels else I’d do so impulsively and often.
[Name]
Alexilios
[Race]
Human
[Class]
[Bladedancer] lvl 48
[Class Skills]
[Bladed Weapon Mastery] LVL:48
[Runedancing] LVL: 48
[Dodging] LVL:45
[Intuition] LVL:29
[Mana Sense] LVL:35
[Mana Manipulation] LVL:46
[Rune Compendium] LVL:48
[He Who Wanders] LVL:3
[Runesight] LVL:39
1x Unavailable
[General Skills]
[Running] LVL:41
[Runic Inscribing] LVL:33
[Runeweaving] LVL:30
[Runesmithing] LVL:45
[Meditation] LVL:23
[Fox Friend] LVL:48
[Distant Recollections] LVl:12
[Cooking] LVL:22
[Pain Resistance] LVL:7
[Training] LVL:41
I was closing in on level fifty, which would allow me to select my second class. I was hoping it would also allow my [Fox Friend] skill to evolve into a companion pact with Luka and Sky, though there was a chance that I'd need to wait until the skill itself leveled up.
I neared the house, noting the lights were on. I had about an hour left before I left with the adventurers, and I intended to spend it with my parents before I went on my way.