“Sorry, y’all, I’ve never trained anyone before so bear with me. How much experience do you guys have?” I was a bit nervous but I attempted to cover it with a small sense of bravado. I mean, I probably wasn’t really qualified to teach other people just yet.

“I’ve only ever played sword fighting before, never a real fight or spar,” Ento admitted shyly. The other two mouthed affirmations, confirming that they, too, had never wielded an actual sword or practiced.

“Wonderful! That will make things a touch easier I think. I can build your foundations from the ground up. Okay, uhm next question. Do you know what weapons you wanted to use?” I waved my hand towards the circle of training weapons.

Ento, again, answered first. “I’d prefer to use a greatsword but otherwise a longsword would be fine until I can master the basics.”

“Great! Feel free to grab the longsword and try a couple of practice swings,” I said as I turned to the other two. “And what of you?”

“I want something I can be fast with.” Ralphy uttered somewhat excitedly, clearly eying the rapier.

“Good, I see you already have an idea what specifically you want to try out. Go for it.” I nodded to the rapier, before turning back to Maya. “And you?”

“I I don't really know... Not a sword though, I don't think.” Her voice was quiet, timid. I was already hoping she’d have more confidence after a bit of training. I eyed the remaining weapons, the only ones I had that weren’t swords were a spear, a quarterstaff, and a glaive. I tapped my chin, considering the three before I pulled the spear from the ground and handed it to her.

“Give the spear a try. There’s a lot of easy to master basic techniques, and some more complicated maneuvers you can take with it.”

“Yes sir!” Her eyes were gleaming a little bit as she took the weapon.

“Okay, this may seem silly but before you can take up your weapon and begin practicing we will want to stretch.” I smiled at them all, having already been working out for some time this morning, my body was a touch sore, and ready to be stretched out. “Follow what I’m doing, okay?”

I took us through a fifteen or so minute stretching routine, letting my new trainees limber up so they wouldn’t pull a muscle.

“Okay, so, second thing I want to do is have you guys practice some basic techniques. I’ll have to show you one at a time so what I’ll do is I’ll show you a couple, then you can practice while I help the others. Does this work for you guys?” I waited a few moments as they confirmed. Afterwards I approached Ento and began to instruct him.

“Okay, let's get you into a proper stance. Once you get used to stances we will eventually move on to footwork techniques, after all combat isn’t motionless. But first we need to set a solid foundation.” I settled into a stance, one foot before me with the knee slightly bent, the other behind me, leg extended a touch, with the foot perpendicular to the other. I took up my shortsword and held it as though it were a longsword, in front of me in both hands. My grip was firm but loose, allowing me to twist my blade as needed.

“Okay, see if you can't emulate this stance, Ento.” I held it as he attempted to take the same stance. He was close, but his rear foot was too far extended so I stepped behind him, using a foot to guide his to the correct placement. I rotated his shoulders a bit to square him up before looking at the grip on his sword. “It's good to keep a firm grip, however the hand near the pommel should be a little loose. It will help you more easily guide the blade, as you may need to rotate it in the moment, twist to counter a strike, or any number of other scenarios. Okay, now I’ll show you the first set of basic techniques.”

I spent around fifteen minutes showing Ento how to swing his sword while maintaining his stance. I had him step forward, to the sides, and backwards while rotating through an eight technique cycle that kept him in a relatively small area. Smiling, I instructed him to follow the pattern until he couldn’t anymore, which may have seemed brutal in my past life but that's essentially what I did when I first started training. The others watched us, Maya emulated the stance and some of the movements, trying to make them work for the spear, while Ralphy just observed.

“Ralphy! You ready?” I called out to him and he straightened up quickly. “Okay, first off, the way you would fight with a longsword and a rapier are different. With a longsword you might have longer reach, be capable of more powerful strikes, and be more easily able to unbalance your opponents if you know the proper techniques.” I gave a short pause and noticed Ento was listening in. Good. “However, with a rapier you need to have sharper techniques, more finesse. You need to be able to slip under and into an opponent's guard, and get out quickly. You can parry of course, but your greatest strength needs to be your agility, and ability to not get hit.”

“You will, however, take a similar stance, only the way you hold a sword will vary for now.” I took the stance, and rather than facing forward I twisted a bit so my body made a thinner profile, holding the sword out with one hand. I demonstrated a few flourishes, showing off some of the more complex techniques, ones I had built from the basics.

“The movements I just performed were all based on basic techniques. Fighting, like most skills, builds upon itself. It’s important to be proficient with the fundamentals before you move onto more complex maneuvers. Now, I’ll show you a few techniques to start practicing.” I showed him a basic lunge, a few slashing techniques, and a basic stab, correcting his form for the first few attempts until he was close enough.

“When do we spar?” Ento asked gruffly as he kept up with the tedious exercises.

“Later, once you have a general understanding of how to move and can last longer than two minutes in a fight. Maybe in two or three days, I know what I'm having you do seems monotonous but it's important.” I smiled at the boy. “I promise once you guys get used to it you'll understand. And you’ll thank me.”

Ralphy, wielding his rapier, chuckled a little bit. “I’ve only just started and my legs are already on fire... How do you do this all day?”

“Years of practice, that's the only real secret. Now, Maya, let's get you started.” I said as I stabbed the sword I had been demonstrating with into the ground and tugging the quarterstaff out. I held it as though the ribbon at the end were a spearpoint. “You'll want to take a wider stance with the spear. In the future you'll have to decide if you want to focus more on a dexterous or strength based fighting technique, but for now I’ll show you something more balanced.”

She followed along as I showed her how to stab, how to parry and use the reach of the spear to counterattack. All basic spearmanship techniques. I showed her how to grip it, how to move with it. There were far fewer basic attacking techniques than with the longsword or the rapier, but that just allowed me to focus more on the few striking techniques I could teach her.

“The advantages of the spear are the following: reach, leverage meaning you can strike much harder than the typical sword, assuming you're able to generate enough inertia-”

“What is inertia?” Maya interjected, sweat was beading on her forehead by now. I had been showing her new techniques as Ento and Ralphy practiced, for around fifteen minutes. Those two were already shaking, Ento more so, his arms trembling and sweat soaking his jerkin.

“Inertia is like... Its the force of movement, to put it simply. If you were on a carriage for example and it was going full speed while you were standing but suddenly stopped, you’d keep going full speed if that makes sense. In terms of spearwork, when you generate enough momentum or inertia there will be a higher impact than if you started from here to strike someone.” I punctuated the instruction by demonstrating a close strike, with little room between me and my opponent. Then I followed with one where I lunged a full step.

“You can still have a powerful strike in a short span of space, but by stepping back and then lunging forward you’ll be able to produce a much stronger thrust. Does that make sense?”

“I... I think so...” Maya didn’t sound confident.

“Hmmph.” I turn to see Ento panting while kneeling on one knee.

“Alright my friends let us take a break by the well before we continue. I’ll have you guys continue to practice your techniques until lunch but you can feel free to take it slow. Your bodies aren't used to this kind of exercise, its very different from running and playing.” At my words both Ento and Ralphy sigh with relief.

As we walked over to the well everyone was quiet, it wasn't a far walk but still. I pulled the bucket, and dipped a ladle into the water, pouring it over my back before handing it over to the others. “Drink a bit of water, dehydration is horrible. I suggest you don't let yourselves experience it. I’m going to go practice my sword dances, feel free to resume your training hen you’re ready!”

“W wait, Lios!” Ralphy said as he sat down.

“What is it?”

“Thanks, for teaching us I mean. I mean you’re like the same age as us but you're really good with all these weapons, its crazy.” He looked a little shy but the other two were nodding along in agreement.

“No problem. I’m glad to be able to help you all.” I sighed and turned back towards the circle of weapons. “Besides, I won't lie, it gets a little lonely playing with swords by myself.”

With that I left them to their own devices. I started practicing the various techniques I’d learned and came up with for the quarterstaff. I cycled through the exercises while my new friends took their break. Brioche returned just as they came back over, Ento not allowing his sore legs to stop him from practicing.

I observed them as they practiced with me, a smile growing on my face as they chattered occasionally, taking a break together every fifteen or so minutes. After a couple of hours, with me interrupting them from time to time to teach them something or correct their forms, I glanced towards the door and noticed my mother waiting beside it. I looked up to the sky, seeing that the sun had risen a substantial amount.

“Alright, lunch time! Probably safe to be finished for the day as well.Come come, lets see if my mom made enough for everyone.”

As I mentioned food, Maya and Entos tummies gurgled, eliciting a sheepish grin from both of them. We headed over to the house and my mother waved us all in. “I hope my boy hasn’t been too harsh on you all, his father doesn’t know the word restraint and I fear he has taken lessons in the matter.” She laughed as there were four plates already on the table. As I sat down I let Brioche up on my lap.

“He’s been great Miss...” Ento started but realized he didn’t know my mothers name. “It’s not his fault my body can't take it.

Ralphy was already halfway through the plate of meat bread and fruit. His mouth was full as he chuckled a little bit. “Yeah, he's a really good teacher I think.”

My heart warmed as I picked up my fork. I started with a piece of meat ignoring Brioches begging. I dipped my bread in the gravy of the beef roast, raised the bread to my mouth, then watched as Brioche, from her position on my lap, lurched forward and yoinked my beef straight from the plate. I attempted to react, to stop her from taking my lunch, but I wasn’t fast enough. She cackled a bit, as foxes are wont to do, as she leapt from my lap and to the other side of the room. By the time I got to her my food was swallowed and gone, and my mother was stifling a laugh. The three kiddos were not stifling any laughter.

I glared at the fox as she attempted to climb back into my lap after finishing her food, which I let her after a minute or so of whining, and after pushing my plate further towards the center of the table. We talked for a bit, before my mother went out to deliver some clothes that the mayor's wife had ordered from her.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Alright my friends I’m afraid that I’ve got some studying to do. You’re more than welcome to join me but, it’ll be boring I'm sure,” I said as I pulled the books on enchanting from under my pillow in the other room.

“Tomorrow then? You'll train us some more?” Ralphy asked, unsure of himself.

The other two looked at me expectantly. “As long as you guys want my help I’ll help. I promise, just come back before lunch. Oh! I do suggest a bath though before you return home, it'll help soothe your muscles and make waking up tomorrow easier. Oh and juice, drink juice if you can.” I was about to go on a tangent about the necessity of staying hydrated and ensuring you had a healthy amount of sugar when training, among other nutritional advice but stopped myself. Given what I knew about this world and their healthcare, I thought my knowledge on medicine and anatomy would go over their heads. Plus they were kids.

They left a few moments later, leaving me to read my new books and make notes. I set a sheaf of paper next to me, gathered my quill and ink, and got to work. I started with ‘Introduction to Lexico Runwrit’, as the other seemed to put a more practical application to actually using the runes.

Runecrafting is a varied and respected field of magic and wizardry. To use Runes is to rewrite the laws of the world to suit one's needs, to bring the full potential out of the materials we craft with, and to utilize the mana of the world for our unique purposes.

A majority of wizards take to learning Runecraft in some way or another, be it to inscribe spellbooks, enchant objects, or form a spell ritual, most wizards tend to use runes in their day to day lives. One of the most rudimentary Rune languages, for there are several dozen, is Lexico. Due to the lack of complexity in Lexico Runes, many scholars posit that it is weak, inept, and insufficient for the purpose of enchanting or spellcraft. I, however, find that they lack creativity.

Know this, fledgling scholar, while it is true that Lexico Runes may only maintain a runecircle of a maximum of five Runes, the runecircle will follow the will of the creator. What this means is that while the circle may hold only five Runes, the same circle with the same five Runes will react differently with the world dependant on the creator's intentions, mana signature, environment, and other factors, when activated by a different creator. That being said, a runecircle will behave in a determinate way based on the specific runes that are used within them. One does not always have to focus on the intended effects if the basic effect of the spell or enchantment is what they are after, and they cannot will the circle to behave in a way opposing to the Runes within the circle.

The author went on to explain how, while an individual rune circle using only Lexico runes could only hold five runes, a circle containing other languages could oftentimes house a subcircle for Lexico runes. I spent a number of hours hunched over the table reading and taking notes. I didn’t get into the runes themselves just yet, the first chapter was about safety precautions because, despite being one of the safer languages, accidents could and would happen. Some folk would pour too much mana into a circuit and overload it, demolishing their limbs or worse.

One particularly gruesome accident that I witnessed was when one of my students, a boy named Gerome, accidently drew the separate rune instead of the stretch rune. For some reason the two were eerily similar, though their effects were vast in differences. The students arms, the subject of the enchantment, were both severed at the elbow. The boy screamed for several minutes as his arms were just torn away from him. The spell he was casting was simply meant to elongate his limbs temporarily, but a lack of double checking his work resulted in him finding it nearly impossible to continue as a wizard. Healers who can reattach limbs are rare, and even rarer are those who can replace limbs.

The first steps in caution are of the utmost import, but so too are the later steps. Test your enchantments and spells rigorously, find every flaw before you attempt to cast it on yourself. Understanding and perfecting your craft prior to creating the enchanted item or spell will save you pain, heartache, woes and ire.

As the sun fell, I read. I learned much about enchanting, spellcraft, and of course runes. I took notes furiously. I was so engrossed in my studying that I hardly noticed my mother had returned and started making supper. I had three pages full of writing and a fourth about halfway finished when my Father pulled the book away from me. As it left my field of view I let out a slight exasperated whine, much to my parents' chagrin.

“Lios, love, it’s supper time. Plus if you keep reading I won't be able to teach you that thing,” My mother said in a conspiring tone, my father glancing between the two of us.

I looked outside, seeing that the sun was low. I looked around and sheepishly put my papers back under my pillow, noticing the lovely smell of fresh bread, a common scent in this house, and seasoned chicken. There was also a salad on my plate but it looked like mother and father had already eaten half of their food.

“Sorry, I guess I was distracted.”

“”Distracted? I don't think that covers it honestly. The book isn’t going anywhere, you can read more tomorrow. But what's the secret thing your mother is going to teach you?”My father tilted his head, his drinking horn was out and beside it was a bottle of mead.

“Oh nothing to concern yourself with Father, just something that will help me best you in a fight when comes the time.” I started digging into the food, I hadn’t realized just how hungry I had become while studying.

“Come now, you know you won't best me even if you're a hundred levels higher than me.” Father laughed with the gusto of the northern dwarves, a deep heavy guffaw.

We bantered like that for a while, with food melting into my mouth before I begged father to regale me tales of his adventuring days. He hadn’t been an adventurer for too long before meeting my mother, but even still he had faced perils that I had never imagined in my previous life. I sat with my hands folded under my chin, eyes wide with childlike wonder, and mouth hanging open at certain points of his story.

“... And then the queen of the fae folk descended to our realm to speak with the giant turtle we were trying to relocate, or kill, and asked if he’d like a spot in her court. Before we knew it she absconded with the massive tortoise. The village folk thought we did something and threw us a feast with our choice of women and booze, but really we didn’t do much. We hadn’t even summoned the fae queen, but we did enjoy the party.” At the mention of women I threw a glance at my mother, watching as she glared at him. I chuckled.

A week or so later, after keeping up with my newish routine, I fulfilled my promise to the trainees. We had a spar. During the week, however, my days were very similar. I would train before breakfast by myself, sometimes dad would spar with me, then I’d train the kids, go get a bath and return to my runestudies until dinner. I was starting to copy down the runes, but the warnings of the author had me making sure to perfect each rune by copying them down over and over and making flashcards so I could recognize them individually.

“Alright guys, are you all ready for this? Your goal will be to hit me. If any of you three hit me you'll win the spar.” I smiled a bit arrogantly as it took them a few moments to process.

“You want all three of us to attack you?” Ento asked while chewing his cheek.

“Lios, isn't that dangerous? What if we hurt you?” Maya's eyes widened as she understood the implication.

I picked up the quarterstaff, my weapon of choice this time. I'd likely do better with a sword or the glaive, though that particular weapon was heavy and hard for me to wield after a while, but I wanted to challenge myself. I stood in a combat stance, shirtless with brown trousers and my long carmine hair billowing over my shoulders. “Don’t leave me waiting. It would take another three of you to make this a fair fight.”

I was hoping by being cocky I’d ignite the competitive spark in the three and I was rewarded pretty quickly. Both Ento and Ralphy charged at me, working separately as they charged head on. Ento swung his longsword towards my legs, but I dodged by stepping back twice. Ralphy had attempted to stab me which I quickly parried. “Come on, is that all you’ve got? Maya, see, I won't get hurt. You guys simply aren’t capable.” I sneered at them, dodging another series of strikes as Maya rushed around the others and towards my back, effectively flanking me. I snarled as she thrust her spear at me, sweat starting to bead on Ento and Ralphys foreheads.

My staff knocked her spear to the side causing her to stumble a bit. I flashed the butt of it in her face, but stopped before impact so all she was struck by was the red ribbon tied to the end. Ducking low to dodge another longsword swing I swept Ralphy off his feet with a hook kick.

“Ento, the sword is leading you, you need better control. Its a lot harder to swing while moving, move with it dont let it drag you.” Ralphy stood back up panting, stepping back to reevaluate as Mayas spear shot past my shoulder, missing by a few inches. “Maya, for now aim for my center of mass, it’ll make it harder for me to dodge even if I’m a bit faster than you.”

I knocked the rapier away as Ralphy made his move, using my new dance techniques to sidle my way away from each of my friends' attacks. “Ralphy, youre thinking too much. You need to just do.” My staff met the side of Entos thigh, eliciting a soft yelp.

“How can you keep talking with all of us coming at you?” The boy clutched his leg and glared at me.

“See how y’all are sweating? Well, you aren't enough of a challenge to make me sweat.” I smiled at them as they came at me again. They had endured training for a full week already, and their bodies were sore. Even still they kept getting up, kept coming at me.

We sparred only for around fifteen minutes, but afterwards I started teaching them about footwork techniques as Brioche came out to visit us. She nipped at ankles for attention causing the kids to giggle. I had them run through some drills to learn the techniques for some hours, until lunch was ready after which they left, and I was left to my rune studies.

Well, that is, after my bath. I jogged through the forest with my furry friend, listening to the rustle of the leaves and the chattering of birds contentedly. When I stepped into the water I felt a familiar presence behind me. I settled on my rock, noting that the water no longer reached my neck. I had been growing taller, and my muscles more defined. Though, no amount of exercise would completely eliminate my baby fat until I hit puberty, most likely.

“Lios! I was hoping to see you again soon and here you are!” The woman's voice called enthusiastically behind me. I couldn’t help but get excited, at this point I was fairly certain she was some sort of water spirit but I wasn’t sure what kind. A naiad, nymph, selkie, there were so many that populated this world. I did know she was a friend, but likely powerful enough to eviscerate me should I piss her off.

“Brook, where have you been?” I asked as Brioche yipped from her spot on the shore, sunbathing on a warm rock.

“That, I cannot yet say young man.” Her hands started gently pulling and detangling my hair. “Your hair has gotten quite long, is it not around now that your kin would cut it down?”

“It is, but I like it long. Reminds me of some of the stories I used to read, with heroes and legends.” I started to soap up my body a bit. “What’s new at the river, Miss Brook?”

“Not much, though one of the streams to the west seems to have taken a small amount of corruption from the Dread Wastes. At least that's the current theory. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

I frowned a bit. I had heard of the Dread Wastes, a nation sized bit of chaotic dry and miserable land filled with monsters, natural disasters, and few civilizations. There were a few nomadic tribes that populated the expanse, but otherwise it was devoid of people. The stories I had read spoke of treasures long lost, it was a place ripe for the picking for any adventurer or treasure hunter who was brave enough, and smart enough, to explore it.

“I thought there was a collaborative barrier around the wastes to prevent its spell from spreading?” A number of nations, and wizards from ‘round the world had gotten together to stop the spell that had turned the Dread Wastes into the Dread Wastes from spreading. The spell was said to have been a mistake made by a cabal of wizards who lived in the wastes while it was still a civilization.

“Aye, there is meant to be. But alas, the runes must be waning. I don’t quite know if there are any in our time who can replicate that barrier.” Her voice sounded concerned. I thought about it for a few moments. “Well, no matter, unless you gain immortality it won't become a true issue during your lifetime, so no need to concern yourself with it.”

“Just because it doesn't hurt me directly doesn't mean I shouldn’t care about it. But not much I can do at this juncture.” I sighed in resignation. “I made some friends, my age too!” I bounced a bit, full of energy. In the end they hadn’t been fast enough to hit me.

“Oh? Tell me all about them!”

And so I did, well all I knew anyway. We sat there chatting until my hands and toes had long become prunes, ever the better for gripping things underwater. We were there for longer than usual, it seemed she usually had to put out a fire somewhere whenever we met but this time we were able to chat until we had our fill. Eventually, though, I had to return home.

When I got close I heard the sounds of the kids training with each other. Grinning, I stepped from the woods to see them, sparring with each other though with less vigor than this morning.

Bounding up I asked, “Was this morning's training not hard enough, you needed more?”

“We just wanted to keep practicing. I feel like my movements are already getting smoother!” Ento exclaimed and demonstrated a couple of moves.

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “They are, they really are. You're all doing great, but don't let that get to your head.”

“Like our fearless teacher?” Maya giggled from behind me.

“Exactly! Unfortunately I have some studying to do, so I don't think I can keep training y’all for this afternoon.”

“That's okay, we already knew that.” Ralphy sat down on the ground, petting Brioche.

“Actually, Lios, I had a question. It might be pretty personal but I'd appreciate it if you could answer it.” Maya looked up at me, her head tilted.

“Sure, I’ll answer any question you guys have.”

The other two watched curiously as Maya asked her question. “Why do you train so hard even though you don't have the system? My father said it gets waaay easier to improve when you have the system's help.”

“Hmm. That's a tough one. I have three reasons, though I think I’ll only tell you guys two of them.”

“Hmph, that's not fair.” Ralphy mumbled.

“Perhaps someday I can tell you the last reason. The first is because... Well, I want the skills I use to be my own. Once I get the system I think it will be helpful, but still I want to develop my own skills without it. I don’t want to become a slave to the numbers and values the system gives us. Plus if my opponents in the future are only skilled because of the system's influence, I’ll have an upper hand as my skills are developed by me and then improved on by the system. Does that make sense?” I paused to see if they understood what I was trying to say. “The second reason is that, honestly, I don’t think I’m talented enough to get anywhere without constant rigorous training. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. I intend to make perfect.”

The others nodded a bit, as they processed what I said.

“Ah, but my book calls upon me. I'll see you guys tomorrow.” And I left quickly before they could ask about the last reason, about my regrets in the past life.