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Volume 1 Chapter 4

The First Dance

On his way back to Hiritol, Don died. A group of at least thirty mountain trolls plowed him over and ripped him to pieces, literally. The next day Don logged back in and found himself at the gates of Hiritol, the last safe location he was before dying. He opened his skill window to see how much he lost in proficiencies.

Light of the Heavens [Max] 00%Sword Mastery [6] 32%Dual Wield [4] 25%Drawing [2] 16%Bluff [2] 12%Automapping [3] 41%Detect [3] 11%Disarm Trap [2] 0%Identify [1] 65%Scan [3] 60%Unlock [2] 0%Blade Dancing [1] 0%Cross Body Parry [1] 0%Fiery Dance [1] 0%Illusion Steps [1] 0%

12% from his sword mastery and dual wielding, that would take tens of hours to bring back. 7~5% from the rest, his Unlock and Disarm Trap skills were at less than 7% when he died so they dropped to zero. Don was thankful skill levels didn’t drop at death.

-Brother~ You there?~

His sister sent him a whisper.

-Yea, just logged in.

-Where were you for the past two days?

-In a dungeon where whispers didn't work, then I died.

-Be more careful ok?

-Alright, alright. So what’s up?

-You have a class yet?

-......

-You still there?

-Yes. I got a class. Though not the one I was hoping for...

-Oh? Tell me~

-.....

-Brother....

-It’s Blade Dancer.

-Dancer? How did you become a Dancer? You don’t even know how to dance.

-Apparently I met the requirements. The class change message didn’t have the name of the class, I thought it would be something cool.

-Hmm, yea, brother would never choose a dancer willingly. But I’ve never heard of Blade Dancer, what’s the difference?

-It is actually combat oriented, it uses two swords and can equip leather armor.

-Oh, a fighting dancer. You know even in the real world there are many forms of martial arts disguised as dancing. You should do some research. Maybe go to the dancer guild and have them teach you a few steps.

His sister was a wealth of random information.

-But dancing... It is just so unmanly.

-Hey! Don’t judge a book by its cover. Unless I’m mistaken that is what got you there in the first place.

Again his sister had a point.

-Alright I guess it couldn’t hurt to check it out.

-Ok brother, I know you won’t but if you need anything just ask.

Don walked around until he found the dancer guild. However as soon as he walked in, half the women inside stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Immediately an older woman shouted, “Get back to practicing.” The women continued some dance practice while keeping an eye on Don. The older woman approached Don and said, “I am the dancing instructor. What can we do for you young sir?”

Don already approached the cliff, he might as well jump. “I acquired a Dancer class but I don’t know how to dance.”

The woman looked closely at Don before saying, “Yes, a blade dancer if I’ve ever seen one. You had the dual wielding skill when you were offered the class correct?”

“Yes mam.”

“Hmm, that would be why. To become a Blade dancer a certain quality of appearance and some experience in dual wielding swords is required. Although it is expected that one knows how to dance beforehand, you can become a blade dancer without actually knowing how to dance.”

Don took a deep sigh while thinking, ‘So that was it. Because I insist on doing things the manly way I got the dual wielding skill and with my appearance I met the qualifications.’

Don asked, “Do you know any dances that can be used with a blade?”

At this the instructor started laughing lightly, as did most of the women in the room who had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

She answered, “Almost every dance can be used while holding a blade. Even the one these women practice can be done while holding two swords or knives.”

Don took a closer look at the dance movements. The wrists were always pointed outward and many of the movements would look like strikes had they been holding blades. The instructor said, “I can give you some lessons for 80 gold. Something simple you would be able to do without problem.”

Don flinched. 80 gold was not something someone of his level could afford. If he hunted level 50 monsters everyday for a month he would be lucky to accumulate 18 gold, much less 80.

“I’m sorry mam but I cannot afford your price. But if I may request, can I stay here and observe?”

The instructor looked at the other practicing women who were all now dancing flawlessly. It was obvious they were trying to impress the beautiful elf so they were giving practice a great deal of effort. The women smiled and said, “Observe as long as you like.”

Don took a seat on the floor near a wall and inspected each movement of the women. Every joint, every muscle, every nerve. Don analyzed it as he would a machine. When he knew how something worked, he could fix it. The same principle worked with observation. He had never gone to a dojo or learned from an instructor but when Don saw someone do something, if he figured out how they did it he could do it too.

The first thing Don noticed was that the dances were not the same repetitive sets of movements over and over again. The patterns flowed into each other but it was free form. After an hour of watching what really stood out was that each women used the same movements and forms but each was also unique in its beauty. Each had made the dance their own, and watching it was indeed captivating. After three hours Don thanked the instructor saying he would like to return if possible.

Don went to the only place where he knew no one would see him, the catacombs beneath Hiritol to practice. He picked a large dry cavern and took out his swords. He tried to slowly imitate the basic form of the dance, one part at a time like practicing strike patterns. He used every muscle to connect each move into the next as seamlessly as he could.

In the back of his head he knew he probably looked incredibly silly. He tried to drown the feeling out by focusing on the movements. After thirty minutes of swinging his sword while stepping using the same footwork he saw he went to an area he knew to be a rat nest. He started swinging the swords around as the rats started flowing in, but making an attack out of the movements required foreknowledge of where the opponent was going to be to adjust the attack in time with the approaching enemy. In other words most of his slices missed the rats and he got covered in a pile of giant biting rats.

Don switched to just slashing everything around him until everything was dead. He went back to the cavern to practice some more. He realized his aggressive fighting didn’t work while dancing. He couldn’t dance while attacking. The only times the rats didn’t dodge was when they were moving in to attack him. Don considered this and practiced while imagining enemies coming at him. When doing so he adjusted his aim to intercept them.

Don went to another rat nest, this time a bit further away. The rats came at him and Don started his dance. It wasn’t exactly graceful but the movements flowed into one another as he struck rat after rat. He was getting the hang of it to focus attacking only on those who were attacking you, however he had to move around constantly while swinging his swords while keeping track of everything around him while moving in circles while maintaining footwork.

It was taxing to say the least. Don’s movements had to change in response to everything around him while trying to maintain the flowing feel of what he had seen in the dancer’s guild. By focusing on defense Don was able to avoid being swarmed long enough to take extend the fight until he had taken out each rat while dancing.

Of course Don wasn’t even sure if what he was doing could be called dancing. He brought out the skill to see if he had gained any proficiency.

Blade Dancing [1] 12%

Dancing with swords attracts the attention of enemies.

It looked like it had increased by some, so what he was doing at least barely passed for dancing. Don went back to practicing. This time however he decided to try something else out. Using the principles of what he had seen he made up his own dance. It was made up of three different kinds of moves each with three ranges, basically parry, slash, stab, at close, medium, and far ranges. Then he practiced movements using them that flowed into one another that used a simple triangle footwork that could let one face any direction in two steps. Instead of trying to make dancing into fighting, he was making fighting into dancing.

After an hour of practice he moved to another rat nest and practiced. Most of the movements were ones he had practiced for hours at the training hall, he was just making them flow into one another. It took less than a third of the time of the previous nest.

Skill level up: Blade Dancing

Evasion while dancing increased by 2%

Don let out a sigh of relief. He got the skill up 90% using this dance, it seemed that this was a much better dance to use. Don spent the next few hours refining his dance. He realized the more feeling he put into the dance, the better its quality. The reason the each dancer’s movements felt unique to them was likely because each had their own feelings in them. Don asked himself what was the manliest feeling he could put into a dance. The most cowardice feeling would be the need to run away, so the manliest feeling must be the need to fight, ferocity.

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After this realization Don stopped trying to add grace and elegance to his movements, they were holding him back. He focused on making the bloodiest scene he could. After he was satisfied with his dance, he started practicing the other three skills.

Each skill had a small image next to it on its use. Cross body parry had an image of a blade dancer stabbing a swordsman through the heart with one sword while his other sword was parrying the opponent to make him turn. Don practiced it a few times but parry skills were more effective on opponents that had weapons so rats were not ideal.

The image next to fiery dance was of a man holding two swords that were on fire. Don tried it and found it to his liking. It did in fact feel manly to wield flaming swords rhythmically through the air striking everything that got within range.

Illusion steps were difficult to use because making it look like you were going one direction when you were going another required a series of specific steps and waist movements. Don couldn’t use it well yet.

After four days Don hit level 50, his blade dancing hit 4, fiery dance 2, and both illusion steps and cross body parry hit 2.

Don equipped Palutos’ gear and left for the dancer’s guild. He had gone several time to inspect specific aspects of the dances like footwork and pacing. When he entered the room filled with ‘ohhhs’ and ‘ahhhs’ at his appearance and gear. Don approached the instructor and said, “Thankyou. If you had not allowed me to watch, I would not have gotten very far on my own.”

The instructor chuckled mischieviously and said, “You can dance now?”

“I believe so.”

“Well then, it is not me you have to thank ,but these girls. They are the ones who allowed you to watch their dancing. And now you can return the favor.”

Don’s stomach grew cold. ‘Dance? In front of them?’ Don looked over the dancers who were now eyeing him expectantly. Don had no choice.

He said, “Well.... Ok... but just a little. This isn’t something I made for looks....”

The woman backed away as Don approached the center of the room. He tried not to think of the dozen eyes of beautiful women that were staring at him. He imagined he was back in the bleak, dark, sewers surrounded by rats, and took his starting pose. He then slashed three time at three different distances before stepping, turning, and doing two slashes before stepping and turning backwards to do three more slashes.

Don looked like he was fighting an army of ghosts, those watched felt his killing intent directed towards the unseen foes. His movements were not fluid, but quick, instead of flowing motion it was dozens of small interchangeable movements made with extreme force, like a merciless thunderstorm. When Don imagined finishing the last of the rats he remembered where he was and blushed deeply.

However after finishing a round of applause resounded. Everyone there looked impressed. The instructor said, “Very impressive for something self taught. If you didn’t already know, dancing is not about beautiful movement, that is more of a side effect. Dancing is about moving in a way that matches how you feel, and synchronizing with that feeling. When one has done so, they radiate that feeling to all those around them. That is what makes dancing so captivating. Wait here a moment.”

The instructor went over to a desk and opened up a drawer, pulling out a book before returning. “Here, take this. I think your effort deserves a reward.”

Before even looking at it Don said, “No thankyou, I did not do it for any reward.” As a rule Don never accepted things when he didn’t feel he had earned them.

However she insisted, “Then think of it as payment for entertaining my girls and showing them something interesting.”

Don relented and accepted the book. He put his hand over it and said, “Identify.”

Battle Dances

C-Grade Skill book

Instructions on how to perform dances that can be used in battle

Teaches the skills:

Dance of the Brave

Dance of the Fighter

Dance of Death

Single Use

Requirements;

Dancer Class

Don asked, “A skill book?”

She nodded, “Yes, your desire for combat is obvious. These dances can be used while fighting, and using them buffs allies who watch you dance or reduce the morale of enemies who watch you dance. Believe it or not you are not the first male dancer. There are plenty of manly dances out there.”

Don blushed slightly at how transparent he was and thanked everyone graciously.

After leaving Don placed his hand on the book and said, “Learn.”

New skill learned: Dance of the Brave

New skill learned: Dance of the Fighter

New skill learned: Dance of Death

Don brought up the skill chart so he could see what they did.”

Dance of the Brave [1] 0%

Dancing using the spirit of valor.

Increases Morale and fighting spirit of alliesDance of the Fighter [1] 0%

Dancing using the spirit of Battle

Increases the attack and defense of alliesDance of Death [1] 0%

Dancing using the spirit of death

Decreases morale and fighting spirit of enemies

Don took the phrase ‘using the spirit of’ to mean infusing himself with that feeling and radiating it out. However like the instructor had said, in order to do that he needed to synchronize his movements with the feeling.

Don used the few silver coins he obtained fighting rats to buy some supplies and headed for Mt. Ketsdale, the place he had been told a master of Blade dancing resided. However on his way he made a detour to the camp of some lizardmen. It was a small camp, more of an outpost really, he felt it was time to really test himself out.

As he approached he heard cries of, “Human! Get the Human!” A dozen level 60 lizardmen ran at Don. It was now or never to see the effectiveness of a blade dancer. The he looked up to the high noon sun and decided, ‘No, now is the time to test the strength of this whole character.’

As they approached to within seven feet Don calmly said, “Light of the Heavens.”

The noon sun turned harsh, whiting out the land and blinding everyone who didn’t have their eyes closed, but only for an instant.

Solar Buff

+50% Fire Affinity

+25% Strength

Don then said, “Fiery Dance,” before starting his form. Affinity was something magic using classes had that determined the upper limits of their spell damage. Now that Don had a much higher fire affinity, the flames on his swords would deal much greater damage. Don hacked the lizardmen to death one by one while burning and slicing them. Don realized at some point that some of the lizardmen were not fighting back, they looked like deer in the headlights, frozen, unable to move if they wanted to while watching Don’s dance.

Don took care of the Lizardmen in four minutes. Although his mana ran out in less than a minute, the psychological damage done to the group could not be recovered. Don slowly chopped them to bits. One benefit of the dancing was that his opponents could not really stop watching, it didn’t prevent them from fighting like a regular dancer’s dance would have, but it kept them from running away even when they knew they were beaten.

After finishing them Don waited for his mana to recover so he could use fiery dance again inside the outpost where the rest of the lizardmen were.

Don moved through them like a tornado, anything in his way was torn to shreds. The outpost had only thirty Lizardmen which had five groups of six. Besides the fact that the blade dancer’s skills were pretty good, the most amazing thing was the damage he produced. The high attack of the swords, the fire enhancing buff, the fiery dance, and his own enhanced stats stacked together to create an incredible damage dealer. Thanks to that even the thick skinned lizardmen couldn’t get past his sword defense. Don was sure that in optimal conditions he could beat monsters that were much higher levels than his own.

One by one the lizardmen fell to Don's sword. After looting the outpost and finding some nice boots and gloves he was satisfied. Don continued forward on his path to Mt. Ketsdale.

Chapter 5 Deal with a Tinker viewtopic.php?f=185&t=1611

Chapter 3 The Manly Class viewtopic.php?f=185&t=1543

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