“I’m Zack, and this is weapons for beginners. We are covering several more common weapons: the spear, short and longsword, warhammer, axe, and bows. If you are in the wrong class this is your chance to go.-nobody moved, and he resumed- Great, everyone's in the right place, let's get started.” Zack had a loud voice that easily carried over, and like he said we got started. Zack started splitting everyone into pairs, and I ended up with Jake while Will was teamed up with one of the bros.
“Alright, we'll start with spears, don't worry, these are larp weapons. They won’t hurt much if they hit you, but they’ll simulate the weight well enough for this class. First you're going to learn how to best stand. This varies based on your style and weapon but there are a few things that can help you be more effective. The dungeon may make it hard to do a perfect stance, but that just means you need to train harder…” Zack spent a few minutes explaining the stance and then went through all of us to make sure we had it right. He had us stand right foot forward, left foot back facing left, speartip facing forward. Once we were all “passable” we started practicing thrusting, attacking air. Once we were done with that he lined us up and had us dodging each other's thrusts and trying to counter attack. Jake didn’t go easy on me, I landed maybe two hits on him and both of those ended with me getting hit too.
After fifteen minutes of practice we moved on to longswords and began anew, tweaking our stance and learning how to swing and guard from attack, and Jake wasn’t quite as good at this, but he was still noticeably better. When we got to short swords we got bucklers as well, and most of the instruction was about how to use the buckler. The bucklers were much smaller than most shields I had seen and had a metal bump called a boss in the middle. Zack explained that the boss protected the hand when it was holding the grip in the center.
“Don’t just let it hang there, a shield is a dynamic defense, especially the buckler. Move it to cover where you need cover."
By the time we were done with the shortsword everyone was tired and sweaty (except for Jake and Zack) and we took a break. There was bottled water available, and Jake had brought granola bars. Jake got pulled aside by Zack for a bit during the break, but I was too busy resting to pay much attention. I was content to just lie there, but Will came over to chat.
“Hey, how you doin? I’m pretty tired, but it's in a good way you know, like yeah I’m going to be sore tomorrow but…” He just kept talking, and talking, and talking. I was relieved when Zack told us the break was over.
We started with warhammers and larger shields I didn’t know the name of, but they made me think of vikings. Unlike the buckler the shields were strapped to the arm at the wrist and lower forearm. The warhammer was actually pretty fun to use. It was really solid whenever it hit and it had a back spike that would give me more options in a fight. One negative was that it was definitely a bit hard to lift and control with one hand, but Jake mentioned that with the avatar that would get easier. Apparently strength attunement orbs were a thing, and it would make it much easier. The next weapon we used were axes, which were pretty similar. In the end I think I preferred the warhammer for its heft, it just felt better. We worked on daggers next. They were all about getting close without getting hurt, and Zack explained how if you were smart they could do some serious damage. I wasn’t a huge fan. I think I preferred a bit of reach and a shield. It made me feel safer. The final weapon had us going on a short walk over to a archery range.
“I know what you're thinking, what advantage do bows have over guns? The answer is simple, draw weight. With an avatar I can increase the power I get out of a bow by raising my strength, while with a gun it will be just as effective as normal, no more, no less. The other thing is ammo. Use a bullet and it's gone, use an arrow and chances are you can reuse it, which matters when you spend a while in the dungeon.” Bows were cool, and it was great instruction. That being said once I accidentally hit the wrong target entirely I decided the world would be much safer if I didn’t touch the bow. The last twenty minutes of the class had us practicing a bit more with whatever you wanted, and I chose the hammer. Zack came over and gave me a few pointers on how to hit hard without hurting myself in the process. Once we were done Zack rounded everyone up and gave a quick talk.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Alright, now it’s important not to overestimate your abilities, the dungeon is deadly to the overconfident, and you have only just begun. To demonstrate just how much there is to learn Jake has agreed to have a quick spar with me." When Zack said this Jake walked over to Zack, and I realized this must have been what he was pulled aside for.
“Hello everyone, I’m Jake, and I am a dungeon guard. I professionally delve the dungeon to save people. We rescue people who bite off more than they can chew and remove deadly threats when they arise." At Zacks prompting we all got off the sparring area to give them plenty of room. I was feeling a mix of excited and nervous as I watched Zack stand opposite Jake. I had heard alot about avatars, but I hadn’t seen one in action yet.
Zack and Jake stood twenty feet apart, and then they were off. Zack mimed pulling out a sword and as he did a simple steel longsword appeared in his hands and patches of armor appeared all across his body, both ever so slightly less than real. It was a stark difference from Jake, who didn’t have to do anything to instantly be covered in solid black chitin. The moment he had called his avatar Jake started walking forward slowly. Zack approached too, dashing forward. He closed the distance rapidly as he swung his sword, but Jake just raised his arm to block the blow, leaving not even a scratch behind. I heard the class gasp, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the fight. Zack was unloading hit after hit on Jake, who just took them in stride, deflecting when he could. Even when a hit landed directly on his head he took it in stride. Finally after a minute of this Jake caught the blade in both hands, completely ignoring the blade, and flung Zack across the arena. Zack landed and dashed back forward without hesitation. With the room he had opened up Jake reached out his hand and finally summoned his spear, using it to bat away Zack's attack while slamming the back of it into Zack’s side in the same motion, driving him to the ground. And just like that the battle was over. Zack and Jake dismissed their avatars and gave each other a firm handshake, and that was it. Jake walked over to the rest of the class and Will immediately started bombarding him with questions that he answered quickly and easily.
“That was awesome! How long did it take you to get that strong?”
“About four years, but most of that was waiting for the next layer to open up.”
“Oh, how long does that take? Oh and follow up question, how many layers are there?”
“So far one has opened every two years, and there are currently three layers.”
“What are the layers like?”
“Well the first one is pretty open, but the other two have been a lot more tight, if you have any claustrophobia you will not enjoy them. Speaking of the dungeon, me and my friend want to go there as soon as possible, so if you’ll excuse us…” Jake trailed off and Will seamed to get it
“Oh yeah, sorry. Have a nice day!” and just like that the rapid fire questions ended and Will jogged off like the two hours of exercise had been nothing, and we started toward the castle.
When we got there Wiggles was delighted to see us. After apologizing for leaving her behind with pets Jake turned back to me.
“Alright, now we just need to get you a rental weapon and you’ll be ready to take on the dungeon. What weapon called to you the most?”
“The warhammer I think, but I don’t know. Shouldn’t I try more things first, or at least take another class on warhammers?”
“Nothing is forcing you to use a warhammer forever, and another class can come later. For today I can make sure nothing actually threatens you while you find your style. If it doesn’t work out we’ll just try another weapon when I get back, alright.” Jake reassured me, and I started to feel a bit better. He was right, it was better to try something fast. Worst case I just tried something new.
“Yeah alright. So warhammer it is?”
“You tell me.”
“Alright, warhammer it is.” We went back to the guild, and Jake led me to a large armory, weapons and armor on racks neatly organized by size and type. A few minutes later I had a warhammer and a shield like the strap on one from class. Both with small tags that read “property of delver's guild” on them. The warhammer was a bit on the smaller side, but I had tried one of the bigger ones and couldn’t swing it around very well. We would have to return the rentals after we left the dungeon, and pay a small fee if they were too damaged, but for now they were mine. As we started toward the dungeon I entertained myself by imagining what Will would have done if he saw Wiggles. Come to think of it, they kinda reminded me of each other. I mentioned this to Jake and got a solid laugh out of him, and by the time our resulting conversation was done we were at the entrance to the dungeon.