“Before we begin, let's go around and introduce ourselves. I’ll start, my name is Ms. Albu, and before becoming a delver I was a third grade teacher.” Once she had finished talking Ms. Albu pointed at the nearest person, one of the brown haired boys, and he introduced himself.
“Hi, I’m Scott, and I’m a triplet.” When Scott finished talking the next boy in line spoke up.
“Sup, I’m Kent, I’m also a triplet.” Kent finished, and the girl went next.
“I’m Leah, and it may shock you to learn that I’m a triplet as well.” Ms. Albu was grinning at that. The last boy with the more coppery hair spoke next.
“I’m Rob, and I’m not a triplet.” that really got Ms. Albu laughing, and we all joined in, it was pretty funny. Once that died down I was up last.
“Uh hi, I’m Ethan, I have two siblings but they’re both younger than me.” Kent grinned at this.
“Aw man, same.” The other two triplets responded by giving him a synchronized smack on the back of the head. They had a second of bickering and then Ms. Albu took control of the group like only a teacher could, and we got started. She walked to the already set up shield rack, and she had us all come over to it, though we didn’t grab shields yet. The rack had several types of shields lined up, and Ms. Albu started on the right side with the viking shields.
“Alright, first we're going to go over types of shields, these are round shields, and are a good solid shield. The wood has the benefit of being able to catch and hold an attack but in the dungeon that can lead to a shield not lasting. You can see the boss sticking out from the center of it, this protects your hand in the grip so that you have more range of movement.” She moved on the second shield, a large one was the generic shield shape, a slightly curved triangular with two divots on top.
“This is a kite shield, its straps limit its range of movement a bit more, but its size makes up for it.” she moved on to what I recognized as a buckler.
“And this is a buckler, it's much smaller, and is great if you can move it where it's needed. It also is pretty solid to punch someone with.” Once she was done explaining the features of the shields she moved on to the main part of the class, using the shields in different ways. It was a bit of a longer class, but she said a lot of things that I realized I could definitely use.
“One great thing about a shield is using it as an attack, I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary weapon, but if you punch with the edge-” she demonstrated punching with a round shield in hand so the rim made contact with an invisible enemy. “-then you can concentrate the force quite well while keeping a little distance open.” I hadn’t thought about using the rim of the shield, in my head I had thought that you never wanted the shield at an angle like that, but as she continued the demonstrations it became clear that I was mistaken, the shield was always moving to allow different attacks and approaches.
“A shield as I mentioned earlier, can catch attacks in it and limit your opponents options in combat.” My avatar's shield was metal, but I was seriously considering adding some wood, I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work, the avatars were a bit odd, but it couldn’t hurt.
“Alright, now you all grab shields and a weapon, and we'll practice some of these skills, well start with these dummies, and try to make some attacks with your shield.” I grabbed a round shield (I was most familiar with it), and a mace, and I started practicing on the dummy. Ms. Albu gave me a few pointers on how to hit better and react, and then moved on to help the others. I watched as they joked and laughed, and I tried to join in. It didn’t work out. They didn’t laugh at me or tell me to go away, but I just didn’t have the shared experiences they had, and I just watched from the sidelines. This was why I needed Jake, I didn’t know how to meet people or talk to them, and any time I tried I just ended up here, at the side, ignored. The class wasn’t as fun after that. Toward the end of the class Ms. Albu summoned her avatar, a version of her with gleaming white armor and a white and blue kite shield, and we practiced what we had learned on her. Her avatar protected her from everything we could dish out, but at that point my heart wasn’t in it.
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The class ended, and the four friends helped Ms. Albu move the shield rack. I tried to help, but they said they had it, leaving me behind feeling useless. Unsure what else to do I started on my way home. My thoughts wouldn’t let me have peace as they spiraled down. Why didn’t I know how to be part of the group? It felt like everyone else was just born able to walk into a group and belong, why couldn’t I? I tried to shove down the feelings of loneliness and not belonging, I have a family that loves and accepts me- Where?- my negative thoughts whispered back. I froze, and then shoved it down where it belonged. That's why I need to get stronger, so I don’t lose my one friend. I changed course towards the dungeon, I had learned a lot about shields that I needed to apply to my avatar.
I approached the dungeon gate, and after a moment's hesitation stepped in. I wasn’t delving, I didn’t need another person. I made a beeline for the shrine and entered the white void. It transformed into the white stone room, and the shattering of windows animated Prim, stretching as usual.
“Hey Prim, could you elevate me? I need to work on my avatar.” Prim paused stretching as I spoke.
“Yes, one moment.” The throne appeared behind me, and I sat down, and a moment later the crown descended, elevating me. This time a hazy mist emerged from my body and approached the statue, resolving into my avatar again. I drifted closer to the statue, and got started. My first change I made was to replace the two straps with a grip sunk into a boss. The biggest thing I had learned was to have good mobility, so it was a must have. I liked the metal, I wasn’t sure if the weight mattered for avatars, and even if it did the extra endurance of the avatar would make up for it. Besides, could an avatar get something lodged in it? I looked at the change I had make with satisfaction, and realized I was feeling much more in control of my life. It must come from holding a piece of a deity's strength. I considered stopping with just adding the boss, but I remembered the strikes with the edge of the shield, and I decided to make one more change. I lengthened the shield so it was more teardrop shaped, with the point extending over the fist. Normally I wouldn’t try this, a blade at the end of my arm felt like asking for trouble, but this blade could be summoned and dismissed. The other thing was that while it was up I was more durable so stabbing myself was less of a concern. To fully realize my plan I sharpened the metal so it had an edge… or at least I tried to, but it wouldn’t do it. I could make it narrower, but it didn’t feel like it wanted to get actually sharp. It took me a moment to realize the problem. I was trying to make a blade out of armor aspect, but that made it too far away from its aspect, it couldn’t do it. I decided to keep the shape anyway, it would concentrate the force much better even if it wasn’t sharp. I guess that's it. I returned to my body and felt the pins and needles rush back. I shook out my body and Prim joined in again. When we were done Prim spoke first.
“Congratulations, your avatar has made significant progress, its sync has reached 48%, and you can now maintain it for 14.4 minutes.” I was taken aback, I had made that much progress just from slightly changing my avatar? That was even more than last time. At this rate I would be at 100% in no time!
“Woah, that's really good.” I didn't know what else to say. I had expected maybe 5 more, and instead I got 23. I said by to Prim and left the dungeon feeling much better. I could catch up to Jake, and I would catch up to Jake. I went to sleep feeling excited for tomorrow.