Feeling pleasant strokes across her thigh and rear end, Lunete awoke feeling slightly grabby. She let her eyes remain closed as she rocked against the soft sensation between her legs inadvertently feeling a slightly wet warmth at the front of her thigh. A soft purr of a moan was heard in front of Lunete and her eyes flickered open.

Lunete was greeted by the alluring sight of her new friends. Kiara had spooned Lunete from behind and Lunete had somehow ended up locking legs with Aanjay through the night. Yuri was still asleep with her head snuggled into the back of Yuri’s neck.

“Welcome to the world of the living, sleeping beauty…” the seductive voice of Kiara whispered into Lunete’s ears.

Kiara’s voice sent shivers down Lunete’s spine and Lunete started pawing at the beautiful woman behind her in want. Kiara laughed slightly and separated from Lunete. She just wanted to enjoy the sensation of companionship with Lunete until she woke up. There was no time for play today as training would begin early. No use tiring each other out before the long day ahead.

Lunete subconsciously knew what Kiara was thinking and began to switch gears to one of seriousness. She stopped moving her hips and let the pleasant sensation below slowly cool off. Then, Lunete gave the pouting Aanjay a wink and a peck on the lips before rising from the bed. Lunete stretched out lithely before following Kiara to the bathroom to freshen up.

Aanjay did not want to be left behind, so she quickly got Yuri to wake up and the four of them were soon together in the bathroom. The four enjoyed whatever free time left that they had soaking in the bath, before quickly getting ready for the day.

As the four were about to leave, however, they noticed that a package had been delivered to the four of them. It contained various equipment that the four could use for training. There was also a small note informing the four women to think about what weapon that they eventually wanted to use once they had the basics of barehanded fighting down. The note also said that suitable weapons will resonate strongly with them when they thought about it. They were to tell Alleyah which of the resonating weapons they wanted by the end of the day.

***

After a short walk, the group went up to the courtyard. They had arrived punctually, slightly ahead of the time that was arranged. Alleyah was already waiting with a smile on her face.

“Good morning, girls. Today we will be starting off with some warm ups. Just practice your martial art to get ready. We will go through with some simple footwork drills and you will take turns sparring with me to train your footwork.”

Alleyah went straight into the training plan for that morning without wasting time on further pleasantries than a good morning. She knew that the four women had to participate in the war as soon as possible and two years of training was the longest that they could delay their participation.

“After lunch, we will be learning some simple direct defense basics as well as how to break defenses. We will then end off with physical conditioning before dinner. Now, let us begin,” Alleyah continued saying the day’s objectives and started teaching the four women.

Breaking through the previous night had made noticeable improvements to the Lunete and company’s bodies. There was a nourishing feeling as they practiced their martial art to warm up. This did not escape Alleyah’s eyes, who felt astonished at the speed of breakthrough that the foursome achieved. Usually, even among heroes, it would take at least a week for them to have reached the first Energy realm.

Alleyah was particularly astonished by Lunete’s <> subskill movements. It was similar yet different. There was a sense of power that seemed to radiate through certain movements. Sometimes, as her foot slid across the ground, it looked as if she was skating on ice. The move was smooth as silk and absolutely unhindered. Some of the more dexterous motions of the <> subskill when performed by Lunete seemed to flit through the air with grace and surprising speed. Lastly, some of the movements where she centered and extended herself resulted in reverberations throughout her body and the surrounding air.

The completely familiar <> in Lunete’s hands had turned into something unfamiliar yet magical. Alleyah quickly shoved these thoughts to the back of her mind. She would discuss this with Naja later.  

It took an hour for the four to complete several cycles of their martial art and they began learning the basics of dodging. They were to learn how to dodge without the footwork of their martial art. This is so that they could do so without having to always expend Energy.

The spar with Alleyah was a complete beatdown. Most of the time, the four could not even keep up with the movements and were smacked hard. Even Lunete’s superior perception could not keep up with Alleyah’s speed. Although the force was not enough to cause bruises, the surprise and sharp pain was enough to give the girls a wake-up call that this was not going to be a bed of roses. The smacks were also joined with multiple throws and pinning which made it even more tiring for Lunete and company.

The girls struggled until noon, where they were left panting and gasping for breath, sprawled across the courtyard. They trembled as they got up and thanked Alleyah for the morning session before sluggishly moving back to their room for lunch. The training clothes that were provided were completely soaked with sweat and the girls desperately wanted to just soak in the bath right now.

***

Minutes after the four reached and collapsed onto the couch in their room, they heard a soft knock on their door.

“M’lady protectors. Lunch is prepared. Instructor Alleyah has sent us to give all of you a herbal massage while we feed you,” a bright, sunny voice sounded out from behind the door to their room.

“Come in…” Aanjay spoke up tiredly before any of the rest could muster up the strength to do so.

Having heard Aanjay’s call, eight female attendants came through the door and helped the four bedraggled girls to the bathroom. The four were forced to take off their sweaty clothes as new ones were prepared. Then, they soaked in the bath while the attendance prepared some herbal essences and four mats with upturned edges which they poured the herbal essences onto. The upturned edges prevented the essences from spilling out.

Lunete, Kiara, Yuri and Aanjay were soon notified to lay on the mats when they had relaxed enough. The four climbed onto the mats and were given an extremely relaxing and reinvigorating massage. The herbal essences seeped into their bodies and nourished their Energy, which in turn, helped them recover their vitality. The foursome was fed throughout the entire ordeal, enjoying the tranquility of the situation.

The tranquility allowed the four to jump start their thinking caps as well. They reflected on the morning’s training and thought that being able to avoid attacks as the most important aspect of fighting. Be it barehanded or no, avoiding attacks enabled one to conserve a lot of strength. Taking on a blow whether successfully or no would result in extremely high amounts of stamina consumption.

After their reflection, the four began thinking of the weapons that they would use. As they thought deeply about their native country’s weapons, some of the older weapons began to resonate strongly in their minds.

***

Lunch was soon followed by more training. This time, it was less brutal. They were to partner with each other and practice firm blocks and parrying. Redirection of attacks were still too high leveled for the four.

Defense breaking techniques such as feints were also mixed in with the practice, making it quite an interesting exercise. They were, of course, ordered to go all out against each other and take turns with each other, but being around the same level of each other, with the exception of the weaker Lunete, made the exercise much less tiring and more mentally stimulating.

Sneaky angles, dirty tricks. All of it was fair game. The girls had a lot of fun throughout despite the physical demands.

Half of the afternoon had soon passed quickly. Alleyah stopped the exercise and began the physical conditioning regimen. This physical conditioning regimen was many, many times worse than morning practice.

The amount of pain the girls were put through to learn to absorb blows, take blows, fall correctly, push properly or pull properly was hellish. Again, the exercise did not cause any bruises, but it was extremely harsh, nonetheless.

By the end of the physical conditioning, the girls felt like they had one foot in the grave. They were soon lifted up onto their feet and forced to pair up and spar with each other all out again, but this time, they were to use all that they had learnt that day.

The girls put all their remaining strength into the spar, eventually becoming nearly fully exhausted by the end. Alleyah grunted in satisfaction at the results of the training, and sent them walking one lap around the courtyard to get used to moving their bodies in a severely weakened state.

After that, the girls tiredly told Alleyah the weapons that had resonated most strongly with them. Lunete chose a two-handed Arthurian sword. Kiara’s choices were an ancient Irish sword, and a one-handed spear that doubled as a short javelin. Yuri decided upon a yawara that had a knuckle guard, and also said that a yumi (Japanese bow) also resonated strongly with her. Alleyah picked a katar that had a knuckle guard and a maduvu for defense.

Alleyah nodded after hearing their selection. She quickly measured the women’s arms and legs before recording them down on a scroll to be sent to the smith for the creation of the weapons. Then, she sent the four on their way to their room. She called a nearby attendant to arrange for the same herbal massage and feeding for the exhausted four.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

***

A while later, the foursome was revitalized but somewhat tired. They walked sluggishly back to their room from the bathroom without bothering to put on any clothes when the attendants left.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m bushed. Let’s have our fun tomorrow instead…” Yuri mumbled as she plonked herself face-down on the bed.

“Me too…” Kiara chimed in and plonked herself next to Yuri while cuddling up next to her.

“Me, three…” Aanjay went over to the bed and lay her body across Kiara’s and Yuri’s in a naked heap.

The two did not even have the energy to complain about being squished underneath and just quietly enjoyed the warmth and softness instead.

Contrary to the three tired ladies’ expectations, Lunete’s words astounded them, “I think I’m going to de-stress a bit with some art.”

The three mustered enough strength to stare at Lunete with disgust before succumbing to the mental fatigue and drifted slowly to sleep.

Lunete waited patiently for all three of them to go into slumber land before bringing out her game system. She wanted to create her own weapon and engrave it with the game system. Furthermore, she was thinking about giving herself some engraved inconspicuous jewelry when she had access to gems and precious metals as crafting materials. That should give her an added advantage when she was thrown into battle.

However, Lunete did not bother creating the sword yet. Tonight, she was going to work on the jewelry made from non-precious metals first. She did not know what dimensions of swords suited her and could only wait for when her sword was ready before she crafted her own.

Working away silently, Lunete crafted a small, thin chain anklet. Each segment had artistic design that hid the engravings that gave status increments to each status. There were many small segments, leading to the overall increments to be equivalent to a high level overall stat increment.

This was one of the secrets to Lunete’s insane legendary equipment that she sold in her previous world before becoming a micro artist in reality when she was in her middle levels. The system also awarded Lunete a huge amount of experience, bringing her to level 5 straight away due to the effort needed to create such a work as recognized by the game system.

Before sleeping, Lunete practiced <> once, then moved on to <>, <> and <> once each. She finished off with another round of <>. Unlike the night before, she discovered that she felt incredibly awake and refreshed. She did not even sweat one drop.

‘Perhaps this would help all of us through this tiring week…” Lunete thought as she decided to inform the other three ladies when they woke up.

After getting off once, Lunete used Yuri as a hug pillow and followed her three friends into dreamland.

***

Lunete awoke when it was not even the next day. The revitalizing effect of the martial arts was perhaps too effective. Checking the in-game clock, she realized that only two hours had passed since she fell asleep.

Lunete then decided to craft another anklet and keep practicing her martial arts afterward. She needed to catch up to her friends’ statuses quickly.

The night flew by with Lunete completing a second anklet, and growing to level 7 from the experience. She was currently going through <> and making herself familiar with the movements.

In her subconscious mind, small corrections for <> was occurring as it assimilated the aspects from the three other martial skills. However, at the same time, Lunete was only gaining very small increases in her mastery levels due to how spread it was practicing one art that represented four.

The three sleeping women quickly awoke when it turned to dawn. They were astounded when they saw Lunete practicing her martial art and waking up earlier even though she had slept later. Furthermore, it seemed as if Lunete was glowing with energy.

Lunete quickly noticed that the three had woken up and explained with an impish grin, “practicing martial arts has a re-energizing effect. I even had the mood to get one off before I slept last night.”

The three pouted almost simultaneously and got off the bed to run through their martial arts once over. With that, the four refreshed nymphs washed up in the bathroom before mentally preparing themselves for a tiresome day ahead.

***

When the girls thought that Monday would be the worst day of the week, they were absolutely wrong.

Tuesday’s training under Instructor Palal was absolutely mind-blowing… in the wrong way. The foursome had to wrack their brains extremely hard to keep up with the many dizzying scenarios and difficult war theories.

By the end of it all, Palal was left satisfied by the exhaustion he had given the girls and left them to their own devices just before dinner.

The four ladies trudged back to their room where they ate dinner and gave themselves an energy-boost with their martial art. This put them in the mood to have some fun before they slept.

It was only Lunete who chose not to sleep and get some artwork done before she slept. Lunete made sure to run through each martial art once over and setting an alarm for only an hour’s worth of sleep before turning in.

***

Once again, Lunette awoke before the others. This time, she was awoken by the in-game alarm. Lunete did not have a hard time getting out of bed, however.

She decided to get one more piece of equipment ready. Having done two anklets and a chain bracelet, she was now level 8, on the verge of 9. Lunete decided to complete another chain bracelet. Working meticulously, she completed it just after midnight, earning that level up.

Following that, Lunete started repeating and trying to understand <>. She realized that for some reason, just practicing <> raised the masteries of every martial art skill. Lunete could only shrug it off and began trying to understand the basis of the skill instead while just imagining and trying to understand the others.

Ultimately, Lunete’s efforts for that time was rather fruitless. Instead, she tried channeling her efforts into something that would produce results. She took another wooden piece and began to craft another art piece. This time, she imagined a dragon dancing through the skies. Her fingers working carefully as she used specific tools to create beautiful line after beautiful line.

Lunete also incorporated engravings into each scale on the dragon. She added more designs onto the scales to hide the engravings. With the knowledge of geomancy that she gained from the Emperor’s martial repository, Lunete balanced out the engravings with elegant designs. Eventually, the wooden piece shaped up into a beautiful dragon with extremely intricate scales, it seemed to radiate an aura of a true Chinese dragon.

It was at this moment when she completed the dragon when dawn broke and her friends awoke. They squinted their eyes in accusation of her waking up before them until they saw the exceedingly exquisite dragon in Lunete’s hands.

The three women mentally face-palmed themselves in horror at the thought of how early Lunete had awoken to make such a masterpiece. The trio silently exchanged words through their eyes in an agreement to never question how early Lunete wakes up. They felt like something might break if they were to know.

Soon, the four practiced their martial arts together to wash away any sleepiness and got ready for a brand new day.

===

Author’s notes:

This is a super, super, super long chapter. Almost twice as long as ones that I usually make. I was perhaps, too carried away with making the first day and I did not want to drag out the next few days and therefore shortened the next day.

I wanted to add in the full week of training, but decided to split it up. Details of the strategy training and survival training are not as important as the combat, cultivation and formations training. Therefore, I will only be elaborating those in two more (or hopefully one more) chapter.

Thanks for reading and supporting this fiction! Again, this is not my main work. Somehow, chapters are easier to create for this fiction. Maybe it's because my motivation is  a bit high today.

===

Lunete's stats and skills at the end of this chapter:

NameLunete ArgallStatusStrength4Endurance10Agility9Dexterity17Perception15Energy1Additonal InformationLevel 10Age: 20FemaleStatus Points Remaining: 45

SkillsSkill NameMastery<>3%<>4%<>4%<>4%Formations1%