Today makes a week since this Tutorial has started, just one short week ago I was a typical college student going through the motions of life like most people. I would graduate, get a decent paying job, work for 30-40 years then retire and live out the rest of my days on an island somewhere.
Well, things have changed a bit. Instead of pens in a class, I’m now carrying a spear through a weird Tutorial which is just currently just one big forest, I’ve killed plenty of little green monsters only seen in games and shows, I’ve interacted with these strange human-like green people, one of them is even training me. Pretty weird stuff if you ask me.
Anyway.
I should probably stop dilly dallying, and head to training. I woke up this morning feeling almost as good as I did yesterday, diminishing returns maybe? Anyway, I have looser, yet firmer muscles, and seemingly more control over my movements. I’m not sure really sure how the process works honestly, but it feels like I’m improving so who am I to complain. I once again made my way to the training grounds where both the Outpost Leader and the man that guarded the gate were standing in the same spot as yesterday. Just like yesterday I greeted them both, only to be told I was late from the Outpost Leader, and a nod sent my way from the other guy.
Oh, and apparently my training would be different today.
“You’ve reached your limit for this stage regarding resistance training. The next step from here is actually learning how to swing your spear. I will be transparent here…” That last part caused the gate guard man to raise his eyebrow at the Outpost Leader.
“…I am not qualified to teach you spear arts. In fact, I believe few others in this entire Tutorial are qualified. I do not know much about Infernals, but anyone with a presence in the Multiverse knows about the love Infernals have for their spears and the arts that serve as their conduit. So, with that being said I will not be teaching you any techniques about spears. You will have to either depend on yourself, or your own people for that.
“On the other hand, I can’t teach arts, but what I can do is firm up your foundations. You have a truly disgusting amount of wasted movements when you fight, I now understand that its due to this being the first time you are using a spear. Nevertheless, that needs to be corrected, your training will now alter slightly. We will spar in the morning, then you will hunt Goblins to apply what you learned. Grab a spear.”
As he typically does, the Outpost Leader threw a bunch of information at me, and just expected me to absorb and accept everything he said without question. Well, this time was different, I had questions, but something told me I wouldn’t get much of an answer. So, as I walked to the rack to grab the wooden spear I’ve been using the past two days, I couldn’t help but think about this infernal business further.
What am I really? Something that makes the clearly prideful Outpost Leader who is absolutely way stronger than me go as far as to say he isn’t qualified to teach me these spear art things. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Multiverse is bigger than the Milky Way Galaxy, so how much of an influence do we have for people to treat a random like me this way?
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Will I get to meet other Infernals after the Tutorial maybe? I have so many questions for them.
Moving on, I stood in front of the Outpost Leader with my spear at the ready. He said we would spar right? Probably means I’m going to be getting a beating for a while, shrug hopefully I can learn a thing or two though.
“I said this would be a spar, but you are not yet qualified to spar with me in true fashion. Instead, I will only defend. Begin.”
There it is, another seemingly random sentence with no apparent ill will that somehow finds a way to annoy me for some reason. This is the same feeling I had when those two guys blocked me from the shop. Why do I feel so annoyed? I don’t even know who I can ask for advice about this. No time to think about it though, hopefully fighting will help get rid of the feeling.
Looking at the Outpost Leader, he’s kind of just standing there waiting for me to attack. In shows and stuff this is where the main character would probably say ‘Oh no he has no openings!’ , but I could never understand what that meant and I still don’t, he looks pretty open to me so let’s just attack and take it from there.
I took off in dash and pulled my spear back with my left hand, and once I got within range, I thrust out towards his chest with the fastest speed I can. As a Body Tempering realm cultivator, I was moving faster than a regular person could ever dream, and that thrust would’ve been enough to decimate any regular man.
But alas, the Outpost Leader indeed wasn’t a regular man. He didn’t even move from his spot as my spear neared him. Instead, he calmly raised his hand and stopped my spear with a finger. He looked like he was taking a stroll in the park, yet for me it felt like I hit a wall with my spear at full strength. Though surprisingly my spear didn’t seem to suffer any damage despite it being wooden.
Anyway, I jumped back as far as I could but before I could attack again, he started speaking.
“You have a long way to go, and I do not expect any sort of mastery of the spear from you, but I expect you to give it your all. The night I watched you almost lost your life fighting Goblins, I watched you fight like every breath would be your last, and your meager skills actually improved as you fought. Your spear couldn’t reach me no matter how hard you tried, so fight like your life depends on it.”
Alright I didn’t need to figure out why I felt annoyed this time. Everything he said just now didn’t serve any other purpose than to annoy me, that had to be the case, how else would I explain the fact I’m starting to get pissed? Something is definitely wrong with me because I know for a fact something like this wouldn’t have upset me before all of this. But now? I’m getting the urge to drive my spear through his chest.
Since when did I become a murder hobo? Sigh…fine…If it’s a fight he wants I will give him one. My spear will never reach him? My spear will reach wherever I aim it.
I took off running again in a full sprint, a mad grin adorned my face as I began fighting with everything I had. The only thing on my mind at this point was making my spear reach it’s target. I jumped and slashed down with everything my arms could muster and he blocked it once more, causing me to stumble when I landed.
I didn’t stop there though, repeated thrusts, slashes, kicks, everything I could possibly think of I did. Which in all honesty wasn’t much.
Either way, he blocked all of it.
He still hadn’t moved from that spot.
Tch.
We did a couple more rounds of this and yet my spear still did not reach its target. I wasn't discouraged though, in fact I felt more and more motivated to make it happen the longer this went on.
My spear will reach.