"Hi, Quinn," Lucas greeted as they came over.

Quinn moved over to Lucas's side and leaned in to whisper to him. "Seriously. I heard you got in trouble, but it's already been a week since I started coming here. What did you do?"

"Nothing," Lucas dismissed the question in a similar whisper. "Not anything important, anyway."

"Sure," Quinn answered with clear doubt before switching back to speaking in a normal pitch, "but you're right, it doesn't matter. Come here." He started pulling Lucas over to the weapon rack by his arm. "I've been practicing a whole lot--I bet I could even defeat you, now."

Lucas nearly chuckled a little in amusement at the boy's single-minded enthusiasm. It was clearly very important to him that he got to be here, training with the guards. Quinn still had nearly two years to go till his unlock, but Lucas could already see the great [Warrior] Class he would surely get at that point.

"I'm heading out, boys!" Mary called after them. "I'll see you back home, Lu."

"Love you, Mom!" Lucas replied over his shoulder.

"Love you, too," she returned. Lucas glimpsed her saying goodbye to Eugene as well before the boy pulling on his arm demanded his attention once more.

"Alright. Here, take this," Quinn reached forward and grabbed a wooden spear off the rack before handing it to him. "Hmm, you should probably have this one as well," he grabbed a second spear, this time a dull metal one. "I'm still stuck using the wood weapons, but Mr. Eugene can't complain if you use a metal one. I can't wait till I unlock," he muttered the last part with a hint of annoyance.

Lucas took both the proffered armaments, but when Quinn moved to head back to the room's center, he continued looking over the rack before him. There were weapons of every shape and conceivable use, it seemed. Spears, hammers, swords, bows--the usual sort, but there were also some of more eccentric design. Bladed gauntlets, chain whips, and, strangest of all, some musician's stringed instrument.

Someone must have forgotten that here, or maybe it's for whenever a guard wants a break, he simply shrugged.

The rack held enough options that Lucas didn't want to dismiss out of hand, only because he'd always trained with a spear. He didn't seriously consider a number of them, but before Quinn could get too impatient at him, he quickly grabbed a couple wooden short swords. Lucas picked up all four tools and brought them to where the room's other two occupants awaited.

Eugene eyed his arms' contents curiously, but it was naturally Quinn that spoke up first.

"Why do you have those? Your weapon is the spear," he insisted as if Lucas using the spear was an intrinsic truth of life.

"Eugene has always taught us the spear, but maybe I want to explore other options," he explained. "It should at least be worth a few Skill levels."

"That's just weird," Quinn shook his head, staring at the wooden swords.

They both looked to Eugene to weigh in on the matter.

"Eeh," he cringed slightly, "it is kind of weird. I suppose it is fine if you check out other weapons, Lucas, but you'll get more out of specializing in one than branching out into many. I can only really teach the spear, as far as weapons go, anyway."

Lucas nodded, already having known he would have to learn anything else largely on his own, but he'd already made his choice. "My [Fighting] Skill isn't actually focussed on the spear, though. It's just a general combat Skill."

"Yeah, that can happen sometimes," Eugene nodded. "Most [Warriors] usually specialize later on, though. If they didn't start with a specific weapon Skill already, anyway."

It was something to consider in more depth later, whether to specialize in this area or not. Lucas's Class was already pretty spread out in its scope, so maybe he'd want to counter that just a little, but there were plenty of reasons not to. For now, like he said, trying out other weapons might be worth a level or two in a number of his Skills.

When Lucas didn't take back the swords after a few moments, Eugene seemed to drop the matter, though Quinn kept looking at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"Ok, we will be starting with the spear, though," Eugene looked to Lucas for his acknowledgment before moving on. "It's been a while, now, since you got some practice in, Lucas. Why don't you leave your weapons here and get in some warmups before joining us?"

Lucas obediently dropped the two swords and spears carefully into the sand before moving to the room's perimeter. Eugene was right, it had been some time. It didn't matter what his stats were, failing to properly warm up would hurt his body at least somewhat. Magic didn't stop a person from falling out of shape.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

He started out with a number of stretches, working through the tightness of all his muscles. Laps around the room followed that, and the sandy floor proved a bit punishing. Not so much as it likely would have before his unlock--before increasing his DEX--but definitely more straining than running through the forest.

For the sake of the exercise, he didn't cheat with [Quick Step]. Admittedly, he desperately wanted to use that one--it was just a lot of fun, the speeds he could get up to--but it was better to conserve his mana and do things naturally as well. For the same reason, he didn't use [Accelerant Frame]. He just kept running laps till he'd worked up a decent sweat.

Another round of stretching followed after Lucas finished his twentieth lap, this time just focussing on flexibility and range of motion in his limbs. He watched Eugene and Quinn start up a light spar as he did this. Quinn thrusted his weapon at Eugene, and Eugene easily parried it to the side before issuing his own strike. Quinn was already out of the way and swinging his spear around with the momentum of Eugene's parry, circling the [Warrior] from just beyond his larger striking range.

They each went slow. Slow enough that it couldn't realistically be called combat--more of a dance, than anything, with precise movements emphasizing form. The twirling Quinn did with his spear looked a bit ridiculous, but seeing as Eugene never once called him out on it, it must have been some move they practiced in the last week. When Eugene performed it as well, Lucas's suspicions were all but confirmed.

"How should I join in?" Lucas interrupted as he retrieved his weapon--the wooden spear, for now.

"Just start drilling moves for now," Eugene shook his head without looking over, "we'll only be a couple more minutes with this."

Lucas didn't complain and went back to where he'd left the other weapons in the sand. If he wasn't going to take part in the same activity as Quinn just yet, then he would use the metal spear that was much closer to the weight of one he'd use in real combat. He picked that one up in his other hand and compared the two out of idle curiosity. The wooden one was clearly lighter, as expected, but the metal one was only just heavier enough that the only comparable difficulty it would pose was that he'd tire a bit sooner, using it.

In other words, purely from a weight perspective, he would be able to use the metal training spear in combat with ease. As his stats climbed ever higher, any weapon of Lucas's would have to accordingly become heavier, more durable. If you thought about it, a person with a high enough level, especially one specializing in STR, could reach a point where no weapon, armor, or tool of another form could withstand the amount of strain they put on it.

There were probably solutions to that issue, like higher-quality materials, magic, and maybe even Skills that created whatever tool for you. Lucas wasn't exactly specializing in STR, however. If that was an actual issue people go through, then he wouldn't realistically have to deal with it till he was at an absurdly high level

Those were his thoughts as he went through boring drills to refamiliarize himself with his weapon. It had been over two weeks since he'd last held a spear, but that didn't mean the drills he went through weren't boring. Lucas could admit to becoming a little lost and distracted along the way. Luckily, those considerations made the time pass quickly enough, and the other two finished their spar before he knew it.

"Watch your form," Eugene chastised Lucas as he walked over.

"My form is fine. I'm listening to [Tempest Fighting] and I have two mental Skills helping as well," Lucas shot back as he wound down his own practice.

Lucas caught Eugene gesturing Quinn back out of the corner of his eye, and he barely had a moment till Eugene suddenly swung his own weapon in his direction. The spear came in low and fast--not really a practical strike but something that could easily knock his feet out from under him in this moment. He hopped to his left on little more than instinct and got just out of range.

"What the fuck?!"

"Language," Eugene calmly rebuked, thrusting his spear at Lucas.

Lucas blocked and let the spear slide off his own to the side, dodging in the opposite direction simultaneously. Whatever this was, Eugene wasn't pulling his strikes like he usually did. He didn't think this was the true extent of the man's strength, but his hits were definitely heavier than usual. Case and point: instead of handling Eugene's thrust easily as Lucas expected and gaining an opportunity to deliver his own strike, Lucas found himself launching off to the right as the force of the thrust extended his dodge.

He landed on his feet, already prepared for the next attack he knew to be coming. Eugene didn't disappoint. Still around ten feet away, where he first swung at Lucas, the [Warrior] lifted his wooden training spear parallel to the ground and pointed directly at Lucas's center of mass. Eugene took a step and thrusted once more, and with that thrust he near-instantly closed the distance between the two of them.

As the blunt spear-point came hurdling at him, Lucas realized he needed to pull out all the stops. He pulsed [Accelerant Frame] and used [Quick Step] to get out of the way in the small window of time the Skill's effects were active. There was no telling how long Eugene would keep this assault up, so he couldn't risk the strain keeping the Skill up would put on his mana reserves. It was enough, however. Lucas shot low to his side once more and came up striking.

Eugene could take a hit from Lucas's Skills. He level was high enough that Lucas didn't doubt that for a moment, which is why he didn't hesitate to use the small amount of excess mana he currently had from [Overcharge] to enhance a [Shock]ing strike. Lucas used every bit of speed he had to deliver that strike.

And Eugene knocked it to the side with a disrespectful lack of difficulty, moving far faster than Lucas could hope to handle. The electric arcs of [Shock] dispersed harmlessly when the strike failed to land. Eugene swung at Lucas once more and he had no choice but to take it. He put the shaft of his weapon before the incoming kick, but he had little time to do much else. Then Eugene's boot made impact and the spear broke completely in two, the excess force knocking him backward and to the ground.

Lucas got a mouthful of sand as he rolled away in an effort to create more space. The world stopped spinning when Lucas rolled his stomach on top of a pile of objects and abandoned the split halves of his spear. He got eyes on Eugene first thing--still some distance away but he now knew that didn't mean he was safe. He kept his eyes on the [Warrior] and reached down to get a hold of two of the objects beneath him.

Lucas stood up with a short training sword in each hand, one wooden, one an edgeless metal, and got ready for the next strike.