Author Notes:
Hey! Here's chapter 6, thank you for waiting!
Sorry, I took the day off yesterday + almost all of today, can't get myself to write anything until evening for some reason <.< (Bad habit, same with the homework!)
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 6: Why are Whip-swords so Hard to Master?
After getting home, I immediately convinced mother to go and get the mana crystal now. But after looking through the store, we didn’t manage to find a single one. To be more precise, we did find some mana crystals, but none of them was the right shape nor size. So we decided to wait for the next visitors to see if they had what we needed.
The next week passed in a blink of an eye.
I spent the entire week practicing with my sword, and going to the store every day. I even had those who worked there ask the next adventurers or merchants that visit town for a mana crystal in the needed shape and size.
I didn’t go hunting with my parents this week.
We were waiting until I had gotten the crystal and learned how to fight with the whip-sword. I knew how to wield a sword, but a whip is an entirely different thing, especially a whip-sword. From what I can come to conclude, to master using whip-swords, you need to both master whips and swords, and then combine the techniques from those two, making it a new style.
So for now, all I can do is try to master using the sword.
And I’m getting closer. I’ve already exceeded what I could in my previous life. This is due to my tail, making many of the harder techniques, the footwork, and the stances easier.
The biggest progress I’ve made is being able to manipulate the ki flowing in me. Before I would just use techniques, such as parrying, only using my body to do them, but now I’m capable of adding my ki into it.
To explain this, I first need to explain ki in more detail.
Ki is something all living things has, unlike mana, it isn’t in everything. If mana flows through your veins, then ki flows through your nerves, while stamina resides in your entire body. As said, every living being has ki, even plants and such. There are few exeptions of some creatures not ‘having’ ki. The thing is, they do have ki, but they can’t use it, or to be more precise, they convert it. To what, you ask. Well, some to mana, others to stamina. But this can’t be learned, you have to be born with it.
By moving the ki from your nerves into your muscles, you’re able to make the muscles stronger, faster and more agile. In addition, you’re also able to move it into your brain and eyes, increasing your reaction speed, making everything seem as if it was slower. Something akin to this can also be done with mana, but that only increases your vision, making you able to see farther.
Ki is meant for close-quarters, while mana is made for long range, both being capable at midrange. Archers use ki and mana, ki to draw the bow and shooting farther, mana to add elemental damage and increasing their vision range. This doesn’t mean that archers are mages, they’re just able to add a small coating of elemental mana on the tip of the arrows.
Anyway, after mother told me this, I started to practice sensing my ki. It took me a couple of days, but I was successful. I can now use it to some extent.
I’m able to increase my reaction speed by a bit, making it 10% slower, and I’m also able to add more power, speed and agility to my body. If I was strong before, then I’m close to a God now.
That’s a comparison, not my actual level.
What I mean is, that if I was to fight myself before I became capable of wielding ki, I would destroy the ki-less me.
Well, back on track. After being able to wield ki, my parents were now even more willing to let me go hunt, since my swordsmanship has become many times better.
A week had passed with training, as I mentioned earlier, and today a group of adventurers and a merchant arrived in the village.
The merchant was a Demi-human of the wolf-tribe, which was rare to see. Usually wolf-tribe demi-humans and beastmen become warriors, but some become mages, rogues, merchants, minstrels, etc.
The adventurers on the other hand, was a mix of many races. From what I could tell there were two Fae, an archer and a dual-wielding swordsman both being Elves, one Demon, an axe-wielding warrior from some Orc tribe, one Beastman, a shield and sword wielding warrior from some dog tribe(AN: Something akin to Gnolls, you know, humanoid dogheads.), a Demi-human, a mage from some feline tribe, and a Human, a priest.
The weird thing about the party wasn’t all the different races, but that they had a human in it.
Usually humans don’t party with beastmen, and especially not demons. Most of the time they either only party with other humans. But when it comes to this continent, they can be seen with Fae and demi-humans.
That doesn’t mean that all Humans are like that. In fact, there’s actually quite a few who ends up settling down on this continent, creating more Demi-humans in the process.
As soon as I had heard that visitors had arrived, I instantly took off with mother, hoping that they had a mana crystal in the shape and size that I needed.
Arriving there, I instantly went through the merchants stock of mana crystals, sadly, he had a few in the right shape, but being either way too small, or just too big to fit.
I was about to leave, when the Human called out to me.
After coming over to her, she asked me what I was looking for.
How did I understand what she said, you ask. Well, to my surprise, the most used language, being the Human language, was English, apparently. And since I was from an English speaking country in my previous life, I was able to speak it smoothly. Although having this tongue made me stumble on the s’s from time to time.
I explained her that I was looking for a mana crystal and in what shape and size I needed.
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Hearing this, she suddenly took off her bag and went through it, taking out a tall, slender and light blue mana crystal.
It was just what I was looking for.
She told me she would sell it to me, if I showed her some good hunting grounds nearby.
Apparently they came here on an escort requests, for the merchant they came with, but had nothing to do the next couple of days until they went back.
Hearing this I ran to mother and told her about it. Hearing this, she told me it was fine, and that where we went last time would be good enough, since going just a bit further would up the difficulty exponentially.
Dragging mother with me to the Human priest to bargain, I almost couldn’t hide my excitement. After a bit of discussion between mother and the Human, we got it to the same price as the sword, only 20 silver. Of course, in return I had to guide and help them hunt. I told her that I had little to no experience in hunting, but that I could easily guide them.
I hadn’t left the village more than once, but I’ve studied maps for the past few days, learning the surrounding areas. And I know what lives in the forest to the west. Mostly Kyurns, but with Flurnes living on the way there. Of course, other animals lived there. But the only beasts of danger were Kyurns and Flurnes, with a few weaker races here and there.
After agreeing to go tomorrow morning, I got the crystal and went home.
Arriving home, I immediately unsheathed my sword and replaced the crystal.
Running to the back of the house, I swung the sword while pressing the button. The result was as expected.
The blade extended, only held together by a wire. After a few swings, I came to the conclusion that it became 2,5 meter long, making it more than twice my height. It was awkward the first few slashes. Getting used to the sudden change in length and balance of the sword would take time, but I could definitely see the strengths of the whip-sword, just from wielding it for a few minutes.
Suddenly changing the range and movements of the sword would be very confusing and dangerous for the enemy. It could catch them off-guard, leading to a lethal hit.
Wanting to master this sword as quickly as possible, I started out with leaving the sword in constant extended mode. After finding out that, it only spend mana when extending or retracting. Since I was already used to swordplay, I wanted to get used to how it was to wield a whip, before combining the two.
After a few hours I got the hang of it.
Since a whip-sword had sharp pieces of metal attached to it, unlike a standard whip, it was as effective making it the side slide along the target, cutting through the flesh, as making the tip hit or whipping the side of the target, piercing or cutting into the flesh.
It was more versatile, so to speak. More kinds of attacks were possible because of the sharp edges.
After getting the feeling for it, I tried combining the two forms.
Nearly impossible, is the only way to describe it.
Suddenly going from using a sword technique, to suddenly shift into a whipping motion was as hard as it could get. The movements and balance of the things were so different; that it was a wonder people could use a weapon such as this.
The focus on a swords movement is to hit something right in front of you, while for the whip it is about hitting something a couple of meters away from you. This change made it hard to hit properly.
It would be extremely effective if the enemy tried to create some distance, but usually you would just close the distance, following them.
But after thinking about it some more, I came to the conclusion that the weapon was still much more effective than one would think. If mastered, that is.
Instead of having to jump after them, you would just stay where you are, still attacking them, forcing them to retreat even further. Moreover, if you’re against someone wielding a sword, you would be able to fight them without ever entering their attack range.
Of course, all this is only possible if you’re able to master the weapon to a certain degree.
Which I wasn’t, at least not in one day.
I was able to fight with the sword only, as expected, and with the whip to some degree. But not both at the same time, smoothly switching between them.
More practice was needed, and it was already late. I would have to just stick to using the sword tomorrow, except in situations where a whip is more useful.
Finished with my training, I ate and went to sleep.
The next morning I packed a bag, which my parents bought for me, with a few necessities. The rest of the space in the bag would be filled with whatever share I would get from the hunting.
Going to the tribe-manor, which was the meeting place, I saw the group of adventurers. Everyone looked eager to go, and I, as well, couldn’t hide my excitement.
Explaining to them that we would go west and hunt in the forest there, they agreed. The point I used to make them agree this easily was that, unlike me, they weren’t used to moving and fighting in a swamp.
Being prepared and with a goal, we set out.
Let the hunt begin!
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Author Notes:
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, another actionless one. But look forward to the next one, there's gonna be some action! :D
And yay for whip-swords! I even finally got the puzzling sword to finish my Dark Souls 2 build xD (And no, not the first time getting it.)
Oh, and also didn't make the double ss's for human speech, just as you guys wanted, but had to mention that it still happened. So if you want it, you can just go imagine it happening :D
As always, please comment, all feedback is welcome. :3
Ps. We broke the 100 follower barrier. Next ones are 1k average views, 100 favourites, and 250 followers? :D Lets do this!
Pss. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out tomorrow, we'll see. :3