Zach sat on his bed, eating his usual breakfast in preparation for his last day of training. He knew that after today his life would once again lose its sense of familiarity, and he would be thrown into the great unknown.
Due to his constant training, Zach was greatly surprised by how quickly the month had passed. As he finished the last of the beast-jerky Zach mentally-opened his self-tab.
Zachary Collins
Warrior Level 0
HP: 100 Health represents how far you are from death.
Stamina: 100 Stamina represents your ability to perform actions, including usage of battle aura.
Current Stats:
Strength: 50 Strength represents your ability to produce force.
Precision: 24 Precision represents your accuracy and timing.
Vitality: 31 Vitality represents health regen, bodily toughness.
Endurance: 32 Endurance represents stamina regen and bodily toughness.
Reaction: 19 Represents your ability to respond to events physically and mentally.
Perception: 17 Perception represents your ability to learn, and sense danger.
Skills:
Level 4 Pain Resistance (Common): Reduces all pain experienced by 20%
Level 7 Astral Meditation (Rare): Allows one to enter a state of mental clarity, and assists with comprehension of Earth and Space elements.
Level 4 Foundational Greatsword Technique (uncommon): A simple style focused on perfecting the basics and forming a foundation of body control.
Level 4 Earthen Barrier(uncommon): Thin but incredibly dense layers of Earth surround the body, providing protection.
Level 1 Colossal Blow(uncommon): A large quantity of densely packed Earth surrounds the weapon, drastically increasing its weight.
Zach's Vitality, Endurance, and Strength had all increased due to a combination of his training throughout the week and his final time in the blood pool.
However, Zach noticed that his strength gains had gradually slowed down, even yesterday's bloodbath had improved his stats less than usual.
Halt told him that without the blood of a stronger beast it would be somewhat pointless to spend any time on pure physical training.
Instead, Zach's last week of training consisted of him meditating, and him fighting Halt to improve his swordsmanship and application of Battle Aura.
Fighting against Halt was beyond hellish, it only lost out to his time in the pool by a small margin of agony.
Halt would switch between various fighting styles during training. Sometimes, Halt used a portion of his immense strength and mimicked the unintelligent attacks of a beast. This forced Zach to rely on Earthen Barrier, parrying and dodging.
However, for most of his combat training Halt would utilize only as much strength as Zach, and would only use skills Zach had learned.
This allowed Zach to see how to better apply his Battle Aura and facilitated a rapid improvement in his swordsmanship. Zach felt that he was extremely-close to reaching level 5 in both his Foundation Greatsword Technique and Earthen Barrier.
With those goals firmly in mind, Zach made his way to the rocky training room, which had become his current home.
"This is your last day of training brat! You will be fighting with me from dawn till dusk! But before we get to the fun, let's get the necessities out of the way."
Halt Pulled a dull-gray Greatsword out of his spacial storage and handed it to Zach, before continuing his speech.
"Currently, in my eyes, you are not yet worthy of this sword. However, due to you surviving individual training, HQ has granted you an upper-quality uncommon greatsword."
The sword's dimensions were the same as the sword he used in training. However, it was made of a different metal which was a dull gray in color, and exponentially heavier.
The sword was so heavy that Zach's arms dipped in surprise when he took hold of it. It was at least 4 times heavier than his training sword and would take getting used to.
As Zach admired the sword a message bubble popped up on his screen.
Soldier's Greatsword
Weapon Grade: Upper-Quality Uncommon
"The Complex grades weapons in a similar manner to skills. At your level, the only ranks you need to worry about seeing are unranked, common, uncommon, and rare. However, for weapons, the ranks are further divided into lower, mid, and upper qualities. Your training swords were all unranked."
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Zach pushed aside his desire to ask what the higher grades were and waited for the now smirking Halt to continue speaking.
"You need to get used to your new weapon, it will be your closest companion from now on. There is no better way to bond with a weapon than life or death struggles! Think of today as your graduation exam, with failure being death."
Halt withdrew his sword and took a fighting stance.
Even with Halt using the same level of strength and stamina, along with the same skills Zach had, Zach knew he would never come close to beating him. Halt's skill levels and skill usage were all perfect, and in terms of combat experience, they were not remotely comparable.
Zach knew that if he did not attack first, and with his full strength, Halt would become impatient and deal him a severe blow. Biting the bullet, Zach charged.
As he closed the gap, with speed comparable to a sprinting cheetah, Zach unleashed a full-strength diagonal slash.
Contrary to Zach’s expectations, Halt did not parry his slash. Instead, he pivoted to the side and aimed a slash for Zach’s arms. As Halt’s slashed at Zach he instantly used Earthen Barrier on his shoulder.
Zach prepared to also cast Earthen Barrier, mid strike, as he watched Halt pivot. However, he noticed Earthen Aura rapidly surround Halt’s sword, forming a layer of earth.
Halt had used Colossal Blow mid strike, limiting Zach’s window to react.
Zach gritted his teeth, he knew he had no time to dodge, and Halt’s Colossal Blow would only be slightly-hindered by his Earthen Barrier.
Accepting the loss of his arms, Zach took to the offensive. His stamina fell by 10 as he used Colossal Blow; intending to tear through Halt’s Earthen Barrier and sever his arm.
Their blows hit at roughly the same time.
Zach fought the urge to scream as Halt's sword tore through his arms as if they were paper, bringing his HP to a rapidly falling 40. However, he felt a sense of achievement for wounding Halt.
However, his sense of self-satisfaction was soon crushed.
His strike had missed the left side of Halt's body by a handful of centimeters. Due to Earthen Barrier, Halt's clothing was not even rustled.
To avoid dying of blood-loss, Zach instantly drank the health potion Halt held to his lips. As a warm feeling spread to his bleeding stumps, his arms began to visibly regenerate.
"If you are going to take the initiative, then attack with full power! You should've used Colossal Blow from the start, conserving your stamina is not worth dying for!”
Zach nodded, he knew that bearing the pain from fighting Halt was entirely worth it for his advice, even if it contained insults.
Every time he saw Halt use Earthen Barrier he felt like he was that much closer to understanding how to make it appear on only part of his body. This would lower his stamina consumption greatly.
"Hmm, I suppose the fact that you did not shit yourself and take the defensive at the last second can be considered progress. I will take it slightly easier this time, if you still cannot survive the first blow then I will just put you out of your misery before you become someone's bitch tomorrow."
Zach may have felt scared by Halt's threat if this was the first week of training, but now his comments only increased Zach’s anger and desire to prove him wrong.
Numerous painful fights later, all ending with Zach being eviscerated or maimed, Zach finally saw progress.
Once again he took the initiative, leading with a downward Colossal Blow.
As usual, Halt Also used Colossal Blow and parried his strike to the side.
Zach knew that he was far from Halt's match in swordplay. Attempting to surprise him, Zach stepped into Halt's guard and sent a sweeping kick towards his knee.
Zach felt some of the bones in his foot crack. Halt had evidently sensed the kick coming and protected his shin with Earthen Barrier, before blocking the blow.
Gritting his teeth, Zach whirled around as fast as he could, delivering a horizontal slash. Before his blow made contact, Zach felt an Aura enhanced fist slam into his chest.
The force of the blow cracked his ribs, and due to his broken foot, Zach was unable to maintain balance and began to fall.
Abandoning defense, Zach utilized his rotational momentum to finish his spinning-strike; which was now aimed at Halt's legs. Unfortunately, Halt jumped and Zach's blow whistled past his feet.
As Zach was about to hit the ground, he saw Halt falling towards him prepared to end it with a downward thrust. Adrenaline coursing through him, Zach pulled as hard as he could, desperately trying to change his horizontal slash into an upward thrust.
He barely managed it. Halt would surely be able to kill him when he landed, but Zach's sword would hit his leg. Zach knew Halt would not accept this, which would buy him time.
Zach felt the wind get knocked out of him as he hit the ground. His health dropped to an unstable 50, and his broken-ribs caused internal bleeding upon impact.
As Zach expected, Halt was unwilling to allow him to land a blow, even a self-sacrificial one. Unfortunately, Halt dodged his sword without retreating.
Utilizing the extra force of Colossal Blow, and his sword like a fan, Halt had propelled himself just to the side of Zach's greatsword.
Unable to prevent Halt’s falling sword from severing his head, Zach closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
After one or two seconds, Zach opened his eyes. He saw Halt standing beside him. Halt had stopped the fatal blow at the last second.
Grinning, Halt removed his sword from Zach’s vulnerable neck and clasped it to his back, before offering Zach a hand.
Zach accepted Halt's rare help, then immediately drank a Health potion to recover and dull his pain.
Still grinning, Halt began to address him.
"Much better! You were about as graceful as a peg-legged blind man climbing stairs, but your decision making was somewhat reasonable."
Zach wondered how Halt considered this praise, yet wisely remained silent.
"When fighting people with shorter weapons, maintaining your distance is obviously best. However, when fighting someone with similar reach, closing the distance is a very solid strategy."
After covering his fist with Earthen Barrier Halt continued his rant, which now included exaggerated hand gestures.
"Earthen Battle aura is excellent for brawling; however, you should always enhance your blows with Earthen Barrier. Your strength combined with Earthen Barrier makes your fists equivalent to battering rams when fighting other weaklings."
"But, don’t get too excited, the reason I am in good spirits is not due to your mildly comical performance… Your swordplay has finally graduated from being as rigid as a lamp post, to be as rigid as uncooked pasta! If even a clown like you can learn from me then I truly must be a heaven-defying teacher!"
Used to Halt making fun of him, Zach took advantage of his now useless ranting to read the message bubbles which appeared after the fight.
Foundational Greatsword Technique has reached level 5!
+1 Precision
+1 Reaction
Swinging his sword in excitement, Zach noticed that he now could control its path more easily. He was no longer rigidly transitioning between strikes and could now smoothly transition between them!
However, he was still far from Halt's ability to change direction instantly mid strike. Not to mention his movement and strikes still were, in Halt's words, flamboyant, comical, and excessive.
As Halt’s enthusiastic self-praising ended, Zach listened to his closing remarks.
"Mentally prepare yourself and get some rest, you leave tomorrow morning. Your lifestyle will no longer be so carefree then..."
Guffawing at Halt deeming his training carefree, Zach made his way to his room. Accumulated drowsiness rapidly enveloped him, and Zach began to dream of what tomorrow would bring.