I woke up in darkness and reached out for my blade. When I did not find it next to me, a surge of panic ran through me. I could feel my heart racing. I jumped to my feet only to be caught in something soft and malleable. I struggled with it for a moment before untangling myself. I threw the binding fabric to the floor, and it took me a moment to realise I was not in the tower.
I placed my hands on my knees and took a few deep breaths. A notification window sat at the bottom right of my vision. I focused on the window, and it expanded outwards.
Spell Gained:
Summon Weapon
Rank: 0
Cost: 20 MP
Effect: F-grade Weapon (base F)
Description:
Summon any crude weapon you have a skill of 1 or more in. Higher spell rank increases weapon quality and grade. Summoned weapons will vanish after 10 hours or when broken.
Rubbing my eyes, I looked over the spell again. No, this can’t be right. What happened to a summon creature spell? What about fireball? Why is it weapons? This was going to be a new life, a new build, no more melee. To make things worse I needed a weapon skill of at least one to even cast the bloody thing.
“FUCK!” I looked around the room for something to kick only to remember that I’m a guest. Looking to the window I saw that it’s still early morning and dark outside. A dim light could be seen from the Tower in the distance. There were six glowing blue rings wrapped around the structure. The sky was dark so there was still some time until breakfast. If I wanted to be able to cast this new spell, there is one thing I will need to do first.
I opened the room door, stepped out, and slammed it behind me. I heard the wood crack and somehow that made me feel a little better. With an objective in mind, I wandered around the corridors opening doors until I found my target.
A large open room with training weapons lined up against a wall.
Grabbing the closest weapon, a short spear, I swung it around a few times to get used to the weight. I moved to the centre of the room and performed a kata, a series of body movements and set positions used to train with weapons and improve muscle groups. The moves felt effortless, and I quickly fell into a sort of meditation.
After 5 minutes I checked my notifications and saw that I gained rank 5 with spears.
I grabbed the next weapon, this time a two-handed sword, and performed another kata.
I continued going through the weapons on the rack methodically.
Just as I picked up a wooden sword that fit comfortably in my right hand I was interrupted.
“Nice moves. Were you a martial artist on Earth?”
Turning around I saw Yui tying her hair back with a white ribbon.
“Something like that” waving the sword a few times, I got a feel for it before positioning into the first form.
Yui walked past me and grabbed a wooden katana from the rack. “Instead of swinging at air. Why don’t we have a little spar?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Don’t be a baby. I will go easy on you. Skills go up much faster by fighting a real opponent. That’s what you are doing right? Getting the first skill level for each weapon?”
Stopping the kata, I turned to face her. “Okay fine, you convinced me. Facing against a person is a better ending than form practice. I don’t plan on using the weapons after I have skill points in them.”
Walking to the middle of the room Yui beckoned me over. “Why? I saw you with the glaive, you clearly know what you are doing.”
I moved to stand across from her. “That life is behind me. I’m a caster now. What’s the point of having mana if I’m not going to dedicate myself to its use?”.
“You are not a fighter? I thought for sure you were going to have a physical class. What spell did you get after reaching level one?”
“I was hoping for an attack spell or creature summon. Instead, I can only summon a weapon that I have a skill in.”
“That’s even more reason to continue using weapons. If you don’t keep up your close combat skills, anyone that gets into melee range will end you!” Pointing her wooden sword towards me she continued. “Besides, casters become useless once they run out of mana, but with your skills you could keep fighting.”
Getting into a fighting stance I readied myself “Okay, let’s make a bet then. If you beat me here, I’ll continue honing my weapon skills. However, if I win, I’ll focus on magic, and you won’t bother me about this anymore.”
She looked me over “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why, worried you might get hurt?”
“Absurd! I have been training with the sword since I was six!”
I grinned towards her “Don’t be a baby. I’ll go easy on you.”
A serious look formed on Yui’s face. “Prepare yourself!” She dashed towards me and started her attack. She had some pretty decent moves, clearly very skilled for her age. Everything was so… predictable. I didn’t bother raising my weapon and hardly needed to move to avoid getting hit. After a few seconds I poked out with my wooden sword.
Yui jumped back a metre and reset herself. A surprised look on her face. She took a second and then came at me again. This time she made a few feints towards my face before aiming for my weapon. I let her strike my weapon, sending it wide, along with my arm.
She went to strike my exposed body however I took a step forward, around her next attack and gave her back a slight push with my free hand. I smelled lavender as she moved past me. Her back was now exposed to me, but I did not strike. I wanted to see what else she could do. Yui hopped forward, away from me, and brought her weapon around fast, keeping it between us. Her eyes widened in surprise again.
“Hey, not bad for, what…” I did some quick calculations. “11 years of practice?”
“Argh! I’m 23, asshole!” Yui attacked me in a flurry of ever-increasing speed. Impressive. I’m not able to completely dodge all her attacks without moving backward. I brought up my sword and blocked her strikes.
Yui’s wooden katana started to blur, making it harder to keep track of. She jumped backwards a metre from me and held her sword in a sheathed position by her side. She bent her legs and flashed towards me at an incredible speed.
Her sword was moving so fast it had become invisible. I reacted on pure reflex, instinct built from thousands of hours in battle. I spun my body, brought my sword across in front of me and swiped out with my free hand. I felt the contact of our wooden blades meeting followed by landing a hit with my open hand. A loud crack reverberated through the room and Yui’s body went spinning behind me. Turning around I saw her slide across the floor a good five metres.
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Crap, I’m not adjusted to my body. I still need more experience to get used to my stats. This might have been a terrible idea.
Rushing over to her I checked to make sure she was not dead. The last thing I needed was to kill the hero’s disciple.
“Ow… H-How did you do that?” Sitting up, Yui held a hand to the side of her face.
I let out a sigh of relief and knelt next her. I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t stand up yet. What’s your health like? That hit was mostly out of reflex. I was not able to control my strength.”
Yui’s eyes focused on a spot in front of her. “I lost thirty percent of my health… you slapped me… for over two hundred damage?” Oh good. If she is able to yell, she should be okay to move.
I helped her to her feet and provided support. “Come on. Do you have a healer or some health potions nearby?”
Yui pointed to a section of the wall. “In that side room.” A short distance to the side from where she pointed was a sliding door. Walking her towards it I rested her against the wall and looked inside. I spotted a cabinet, that had several glass bottles of different colours inside. Grabbing one of the reds, which I assumed to be health, and brought it to Yui.
Yui took the bottle with both her hands. A bright red welt marked her face from where my palm landed. As she finished drinking, the welt healed to a soft rosy, very clearly hand shaped, bruise.
I grimaced at the bold mark against her porcelain like skin. I know that women could be very sensitive about their face, so I needed to distract her. “Uh, What’s for breakfast?”
Yui guided me back to my room, and left mumbling that she needed a bath and something about a grandfather.
I opened the window and felt a cool refreshing breeze, so moved the desk chair over to sit on and spent time admiring the city vista.
This must be how things were like in the other world, before the tower went rogue. The sky was still a dark blue, but brighter than when I woke up. I could see some clouds reflecting the light of a still hidden sun. There were more rings of light on the Tower now, a total of eight the last one a blueish green. Feeling the cool breeze against my face I opened my stats and had a look at my gains.
Name: Reigner
Race: Human
level: 1
Class: Summoner
Health: 1240/1240.
HP Regen: 1.5/minute
Stamina: 2370/2370.
SP Regen: 78/minute
Mana: 180/180.
MP Regen: 12.5/minute
Strength: 96
Constitution: 74
Dexterity: 89
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Spells:
Summon Mana Marble (1)
Summon Weapon (0)
Skills:
Axe 1handed (5) +
Axe 2handed (5) +
Counter (22) +
Dodge (10) +
Parry (10) +
Polearms (5) +
Shield (5) +
Small Blades (5) +
Spear (5) +
Sword 1handed (27) +
Sword 2handed (5) +
Unarmed (12) +
Not bad for a few hours work. Concentrating I focused on summoning a dagger with my new spell. I felt the mana course through my body and down my arm, forming into a sharpened bone knife.
Amazing. Summoning a weapon, even if its low quality, is really… really, cool.
Going by the description, higher ranks will improve the quality and grade.
Weapons are graded from F to A. With F being the worst, C being the middle ground and A being the best in terms of damage and weight. There is another grade, S grade, however weapons of that quality were extremely rare.
Gripping the dagger at both ends I flexed my arms to see how durable it was. After a few seconds the weapon snapped and vanished into motes of dim white light. By the feel of it, these summoned weapons will break long before the ten-hour mark. Playing with the spell, I casted it a few more times, trying out different weapons each time. All the rank zero weapons looked to be made from wood, bone, or a mixture of both.
This is fun. Chuckling, I continued casting the spell repeatedly. A pile of summoned weapons started to form on the ground around me.
I took a break when a notification window popped up.
+1 to Summon weapon rank
+1 to wisdom
Nice. A bonus stat.
Checking the spell details again showed me what improved.
Summon Weapon
Rank: 1
Cost: 20 MP
Effect: E-grade Weapon (base F)
Description:
Summon any crude weapon you have a skill of 1 or more in. Higher spell rank increases weapon quality and grade. Summoned weapons will vanish after 10 hours or when broken.
I summoned another dagger and this time instead of bone, the weapon was metallic. It looked more like a dagger now, with a blade, small cross guard, and hilt with twine wrapping. I tested the edge with my thumb, it could cut but only with some effort. Gripping the dagger, it took a little more effort than the bone to break. A decent improvement with just one rank.
A few more and I won’t be able to break the weapons from just flexing my arms. I started chuckling and continued playing…uh exploring with the spell.
The sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted me from my research. I walked over and opened the door, on the other side stood a woman with long blond hair. She was wearing a matching green tunic and skirt. Her face was flawless, almost glowing, and her eyes were like brilliant sapphires.
“Good morning, sir. I am Sera, Master Gushiken’s lead assistant. Are you well? The guild cleaners heard some concerning laughter coming from your room.”
I stepped out the room and closed the door carefully behind me, making sure she couldn’t see the mess of weapons piled up inside. It took me a few tries until the door closed. It no longer fit the frame smoothly. “Ahh... Sorry. I was just doing some spell practice”
“I see…” Seras eyes flickered behind me for a moment. “Ahem… I have been asked to guide you to the breakfast hall, as Miss Gushiken was feeling unwell.”
“Miss Gushiken? Do you mean Yui? And please, just call me Reigner.” That grandfather comment is starting to make more sense.
Smiling, Sera started leading the way from my room. Her back looked just as attractive as her front. “Very well Reigner. Yes, Yui is Master Gushiken’s sixth great granddaughter”
“I have a feeling you don’t mean she is one of six.”
Sera’s laugh was like music to my ears. “No. I mean six generations. Master Gushiken was one of the first humans to arrive on this world and is the sole surviving founder of the guild.”
Just how old would he have to be to have six generations of descendants.
Continuing to follow Sera I used this time to apologise. Something I feel like I have been doing a lot lately. “I heard that you had to clean up the… mess in the meditation room. I want to ap-.”
“Reigner, please do not feel any shame. The hall staff and I have spells well suited for cleaning any manner of…” She coughed slightly, “body fluids. It did not take long, and the only damage done was to the pillows.”
Sera led me into a large hall filled with tables. There were adults of all ages sitting around socialising. Children were running all over the place between and under tables. I had to step to the side to dodge one of the small human missiles. The tables were filled with plates and platters of different bite sized food.
I was used to mostly eating mushrooms, monster meat, and anything that could be foraged inside the tower. Seeing such delicious looking food everywhere made my stomach rumble in a need so strong that it took considerable effort to not just reach out and pick up one of the full platters from a passing table.
Sera was gliding gracefully in front of me, navigating the chaos in the room like an Elf in a forest. I however, had to constantly dodge around running children. She led the way to a small round table filled with plates of food.
Standing next to the table was Hiro, a stern frown on his face.
“Reigner, has Earth changed so much that it is now commonplace for a guest to slap their host’s granddaughter across their face?”