Liam made his way through a crowd that had formed in the market street. The shouts of people trying to grab others’ attention echoed all around him. Even though their voices were loud, Liam was lost in his thoughts.

Everything is as good as it’s going to get. Liam thought as he navigated through the crowd. I’ve thought of as many strategies and countermeasures as I could. However, just like how life can be…Anything can happen.

During the middle of Liam’s thoughts, two people stood in his way causing him to walk right into them.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Liam began to say until he recognized who they were. He froze as he looked at Avery’s and Blair’s stern gazes.

“Dude, what the hell,” Avery chastised. “I was calling out to you, but you ignored me.”

“I’m sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts right now and tuned everyone out,” Liam replied. He felt the heat from her sharp gaze baring down on him making him take an involuntary step back.

Blair placed a hand on Avery’s shoulder.

Avery turned to look at her.

“You know how he can be when he gets lost in his head,” Blair stated. She then looked at Liam and eyed him for a moment. “What were you thinking about? Is it another crafting experiment?”

“No, its…,” Liam stopped himself remembering he wasn’t going to get them involved with his duel. “It’s something else.”

“Oh?” Blair questioned with a brow raised.

Liam felt uncomfortable as the two girls stared at him.

When it looked like he wasn’t going to say anything, Avery stated, “I was calling out to you because we were going to meet the others for lunch and wanted to see if you wanted to join us.”

Liam glanced at the internal clock and saw it was eleven a.m. He thought about it. He could grab something light to help settle his nerves.

He mentally shook his head as he thought, No. that could be a bad idea. I don’t want to throw up anything during the match.

“Thanks for the offer, but I have a thing,” Liam replied.

“A thing?” Avery and Blair said.

“Yeah, a thing,” Liam repeated with a slight smile.

“Okay,” Blair started.

Liam felt his shoulders relax for a brief moment before Blair added, “Avery, go let the others know Liam and I will be late.”

“What do you mean?” Liam asked.

“I’m going to join you to do this thing you have going on and then we’ll go meet up with the others,” Blair answered.

Liam’s body tensed up as he tried to argue, “I don’t know how long this will take. So you really don’t need to…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Blair said with a light smile. “Eating some food is always better with someone else. Especially with a friend, right?”

Liam’s thoughts began to work on overdrive.

What she said does make sense. He didn’t want to say anything to them because he wasn’t sure how it would go down. Especially if that Steve guy was there. He didn’t want any attention to fall upon the team he had chosen to take the dungeon on with.

Blair waited for an answer.

After painfully deliberating it and feeling a bit guilty for not telling them what was going on, Liam decided to come clean.

Liam’s body posture changed a bit as he looked Blair right in the eyes. “Alright, you can come.”

Blair noticed the change in his body language. It wasn’t a threatening posture, but rather a more apologetic mixed with a bit of determination. “I knew something was off when you were acting weird, but now something is telling me you didn’t want us to know what you were up to.”

Liam gave her a soft smile. “You’re right. I didn’t want you guys involved in case anything happened, but my mind changed when you mentioned us being friends.”

“What’s going on?” Avery asked.

Liam turned his eyes towards Avery, whose brow rose as she recognized his stern expression. “Instead of telling the others that we’ll meet them later, just have them meet up with us.”

“Meet up where?” Avery asked, curious to know what was going on.

“At the Arena,” Liam replied. “I have a duel with Jude at noon.”

Blair’s face scrunched up as confusion set in.

“Why would you think something…,” Avery started to say until she remember a key detail about the guy.

Before Avery could say anything, Blair voiced the thought that formed in both their minds. “Steve…right?”

Liam nodded. “I don’t know why he asked about me and I don’t know the relation between him and Jude. All I know is that Jude is from Earth, my old world.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Avery asked.

Liam gave her a weary smile. “I’ll tell you guys about it some time.”

“Will you?” Blair inquired as she stared at him.

“Maybe,” Liam let out a small quick chuckle.

“For now, let’s get this thing done with and then we can go have lunch,” Liam said as he started to make his way to the arena.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A small gathering of people sat in the chairs surrounding the arena.

Chatter from people echoed around the ring as more people slowly walked over to watch the duel that was going to happen.

Liam stood stretching while facing the outside of the arena where his teammates sat.

“You got this Liam,” Artem stated.

“Of course he does,” Roman chimed in as he gave Mercer a smug look.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“You’re going to wear the Throwing Dagger Vest?” Ariyana questioned as she looked around. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “It’s an Uncommon Rarity item, so it should be fine. It’s only the rare items we can’t go around showing off.”

Ariyana nodded at the logic. “That’s true.”

Liam looked at Mercer who was giving him a slightly disappointed look.

Avery and Blair stood beside him with the same expression.

Liam was about to say something, but Mercer held a hand up and stated, “Don’t worry about it right now. I can understand why you did it, but just focus on the fight for now. You can’t afford to be distracted.”

Mercer pointed at something behind Liam.

Liam turned to see Jude walking into the arena.

He wore a chain vest underneath a dark leather chest piece that only covered his chest and shoulders. A pair of dark red pants covered his lower half with iron shin guards and dark red leather boots on his feet. The whole armor set really showed how toned and in shape he was.

His short blond hair made his jaded green eyes look even more menacing as he gave Liam a wicked smile. “I will say this,” Jude started. “I was a bit worried you’d try and skip out on this duel.”

“Why did you think that?” Liam asked with an even look, trying to keep his emotions in check.

“You were adamantly against it at first. Usually many would say yes then not show up,” Jude replied.

“Oh? Have you fought any others from Earth here?” Liam asked.

“I have and won each fight.” Jude grinned. “Each one I fought weren’t worth it though. There was maybe…,” Jude stopped to think. “I think two out of the several that were, but they still lost to me in the end.”

Internally Liam was shocked to hear that there were more people from Earth here. He hadn’t come across them besides Alicia and her two companions.

Just how many are there here from Earth? He thought.

“Enough of this chatter though,” Jude announced, taking Liam out of his thoughts. He pulled out two short swords and pointed them at Liam, pronouncing, “It’s time I add another win under my belt. You better not hold back on me.”

Many of the people in the crowd let out a roar of cheers after hearing the words.

Liam pulled out his two curved daggers and took a defensive stance he had learned from Nabal the day before.

This is going to be a pain. Liam thought as he got ready.

“Are you ready?!” a voice called out.

Jude and Liam both nodded.

“Let’s do this. Fight!”

Jude rushed in towards Liam. As he got within striking distance, Jude lunged forward with his left sword.

Liam parried it inside and away from his face.

Jude followed the momentum and spun, swinging with his right sword horizontally towards Liam’s neck.

Liam bent his knees down enough to dodge the swing and sheathed his two daggers away. As the sword swung above his head, he pushed himself into a back handspring to gain a bit of distance from Jude. As pushed off his hands to land back on his feet, Liam threw his two daggers at Jude.

Jude swung his left sword to deflect one of the daggers, then blocked the last dagger with his right sword.

“Interesting,” Jude commented. “Is your strategy to run away?”

Liam pulled two daggers from the sheathes on his hips. “If that’s what you think I’m doing then that’s fine,” Liam stated as he watched Jude’s body carefully.

Jude let out a small laugh. “It doesn’t matter,” Jude started. “You can’t outrun me. I’ll always be right there.”

Before Liam could retort, Jude sprung forward once more. The speed he had made it easy for him to close the distance.

Jude swung his left sword horizontally at Liam.

Liam switched the grip on the dagger in his right hand to a reverse grip with the curved edge pointing up. He brought it up in time to hook under the blade and guide it over his head before it could collide. He then jumped and rolled to his right to dodge the second sword that was coming down vertically on him.

Once when Liam rolled to his feet, he jumped in to strike Jude’s rib cage.

Jude swung his right foot back, allowing him to narrowly dodge the attack.

Liam gritted his teeth, feeling annoyed before pushing into a roll to dodge the horizontal strike that Jude used to counter.

Liam sheathed his daggers once more before grabbing two daggers from his vest and tossing them at Jude.

He pulled out his sheathed daggers again and charged in.

Jude moved his head to dodge one of the thrown daggers and parried the other with a single strike. He then crossed his swords into an X to block the dagger strike Liam combined.

Come on strike me. I’ll try to use Back Stab to get the first strike in. Liam thought as he glared at Jude.

Jude brought his right leg up and kicked Liam in the stomach to push him back.

Liam slid back a bit watched as Jude rushed in with both swords up in the air for a diagonal strike.

Liam smirked for a brief moment. Good. That’s what I wanted. Liam thought as he reached his right arm out to his side.

Jude’s gaze followed the arm.

That’s it. Follow the birdie. Liam thought as he released his dagger from his grip and then stepped to the left and pushed off as fast as he could to Jude’s left side.

This is actually going to work. Liam thought as he felt excited about this move succeeding.

As Liam was getting excited during the middle of this Weapon Art, Jude ruined it by ramming his elbow down onto Liam’s back. The attack made Liam fall on his face to the ground, confused by what happened.

A buzzing sensation trickled across Liam’s back, warning him of a powerful strike incoming. Not having time to think, he rolled away from Jude, out of the way of two swords piercing into the ground.

Liam got back to his feet and stared at Jude. He wasn’t sure what happened. He felt he had the movements down right. His reflexes were on point as well. He was confused about why Jude was able to counter it midway.

“What just happened?” Ariyana asked with furrowed brows.

“I don’t know,” Artem stated as confusion grew in his facial expression.

Mercer, Avery, and Blair stared at Liam. They, too, weren’t sure what they just witnessed.

To them, they saw Liam reached his right hand out and dropped his dagger. The next thing they knew Liam had disappeared, but the reappeared on the ground after Jude brought an elbow down into nothing but air.

“He tried using Back Stab,” a feminine voice stated.

The small group turned to see Alicia, Octavius, and Olivia walk up to stand next to them.

“Back Stab?” Roman asked.

“It’s a Dagger Weapon Art,” Alicia answered. “He told me he learned it yesterday.” She turned to look at someone who was standing to the left of the group and asked, “Isn’t that right, Mr. Nabal?”

Everyone turned to see a tall, tanned man with a well-groomed beard and short black side-swept hairstyle. He had his gaze set on Liam, but then turned his baby blue eyes onto Alicia.

“Yes and no,” Nabal replied. “Also how do you know Liam, Little Alicia?”

“You know I hate being called that Mr. Nabal,” Alicia stated, narrowing her eyes at him. “He and I study Alchemy together.”

Nabal raised an eyebrow as he commented, “Alchemy huh? I would have thought he’d study Blacksmithing. He’s got great perception.”

“He’s actually doing both,” Mercer stated as he kept his eyes on Liam jumping back in to attack.

“What?” Nabal, Octavius, and Olivia questioned.

“That doesn’t matter. Who are you and how do you know Liam?” Avery inquired. She then added, “Also, what do you mean yes and no?”

“Are you apart of Liam’s team?” Nabal asked as he stared at Avery before looking at the others.

“Yes,” the group stated without hesitation.

Nabal was taken aback by how quickly they replied. Interesting. Nabal thought as he looked into each of their gazes. He then answered, “I am his Dagger Instructor. He came to learn Weapon Arts here at the Training Hall. I had him take a test he shouldn’t have been able to pass, but he did and in an unexpected way.”

“An unexpected way?” Ariyana repeated.

Nabal looked at Avery. “To answer your second question. He did learn it, but not in the same way any of us would have.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Roman asked. Irritation started to creep into his voice.

“Alicia,” Nabal started as he turned to her. “How do you learn a Weapon Art?”

Confused by the question, Alicia answered, “Once when you’re able to properly land a hit you get the Art.”

“Correct,” Nabal said. “See he was able to properly land a Weapon Art on me that I didn’t show him, but that notification never came.”

“What?” Artem asked.

“If he didn’t receive the notification then did he really land the Weapon Art properly?” Olivia questioned.

“What Weapon Art was it?” Alicia inquired.

Nabal’s gaze stared right into Alicia as he answered, “Counter Stab.”

Alicia’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“What? What is it, Alicia?” Olivia asked.

“Counter Stab is one of the hardest Weapon Arts for a beginner to learn,” Alicia started. “The timing, reflexes, and agility needed to get it done right is why many trainers tell a beginner to wait till later to learn it.”

Nabal nodded. “It’s one of the reasons why I took an interest in him. That and the fact that he’s doing the Weapon Arts not by skill activation, but by pure reflex and timing.”

Alicia’s eyes grew wider. “But that can’t be possible. There’s no…”

“It is possible.” Nabal interrupted. “After I got done training with him, I tried it out myself. I was able to pull it off once. So, I can confirm that it can be done.” He turned his attention back on Liam.

As he watched his trainee fight, he decided to add, “As a trainer I will part three things of advice to all of you.”

Everyone stared at him as they waited to hear what he wanted to impart.

“First, if something feels impossible do not give up and keep trying it even at different angles,” Nabal started. “Second, anything you learn that can be done through activation, practice it without activating it. You’ll truly master it if you can.”

Nabal paused for them to take in what he said so far.

“What’s the last advice?” Alicia asked.

Nabal kept his eyes on Liam as he finished, “Learn and absorb anything you see that boy do. I have a feeling he will turn everyone’s way of doing things upside down.”