Tilly tripped over his own feet as he followed Ichiro out to the middle of the section of the parade ground. He couldn't help but look back at the group excitedly talking amongst themselves as the Captain stood off to the side smiling.
“Are you ready?” Ichiro said, turning to face Tilly while resting an easy hand on the hilt of his sword. Tilly’s eyes were drawn to the casual gesture like a magnet,
“Um, don’t we need practice weapons or something?”
“No,” Ichiro responded simply, his expression open and honest as he rocked back on his heels in anticipation of the spar.
“Simply do your best to attack me. I believe I am more than skilled enough to handle anything you are currently capable of without your Abilities.” He said slowly, searching the human’s face for the reason behind his hesitation.
Tilly sighed and slowly pulled his hatchets out of their loops. Of course, these guys wouldn't use practice weapons. It's not like this is a HEMA convention.
“I guess live weapons make the most sense,” He grumbled to himself, stalking forward at a crouched walk trying not to let the natural fear of being stabbed show in his movements. Tilly had faced death and injury plenty of times. But charging in adrenalin pumping was one thing. Choosing to get stabbed for… practice was something entirely different. He felt like a rookie all over again, nervously shifting his grip on his hatchets as he rushed forward, wanting to get the first exchange over with.
Ichiro’s face brightened once he saw Tilly move forward, but otherwise, his stance stayed completely relaxed. With a wince of anticipation, Tilly lunged forward swinging his hatchets from both directions in his signature close combat opener. He still felt like an imposter when it came to using the weapons, but he had developed a few internal rules over the last couple of weeks when it came to his weapons. Rule number one, if you have two weapons, try to swing them from two different directions.
Ichiro stepped smoothly to the side and pulled his sword and scabbard out from his sash in one easy motion, knocking away the hatchet in Tilly’s right hand and moving out of range of the other swing. Everything about his expression and seemingly effortless movement convinced Tilly that at least one of them knew what they were doing.
Ichiro's confidence loosened up Tilly’s movements and he spun with the parry hoping to bring the struck hatchet back around toward Ichiro. But his plan was completely interrupted by an explosive blow across his back.
The air burst from his lungs as he face-planted into the churned dirt.
“Shit, Ichiro! *Cough* Little harsh-” Tilly growled, pushing up from the ground, but he froze in his movement when Ichiro’s blade whispered free and slid into the ground next to him, nicking the side of his neck.
“Very sorry, Jonathan Tillman, but your skills will only improve if you face bodily harm. I am afraid that each day, we will spar until you're too injured to continue, and then break to allow you to regenerate.” He said, pulling the sword away slowly, finally having realized the reason for Tilly's hesitance. He simply didn't know what was required to raise a combat skill.
Tilly could hear some of the men to the side sniggering, and he forced himself to drop into his meditative breathing as his blood began to boil at once again being caught off guard by the rules of this place. It would have been fucking nice to know he was signing up for a beatdown every day. But whatever… better to learn lessons here where he would only be injured than out there where he would be killed for his ignorance.
He groaned as he pushed back up to his feet and turned to face Ichiro who had once again sheathed his sword.
“OK. Does this sort of Skill leveling involve any pointers?” Tilly asked in a growl, touching his neck and looking at the blood that stained his hand. He was keeping his cool, and the slightly embarrassed look on Ichiro’s face mollified him somewhat.
“Yes, but not tonight. Simply do everything you can to hit me, and you may use your weapons and Abilities to their full extent.” Ichiro replied, gesturing for them to continue.
Tilly took a few rapid breaths, the anticipation of very real pain and injury spiking his chemical balance. He had thought he was pretty acclimated to how things were going to be here on Nephesh. But the juxtaposition of acceptable risk here versus back home was staggering. He had done endless live fire training evolutions where safety was king. Training in this world was more of a ‘learn by doing’ approach with only a modicum thought for safety. Then again, with most injuries able to heal up in an hour or two, it made sense in an unfortunate way.
Well, time to nut up or shut up.
If he was going to get his ass beaten, he might as well give it his all.
His grip tightened on both the handles of his weapons before he whipped both hatchets at Ichiro as hard as he could, the close quarters only allowing them a single revolution before they each clanged against Ichiro’s reflexively loosed sword.
Tilly spun with the revolution of his second throw and called back the hatchets almost as soon as he heard the clanging parries. At this point, his axe-throwing skill was sufficient to allow him to immediately release again as he came around, no longer needing to consciously aim.
Ichiro had not seen him do anything like this before and was kept momentarily busy deflecting the surprising follow-up throws. Hoping for this, Tilly was already diving forward after his fourth consecutive release, trying to squeeze his surprise opener for all it was worth.
Ichiro’s movements stayed smooth throughout, and his blade seemed to be in two places at once as he deflected both follow-up throws and brought his blade forward to ward off the charge. But it was just a fraction too slow as Tilly crashed into him. The blade bit into his shoulder, but through the pain, Tilly was already punching his right hand with his recalled hatchet into Ichiro’s ribs.
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The lapin folded over the thrust, dropping his elbow down on the blade and knocking it out of Tilly's hand. Then the world rotated on its axis and Tilly was flying through the air, blood spraying from his shoulder.
Ichiro had rolled back with the tackle lifting his leg simultaneously to kick Tilly's chest in. He crashed to the ground and rolled over a few times, having lost his weapons in the maneuver.
“Uuugghhh,” Tilly moaned in pain, attempting to get back to his feet, while guarding both his chest and his actively bleeding shoulder.
“Very Good!” Ichiro exclaimed happily while wiping his blade clean of Tilly’s blood and sheathing it. Even with his eyes hooded against the pain, Tilly spotted a small cut on the lapin’s right elbow where he had knocked aside Tilly’s weapon. A fierce smile slashed through the pain on Tilly’s face.
“I aim to plea-Ugh!” Tilly winced, as he felt a vice squeeze down on his chest.
“Savage, with an uncanny feel for timing. With such little finesse and almost zero knowledge of the use of your weapons, you still managed to find some impressively effective combinations! You seem to favor throttling the initiative, forcing the conflict to go at your pace... This is good. It is no fluke that you have survived to this point.” Ichiro responded, ticking off the points on his lightly furred fingers as he considered Tilly's downed form with a look of appreciation on his face.
“Looks like our Human knows how to take a lick or two boys!” Captain Achillia shouted goodnaturedly from the troughs.
“Careful Captain,” A new voice called from the other side of the section of the parade ground.
“I have seen him deliver a 'lick or two' of his own. Most of us would probably fare the same against the Lord Ichiro here...”
Tilly looked over to find Threstus approaching. His gait and posture remained unchanged, oozing feline grace and menace. His class however showed a surprising new feature
Level 48 Three-Fold Bastion Commander.
“Oh, I was only joking Commander and you know it! I just want this lot to see that no matter how good you are, leveling Skills involves a beating or two!” The captain shouted back in mock outrage. Threstus nodded back at the reply and then waved the men at the troughs off, command evident in the gesture.
Captian Achillia moved seamlessly with the implied command, “Alright, Scum Sacks! Back on the field and in formation! You will never learn to fight if you can’t even walk right!” She shouted, easily transitioning from spectator to officer. While she gathered up her group, Threstus finished approaching the pair,
“Just received word through Shuji from Lord Hiro. They have done a circuit and most of our boundary remains unchanged, except a new mouth at the other end of this valley where the river lets out.” He said, gesturing along the path of the river to the new break in the surrounding mountains.
“What does that change?” Tilly grunted through bruised ribs.
“They have spotted some combatants milling in the open landscape beyond the border of our protections. Currently, they seem to be moving very slowly toward our boundary to investigate. Hiro is going to leave the Boon area for as short a time as possible to collect intel on the probable enemy. In anticipation of his findings, we are directing 50% of our building efforts to the gap, it must be defensible as soon as possible.” He recited as if listing off what they were going to eat for dinner.
“Woah, I knew it would be happening fast, but a possible war so soon? This place is nuts.” Tilly sighed.
“Such is Nephesh. Stagnancy is death, and the system regulates the balance to make sure everything is always in flux. The whole Plane has evolved Epoch after Epoch, moving toward something. What that thing is… not even the scholars know.” Ichiro added gravely, eyeing Tilly with consideration.
“Nonetheless, your mornings will remain unchanged, Tillman, although you will be sparring with others in addition to Ichiro as soon as we can get the Priestess down from the mountain. Perhaps in a few days. Not everyone can be as gentle as the young Lord and you will need her healing as sparring progresses… as will others in this ragtag bunch soon.” Threstus said, eyeing Tilly’s injuries critically, the barest hint of a smile playing around his eyes.
“Oh Fuck off!” Tilly growled swiping at the Commander with one of his hatchets. Threstus didn't move as the blade cut the air half an inch in front of his face, only allowing his smile to burst forth unrestrained.
“Remember your spirit later this week, when I show you what true dual-wielding looks like.” He winked before turning and jogging off to catch another group commander and update them.
“He's the new Bastion Commander huh? And I see the Bastions didn't change much after the quest reward.” Tilly said, turning back to Ichiro, who was watching the new opening to the valley thoughtfully.
“When Linus appointed him earlier this week, they almost came to blows… But it seems he is settling into the role. The Bastions will be essential as our flagship elite class. I am sure there are some significant internal changes, but it is good for our people that they will be able to keep the name.” He replied without turning his gaze away from the gap, his eyes roving all over the area tracing patterns no one else could see.
While the lapin was still thinking, Tilly considered his Health and mana:
Health: 76%
Mana: 88%
“Ichiro, I have more in the tank if you are ready to keep going.” He ground out reluctantly, the bleeding from his shoulder already slowing.
"Yes, I have a good feel for your initial style and I imagine not much changes when you include your powers. Range as you close distance and then inflict as much damage as you can while attempting to soak up any return damage…” He spoke, only giving Tilly half his attention.
“Uh… yeah. That sounds like what I have been doing so far.” Tilly answered, his face screwed up at the brief description of all his ‘tricks’. At his tone, the lapin finally looked away from where his father had set off, offering a conciliatory smile at Tilly,
“Do not worry. Effective and complicated are rarely synonymous. We will begin again tomorrow, and I will help you refine what you have already begun to develop. Variation can come after you master your typical combinations. You are not a duelist, facing countless skilled opponents one on one. We will focus on keeping you alive, and then build out your combat role from there.”
Ichiro eyed the sky, now colored in rich shades of pink and purple, while the surrounding mountains cast long dark shadows on the valley and its inhabitants.
“Come, we will meditate, then eat and you will rest again, even if you are not tired. Shuji has cited important studies time after time to me that even though we can endure tiredness and hunger much better with increased stats, there are still consequences. Returns begin to diminish past a certain point, especially when we are cultivating something like Will. Today has offered us more than enough to consider.
The longer you live here the more you will come to find that most combat is much more than numbers. You will meet some combatants that have barely mastered their Abilities, while others squeeze out every bit of potential from their builds. For warriors like them, levels can be extremely deceptive.” He said looking back from the darkening sky and into Tilly’s eyes, the sudden ferocity of his stare slightly off-putting.
“You will be one such warrior before we are through, Jonathan Tillman, mark my words.”