As I finished the horizontal slash, I continued the motion. Going with the flow before Barti could stop me. My forwardmost foot slid back and to the side as I sliced down at an angle that was a mirror of my earlier slice. Using the rotation to both generate a bit more force as well as to move me away from my invisible opponent.
“It seems like you have a bit of talent with the blade,” Barti commented. “Back to a neutral pose.” The only thing I needed to move to do so was my sword, even then it wasn’t that far off. “Take a step back and raise your sword. Bring your hands up to your ear while moving your blade so that it is parallel to the ground.”
While the movement was smooth, my right arm strained a bit due to the awkward angle. As every other time I didn’t get it just right, he smacked the out-of-place arm. The rod in his hand forced my elbow back and in. While this relieved some of the strain on my muscles, the spot he hit stung like hell.
“Now, keep that position as I explain a few things, after which you can give the entire sequence a try.” It sounded like he was testing me. Seeing if I could remember and figure out how to do the moves from whatever description he gave. Probably to make sure that I could practice these moves after today.
As he talked, he casually strolled around me. “From this position, while you can stab at your opponent, it is better to instead move into a wide diagonal sweep. Cutting from their shoulder to hip. Then cut horizontally across the waist. Aiming for just below their belly button.”
I wanted to stop and ask him if he was sure about that because that was a fairly gruesome wound to give someone. Then again, if I was ever forced to use these moves it would be on something as it tried to kill me.
At some point, Barti stopped talking. I had been so distracted with the thoughts of killing someone that I hadn't noticed. Without rhyme or reason, he resumed talking. “Move your hand up to eye level while moving the blade so that it is perpendicular to the ground as you use it to block anything swinging at you.” He made a motion as if he was slicing down at me from above, giving me an idea of what he was getting at. “Slice across the opponent's body as you pull your hands to your waist only to immediately stab forward.”
“Now, most of the time your thrust will be blocked. But for this set, we are going to assume that it is not.” He said, waving his hands in dismissal. “Step back, pulling your sword with you. As you pull it out, slice outward with as much leverage as your back hand can generate. After you retreat, return to the ready position.”
Apparently, he was done giving instructions because he stopped talking and stepped back. His eyes tracked my movements or lack thereof. Taking it as a cue to start, my foot slid forward as I stabbed. My target was the location of my enemy's face. Given that I was thinking of a certain elf at that moment, it meant that my stab was angled upward. Thankfully I managed to adjust the strike to something I could work with.
Without waiting, I slid into the second position and pulled the blade out of the target. Readjusting my blade, I stepped forward as I sliced down. Cutting across my opponent's chest. The moment my foot landed, I was already starting to slide it sideways. The blade rotated as I sliced across their belly.
Something about how I was supposed to block an attack with the next move caused me to instinctively bend my knees more. As my center of gravity lowered I rotated the blade so that whatever attack was coming at me would hit the spine and not the edge. Neither was good for the blade but, hopefully, the thicker side could handle the abuse better.
The moment the imaginary attack landed on my blade, I twisted the sword up and around, moving the blade out of position as I pulled back and struck fast. My stab went through the my target’s chest and into their heart.
As I panted, Barti clapped. “That was good.”
“Seems a bit too good.” Came Mindi’s skeptical voice from her side of the room. I turned to find her now standing. The glow that had surrounded her, as well as all the intermittent objects, were gone.
“It is what it is. Now, are you ready to teach him some magic or should I continue his weapon training?”
“I was thinking more about getting some lunch.” At her answer, his eyes furrowed as he looked at something to the side.
“Huh, didn’t realize it was nearly that time.” Barti shrugged. “How about I treat all of us to a bit of an early dinner?”
“Sure.”
A sudden silence filled the room as the sound of rapid punches hitting the bag vanished. Less than a moment later Tindi shouted “Food!”
I shrugged as the two of them looked at me. To be honest, with or without the offer of food, I was more than glad to give my muscles a break. “Sure.”
As I held the wooden sword out to the elf, he shook his head. “While for most of our training bouts, I will have you use your weapon, you will find that training with others might require something that won't kill them if you manage to hit them.”
That couldn’t be right. While I knew that training with whatever it was you were going to be using was best practice, it was not a good idea to use something that could potentially kill your sparring partner. “I think I misheard or something. Did you say that I would be using my weapon while training with you? The one that can actually do damage if I hit anything?”
“No,” he shook his head. “You heard right.” His light brown eyes, shining with a bit of mirth, met mine as he continued. “Don’t worry about hurting one of us. Even if you do manage to land a hit, we are strong enough to heal such damage without any issues.”
My concern suddenly felt silly as I put the training sword into my inventory. The way this group held themselves sometimes made me forget that they were much stronger than me. I tried to keep my head down as we made our way down the hall. “So, what element did you choose?” Mindi asked.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I looked over at her so that I could see her expression as I answered. “Fire.”
“That is a decent element to start with.” Her head bobbed a bit as we entered the main room. The place was empty save for the few people that milled here and there.
The lack of people confused and worried me. “Where is everyone?”
“Likely out doing quests,” Tindi said as she sat at the first table large enough to fit our group. Thankfully this one was not closed in by a wall or anything. “Most people chose to stay inside during the last cold snap of the season. Now that it is starting to warm up they are all rushing to get as much money and materials as they can before the spring festival.”
“Festival?” The word caused my head to snap to look at her. Nearly every manga and anime I had read had such events. While I had never personally had the chance to experience one, they looked fun.
While she and Mindi laughed at my reaction, Barti was silent. Though, based on how his shoulders shook, even he was cracking up inside. While he was the first to calm down enough to speak, it still took him a second before he said. “Don’t worry. You will be able to join in the festivities as well.”
“Will there be any events? What about games? Food?” My mouth worked overtime, not letting them get a second to answer before the next question flooded out.
It took Mindi slapping a hand over my mouth to shut me up so that Tindi could answer. “There are many games and competitions over the course of the day. Though the one that has the most attention and the most participants is the Arena fights.” The thought of fighting in an arena against another person had my blood pumping. Even if I lost it would be fun. Plus where better to see a bunch of different fighting styles?
“Don’t forget the magic-based competitions. I plan to take first in both the Artistry and speed casting events.” Mindi said as a server walked over to our table.
“What meal are we looking for? Dinner? Lunch? A combination?”
“Dinner for me, the special if the chef is ready to make it,” Barti answered. He turned his head to look at me. His eyes held a question that seemed important but for the life of me, I could not decipher it. Both girls were silent as they watched him. I was fairly sure the two of them were even holding their breath in anticipation of a decision. Without giving any sign of his decision, he turned back to the server. “Did the shipment of Pearlfruit juice come in yet?”
“The chef should be ready and yes we did. Do you want a mug?”
“Get us a small pitcher if you will.”
The server turned to face me. I froze as I still had no clue what was available and almost wished she would ask the girls first. Not wanting to be difficult and tell her to come back to me in a minute, I simply asked her “Can I have the same?”
She nodded as she turned her head to look at Mindi and Tindi in turn. Both asked for the special, though Tindi asked for a side of honey for some reason. As soon as the server started to walk away, I turned to Tindi, “So, when is this festival, and what events would you recommend I participate in?”
Her chuckle was deep. As if it originated from vibrations in her chest and not her lungs. “It is in nine days. If you work hard you might be capable of participating in the lower-tier arena fights. Other than that, I have no clue. Mindi would be the one to ask if it would be worth getting into the magic events.”
“We will see after training tonight and tomorrow,” Mindi answered without me even needing to ask. “It depends on your innate control and skill.”
“And if we find that I am not all that good at any magic?” Given that I was going to be on my own until I ran into one of my friends, it was a valid concern. I needed every advantage I could get. While the sword would give me a way to fight up close, I hoped that magic would give me the long-range combat capabilities I would need. It would also be nice if I learned a few support spells like how to heal myself if I got stabbed, again.
Mindi’s hand covered mine. “Stop worrying. I am sure that you will be able to learn some spells. Plus, there are spells that you can buy from the points shop if you are unable to learn any of the ones I know.” Her brows scrunched together as if she just realized something. “Please tell me you didn’t buy any spells from the point shop.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know what would be useful or how to use them. I figured I would just ask someone when I started to learn magic.”
The hand that covered mine lifted as she dismissed my concern. “The shop only offers spells and such that you can use with your current abilities and stats. For example, it won't offer to sell you a fireball spell if you can’t use the fire element. This is because if you purchase a spell from the shop you are, in fact, purchasing the knowledge required to cast the spell at the most basic level.”
That explained a few things about that page in my interface. Before I could ask another question, Barti interrupted with one of his own. “Do you know when you might be getting your sword back?”
My mind reeled a bit at the sudden change in topic. “I was told the wrap would be done by tomorrow. Why?”
“So I can adjust the weight of your training sword and teach you how to care for your weapon.” Yeah, that made sense. “Anyway, looks like dinner is here.”
Just as he said that I noticed the server out of the corner of my eyes as they approached our table with a tray in each hand. She set both on the next table over. Her hands worked quickly as she unloaded four identical plates onto our table along with four cups and a pitcher of an opalescent liquid that seemed to shimmer. As the liquid rippled, the colors moved. The light it gave off shifted and changed as it did so. It was like looking at a stained glass window but the light coming through was somehow a different color than the glass. I was so captivated by the drink that the world seemed to fade away.
Something that felt like wood was pressed into my hand, startling me out of my stupor. When I looked over, I realized it was a cup of the captivating liquid. There was just enough in it for a few swallows. “Try it,” Barti said as he cut at his food. While all of them were eating the fish, their eyes were focused on me. Watching me. Waiting to see my reaction to whatever this liquid was. Tentatively I lifted the cup to my and took a sip.
Everything around me slowed so much that it seemed like the world froze. As I looked around, I found a thin string of gold sticking out of my chest. Slowly, a white opalescent mist condensed around the golden thread. Not knowing what was going on, I lifted the string to my eyes. Thankfully, the mist stayed where it was or I would have missed the faint red strand interwoven with the golden threads.
Whoever had woven the thread had added it for a reason, not that I had a clue why. Before I could do anything more, look any closer, something yanked on the far end of the string with enough force that the piece in my hand was ripped away. There was enough force that I half expected it to rip the thing out of my chest.
Of course, it didn’t. After all, this was a game thus could willfully ignore physics whenever the developers wanted. Without much more warning, I found myself being pulled up and out of the guildhall. My body passed through walls and floors as if they were simply holograms.
The world shrank as I flew higher and higher, before eventually vanishing beneath the clouds. Slowly, my trajectory shifted as the thread curved to the west. Forests, plains, rivers, lakes, and even mountains appeared and disappeared as I flew. I was overwhelmed by everything I was seeing that I didn’t even notice the ground coming up until it was nearly upon me. While I knew it would be pointless at these speeds, both of my arms lifted in reflex as I prayed to whatever gods were out there that I wouldn’t just go splat.