With the confidence of a thousand soldiers, I strutted out of the house, head filled with wild thoughts. The only thing I wanted to do was get through the lesson and sparring Captain A-hole. I thought I could beat him into the ground but my body was already imagining the pain we were about to go through.
Walking into the center of town I slipped Tiny into a shrub so he could hunt a bug or something, while I blended into the group. I didn’t talk much but smiled imagining the look on the Captain’s face when he finally saw me return.
Gladly I only waited ten minutes before the Captain called ranks. I walked right and center of the group looking him square in the eyes.
His face turned into one of shock before twisting into a cold smile with a sharp glare. Standing there he glared for a minute before starting the lecture.
He talked slowly explaining each move carefully, today explaining how to deflect or block the strikes effectively.
Absorbing myself into the lecture I didn’t even notice the eyes of everyone else glancing at me as if I was crazy.
An hour or two later the lesson ended telling everyone to pair up and spar.
“Oh Captain,” I mocked in an annoying voice, waving him over.
“What,” He asked, scowling.
“Let’s spar, right now, round two!”
“You better get ready for round two of a beating, Boy,” He ridiculed, taking his stance waiting for me to get ready.
Backing up a good few paces I took my stance. Letting our practice swords cross slightly both of us waiting for someone to make the first move.
Everyone around us gawked at the sight of me challenging the Captain. Even Blondey didn’t know how to react so just wore a mocking smile instead.
Almost as if reaching a mutual agreement we moved, I stabbed towards him while he twisted out of the way slashing my shoulder making me kneel.
“Ha, you thought a little thing like that would do something, He laughed.
“Of course not, but would’ve been nice if it did,” I grimaced at the pain crawling through my shoulder and arm.
Slowly standing, holding out my sword I waited for him to strike first.
“Well if you ain’t going to do anything I will,” The Captain yelled, taking a hard step forward, making a puff of dust rise up, stabbing faster than what I could even see!
Acting purely on prayer I twisted on my right foot with the hope of dodging. But stabbed the edge of my ribs before gliding off.
It might’ve hurt like hell but I saw a chance worth taking. So finding my footing again I stabbed forward before he could pull back his sword.
Dodging easily he mocked, “You’re too weak to even hit me, Boy!”
“That might be true but I’ll get there eventually,” I grunted slashing my sword towards him, “But I’m sure as hell not gonna quit now.”
“With a simple raise of his arm, he blocked my strike. He used his sword to smash down on my shoulder sending me kneeling.
Kneeling on the ground I glared into his eyes, as I breathed heavily.
“Go home, you aren’t my match today,” Captain Hermes stated, this time the old venom in his voice nowhere to be seen. He just calmly walked away to another student.
“Yes, Sir,” I responded slowly standing with the help of the sword as a crutch.
Once on my feet I put the sword back and started my walk back to Mr. Tann’s house. Quickly grabbing Tiny from the shrub.
As I grew further away I heard Blondely yell something about me being too weak or something dumb like that.
Right after he said that I heard Captain Hermes say clear as day, “Get back to work before you fall behind!” Then a heavy smack.
Not looking back I whispered to Tiny, “I think the Captain is starting to warm up to me.”
Before I knew it I was back at the house, standing outside the door taking a deep breath to steady myself before I went in.
Once I felt ready I walked in, hoping to put on a good show of perseverance but no one was in the kitchen or at the table. Shrugging off the disappointment I moseyed my way to the backyard.
With a slow labored walk, I made it over to the single tree in the corner of the yard, setting Tiny on a branch. Letting my body melt into the ground I sat closing my eyes enjoying that afternoon sun.
Time passed as my mind wandered, thinking of different things, like things back on Earth, Hansey, and even new skills I could make. Feeling my body rested, I perked up realizing I could experiment with some of my new skill ideas.
With a slightly strange smile, I let my mana flow around my body before crawling up my arms. Putting my palms together, letting the mana build-up, I slowly turned it into threads.
Slowly pulling my palms apart the threads weaved in and out slowly getting longer and longer. I stopped it once they reached the length of my arm at which point I made more threads come out about a fourth of the way of the rod.
Doing this caused the whole thing to grow unstable, breaking apart and dissipating into the air.
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“Damn,” I yelled, “Take two!”
So I tried the process again making it the same length but it grew unstable after trying to spread the threads horizontally.
“Hmm,” I rubbed my chin thinking about how to go about this. Thinking over how I use mana weaving and the basic principles I knew of weaving in general I came to a conclusion.
“Weaving goes linearly so trying to get the threads to go a different way than the rest messed something up,” I explained slowly working out my thoughts, “So that means mana weaving wouldn’t be the right tool to use. Mana weaving worked with the top half of the sword, but I had a base and only worked linearly, BUT even then the sword wasn’t sharp, just stiff.”
Patting myself on the back for being so smart I moved my mana again this time just letting it be straight gaseous mana. Using my mana control I slowly stretched out the mana reaching the length of my arm before it dissipated.
“Fuck,” I groaned, “I guess I’ll have to go small.”
I repeated the process of gathering mana in between my palms, pulling them apart letting the mana stretch. This time it was able to get to the length of my forearm without growing unstable.
Happy with the length, I started stretching a small strip about a third the way up. Watching it form made me smile realizing I might actually be able to make a mana knife.
Once the handguard finished forming I flattened out the longer side. Focusing intensely I was able to get one side to be a blade while the other side acted as a type of spine.
Messing with the shape more and more it started to form something I liked. After some time it formed the shape of a katana just smaller.
“Now time for the final stage,” I announced, starting adding more and more mana, condensing it down into a more solid shape.
It was going well, I added more mana when it shrunk too much and kept it under control. Finally, I could see something solid forming, almost as if mocking me my mana grew unstable, dissipating into the air.
“Damn it,” I yelled out as the corners of my vision started turning dark, “Fuuuuu….” I passed out in the dirt...AGAIN.
Who knows how much time passed but I did wake up to a sharp pain in my stomach making me yell, “OW!”
“Stop sleeping in the yard like an animal,” Faron laughed as kneeled there, coughing my lungs out.
“You’re an ass,” I screamed looking at his dumb expression!
“And you’re on the ground,” He mocked.
“HOW DOES THAT CHANGE ANYTHING?!”
“Just does,” He smirked before throwing me a practice sword.
“No, not now, please,” I pleaded.
“Yes, now, please,” Faron yelled!
“Ugh, you bastard,” I groaned standing up and getting in position per routine.
So we did our normal routine of Faron explaining and slowly teaching before wacking the shit out of me. Unlike the Captain, I could at least get a hit or two in before I had to tap out. The training ended when the sun started setting, and Faron helping me to my feet.
We went in to eat dinner like always and as if by a schedule Mr. Tann sat there reading the manual of his family sipping on something. The food smelled great as always making the two of us gorge ourselves.
After eating we said our goodnights and all slept through the night, with no crazy dreams this time.
Walking up the next morning I did the same thing of eating, helping Mr. Tann, until I went to training and got a beat down, then back home to training with Faron, dinner, and finally training my mana skills, even that new one. Time passed just like this for quite some time.
A week after that day I leveled up mana mediation getting me another attunement point. I even noticed that Captain Hermes had been going easier on me.
A month later I leveled up mana control, basic swordsmanship, and even minor enhancement. By this point my idea of making a mana knife started to actually have some results. Captain Hermes even stopped glaring at me whenever I showed up.
Three months later mana meditation, basic swordsmanship, and mana weaving leveled up. Hell, even Tiny leveled up. Captain Hermes even started explaining all my mistakes when we were sparring. There was one weird thing though and that was I got a strange notification.
[-Congratulations a familiar has reached special requirements!]
[-Title received [The Maker of Blessings] after meeting special requirements! Reward 15% exp!]
I had no idea what that meant but seeing as Tiny was still the same I realized something happened with Hansey. It might’ve been strange but it sure as hell didn’t sound bad so I chose the wait and see approach.
I might not have understood the how but I understood that I GOT MY FIRST TITLE, and it even pushed me to level five. After spending the points in control I read the description of the title.
[-The Maker of Blessings is a title given to those who had a familiar become blessed. When shown no benefit, when hidden no benefit.]
I didn’t know what the hell blessed meant. I even asked Faron about and he just shrugged saying, “Blessed sounds good.” Not bothering to show it considering it had no effect I just left it hidden and forgot.
Once I reached level five I ignored the class notification opting to focus on my new skill. So I grinded and grinded before finally it was six months later. I leveled up a few basic skills, and mana meditation one more time. During this time I stopped referring to Captain Hermes as Captain A-hole, going as far as considering him a teacher. And after one particularly hard session of getting beat up, I did it.
Sitting beneath the tree, sweat dripping down my forehead, my hands slowly pulling away from each other. My mana forming the shape of the knife I so desperately refined.
With one last exhale all of my mana became solid. I held a gleaming knife that looked decently sharp, but crude as rocks I heard that sweet sweet ding.
[-Due to repeating a special action the skill [Mana Knife] is made!]
[-Due to learning a rare skill on your own you gain 50% exp. ]
[-Reward one control and one attunement stat!]
[Mana Item Completed]
[Common Grade Mana Knife]
[With crude skill and weak mana a mana knife is made. Too dull to cut through flesh but just sharp enough to do damage. Will dissipate if it takes too much damage.]
“WOOOOOOOO,” I cheered, swinging the bastard around like a madman. I couldn’t help myself considering it took six solid months of work to get it done.
Slumping down, exhausted as hell, I examined my months of hard work on my changed status screen.
Name- Duke Boones Gender- Male Race- Human Level- 5 (80%)
Shown Title: None
Titles: The Maker of Blessings
Perks: Minor Metamorphosis of Affinity
Primary Class: None
Secondary Class: None
Production Class: None
Stamina 25/50
Mana 5/60
Strength- 4 Dexterity- 7 Constitution- 5 Affinity- 21
Attunement- 6 Control-10
Skills-
Growth- Monster Taming Level 2/10 Mana Meditation Level 4/10
Mana Control Level 4/10
Combat- Basic Swordsmanship- Level 3/10 Mana Knife- Level 1/10
Production- Mana Weaving- Level 2/10 Weaving- Level 2/10
Minor Enhancement- Level 2/10 Basic Leatherworking- Level 3/10
Blessings-
Blessing of Rick the God Of Nature and Life- +10 Affinity