'Let's start with a discussion of weak spots in humanoids. This doesn't always fully translate to animals, but it's a good starting point since we can cover both what you need to protect and what you want to strike at once. Can anyone name me spots that when struck have a high chance of causing death in a human target?' (Gwyn)

'Eyes.'

'Throat.'

'Wrist.'

'Hold up, the wrist is not a critical spot, if it was the suicidal folk that slash it all the time would have a much higher death rate. It is trivial to cut off circulation to the lower arm, and while you may maim someone it's not fatal. Carry on.'

'Solar plexus.'

'The back of the neck.'

...

'Any others?' (Gwyn)

'...erm, the testicles?'

'Killing someone's next generation doesn't count as killing someone, and you may find doing something like that decreases your own chance of survival if the pain makes them do suicidal charges in revenge.' (Gwyn)

...

'Okay, I think that's the limit of your knowledge. There are two additional spots of note, though since there's two on each side, you might say there are four.

One set is the armpits. Almost all armour has weak points in the axillary region due to the need to allow arms to move, and stabbing in that spot can pierce a lung and reach the heart with a single thrust of a sufficiently long weapon, or sever enough blood vessels to kill rapidly even if you miss the heart. The other is the inner upper thigh. Similarly, most armour has weak spots there, and if you stab diagonally and sever the artery, death from bleeding is extremely rapid, though not instant. If you waste a chance to stab the inner thigh in order to cut off something's balls, you may have lost the chance to save your own life.

The first weapon we will cover is the most effective general-use weapon in single combat that has ever been invented. Anyone have an idea of what it is?' (Gwyn)

'The sword?'

'Nah, axes should be better. Swords don't slash very well.'

'Bows?'

'The spear.'

'Alicia Reinhart is correct. The spear is the most effective weapon on average, with the highest kill to death ratio even among users who have received only basic training. The other weapons are a bit more specialised in their use. Everyone who was eliminated last night is currently training in spear usage, because we won't have time to allow them to specialise. If you get eliminated in the coming days, this will also be the only weapon you will be trained to use here.

What makes a good weapon is the ability to disable or kill your opponent with the lowest risk to yourself. Spears have longer reach than most weapons, and as a thrusting weapon, are also more suited to mass tactics than polearms of similar reach. If you can keep your opponent within the effective range of your weapon while you stay out of the effective range of your opponent's weapon, you have a natural advantage, and attempts to overcome that advantage often put the enemy at risk of being stabbed by you. Remember what I mentioned earlier - when aiming to kill someone with a spear, aim for the throat, armpit, inner thigh, eyes or the back of the neck.' (Gwyn)

'Why not directly aim for the heart? It's harder to miss if you aim for the centre of a moving opponent, right?'

'This is true. However, the problem with the spear is that with the exception of striking the back of the neck, in all other cases the fatal nature of the wound comes from what happens after the spear is pulled out, causing an opponent to die from bleeding. The solar plexus is at the centre of a human torso, within easy reach of both arms. Should someone stab you in the heart, what you need to do is stay calm, grasp the shaft just behind the spearhead with both hands, and lock both elbows at a right angle, and it'll be significantly harder for your opponent to pull the spear out than for you to keep it in. You can live for a significant number of seconds as long as the spearhead continues to be stuck in your heart, as it physically blocks the blood from flowing out.' (Gwyn)

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

'In that situation aren't we going to die anyway?'

'In most cases yes, but by denying the aggressor of his weapon, your allies will have a much easier time killing him, giving your death more meaning. In addition, in some cases, people stabbed in the heart need not necessarily die if there is a sufficiently skilled magical healer in the party. Instructor Elaina, who you saw on the first day, was stabbed in the heart by an orc in the past, and is one of the only people I know who successfully healed herself from the brink of death.' (Gwyn)

Oh, that got the class talking.

'Erm, but we didn't see any scars on her chest yesterday, and with an outfit like that -'

'I will do you the favour of not pursuing where you decided to place your eyes during the opening ceremony, but suffice to say that the wound is not in a location you will normally see. I would also advise you not to offend her, for among the instructors this year, Elaina is the most dangerous Adventurer, and can literally kill you by looking at you if she wished to do so. The details of how are a national secret.

Anyway, there are better places to stab than the chest, if you get the chance.' (Gwyn)

----------------------------------------

The rest of the lesson proceeded with a breakdown of weapons of a slashing nature that are usually used to break other weapons, slash at throats or occasionally remove limbs, but are less effective due to their comparatively shorter reach to weight ratios; the swords that possess both slashing and piercing natures but are both shorter than spears and less durable than axes making them more of a sidearm than a main weapon contrary to the impression most people had; warhammers for use in attacking opponent heads and breaking arms through shields; and morgensterns, which arc around enemy shields to attack the side or back of the head. He also elaborated on their relative difficulties of use, and where to attack with each weapon. In the process, eight more students collapsed, though unexpectedly all of them were male, which flew in the face of the usual assumptions of physical strength.

'Finally, before we head off for actual practice with blunted training weapons, I would like to briefly touch on ranged weapons. They are broadly classed into throwing weapons and projectile weapons, the former being simply deadly objects you throw at your enemy, and the latter being a combination of a launcher weapon and ammunition. Throwing weapons have been the oldest trick in the book to extend one's attack range, and the most common throwing weapons you will encounter are simple rocks and daggers. Daggers are a sort of hybrid weapon useable only by the most precise fighters, which are easily concealable, can attack extremely quickly and can be deadly if used on the weak points of the body we covered earlier, but they are at a severe range disadvantage, such that between two equally skilled fighters, the spearman will normally kill the dagger user before the latter can close into attack range. Throwing them is one way of closing that range, but this is not useful against opponents armed with shields unless you are consistently capable of arcing your throw in unexpected ways. They are a favourite of goblins and kobolds due to their smaller size, and a disproportionate number of iron-plated Adventurers die each year from daggers through the eye, so do make sure you always factor in the possibility of hidden weapons.

Bows on the other hand are pretty much useless in melee range, but can reach significantly further ranges than thrown weapons can. Along with spears, they are the next most commonly seen weapon type in wars between people. Training is less important when shooting four hundred arrows in the general area of a large number of targets, so while this is important for soldiers to master, they are rarely used by Adventurers not specialised in hunting larger monsters due to the number of engagements that occur at closer quarters, and their rather predictable attack pattern. Incidentally, dragon hunters are often users of the bow, but I would advocate learning weapons more suited for close quarter engagements first so you live long enough to reach the stage where you will be called upon to hunt larger threats. Among bows, we have standard bows and recurve bows, where the latter require significantly more strength to handle, but have a longer range and can punch straight through armor, while the former are more easily stopped by enemy defenses but can be used effectively by much more people.'

'We will now take a thirty minute break while you consider what weaponry you want to specialise in. Those of you who collapsed earlier, see me after dinner, and I will assign you additional training to improve your core and thigh strength tonight. Everyone else, good work hanging on this long.'

And the rest of the class collapsed to the ground twitching, unable to stand for the remainder of the assigned break.