Just sitting and relaxing quickly got too boring for Dave. Also his thoughts kept wandering towards the dangers that lurked behind their Grace Period shield. They might be safe now, but they wouldn’t be for long. Especially if their plan with activating a second Grace Period didn’t work out.

The only way they would really be safe, was if they could either escape here as quickly as possible, or get strong enough to ignore the dangers.

Filled with anxiety and with only one really productive way to let it out, Dave began to train. He hadn’t experimented much with his new hidden blades yet and wanted to change that.

He walked a few metres away from camp, until he found a spot that was at least semi hidden. A pair of thick trees stood between him and the spot were the rest of the group was. Together with a few bushes that grew around the spot, Dave thought he had found a place as private as he could.

He looked down on his forearms and once again marveled at the beauty of his new weapons. The bracers alone looked beautiful. The dark brown leather was sturdy and felt thick enough to stop a knife. Fine lines were engraved in them and ran across in delicate patterns. On the back there was a symbol that Dave thought roughly resembled the Assassins Creed logo. Although a bit more abstract than the original.

The best thing about them was the blade though. With a minor flick of the wrist, a solid 30 cm long blade emerged. It was solid steel, sharp enough to draw blood with only a light touch. A deadly weapon indeed.

In the games the hidden blades were used mostly for assassinations, but sharp and sturdy as they seemed, Dave was sure he could wreck real havoc in a fight. Due to the short range it meant getting closer to his enemies, the exact opposite approach he had when spearfighting.

He had to get used to them though. Still looking down at his hands Dave retracted both blades and brought them out again, just to get a feel for the process. Then he began training in earnest.

At first he started making simple stabbing motions. Dave drew the blades and jabbed his arm forward. It didn’t feel right. He felt awkward and unbalanced.

But he kept going, soon he started integrating swings and slashes. After ten minutes of this, it still didn’t really click for Dave. He somehow felt like a child playing with toys, only that his toys were deadly weapons. So he decided to take a break.

It wasn’t that he was tired, more than that he was frustrated. With the spear he felt comfortable from the beginning, even before he got the Soul Weapon mastery Skill he had already used it effectively. His natural ability with the spear was what had gotten him and his friends out of the Nodefox den. Or at least he thought so.

When he thought back to it Dave realized what a pile of horse crap that was. His first fights with the spear were amateurish at best.

His very first thrust was so off target, that the Nodefox simply slipped by and bit into his thigh, almost crippling him. Then the next Nodefox he ran over with his superior mass and speed more than he really used his spear for what it was. The only opponent he beat with his spear before getting the Soul Weapon Mastery Skill was the door of his cell.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t even used his Minor Spark Skill very effectively at the time. He misjudged distances, missed shots and forgot about cooldowns. The illusion of himself being a fighting machine suddenly shattered. His confidence dropped.

Then Dave realized something. It wasn’t really his skill with the spear that helped him escape and rescue his friends, nor was it his Spark Skill, or even his fighting proficiency in general. It was his determination and sheer tenacity.

The door he had worn down over hours by refusing to give up, the first few fights he won by taking risks and facing danger . His biggest strength wasn’t some natural fighting ability or a lucky suit of Skills. It was his iron will and determination.

With that realization he got back up to train.

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Soon he overcame the awkwardness that burdened his movements before. He started flowing across the forest floor. His hidden blades shined in the sunlight, darting around like deadly humminbirds. Imaginariy thrusts were parried and countered, throats were slit and guts stabbed. Dave he couldn’t accurately say how long it was, but he was soon stopped by a sudden message.

*Congratulations, your Soul Weapon Mastery Skill has become attuned to new Soul Weapon “Hidden Blades”. Soul Weapon Mastery now applies to your Soul Weapon “Hidden Blades” as well.*

Dave frowned at the message. He hadn’t realized he needed to attune that Skill, it explained his sluggish movements before. But that also meant that all his progress before was really his. The thought of that brought a proud smile to Dave’s face. But he knew he wasn’t done yet, and so he began to move again.

This time he was even faster. His steps were lighter, his thrusts sharper and his technique cleaner. It was like he was burdened down with lead before and that finally fell away. Dave felt like Rock Lee after taking his training weights off.

It wasn’t quite as stark a difference in truth. Not like night and day. But maybe more like the difference between the gloomy early morning light, that which is present during quiet summer mornings before everyone is awake and a slightly cloudy midday light, when the sun is out in earnest, but still held back by a few brave clouds. Yes it was almost like the difference of brightness between those two.

And so while Dave was dancing across the forest floor like an angel of death, time lost its meaning to him. He didn’t notice how fast it was flying by. There was a message or two that popped up during his training, but he ignored them, too ecstatic by the movement. He completely lost himself in the training.

So he was quite startled when he suddenly found himself face to face with Mira, who stood at one of the trees blocking his clearing off from the rest of the camp. He was almost as startled when he realized how far the sun had already wandered across the sky.

Both stood, looking at each other, baffled eyes and unsure what to say.

“Uhh… I just wanted to come get you for dinner. If you want I mean.” It was Mira who spoke first, her voice unsure.

Before Dave could collect his thoughts his stomach answered for him. With an awkward laugh Dave decided to go along with his gut. “Sure, dinner sounds nice.”

“Good.” Mira beamed, motioning him onward back to the camp. “You’ll be happy to hear that we managed to grow a few other crops. So no more only banana diets.”

“Ohh thank god. You know, the fact that we would only be able to eat banans was like the biggest drawback of this whole plan for me. A month of only those? No thanks.”

A smile spread across Mira’s lips and her voice danced to the cadence of her Hungarian accent. “Yeah I know what you mean, I probably had more bananas in the last week than in the rest of my life.”

“That, and mosquito bites.”

Mira laughed heartily at that. Dave felt a warm feeling spreading in his stomach, seeing that he had made a girl laugh. Had he just been funny to a girl? That was also a new one.

They reached camp where the rest of the group sat surrounding a little fire. Dave was surprised to see a small iron pot resting on top of the fire.

“Where did we get that from?”

“The pot?” Ryland said absentmindedly while stirring the pot. “Max bought it.”

Dave raised his eyebrows at Max. “How?”

“Well there is some sort of convenience store in the Node menus if you remember? After I bought the Mine, I had just enough left for a store.” He shrugged.

“How much was it?”

“Just about 40 shards, but it came with a 10 shards store credit for supplies. I bought a few tents and a few essentials.” Max pointed behind him, where three tents stood lined up. They were rather plain, and looked like cheap two person tents not unlike what one would’ve been able to buy back on earth. Only instead of being made out of colorful plastic, they seemed to be made of pure white linen.

Dave made the mental math in his head, it would mean they needed to stay a few more days, but at least they would be able to spend them more comfortably.

“I see. That’s a good decision then.” Dave said weakly as he sat down next to the fire.

Truth was he did appreciate having a tent to sleep in, it was a huge step up. The same went for other essentials they now had, not having to only eat bananas for months seemed like a good thing.

But he couldn’t help feeling a bit slighted. It was a decision Max had made completely on his own, whereas before they had planned it all out meticulously together. Dave felt a bit out of the loop.

He knew that to be a ridiculous feeling though and most of his moodiness only lasted until a steaming bowl of soup was passed to him. It smelled like a whole range of spices Dave didn’t know and it tasted amazing. To this day Dave would say that soup was one of the best things he had ever eaten.

That alone was worth the extra time they needed to stay.

The next day passed rather similar and it wasn’t long until the duration of Grace Period was nearing its end.