Alan made his way to the counter of the Adventurer’s Guild with his glaive in one hand and the harness in the other, he was ready to use the training yard for the first time. Richard, who was sitting using some sort of utensil to mark sheets of parchment, something that was only rarely spoken about on his old world as it was so expensive, got up, eyes widened at the sight of his new weapon and began to speak to him.
“Damn! That is some weapon you've got there Alan, looks much more menacing than a spear! You’re well on your way to looking the part of a proper adventurer!”
“Hi Richard, it's called a glaive! I purchased it this morning and it is actually exactly why I'm here. I'm looking for someone who can help me learn how to use it without killing myself or someone else on accident.” Alan decided to use [Identify] for the first time on something other than an inanimate object and used it on the man.
[Human - Level ?]
Being level 0 with only a level 1 [Identify] Alan could not yet identify anything that had a level over level 1 which Richard clearly was, resulting in a question mark displaying as his level.
Interesting, well it is good to know that even if I cannot learn their level, I will still be able to identify people, contributing to my next level.
“Well you've come to the right place, I'm not sure we have anyone who can help you with that weapon specifically but some training is better than none! Most kids your age would have went out and got themselves killed after buying a weapon like that, overconfident and excited to try it out.”
Alan, whose thoughts of grandeur had already gotten him killed once, was certainly not ready to experience that again. He had the foresight to get some training and experience with his new weapon before setting out to do any combat task or fighting any monsters. Richard informed Alan that the Adventurer's Guild offered free sessions with trainers for basic training in lots of subjects to all who were members, including weapons training, which he recommended Alan take advantage of. Excitedly, Alan accepted the offer of free training even if it was basic as he had never held a weapon before let alone trained with one. Richard told him that the training staff wouldn't get there for another thirty minutes or so as it was about eleven and a half hours into the morning by that point, and they were paid to come for four hours starting at noon. While he was waiting he was allowed to go into the training yard, so that is exactly what he did, entering the yard it was a rounded area about forty meters across, taking up a large section in the middle of the small village. In the training yard there were thick two meter tall wooden posts covered in small chips and what looked to be marks, and dents from blades and other weapons. To the right looked to be a small obstacle course if Alan had to guess, all sorts of climbing sections, ropes, and walls looked to make up the course. Towards the back of the open area there was a bunch of metal racks and bars that had different sized circles with a hole in the middle that appeared to go onto the bars that were set on the racks, the area looked to be for lifting different amounts of weight. Alan felt the training yard would be a perfect place to increase his [Exercise] skill and to learn more about using his new weapon.
In the time Alan spent waiting for the trainer he put the harness on his weapon and began trying to learn how to properly remove it from his back. The harness, which was essentially a rope that had one end wrapped and anchored to the shaft and the other able to be slid up and down to change the slack of the connecting piece, which allowed Alan to sling it over either shoulder. Through just a couple minutes of fumbling around with the glaive he found that having the blade down and weapon on his right side felt much more natural and comfortable than any other orientation. His first attempt at equipping the glaive he tried grabbing the handle that was above his shoulder and pulling the glaive up and over to the front of his body. Doing so felt extremely wrong, the weight of the weapon around five kilograms was relatively light, but being slung over his head felt like an accident waiting to happen. He tried another way, grabbing just above the pointing down blade with his right hand, swinging the rope off of his shoulder and the weapon into both hands, felt like the proper way to quickly get it into a combat ready position. Alan continued practicing that motion and performing overhead slashes after getting the weapon into both hands. Having only thirty minutes however determined he was, wasn't enough to complete the movement every time without some fumbling around, whether it was from the rope getting stuck on his shoulder, or not grabbing the haft in the spot with the most leverage for his swing, he felt as if he had made some progress and was feeling good about himself.
After what felt like no time for Alan the one of the trainers arrived at the yard, informed by Richard that they had a pupil waiting for them in the yard. Rarely did anyone from the village want to learn to properly wield a weapon, and those that did generally went on controlled expeditions where they were safely leveled until they could receive the [Guard] class and join the militia. The first trainer to enter was a lithe woman who looked very young, she had dark brown eyes, to him she looked almost bored, and for how young she appeared, about half of her hair was gray or beginning to gray. A pair of daggers strapped to her hips around two thirds the length of the top part of her leg, and wearing thick leather armor, she didn't seem to make a sound as she walked towards where Alan was training to equip his weapon properly. Approaching him she spoke a greeting.
“Hello child. I was informed you are here to receive the basic weapons training, it has been a long while since I have had the opportunity to shape the training of a novice adventurer, I will start with the basics.”
Before Alan could reply the woman closed the gap between them, blades drawn and swinging upon him. With what felt to him as an instinctual reaction he brought the weapon in his hands to bear attempting to block the woman's strike.
In the instant it had taken for the blades to reach him Alan had brought his glaive up less than half way to block them only barely managing to get his left hand onto the shaft, before the woman stopped, looked him dead in the eye and scoffed. Pulling the blades away she attacked him again, this time slower but again he could not contend with the speed of her strikes even when he was ready and waiting for them to come. Over and over again they repeated the cycle, ten times of the woman slowing down her attacks and he still couldn’t get his weapon up in time to defend. After the tenth time the woman spoke.
“Now it is your turn, try attacking me how you believe the weapon should be used and I will defend, do not be afraid to hurt me, continue until I stop you.”
Alan grabbed the weapon and swung down at the woman, the attack was easily deflected. He tried stabbing at her from any position he could get to,, slashing, both overhead and from the sides, he tried faking a slash with the blade and using the butt of the weapon to catch the woman off guard, but nothing worked, he felt as if he was getting more comfortable with the weapon but his gains from comfort were lost to fatigue. Slash after slash, stab after stab the woman blocked him, no progress was being made against her defense and she looked no worse for wear after the period of defending. Many more minutes this continued, much longer than his stretch of defending Abruptly the woman grabbed the haft, just below the blade as Alan attempted another stab, and spoke to him.
“That weapon is not suited for you, you will not make it far if you continue to use it. Being level 0 at your age you must be the child of System Deniers, idiotic as they are it might not be all bad. You are a ball of clay yet to be shaped, what should we make of you?”
Not suited for me? I spent so much on this!
“Well, if it's not suited for me, what is? I just bought this!”
“Something more nimble perhaps, you are large but quick, for a level 0 of course. Butterfly Swords, perhaps dual Kris, yes, something like that.” The unnamed woman said, ignoring his protest but answering his question.
“Alright! Come child, we are going, training will wait, how much did you pay for that weapon, I will cover the cost.”
Cover the cost? Who is this woman? I spent so much time working for that coin and she casually offers to pay not even knowing how much I spent.
“I uhh.. spent two silver and sixty five copper on it.”
“To be young is to be foolish, I will purchase it from you for the price you paid, and we will go to commission a new set of blades made specifically for you.”
“Thank you… May I ask your name? And why are you doing this for me?”
I really wanted to use this thing, it felt so right buying it from the blacksmith. It looks so intimidating and deadly, but she is the trainer afterall, I guess I will listen to her weapon advice.
The woman told him her name was Kahlee and explained to him that for many years she had been a trainer at the Adventurer’s Guild in Haltir mostly training those who were lower level than required to join the militia and rarely some who wanted to become a true adventurer. Alan accepted the explanation, as it seemed like all he was going to get out of the quiet woman, and followed along behind her. She led him out of the Adventurer’s Guild onto the main street and towards the eastern part of the village where the blacksmith shops were. During their walk across the village Kahlee didn’t speak to him a single time, and Alan didn't try to speak with her either, as he was still internally trying to figure out why this woman was chaperoning him and buying him new weapons made just for him which would surely cost more than he paid for the premade glaive he had purchased earlier that morning.
Alan was disappointed in his impulsiveness, if he had just gone to the guild before the blacksmith and to get advice the woman wouldn't be purchasing him new weapons. He would have been able to with his own coin, now he felt as if he owed the woman. They entered a different blacksmith that Alan had not yet been to, the woman casually entered the back area of the building where the smith was working, waving for Alan to follow her. As they moved into the back the change in temperature was shocking, the heat being produced by the forge was hotter than Alan had ever thought it would be. The blacksmith was working on what looked to be the finishing touches of a metal armor chest piece, completely silver, but smaller than would fit on Alan but larger than the woman he was with.
Maybe it is a good thing I didn't become a blacksmith, I can't stand the heat! It's already getting to me and we have only been here a few seconds.
Kahlee called out to the blacksmith when there was a lull in his work.
“Hello Henry, I’ve come for business.”
Turning around, as his back had been facing the doorway, the blacksmith grimaced at the woman's words.
“What would you have me do this time? Something for this young man behind you I presume?”
“You are exactly right, I am commissioning a pair of Butterfly Swords for my newest trainee. However I would like the blades to be forty five centimeters long as he is so large, and I would like the hand guards reinforced to be twice as strong as usual. You can measure his hands for the handles.”
“Alright then, you will be paying this time I hope? I cannot give you my work for free all the time you know.”
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“Yes, I will pay for the weapons. As long as they are up to my standards for the boy.”
The blacksmith asked Alan to allow him to measure his hands so he could properly shape the handles to fit his hands. The woman simply stood by as they completed the measurements, as soon as they were done she told Alan they were going back to the training yard. Getting back to the guild building after another silent walk the woman led him not to the yard but to one of the sets of stairs leading to the second floor of the building and told him to wait there. Two long minutes passed as Alan nervously waited, fidgeting with his glaive and trying to think about what the woman possibly had in store for him, at the end of the two minutes the woman walked back down the stairs holding two blades in black leather sheaths, she walked right past him straight to the training yard.
When they entered the yard there were three other people in the yard, two of them sparing and the third watching them. The two fighting were both women, one quite large, standing around 180 centimeters, wearing full metal armor and using a sword and metal shield in the fight. The other was approximately 160 centimeters tall, wearing a set of leather armor and using a staff to fight the heavily armored warrior. The third person, a man was weaning leather armor with plates of metal interspersed in it and had a long dagger strapped to his side and a bow unstrung leaning against the bench he was sitting on, he looked to be slightly shorter than the tallest woman perhaps 175 centimeters tall. For a moment the pair continued to spar as Kahlee and Alan approached them, not noticing the two who had just entered the yard. When the man noticed them he called out to the two fighting and they abruptly stopped their sparing to question Kahlee.
“Kahlee, what happened? You are always here first, for you to not must have been something important. Who is this?” The large woman asked.
“Yes, I was working with this boy, forgot to ask him his name, but he shows promise.” Kahlee responded
The trio shared a laugh at the woman who forgot to ask his name, and the large woman addressed Alan.
“Well boy, what is your name?”
“My name is Alan, what are your names?.”
“Hello Alan, I am Ledra, and these two are Wistra,” she pointed to the woman, “and Ven.” gesturing to the man.
After their brief introductions to each other, Kahlee explained to the others that Alan was to be trained by her, that she was gifting him a pair of Butterfly Swords, after he had purchased a glaive for himself that she decided wasn't suitable for him. They each chimed in with their own stories of showing up to the Adventurer’s Guild with either their mind set on a weapon, or with a weapon in hand, and the woman doing the same thing she had done to him and declaring their weapon not fit for them. Ledra had come with a large bow hoping to be an archer, Wistra had used a pair of training daggers the guild had believing herself to be someone who could fight as Kahlee did, and Ven had been one of the rare people to come to the guild for sword and shield training rather than joining the militia. Each of them had listened to Kahlee’s instructions to change their weapons and she had taken them under her wing over the years starting with Wistra, the oldest of the three and the most recent being Ven a few others had accepted the weapon change but had moved on these three had become the Adventurer’s Guild trainers in their small village to assist the woman with her process. After they explained how the woman worked Kahlee handed Alan the Butterfly Swords she had gone to the second floor to grab earlier and began to teach him how to properly use the weapons. Even combined they were around a third of the weight of the glaive he had purchased. Because of them being so much lighter they felt much more usable in his hands, the woman truly had an eye for weapons and he was grateful he had listened to her advice. She showed him the intricacies of the way the blades were used, and by the time they started it was around one hour past noon. Kahlee had each of the other trainers spar with him in five minute increments, starting with Ledra they rotated, Wistra, Ven and then Kahlee. While they sparred the three non active participants watched and slowly corrected his form and changed the way Alan was using the blades, most of the input for how to use the blades was from Kahlee, however the other three added helpful input about footwork and body movement during the spars. Like this Alan rotated through the four spending around an hour and a half fighting each one and directly learning from and how to counter each of his opponents. Not that he was even close to their ability level, he gained a lot of knowledge and experience with the use of his temporary blades. At the end of their session Kahlee told him to try doing everything he could with his non-dominant hand, as it would help with his dual wielding. They wrapped up their day and left the training yard and before he could leave the only other man pulled him aside and spoke to him.
“Hey Alan, you did great today, Kahlee hasn’t picked someone to train in seven years, I was the last one she picked, I was seventeen and had decided to become an adventurer after getting fed up with working with my father as a farmer. Luckiest day of my life if you ask me, don’t let this opportunity go, it could change your life like it did mine.”
“Thank you, I appreciate all the training, I will be sure not to mess this up.” Alan, who was dead on his feet after training all day, wearily replied.
He thanked the others and Kahlee told him to meet back at the guild for the next three days, she gave him two silver and sixty five copper for his glaive and took it with her up to the second floor of the guild building, the others also ascended the stairs behind her as Alan left back to the Laughing Donkey. When he arrived back at the inn he was feeling battered and beaten. No matter how controlled their sparing was, as Alan grew more tired throughout the day he started making more mistakes allowing himself to be hit more often, none of the other trainers could control their strikes as precisely as Kahlee resulting in him receiving more hits from their blunted weapons. He was so tired the only conversation he had with Martha was about getting his second meal of the day, making sure to use his left hand to hold his spoon while he ate. He had had his “lunch” early that morning before he went to buy his coin pouch and glaive, and was planning on doing the same for the foreseeable future. After eating his lovely stew, this time made with rabbit instead of beef, he went to his room, bathed, washed his clothes and was asleep before the bells signaling eight hours after noon had rang.
—------
Over the next three days Alan would repeat this schedule, eating his lunch at around ten hours after midnight, and then going to the Adventurer’s Guild at eleven thirty, training until around six hours after noon before returning to the inn to get his rest. The trainers stayed well over their contracted four hours just to allow him the opportunity to grow which he was extremely grateful to them for. After the second day of training he paid Martha for another week of meals and lodging, as he felt the training he was doing was worth the time spent not completing tasks. After paying the one silver and forty copper it left him with only about a silver, but the freedom to work less and train more for another week was well worth it to him. During his training he learned a lot more than just the basics of his Kahlee appointed weapons.
He learned about the System and some of its intricacies, leaning into the view the trainers had of him as being the child of System Deniers. Who were a group of individuals who believed that the System was in place to control the sapients of the world and to lead them down a path of greed, they believed all who fell for its machinations would end up traversing the hells for eternity after their death. The deniers would try not to interact with the System whatsoever, not gaining skills, levels, or even opening their [Status], they would try to convince any who would listen to shirk the luxuries of the system and tried to make them believe that their beliefs were true, creating many fantasies and stories to convert average people, leading to an extremely reliable cover story for Alan’s lack of knowledge.
Over the three days he had many questions answered about the System, he asked about mages which were still an unknown to him after only a week in Haltir, he asked about his personal level as most called it, and learned about everything in his status, from how to gain points in the statistics or stats for short, to how he could unlock spells and the slots for them. Two of his questions were answered with his question about mages, to become a mage a special item that was a very rare drop from dungeons, it was needed to unlock one’s access to their spell slots, and to learn spells, it also unlocked the use of mana. He learned that Wistra was a mage but that all of them had their spell slots and mana unlocked as some spells were helpful even for non mages, but only Wistra had enough spell slots to truly become a mage, with 6 the others all having one or two slots, and that is why she used a staff. Her staff was a piece of dungeon loot which increased her spell cast time, it was given to the group when they had killed all the monsters inside a dungeon including its [Boss], a chest appeared after the boss was killed and it contained the singular piece of loot being her staff. Asking about spell slots led him to also learning about skill slots, the average person had four [General Skill] slots, the majority of combat adventurers had five [General Skill] slots, Kahlee had seven, and the others all had six, only a few hundred people in all of the kingdom had eight, and only one person Kahlee knew of had nine, and that was the King. Even though you could remove skills out of your [General Skill] slots by simply willing it and confirming with the [System] it was beneficial to have more slots. Having more slots made for stronger individuals because you could combine skills, skills of a similar vein could be combined either to create a new skill of the same rarity that was just more broad, or to create a new skill at a higher rarity that improved its effects. It was all based on skill level, the actual knowledge of a skill’s meaning, and the skills combination compatibility, so having more slots allowed you to have more higher rarity skills which in turn made you stronger. The other questions he had were answered from the trainers telling him about personal levels, each level up to level 15 gave 3 [Free Points] which could be placed into any of your stats. After level 15 your class determined how many total points you got for each level, if you got any [Free Points],and then the distribution of points into each stat, a Common class like [Guard] had a stat distribution of 1 [Free Point] , 2 [Strength] , 1 [Dexterity] , 1 [Vitality] , and 1 [Wisdom]. He also learned what the stats did.
[Strength] - increases power of muscle / strengthens ability to use Dexterity
[Dexterity] - increases fluidity of movement / strengthens ability to use Strength
[Vitality] - Increases total Health / strengthens ability to take damage / slows aging
[Endurance] - increases Health regeneration / strengthens ability to continue on when tired
[Intelligence] - increases total Mana / strengthens ability to comprehend of information
[Wisdom] - increases Mana regeneration / strengthens ability to perceive things
Before they started the third day of training Kahlee went to the blacksmith to check his progress on the swords commissioned for Alan and was pleasantly surprised that the blacksmith had finished the custom swords. She gifted them to him at the start of the training, not telling him how much they cost no matter how many times or ways he asked. They were amazing, long enough to be viable in combat, and built sturdy enough to handle lots of beatings, and comfortable enough that Alan could use them for hours. The blacksmith included a set of items used to clean and care for the blades and when Kahlee gifted them to him she gave a quick rundown of exactly how to care for them. After using the smaller premade blades she had given him for training the new blades felt wondrous, a pair of sheaths that fit over them perfectly and attached to his belt well enough that he could barely tell the roughly one kilo blades existed. During the day of training Alan felt himself progressing much faster than with the other blades, it seemed that weapons purpose built for an individual were extremely helpful for growth with them. The others even commented on his sudden explosive growth speeding up their sparing and therefore teaching speed. During their hours together they included weight lifting and the obstacle course in his training, as they told him that he would never know when an extra point of [Strength] or [Dexterity] may come in handy and it was always worth it to try to push your body to its natural limits. Said limits were always there, someone with five [Dexterity] or fifty could always reach their natural stat gain potential, usually between eight and twelve total points in each stat. Meaning that if you started with five [Dexterity] but had only ever used [Free Points] and class assigned points to increase it you could train and potentially gain seven points, of course there were some outliers both with the ability to naturally get higher or lower than eight to twelve, and not every stat shared the same natural limit.
At the end of his third day of training, Alan once again would have slept like the dead, but he was excited and anxious for his first combat task. Clearing a root cellar of a rat infestation, Kahlee and the others had suggested the task as his first combat task because they knew of the place and the level of the rats was only up to level 2 and despite being 2 levels above Alan they shouldn’t be too tall of a task and get him killed. His first task, no backup to rely on, just himself and the brand new custom blades Kahlee gifted him with, he was ready.