I looked at the booklet and saw which floor offered training. I took the elevator and arrived there.
The floor was huge, just like the other ones, and full of different dojos. I could see boards with things like "Spear training" or "Fire concept training" everywhere. I now understood the true reason why the youngster from all the races from the continent came here. Getting experience in the underworld was just a part of what composed the abyss fortress. Training in many arts in this floor, buying powerful weapons and accessories, and using them to fight was the real thing that motivated people to come here.
The clans of the normal places would never think of sharing or teaching an outsider. They held their knowledge as if it was a precious treasure that could be stolen at any time.
The opportunity offered here was bigger than anything that someone could learn out there. I began to search through the broad streets, looking for "Greatsword training" or "Sword training".
I found three different places that taught how to use a greatsword and 5 places for swords. I went through each of them and talked with the clerks that were waiting at the entrance, asking about how the style was applied and its focus.
Of all the dojos, only two of them interested me. One of them said that their focus was on the sword, plain an simple. without fancy techniques or such things. The other one focused on using your abilities together, learning how to use everything as a whole.
Both of these dojos taught things that I was trying to achieve. In the end, I decided to train in both of them, two hours each. The price was quite a pain, 3 thousand points per hour, But with my finances, I could very well handle it. I did some mental calculations and realized that I could train 4 hours per day, spending 12 thousand points, for 18 days. I would train 2 hours in each dojo and spent the rest of the day digesting what I learned and training my soul power.
I would use the rest of the money for my accommodations and food.
The dojo that I first choose to train in was the one that focused on the sword. I paid the clerk and entered the place. I looked around and saw that many people were training and sparring everywhere. An old man walked from place to place, correcting the forms of some people, and often showing how the strike was properly made.
I realized that most of these people were quite powerful, and a lot of them could defeat me when it came to the sword.
I walked to the old man and said. "Hi, sir! My name is Ullach, I am here to learn from you!" I bowed to him to show my respect.
"Hello Ullach, I can see you at least are respectful. Good, good. My name is Lamark." The old man turned around and said. "Follow me."
I went after him and arrived at a less crowded place. Lamark turned to me and said. "Now, show me what you got." A sword appeared in his hand, and he waited for me to make a move.
I picked Purbás and took a stance. I had my two hands in the handle of the sword and was pointing it vertically forward.
Lamark looked at Purbás and said. "Ohh, that's quite a good sword you got there young man. Let's see if you know how to properly use it. COME!"
After saying this, I stepped forward while attacking him with a thrust. It was almost as if he foresaw the attack coming. Without making a lot of movements, he waved his sword and deflected my attack. Almost making Purbás fly from my hand. After deflecting my attack, he hit me on the head with the flat side of his sword and said. "You just died."
I stepped back and gathered my thoughts. My mind was chaotic right now, his action of hitting me with the sword made me remember almost dying by the hands of the fierce man. I shook my head and looked ahead.
"It seems you have some mental barriers to get over uh. Let's continue."
***
I spent the rest of the two hours being beaten by Lamark, the old man was truly a monster in using the sword. He only made necessary movements, and could perfectly use his strength to complement his sword.
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Only fighting with him gave me many insights on how I could improve.
"Great, the evaluation is done! Tomorrow you can come back and we will begin the real training." He said, leaving the place.
I laid on the ground for a bit and got up after catching my breath. I left Lamark's dojo and went toward the second one. Arriving there, I was surprised. Unlike Lamark's dojo that was full of people training, this one was almost empty.
I paid the clerk at the entrance, but he robotically accepted the points and dismissed my existence. I thought that it was better not to ask him why it was so empty, I would see for myself.
Entering the dojo, I looked around and saw only three people training. By what I could feel, they were mages that used the sword as a compliment. Two of them were humans and the last one was an Adhar.
Another Adhar appeared coming from a building on the right. He had yellow wings on his back. The wings embraced his body, like an armor. The lines crisscrossing his body glowed in a yellow color, just like his wings. Obviously, this Adhar had an earth affinity.
The Adhar's were a race that could fly since they were born, that was why they built their cities in the clouds. Every Adhar was born already manifesting an affinity for a concept. Most of them manifested affinities related to the elements of air or fire, but variations always happened.
While an Adhar's having a variation toward laws or aspects happened, they almost always ignored it and trained normally. However, Adhar's that were born with earth affinity were always excluded from their society for a simple reason, they couldn't fly the moment they were born.
The earth element made their wings heavy, making it very hard for them to fly. Those Adhar's were almost always left on the ground to die because their culture judged them unworthy.
Slavers seek this kind of adhar's the most, because they were easily capturable, and could be sold without consequences if found. They almost always lived as slaves. To find an Adhar with earth affinity in here, proved that this man was truly powerful, and had even overcome his inability to fly.
I walked toward him and said. "My name is Ullach. I'm here to learn, it's a pleasure to meet you." I bowed to him.
Tha Adhar looked into my eyes and said."I'm Haliel. First, show me your abilities." He was a direct person and didn't beat around the bush, going directly to point.
I nodded at him and grabbed my sword. I reinforced my body and sword with soul power and began to demonstrate to him. He looked with rapt attention at Ullach's movements and the use he was making of soul force.
After Ullach finished showing him everything, Haliel walked to him and said. "So, you are a rare user of soul force. By your soul force tier, it looks like you are quite talented in it, unfortunately, you still don't know how to use it properly."
I looked at him with a surprised face. I didn't know how to use it? Althaea had thought me it uses personally. "My master taught me everything that I know! Are you saying that she doesn't know what she is doing?" I had some black lines on my forehead.
"A woman that dominates soul force… What is her name?" He continued with a nonchalant face and asked me.
I gritted my teeth and answered. "Her name is Althaea."
immediately, he had a surprised expression on his face. "Oh, so you're her apprentice…. That explains pretty much everything." He coughed and continued. "I am not saying that she is weak or anything like that. But the truth is simple. She never had any apprentice, and she learned everything she knows by herself. That is why your education is somewhat lacking because, for her, the way she learned is the only one that she knows how to teach."
My eyes were wide open. How did Haliel knew so much about master? It knew that she was well known in the fortress. But I choose to ignore it because I didn't want to live in her shadow. I have already lived in my brother's shadow for too long. But now, my curiosity got the better of me. "What do you know about master? What did she do here?"
"Have you ever looked at the point raking? you should have received it the first time you entered the underworld."
I remembered that one of the papers that I received had some kind of raking, but I didn't look at it because it was not important to me. I retrieved the paper from my spacial bag and looked at it.
1˚ place: Althaea 4.234.214.213.987 points
2˚ place: Lucian 9.536.613.633 points
3˚ place: Richard 9.455.213.796 points
…….
The rankings continued for some time. But my eyes were glued in the first position. "FUCK!" I said unconsciously. She had earned too many points! I could barely read the numbers.
"How is this possible?! The difference from the second place is too big!" I blurted out.
"Everyone has that reaction the first time they look at the point raking. Her name is also first in the ranking of killing the most powerful abyssal and who killed the most abyssals." He looked to the window as if remembering the past. "She is a legend in the Abyss fortress."
"Now, forget about it, and let's begin to properly train you." He gestured for me to put away the paper.
***
The rest of the morning was full of lessons. He showed me that soul force could be used in a myriad of ways. The first thing that Haliel showed me was that instead of only using the soul force to reinforce my body, why not use the elements around me in my movements as well? I could move two times faster than before now that I used a technique to impulse myself with the wind. And I could even jump in the air, using rock slabs or after condensing some ice to use as a foothold.
The things that he taught me were worth every point that I spent.
I ate at the restaurant and began to cultivate soul power in my room while waiting for the time to pick up Hannah. The hour quickly passed while I was meditating, I got ready and left the hotel.
Arriving at the point exchange, I saw that Hannah was waiting for me while using a beautiful white dress. She looked like an angel! She saw me approaching and waved to me. I waved back and arrived near her. "Hey there. are you ready?" I asked while moving closer to kiss her on the cheek. I learned this move after talking a bit with Alan, a very friendly bartender. I had no experience with romantic things, but I sure knew that I had to take some attitude.
I kissed her cheek, very close to her lips. I was excited because, instead of rejecting me, she also kissed my cheek!
My face got red and I rubbed my nose to mask my shyness. I saw that she turned her head to the side while looking at the floor, with a face as red as a tomato.
"Let's go then?" I offered my arm, and she looped her own around it.
"Yes!" She said while beautifully smiling.