Author's Note: Been busy all day writing the guideline for the next ark and got so pumped I forgot about the actual story. Haha I guess that happens though. I'm open to any advice that other people have. I've always suffered from putting commas too many times and in the wrong places, but that's where I want people to pause so I dunno. Also I downloaded the emulator for Boktai 2 and the nostalgia is real.
Edit: Thanks again to ArchmageNaoki for spotting all my mistakes. I'll write a chapter or two tonight for you to go over. Haha.
Chapter 9: Learning How To Use A Sword
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Gale had spent the night in a room he had on the third floor for 45 copper a night. naturally he had decided on spending the rest of his money to stay there for 3 months. Like Alisha had said, he had to better his swordsmanship skills before he could stand a chance on even the most basic quests.
Waking up early the next morning, he headed down to the tavern to grab some breakfast. The cost of meals was luckily included in his stay.
"Hey there newbie, what can I get ya'?" Wendy said with a wink.
Wendy was the daughter of the retired adventures who ran the place, the father working in the kitchen, while the mother was a shrewd businesswoman who was in charge of everything else. Wendy worked there to help out as a waitress, but at the age of 16 like everyone else she would go out in the world to find her place.
"I'll take the morning special." Gale responded with a smile.
"Not a problem, coming right up!" She responds.
As Wendy walks away, Gale contemplates everything he had suddenly learned yesterday.
'With Unfortunate Hero, I have no choice but to learn as many abilities as possible. While I think mastering many jobs might come easily, I should at least try to buy some active abilities, as well as work on my swordsmanship skill ability. I also need to try to survive as long as possible so that my next life can be better off, and doesn't try to just settle down somewhere. The only places that could be even remotely safe would be large cities from the monsters and calamities. If I make my problem everyone else's problem, then someone will have to be able to fix it.'
Gale smiles to himself, and then after a moment the smile slowly fades.
'Being here is a risk to everyone. Is my life and existence really that important that I have to put a whole city in danger just to live. No it is, if I don't become stronger and give my future selves a fighting chance I'm dooming every where I will walk for who knows how many years to come. Sharing my burden with a capable city is more than reasonable in the long run.' He rationalizes.
"Here you go hot stuff, oops I meant here's some hot stuff for you. Today's special is quail eggs with hollandaise sauce and a side of ham. Let me know if you need anything." Wendy places down the steaming plate.
Gale doesn't waste any time and devours the plate, burning his tongue and the roof of his mouth in the process. Finishing his meal, he compliments his waitress and the food and gets up to leave. Heading through the door he makes his way across the lobby to the training area.
Inside he sees maybe 10 people hacking away at dummies with various weapons as a man with a bald head wearing a green tunic watching over them.
"Keep hitting you animals!" The bald man yells at the 10 young adventurers.
Walking towards the bald man, Gale feels apprehensive.
'What if he just yells at me and I don't even learn anything for like ten years,' Gale thinks, 'Then I'll be a failure.' He says to himself.
"Ah, what? Whatever." he says to himself, and then louder, "Excuse me sir, I'm looking to improve my swordsmanship, and Alisha said you would be able to help."
"Ay lad, your swordsmanship you want to increase huh? What level are ya at?" The bald man asks.
"Beginner level 5 sir." Gale responds.
"Hey not bad! At least I don't have to waste time trying to get you to even pick the ability up. Go ahead and hit that dummy by the wall a few hundred times. Pick a wooden sword you like along the wall." The bald man smiles
"Yes sir." Gale replies before heading towards the wall.
Looking at the different wooden weapons on display, he picks outs a regular wooden sword and walks over to a random target dummy. Brandishing the weapon in his right hand he begins to strike the dummy.
The loud sound of a dummy being smacked rang out. The noise consisted of random whacks, with no consistency or quality. Then slowly, it began to take shape. Turning into a methodical continuous melody of strikes.
*Whap*...*Whap*...*WHAP*...*Whap*...*Whap*
Sweat began to bead around Gale's face and body. Disregarding everything he else he focused on hitting the target. Correcting every strike that felt wrong or misplaced. He strikes began to quicken, and become more powerful.
After an hour of this, the bald man yelled, "Alright lad, you can stop."
Letting the sword fall to his side without dropping it, he brought his other hand up to wipe his forehead. Sweat was pooling around him.
'I shouldn't have dressed in all my equipment. Next time I'll just wear a shirt and trousers. It's not like I was going anywhere else today anyway.'
"Hey lad, come over here." The bald man instructs.
Walking over to the bald man, Gale is about to return the wooden sword when, "Hey you're going to be needing that sword there lad." The bald man yells again.
"Not bad lad, you make quick progress. I can see that you have potential to master swordsmanship, which is more than I can say for other adventurers. But don't get ahead of yourself, there are plenty of swordmasters out there in the world, and plenty of people with potential die everyday before they meet their goal. While you can still make progress beating at a wooden dummy all day, you'll improve more quickly if you have a sparring partner." The bald man instructs after Gale walks up to him.
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Pulling out a wooden spear from nowhere, the bald man walks to an area of the training field with Gale following. Approaching a circle about 30 feet in diameter, the bald man sticks his spear in the ground. Crossing his arms he looks at Gale.
"When you're able to land one strike on me, I'll tell you my name. Now get your sword ready lad, because you're about to receive a beating. The lesson for today is how to fight an opponent with a longer reach than you."
Gale grips his wooden sword. Bringing it up he faces the man. A whirlwind of action takes shape in front of his eyes, and before he knows it, he's staring at the ceiling. The bald man had retrieved his spear from the ground, and spinning it in his hands, appeared to strike Gale's head. When Gale blinked instead of reacting, the bald man twisted the spear, instead placing the end to the side of Gale's left foot. Immediately following, he swipes to the right, taking Gale's feet from beneath him.
"Oh lad, that's a nasty habit I'm going to have to break you of. Always keep your eyes open in combat." The bald man instructs, a look of disappointment in his eyes.
Gale grits his teeth and stands up. As he brings his sword up one more time, he prepares himself. Again the spear comes, aiming for his left eye. Gale moves his head to the side and shuts his eyes. Again he's on the floor. Like this the cycle continues all day.
On the seventh day of training, he manages to keep his eyes open. On the 3rd week he learns the instructor's name is Joshua. After two months have gone by he breaks into intermediate swordsmanship.
"Hey not bad lad, looks like you finally broke through. Now that you meet the minimum level, you should go get a quest to fight some monsters. It's nice fighting humans, but real experience and danger sharpen your skills. Also vital points change based off what creature you're fighting." Joshua instructs.
"Thanks Joshua, you've been a great help." Gale responds. Pausing for a moment he asks a question, "Hey Joshua, how come you haven't been sparring with anyone else?"
"Oh that's easy lad, no one else has gotten to the point of the beginner stage of the weapon they use to even attempt to fight me. No point in just beating down someone every day if they won't learn anything." Gale laughs, "Well lad, get a move on."
"Thanks again Joshua." Gale says, before he turns away.
Finding Alisha, Gale walks over to her counter.
"Oh! Hello there Gale, I was wondering when you were finally going to make it over here. Your funds should be almost dry so you'll need to start taking quests. Too bad, you still have to get to intermediate swordsmanship before you can go out you know." Alisha smiles.
Gale brandishes his adventure card, flipping it over and presents it to her.
ABILITIESActivePassiveSkillNonePerserveranceIntermediate Swordmanship Lvl 1Unfortunate Hero
"Ok! Looks like you actually managed." Alisha responds with feigned shock in her voice, "Let's see what kind of quest should we give you. Hmmmm. Ooooh I know. Mmhmm. Mmhmm. Nope. Mmhmm. Ok! I have three available quests for you that I think you would like. The first involves you being part of a party to guard a merchant traveling between cities, the second one involves solo hunting a Colossal Bear that devastated a village, and the last is going with a party and hunting a hundred dire wolves that have been plaguing the surrounding area."
"I'll take the one with the wolves." Gale responds.
"Ok! Good choice, you would have died if you had picked the other two." Alisha laughs, "And we don't want that to happen. It'll take a while to get the number of people needed for this quest, so come back in about 3 days. After that we'll have the party organized and ready to head out. Anything else I can help with today."
Gale clenches his fist tightly, "No Alisha that will be all, but I have to ask. Why even bother telling me about the other two quests if you know I'll die if I take them."
"Ok! That's easy! To see if you have a good head on your shoulders, it's the first test an adventurer gets. Making sure they know their limits. I wouldn't have had you accept the job, and instead you would have been prohibited from asking for a new quest for a week." She replies while smiling.
Breathing out slowly Gale releases his anger and then says, "Well thanks Alisha. I guess I'll go back to my room then."
"Ok! Have a good one!" She responds.
Making his way back to his room in the tavern. Gale decides to go over what Joshua taught him. A form of meditation, where you visualize striking and fighting your opponent. Since he had no money right now, he couldn't do anything in the city. He couldn't drink down at the tavern. He couldn't train anymore in the training area.
'This is all I can do.' He says to himself while sitting cross-legged on his bed.
'Visualize an enemy. Visualize and enemy. Visualize an enemy...' He starts reciting.
Slowly an enemy takes shape and he begins to do battle in his head. Not stopping except to eat, drink, sleep and relieve himself. 3 days go by quickly.