Chapter 35: Training

Rayna stood along with Derek. “I hope I’m not going to regret this.” She mused.

Derek looked at Thomas. “Are you ready to see if you really want to use daggers? It’s much easier to get yourself killed with short weapons like that.” He warned.

“I’m ready.” Thomas seemed resolute in his decision.

“Okay, let’s go.” Derek led the group out of the residence. Then he turned back to Rayna. “Uh, we should probably not do this inside the village.” Then he looked at Leon and Richard. “Or with an audience.”

Rayna nodded, then turned to Richard and Leon. “You two go try to think about what we’re going to do about the dungeon. I’ll be back when we finish. If you need me, we’ll be…” She paused and looked at Derek.

Derek understood what she was asking. He pointed in a direction. “We’ll be around 5 kilometers that way.” Leon and Richard nodded.

Richard put his hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “Be careful.”

Thomas smiled. “Don’t worry, Derek’s going to be there.” That did not seem to reassure Richard, but he nodded.

“Okay, let’s go.” Derek walked towards the gate and his two trainees followed.

***

“Aright, this should be good enough.” Derek halted his steps. They were around five or six kilometers away from the village. They could still make it out in the distance, but this would be good enough for their training.

The land had short grass and was relatively flat. “Okay, what is this amazing training that you want to do?” Rayna asked.

Derek smiled. Well, I don’t want to destroy my clothes. “Turn around for a second.” He said. Derek checked his bracelet’s storage space. Ah, that will work. Rayna shook her head, then turned around. Quickly, he swapped out his current clothes for a pair of shorts that he happened to still have. “Okay, you can turn back around. It’s PG-13 again.”

Rayna turned with a face full of confusion, then the confusion turned to shock after seeing Derek. He was standing with nothing but a pair of red basketball shorts. “W-what are you wearing?” Rayna managed to say.

He looked down at his piece of clothing. “Um… Shorts?” He responded.

“But why?” She asked.

“So I don’t ruin any more clothes that I like.” He spoke as if it was such an obvious reason. Before letting anyone else speak, he pulled a small stool out of his bracelet and sat it on the ground. He pointed at Rayna. “You’re going first. Thomas, have a seat.”

Thomas walked over to the stool and sat.

Derek went over to Rayna. “Okay, first, what are your skills that use magic?”

Rayna furrowed her brows. “Wind Blade, Wind Walk, and Razor Edge.”

“And what do they do?”

She sighed. “Wind Blade allows me to send a blade of wind at an opponent, it’s level five. Wind Walk lets me channel wind into my feet and walk on air, but it takes a lot of mana, it’s level five. Razor Edge is a weapon buff that makes my sword sharper, it’s level six.”

“Alright, we won’t need Wind Walk or Razor Edge for this. How much mana does Wind Blade use? How much mana do you have? Does it have a cooldown?” Derek asked. He figured that since she already revealed everything else, she would not mind revealing this.

“It costs 40 mana per cast, and it doesn’t have a cooldown.” She paused. “I have 1200 mana…”

“Oh, so you can use the skill around 30 times. That’s good. What upgrades when it levels? Mana cost?” He asked

“No, activation speed, velocity, and damage.” She answered.

Derek nodded. “Good.” He jumped backwards. “Ready?”

Seeing Derek retreat a distance, Rayna was not sure what he was planning. “What would you like me to do?” She asked.

“It’s simple. Attack me with your Wind Blade until you run out of mana.” The man replied.

He’s crazy. She thought. “Are you sure?” Seeing him nod, she let out a breath. “Okay, here I go.”

With that, Rayna drew her new sword and activated the skill. A blue-green glow appeared on the blade. She slashed down in an arc, not using her full force. She was not sure of Derek’s defense, so she held back as best she could.

A blue-green crescent flew from her sword towards Derek. Even with her holding back, the spell still moved at a rapid pace. Within a fraction of a second it had reached the man. He crossed his arms to block.

The wind magic collided with Derek’s arms. He held strong, not being pushed back a millimeter. Soon, the magic waned and the crescent blade grew smaller and small until it vanished. Rayna looked at the man that so casually took her magic. She was shocked. She did not know his level, but even high ranked adventurers would not dare take a magic blade with no form of defense.

Derek rubbed his arm before looking down and smiling. Rayna could barely make out a small line on his forearm. The spell was not even enough to break his skin. He’s a monster.

The man looked back up to her. “That’s good. I’m guessing that wasn’t the best you can do either. Now you know that you don’t have to hold back. Come on, hit me with your best shot. No holding back.”

Rayna felt a tinge of irritation at the man’s words, but she did as he asked. She let loose another blade, this time swinging with all her heart. Derek did not choose to block this strike with his arms, instead, he took the full blow to his chest. A small smile lingered on his face the entire time.

Again, the spell left but a mark. “You don’t have to stop. Keep them coming.” He said.

Rayna began launching Wind Blades one after another. In minutes, she found her mana empty and a terrible headache formed from lack of mana.

“Out of mana?” Derek asked.

Rayna flinched and nodded her head.

“Okay, trade places with the kid. Use Meditation until you’ve recovered. Once you’re full up, we’ll continue.”

Rayna thought about saying something, but gave up. She went over to the now empty seat and sat down. She tried Meditation for the first time, trusting that Derek would not let anything happen while she was out.

Derek watched as Thomas moved to where Rayna previously stood. “W-what are we going to do?” The boy asked.

“Well, you’re pretty persistent about using daggers, so I thought we would see if you were cut out for it.” With that, Derek summoned two daggers from his bracelet. Then, he tossed them at the ground in front of the kid’s feet. He laughed as Thomas jumped back. “Pick them up.”

Thomas walked forward and picked the daggers up. “Now, come on. Do your best to kill me.” Derek commanded.

Thomas stared wide eyed. “Kill you?” He asked.

Derek sighed. “You literally just saw me take 30 Wind Blades to the chest. What, you think that you and your puny strength will be able to hurt me?” Derek shook his head. “Your ‘training’ is going to be much tougher than hers. Now, come on, kill me.”

Thomas finally seemed to understand. With daggers in hand, he ran up to Derek. Using the dagger in his right hand, he slashed in a wide, clumsy arc. Derek watched as the blade came towards him, then… missed. “Oi, kid. Are you serious? You missed a still target.” He was flabbergasted. He didn’t have a problem stabbing the monster. Is he just this bad at fighting? Derek wondered.

“S-sorry.” Thomas said with a face full of embarrassment.

“Don’t be sorry, do it again. With a swing like that, you would already be dead. If you don’t take this seriously, I can take you back home right now.” Derek explained.

“N-no. I’ll do my best.” Thomas replied.

“Then attack me.”

Thomas moved forward again. Swinging his blade in another wide arc. This time, the blade barely managed to touch the still Derek. Still disappointed, Derek lightly backhanded Thomas on the back of the head. Thomas stumbled to the side and fell over. “What are you doing? You want to use daggers, but you are scared to get in close? Get up and go again.” Derek’s hit did not cause much damage to Thomas, but he cast Rejuvenation just to be on the safe side.

This left Thomas staring at Derek again. “A healing spell?” He blurted out.

“Yes, now get up and come on.” He motioned for the kid to stand again.

Thomas stood and tried again. But he still balked when he got close. “Kid, I don’t think ultra-close ranged weapons are for you.” Derek said. Then he retrieved a short sword from his bracelet. “Try this instead.” He tossed it down in front of Thomas.

“But I want to use daggers.” Thomas complained.

“Remember what we discussed? Do as I say.”

Thomas sighed and picked up the short sword, giving the daggers back to Derek in the process. The two began to spar again. This time, Thomas did much better. After a while, Derek pulled a different weapon from his bracelet, a longsword.

The two continued sparring. Occasionally, Derek would have Thomas change weapons to see what he was best at. He would also punish Thomas occasionally when he got the feeling that the boy was taking the training lightly. After some time passed, Rayna finally opened her eyes.

Derek pulled the spear away from Thomas and stopped the boy’s attack. He looked at Rayna. “You ready to go again?”

“Yes.” The chief answered.

Like this, the trio fell into a routine. In between training sessions, Derek would venture out into the forest and bring back a mid-level beast for Thomas to kill. He wanted Thomas to have a class before he took him anywhere. They did this for days.

Rayna had thanked Derek during this time. She had told him that her Wind Blade had grown two levels and her Meditation skill had already reached level 3.

He had focused on Thomas and learned that, though the boy was not good with daggers, when a short sword was put into his hands, his attacks remarkably improved. The same was true of a spear too. Other weapons weren’t suitable for the kid, though. Glaives and halberds were too robust for him to use accurately, and Derek could swear that the boy wouldn’t be able to hit a house with an arrow from two meters out.

Unfortunately, Thomas kept insisting on using daggers throughout the entire training process. Derek later found out from Richard that Thomas’s father had used daggers and guessed that this was the reason for the kid’s stubbornness. Derek just hoped that when it came time to choose a class, the system would offer Thomas a decent class for swords or a spear, and the boy would have no choice but to change his mind.

Finally, that day came after Thomas killed one of the creatures that Derek found in the forest. Derek was excited to see what options the system gave Thomas. This was not only because he wanted the boy to get a good class, but he also wanted to see how their actions had affected the possible outcomes.

Derek waited while Thomas chose his class.