Kay looked over his stat page, slightly winded as he sat after another training session with Meten.

[————————————————————]

Name: Kenneth “Kay” Davis

Race: Outworlder Human

Age: 24

Highest Tier: III

Total Tiers: 13

Class Slots: 9 Combat Class Slots/5 Non-Combat Class Slots

4 Combat Class Slot Used/1 Non-Combat Class Slots Used

Classes:

Combat:

- Blood Manipulator: Tier III -

Skills: Manipulate Blood - Level 23

- Swordsman (Bastard Sword): Tier III -

Skills: Swordsmanship (Bastard Sword) - Level 20

- Apprentice Polearm Wielder (Halberd): Tier II -

Skills: Polearms (Halberd) - Level 15

- Blood Shaper: Tier III -

Skills: Shape Blood - Level 8

-Empty-

-Empty-

-Empty-

-Empty-

-Empty-

Non-Combat

- Bloody Healer: Tier II -

Skills: Blood Transfusion - Level 9

Healthy Blood - Level 10

Blood Regeneration - Level 10

-Empty-

-Empty-

-Empty-

-Empty-

Non-Class Skills: Identify - Level 3, Appraisal - Level 4, Inspect - Level 3, Punch Daggers - Level 4, Writing - Level 5, Reading - Level 5, Running - Level 5, Sprinting - Level 4, Blood Domain - Level 1, Cartography - Level 4, Drawing - Level 4, Leadership - Level 1

Titles: Class Line Progenitor, Class Creator III

[————————————————————]

In just two days of training with Meten, he’d gained six levels in his Polearms (Halberd) skill and tiered up the class. Even though Meten’s skill was Polearms (Glaive), having significantly more experience with the general type of weapon made Meten a fantastic teacher for Kay.

“How’re you looking?” Meten called out.

Kay closed his status. “Pretty good. Level fifteen with the halberd, so not much longer to tier it up.”

“Good.” Meten grinned widely. “Let’s spar one more time, then we’ll be done for now. That nephew of mine still needs to practice with that staff of his.”

Kay looked over to where Darten was practicing his Earth Manipulation on a random rock. “Does Darten want to be a fighter?”

“Who knows?” Meten shrugged, “I don’t think he does right now. But just because someone doesn’t fight day to day doesn’t mean that they’ll never need to.”

“Better to be safe than sorry,: Kay muttered as his thoughts turned to the conversation he’d had with Darten a few days ago. It was another reminder of Torotia’s seemingly implied prerequisite for leadership: Strength. Kay looked down at his weapons as he hefted his halberd and stood up. He wasn’t even a real leader of anything, and he was already starting to feel the pressure of it. That, as much as his other apprehensions, was driving his dislike of the idea.

Meten stood up at the same time. “Ready for another bout?”

Kay nodded and held out his weapon. Meten bent over it and started tracing shapes over the blade. Kay watched as flakes of ash gathered into shapes on the weapon and began to glow with heat. When Meten stepped back, Kay ran his hand along the length of the blade. Instead of a sharp edge, there was an invisible block around the dangerous part of the halberd, including the spear point and the smashing spike.

He hadn’t gone into much detail about it, but the Ashblade Painter class had some level of magic skills. Eleniah had said that it was obviously an Ash Magic class somehow but wasn’t sure how the shapes Meten drew worked. Kay had thought it might be some kind of Rune Magic, which got Eleniah really interested.

Meten finished magicking his own weapon, then led Kay over to the open area they’d been using for sparring.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Then… begin!”

They were fighting with weapons only, so Kay didn’t have to worry about ash-based attacks as he pressed forward. Because Meten’s main method of attacking was slashing, Kay had the tiniest bit of an opening as he extended his arms, thrusting his halberd forward. Meten leaned his body just enough to move out of the path of the attack, then knocked Kay’s halberd up by slamming the shaft of his weapon into Kay’s.

Using the enhanced strength of his mana-enforced body, Kay completely redirected his weapons’ momentum, slashing down, his muscles straining from the effort. Again Meten dodged with little effort as he stepped out of the path of the blade.

As Kay recovered his weapon, Meten seized the opening. A few steps forward and a lightning-fast slash brought the blade of his glaive right at Kay’s throat.

Kay copied his sparring partners moved and twisted his body the smallest amount he could in order to dodge. One of the first lessons he had learned from Eleniah was to dodge with as little movement as possible, which Meten had reinforced in both his words and example.

As the blade swished over his torso, Kay jerked his glaive up. He hooked the shaft of Meten’s weapon with the spike of his glaive and pulled.

Meten jerked as he yanked his weapon back. “Nicely done!”

They surged to meet each other again, trading blows and dodges as they attacked. A tiny portion of Kay’s mind marveled at the fight he was having, even if it was just a sparring match with blunted weapons. He was out here fighting like some kind of anime protagonist! Kay had been interested in history during his school years, to an extent, but his focus hadn’t been on weaponry or fighting techniques with melee weapons. He did know that halberds and glaives had not been used like this. Most polearms were used as anti-calvary weapons, not in one on one battles with people shifting attacks trajectory like it was nothing!

Meten did a literal flip as he leaped over Kay’s attempt to sweep his legs. He easily landed and pushed off the ground with one foot, dashing closer to attack. Shit like that never happened on Earth either! But it sure as hell is happening right now!

As another slash came at him, Kay slammed the head of his weapon into his opponents, driving the attack off course. He countered with a thrust, and Meten deflected it by punching the halberd.

This just feels ridiculous! But it’s real!

Kay used the momentum to swing the butt of his weapon up and tried to slam it into Meten’s head. Meten smacked the end of his glaive and spun it around his other hand to bring it in position to block. He held the block in place with only one hand and grabbed Kay’s halberd with the other, yanking Kay off balance as he pulled the weapon towards him.

Kay made a split-second decision and let himself get dragged, freeing one of his hands as he drew closer. When Meten let go of Kay’s weapon to block the punch Kay threw at his face, Kay tensed his arm and swung the halberd one-handed into Meten’s side.

Meten recoiled from the blow, and Kay surged forward, choking up on the shaft of his halberd and stabbing forward with the point. He managed to get three quick stabs in before Meten rocketed backward, pushing himself away with the fifth-tier speed he’d been holding back on.

With a quick spin to position his glaive properly, Meten slammed an overhead attack down towards Kay’s head. Kay barely managed to block, interposing the shaft of his weapon in front of Meten’s.

The weight of the attack suddenly vanished as Meten appeared in front of Kay. Before he could react, Meten threw out a jab at his face.

Meten’s fist stopped in place, barely touching Kay’s lips.

“And, you’re dead.”

Kay looked down at the fist. “Dead?” He asked, his lips dragging along Meten’s knuckles.

“Out of the fight, at least.” Meten stepped back and picked up his weapon. He glanced over at Kay as he brushed some dirt off the blade. “Well fought. You did much better than the last two times.”

“Thanks.” Kay leaned on his halberd as he relaxed as much as he rested in place. “I’ve been trying to get out of my own head and just go for it?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Kay sighed. “After we left Tumbling Rapids and came here, I’ve been thinking about stuff that I wasn’t before. Not that I didn’t know it was there, I think I was just ignoring it. In Tumbling Rapids, I had a schedule of sorts, and I let myself sink into it. But now that we’re out here, and my schedule is ‘do whatever helps me the most, I’ve been thinking a lot more.” He looked into the distance. “Torotia is different from Earth in some really big ways, and I’m adjusting as time goes on. Getting used to the new reality that I’m in. Some of it is taking a little longer than others.”

“Like what?” Meten asked, copying Kay’s pose of leaning on his weapon.

Kay snorted a sarcastic laugh. “That match we just had right there for one. People can’t do things like that on Earth. Oh, I mean, if they were in an exhibition to show off the peak of their skills, I’m sure a few people could do a few of the things you can, but not many, and not all of it. That bit where I tried to sweep your legs, and you flipped over it while keeping your weapon perfectly balanced to land it just right, and then immediately turning that into an attack? Not happening on Earth. There’s just no way.”

Meten nodded thoughtfully. “So you’re getting used to people’s physical capabilities here, your own included?”

“That’s part of it definitely, but.” Kay lightly cut himself and gathered some blood. He shaped it into a tiny top and set it to spinning on the point of his halberd. “I can do magic! And this?” He held up the small cut on his arm. “I have a passive skill that makes my blood have magical healing properties. This would take days to completely heal back home. I’ll be healed in less than an hour. I don’t even have to worry about bleeding! I can just magically make sure my blood stays inside me!”

Meten made a wry face. “Sorry. Not really something I can help with.”

“You are helping actually; all three of you are. It’s just not something I can get over in an instant. Or even in a few months. I just have to keep going. But sometimes, it throws me off.” Kay sighed as a wash of sadness rolled over him, “And sometimes it’s worse than just throwing me off. But I have to keep going,” He repeated.

Meten stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. “Good attitude.”

“Thanks. I-”

What Kay had been about to say was cut off as an explosion echoed through the valley. They both twisted in place to look at the cloud of smoke, and bits of debris flew through the air, coming from farther up the mountain than Kay and Eleniah had traveled.

Kay worriedly stared at the mountain, watching for a rockslide. When he was sure there wasn’t one, he looked over at Meten. “You know another thing about Torotia that gives me pause? I didn’t have shit like this happening. And even if something like this did happen, it wouldn’t have been my job to go check it out!” Kay threw his head back and groaned. “Let’s go grab Darten and Eleniah. There’s no way we can just ignore that.”