Post by SprklFan22 2:23 PM April 2nd, 20XX

Today I got asked out by this boy in school. I said I didn’t want to go out with him. He grabbed my arm so I punched him like my mom taught me. #NoMeansNo! Unfortunately, I forgot about the Passivity Precept. I found myself in this iridescent room. I thought for sure they were going to make me disappear like Tomas from 5th period, but they just told me that they’re taking care him, and that he’ll never try anything like that again. Of all things, they apologized to me for not getting to him faster. Said that now that they know things like this are an issue here that it will never happen again. To Anyone.... I’ll be honest. I’m Scared to Hope.

I limped back to Lore while grumbling nonsense. When he saw me, he clapped his hand over his mouth and nose, and doubled over, body shaking with mirth.

I sneezed again.

“You are just awful at multiple targets, aren’t you?” He managed between bouts of laughter. “And with that last Grunt Rat. You you were... were just five points away from killing him.”

“Have any recommendations smartass?”

“Yes. Dodging. It’s like you’ve never heard of it before.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve tried, but it’s not like I have that as a skill.”

He stilled, and a spark of anger entered his eyes. “You mean Crimea sent you down here without teaching you the dodge skill?”

“Well, you know her.”

“I do.” He sighed. “Alright, I’ll teach it to you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Does this count as you helping me?”

“No. Because when I made that bet, I’d assumed you were, at least, trained in the basics.”

I wasn't sure I understood his logic, but if I could get trained in another skill and not have it count as him helping me, I would take it.

He pulled off his robe, and my cheeks burned at the thought of him undressing, even a little. Fortunately, he had on his loose sapphire pants and a silver shirt that hinted at his swimmer's body.

“Um. Is there a reason you’re getting undressed?”

He scowled. “As a bard, I don’t generally need my full range of movement, because I’m in the back healing and buffing. My robes offer me some damage resistances but decreases my dexterity when I use skills that need it. If I’m going to attack you hand to hand, I’d prefer to use my full dex, considering your class is superior in that attribute.”

“Oh,” I said lamely. “Wait, to teach me you have to attack me?”

He nodded and lowered into a horse stance. “You’re going to focus on dodging and dodging only. If you attack me to do damage, I’ll punish you.”

“What? You gonna spank me?” I said, and I would have sounded like a real smartass if I didn’t sneeze right after.

His lips twitched. “No. I plan to kick your ass, you level one noob.”

I grinned and copied his stance.

You’ve agreed to undergo training by the Player Character: Lorevinel Silvercat

He ran toward me, and while I knew I was faster, there was something mesmerizing about his beautiful body in motion. Then he tapped my temple.

“Pay attention, Mia.”

“Right, sorry!”

“How about we start slow?”

I nodded.

“And get out your swords.”

“But you’re hand to hand. It’s not fair to you!”

He raised a brow.

“Fine!” I pulled out both swords.

“Alright, I’m going to attack you, slowly. You're going to use the flat of your blades to attack the limb I throw at you, and step out of the way of my attack.”

“That sounds more like a parry.”

“It’s not. It’s a type of active blocking. In the sim, blocking and dodging get lumped together in the ‘avoid getting attacked skill,’ that is named dodge for brevity's sake.”

“Right.” I felt a sneeze and buried my head into my bicep. When it didn’t come, I sighed with relief, then sneezed a half second later. “Um. So, block actively. But what about like, rolling and shit?”

“We’ll get to that.”

I lowered my center into a fighting stance and immediately felt pain in my shoe. I ignored it and let Lore have my undivided attention. It was surprisingly easy to accomplish. Must be all that charisma.

He threw his arm forward faster than I expected but slower than he had moved previously. I did as he requested and moved my two swords up to block his arm, flat side only. I pushed his arm away.

A tap at my waist, opposite the direction I’d attacked, caught my attention. “You used both swords and left yourself open. Unless your opponent is a warrior type, you should only use one. These blades are durable and can take it. You also forgot to step away from me.” He spoke softly and without being condescending. The guy was actually training me seriously! I decided to step it up.

“Okay, again.”

He punched towards me. This time I moved his arm away with one blade side while stepping away from him. Then, of course, I sneezed into my shoulder.

“Good. Now, keep that up!” He said and kicked out at my chest.

Surprised, I used my free blade to push his leg up and to the side as I stepped back and away again. Damn! He was flexible! I threw his leg straight up, but it didn’t even phase him, he merely coiled it back then kicked out again.

We went at it like this, him attacking at different angles locations and me actively blocking and wincing away for about 20 minutes. It took so long I stopped sneezing and the pain from the rock that nearly drove me insane disappeared. This also made me realize that the body I inhabited was fucking amazing! I only had to do something once, and the muscle memory was ingrained like I’d practiced it a million times already.

“Now we’ll do regular dodging.”

“What? Like rolls and side steps?”

He nodded. “But it’s often an inferior way to avoid attacks since it takes you farther away from your opponent so keep that in mind.”

I nodded. He proceeded to give me deft instructions on how and when to sidestep, roll and more, which took another 25 minutes.

Congratulations! You’ve learned the skill Dodge Level 2! Because you had a Master instructor with high charisma you’ve retained more of the training than you would have otherwise and earned an extra level.

Both of my brows rose.

“Level 2!”

“You’re welcome.”

“Okay, hold on. Why did it take so much longer to learn this skill than the others? Like, I learned Parkour after climbing a wall and finding a book, and I learned dual sword wielding after using my swords in battle a couple times. I don’t even have a book for that one.”

“Let me ask you this. Are all skills equally easy to learn where you’re from?”

“Well no, but this is a game.”

“It’s a simulation like I keep saying. Some skills are harder to learn than others, some need you to actually succeed at an attempt to get the first level, some just require a good book. The only thing that is the same is the requirement to find the book for them before you can level them past 10.”

I scowled. “That’s just dumb.”

He shrugged.“It’s how the sim works. Now, are you ready to continue? We’ve wasted enough time already.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I pouted.

We walked closer to the edge of the mining room. I was careful to remain stealthy as I peered over the edge once more. I expected to see one grunt close to the wall, but there were two. Both gazed around the cavern, on high alert and far enough away from the ledge that I wouldn’t be able to duplicate my falling assassinate attack.

Butterflies filled my stomach. I could do this. I could totally take two of them and their little miners too. But Lore didn’t go over multiple enemies at once. My steps slowed at that thought.

The worst that could happen was another really annoying death penalty. I grimaced. I despised those death penalties and would avoid them at all costs from now on. The rock in my shoe would have driven me crazy if Lore hadn’t distracted me with his face... I mean training. His seductive bard training. Nope! No! Absolutely not! Just regular training. And after thinking about it, the next Death Penalty will likely be worse!

I stopped at the entrance to the mining cavern and sent myself more mental encouragement.

After casting Add Air and Invisibility, I bolted towards the closest grunt. I plunged my swords towards the rat’s neck. At the last second, it dodged.

Shit! There went my 4x damage.