Christopher was mulling over his options, there must be some way to get into this class. Unfortunately, there was nothing feasible he could think of, it was not like he had the money to pay her or something.

The plan he ultimately decided on was admittedly pretty pathetic, he would simply merge into the group, joining with the other trainees. What was she going to do, kill him? His face scrunched up, wondering at that very possibility.

He could always just hope that the Priest could no longer be bothered expending energy on him, accepting his determination. Yeah right! As he joined the group, he drew a few curious glances from the other trainees, probably wondering at the unfamiliar face.

Things only got more awkward though. After a few short words, Sin started handing out wooden training daggers to all the other trainees except him. She then paired them all up, commanding them to alternate between practicing the defensive and attacking patterns they had been taught. Maybe the Priest hoped that completely ignoring Christopher would get him to give up on his stubbornness, but he was not that easily deterred.

Christopher waded through the Bright red leaves littering the ground and observed the sparring for a while from the sidelines. He figured he might as well try to imitate some of the movements he gleaned of the trainees sparring each other. Luckily, he had brought his own dagger to practice with. Sin moved through the ranks, correcting stances, and handing out short advice. He did his best to listen to the recommendations.

He was able to follow the instructions to some extent. He swung his own dagger around, trying to apply the attacking and defensive patterns Sin taught to the other trainees. Christopher did the same with his stance and footwork, trying to learn all he could by spying on the others.

This kind of training was not what he had in mind, but at least he should be learning something. Unfortunately, his strange antics seemed to distract some of the other trainees, causing a lack of focus on their own training.

The female priest now shot an angry and annoyed glance at him. She had clearly tried to ignore him to the best of her ability, but his distractions gained her attention once more.

“You must leave, you are not part of this training class”

“I really need to get stronger. I am willing to follow instructions and learn. Please accept me as your student, and I promise I will work harder than anyone.”

The woman named Sin with an unnatural burst of speed exploded into action. She came straight at him and before he had a chance to react, one of her Daggers was on his throat, and the other Dagger was placed on his groin.

“I do not appreciate men that act like fools. It would be unfortunate if you were to lose any important body parts” She said with a wicked gaze. A cold sweat starting forming on his body.

With more foolishness than bravery, Christopher answered. “Thou shalt not harm any man or woman that offers assistance in the fight against the Blight or has the potential to do so in the future. Are you a priest that goes against your own commandments?

Clearly, this was the wrong thing to say, since Sin’s face flushed with anger for a brief moment. A single gasp could be heard from one of the onlookers, all eyes were drawn.

“You know, unfortunate training accidents happen all the time. I am sure nobody would look twice if there was a little mishap.”

Christopher blanched. He had apparently gone over this all wrong. Surely, she was not serious? Also, that knife on his groin was deeply disturbing. Even if he had [Bookmark] to fall back on, he refused to experience something like that.

Luckily the Priest did not follow through on her threat, instead, she simply pushed him hard with both of her palms, making him fall heavily on his ass. Maybe the eyes of the other Trainees had a protective effect, all of them were watching with great interest.

“How about we make a deal.” the petite and dangerous woman said.

“A deal?” What the hell was she up to now? He didn’t expect that he would like the terms.

“That’s right. How about this. If you can beat one of my students with the training daggers, then you have proven that you are not miles behind, and you can join the class.”

Beat one of them? They had received training for two weeks now. Clearly, she didn’t believe that he could really win this, and he had to kind of agree with her assessment.

“And if I lose?”

“You get your ass out of here and promise me that I will never have to see you again.”

Shit. He was not hopeful that Sin would be kind enough to let him fight that old man. But if he refused, it was not likely that there was another way for him to weasel his way into this class. He looked over the trainees, gouging who was the strongest.

“I can only accept it. Who am I supposed to fight?”

“Arlo, please come over here”

A young man that he expected to be around his age stepped forward from the back of the group, pushing another trainee out of the way. The man had a lanky build, curly brown hair, a narrow face, and a wicked-looking grin. He clearly looked pleased with being chosen. What kind of psychopath is this? That was the first thing Christopher thought.

He did not look exactly powerful though. He suspected however that appearance might be deceiving since the other trainees either looked at Christopher with great mirth or pity. He did seem like the kind of guy that took pleasure in killing a Goblin slowly.

“Arlo, I will know if you hold anything back, you better take this seriously.”

“No worries, there is no need to hurry though, let's test this guy out a bit.”

Christopher was slightly creeped out, but if this guy wanted to waste time during the fight that was good for him.

“How do we determine who wins the fight?” Christopher asked.

“It’s simple, I will hand the victory to anyone that lands their practice dagger on a vital spot that would have incapacitated the opponent when using a real knife. Arlo, just don’t stab the wooden blade at his throat.”

Fantastic, how was he going to win this one? He had one plan that might give him a bit of an edge. His plan was to quickly buy [Dagger’s Flow] from the store. He then just had to hope that he would actually be able to use it, and it would somehow bring him a victory.

He always had the option of downgrading the Dagger to his secondary weapons in the future. Two daggers could be easily carried on his person, and it was a weapon that would always prove useful in certain situations. The cost of the skill was nothing compared to the points that could be earned from slaying the countless monsters of the Blight.

There was little time for indecision, so he decided to go through with his plan. He just had to make it work somehow. He quickly bought his first skill from the interface store.

A warmth infused him all throughout his body as soon as he bought [Dagger’s Flow]. It was as if something was burning inside of him. He decided to focus on this feeling, trying to glean some insights from the strange sensation. He could slightly sense an unfamiliar power flowing through his circulatory system.

Christopher could only speculate that this power was the very soul force he had struggled with all this time. It had seemingly gotten very active when he had bought this skill, but it was already quickly subsiding to something very faint. Luckily Christopher had now locked on to that feeling, and he was still able to sense it somewhat. Now he fervently hoped that he would be able to use the skill. A message popped up on his retina.

[Congratulations, you have increased your Soul Force by one point.]

This pretty much confirmed that it had been his Soul Force that he had just felt. Why had his Soul Force received a boost? Maybe the overload that his Soul Force had just experienced had dished out an additional benefit. The short but powerful burst he had just experienced must have slightly strengthened his Soul Force. Tamas had suggested that it would increase with use and training after all. His soul force was still only at five though, but he would gladly take any improvement he could get. Now how to use [Dagger’s Flow].

He brought his attention back to his surroundings, and people were staring at him as if he was a massive idiot. Shit, how long had he been standing here focusing on that sensation?

Sin spoke up. “What is wrong with you, are you suddenly scared shitless? You are welcome to just leave, in fact, I prefer it!” Arlo made an expression as if something had just been snatched from him, the wicked-looking grin disappearing for a moment.

“No, I was just lost in thought for a second. So, I can use two of these wooden daggers?”

He walked over to a sack that contained some more of the wooden daggers and picked two randomly, not seeing any differences.

“Hmph, just get in position, this has gone on long enough. Everyone, you might just as well watch, maybe you can glean something useful from this.” None of the spectators needed to be told, they had already formed a half-circle around them.

He was receiving a slight Deja vu from this situation. Just yesterday he had been facing Namir in a similar manner. The difference being that he was now facing a newbie just like him, instead of a seasoned warrior Priest. Yet, with Namir, he certainly did not feel this kind of bloodlust from his opponent.

Well, he had gotten himself into this situation, now all he could really do was try and turn this into a victory.