Christopher had finally done it. Hopefully, this would be the start of him becoming a better and more powerful fighter. Sin stood before him and the other trainees, getting everyone’s full attention.

After his fight with Arlo, Sin gave all of them a comprehensive lecture. She went over the basics of fighting with a dagger, offensive and defense positions, and how to read your opponent.

He made sure to be very attentive, trying to get it all on the first go, he had some catching up to do. He wondered whether this lecture was mostly for his benefit, or whether she felt that the others needed a refresher. Regardless, he was thankful for the opportunity to learn the basics.

His eyes roamed over the other trainees. He still hoped that he might run into one of the other summoned like him. It would be great if he was able to talk about his unique situation with someone else. He would expect that others like him would also be interested in joining a training class.

After asking one of the students, he learned that except for him, none of them had joined the class in the last few days, making it unlikely that there was another summoned among them.

But he knew that there were still many other classes ongoing, and starting up all the time. He did not entirely understand the scale of this world, but surely there must at least be one other summoned in Lumen.

Finding any of the summoned might prove difficult since they had to blend into the world. But he felt that there should still be hints if someone was recently summoned. He would keep an eye open.

When they matched up to spar with the dagger, it was Arlo that made sure that it was him that would be his sparring partner. He quickly looked around to find a different match, but none of the others seemed to want to get involved with the two of them.

It turned out as he feared, Arlo was extremely rough with him, successfully knocking him down time and time again. Now that Arlo no longer played around, and without Christopher using [Daggers Flow], he was no longer the agile man’s match. Sin seemed to have no problem with his rough treatment at the hands of Arlo. Well, he had to admit, fighting someone stronger was a great learning experience for him.

He tried to activate [Dagger’s Flow] again during the sparring, but he could not get it working a second time. His soul force did feel pretty weak though, and he had been told by Tamas that it would normally take a few hours to regenerate.

He realized that he had the advantage of the interface, which he used to check on his current Soul Force, which was only showing at 4%. Clearly, the use of the skill had completely depleted him earlier. He had decided already that he would try to continuously expend as much Soul Force as possible. He really needed to raise his soul force attribute after all.

Their training did not only consist of fighting with the dagger. The second hour of their training was dedicated to mostly physical exercise. She had them do maneuvers to improve their agility, which was apparently a very important attribute when fighting with a dagger.

The real strength of dual-wielding daggers was utilized when it was paired with the nimble and free movement that it allowed according to Sin. He thought back to the superhuman dash that the Priest had shown earlier. If he could achieve something like that as well in the future, then he might be able to kill his enemies before they ever saw it coming.

Sin clearly was a true expert in her weaponry, and he was confident that the training reflected that. He wondered whether Sin had made the top 100 in the Lumen ladder.

Christopher did not strike an imposing figure during all the weaving and running. Beads of perspiration ran like rivulets across his face. Most of the trainees were struggling, but he was doing worse than most.

After one hour of dagger practice, and another hour of agility training, most of them were already covered in similar perspiration, and the less in shape were doubly so. He was still impressed with his fellow trainees, all of them seemed quite determined, nobody complained.

They had a short break, during which he ate some of the Lunch he had brought from the Inn. While he ate, he spoke with some of his fellow trainees. He had a short conversation with a teenage girl called Bara, who turned out to be from this very problem district. Her motivation for training was simply to improve the prospects of her life, hoping to join the city guard in the future.

He also spoke to Hozil, the over 60-year-old man, and the oldest person in the group. Unfortunately, it seemed that many had more tragic reasons for wanting to fight.

The old man had lost a precious grandson to the war with the Blight and vowed to live according to the principles of the Adenium Church. He now wanted to gain the ability to at least protect his family and his city from a potential invasion in the future.

He spoke to a few more people and their stories were diverse. He kept his own answers simple, now completely abandoning the amnesia story, worrying that it would bring problems. It was in fact Tinos that had recommended him to keep that on the low, saying that it was better if not too many people questioned your background.

As the final segment of their training of the day grew nearer, Christopher grew quite excited when he discovered that they would be practicing with the bow next.

“As almost all of you know, in Lumen the bow is an important offensive and defensive weapon. Any person receiving combat training in Lumen will also have to learn the bow. If there is ever an attack on Lumen, you will all be expected to man the wall, to shoot down any creature of the Blight trying to enter the city.”

“The wall around Lumen, and the many twisting walkways high up between structures, will give bow-wielders plenty of opportunities to kill safely and stealthily from a distance. Your daggers will only have to come out when enemies manage to get to yourselves or your fellow citizens.

Now she was speaking his language. This was just what he had been hoping for. His desire to become a ranged fighter was now within his grasp.

“Those that have the strength to draw your bows, practice on squarely hitting the still targets. Those that cannot, please perform your strength training routine. “

Christopher gave it his best shot, but to his disappointment, he lacked the strength to draw the bow all the way back without excessive efforts. This was where his abysmal strength attribute reared its ugly head.

As Christopher kept failing all throughout the training, Arlo had gotten into a progressively better mood. Sin quickly sent Christopher to do the strength training she had devised.

He joined many of the others and simply copied the exercises they were performing. He was not all that muscular in his old life, and his body here was the same. It was time to change that.

After those three hours of training, they were done for the day, which was for the best since at this point most of them had trouble moving, Christopher included. This training schedule was really quite intensive. All his muscles hurt but he felt like he had a productive day.

One thing that was a bit disappointing was that besides his Soul Force, none of his attributes had even increased by one point.

Maybe it was a bit much to expect his attributed to rise higher every single day. Apparently, he would have to increase his power the hard way, by continuously training and practicing. Hopefully, he would make progress tomorrow.

He walked up to Sin, who was now hefting a comically large knapsack with training weapons, which looked funny with her small stature. He walked up to her hoping to clear up any remaining hostility from earlier.

“Thank you for allowing me to join the lessons. I already feel like I learned a lot today. Do you need any help carrying the equipment?”

“No need, this weight is nothing. I will expect to see you tomorrow at the same time and place.”

Her expression was not exactly warm, but there was no longer any hostility. He would consider it as progress. Before waiting for a response, Sin walked out of the training grounds. Many others left soon after.

Now that his only scheduled activity of the day was concluded, he decided to roam the city for a bit while slowly making his way back to the Inn. Getting a better grasp on the lay of the city could only prove beneficial in the future.

He had been warned about the current area, and he decided to heed the advice by taking the shortest route out of this part of Lumen.

Walking through Lumen truly was a marvel. There was always something new for him to look at. He encountered a lumber mill and decided to observe for a while. The mill was quite large, and many men and women were roaming about. If there was one resource that Lumen had in plenty, then it would be the trees.

Just like everywhere else he quickly spotted some potential Soul Force applications. He had heard about the tremendous durability of the Sternel trees, but a giant hinged blade was carving through the tree trunks like butter.

While he was watching, he saw that many people continuously kept infusing the blade with Soul Force. It was clearly being imbued with Soul Heat since the large hinged blade glowed a bright red from the infusion.

It looked like it required a new person’s Soul Force every few minutes. He figured that might be the only way to cut the trees since it was so much more durable than regular wood.

He even thought about asking for some work in the lumber mill. Although he did not expect that they would be very impressed with his lacking strength and almost non-existent Soul Force ability. He would hold off for now, but he was interested in earning some money somewhere. It was another thing to look out for.

He spotted a lot of interesting places on his chosen route back to the Butterbash Inn. There were several Taverns around the city. He spotted an interesting one that had been built like a luxurious treehouse around one of the Sternal Trees. It radiated class and was clearly not for the common people of Lumen, since people wearing impressive outfits could be seen chattering around the establishment.

He liked observing the people and the creatures within Lumen. It was all just so different. On Earth, many Anthropologists and Biologists would surely salivate at the opportunity of studying this world. After walking for quite some time, he once again spotted the Inn in the distance.