We hit 600 followers

Cue the music.

and, Enjoy

-----------------

The training room was very large, feeling more like the bottom of a house rather than a single room. It was also quite plain, only holding padded floors and white walls. Eric stood at the center and smiled.

"This here be the specialized training room. All old trainers, like me, have one. We use it for specialty training for the more interesting people that come through our halls, and train them privately so as to not raise jealousy from others."

"So this isn't only limited to me? Other travelers are doing this?" Steel asked.

"Of course boy, don't tell me you thought you were unique?" Eric laughed, "Well, you are the first traveler I've taken an interest in, so I guess you can take some pride in that." He shrugged.

"Now, let’s get things ready." Eric snapped his fingers. Instantly, comfy seats arose behind Mary Highwater and Echo, while dummies appeared out of the ground in between Eric and Steel. Eric took out a wooden tower shield and tossed it to Steel. "Here boy, you'll be using this whilst training with me." Eric nodded toward the other two, "You too can take a seat and watch, unless you'd rather join in." They shook their heads.

"Suit yourselves." He returned his gaze to Steel, "Okay boy, shield bash the dummies and come to me."

The dummies were in a zig-zag formation, leading to Eric. Taking a breath, Steel activated charge and plunged in.

First dummy, he slammed the wooden shield against it with his left arm. As he swung it, he turned with the momentum and continued his charge into the dummy on the right. As he hit it, however, the wooden shield shattered into splinters, showering Steel in fragments and cutting his hp down an eighth. He dropped to the floor, grimacing as he took a sip of a health potion.

Eric shook his head, sighing. "Boy, I told you to shield bash the dummies, not charge into them. Tell me, do you know what went wrong?"

Steel pulled a splinter out of his arm, "The shield's not made for combos?"

Eric whacked him with his cane, "No boy, it's how you're using the shield. Watch me do it." He gestured, and the dummies decreased to his own size.

Eric equipped a wooden tower shield of his own and ran the course. Instead of bouncing through the dummies like Steel had, Eric hit the first left dummy in the head by performing a clothesline maneuver with the shield. He then jumped over to the right dummy and hit it square in the middle, the blow sliding past the dummy and taking his momentum into the last dummy. He walked back over to Steel and displayed the shield. It did not have a single crack.

"Tell me boy, why do you think you need a basic shield using skill?"

Steel's brows furrowed, "Um, so I can do real damage with a shield."

Eric nodded, "While that is an important thing, it's not the most important thing. Let’s say I give a boy a knife, and I tell him to cut a boulder. The knife ends up being broken correct?" Steel nods, "Now, I give the knife to a knife user with the basic knife skill. He also slashes at the boulder, but when he returns the knife is still usable. Do you understand?"

Steel plopped his fist into his hand, "So in other words, Shield Mastery will lower durability loss."

Eric waved his hand, "Yes and no. Rather, gaining the skill will teach you the proper way to distribute the force in your shield to prevent unnecessary loss of durability. If you had chosen a normal class or trained with a shield earlier, you would have gained the skill automatically and your blows would be okay. However, you just ran off into the grassland and taught yourself wrong, which requires severe training to overcome."

Eric scratched his head, "Come to think of it, magic is a lot like that as well. Tell me, you don't any passive magic related skills do you?" Steel shook his head.

"Well in that case boy, you've been spending more mana than you should have. Good thing you have a capable teacher here." He looked over at Mary, "My lady, would you be as so kind to explain to the boy what he needs for magic."

Mary looked startled for a moment, Echo being hugged in her arms, "Um, well. I guess I could." She got up nervously and walked over to them. Echo followed with a curious expression in his gaze.

Eric crossed his arms, "Tell me Steel, did anyone train you on magic use?"

He nodded, "Yes, I had a wonderful teacher from the tower, ironically another Mary. She showed me how to cast spells, but I couldn't get the hang of it until a friend of mine was placed in mortal danger."

Eric nodded, "I see. Well, learning the basic magic skills will be easier for you then, as you actually learned before figuring out for yourself." He looked over at Mary, "Tell me, could you call his teacher over to help? You will have to leave the room for any magical contact."

Mary's face paled, "Um, I guess I could if she's not busy. You never know with mages after all." She said weakly.

Eric waved his hand, "She'll come. After all, it’s your request after all. Besides, it will help for the boy here to have a familiar teacher here."

Mary nodded, her face twitching for some reason, "I'll be right back then. Please, do not wait for me." She hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. Eric turned back to Steel,

"While that's going on, let’s work on your physical skills some more. Come on boy, times a wasting."

For the next few hours, Steel felt like he was put through the ringer. Eric had him run through the course multiple times, first without a shield and he had to hit the dummies with his shield arm. Eric made him alternate between slamming them and tapping them; repeatedly yelling that Steel had to get use to the difference of force at the same speeds. After an hour both Mary's walked into the room, one blond and the other red. They sat down and played with Echo while they watched Steel sweat. Steel had managed to get out a hello, but Eric told him to focus. After the running was done, Eric strapped a heavy weight to Steel's arm and told him to run the course again.

He had a lot harder time tapping, the weight taking his momentum and slamming into the dummies as he tried to pass. The weight was spelled so that every time it slammed, it stuck to whatever it touched. Steel spent a lot of time being yanked back by it, and his arm hurt like crazy. His hp kept falling when that happened, but one of the Mary's would heal him and he was back running through the course.

On a happier note for Steel, his stats were rising from the repeated training. So far he had acquired 3 strength, 2 agility, 2 endurance, and 1 vitality. He appreciated that stats boosts as he lay panting on the ground. Eric folded his arms and hummed to himself.

"Boy, you said magic had a hard time coming to you, correct?"

"Yes...sir. It was...like...I couldn't...reach it..." Steel breathed out.

Eric scratched his head, "Hmm, seems like something is messing with your body's ability to learn. Strangest thing I've ever seen."

All of a sudden, the world vanished around Steel. Startled, he found himself in the middle of a white-bluish space, just like back at the tutorial area. He looked around.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

As if hearing his call, a very familiar ball of light materialized in front of him. Steel grinned, "Hi Shelly, good to see you again."

The ball bounced up and down, cute giggles coming from it, "Sorry human, the A.I. known as Shelly has incarnated in your game, try again."

Steel scratched his head, "Um, I don't know any A.I.'s besides her and a new A.I."

The ball moved side to side, "Well, it doesn't matter too much. Anyway, your here due to an unforeseen bug in the system. Don't worry, only a few seconds will have passed when you return to the game, so don't worry about a thing."

Steel crossed his arms, "Really now, this is the second major bug I've been affected by. You know a friend of mine suffered a severe trauma because of this."

"You mean slave right?"

"Enslaved friend, the best kind. Anyway, what's wrong this time, and why do they keep popping up?"

The ball moved over and rolled back and forth, "Well, this is the first game of its kind, so of course bugs are going to pop up. Really though, this bug is in a way your fault."

"How can I cause a bug, I'm just playing normally."

"Well, not you you, but your body you is the problem."

Steel blinked, "Err, run that by me one more time. My body is the problem?"

The light nodded, or bobbed either one, "You see, your nervous system is in the process of being fixed. As a result, the system is having a hard time working with it in order to follow your moves. That's the major reason for your difficulties training. It was hard enough to compensate your avatar with the loss of your legs in real life, but the process has resulted in a slight lag between system commands that results in a failed execute order and in turn. . . "

"Please, simple explanation."

The ball turned pink, "You’re lagging, and it’s hurting your growth."

Steel crossed his arms, "Can you fix it?"

The ball turned red, "Of course we can fix it, that's why your here. This place is separate from the game world, which allows us to see the problem clearly without all the other data cluttering in the way."

"We?"

"Well of course. I'm only talking with you to keep you calm, and I was interested in meeting you at least once. It would be impossible normally."

"So I do know you."

The ball turned brown, "Kinda sorta maybe. In case you’re wondering, my personality is a little different here as well. Anyway, the bug patch is almost done, and you'll be able to resume training soon. Any questions for me?"

Steel nodded, "Do I receive compensation for this?"

"Nope. Not like it killed you, so suck it up."

Steel shook his head wryly, "Okay then. Since you know about Shelly, can you tell me about Hunie, please?" He begged the light orb.

It turned white, "She's fine Steel, don't worry. She misses you, well, in her own way now. Her fate was unintended, but she is yielding some interesting data. Anyway, what's important is that she is alive, and you'll see her again soon. Take heed though, don't take too long. She's not in the safest of positions right now."

Steel felt a quick drop, "Hey, what's happening?"

"Oh, looks like we are done here. Have fun Steel, and don't forget to pray, not that you'll remember this conversation though, tee hee."

Steel opened his eyes to find Eric staring worriedly down at him.

"You okay there boy? You blanked out for a little while there."

Steel rubbed his head, his expression furrowed in annoyance, "I feel like I forgot something important." He mused for a moment before shaking his head, "It'll come back if it's important. Let’s resume training Eric."

Eric slapped his head, "Show some respect boy, its Master when training."

Steel rubbed the knot on his head, "Yes Master."

Eric smiled, "Good. Now that you've had you rest, time to double up the runs. Get to it boy!"

---------------

The Mary's watched Steel run through the course again. Whatever had happened, he was starting to show improvement now. Highwater looked over at her counterpart.

"Good thing he can't read magic yet, huh Mary."

"Mary" turned and smiled, "Agreed Mary. I was surprised when you summoned me, but I see why you have need of me."

Highwater grimaced, "Your job is to touch him when we teach him again, understood? Can't have him figuring out I'm me from the geas spell. He may be slow, but he's not dense. Switch with me when I don't have to touch him."

"Mary" giggled, "I see you’re trying to keep it up huh? Why don't you just confess already, it'll be fun."

Highwater shook her head quickly, "No, he likes the other me, and I enjoy being her too. He'd treat me different if he learned we were the same, and I don't know why but the thought hurts me."

"Mary" patted Highwater's arm, "You’re learning dear, and its okay. Are you at least going to apologize as yourself? You put the boy in quite a spot earlier with the geas. Least you can do is say sorry."

Highwater blushed, "I know, but I have to keep him distant from me. I don't want him to enjoy being with me instead of me, it would become tedious,"

"Mary" shook her head, "At this rate child, you’re going to have an identity crisis." She observed, "Can't you be at least honest with yourself and admit your happy being with him?"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, I'm looking forward to getting him back for all the times he teased me."

"Mary" shrugged and sighed, "Whatever you say dear. I'm just your partner spirit after all."

Highwater nodded, "Just remember to play your parts right, I'll handle the rest." She smiled to herself. Being around made her want to be different, to be the person he saw with his eyes. She couldn't do that as herself, so this way she could have sweet-roll and eat it too. It certainly beat being bored in her room that was for sure!