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Chapter 6: A Father's Legacy

I am now 8 years old and three years of hard work training with my father to learn the Rock Style has passed. It’s been a tough few years filled with many moments where I thought I would fail.

I now run with weights on my back to so that I can train my muscles quicker and push my body more to their limits. When my father first suggested it I thought he was kidding as he went all Karate Kid on me and gave me a bag of rocks to run with. I cannot explain how dead my legs were after running, they felt worse than lead; I almost could not feel my legs after my usual run. But in the end it paid off, I am much lighter on my feet when I fight and more able to change direction and apply power to my strikes.

He has also instituted every day to do 1000 slashes a day with a real sword to train my forearms to handle the weight. Of course we started smaller than that as I was initially unable to hold and fight with the 3kg sword. But we started gradually and now I do 1000 slashes a day to make sure I keep my strength up.

I also have been making sure to take regular trips to the bookstore and have taken to working part time for the bookstore so I can be close to the books and read them whenever I want. This allows me to spend whatever money I have on the books I really want to keep and read again. Being closer to the books has definitely allowed me to read more than I did previously.

And then on top of all of this I spar with my father when he comes back from his work guarding the town noble’s governing building. He’s made sure to keep me on my toes in my duels with him and is still hard for me to fight him with the wooden swords as he’s much stronger than me.

“Hey Clover, I’m really proud of you, for these past few years. I honestly didn’t think that you would stick at it. I thought with your love of books you’d take a less strenuous role and become a writer or some other profession.”

“Thanks father, I’ve wanted to be someone who could defend what he cares about so I’ve always felt I needed to learn sword fighting so I could defend myself.”

“Speaking of defending yourself, remember the tournament in Paolona?”

“Yeah of course that was what I was aiming to fight in. I think with these two years of practice and hard work I think I am ready to fight anybody!”

“Not so fast you still can’t beat your old man! And there are many more people who are stronger than your old man. I fought in tournaments too do you want to hear your old man’s story?”

“Sure, could be good to learn from your experiences!”

“Okay then, I was young, brash and ready to take on the world, a bit like you. Back then there was no Paolona tournament but a tournament in the state capital of Franziland. Going off track a little you’ll need to earn a ticket in the Paolona tournament to even participate in the one I fought in. Anyway back to the story, I was a young brash lad like yourself who thought I could beat anybody. I had never been overpowered in battle and never been beaten. But really I was a small fry.”

“You were a small fry?”

“Yes it hurts your old man to admit but I had really only fought against weak people before entering the tournament after being with noblewoman and gaining her favor.”

“So you basically whored your way into the tournament…”

“Ouch that hurts, my very own son says it so clearly, lets call it using my errrr manly charms to gain favor. Anyway I entered the tournament and in the first battle I had a user who fought with the lightning style and I easily smashed him to pieces, I thought myself pretty damn good back then. But really that was just another small fry who got himself against a user, me, who had a fighting style that was good against lightning style. In the second match as I progressed into the top 16 I fought against another fellow Rock Style user. This match was far harder than any duel I had had previously. His sword style and mine nullified each other and we were almost at a stalemate, before I decided to improvise and sweep the leg that I did to you that very first time you learnt sword fighting. Do you remember?"

“Yes, I remember very clearly, my “dear” father using such a low move against me.”

“All’s fair in love and war son, anyway I managed to defeat the Rock Style user and progress. This time I fought against a Water Style user. It was diminutive woman who had far less stats than me so I thought it’d be an easy fight.”

“So you beat her?”

“No I lost unreservedly she completely nullified my strength, no she used my strength against me and beat me with it. That day I learnt you need to be adaptable. So I pass this lesson on to you.”

“So what does it mean to me then? How will I learn to defend myself against Styles that Rock Style is weaker against?”

“You’ll learn them. You’ve gotten plenty good at using Rock Style in these past couple of years and as you grow stronger and stronger you’ll get even better at it. But now I think it is time for you to learn Water Style. To surpass my legacy of fighting in the Franziland Tournament and perhaps win it. Anyway lets go back to fighting. You ready?”

“Yep. Lets get this started.”

My father made the first move with a heavy side slash movement to push me off balance, I realized from his shoulder that he was executing this move so I parried it away and went in with my own offensive. I stepped in as I had far less of reach than my dad. And came in with my own slash downwards he blocked it front on and started his way to make his own slash down my left side.

I instinctively knew I wasn’t going to make the parry so I readied my own slash from my right side to hit his sword before he could touch me. As our wooden swords clashed they broke apart and the duel was over.

He left me by myself soon afterwards saying,

“Yes it seems you are ready to learn a new style of swordsmanship. I’ll find you a tutor in Paolona.”

I went back to my house and stuck my nose into a book distracting myself from the anticipation of learning a new type of Sword Style.

NameClover AuroraRaceHumanGenderMaleAge8Level8Health950Strength81Endurance74Dexterity40Agility54Charisma80Leadership10Intellect414Luck400Special TalentLucky Clover:

This will add 50 times your level to your luck

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