Metello entered the building and found himself in a sparsely decorated large room. The walls were built with smooth gray stone with no joints visible.

A U-Shaped desk filled the center of the room. At its back, Metello recognized a large map of the valley around Ironholes, depicting the town, the surrounding mountains, and the south gate to access the plains. The river meandered from the mounts, passed through the city, and escaped the valley at the south gates. He noticed multiple little round shapes with numbers evenly distributed near the mountains limit, but he had no idea what it could be yet. Behind the desk, a middle-aged man was shuffling through some papers.

The boy hesitantly walked to the counter, looking around. To his left, a wooden board displayed sheets of paper near the front door. A group of presumably monster hunters was examining it. A staircase went upstairs further along the wall, passing by the desk. On his right, he saw some other doors with carved symbols.

Metello reached the desk and called the busy man wearing a nice officer suit.

“Hello.”

“Just a minute, please.” After a bit, he looked up with a merchant smile under his mustache and spoke to him. “I don't think we have met before. Let me introduce myself. I am Charles Morton the reception officer here for registration, quest management, and general information. Nice to meet you.”

After some silent exchange of glances, Metello understood he had to introduce himself. He was not used to meeting strangers, even less to speak to them.

“Oh sorry. I'm Metello Blackhaired. Nice to meet you too.”

“Metello Blackhaired, yes. Mr Walsh told me you could come soon. He is training a pupil for now, but you can go and watch if you want to. He is free for an hour after that. I'm here if you have questions too.”

The boy nodded. Seeing the man glancing silently again, he voiced himself.

“I would like to watch Mr Walsh.” A few seconds of silence later, under the insistent gaze of the man, he added. “Please. Sorry.”

Maintaining his merchant smile, he replied.

“They are by the door carved with the sword and shield at the back of the room. It's the weapon training area. Mr Walsh is the well-built man with short red hair tending to gray. Just so you know, before going, the door carved with the ten elements is the prayer training area, and the door with a picture of a bathtub is the exit of the washing area. If you need one cycle to go to the library, some meeting room, or monster house management, you would have to take the stairs, but you would need to ask here before.”

He finished, his big merchant smile unchanged.

Looking around when the mustached man told him about all the doors, he indeed recognized the carvings on the doors. They could have used some words, but not everybody knew how to read among the poor, and many monster hunters came from the lower classes. He didn't understand why there was a washing area exit here, but it was a question for another cycle.

He thanked the man again and headed toward the weapon and shield door. He opened it and found himself in a large outside area beside the river. Some roofed benches and wooden weapon racks were spread here and there, and access to water from the river was available on the far right.

Opposite the door, a hundred meters from it, about fifteen dummies were standing in line. A girl was hitting one of them with her sword under an old man's gaze. A young man and a middle-aged woman were sparring between the door and the river to his right. One of them held a wooden hammer and a shield while the other fought with daggers. In the middle of the area, an old woman guided the movements of a boy with a two-handed spear.

Metello went toward the dummies. The only teaching man was there, so he was pretty sure it was the Mr Walsh he needed to meet. He sat on a bench nearby to watch them. Mr Walsh was an old [Warrior], but seeing him closer, Metello couldn't help but feel that calling him old rather than experienced was undeserved. His muscles were prominent under his leather armor. He seemed really strong. The girl he was teaching was in leather armor too, and she smacked on and on the dummy facing her.

Even if Metello couldn't see a difference between two hits from the pupil, Mr Walsh always had a bit of remark to say to improve the movement. The more he watched, the more he thought learning a weapon would be hard.

Fifteen minutes later, the 14th bell rang, and they stopped. The poor exhausted girl found the bench beside Metello, and she grabbed some water canteen. He was now a bit afraid as he saw the state in which she was by just hitting a dummy. He had not much time to think about it as the redhead man spoke to him.

“Hi boy, did you come to talk with me ?”

After his interactions with the receptionist, he had rehearsed silently what he would say to the man. Therefore, he stood up quickly and answered almost naturally.

“Hello, sir. Are you Mr Walsh ? My name is Metello Blackhaired, and I'm here to talk about training with you.”

“Yes, I am Mr Walsh, but call me Brorne, please.”

He looked a bit at Metello and added.

“So, you're the boy Heloise told me would come. How is she doing these cycles? We saw each other in a rush the other time, and it had been a long time before that.”

The discomfort of the boy was apparent when he answered.

“Sorry, but I don't know any Heloise.”

“Heloise Richardson, perhaps ?”

“Oh, yes, I know her. That's the headmistress. She's fine, I guess.”

They exchanged a few more words about the headmistress, and the girl went off after saying goodbye. A few moments later, they started to talk about the real subject, each one seated on the bench.

“So, if I remember well, Heloise told me you need to learn some basic weapon blessings from Calor or Lux and perhaps Fulgur. Is that right ?”

The future pupil nodded.

“Did you choose one to try first ?”

“No, sir.”

Not too sure, he corrected.

“Brorne. Sorry.”

“That's OK. Well. If you have no favorite, we can see which one is the best fit for you by looking at your statistics. I know we don't know each other yet, but can you tell me what you have for Strength, Agility, and Body Resilience statistics? They will still change a lot before you're fully grown anyway, so it's not so much of a secret to keep for now.”

Agreeing, Metello chanted a quick Prayer of Status and told the man what he needed to know.

“For your age, you have medium-low overall Strength levels, a low Body Agility level, and a high Hand Agility level. Interesting.”

He pondered a bit before continuing.

“Your medium-low Strength makes Calor's weapons a bad fit. Hammers and axes are very dependent on Strength to wield them well, and you won't benefit much from your good Hand Agility either.”

“Among the options, weapons benefiting the more from a good Hand Agility would be Fulgur's foil or Lux's rapier. Fulgur's whip could be an option too, but it is a purely offensive weapon, and it is unusable in confined spaces like the mines where you'll probably start hunting. Perhaps it could be an option as a side weapon later, but I don't think it is a good idea to start with the whip from the beginning. Lux's spear is not a bad choice either, but more Strength dependent than the other two.”

“Weapon-wise, without minding what god you will choose to follow between the three, I would recommend for you to take the rapier and the long spear. They are a good complementary duo and very useful in group hunting, even for someone who is not a [Warrior]. You would benefit from your good statistics too. Your low Body Agility is a bit of a problem, but we can work on it. It would be a problem no matter what weapon you choose anyways.” He pondered a bit before continuing. “Yes. Lux's weapons seem to be the best fit for your situation. You won't punch holes in walls, but you'll be able to use a weapon correctly with one or two years of work.”

Metello's eyes bulged. He didn't think he had to train for years only to be able to use a weapon correctly. What if he chose the hammer or the whip? Would he need even more time? His teacher finally summed it up.

“If I were you and I had no favorite god between Calor, Lux, and Fulgur, I would choose Lux. But I'm no [Acolyte]. I'm just reasoning as a [Warrior], taking into account only the weapons. What do you think about this ?”

Metello took a deep breath.

“It makes a lot of sense, sir... Brorne, but why does my god and weapon choices affect each other ?”

“Well, perhaps you haven't thought about class tier upgrading yet, but typically, to upgrade a class from basic to special tier, you need to get twenty five levels in your class-related blessings. For an [Acolyte], it covers all and only your god's blessings. So, if you choose a weapon whose blessing is bestowed by your god, it will be a step more toward the above tier class.”

Now realizing he knew that but said differently, he replied.

“Is it related to the need to be aligned with your god's values be better with your class ?”

Brorne confirmed it, and Metello's choice was made. In the last cycles, the boy had spent his resting time wondering about the three options he had left. Mainly, he thought about the gods' values, and there was a winner between craftsmanship, art, and pure faith. Also, he had read passages from books again to understand better the possibilities of these gods' elements, and he completed this knowledge with questions to Mrs Richardson. All the points lead him toward the same goddess.

“I think I will follow your advice and train with Lux weapons.”

“All is good then. Come with me to fetch some practice spears and rapier.”

Brorne gave his new pupil a long spear and took by himself a short spear, a rapier, and a buckler. All of them were made solely of wood for practice.

“For now, we'll only try and find which weapon you want to train with first. I will explain theirs strengths and weaknesses broadly for each while showing you some basic movements. I'll start with the long spear. The base movement is this one, the thrust.”

He took a stance. Facing his target and holding the weapon with two hands, he pushed it forward once, twice, and again. The sound the spear made while piercing the air was a tribute to the power and technique of the weapon wielder. The boy watched closely as the [Warrior] put all his body weight into each strike.

“As you see, the main advantage of the long spear is its long range, which is its defensive aspect. Attacks consist mainly of punching from afar. This weapon is very effective against a few strong opponents because it is easier to stay away from the threat.”

He changed his stance, and used the whole shaft of the spear to pretend opponents were coming too close to him.

“It is a bit more complicated when you fail to keep your distances, and really complicated against numerous weaker opponents, but it stays manageable for good spear wielders. Finally, its long range allows you to attack from behind a front lane of [Warriors], which could be an interesting benefit in your case.”

He put down the long spear and took the rapier. The stance was really different. He was offering only his side to the target's eyes, the rapier held between his body and the foe. Brorne's feet moved much more than before, throwing his whole body toward the dummy as if the rapier was a spearhead and Brorne was the spear shaft. It seemed a lot more exhausting than the spear but more graceful too.

“The rapier is a kind of sword made for punching only. You can't cut with it. It is one-handed weapon so you can hold a shield with it. The main movements are vaguely similar to the long spear since it consists almost exclusively of pushing motions. The range is much shorter, but it's easier to confront a bunch of weaker enemies, all the more with a shield. With it, you need to move much more than with the spear, so it uses much more stamina too. The basic offense is a kind of hit and run.”

He took the buckler and changed his stance. He faced the dummy with his arm holding the rapier straight before him, daring it to move.

“There is a more defensive way to fight with it too. You can threaten your target with the rapier's tip and punish bad movements when it tries to attack.”

He went at it a bit more before stopping and saying.

“Then, for the short spear.”

This time, Brorne took a stance similar to the second rapier one, only with the new weapon held above his shoulder. Then, he hit downward in the air toward the dummy before him.

“The short spear has pretty much the same strengths and weaknesses as the rapier. It's not the same stance because you need to strike from over the head to have some power behind it. This stance is more offensive than with the rapier. The only advantage of the short spear over the rapier is that you can throw it more reliably.”

He stopped after having thrown the short spear in the dirt.

“In general, my advice for new hunters is to choose two weapons with different characteristics as a long-term goal and start with the most useful one in the areas you'll hunt for a start.”

Even with only three weapons, this was a lot to consider for Metello. He was a bit overwhelmed by too much information on range, stance, defensive power, and offensive power. He tried to think about how to make his choice for a few seconds, but he quickly decided to ask the specialist was the smart move. He had no strong feeling for any of these weapons anyway.

“What would be the more useful in the old mine around ?“

“Good for you to take advice into account. The response would be the short spear or the rapier. No question. It is easy to be overwhelmed by ratmen, zombie rats, zombie ratmens, spiders, or bats, and the long spear is not good for that fight type. And between the two, perhaps the rapier cause you will profit the more from your good Hand Agility. ”

“Then, I think I'll learn the rapier first.”

"Good decision. I will show you more moves with the rapier for the rest of the hour in order for you to better understand its spirit. If you have questions on the weapon or other things, go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

Then, the [Warrior] started a fight dance with the wooden rapier, fighting imaginary foes for twenty minutes, explaining some moves but mainly being silent. Brorne was enjoying himself as his smile was showing. He was as graceful as he was sharp. Sometimes, he moved with the shield off and sometimes with it on. Metello was impressed, and he found himself surprisingly eager to start the training if he could look like that. When they heard the sound of the bell, the redhead man stopped, not even a sign of exhaustion.

“Was it to your tastes ?”

“Yes sir! Hum.. yes Brorne.”

“Then, come again tomorrow at the 15th bell if you wish. I have another lesson for now.”

“OK. Thanks a lot, Brorne.”

With a big predatory smile, he replied. “You're welcome. I hope you will thank me after the first training session too.”

While they were walking toward the door, even a bit frightened by his last words, the boy found the courage to ask.

“What kind of achievement is it to unlock Rapier Mastery ?”

“Well, for all the basic weapon mastery, the achievement consists of performing 100 correct successive hits on a dummy in less than 10 minutes.”

Metello mumbled to himself.

“It doesn't seem too hard.”

Brorne had heard, and it made him laugh while they walked through the door. When he stopped, they were by the reception counter.

“The real problem is the definition of correct. You'll understand it when you will try.”

“Thank you a lot, sir...Brorne. See you tomorrow.”