Liana’s stomach lurched. The sudden shift in acceleration confusing her perception. She and the others had straight-up refused to jump initially. The thought of dropping into a seemingly bottomless pit not appealing to anyone whatsoever. That was until the cloaked woman flew up out of the hole a minute later, landing on the direct opposite side of the pit. After a few more demonstrations they had surceased.

“Just don’t close your eyes when you jump, and you’ll be fine,” Susan had recommended before jumping back in.

As much as Liana had tried, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The thought just too jarring. If she were to end up splattered somewhere she’d rather not see it. Not knowing when you die sounded better than knowing when and seeing the floor approach.

She had jumped then. Shutting her eyes the second they dipped below the soil. The disorienting feeling of switching directions rapidly assaulted her. The change of acceleration had been what made her open her eyes again but she hadn’t been able to right herself regardless. She saw the ground approaching again, tried to react but couldn’t. The next moment she felt herself crumple across the floor.

You have entered the Hollowed Burrow Rift Level 4!

A slight chuckle came from her side, no doubt originating from the older woman. The escort seemed to be enjoying her job.

The floor on which she now laid, felt softer than the rough terrain of the flats. Maybe that wasn’t the right word. It was more porous at least. She glanced around to investigate.

They were clearly located in a cave, further affirmed by the rifts name. Though not claustrophobic the ceiling was uncomfortably low barely reaching a foot higher than the tall figure of Susan further in front of her. The remaining three girls were all placed equidistantly to each of their neighbors around a pit that had black steam rising off of it.

“The curious thing is that it is bright in here, isn’t it? There is no light source, no torch, no sun, yet we can see. Quite different from the rifts we used to do before we took a job here. Most underground ones tended to be dark,” the woman said while orientating her back to the girls facing the only tunnel leading further away.

Gathering her wits about her Liana stood up ready to approach one of the other girls and help them up. As she bent down to aid Valeria the girl squeaked, before calming down again. Liana rushed to turn around hearing a rush of air in addition to the other girls’ squeaks.

She could just see the last moments of a man descending before Cyn touched down elegantly, even though carrying two large bags on his shoulders, on the dirt floor where she had stood moments before.

“Alright kids, I bet you know the deal already. Jump in the hole again to come out upstairs again. Watch out for your heads, sometimes it’s a bit tight here. If we are fast in the first round of getting you all a kill we can get you all to fight some of the monsters in here with different weapons if you want. Only if you are fast though.”

“I brought these beauties here in case you are looking for specific fighting skills you are not equipped to acquire as you are. Got basically two of every common weapon. Personally a big fan of seeing new lads trying out the morning stars. So if you want some bonus points with me pick one of those,”

“Do put silly ideas in their head. They’ll just end up hurting themselves.”

“That’s the entire point, Susan. Don’t ruin my fun. So, who can I interest in a morningstar?” He asked. Nobody responded.

“Alright, the contract covers a single fighting skill unlocked for everyone. Pick your weapon and let’s get started,” he said while dropping the sacks to the side. “I advise you to take something simple. Spears are just pointy sticks which is good enough. Swords got a pointy tip as well but are more difficult to handle, even with a skill. Axes are more a blunt tool, good with a high physique stats. Hammers are just worse axes if you ask me, though they are good if you got a specific type of enemy,” the man explained. Repeating what the girls had already been told.

Liana had long considered the choice of weapon skill they would help her obtain. Together with her parents, they had tried to discern which weapon skill if any at all would be the best choice for her. Nardar had gone for the spear in his youth but never taken the skill. Tara had acquired [Improvised Weapon Mastery] which had been a pain according to her, and she hadn’t bothered with taking it either.

Another visit to the keeper hadn’t been helpful at all. According to the combined knowledge of humans, every skill could potentially end up being consolidated under a flowbringer class, which was one of the reasons she had taken the dancing skill.

In the end, they had settled on two different types of weapon skills that could be handy. [Unarmed Fighting] was the basic version of almost all hand-to-hand combat styles and gave a solid boost to self-defense when unarmed, the other was [Improvised Weapons] which was basically the same but offered some benefits and disadvantages. Both skills boosted combat for people that didn’t actively seek out combat and Liana didn’t, at least not when she actually thought about it. The thought of fighting through rifts and their guardians was novel and fascinating in itself, though the reality behind it was gruesome and gross.

“Do you also help with [Unarmed Fighting], that’s the one I am most interested in,” she asked Cyn after approaching and looking at the weapons.

“Fancy yourself a brawler, are you? We’ll see what we can do. I don’t have the skill myself but if you go last I can help you a bit with proper technique,” he responded.

“I don’t see myself fighting and just want a backup, in case I ever get into trouble. Something I can take should I ever find myself in a dangerous situation. Don’t even really want a combat class.”

“Oh you definitely want a combat class. And think about it, aren’t you in a dangerous situation now? Either way, combat ones are better all around, but suit yourself,” he turned slightly and began talking with the three other girls that had gathered around the dropped sacks with weapons strewn all across the ground.

Unsure of what to do next she just stood a bit to the side uncertainly, waiting for the seasoned rift delvers to tell her what to do. As time passed both Jenna and Valeria picked the spear. They had both decided that going with whatever was easiest was the smartest choice. Elisa would hear nothing about ease of use though. Her father, a forester, one of the last still making a living with the slowly dying profession, swore on using an ax for everything and she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

While one bag had been primarily been filled with linings and weapons the other had - besides a few spears - been filled with strengthened garments. The girls were instructed to wear them as an outer layer even if the fit was poor.

“Took at twenty minutes to get your sorted out. You have another 80, or I’ll be cross with you. Let’s get going,” Cyn said cheerily grabbing the closest standing girl and pushed her toward the cave segment Susan was guarding. “Come one everyone, they have mousse today, you wouldn’t want me to miss out on those.”

Putting up a brave facade Liana followed the others into the darkness. Or so she liked to imagine. In her retelling of today's events, she would definitely not mention that the rift had been very well illuminated.

“From what I have gathered, the most important part of Unarmed Fighting is footwork,” the distinct voice of Susan said from behind her. Drawn from her musings she turned to see Susan walk just a few steps behind her. “Well, to be fair footwork is important for most fighting skills as positioning and a solid or flexible stance is the basis.”

Wow, I must have really drifted off for a second. How did she get here so quickly? Liana thought.

“I myself have thought about picking up the skill on occasion. It has a sort of synergy with my fighting style. Or at least one other of my skills. But as I said, movement is key and it will be the biggest issue down here due to how those excursions are facilitated,” Susan continued.

“You can train that in a bit when I’m out with one of the other girls. Another important part is balance and its relationship with the power of your hits. Did you know that most combat skills give an agility bonus instead of physique? I always wondered about that when I was younger but it makes sense. Because hitting hard come secondary to not dying and hitting at all. If you fast enough you can manage to take down each foe eventually through sheer tenacity and accumulated damage.”

She paused before continuing. Seemingly in thought about what to say next.

“This is about the extent of my knowledge, someone with the skill could be more helpful no doubt. Regardless, those are the two things you need to focus on the most when you want to unlock a skill fast. Footwork and balance. For footwork, the most important aspect is being on your toes and turning with hits. With a right-hand jab, you also need to shift your body through your right side. Let me demonstrate.”

In moments she stood ahead of Liana and turned her side towards her.

“This specifically is boxing. It only implements the use of hands and is all in all rather limiting when only fighting unarmed,” she continued. Squared off towards the right-hand wall, her left foot about a foot-length in front of the right slightly turned inwards. “I’m one of the odd ones, being right-handed. Just mirror my movements.”

Her right foot slightly turned outwards she shifted her weight to the ball of her feet.

“Now whenever I move I try to keep my opponent in sight and towards my body's center. While I am more vulnerable there, I also have two avenues of attack when just using my hands. Generally fighting to your sides is always clumsy at best, so I would avoid it. Our joints are just not made for that sorta movement,” she threw a left and a right-handed jab forward all the while keeping pace with Liana. Rotating her hips slightly with her jabs, her ankles turned in accordance with her hits.

“We good Cyn? Shaft coming up yet?” she asked while continuing her movements.

“We got a bit left, half a minute, more or less,” he responded.

The other girls had started paying attention to Susan now as well. Whether their faces were torn into slight grimaces because Liana was getting extra attention they weren’t getting or if it was the uneasy feeling the rift caused she didn’t know.

“You follow so far. Next thing is balance. As odd as it sounds you need to be light on your feet yet stable. You accomplish that while flouting for positioning. Generally, this is not advised and I am sure that if you should ever get the skill it will tell you how to do things properly. As long as you stand upright, you’ll live, falling over is an issue later on but not right now. Most low-level rifts don’t have obstacles anyways,”

The group had now arrived at a fork in the tunnel. One wound further just the way it previously had, the other had a more artificial look or so Liana thought. The walls were rugged and small rock chips lay on the floor.

“Practice while I’m gone,” she instructed and approached Elisa.

“You’re the first, that alright with you? There ain’t much to using an axe. I’ll pin all the moles in this tunnel down, wait till I come back then just decapitate each of them. Most unlock the skill after a single clean decapitation or a few not-so-clean ones. Just stop whenever you feel like you need to. Any questions?” Susan asked. Receiving the negative she melded into the floor in the blink of an eye.

“Yeah, she can do that and even more impressive stuff. While she is gone don’t walk further than a few steps away from me and you all will be fluffy and safe as though hugging your mom’s bossums,” Cyn said. The intonation made it clear he was joking, what about, Liana couldn’t tell.

For the next few minutes, Cyn gave them an overview of basic movements with weapons all while Susan was gone. Allowing the girls to hit him with their assortment of weapons - or fists. Even once the woman came to pick up Elisa he didn’t tell them to stop but rather started pushing them around, showing the remaining girls how to properly hit. His full plate armor didn’t even scratch from the speartips when they did manage to land on him.

For the most part, though he was amused by Liana’s annoyance. Being instructed to fight unarmed had apparently included her learning to hit properly. She had just not expected to be made to hit literal metal.

During their practice, they did hear the occasional worrying sounds coming out of the side corridor that Susan and Elisa had gone down, though they kept up with their training with Cyn insisting that everything was fine. The time dragged on, Liana had even begun slightly sweating, when the escort returned with her charge.