I heard the sound of birds in the distance. Finding my eyes closed, I slowly opened them.

"He's finally awake," a voice said.

As my mind became more alert with each passing second, I realized that I was laying on something soft and bouncy; it was probably a bed. My eyes wide open now, I found myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Vines and flowers dangled above me. I took a moment to recall the last thing I remembered. It was Gaea using her wand and putting me to sleep. "Where am I?" I asked aloud.

"You're back in my humble shop, milord," a male voice replied.

Ah! I recognized the voice as belonging to Roen, the signmaker. I slowly sat up. I saw the half-elf and his wife standing next to my bed. However, I did not see my master. "Where's Kalistra?" I asked.

"I'm by the window," she answered.

I turned my head toward left and there she was, by the window as Kalistra proclaimed. However, I noticed a bruise on her forehead right next to the scar of the cross. "What happened to your head?" I asked. I tried to keep calm but I failed. Badly. Before I knew it, I started laughing and pointing at the cat girl's forehead.

The evil minx used her speed to zoom across the room and stood right in front of me. With a scowl, she poked a sharp claw right into my shoulder.

Oww! "-2 Health." I dismissed the pop-up. I looked up at my master.

She turned her face to the side with a "hmph."

"Did you receive Gaea's mark?" Roen asked before our antics erupted into a full blown argument.

I responded by pulling up my sleeve and showing the sign of the seed on my right forearm.

The half-elf nodded. "In that case, let me teach you a minor spell." Roen turned toward Kalistra. "I want you to kneel before him," the half-elf requested.

"Why?" the cat girl's eyes narrowed at the audacious request.

"Please do as my husband asked," Valatea implored.

"Fine," the fickle Kalistra groused and did as she was told.

Roen turned back toward me. "Milord, please hold your hand over her forehead. Focus your mind on the symbol of the seed and say aloud, 'Minor Heal.'"

I held out my hand over my master's forehead as instructed and closed my eyes. I pictured the seed in my mind and said, "Minor Heal." I felt a burst of energy explode from my palm. When I opened my eyes, I saw a faint golden glow under my palm. When I removed my hand, the bruise on Kalistra's head was gone. "I did it!" I exclaimed happily! "Divine spell LEARNED: Minor Heal. +100 XP." When I dismissed the message, I noticed that my green mana bar, located at the upper left corner of my vision, had dropped slightly. "How often can I cast this spell?" I asked.

"This is a special ability granted by Gaea. You can cast Minor Heal as long as you have the mana. However, the spell is limited to only minor flesh wounds. Moreover, it is considered a very inefficient healing spell because it heals only one health point per mana expended," Roen explained.

Valatea nodded. "Normal healing spells can recover a few health points per mana," she added.

Since I had access to an almost unlimited amount of minor healing now, I made an impulsive decision by asking the couple a question. "Do you know how my master got that bruise on her head?" I asked the elves because the cat girl would never admit to anything embarrassing about herself.

Roen grinned. "When you got separated from us, Kalistra tried to chase down some faeries to demand your return. Unfortunately, because the cavern was really foggy, your master ended up running into a wall," he recalled.

Kalistra hissed but said nothing.

I turned toward my master and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your concern for my well-being," I said.

My master waved her paw as if to dismiss my appreciation. "I just wanted to make sure that Gaea will return you to us. Otherwise, my dojo will have no contestant for the Melee Tournament and we will lose face as a result," Kalistra pointed out. She turned toward the couple. "If you don't mind, I want my pupil to return to the dojo as soon as possible. We're running behind schedule in his intensive training," she said.

"Yes, we're aware that Lord Mulligan has been chosen to represent the Butterfly School at the tournament. We're confident that he will do extremely well at this event," Valatea said politely.

"The Elven Nation will have its people in the audience. I'll be getting reports of your matches. My spies will be making bets on my behalf; so you better not lose in the opening round," Roen winked at me.

Kalistra grabbed me by the collar and pulled me off the bed. "Time to go!" she barked.

'Yes, master!" I replied as I got off the bed. I followed her down the stairs and we helped ourselves out.

Once we were outside the shop, my master turned to me and said, "No more delays. Your training under my tutelage starts NOW. And I want you to run back to the dojo as fast as you can."

I looked at her blankly for a moment and the evil minx poked me in the shoulder. "-2 Health." The pain jolted me back to the present and I started running back to the dojo. Since it was already late afternoon, the streets weren't as crowded as they were this morning. I managed to avoid crashing into pedestrians this time but perhaps it was more like they managed to avoid me rather than vice versa. After all, less crowded streets meant that people who stood in my path could see me coming and had the space to move out of my way. Regardless of the reason, I was thankful to avoid any further mishaps.

By the time I stood in front of the two stone guardians marking the entrance to the dojo, the church bell had tolled again, indicating that it was already four hours past noon. Thankfully, there was still plenty of sunlight remaining and I had a few hours left to train. Unfortunately, my strength was still not high enough for me to open the heavy gate and I had to wait for Kalistra to saunter past me and open the door with her skinny arms.

The guards saw the return of the heir and immediately bowed deeply to her. Once we passed through, the door was closed behind us.

Kalistra turned toward me and asked something totally unexpected. "Please hand me your sword," she ordered.

"Yes, master!" I replied as I buckled the scabbard from my belt and then handed her the sword.

The cat girl turned to one of the guards. "Please ask Gurgne to take care of this," she commanded and handed over my sword.

The youthful looking guard stepped toward her and took the sword. He then ran off in search of Master Gurgne.

My heart sank as my beloved sword slowly disappeared from my line of sight. Although it was only a few days since Maisen granted me the sword in order to defend myself against the wererats, not having the scabbard at my left hip was discomforting. It felt like I was losing my best friend.

Kalistra frowned at my facial expression. "You will get your sword back tonight, silly human," she admonished me. "Now I want you to run ten laps around the dojo," she ordered.

"What!" I protested. "What about my training for the tournament?" I demanded to know.

"SILENCE!" she roared. "I am your master and you will obey me without question! If you cannot do this, then you will resign from the dojo immediately!"

I was taken aback by Kalistra's ultimatum. I looked around and saw that the everyone's eyes were on me. I immediately realized that I had undermined her authority in front of her pupils. This recognition immediately squelched my anger. Without a word, I started running toward the wall and followed it along as I performed my assignment. As I ran, I noticed that the pupils avoided looking at me. Even Gendun turned away when I saw him. Apparently, everyone at the dojo agreed that the master's word was law, and I committed a grievous sin by questioning her publicly. In my defense though, I had never served in the military and it was difficult for me to follow a chain of command without question. It was a very different mindset from what I was accustomed to.

While I was running my laps, I called up my player status screen. I confirmed that the effects of the Potion of Enhanced Strength had dissipated by now. However, I was still under the effects of Lady Luck's blessing. When I was finishing up my final lap around the dojo, I saw Kalistra standing in my path. Behind her were a group of students with each person holding a wooden practice sword. I decelerated and came to a complete stop in front of my master.

"I believe you demanded to be trained, milord," Kalistra said as her eyes glowed and her tail swayed left and right.

Uh-oh!

My master handed me a wooden sword. "You're going to fight these students in consecutive order, one after another without taking a break," she explained. "The reason is to push your stamina to its current limit; hopefully, this training break that your limit and grant you another point Constitution."

I grabbed the sword and held it in front of me with both hands. I noticed that it had the same weight as my real sword.

Kalistra waved her right paw.

One of the students stepped forward and mimicked my posture.

My master turned to me. "This exercise is designed to teach you the First Strike technique. You will attack ONLY your opponent's right shoulder. In the tournament, you can strike your opponent's head, neck, or even face. If you succeed, you have a chance to end the match right away. But here at the dojo, we want to avoid injuries to our students and therefore, we ask for strikes to the shoulder. You will both attack at the same time. Whoever feels a hit on his shoulder will immediately yell out, 'YIELD!' Once that occurs, you will face your next opponent and repeat the exercise," she explained. "Before we begin this training session, I want you to advance to the next level in your character development."

Anxious to start my sparring session, I obeyed her without question and my avatar was now level six. I decided to put all the attribute points into my Constitution. Despite the fact that my master was still partied with me, I nodded to confirm that I had raised my character level.

Once Kalistra confirmed my new character level, she stepped between me and my opponent. "Bow," she ordered.

My opponent and I bowed to each other from the neck.

The cat girl backpedaled and barked, "Begin!"

I made the mistake of taking my eyes off my opponent to look at her. And I paid for it with a quick tap on my right shoulder. "YIELD!" I yelled.

My opponent grinned and moved to the back of the line of students waiting to spar with me.

I groaned inwardly when I counted eight students in total.

"Begin!"

I started to lift my sword for a strike, but I felt the tap again. "YIELD!"

Before I knew it, I was facing Gendun. And the result was the same. "YIELD!"

Once I had cycled through all eight sparring partners, Kalistra belated stood next to me. She was clearly exasperated by my poor performance. "Do you know why you lost?" she asked.

I shook my head. Normally, I would create a video of the sparring session with my smartphone and then watch it again later.

"Give me your sword," she demanded. When I complied, Kalistra mimicked my attack. Her hands were raised and moved to her right ear before she took a heavy swing downward. "This is how you attack." Then, she mimicked the attack of my last opponent. She simply thrust her stick horizontally and extended her arms until they were straight as a ruler. "This is how your opponent attack."

I was starting to understand her point. I nodded.

Kalistra released her posture and said, "Movement is the enemy of speed. The more movement you make in your attack, the slower it will reach your opponent. In the Melee Tournament, you win your match by hitting your opponent three times with your sword. It doesn't matter if your hit is hard or soft. The tournament is a showcase for your dojo's technique. The matches are not meant to be fights to the death."

"So that's why you picked me to become the school's representative. While I haven't had too many fighting experiences, a fight modeled after duels and based on execution of techniques is something I could win," I said.

"Correct," she replied succinctly. "Okay, time for round two." Kalistra waited until my opponent stepped forward. She hopped back and said, "Begin!"

Thinking that the technique was simple, I immediately straightened out my arms and aimed the tip of my practice sword at my opponent's shoulder. However, he took a big step aside, avoiding my attack entirely! When I felt the inevitable tap on my shoulder, I yelled, "YIELD!" I glowered at my opponent and received a smirk in return.

The next few matches fared no better as I kept missing my opponent's shoulder.

When I faced Gendun again, I noticed that he was out of breath. Was he hyperventilating from our last fight? Regardless, I ruthlessly took advantage of his obvious comfort. When a cry of "YIELD" punctuated the silence at the courtyard, it came from Gendun's lips.

The bystanders around the courtyard immediately started exchanging coins.

I noticed a pop-up message and it read, "Professional skill LEARNED: First Strike. +250 XP. +100 Reputation. +200 XP." I pumped my left fist in the air to celebrate.