I sneaked a glance over at Kalistra who was sitting by the pool holding Moff, the family pet. I knew that it would be relaxing for her to hear the sound of the large electric catfish swimming around the pool.

The disgraced cat girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground with her paws in her laps. Her eyes were closed and she exuded an aura of peace and tranquility. However, her ears were twitching.

Yup, she was definitely listening in on my training session. I turned my attention back to the grandmaster.

Kalistro clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

His students were again busy settling bets; evidently, they were betting on how long it took for me to learn the slide step skill. Again, the winners were smiling while the losers were scowling. However, the clapping pulled their attention back to the grandmaster.

"I want you to take a practice sword and line up in a single file again. We're going to have our representative for the Melee Tournament practice the slide step against you. However, we need to step it up a notch and have you actively try to attack him because Lord Mulligan's opponents certainly won't," the grandmaster explained. He waited for a moment while the pupils sorted themselves into a line and then he barked out, "Begin!"

The first student immediately launched the Charge skill.

Knowing how the skill worked, I was able to knock the timing down. As my sparring partner tried to slam his wooden sword against my skull, I activated the slide step. I managed to dodge the stick and simultaneously strike his backside. Whack! "-2 Damage." I was elated to see the small damage from my counterattack because I definitely pulled back my swing. Just a little bit.

"Yield!" my opponent immediately admitted his defeat and backed away.

"Begin!" Kalistro yelled.

I was barely ready for the next strike when the second sparring partner tried to thrust the end of his stick into my chest. Activating the slide step again, I easily evaded the attack. Seeing that my opponent's arms were fully extended, I simply tapped my stick against his left wrist. "-2 Damage."

"Yield!" my opponent yelled to his chagrin.

"Begin!" the grandmaster roared.

This time, my third sparring partner took a different tactic. He took a few swings at me to test my defense. Suddenly, he activated the charge skill.

The abrupt change in rhythm almost caught me off guard. However, my attention was one hundred percent focused on my partner and I was able to recognize the activation of the charge. With perfect timing, I activated the slide step again. When the momentum of the charge took my partner past me, his back was exposed and I poked him lightly in the back. "-2 Damage."

"Yield!" the student grumbled and backed again.

When my sparring was over, I received a notification which read, "Slide Step skill ADVANCED to Level 2. +100 XP."

Kalistro clapped his hands. "Okay, that's enough. Thank you for your help. Now please return your practice sword to the armory, and then join the heir in meditation," he ordered.

"Yes, master!" the students barked and started moving away from me.

Satisfied that his order was being executed, the cat man directed his attention back to me. He looked up at the position of the sun and judged that he had at least one more hour of daylight left. It would suffice for the last skill he planned to teach me. "Let's take a break, young pup," Kalistro suggested. "Please follow me."

He led me around the right side of the building housing the dojo and toward the back wall. There was another storage shed and in front of it was an anvil and a furnace. Nearby was another well.

I saw Gurgne hammering against a sword blade over the anvil and then dipped it into a large bucket of water. Then he placed the sword on a racket to cool off.

"Hello, young pup!" the dog man greeted me.

"I didn't realize you're also the blacksmith," I remarked. In a way, though, it made sense because I hardly ever saw him teach a class.

Master Gurgne gave a hearty laugh. "I wear many hats in this dojo."

"Since Gurgne is from a line of trappers and hunters, he learned to maintain a variety of tools of the trade and picked up blacksmithing as a complementary skill set," Kalistro added.

"Makes a lot of sense," I nodded in agreement. I watched as Gurgne dipped a sword into another bucket. When the sword was pulled out, it was dripping with a silvery substance which coated the blade. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Do you remember when the wererats invaded our dojo?" the grandmaster asked.

"Yes," I replied, unsure of where he was headed with the question.

"Did you ask why our blades were able to wound them?" Kalistro continued.

"Um, I was busy trying to stay alive back then," I admitted unabashedly.

"Werecreatures are immune to normal weapons. Thus, we coat all our blades with silver because the werecreatures cannot regenerate wounds caused by silver," the cat man explained.

"After our battle, I started recoating our blades with silver again," Gurgne added.

"I thought our blades were solid silver," I said.

The two animal men looked at each other and laughed.

"Young pup, we cannot afford to buy a true-silver sword, let alone arm every member of our dojo with one," Gurgne pointed out.

"Nor would it be practical. Our blades are made of steel. The heavy weight of the blade is what allows a sword to cut an opponent in half. A silver blade may be too light for that task," Kalistro shook his head. "Young pup, I brought you here to tell Gurgne what happened during your training session with my daughter."

"What happened?" Master Gurgne asked as he took a break from his work.

"My daughter almost killed young pup. She was having a sparring session with him when he caught her by surprise with a kick to her chest. Kalistra lost her temper and hit him in anger without holding back. If she didn't use an Elixir of Healing, he would have died," the grandmaster recounted the events. It filled Kalistro with great shame to tell his old friend, but Master Gurgne, by virtue of his position in the dojo, had to learn what happened.

The dog man winced at the mention of the elixir. It cost two hundred fifty gold pieces to purchase and used strictly for an emergency only. After all, the elixir was still cheaper than asking the church to perform a Raise Dead service. "She made the right decision," Gurgne nodded in agreement. The dog man was fully aware of young Kalistra's hot temper, and frankly, he was surprised that this hadn't happened to any other pupil. But then again, there was something about Lord Mulligan's personality that irritated Kalistra; thus, it didn't surprise Gurgne to learn that she had lashed out against the hapless student.

The grandmaster turned to face me. "If you had died, it would have been catastrophic for the dojo," he said.

"Why?" My eyebrows rose with my inquiry.

"You've been marked by Bane. That means he considers you to be his property. By killing you, it would be tantamount to taking his property. And Bane does not tolerate theft very well. He could easily create a portal here linking to his plane of fire, bring his demon followers to the dojo and destroy the school until not a single brick or stone is left standing. Despite his demeanor, please remember that Lord Bane is a Chaotic god and a vengeful one," Kalistro cautioned.

"Yes, I'm aware that Lord Bane is a mercurial god. He is as likely to help me as to hinder me for no apparent reason. That being said, I must warn you that he can hear this conversation via my brand. And the less we say about him the better," I noted.

Kalistro and Gurgne nodded in agreement. Neither man will talk about the god any further in my presence.

After a moment of silence, the grandmaster spoke up. "There's a second purpose to bringing you here. I agree with my daughter that you should learn one more skill for the tournament. However, we haven't discussed what the final sword technique should be. Does Master Gurgne have any suggestion?"

"What skills do you have now, young pup?" the dog man asked.

"I have the Charge, Disarm, First Strike, and Slide Step skills," I answered.

Gurgne folded his arms and contemplated my skill set. "These skills are quite common if not boring to watch," he noted. "Perhaps, we should reward the spectators with something a little more flashy. After all, we want to advertise our school through our representative."

"What skill do you have in mind?" Kalistro's ears perked up.

"How about Duel Winner?" the dog man grinned.

The cat man's eyes glowed as his ears flattened. "Are you out of your mind?" The grandmaster was flabbergasted because the suggested skill was difficult to learn even for more advanced students.

"Normally, I would agree with you that young pup would not be ready to learn this skill. However, Lord Mulligan has exceptional intelligence and he is currently blessed by Lady Luck. I think he has a very good chance at learning this skill. And if that happens, then he could use it to win the tournament," Gurgne explained.

The grandmaster turned his attention to me and stared for a long moment. Finally, he nodded his approval of the master's suggestion. "You can teach him." Now, the cat man grinned.

Gurgne gave his old friend a hard stare. "Is that your order, grandmaster?" he groused.

"Yes," Kalistro replied succinctly.

The blacksmith rose to his feet and grabbed two scabbards. "I don't have any practice swords here. So these empty scabbards will have to do."

I rose to my feet and received a scabbard.

Gurgne took a deep breath and started his lecture. "The tournament have rules that are similar to duels. Make three clean hits and you're declared the winner. The Duel Winner skill exploits this by having the attacker make three quick strikes in succession before the defender could react. It is considered an intermediate-level skill and if you learn it, we will treat you as such regardless of your current character level. Mastery of the First Strike and the Slide Step are prerequisites because Duel Winner builds upon the concepts of these techniques. The secret behind First Strike is minimal movement, especially of your arms. Slide Step is a counterattack requiring a successful evasion first. Duel Winner is a combination of these two concepts. And I guess the best way to teach this technique is to show you. Now, I want you to attack me. And whenever you feel a hit from me, please call it out."

"Yes, master!" I replied. I set myself in position with the scabbard held in both hands at chest level. Then I executed the Charge technique. When I closed in on Gurgne's position, he suddenly disappeared from view and then I felt three rapid hits to my back. "Three hits!" I yelled. Annoyed at how quickly the match ended, I slowly turned around. "Isn't this cheating?" I asked.

"How so?" Kalistro responded. "The match awards victory to the first person to make three hits. If your opponent's back is open, why not end the match right then and there?"

"Yeah, but it feels so CHEAP!" I whined. "This technique isn't going to do any damage in a real fight!"

Gurgne nodded in agreement. "True, this technique won't put down an opponent in a normal fight," the dog man replied. "But that's not the purpose of these matches. They are meant to showcase the techniques of the dojos around the kingdom," he reminded me. The master then turned toward Kalistro. "Grandmaster, would you please help me demonstrate the technique? I just need you to charge at me so that I could show young pup how Duel Winner works."

Scowling, the cat man took a few steps back and then charged at Gurgne.

The master activated the slide step and then, with the movements of his wrist and elbow, made three quick hits against the cat man's back.

Huh! Gurgne certainly made it look easy.

The dog man turned toward me and said, "Let's go through it again in slow motion. After I evade Kalistro's charge, his back is turned towards me. Now watch my hand and wrist closely." Gurgne executed three quick strikes. The dog man tapped his scabbard against the left side of his victim's back and then slashed it down his back at one-thirty-five degrees angle. Once the scabbard raked across Kalistro's back from left to right, Gurgne slashed the scabbard horizontally against the cat man's lower back from right to left. With a final twist of his elbow, the dog man whacked the length of the scabbard against Kalistro's upper back. "Three hits," Master Gurgne repeated.

I grabbed my scabbard and tried to apply the movement that I had just witnessed. "Downward cut, waist cut, slap," I reminded myself aloud as I copied Gurgne's attack.

"Faster," the master said after evaluating my form.

I repeated the movement again and again and again. For the next ten minutes or so. My right arm was starting to feel heavy.

"Here I come!" Kalistro suddenly charged at me!

Purely on instinct, I activated the slide step to evade his attack. As I began to start the movement for Duel Winner, I heard dice rattle inside my head. When they stopped, I received a notification which read, "Consitution saving throw MADE. +50 XP." Suddenly, my arm felt light as a feather and I executed the three strokes quickly. When I whacked my scabbard against the grandmaster's back, I received another pop-up. "Professional skill LEARNED: Duel Winner. +250 XP. +100 Reputation. +100 XP."

The grandmaster turned toward Gurgne. His paw was extended toward the dog man and facing up.

"Here!" the loser of the bet groused as he placed five gold coins into Kalistro's paw. Gurgne then turned to face me. "Congratulations, young pup."