Chapter 5 The Weapon Testing

Thrazk walked over to the left side of the indoor training room before picking up a sword from the rack of weapons. He handed it to Elysia before taking a step back. “Attack me with all you have.”

Without hesitation, Elysia slashed down at Thrazk, knowing he could take anything she dished out at him.

With a casual-looking raise of his hand, he caught the blade between two clawed fingers. “As I thought. Your body is too weak for a sword. Even with sharpening enchantments, you will struggle to cut through enemies near your level.”

Elysia yanked the sword free before jumping back. This time, she electrified the sword only for the sword to warp under the stress. Unaware of the damage to the sword, Elysia charged with the sword raised. At the last moment, she shifted the overhead slash into a low swing aimed at Thrazk’s left leg.

Unfortunately, the force behind the swing bent the sword even further. By the time it reached his leg, the blade was a sparking wet noodle.

Thrazk took a step back, sending the flapping blade past him before commenting. “Abysmal elemental control. I think we will have to remedy that before any serious weapon training.”

The words fell on deaf ears as Elysia stared down at the drooping sword.

Elysia’s head flashed up at movement. Faster than she thought possible, she dropped the molten sword to the scaly floor and caught a spear. She glared up at the culprit, who was smirking down her with his arms crossed, waiting for her retaliation.

Instead of giving him the satisfaction instantly, Elysia paused to form a plan of attack. There was no way she could hit him if he was serious, but there had to be something she could do to surprise him. A moment later, a lightbulb flashed in her head, causing a smirk.

Elysia dashed forward as if to thrust the spear, but at the last moment, she hopped back and released a lightning bolt at her target. To her dismay, Thrazk didn’t even bother to dodge. The lightning bolt harmlessly sparked off his chest.

A frown formed on his scaly face before he vanished.

With her spear raised, Elysia frantically scanned her surroundings. A glint to her right sent the spear thrusting, but it only hit air. The glint flashed to her left this time, causing her to growl in frustration. Her muscles clenched as she planted her left foot for a wide swing with all her might. Yet again, her spear missed its mark, sending her spinning. She teetered on one foot only for said foot to lose contact with the ground from a swift impact to her shin.

A squeak echoed through the training room when her butt slammed into the floor, followed by a pained groan.

Another glint caused her to tense. She forced her complaining body into action, flashing to her feet with her spear at the ready. Instead of striking at the glint, she remained still as her eyes scanned her surroundings for any irregularities.

She ignored several more glints until her eyes caught a flash of red to her right. Faster than she ever attacked before, her spear shot toward the flash, scoring a grazing hit. To her dismay, her target vanished once again, forcing her to retreat, spear raised, waiting for the next opportunity.

Thrazk appeared in front of her a second later. Without thinking, Elysia struck forth, but Thrazk caught the spear tip like the sword before. “Excellent reaction time for your level and your reflexes aren’t bad either. However, I don’t see them overcoming your lack of strength. As is any weapon requiring strength to do damage will be nothing more than a stun baton.”

With an edge to her tone, prickling from his comments, Elysia spat. “Well, what do you suggest, then? I need a weapon even if it’s just used to stun. Unlike you, I can’t just stand there and tank hits.”

Unbothered by Elysia’s tone, Thrazk’s gaze gravitated back to the weapon rack to scan the options. “You need something light but can still inflict damage. Do you have experience with whips? It isn’t a typical weapon type and requires a lot of training to perfect, but it could work for you.”

Elysia’s face reddened when she did her best to hide behind her long hair. “No, I don’t. Why would I use whips?” Stuttered Elysia.

Thrazk disregarded his trainee’s embarrassment as he commented, “Good, you know what they are then.”

After taking a second to compose herself, Elysia responded, “yes I do, but how could something like that be practical? Wouldn’t I be better off swinging an extra sharp sword or spear instead?”

Instead of answering, Thrazk strode to the weapon rack, past the sword and spears, to a table with several coiled up flails and whips. He picked up a two meter long whip from the table before flicking his wrist. A deafening crack filled the air, causing Elysia to wince.

As a demonstration, he turned to humanoid targets a dozen meters away from the weapon racks. With several lightning fast flicks of his wrist, ear shattering cracks filled the air as deep gouges formed on the targets. He turned back to his gaping trainee with a smirk. “See? Why don’t you give it a try?”

Elysia took the black scaly whip in her hand. She gave it a few test swings only to find it swung limply, nothing like what Thrazk did. At her failure, Elysia’s pride spiked. Refusing to be beaten by a whip, her lightning sparked along her bare arm as if shot forth. The whip followed her wishes, but when it reached its full length, it fell limp.

“This type of weapon needs to be flicked. If you choose the style weapon, we could commission a slashing whip, though.”

At Thrazk’s advice, Elysia flashed back to playing with her friend’s cat. Her wrist flicked, trying to imitate the motion, earning herself a crack as the tip of the whip broke the speed of sound, though much quieter than Thrazk’s flicks. A smile formed from her success as she turned to the closest target. She flicked her wrist again only for the whip to limply slash the target without leaving a mark.

Once again, her pride took hold. As if the target offended her, she flicked her wrist once again, filling the air with another echoing crack, but to her annoyance, she missed the target, flicking the air harmlessly to the right.

“Don’t worry, it takes a lot of practice to use a whip. You can’t just slash like a sword or stab like a spear. That doesn’t mean the weapon can’t be deadly in the hands of an expert.”

Against her will, Elysia’s mind conjured herself wearing formfitting black leather as she dispensed pain with her whip, only to shake her head to clear the damage with a reddened face. Let’s not turn into some dominatrix. Though she could see the allure of a whip. It really didn’t take much strength to use, only finesse.

She flicked her wrist once again at the target, this time hitting the target with a satisfying crack, only to frown at the lack of damage. “Are you sure a weapon like this would be practical? Even if I’m weak, I probably could do more damage with a sword.”

“Oh yes, in fact, my clutch aunt made a name for herself with her deadly whip. I wish she could train you, but unfortunately, she stayed back in our homeland. We specially designed these training weapons to blunt damage. A real war whip will be razor sharp. Plus, depending on the length of the whip, the wielder can use it to bind a target for another to finish it. Whips can be quite versatile though unorthodox. Especially with your lightning. It would be devastating to coil your whip around an enemy then deliver a payload of electricity.”

Still frowning, Elysia commented. “I didn’t say I would choose a whip. What about the lack of defense? With a spear, I could block attacks.”

Thrazk made an over-exaggerated scan of her body, then stared at Elysia as if she was dumb. “How will you block anyone with your scrawny body and weak muscles?”

“Hey! I’m not that small! I’m not even the smallest on my ship.”

“Ione doesn’t count.” Rebuked Thrazk with a smirk, earning a chirp from said cat who was loafed on a shield resting on a table off to the side.

Elysia’s ever glowing veins brightened as she glared at Thrazk, whip in hand, ready to lash out. “Eva, my crew mate is shorter by one centimeter.”

“The one terrorizing our shopping district? I would hardly call her a fighter unless it is over a purse or dress she wants.”

A smug expression took hold on Elysia’s face imagining Eva tormenting the shops only for it to vanish a moment later when she realized it was her money she was spending. Well, at least she wasn’t the one dealing with her. Joe, may you rest in peace.

With a shrug, Elysia commented. “You have a point. I wouldn’t trust Eva to win a fight, but who knows? She may have some tricks in her shopping obsessed mind.”

“Please keep her on a leash. She wore out my clutch cousin with all her questions. He wasn’t even working there. He was just a customer who had the misfortune of running into that crazy girl.”

“Not my problem. Talk to Joe. It’s his job to manage Eva. Delegating jobs is a key skill to learn when captaining a ship.”

“So is taking responsibility for your crew.”

Instead of commenting, Elysia asked, “Is there any other weapons that would fit me?”

Thrazk gave her a knowing look before shifting his focus to the weapon racks and tables. “If we were only talking about humanoid opponents, yes, but unfortunately you need something that can deal damage to dungeon creatures. With your high perception and dexterity, you are quite suited to a whip. Sword whips are another alterative, but I don’t think you have the strength to handle one of those unruly weapons though they can deal devastating damaging with impressive range. With your lightning there’s no need for a long ranged weapon, however a long whip could be an option. It trades speed for length. Usually, it acts as a support weapon to bind their target for another to finish it. Maybe something in the middle?”

After giving the whip another flick, scoring a hit on the target, she nodded her head. “I think I like a whip. I hope you are right about it being practical for dungeon diving. I love how light it is, but I’m sure a whip made for combat is heavier. The issue is the materials I planned to use to make my weapon doesn’t fit a whip. How will they turn spikes as long as my arm into a whip?”

“I’m sure they will find a way. If not, dungeon materials are in high demand, so you can simply sell them. Especially with Mezo coming up.”

“Is there a way to test out a whip before I commission one? You said they could be heavier and I want to feel the different styles.”

“Of course, that’s our next stop. When you seemed interested in a whip, I contacted my clutch nephew to pull several examples from our armory.”

Elysia stared at Thrazk with suspicion. “How? It’s only been a few minutes, and I didn’t see you talk to anyone. Were you planning on a whip from the beginning?”

With a mysterious smile, Thrazk turned toward the exit.

While grumbling, Elysia followed him outside, with Ione trotting behind her.