I'm aware of the low quality and roughness of this work.

I plan on rewriting it, however it won't happen until the end of first Arc.

« Chapter 01

Twenty minutes had already passed and Kvothe still remained on the floor of the training hall.

“That damn instructor must be toying with me.”

He had regained the arms movement, but his health bar wasn’t refilling the way it should. So all he could do was flail his arms angrily and think of ways to get back at the master. At least this time, he had no audience to laugh at him .

“You should try eating.” Said a girly voice.

Kvothe looked up and saw her, a light brown haired girl wearing simple shirt and skirt. Despite being all dirty and wearing simple clothing, she was cute. The kind of cute that doesn’t stand out but is extremely attractive. She was probably one of those beggars who stayed at the central fountain.

“Thanks...erm..”

“Oh! You can call me Asha.” She said with a bright smile.

“Thanks Asha, but I’ve got no money to give you.” Kvothe said apologetically. “And you should also be mindful of where you’re standing if you’re wearing a skirt.”

The girl’s face became red. She quickly moved to a place further from his head.

“Now I feel bad.” The girl said “I’ve given you a free show and won’t get a single copper.”

Both of them laughed really hard. From how red she had became, Kvothe never thought she’d make a joke like that. He had the feeling they’d get along well. He liked people who could make jokes, especially of themselves. That usually showed they had a good sense of humor.

“By the way, I’m Kvothe.” He introduced himself. “What were you saying about eating?”

“Right! You’re probably hungry. That’s why you can’t move and your health isn’t regenerating.”

“Oh! Didn’t knew there was something like that...” He said a bit ashamed.

Sometimes his eagerness took the best of him. And that made him feel as ashamed as if he had soiled his underwear.

“Let me guess. You were too excited and totally disregarded the manual”

Her sharpness shocked him. How could she know exactly what happened with a simple glance?

“Don’t worry. It’s a common thing.” She tried to reassure him. “I’ve even seen a few blockheads dying from hunger.”

“That doesn’t make me feel less idiotic, but thanks for trying.” said a sour faced Kvothe, “Inventory window.”

At his command, a floating panel appeared in front of him. It was composed by a grid of empty squares, except for two. The first had a water bottle, and the other 10 pieces of rye bread. Now that he thought about it, something about satiety was explained during the tutorial. He should have payed attention but was too busy testing his virtual body.

He took one of the bread from his inventory and took a bite. The moisture in his mouth was immediately sucked by the bread. It wasn’t the fresh bread he expected, but stale and dry. Desperate, he took the bottle out and used the water to force the bread down his throat.

“What the...What’s this shitty thing?!” He asked the girl who was again laughing at his expense. “Is this really edible?”

“Yes. But that’s the cheapest food in Royal Road. I don’t think it’s that bad actually.”

“Really?!” He wondered what kind of food she was used to eating. “Well...at least it’ll keep me alive until I get the money to buy proper food.”

He forced himself to eat the whole thing. After no time, his health bar had gone above 10% and he could move properly again. He got up and decided to introduce himself like an educated person should, so he extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Asha. Thanks for the help.”

She took his hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet you to Mister Kvothe, though I wonder why such sudden formality after you’ve even seen my panties.”

Kvothe had to suppress a laugh, but he didn’t intended to lose in a battle of wits.

“My mom always says we should introduce ourselves properly.” He said with an exaggerated smile. “Even when the person in question is a pervert.”

“A pervert?” She glared at him feigning disgust. “I should give you a beating for that. But I’m a proper lady, and ladies should be composed at all times.”

That was too much for him. He laughed until he couldn’t breath properly.

“I give up! I’m no match for you.” Kvothe said to the girl.

“A match?! You weren’t even a player to begin with.” Asha said with an air of disdain.

Kvothe glared at her and she laughed. He thought about a few retorts for that, but it was already a lost cause. She had beaten him this time. The girl’s personality spiked his interest. Usually girls were shy with him at first, mainly because of his bad guy face. Someone who could make jokes with him at first encounter without him making any effort to break the ice was a relief.

“I was wondering...” Kvothe’s curious nature made him say. “Why would someone like yourself come to an empty floor in the training hall?”

“Oh yeah! I was talking to Cain and...”

“Talking to whom?” Kvothe interrupted.

“Cain...You know, the training hall NPC.” She answered. “Anyway. He said he had met an interesting pup - his words exactly. Since I’d never seen him take interest for a player, I decided to come and check for myself.”

“...”

“But it seems that person is already gone. Did you met him by any chance?”

“Very funny.” Kvothe glared at her. “I was after someone to teach me how to use a sword properly and thought that he could be quite capable since he’s the training hall instructor.”

“Of course he’s capable. After all, he’s the . He won the last three swordsman tournament in Rhodium. Even got himself a knight title.”

“What?! I had no idea he was that strong...”

“Really?!” Asha was once again surprised. “Why did you choose him then? He doesn’t look like a strong guy to me.”

“I had a hunch.” Kvothe said simply.

“Whatever...” Asha said dismissively. “I’m more interested in how you made him accept you as a disciple.”

“We had a battle of wits and I’ve beaten him.” He said with a mocking smile.

Asha gave him a look of someone that didn’t enjoy the food on the table.

“Okay. I’ve pissed him off and got into a fight with him.” Kvothe told her.

“That explains how you ended up on the floor. But how did you convinced him to train you?”

“I’m not sure. We fought for like… Five minutes. After that I was beaten to a pulp. Then I asked if he could teach me and he said yes.”

“Wait...You’ve fought with him for five minutes? Haven’t you just begun playing?! You should have gone down with one hit.”

“But I was down with a hit, it just took him five minutes to get a good one in.”

“I see why he took interest in you.” She couldn’t hide that she thought that was impressive. “Are you some kind of martial artist to be able to do something like that?”

“Kind of… I mean… I’ve learnt a few basic stuff from various fighting styles. If that makes me a martial artist then yes.”

“That’s weird. Cain should be at least level 200.” Asha said. “There’s no way you should be able to make him fight for five whole minutes.”

“He wasn’t serious.” Kvothe said. “Or I’d probably be dead right now. I’m not even sure how I’ve survived that single hit of his.”

“You’re a cheater, right?!” She said with an innocent face.

“No...Nothing like that. It’s just that in the game I can move much better and my reactions are faster than real life as well.”

“Right...Mister Cheater.”

Kvothe realized she had made fun of him again.

“What are you going to do now?” Asha asked.

“I’m not sure, Cain said he’d give me a test of worth so he could teach me. I think I’ll go talk to him and if it’s something I can start now I’ll do it.”

“Mind if I tag along?” She asked hopefully.

“It’s your life...Though it’ll probably be something boring.”

He didn’t mind some company, but what his master would ask would probably be something repetitive and uninteresting. He didn’t want to force something like that onto her, but she followed him anyway. Together they returned to entrance to talk to Cain.

“Master, how could you leave me there?! I couldn’t even move!” Said a distressed Kvothe.

“I’m sorry pup. I was lost in thought.” The master said nonchalantly. “At least I sent someone in my place.”

“She went there by herself...” The student said angrily.

“Well, whatever.” Cain cut him off. “Tomorrow morning, at 6am, you’ll go to my house so I can give you your test.”

“Can’t I take it now?” Kvothe asked hopefully.

“If you could take it now, I’d have already given it. Or do you take me for a fool?!”

Kvothe was anxious to begin, but he decided not to argue. He got the master’s house address and, together with Asha, took his leave. Then they went wander around the city.

They talked about basic stuff like stats, skills and useful ways to train. She had quite the knowledge about the game and gave him lots of useful information about places, skills, NPCs and about the game system itself.

“Let me see if i got this right.” Kvothe wanted to confirm if he understood it correctly. “If you hit a scarecrow for a month, you get 40 point in strength, agility and vitality?”

“Exactly”

“And you can gain stats by means other than level up?”

“Yes. And in some cases that’s the only way to get points.”

“And skills can be taught, learned from repetition, reading a book or completing a quest? ”

“You can learn by repetition only if you’ve met the requirements.”

Kvothe thought about the possibilities. The month training would be a bit boring, but it would allow him to beat stronger monsters when he left the city. He was playing just for the adventure but he didn’t mind some advantages. A game plan begun being formed in his head, besides the basic training he wanted to learn proper sword technique and a few other skills he thought necessary.

“Someone there?” Asha called. “I thought I lost you for a second.”

“Sorry, I was thinking on what to do next.”

“As I was saying, I’ve got to go. It’s kinda late here. But before I go I wanted to add you as a friend. If you don’t mind.”

“I’d be glad to add you as a friend. Besides, I’ve got a huge debt to you now. This information you’ve gave me helped a lot. And I always pay my debts, if I remember them.”

They added each other as friends and Asha logged out. Kvothe was pondering what he should do. He had made plans on what he wanted to accomplish. So many skills he wanted to learn, people he wanted to meet, things he wanted to try in this new world.

Fighting was the main thing he wanted to test out. When he first arrived he tried moving and had great response. Despite being addicted to sports he had terrible flexibility and was overweight. The last was due to the fact that he loved eating and had a tendency to easily gain weight.

That being said, when he tested his old kicks, his jumping ability, weaving and footwork he could perform better than real life despite feeling that they were all weaker. Meaning that his stats were not based on his real life abilities but on predefined settings.

Remembering that made him smile. In this world he could really do whatever he wanted, even the impossible things such as fighting giant monsters. But, despite all the excitement, he decided that his better course of action would be log out until the next game day.

•••

Adriano opened his eyes. He was back to the real world. He had only played for a few hours but it was literally a day in game since time there flowed four times faster. His mind felt sluggish and tired as if he had studied for a whole day.

He exited his capsule, set his cellphone alarm so he wouldn’t miss the appointed time with the master and went to to bed. Few minutes later he was already sleeping profoundly.

•••

The sun was rising when Kvothe woke up in this world. He checked his stats and ate another dry and stale rye bread to relieve his hunger. It was almost time for his meeting with the master, so he went to the promised location.

It was a simple house next to a sculpture shop. In front of it was a scarecrow similar to the ones at the training hall. To Kvothe’s surprise the master was there, already awake and working on something. He had some kind of knife in one hand and something Kvothe couldn’t see in the other.

“Good morning master.” Kvothe greeted him.

The swordmaster raised his head to look at his pupil. His eyes showed that today he was a different person. Kvothe, who thought of himself as a good judge of character, had the impression that Cain was a carefree person. But now he knew he was wrong. At least when the subject was swordsmanship the master was as serious as one can be.

“Good morning.” Cain answered. “I hope you’re ready, because it’s not going to be an easy day.”

Cain put away the things he had in his hands, stood up and entered the house. Since he wasn’t invited, Kvothe didn’t follow and kept waiting outside. Two minutes later, the master returned holding a black sword.

“This is a special sword.” The master explained. “It was carved by a dwarven master who mastered both blacksmith and sculpting. Despite being made of wood, it’s stronger and more durable than most iron swords you’ll find. It’s also sharp as an iron sword. As my master gave it to me, now I pass it onto you.”

He looked at the black sword. By no mean he could say it was made of wood. It was so polished you couldn’t even see the wooden veins.

“Thank you master.” He said. “But wasn’t I supposed to be tested before receiving something like this?”

“This is your test, pup.” The master held the sword by the hilt. “As I’ve said, this is no ordinary sword. This sword holds the secret for my technique.”

“...”

“Let me demonstrate it to you.” He made a swing. “Swing it poorly and you’ll have no reaction.”

He made another swing. This time there was a whistling when he made the movement. He did it again and this time it was two whistlings at the same time.

“The better you swing, the more whistles you’ll have. Until you can fully master it.” He gave it another go and this time it was three clear whistles. “Until you can make it whistle at will you won’t be able to utilize the techniques I’ve got to teach you.”

“But master, I don’t even know the right way to hold a sword. How can I achieve such a thing?”

“Do not worry pup. I’ll teach you the basics. What I won’t be able to teach you is the secret techniques that makes this a singular sword art.”

Relieved, he receive the sword from the mater and they begun the lesson. Today was the master’s day off so they would remain at his house. After teaching how to hold the sword and correcting Kvothe’s many mistakes, the master explained the basic swing motion.

“Now you should be able to give your first proper swing with a sword.”

Kvothe held the sword with one hand as dictated by the style. He corrected the mistakes he could spot in his grip and looked to the master, who gave him an approving head nod. He then took the stance and made the motion slowly to get the feeling. He then tensed his grip, focused his mind only on the sword and made a swing.

“...”

Nothing could be heard. Only the sound of the sword cutting the air and the impact against the scarecrow.

“That was a great swing.” Said the master laughing. “Maybe in six months you’ll be able to get one whistle.”

Kvothe wasn’t shaken. Not that he didn’t hope to find out he had a natural talent for swordsmanship, but he was already used to not being a natural at anything. Up until now, all sports he tried he had to train more than others to achieve the same results. Even his fighting abilities came from extra hard work. For the years he trained Taekwondo the only partner his size was either the master or the top black belt pupil.

He continued to train his form. Cain sat by the door, took out his knife and what appeared to be a piece of wood from his pockets and begun to carve the wooden piece. If that was any other day, he’d probably be asking Cain what was he doing, but at the moment he was focused on his swing and on hitting the scarecrow.

Kvothe was so concentrated on the training that he forgot he was in a game, and a few hours later he jumped back from a floating window that appeared.

Strength increased by 1 point (+1 STR).

That meant he was hitting the scarecrow for at least 5 hours. Time that he didn’t see passing by.

“Master! I got one strength point!” He got even more excited.

“Really?! That much time has passed?!”

The swordmaster looked to the sky. It was already past noon. Both men were so focused on their tasks they had lost track of time. Kvothe looked at the wood the master had been carving and it already had the general shape of a human.

“Are you hungry?” The master asked.

“A bit.” Kvothe answered truthfully. “But I’ll just eat some rye bread and deal with it.”

“Nonsense. I just asked because I don’t want to be the only to try this new recipe I was thinking about. If it turns out bad at least I won’t be the only to suffer.”

“Then at least let me help.”

“Ok. Follow me.”

Both men went to the kitchen and begun cutting vegetables, meat and mixing ingredients. After almost an hour of work the food was served and they begun eating. Despite what the teacher said the food was really good. The meat was soft and dissolved in your mouth dispersing the garlic and onions flavor with a hint of pepper and to wash it down he had opened a beer so delicious it almost made Kvothe cry.

“This is so delicious! Both the food and the beer.”

“I’m glad you liked. I brewed this myself.”

“I wish I could cook like that.”

Learning cooking was in Kvothe’s agenda. He thought the master might offer to teach him the cooking skill if he offered to help, but the master didn’t get the cue. So, despite being true, the compliment was a more direct way of hinting Cain of his intention to learn.

“Thank you, Kvothe. Maybe if you try hard, someday you can be a cook better than me.”

Kvothe was shocked by the clueless teacher and couldn’t hide that fact.

“Gahahaha.” Cain laughed at the student face. “I know you want to learn cooking you oaf, I’m just trying to teach you a lesson.”

Kvothe’s mouth was left hanging. “Really?! What lesson could you possibly teach me by feigning ignorance?”

“I wanted you to know that I am your master. You don’t need to try and trick me to teach you something. You just need to ask.”

Kvothe felt ashamed. Not because he had tried to trick his teacher, but by the fact that he got caught. He was proud of his acting skills and the fact that he could bend people’s will with some effort. Kvothe, the kingkiller, was his favorite character not only because he was an awesome anti-hero, but because he felt they were alike in that and a few other aspects.

“Ok then..” Kvothe said. “Can you, please, teach me how to cook?”

“No.” Cain answered simply.

“But you said...”

“I said you should just ask me, not that I would teach you.” The master laughed again. “But don’t worry, I’ll teach you some other time. I just have to teach you a few more basic stuff since, after today, we won’t have much time together for me to teach you.”

“And why is that?” Kvothe had to ask.

“I thought you were smarter than that.” Cain said disappointed. “Tomorrow I’ll have to return to work. You’re welcome to use the Training Hall as everyone, but I won’t be able to help you with your training. My next free day is in two weeks, and then only in 7 weeks.”

“But then...How will I be able to receive the training on the techniques?”

The master laughed as if he had said something really amusing.

“You probably won’t be able to make that sword whistle in quite some time. It took me two months training all day without rest for that.”

Kvothe’s mouth turned into a grin. He wasn’t a dedicated student, never was. Unless it was something he liked, he wouldn’t bother making an effort to accomplish it. However, if something was interesting to him, he would make an inhuman effort to make it happen. Fortunately he was interested in mastering the sword to the point where he didn’t notice his hunger and tired body until his focus was disturbed by the pop up window.

“Give me until your next break.” He said with huge confidence.

Cain laughed again. This time louder than before.

“I was right.” He said with some kind of evil smile. “You are one interesting pup.”

Chapter 03 »