Despite my aversion I was on my way. Christa played with her meat experiment and told me she would save some good parts for me, if it would be a success.

Now in front of the training hall I felt another wave of dread. I had to push through and survive this guy. Just from the logical perspective there was no better instructor for combat available that early in the game. With the reminder of coming events weighing me down I entered the building.

“Master.”

“Boy, there you are. Don’t just stand there, picking your nose. We will start each training session with a warm up. 30 minutes will suffice in the first week. If you’ll need water, there is a barrel in the corner over there.” He showed in the direction behind the shooting range.

“Drink all you want. You have to take care of food yourself. Bring a lot, you’ll need it in the future to recover your stamina.”

“Right now I have no food on me.” Man, I really forgot to buy all the stuff on my way.

“That should still be fine for now. The program schedule is only two hours today. Health potions are enough available in case your injuries get to severe.” I wasn’t surprised anymore about the last sentence.

“Now run!”

Something was off. I started my rounds like yesterday, but this time Erestran was running together with me.

“Your speed is too slow!”, he said and hit me with a stick on my arm.

“Why are you hitting me?” I whined and still ran.

“Master!” Yes, I forgot. Jeez!

“Why are you hitting me, master?”

“Try to dodge my blows. I’ll go slow.” Outside Karma this guy would have lawyers of every human rights organization as regulars.

There was the next hit, this time on my thigh. It stung. The most annoying were the hits on my neck and my fingers. I wasn’t even able to dodge or avoid one of his blows.

The 30 minutes were up and I was sweating blood, literally. Several shallow cuts were still bleeding, but not enough to allow me a potion. About 10 percent of my health was shaved off. At least water was ok as short break.

We were standing now in the inner ring again, near the dummies. Erestran held a big ax in his hand.

“This heavy ax is nothing fancy. But it gets the job done. The first thing I’ll show you are basic stances for defense and attack. When executed correctly you will be able to easily switch from attack to defense and vice versa. To grab that foundation and internalize it is the most important part. There are enough idiots out there doing flashy moves, not knowing their basics and get countered without effort. Fighting can be an art, but can be really ugly at the same time. With your life on the line just the result counts, not the method.”

He handed me the ax. I had to grab it with both hands because of the weight. A look on the stats showed me the following:

Archaic Battle Ax

Class: Uncommon

Material: Steel

Attack: 20 – 45

This battle ax has seen many fights and is very durable because handle and blade were forged from steel. It has a hammer design as counterweight, allowing the Archaic Battle Ax to be used as a blunt weapon as well. The high weight makes the ax considerable slower in inexperienced hands.

It was the first uncommon item that I ever held in my hands. The damage was very high and would probably kill most of the low tier mobs around Kalesh in one or two hits, without relying on so much luck, like I had with the Kumas.

“Axes are usually better suited for attack. There is no shield you can wield with the big ones and the weight will slow you down. Still, defense comes first. We’ll start with the two-handed ax. It’s very different from dual wielding or fighting with a shield.”

“Master, I’ve never seen someone using two axes at once.” Dual wielding for me was the typical short sword or dagger user with high speed and agility.

“It is only advantageous with battle or war axes. Otherwise short swords are preferable. A hatchet may be as fast as a sword, but lacks its versatility. Dual wielding a heavy war ax takes it to a whole new height. But you’ll need to be at least near Christas or my level to do that, strength wise. In addition only experts and masters actually have little advantages with this style. Beginners and advanced practitioners should either use a two-handed weapon or a shield.”

The first stance Erestran showed me looked easier than done. As righty my left hand stayed at the grip and my right was placed not far off the blade. My left leg was slightly in front of me, with the right behind my center. The ax was held almost horizontal. Depending on my or the opponents next move I had to put more weight on either the left or the right leg. It confused me quite a bit and the blows to correct me didn’t help much.

“Now that you have the stance almost right we’ll work on your leg strength.”

What followed was another workout from hell. By now I was thankful for the reduced pain perception in Karma. I had to do squats, walk slowly with bent legs and my ax always held in the same position. After that I had to jump back and forth only using one leg. We stopped when I wasn’t able to do even one more squat.

With still shaky legs I’ve done my first swings. It threw me off balance and face first in the sand.

“No break now. Just 40 minutes left.” He must be joking. I spat out sand.

I was more careful with my next swings, which was obviously too slow for Erestran. He used his stick to motivate me further, much to my chagrin.

Ding

You have obtained the skill Weapon Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes

I had to take look on my new skill.

Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes Lvl 1 (Novice)

You are able to wield two-handed axes without demerit. Said weapon will now do slightly more damage.

Yeah! My weak body dulled my delight. The ax didn’t feel that heavy anymore and my swings were a bit steadier.

“Ok, we are done for today. Next time don’t forget enough food or you won’t be able to crawl out of the building.”

He was a really funny guy. I was crawling with breaks now and then, just to reach the stairs. Today was only the two-hour session. That spelled doom for tomorrow.

***

Still groaning and on all fours I reached the first stall with food. I really didn’t give a damn how I looked right now.

“Five servings, three with meat and two with vegetables. Thanks.” The skewers were fantastic two days ago and I was so hungry.

“Are you ok, sir?” The man selling the food seemed genuinely concerned.

“Oh no, I’m fine. I just need some rest and eat your skewers.”

“Please take a seat over there. I bring your order in a minute.” He pointed to the benches the customers of the food stalls used to eat.

“Hehe. Titan, look at the crawling noob.” A slim man wearing dark leather spoke to his tall and muscular companion. His black hair looked quite greasy.

“Why should I care? Scissors, don’t show me every idiot in town.” The blonde giant was only wearing a vest on his upper buddy. His bulging muscles couldn’t be missed.

“Guys like him are perfect underling material, don’t you think?” He was rubbing his hands.

“Haha, our first henchman. Lets kick him around a bit.”

I sat on the bench and less than a minute later I had the big hot skewers in front of me. The smell alone made my mouth water. It was totally worth the 8 coppers.

I inhaled the first round. For the next skewer with meat I took my time and chewed reverently. Two shadows fell on me and on my left and right two unknown men sat down.

“Hey buddy, how are ye doin?” A blonde bodybuilder asked me and hit my back hard enough to almost let go of my skewer.

“Yeah buddy, how’s going? Need cool comrades?” Mr. greasy hair said on my left and grabbed my shoulder.

“Do I know you?” I kept eating and cursed my luck for letting me met those goons.

“Aren’t ye rude to your big bros?” The blonde guy spouted more nonsense.

“Yeah, why don’t you treat us as compensation?”

The thin man tried to grab one of my skewers but I swatted his hand away.

“Could you please leave me alone? I don’t want to be friends or something with you and just want to eat. Thank you.” What a nuisance.

“What did you say?” The black haired man grabbed my shoulder even harder. Compared to Jess’ affection it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

“Do you know who I am, noob?” Mr. bodybuilder seemed enraged.

“Like I care. Piss off now or I call the guards.” There were pesky players in every game.

“Tch, ye will regret that noob!”

“We will see each other outside the city sooner or later!”

They stormed off and kicked my food off the table. Good thing that I had the third meat skewer already in hand. Those morons must have had a good first impression of some city guards, or they wouldn’t run off that soon. Too tired to react to threats I walked to the food stall again.

“Hey mister, two veggie skewers to go please.” My stomach wasn’t empty anymore, but had room for more.

After I ate I called it a day in Karma and logged out.