{The Next Morning}

[Dear mom,]

[So... I got here safely, thankfully. Sorry that I took a couple of days to write to you, it's just... It's been a bit hard adjusting to this place. Everything is so big, but at the same time, I've never felt so cramped. I dunno.]

[Oh! I wanted to let you know I learned a couple of spellsigns, although, I don't really have the Essence pool to use them. My Essence teacher taught me a few though, and I thought that was cool. "Candle", which is just a dot, "Fireball", which is an upwards arrow, and "Heal", which is a circle.]

[On another note, honestly, now that I'm here, I respect Tristan more for starting his career with no help whatsoever. I wonder how I would have done if I had tried things that way instead.]

[Anyway, I'll try to write at least a letter a week, just so you know that I'm okay. But, what about you, mom? Are you alright? You haven't been sick, have you? I told Felix to help take care of you, so if he's been overbearing or whatever, uh, don't get too annoyed at him. He's under orders, you could say.]

[Um, yeah. That's pretty much all I wanted to say, for now though. Love you, mom. I'll talk to you again soon. Let me know how you're doing.]

"Roomie?" Elisa asked.

"Y-Yeah?"

"You're gonna be late for class," the sunlight-haired woman let her know.

"No, no," Rin replied as she folded the letter up and placed it in front of the messenger bird that her mother had gifted her. Then, the bird took the letter and flew out the window with it. "There, done."

---

{Later That Day, at Noon}

"Well then, it seems like you're all having fun with my co-worker's class," Maria said with a chuckle as the students audibly groaned.

Rin's legs were so sore, she worried she'd fall as soon as she started training. Hell, she didn't know how she was supposed to train like this.

"E-Excuse me," Lisa, the healer, raised a hand. "Shouldn't we be resting?"

"Nope." Maria shook her head. "The food you'll be eating later will heal you right up. It's what we charge so much for! Don't worry about any injuries from overexertion. Besides, we're trying to get you used to pain. That's part of the point."

As she said this, she picked out different teams for the students to train with. By now, each of them had picked the weapons that they'd be using when the missions came around, so, Maria gave them wooden versions of those weapons to use.

Rin took this moment to scout her fellow students and see what they had in mind.

The mages, Alea, Eve, and Lisa all went with shortswords, which, according to Maria, were a favorite of mages as far as melee weapons were concerned, as they didn't require much skill or handling to use. Seth was going to use a dual-sided ax, so he was given a club, Dylan went with a spear, John decided on a normal sword, while Carla went with two short daggers.

The strangest choice, by far, was Elisa's, Rin's roommate and the literal woman of her dreams, who went with two greatswords, each one almost as long as Rin was tall.

[Can she really carry those things?] Rin asked herself as she saw Maria pair Elisa up with Seth. The sight of them together again, after what Rin had unfortunately seen, did make her feel a certain way, but she ignored it.

"Be careful with these things! They're made of wood but they still pack a punch!" Maria reminded them.

Her partner came walking up to her, an annoyed look on her face.

"Let's get this over with," Alea said, looking like just standing in front of Rin was testing her patience.

[What's her problem?] Rin asked herself, before shaking her head and raising a hand, drawing Maria's attention.

"Yes, Rin?"

"Uh, what do I use?" Rin asked.

"Your hands, of course."

Rin blinked.

"R-Right. Of course, my... Uh... Hands. Obviously," Rin's shoulders slumped.

She looked back at Alea, who was holding an actual weapon. It was made of wood, but it was still a weapon nonetheless.

"Seriously?" Alea asked, raising a brow, showing a hint of concern.

"Yeah. Like you said," Rin took a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

---

By the time the class was over, Rin was fairly certain her wrists were broken. She was actually shedding tears from having to defend herself with only her bare arms. Alea had, thankfully, gone easy on her due to the sheer pity she felt, but it still hurt. Her skin was deeply bruised now.

"My arms don't work..." Rin told Eve, who wasn't even flying anymore. She was sitting on the ground, resting.

"My whole body doesn't work," Eve replied. "Fairies weren't built for this kind of torture."

"Oh, come on!" Maria said as the other students left the room, a smile on her face that seemed borderline sadistic. "When I was starting up, training with my friends was what I enjoyed the most!"

[Well, you're just a different kind of person then,] Rin thought as Eve coughed a couple of times.

"Was it this hard for you, Ms. Camille?" Eve asked.

"Of course," Maria told them as she sat down at a nearby chair, crossing her legs. "Maybe even harder. My teacher didn't go anywhere near as easy on me as I'm going on you. I remember we would have these 'endurance' lessons where he'd literally whip us," Maria chuckled as Rin paled with horror. "We'll be doing something similar in the next class, but for now, this is how I wanted to start things off."

She stood up, putting her hands behind her back.

"Rin, go ahead and get yourself something to eat, then come back. Like I said before," she winked, "I want to show you what we'll be doing throughout the semester."

"Uh, okay," Rin nodded. [Yeah, some healing food or whatever sounds pretty good right now.]

Rin took a short break after that, heading to the cafeteria with Eve to eat. The day's food was simply a bit of salad with sweet-tasting bread, but as soon as she had it in her system, Rin felt her body repairing itself.

"So, want me to show you around the city some more?"

"Uh, nah, sorry, I have to train with Maria."

"Ohhh, right, you two are training alone. My condolences," Eve said with a grave tone.

The others had picked up on the fact that Maria was personally training Rin, as the teacher had made no efforts to hide that.

"I-I'm sure it's not gonna suck that badly. Right?"

---

Hesitantly, once Rin was done with her meal, a few hours later, she walked back into the same training room from before. Everyone else was off doing their own thing at this point, so the halls were fairly empty as Rin returned, as the sun was about to be replaced by the moon.

Maria was inside, meditating by the looks of it. She stood up though when she heard Rin enter.

Rin's body was still sore, but she could feel the meal doing its work.

"Uh, hey?" Rin called out. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Well, first, let's move somewhere else, just in case students come here to train with each other, we don't want to be interrupted, after all," Maria said. "Follow me."

They walked next door, into the Meditation Center.

Maria took Rin to a space that was entirely open. Meaning that there was nothing in the room but a mat on the floor covering the entire ground and that on the opposite side of the room, there was no wall. The sun and wind were allowed to pour into the space freely. [Must suck when it rains though.]

"This is the meditation center." Maria clarified, taking a step closer to the open opposite side. "Not a lot of people come here. You might not have even been told about it. It is a place where an adventurer can come to clear their head and help open their own eyes."

The teacher looked like an ethereal being as she stepped to the edge of the room.

"This is also where you will learn the combat arts that you need to face monsters without the use of a weapon."

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"Firstly, throw a fist," Maria instructed her. Rin nodded and did so, knowing she must look pathetic. Her arm pretty much cried, thanks to the training she'd done earlier. "How did that feel?"

"Uh... Weak." Rin shrugged. [And painful.]

Maria nodded.

"Yes, because your form is off. Your body can be as strong as you make it, and yet each hit will fail to produce a full effect if your form is not right. By that same token, if your form is perfect, every strike you deal will contain a force you never knew yourself capable of."

Maria adjusted her stance. She pushed her legs further apart, pulled up her elbow, straightened her back, and then stepped back.

"Try again, this time, twist your hips, put your back into it and try to keep your fist moving in a straight line."

The effect this method had was instant. As awkward as she felt, Rin could tell her punch had more weight to it this time.

"Oh, shit!"

"There you go," Maria said, clapping. "Congratulations, that is the first step to becoming a master."

"I actually felt that! I-It felt stronger!"

"Don't get too excited, we have a lot to do!"

"R-Right."

"Good, now, here's how kicks work."

Maria and Rin were going over the basics for about an hour. It wasn't nearly as straining as Rin had expected, which she appreciated, given her body's current state, but beads of sweat were rolling down Rin's face with the amount increasing every dozen or so minutes.

"Good," Maria nodded, "now, we spar."

"What?"

"Sparring," Maria noted. "It's the only real way to get used to fighting, no matter what you choose to specialize in. You need to understand your weapon's reach, how long you have to react to something before it hits you, how open an enemy is to an attack."

"Uh... I'm not really a fighter yet, so let me know if I'm wrong, but doesn't sparring mean we're gonna fight?"

"Mhm."

"Wow. You're killing me off that quickly?"

Maria laughed out loud.

"No, no. I'm obviously not going to use my full strength. Not even enough to hurt you. But that answer you gave," she took a few steps closer, "that answer is precisely the problem. See, like you said, you're not a fighter, so you don't believe in yourself yet. If you go out there in that state of mind, you'll get killed before you throw your first punch. The shivers you feel in your spine will prevent you from ever taking action. For all intents and purposes, you're a pacifist right now." Maria shook her head. "But, that can be changed in a short amount of time. All we need is to get you used to what it feels like to hit and be hit."

"Oh... So, how do we do that?"

"Like this." Then, Maria tapped her forehead. It stung a little, but only enough to annoy Rin.

"Ow."

"Well?" Maria smirked. "Start fighting."

"What?"

"Start. I'll teach you as we go along."

"Uh... Okay."

Rin threw a punch.

"Pathetic." Maria said with a smile, "keep going."

Rin threw another.

"The same. Keep going."

And that was the start of it.

Rin tried to hit her and, as uncomfortable as it was, Maria either took the hit or dodged them, occasionally tapping her in return lightly.

Maria taught her plenty of moves, most of which Rin messed up every single time she attempted them. Hooks, uppercuts, spinning back fists, side-kicks, spinning side-kicks, roundhouse kicks.

She even taught her a "crescent kick", which was a spinning attack where Rin had to use the heel of her right foot to strike, and the first time Rin did that she slipped laughably, falling to the ground.

She was worried at some point Maria would decide that she wasn't worth the trouble, but no. The teacher helped her through every step.

And, the most surprising part of all was that Rin felt many small changes, in such a short time.

She wasn't an entirely new person in a matter of minutes, but she could feel herself getting more comfortable with the idea of combat. At least, with Maria. Combat with monsters was a different story.

Her movements were becoming more natural as well. It helped that when Rin worked back at the Silver Rose, she'd stretched often because clients loved a flexible whore. Enough to where, even now, she could do splits.

Now, that flexibility was helping her throw kicks high above her own head.

"Good! Go for a head kick, then throw two punches!"

"Ah, okay!"

The motions became easier to perform as Rin attempted them again, and again. Maria dodged or blocked every hit, but over time, Rin could feel herself settling into a rhythm. She wasn't as scared to throw punches and kicks as she used to be.

By the end of this training session, sweat was rolling down Rin's cheeks and slipping from her jaw. The wooden floor was covered in tiny drops of it.

"Alright," Maria said, as the sun had completely disappeared and the moon was now in plain view, full and beautiful tonight. "We're done for today."

"Huh?"

"I just wanted to go over the fundamentals today. Don't worry, before your mission, I'll teach you more complex things. Including my own techniques. For now, though, you can keep practicing if you want to, but I'm going to go have dinner," Maria stated, walking away.

"Uh, wait," Rin stopped her, "I... Should I focus on anything?"

"In what sense?" Maria asked. "Right now, or in the long-term?"

"Both?"

"Hm... I would say," Maria faced her and tapped her chin. "The first step is getting your body ready. Rin, you're going to be going up against real weapons. Rusted swords and iron spears of poor quality, but weapons, regardless. You need to have the confidence that if someone were to thrust a spear in your direction, you'd be able to dodge it. That if someone were to try to hurt you with a sword, you'd be able to get through to them and kick their heads off. Before you ever worry about technique, you need to be strong enough before you can worry about anything else."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Rin," Maria assured her, "skills and specific movements will not be worth anything if you don't have a foundation to build on. So, get to work. Take advantage of Eli's classes, specifically, and make sure to put in your own time too!"

"Okay."

"I want to see a six-pack on that stomach before you go out there, you hear me?" Maria instructed her, poking her stomach. "Your body needs to be able to match iron."

"I'll try," Rin replied.

"Good. Do that, and you'll be ready."

"Alright... Thank you, Ms. Camille..." Rin bowed awkwardly.

"No problem, but, please, just call me Maria," she said before leaving Rin alone.

And Maria walked out. Rin turned to look out the open part of the room. [This... I think this is good progress!] She smiled. [Now, how does this crescent kick work again?]