Volume 1 Chapter 3: Part 4: The Start Of Their Training

"I said I was sorry. C'mon, please talk to me." The next day, Onyx and Irene came out of their room. Irene was tugging on Onyx's shirt, trying to get his attention. She can tell Onyx is still mad about what happened yesterday.

"You need to be more careful where you shoot your magic. What if somebody was at the outpost?" Onyx scolds her again. Yesterday's stint was way too dangerous. If somebody was in the range of her magic, they would have burned to a crisp.

"Promise me you won't do something crazy like that again."

"I promise! I promise I won't use my magic without checking out my surroundings!" Irene nods her head, promising Onyx that she wouldn't do it again.

"..." Seeing her act like this, Onyx sighs. He knows the promise means nothing. Irene could never keep a promise, even if it killed her. He rubs her head,

"Dummy."

"Eyyy! How am I a dummy?! And you're ruining my hair too!" Irene moves away from Onyx and tidies up her hair. The next she does is tackle Onyx,

"Anyways, aren't you excited about today? The two heroes are our teachers!"

"Mmmhmm." Even Onyx makes a smile. Right now, the two of them are walking down to the courtyard. Today's the day Irene and Onyx will be learning from Vargar and Walter.

Two well-known heroes are about to teach two heroes in the making. What kind of thing are they going to expect?

When the two walk down to the courtyard. The knights were already there, practicing with their swords. But there was a difference.

"C'mon, guys! Keep swinging with all your might. Don't let up on the last set!" The knights were lined up in an orderly fashion, like a troop of soldiers.

And in the front, Walter's commanding voice can be heard.

The knights' eyes are eager, showing no fatigue as they continue to swing their swords.

"Don't leave yourself wide open! Continue to move around and dodge!" Across from him, Vargar is sparring with a knight.

As the knight swings his sword at Vargar's waist, Vargar blocks the sword and counterattacks. Knowing what he was planning, the knight moves back. However, he doesn't realize there is a rock behind his feet, making him trip up.

The knight was about to get back up, trying to put up his guard. But the cold steel of Vargar's sword was placed onto his neck.

Accepting his defeat, the knight places his hand in the air. "I yield."

Vargar extends his hand to the knight, picking him off the ground.

"You did well. But you need to have a keen understanding of your surroundings. That way, you can use it against your opponent." Vargar begins to point out the mistake the knight made.

The knight listens to Vargar's teaching like his words are enlightenment.

These two are going to be our teachers? Onyx was surprised. The two looked so gallant and profound.

He couldn't believe he was going to be taught by them. Irene was the same too.

Noticing Onyx and Irene, Walter orders the knights, "Knights, you guys can do your own individual training. Vargar, come over here!"

Walter and Vargar walk over to the two. Walter asks the two, "Don't you guys think I was cool out there?"

Before he can get an answer from the two,

BONK! What he got was a fist to his head.

Vargar scoffs at him, "We are not here to make ourselves look cool. We're here to train the kids."

Walter rubs his head and pouts at him, "You're no fun."

"I thought you were super cool! You were like a cool commander, leading your troops into battle." Irene shouts out loud. To see Walter command like that, Irene thought it was the most heroic thing she had witnessed.

She wanted to be like that.

Walter rubs his nose, "You think so?"

"Mmhmm. I have always read stories about you. This reminds me of the story where you faced 10000 monsters with only 100 people!" In her past times, Irene would read stories about heroes. In particular, the tales about Walter and Vargar.

The heroics of those two spread far and wide.

"..." Walter's face turns stale when he hears that. He isn't alone either as Vargar looks up into the sky, giving the 1000-yard stare.

"Hmmm? Did I say something wrong?" Noticing their change in expression, Irene tilts her head, wondering what's going on.

"N-nothing! Nothing is wrong!" Walter quickly changes the topic and claps his hands together, "Alright now. Let's start training you two!" Onyx and Irene have no say as they are dragged to the courtyard.

"So, how are we going to train?" Irene jumps up and down, wanting to know what the legendary Hero has in store for her. Unlike Irene, Onyx was much calmer. But he does have an expectant look too.

Walter laughs, "Patience, we'll have enough time to train. But for starters, we need to split the two of you up."

"What? Again." Irene pouts when she hears that. She doesn't want to be separated from Onyx for a second time.

But Walter explains, "If Onyx is next to you, you wouldn't be able to train properly. You'll just be ogling him."

And that was a fact. Seeing how Irene hugged Onyx's arm like that, teaching them side by side would limit them from training efficiently.

"...Alright." Hearing the sound argument, Irene has no choice but to agree. Vargar and Walter gave her weird expressions.

Aren't you going to put up a fight?

Vargar and Walter assumed it would be like yesterday. No, they thought worse. They were prepared for Irene to throw down some magic.

But Onyx knew the reason why Irene wasn't putting up a fight. It's because she really wanted to train with Walter. That's why she's only pouting and kicking the ground.

"Then Irene and I will use the space below the western outpost: while you guys train here." Vargar nods to this.

"Be safe," Irene says to Onyx.

"I should be the one saying that to you." Before Irene and Walter left, Walter gave Vargar one final warning,

"Vargar, don't do anything crazy."

"I know what I'm doing. You just need to focus on training Irene."

"..." Walter just stays silent, but he walks off with Irene.

Vargar turns to Onyx, "Let's pick out a weapon. We're going to have a spar."

"We are sparing right now? Is that really ok?" Onyx is a beginner, and he's about to spar with a hero.

"You don't have to worry about it. I'll be going easy on you, and I will critique you while we fight."

Onyx nods and walks to the weapons rack again. As the two walk, Vargar asks,

"Onyx, do you know why Walter and I don't want you and Irene to train together?"

"Hmm? Didn't Mr. Walter say that we'll just get distracted if we train together?"

Vargar nods and continues, "That's one of the reasons. The other is we don't want anything to happen to you two or the other people around if one of you goes crazy." Two heroes being together. Both don't know their true potential or even how to control it.

What would happen if Onyx and Irene went ballistic at the same time? That itself is something Walter and Vargar don't want to see.

The Irene situation yesterday made it apparent to Walter and Vargar.

Hearing the second reason, Onyx nods, "Ahh, I see. That was a good idea." Remembering what Irene did last night, he understands why Walter and Vargar don't want to take chances.

"Anyways, go pick out your best weapon."

"Best weapon?"

Vargar nods, "Yeah. It's the weapon that's best suited for you."

"I've only used one weapon, though."

"Oh yeah. You've only been training for a few days. My bad." Vargar thinks about it for a bit and adds,

"For today, use another kind of sword. Every day, try a different type of sword. That way, you'll find the best one suited for you."

"Ok." Onyx looks around at the rack and decides on the heavy sword.

"Swing that sword around and get used to the weight. Hey! What are you guys doing?!" While Vargar gave notes to Onyx, he saw some knights messing around.

"Onyx, give me a minute. I need to deal with those fools." Vargar walks over to the knights with a dark expression. They are about to get it from him.

Onyx continues to swing the heavy sword around, getting used to the feel.

"Hero Onyx, are you getting used to the heavy sword?" Frederick walks over to him.

"Mmhmm, though it feels weird to me." As Onyx swings the heavy sword, he moves around too.

Hearing that, Frederick gives him some advice, "Hmm, It's because your stance is too compacted. Widen your stance up, and your body won't move so much."

Onyx nods and widens up his legs. When he swings his sword around, his body doesn't budge. His face brightens,

"Thank's a lot."

"Don't mention it." The smile on Federick's face changes to a tense one, "But Hero Onyx, are you going to be training with captain Vargar?"

"Mmhmm, I'm going to have a spar with him."

"...." Frederick doesn't say anything. But his expression says it all. His face turns an extra shade of white. The only words he can say are,

"Be careful."

"Hmm, what do you mean?" Before Onyx can get a response from him, Vargar comes back,

"Sorry about that. Have you gotten used to the sword?"

"Mmhmm."

"That's good. Let's go."

"Ok." Onyx turns to Frederick, "I'm off. Thank you for the tip." He follows Vargar to an open spot.

"When do we star- Ugghhhh!" Before Onyx could finish his sentence, he felt a pain coming from his stomach! He takes one knee to the ground,

What happened? He couldn't understand what had just happened to him.

"Get up." Onyx looks up to find Vargar coldly looking down on him. His previous expression was gone. It was icy cold and dark,

"If you aren't going to stand up, I'll just keep attacking you!"

Onyx slowly gets back up and gets into his stance. That one hit really did a number on him. He starts wobbling back and forth from the pain.

"Good! At least I'm working with something. But if you have to wait a few seconds to get back up, your opponent will take advantage. Now come at me!"

The moment he says this, Onyx charges Vargar. He had to be the one to make a move! He swings the heavy sword downward at Vargar's head.

Vargar didn't move. More like, he had no intentions of moving.

"First mistake: You rushed in like a reckless fool." Vargar kicks up his legs. But his legs don't make contact with Onyx.

Onyx quickly backs away from Vargar, and he begins to wipe his eyes. It was sand. Vargar had kicked sand into Onyx's eyes.

His movement stalled for a second.

But it was enough.

"Second mistake: You didn't analyze your surroundings." Vargar takes advantage of the second and side-kicks Onyx's legs, making him fall. The knights who were watching the spar were shocked. Federick yells out,

"Vargar, what do you think you are doing?! He's just a beginner!" Those were some dirty moves right there. Dammit, I knew he would do something like this. Fredrick's premonition came true. Vargar isn't known for holding back his strength. Even if it was a spar, Vargar would go 100 percent. His easy meant he was going to use 90%!

"Be quiet! I know what I'm doing!" Vargar shouts out loud, not looking at him. He continues to look at Onyx, who's coughing out blood. Small red droplets came out of his mouth.

"Come at me, or do you think all your opponents will give you all the time in the world?! You would have died a couple of times if I had the intent to kill." Vargar continues to look down on Onyx.

Like a broken doll, Onyx tries to get back up. But he keeps falling down too.

Vargar sneers, "Even if you are a Hero, it doesn't mean anything if you are dead. So grit your teeth and get your ass up."

He's right. Hearing that, Onyx slowly gets back up. His body sways back and forth, looking like he'll fall again at any second. He charges in again and swings the sword with one arm. At the same time, there was sand in Onyx's other hand, ready to be thrown.

"Oh. So you are learning." Vargar steps backward and uses the sword to block the sand coming from Onyx's other hand and strike simultaneously. Onyx doesn't let up. He continues to swing his sword at Vargar.

Vargar continues to step backward, blocking Onyx's sword with ease.

"You're too much like a wild animal! Think more!" Every one of Onyx's slashes was slow motion to Vargar. He continues to dodge with ease.

Think! What can I do?! Vargar didn't need to tell him any of that. Onyx's mind was going into overdrive. As he continued to slash him, his mind thought about the next move to gain the upper hand.

But the more Onyx thought about it, the fewer options he had.

Damn it. Is he psychic? There's no opening for me to attack! Once he made the strike, Vargar would block it. It was like Vargar would know what Onyx would do even before himself.

I can't give up Onyx continues to slash at Vargar, trying to make an opening. But he can't beat him with a sword.

That's it! Onyx's eyes brightened as he just realized something.

Quick note:

Next month, I will be changing my Paetreon tier list. It’ll be;

Bronze - 1 dollar

Silver - 5 dollars

Gold - 10 dollars