“Hell Yeah!”

Maria shouted at the capsule like it had hearing difficulties. This was mainly due to two things. The first was to trick herself to be more positive and the other was to try and recover from what she would call the 'worse disaster ever'.

Before she knew it she was in a perfectly white space with nothing in sight.

“Wow, I wonder what it would be like if it they made it so we were actually in space?” she said out of excitement to herself.

— The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?

“What? Nothing to say about what I asked? Nothing? Then yes.” she said with a hint of irritation in her voice. She knew this was an AI and if it wasn't for that fact then she would be 'all over them'.

— Select the name of your avatar.

When the AI said those words, Maria payed more attention since her name was to be known to the whole world after this.

'It needs to perfectly describe me and nothing else!' she thought thinking of countless names already.

She thought back on her life and how perfect it was.....except that she did not have parents. But that didn't matter since everyone in the Orphanage was her family and she needed to protect her younger brothers and sisters. Growing up, many people have naturally come to rely on Maria even the caretakers on times when they needed someone to cook, take care of cleaning and looking after the other children. She was the popular type at school as well. The centre of all attention she liked to think. But there were always those 'extras' that didn't fit in. She ignored him mostly but there were also the smart-pants as well, always trying to get in her way like Hina. However Maria got to admit that she was played well and her words made sense.

'Perhaps its time to let someone else be burdened the most.'

She frown at that thought since it was so not her.

'I still want to be known and looked at, no matter what Hina says she can't change my mind. Being an Elf would be perfect! I just need a Elfish name....Lyndis! That would do.' She made a smile on how creative she was.

“Lyndis! I want to be known as Lyndis.” she repeated her name to get the feel of what she was to be called in this new world.

— Select your gender from male, female or neutral.

'Female......or should I be Male? I often played as a male character in games since the other children never choose female at all and my turn is much later than most children. No no no, I want to be female....but a Male Elf would be nice as well'

Maria aged 16, the height of puberty. Struggling on deciding to play as a Beautiful Male Elf or a Beautiful Female Elf.

“Skip for now.” she said after some intense minutes on what she could do.

— Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.

“I want to be an Elf!” She at least got that part right.

— There are many different types of Elves. Please Pick one of the Following.

- Elf

- Wood Elf

- Dark Elf

- Moon Elf

- Light Elf

- Grey Elf

- High Elf

- Shadow Elf

- Night Elf

- Half Elf

A whole list just appeared in front of Maria's eyes. She was shocked at what Virtual Gaming brought. 'So this is will happen later in game...'

“Show me the appearance of all of them in both male and female models!” she demanded with a grin.

Then in front of her eyes, 20 models of the Elves she can pick appeared in front of her, all of them having pointed ears.

The Wood Elves looked like they had more muscles than the others and she immediately disregarded it without a second thought. 'I rather die than choose that one' The Dark Elves were....dark skinned. Nothing Racist or anything but Maria thought she didn't look good in dark skin. 'Wouldn't I stand out if I have Darker skin? But people would be staring not of my beauty but of my abnormalities' By this reasoning the Grey Elves, Shadow Elves and Night Elves were also not an option. Maria looked at the Half-Elves thinking on why they were all so short. She also decided not to pick them as well.

And so the three remaining options she had were Moon Elf, Light Elf , High Elf or just simply a common Elf. All of them looked beautiful except for the normal Elf which just looked normal to her. However with the exception of the normal Elf option, all of them looked too beautiful.

'People will stare not of my own beauty but of the beauty of the Elf race I choose.'

Maria looked at the 8 models in front of her and sighed when she said, “I want to be an Elf.” With a flash all of the models in front of her disappeared.

— You may alter your appearance

“Show me as a male and female Elf.”

With another flash two new models appeared, made from her own facial appearance. The male Elf had short brown hair while the female Elf had long brown hair and they looked almost the same except that the male's face was a bit sharper while the female's was more curved. While she drooled on the Male version of herself, she still would rather play as a female from now on.

With a tear in her eye she said with great regret, “Take away the Male one. I'll play as a female Elf.”

With a flash and Maria on the verge of tears the Male Elf disappeared, probably not going to appear in front of Maria ever again. However now was not the time to be crying on such things. She had a avatar to make!

First of all Maria considered her above average in appearance compared to the other girls in her class and frankly schools as well. Many times has she been confessed to and rejected the poor boy and occasionally girl much to her surprise and this gave her confidences. She kept her hair long but plain to save time and effort but her hair naturally curled which made for some bad hair days while her face was a bit pretty but not on the level of idols and the like.

'I am normal pretty but not idol pretty. They are different and often end of worse than me so it is fine for people to look better than me' she though every time she saw boys and grown men look at those type of women with admiration and sometimes lust.

Because of this thinking Maria had no trouble of deciding not to change her face at all. But there was something she wanted to try out.

“Change hair to bright red!”

The hair on her body turned a bright red which really stand out compared to her body.

'That's not right....perhaps a bit dark instead.'

“Turn Hair to dark red.” she said experimenting on the colour that will satisfy her.

Her avatar's hair turned from the bright red and a darker red which was closer to the brown colour she was born with.

'It doesn't stand out much but the others may notice the difference!' she thought to herself. Unknown to herself, she chose to not change her appearance much as to try and regain the trust she immediately lost or rather failed to obtained in the first conversation.

— Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. Please Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

“Witchhelm”

Maria was already aching to try out what is to be considered the best game in existence to date.

— Welcome to Royal Road.

She let out her usual smile that she gave in front of the children back at home while the game booted her into what would be the most important part of her current life.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

When Lyndis appeared in game with a flash of light she immediately looked around to find herself near the fountain where everyone else was meeting and everyone was already there for some reason.

'Did everyone spawn near this place? Well I hope they're not mad since I'm a bit late'

With such a thought she ran to them with a smile and waved saying, “I'm here~” with a cheerful tone. Lyndis expected everyone to at least smile or wave back but all of them except one had looks of concern for her.

'Why are they looking at me like that?'

Then she knew the reason when Hina walked up to her and hit her head hard with her fist.

WHACK

You took 10 Damage

“Ow! Wait, what's this message I'm seeing?” cried out before looking at the strange box that was floating in front of her eyes, not exactly in front blocking her view but on the side where she could see it and see everything else as well.

More looks of concern were thrown at Lyndis.

“Your late!” shouted Hina in rage. Lyndis didn't believe that someone could shout at her like that. Usually it was the other way around when she found one of the other children was doing or did something wrong and she had to lecture them.

'This kind of feeling....like a mother?'

“Anyway sent a friend request to everyone of us. No, tell us your name and we'll friend you. It'll be much quicker that way.” Hina said with the tone that reminded her of someone she could never see again.

“My name is Lyndis, a normal Elf.” said Lyndis remembering this feeling. Then six more messages appeared in front of her eyes.

Sain has sent you a friend request. Accept?

Miriel has sent you a friend request. Accept?

Raven has sent you a friend request. Accept?

Shadow has sent you a friend request. Accept?

Serena has sent you a friend request. Accept?

She immediately clicked the 'Yes' option for each of them.

'Now whose who....Shadow is probably Ian since it fits him. Miriel and Serena are female names so...Grace is most likely Serena and Hina is Miriel. Raven and Sain....no idea but I bet Sain is Peter and Raven is Mark.'

Lyndis despite how she looks and acts has surprisingly good instincts for this kind of thing.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“First of all you guys know how to open your inventory right? Just say open Inventory and a window saying what you have will appear which should be 10 pieces of Rye bread and a Canteen of Water. You can refill the Canteen using a Fountain like this but you have to buy Rye Bread for 3 Copper each. Try it out.” said Miriel instructing us the group how to play the game.

“Open Inventory Window.” said the 5 together.

Inventory

- 10 Pieces of Rye Bread

- I Canteen of Water

- No Money

Another window appeared in front of Lyndis' eyes. It was different from the one she saw before as it was a list compared to just a message.

Everyone looked and pointed at the window that was only visible to themselves. Sain tried taking out a Piece of Rye Bread and it appeared in Sain's hand.

'This looks....very hard to chew', everyone thought seeing the Rye Bread in Sain's hand.

“Anyway next is the Status Window which you will see all of your stats and such. Same thing as the inventory, just say Open Status Window.”

“Open Status Window” said the 5 again.

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Lyndis,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,None[/quart]RaceElfTitleNoneHealth100Mana100[quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]9,11[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]11,10[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]9,10[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance5%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,5%[/quart]Bonus- Magic Affinity increase by 5

- Magic Resistance increase by 5%

“Okay now that you know your status window, we have to talk about distributing stats. Know that it is better to be a master of one than a master of many. However don't let it stop you since its your character and we don't need to be something like the strongest. Now let's go our separate ways and find a class in these 4 weeks we have. Don't aim for the hidden classes since they may take too much time to get and don't just resolve yourself on being one of those common classes people get. I'll see you guys here in 4 weeks time.” said Miriel before leaving the rest of the group without any instructions on what to do.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Wow! That's chick is hot!”

“Her face seems natural and not altered as well!”

“Time to get a new 'friend'”

Lyndis was approached by three 'strange' men in the middle of the street. They were stomping their feet and making loud noises. Lyndis immediately backed away when they were close since they smelled really really bad as if they were rolling in a barn.

'What the hell do these losers want with me! Wait....I have to stop thinking like that else the same thing will happen again.....'

While Lyndis was conflicted due to past events the men using their awful smell pushed Lyndis back to the wall of a building.

Bump~

“Eh?”

Lyndis looked wildly on a way to escape this kind of situation however there were too many of them for her to escape especially since she just made this character.

“Hey want to hook up with us” the man had only lust in his eyes as Lyndis avoided his mouth in many ways.

Lyndis looked to see if any kind soul would hopefully help her. And her wish was answered.

“What are you people doing to that fair maiden!” shouted a man. From his look, he was a knight and most likely a powerful one as well since knights are known to one of the greatest classes used in war. This one was a handsome young man that was Lyndis' type of boyfriend.....not that it really mattered right now.

“What's your problem?”

“Yeah! Why are you spoiling the fun!”

Two of the men retorted back to the brave knight. However all this did was make the knight more angry. The knight drew his sword and pointed it at the men and said in a threatening voice, “Leave the Maiden alone or I will slay you all!”

'Oh~ He's the straightforward type. This game is more fun than I thought'

Lyndis openly mocked her situation in her mind trusting that such a scenario as the knight failing was impossible. These kinds of things happened commonly in books and a knight or hero will always come to save the heroine. In other words Lyndis was treating this as something that was meant to happen eventually.

At these words the men only laughed. Lyndis stared at the men.

'Wait until he kills you to comes to me.' she thought knowing that she was right.

“Pfft! IS this guy for real?”

“This guy is a NPC for sure.”

One of the men threw something at the knight whom caught it immediately but still pointed his blade at them. He looked at the thing that was thrown at them and looked in horror.

“This is...”

Disbelief was the only thing shown on the face of the young knight who was confident on his justice.

'What the hell is on that thing that made you cower like this?!' screamed Lyndis in her heart loud.

However young knight regained his emotions from disappointment and other negative feelings to just anger and rage.

“TO THINK SUCH PEOPLE COULD EVER THINK THEY COULD SERVE THE EMPRIRE!!!”

The knight charged at the men with killing intent.

“What the hell?!”

“This dude is crazy!”

The men tried to avoid the knight charging at them and drew their weapons to block and counter but the knight was too fast and too precise for them. The knight at least managed to cut several of the men during one charge at them which alone proved his skills.

Puck Puck Puck

Suddenly the knight stood there silent and motionless.

“You.....Cowards.....” the knight looked at Lyndis and his last words were, “Run......” before becoming a grey flame in front of her eyes.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

'Someone screamed. Who was it? This is.....it was me so screamed? This is a game. This is a game. This is a game. The knight died. Died. Died. Died.'

Lyndis stood there shivering. A person died right in front of her eyes. The story was not going where she thought. This had to be wrong.

“Geez, I wake up to a scream. What kind of place lets young girls scream like that?”

A sleazy looking man came out of the building Lyndis was backed to. His faced filled with scars did not help hide the drunken look he had right now. He was wearing some very expensive looking armour and his sword at least pretty from just the hilt.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Die!”

Two of the three immediately charged in for the kill.

“Lightning Blade.”

The sleazy looking man suddenly appeared in front of Lyndis from the entrance of what seemed to be a tavern and the two men behind him fell dead while emitting what could only be described as being a lightning rod in the middle of a lightning storm.

“Hmm....a bit young for my taste but its fine.” the sleazy man examined Lyndis which gave her an even worse feeling then the three men from before.

“What the hell is wrong with you!”

Lyndis slapped the man in the face. There was a bright red mark where her hand was.

“Ow ow ow.....” the man turned to the last surviving person to my left and said, “And you will...? Fight? Run? Beg?” to him.

“Tch!”

Puck Puck Puck

Swing~

The three arrows attack that killed the knight was immediately slashed down by the sleazy man.

'What in the world?'

“Wind blade.”

The sleazy man swung his sword and something large and fast flew from it.

BANG

“That's for your snipers. Now for your punishment for waking me.” said the sleazy man.

“Shit! Don't you know who I am?!” the other man shouted.

“No idea.”

“I am part of-”

“I don't care”

The sleazy man moved in and cut the other man how that man did not die immediately but looked like he was bleeding to death. The sleazy man looked down at the dying person and said, “By the way you throw something similar to this at the young knight right? I believe your one of the newcomers that recently came and fooled around.”

“What are you-”

“As one...no the only senior guild, its my guild's job to teach you a lesson if you step out of line. Congratulation, your guild shall be exiled from this region permanently.”

“Impossible you can't do that?!”

“Yes I can. We have permission from the highest power in this continent to clean up trash on occasion.”

The sleazy man stabbed his sword into the man lying in his own blood and killed him in one go. Lyndis could only watch what seemed to be a horror show in front of her speechless.

The sleazy man looked at her and said, “I presume the reason why you screamed was that it was the first time you saw someone die in front of you. Judging by your footwork you are new in this world....very new. Well if you wish to stronger than you can train under me.”

The sleazy man actually looked respectable to Lyndis right now.

“COME BACK YOU DINE AND DASH”

A voice came from the tavern.

“...”

“...”

“RUN!”

The dine and dash man took Lyndis by the hand and dashed away like the wind.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Why the hell did you grab me?! Now I'm involved as well!”

The two were being chased by a couple of people, most likely new players that want to get some easy money and quests.

“Not my fault that I save your life!”

Lyndis and the sleazy looking man was running together since.....well the people behind them that were chasing them got the impression that Lyndis was involved with the sleazy man who decided it was a good idea to dine and dash in the middle of the day where everyone could see.

“I didn't ask you to save me!”

The two cut the corner quickly and ran through the alleyway since....people who are running away always seem to be use alleyways to run through to lose the chasers.

“You bloody screamed and I woke up!”

The sleazy man started kicking bins to the chasers in an attempt them to slow them down. Several of the chasers did trip thanks to this but most of them were still chasing them and some even got up and still was motivated enough to chase the two.

“Why the hell were you sleeping in a tavern drinking?!”

Lyndis kicked the Sleazy man in the leg from behind.

“Ow! Wait, how did you know I was drinking?”

“You breath stinks.”

“...”

Lyndis looked away from him but still followed. Minutes later they managed to get rid of those who were chasing them.

“Ha...ha....ha....ha” Lyndis was breathing heavily after running so fast for so long. Although she wasn't that bad in sports, Lyndis still had the body of a new character which had the minimum amount of stamina a character could get.

“Well them who are you?” asked the sleazy man.

“That's my question!”

“Fine fine. I'm Ron, a Sword Priest.”

“I'm Lyndis, what's a sword priest?”

“A priest that battles in the front lines casting spells and such along with a weapon.” Ron placed his hand on his sword which cut down several people not long ago. It had a gold and blue hilt colour and had strange symbols engraved on it as well. Lyndis did not know what they were or what they stood for.

“So Lyndis will you be my apprentice?”

Become Ron's apprentice

Ron has fancy you and allowed you to become his apprentice.

- You will live with him until your apprenticeship finish

- You will be fed food

- You will be given training directly from him

- Will gain the title 'Blade Dancer Apprentice'

“Why?”

“Why? Do you really wish to always be the damsel in distress? You look the type to have others do things for you....and is unpopular with girls as well.”

A memory of being surrounded by people and yet was more alone than ever appeared in her mind. Her friends disappeared and she was left with strangers she did not know.

'I don't want to be alone. Why are you going? Don't leave me!'

“Shut that!” she shouted at both Ron and the voice from her memories when she was still weak.

“Fine, I'll do it. You can make me become stronger right?”

You have become the apprentice of Blade Dancer Ron

You have gained the title 'Blade Dancer Apprentice'

- Strength will increase by 1

- Agility will increase by 1

- 5% more movement speed

Ron smiled and said, “Of course. I am one of the strongest swordsman in this empire.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Where are we?” asked Lyndis in front of what can only be described as a dump. The whole place was filled with bottles of well....alcohol and weapons. Ron went in and grabbed a set of wooden swords and another sword that was made of iron from what Lyndis could see.

“This place is my home....or storage place. Same difference. There is a small training area in the backyard you can use to train with these.”

Ron threw a wooden sword to Lyndis. With her relatively good reflects she caught it though almost missed or dropped it.

“I need to see how bad you are in using a sword so I can improve you.”

'Usually people don't say how bad but rather how good. Is he expecting me to screw up or something?'

Anyway the two went to the backyard which was....clean. There was no scrap of any kind of bottle or broken piece of glass on the ground or anywhere.

'Why is this place so clean compared to the inside of the house?'

“Hey worthless princess, hurry up.”

“WHO THE HELL IS A WORTHLESS PRINCESS?!!!!”

'I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him.'

“Ho....what a nice killing intent. Hurry up and strike me else I might get bored worthless princess.”

Giving into her anger towards Ron, Lyndis charged straight to Ron to hit him. As she swung the wooden sword down...

“Wrong”

Whack

The wooden sword that was in her hands flew out in such a way that most people would think something invisible flicked it away.

'What in the world....'

Lyndis couldn't even see the movement of Ron as he completely counter her. Not it wasn't something like countering her strike but rather just flicking it away. Regaining some of her cool, Lyndis picked up the wooden sword and tried again.

“Wrong”

Whack

Again the wooden sword in her hand flew away without her knowing what Ron did.

'This is getting frustrating.'

This time Lyndis gripped the wooden sword as hard as she could and went to strike Ron.

“Finally.”

SMASH

Ron in one moment slammed the wooden sword in his hand into the one in Lyndis' with such force that she was thrown back.

Bang

You have taken 50 Damage

And with just the impact from hitting the wall behind her, she lost half her health.

“Good! First lesson is cleared after three tries. Never let go of your weapon. It is your lifeline from now on. Anyway the only thing I can teach you for now is how to fight but that comes after having the strength to fight.”

Ron took out a scarecrow and placed it in front of Lyndis.

“You will strike this thing as hard as you can over and over again. Simple stat grow but it is effective overall though many people, especially your kind hate this kind of training.”

Lyndis suddenly remembered some people talking about this exact situation where they kept on hitting the scarecrow until they only gained one stat over 10 hours. In theory you would gain 80 stats over 4 weeks which was the equivalent to 15 levels if you only gained one per 10 hours but the stat gain was random in strength, agility, stamina and vitality so it actually may be a lot higher.

However who would want to gain that amount of stats by doing the same thing over and over again for most of the day and more?

“What stats do I need?” asked Lyndis hoping that it wasn't something like 30 or 40 in strength or agility.

“Hmm.....I'll say at least 5 points in strength and agility each would be the minimum. Its not much but the purpose of this training is to make sure you're used to using a sword even if your skills are non-existence. Plus I'll give you a sword and new armour as a gift.”

Training With Ron

Increase Strength and Agility by 10 each

Reward: Iron Sword and New Armour

Restriction: Must be done in 1 week

“...”

Lyndis immediately calculated that it would take 10 hours to that.

“How the hell am I going to endure for 100 hours?!”

“Who said it would take 100 hours? At most it would take 50 hours if you work hard.”

“50? Not 100? Why?”

“Strength and Agility are two separate stats that grows on their own. While you swing, it'll increase both stats at once so it can't be that hard. According to my calculations it would, including rest and my lectures, it would take you 1 week. Plus you would gain points in stamina and vitality as well so its all fine.”

'No it isn't....I have to do at least 7 hours worth of swinging per day if I wanted to finish in time.'

Lyndis almost fell into despair until Ron said, “Its about time for food.”

“Food?”

Lyndis rose from the dead in the thought of food for some reason. Well there are many reasons actually. The first was that no matter how much she ate in this game, it wouldn't affect her weight at all. The second was that she was actually hungry and wanted to eat something.

“Well its some simple food recipes that I picked up from the years.”

Lyndis looked at Ron. He looked like he was in his early 40s. It was understandable that he would know a thing or two about cooking since he was that old but Lyndis still had to check.

“How old are you?”

“68”

'Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!'

In actually fact Ron looked 20-30 years younger than he really did. Another feature of this game was that the characters you play as age with you though it is set so that the characters grow older 4 times slower to match up with real life. So in 10 years in real life time, her character would be 40 years older but still look the same as if she only aged 10 years.

The revelation that Ron looked younger than he really was, was shocking and provided some more hope to Lyndis.

“Do you look younger because of your class?”

“Yeah. Sword Priest need to have a younger body to battle so we age physically slower than most people.”

Strike

Lyndis immediately started her training on the scarecrow.

'I need that class. I need that class. I need that class.'

“However most classes do that al......why are you starting now? Aren't we going to eat?”

Ron was very puzzled on the dramatic change in motivation from Lyndis.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

The next day....

“I don't want to move.....muscle aches.....”

This pitiful voice came from Lyndis after she spent a total of 10 hours swinging her sword at the scarecrow in one go. Naturally when she got +1 in strength after 3 hours she was happy enough to do another couple of hours which increased agility and stamina by +1 as well.

“I did tell you to not pushed yourself. However if you trained at that pace everyday you would've finished the training I need you to complete in 3 days.”

Ron sighed as he got out a couple of pieces of ingredients to cook with.

“At least I can explain some theory to you now that you're paying attention to me?”

“Theory?”

Lyndis didn't know there was a such a thing called theory for using a sword.

'Don't people just whack and get the results? I mean, everyone knows that swordsmen are mostly idiots.'

“You just thought that most swordsmen are idiots didn't you. I can easily say that those guys are the ones who die first leaving the smart ones alive to live until my age range.”

'Didn't expect him to read my mind.'

“Anyway you can't just charge in all the time. The main reason is being flanked or ambushed on the sides if you do, the second is being counter-attacked when you do attack. Because of this you need to know when to act. Also knowing how to keep your distance is also key. Too close and you can't dodge in time, too far and you can't attack. However the key to this is your footwork.”

“Footwork?”

“Yes. You don't need to be overall fast but to just move in quick succession for a very short distance. If you want to run far or fast you just need stamina and training to back you up. To dodge an attack, you'll need quick footwork, good judgement and luck.”

“Why luck? I can understand having good footwork and judgement but why luck?”

“Because sometimes things don't turn the way you want it to be. You predict an enemy attacking from the right but you are attacked from the left instead. You go to attack and there is an enemy you don't expect to be there and so on. Luck is actually really handy. I suggest fishing if you want to increase it plus you get some food along the way.”

Ron finished whatever he was cooking and gave it to Lyndis who was lying on the ground in pain. From the smell of the food, Lyndis immediately got energised and started eating.

You have eaten good food!

Vitality will increase by 25

Stamina will increase by 15

Lyndis was honestly surprised that such a thing could come from eating good food. The cooking skill seemed to be useful....very useful.

“Teach me how to cook!” demanded Lyndis with a determined gaze from her eyes.

“Maybe later. You still can't move your body well even though you rested right? I don't want you to lose a limb if you ever decide to use a sword as a kitchen knife. It would be a pain to reattach it and its really painful as well.”

“...”

“What?”

“Have you ever tried to use a sword as a kitchen knife?”

“...”

“...”

“Not telling.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Wait, why do I have to help you get food?” demanded Lyndis. Moments ago Ron asked Lyndis to tag with him to get some ingredients for the next couple of days.

“Well usually I eat alone so the amount of ingredients I get is for one person. But you came here and all the food is gone! I still can't believe how much food you can eat....”

*Glare*

“Anyway....there's a limit I can carry on hand at a time and plus we're both hungry and you don't want to miss out on some food when you can right? Plus this will help increase strength and agility as well so it will be a good experience for you.”

With those words convincing her, Lyndis eventually tagged along with Ron in buying the ingredients for food. However Lyndis noticed that something was wrong. There were....people staring at them for some strange reason and it was not the look of curiosity. It was the look of observation.

“Ron...”

“Don't look, keep on walking. I'll signal you later.”

And so they went into the shop and brought enough for the two of them to carry at once. And when they got out they were met by 5 men in dark clothes.

“This time you will give us back out money!”

Ron turned to Lyndis and shouted, “Run!” before sprinting away.

Stunned for a second and then looking at the expressions of the men, Lyndis sprinted to Ron carrying the food that would last them a week on her.

“Who the hell are those guys?!”

“My Debt Collectors!”

“You collect debt?”

“No! They're the ones who wants to collect debt from me!”

“...”

“Damn I met the wrong Master!”

Eventually the two got away and Lyndis gained +1 agility and stamina during this chase. But she wasn't that happy to get them.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

1 Week later...

You gained 1 Agility

You have completed the Quest “Training with Ron”

Collect Reward from Ron

“Ron I'm done with this training!” shouted Lyndis, loud enough that Ron would hear her. Lyndis stopped hitting the scarecrow as Ron came to see what was happening since Lyndis called him.

Seeing that Lyndis stopped her training again most likely due to the fact that she was tired again and didn't want to go on, he sighed....again.

“Did you stop again? How many times have I told you that you must keep in going if you want to progress in my lessons”

Lyndis was really annoyed hearing this. It wasn't her fault that hitting a scarecrow everyday over a week was extremely boring to the point that she just wanted to lie on the ground resting.

'Does he know how bored I was during this week? Barely any explanation and the only worth thing I found was that he knew how to cooks some good food.'

Lyndis decided that she had enough and the great thing was that she actually finished, “But I finished gaining the stats.”

“Eh?”

Ron was a bit shocked because gaining those stats in a week was hard enough. Even though stats may increase at a moderate rate in the beginning, it progressively gets harder as time passes since the stat growth dramatically decrease.

“Here, I'll show you.”

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Lyndis,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,None[/quart]RaceElfTitleNoneHealth140Mana105[quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]19 +1,21 +1[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]11,10[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]12,15[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance5%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,5%[/quart]Bonus- Magic Affinity increase by 5

- Magic Resistance increase by 5%

- Strength and Agility +1

- 5% more movement speed

“....You actually did it. I'm surprised considering your personality.”

“Well I can't always be powerless. Plus I know a couple of people who will be very sad if I didn't amounted to something by a month's time.”

“Anyway since you finished this, I'll give you iron sword...and for the armour I think you would like this.”

Ron handed over the iron sword that wasn't anything special since it was ones you would see in weapon stores. Then he took out the new armour for Lyndis. While it was definitely leather armour, it had some strange design on them as if all the parts of the armour flowed in one direction all around it.

Lyndis checked the armour before changing in the house away from the eyes of Ron whom said, “Well I understand you are a girl but I'm not a paedophile!” on her remarks on how he was gazing at her.

Iron Sword Durability: 30/30 Damage: 5-7

Standard Iron sword

Stylish Leather Armour Set Durability: 50/50 Defence: 25

A Leather Armour set that had been modified to look better in style. While it looks better, some durability and defence were sacrificed in exchange.

Options:

- Agility +1

- Charm +5

'Charm? Isn't that a stat for dancers and the likes? I think there was something about how stats don't affect you if you don't have them.....yeah it was something like that.'

While the charm stat was common enough that people knew about its effects, not many people had increased that stat high besides classes that require that stat. The charm stat had various effects but the most well known one was that it enchanted the person's looks. Many people who had high leadership also had the charm stat which helped them order their troops. Not many people would want to be of service to a ugly person.

When Lyndis came out the house dressed, Ron was already waiting for her and lead her to where the next step in training would be.

“Where are we going?” Lyndis looked around to find herself in an unknown part of town. It was more damped and had more trees than the rest of the city.

“To a larger place so I can teach you some techniques for being a sword priest.” Ron turned left of the street and passed by a couple of strange shops as he lead Lyndis.

“Then why don't you give me the class first then?”

Normally you would get some skills when you gain or transfer a class. However there were some rarer cases where you have to clear a condition or have a certain skill or complete a special quest in order to get the class. Those kind of classes were referred to as Hidden classes.

“I can't. There are a couple of requirements first. I'll tell you about them later.”

From this conversation, Lyndis more or less knew that the Sword Priest class was most likely a hidden class. She wondered what kind of skill was required to get the class. As Lyndis was thinking this, she saw a small petite looking girl in dark clothes. She approached them and said, “Its been a while Ron...this is?”

“?”

Lyndis was confused of the words of this young girl. Was Ron a pedophile as she thought?

“My apprentice.”

The young girl nodded and said, “I got one as well a while ago.”

“Oh? Another one? So how long until this ones runs away as well?” taunted Ron.

The girl frowned in a cute way and said, “This one cleared the first test in 5 days and stayed!” in such a way that Lyndis endured the agony of not hugging her right now. But she also had another question.

“Who are you? And what's your age?” asked Lyndis as if she was talking a child.

“? I'm Anna, age 26”

'You got to be fucking with me?! This isn't a some sort of anime/manga/novel that have adults look like 10 year old kids!'

Lyndis was shocked. She knew that there were some rare cases of walking cuteness even when they're an adult but she did not expect to see one right now though it is a NPC so someone in Unicorn had such a view. (Not that Lyndis was blaming that person) However Lyndis stayed put and endured when she and Anna would be alone and....*censor*

Minutes later they were at the new training place which Lyndis would train at, it was a large area with a large amount of trees that were larger than some houses. There was also a lot of junk lying around as well for some strange reason.

Lyndis looked up to find a certain person on pieces of junk. It was Shadow. It seemed like he was the apprentice of this walking piece of cute.

“Hey! Its been a while!” Lyndis shouted at him. Shadow responding to this got down and walked to the three while staring at Ron....a lot.

'Was he that kind of person...?'

“Hey don't stare to much~” in an odd fashion. The voice that came out was a lot higher pitch then it originally was and he was making some weird actions as well.

Ignoring this horrible site, Anna introduced him, “This person is named Ron. He's a....magic swordsman?” Anna looked really cute as she turned the statement into a question.

Sighing Ron said, “How many times do I have to say it. I'm a Sword Priest.”

“Priest do not use elemental magic” argued Anna.

“Priests did use them before.” retorted Ron.

“That was hundreds of years ago.”

As the two argued on the whether priests can use elemental magic, Shadow and Lyndis entered their own conversation.

“So where have you been for the last week. According to Anna you'll been somewhere in the first 5 days.” Lyndis remembered the conversation that took place a couple of minutes ago.

“I was going through a dark corridor with no light and filled with traps that may kill me in one shot. It took me 5 days to get through it safely though I had a couple close calls.”

'That sounds horrible....no wonder why the rest ran away.'

“...”

'But its still better than what I had to suffer through.'

Lyndis sighed and said, “At least you were alone to do what you want. Ron here was disturbing all kinds of things and at one point we were running from his debtors. I got more done on my own then with him.”

“That's not a nice thing to say to your Master.”

Lyndis looked at Ron with puffed with cheeks and retorted, “Its the truth though.”

“Anyway, why are you two here?” asked Shadow.

“To train and run away from the debtors among other things.” replied Anna.

“Other things?” Shadow was confused

“Nothing important” answered Ron immediately.

“Royal Knights for trying to flirt with a princess, Mercenaries for running naked in their guild, Tailor Guild for trying to model naked, Blacksmith Guild for stealing some weapons, Information Guild for putting in false information, Farmers for promising to marry their daughters and run during the wedding and so on.” said Anna nonchalantly.

“...”

“...”

“...”

'I met the wrong master.'

Shadow and Lyndis inched further away from Ron after this with him knowing as a tear fell from his eyes from sadness.

“This person is a criminal.” said Anna which was the nail on the tomb.

Ron started sobbing on the ground as he muttered something about repenting and how women don't go near him anymore.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Okay now, the condition on becoming a Sword Priest is simple. Learn how to use an element. It can be any kind of element but make sure you use one since it would be better early on.”

“Then....you can use lightning and wind?” Lyndis remembered a week ago where he completely dominated a small group of people on his own without taking a hit.

“Yes I can.” Ron was a bit proud that Lyndis remembered that event, “Okay decide which element you want and I'll teach you it.”

With those words Lyndis immediately ran to Shadow who wasn't doing anything important right now, leaving Ron alone.

When she reached Shadow she immediately asked, “According to Ron, it is best that I choose one element to use along with my sword. Which one do you think is best for me?”

“Fire.”

'That was fast....I wonder what's is reason is.'

“Why?”

“Because it perfectly represents your outgoing personality that people get along with.” he said with a straight face.

Lyndis almost blushed when hearing these words though she a long time ago a number of people said such words to her.

“Thanks, I'll tell Ron.” Lyndis ran off back to Ron who was with Anna for some reason.

“Shadow come here” said Anna whom just walked up to Shadow and dragged him away in a dark corner where she couldn't see them at all.

Ron looked at Lyndis and said, “So you chose fire. Not exactly the most effective later on but it'll do for now. Hold out your hand.”

Lyndis held out her hand which Ron grabbed and stabbed something into.

“Ouch!”

Element of Fire has been REPLACEed

- Fire Affinity increase by 5

- Fire Resistance increase by 10%

- Ice Resistance decrease by 10%

- Intelligence increases by 4

- Wisdom increases by 3

You have gained the Skill Fire Manipulation Mastery

Lyndis looked at the message in front of her with wonder. Something like this was unheard of or just rare enough that the common person in the world would not notice such a thing.

“Okay now...I can finally give you this class of mind.”

You have been offered the class 'Sword Priest'. Do you accepted?

An Ancient type of Priest that battled on the front-line and were skilled with Swordsmanship and Magic. While not processing the best defence, they make up for it with their overwhelming offensive power with speed and magic combined.

“Yes!” Lyndis said excitingly.

Your Class has been changed to “Sword Priest”

Strength +5

Agility +5

Intelligence +10

Lyndis didn't have time to check her Status window when Ron said, “Time for training. You should've gotten the skill Fire Manipulation Mastery.”

Lyndis nodded.

“Good. Now create a bit of fire in your hand, just focus it....or imagine a small ball of fire in your hand.”

Lyndis did just that and eventually after a hour of just standing there doing the same thing, a small fireball appeared in her hand.

You have generated the skill Pocket Fireball

“Pocket.....Fireball? What the hell is that?”

Lyndis checked the skill along with Fire Manipulation Mastery.

Fire Manipulation Mastery Beginner Level 1 (3/100)

The ability to use fire and all shape and form. New methods of using fire will generate a new skill.

Fire Damage Increase: 10%

Fire Control Increase: 3%

Pocket Fireball Beginner level 1 (0/100)

A small size fireball used for lighting or distraction due to its cheap use and low power

Mana Cost: 5

Cool Down: 10 Seconds

“Oh! You finally managed to make one....I almost fell asleep a second there.” Ron looked around sheepishly since he had been sleeping though Lyndis did not want to admit that her slow progress caused him to fall asleep.

“Anyway try covering the sword with Fire. Don't worry the sword won't melt with your fire.” said Ron before going to sleep again.

Lyndis created an image of the sword being on fire however like before it didn't happen immediately. However this time there was some fire, it just didn't sustain itself and was only a tiny bit before fading away.

Lyndis spent hours on this one thing until suddenly fire burst from everywhere around her sword in a brilliant light.

You have Generated the Skill Fire Blade

Fire Blade Beginner level 1 (0/100)

Covers and Combines your sword with the Element Fire. At this stage your strikes will dealt as 30% Fire Damage

Fire Fusion: 30%

Mana Cost: 5 per Second

“Wow....”

Just as she was admiring her skills, a person's scream filled the area.

“Hot hot hot hot! Who the hell lit me on fire?!”

Lyndis looked around her to find that the whole place around her was filled with fire. It was the middle of the night and it was apparent that there was a fire in this place.

“Lyndis! Is this your work?!” shouted Ron using the dirt on the ground to put the fire out from his body. After that he looked around sighing.

“Water Spring!”

Ron plunged his sword into the ground and a great amount of water emerged out of nowhere putting the vast fire that Lyndis caused out.

“Lyndis....remember to restrain yourself. Your fire is a mirror image of yourself so it won't hurt you. It will however hurt other people around you if your not careful and you will end up alone if that happens.” scolded Ron.

Lyndis remembered how she was fine for the first portion of her school life then suddenly was alone after a short while. People did not speak to her. People ignored her. People denied her whole existence. Therefore they should be denied as well. On that day, the school burnt down and no one suspected her, the one that didn't exist. The blame was quickly placed around everyone else and the matter was resolved as an accident and everyone's 'friendship' was permanently broken.

“...”

Lyndis tried her best to forget that day as she restarted her life at a new school later that week.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Another one and a half weeks passed by and another person appeared whom she knew. Although she didn't like that person, she knew that she had to cooperate with her one day though it didn't have to be today.

'Why do I have to see her?' thought Lyndis staring at the purple robed person. That person of course was no other than Miriel whom openly humiliated Lyndis in the real world taking away her chance of leading the group.

“So what kind of class have you obtained?” asked Miriel to Lyndis. Lyndis ignored the fact that Miriel had no shred of respect in her tone and replied, “Something similar to magic swordsman. According to my Master I can focus on one element to increase my power so I'll choose fire since it has the most power and range. What about you?” replying in a similar fashion.

“Support type mage. I focus on illusion and sound based magic. I can enchant your stats among other things.”

After this Miriel decided to look around confused.

“Where's Shadow?”

“Right Here.” Shadow answered honestly.

'Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!'

Lyndis almost attacked Shadow since he appeared out of nowhere. However when she saw Miriel with an even more entertaining look, she almost broke down laughing on the ground.

“You.....don't do that again.....”

“Don't bother. I've been telling him that for 2 weeks and nothing changed. Well at least he's a good assassin.” said Lyndis who finally regained her calm enough to talk over laughing at Miriel.

“I am a Rouge not an assassin.”

“An assassin specialise in killing people and have high damage along with some other skills to back them up. A thief specialise in stealing stuff and not battles and rather run away when confronted with enemies. A rouge is both of them, specialising in neither but both at the same time.” said Miriel.

'Ho...is that the difference? Well its still similar right?'

“Correct.”

Shadow for some reason looked pleased at the fact that Miriel knew what the difference was. However Lyndis remembered when Shadow actually asked Anna what the difference was a while back.

“Anyway I wanted to know what you two could do but that's Sain's job not mine.” said Miriel.

'Then why did you ask in the first place?'

“Then why are you here?” asked Lyndis.

“I test out my spells.” Miriel raised her hands and said, “Melody of Speed!”

A soft sound echoed throughout the area and a gentle light surrounded Miriel, Lyndis and Shadow.

Melody of Speed is Active:

- 12% more agility

- Last 10 Minutes

'Oh, this is kinda interesting. More speed for me....wait does this mean she's supporting everyone at once with the spell? Awesome!'

“Wow! I can't believe you got something like this up your sleeves!” exclaimed Lyndis in shock.

Miriel then went to one of the target practised place and shot out Mana Bolts at them leaving Shadow and Lyndis together though Lyndis had a feeling that Miriel could not see Shadow for some reason which was very worrying for him but not Lyndis.

“Aren't you a Sword Priest?” asked Shadow.

“Wow! Where did you come from?!” she exclaimed in shock.

“...”

“That was a joke. I knew you were there. Anyway being a Sword Priest and Magic Swordsman is really similar so I just use the latter since its much easier than explaining what a Sword Priest is” she answered seriously.

“I see.”

Shadow disappeared from Lyndis' sight and she went on with her own training.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Some time later....

Lyndis was cutting up ingredients and cooking them in a big pot filled with water. She intended to make soup out of these ingredients under the guidance of Ron. Eventually a certain message appeared that made Lyndis a bit happy.

You have generated the skill Cooking

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Another three days later another person Lyndis knew popped up at the training site. It was Sain and an unknown man that looked the same age as Ron but...looks are deceptive to this lot as Lyndis found.

WHACK

'What was that?' Lyndis heard a loud noise and something happened when she was not looking. She really wanted to look but the fact that they should be concentrating on their training in front of their masters is the most important thing right now.

“It has been a while you two. Again Anna, you don't have to attack me every time I enter this place.” said the man.

“So this is the new apprentice that you're so proud of. Anyway the elf girl whose breaking those targets is my apprentice while the other one is the new apprentice of Anna whose do those jumps and such” said Ron. Lyndis completely ignored him and continued trying to fuse her fire with her sword which proved really hard when you're trying not to burn the whole place down!

“Hey you two!” shouted Sain.

Lyndis immediately turned around when she heard his voice. She did not know why but his voice....made her feel weird. Feeling....happy? She ran up to Sain and said, “Yo! How's it been!” Lyndis hugged Sain.

The sight of Sain blushing due to her hug was enjoyable to Lyndis at least. However it still did not compare to the sheer cuteness of Anna who was angry at the sight of the unknown man here.

“It's been a good 3 weeks. Although it seems like I'm the last one to make even some progress in skills.” said Sain mockingly.

Gen whacked Sain in the head and said, “I told you that learning skills was the last part of your training. Anyway let me give you some skills first before you start your reunion with another girl” Gen winked at Sain.

'Another....girl? Wait....isn't that just Serena and Miriel then? Meh...'

The man whom Lyndis soon found out as Gen left to talk with Anna and Ron on his own leaving Sain, Shadow and herself to talk amongst themselves for a while.

“Anyway what have you two been doing for the last three weeks?” Sain asked.

Long story short I met Ron, became his apprentices like everyone else did with their Master and started my training as a Magic-Swordsman. Basically you combine both into one and my class is that. I'm training to bring both strength and intelligence up.” Lyndis answered kinda ignoring the fact that Shadow was there.

“Like Lyndis, I met my Master and started my training after she saw that I had potential for it. She more or less made me into a rouge which is the middle ground between a thief and assassin. I'm currently training to improve my agility and such.” answered Shadow making sure not to pour too much information into Sain's head at once.

“Well the first week I have been learning all about tactics and the other things I need to know. Then the following two weeks I drilled in the same place as Raven to improve my physical abilities and now I'm going to learn all about how to use my skills.” Sain said quickly.

“Sain! You finished yet?! I only have a week to teach you all you need to know now, so get here!” shouted Gen. Although a bit reluctant, Sain made his way to Gen who was setting up some target leaving Shadow and Lyndis back to their training.

'I really don't like the feeling that I get from that Gen man...'

“I feel that Sain could be corrupted by that man” said Lyndis all of a sudden.

“I agree. The Gen person isn't liked much isn't he.....”

“I wonder what happened in the past.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Another week passed and it was finally time to graduate from being an apprentice to Ron.

“You have done...well in the last 4 weeks. I am glade that at least one person has inherited my skills, though a bit lacking at time...”

Stare....

“Right! You graduate, done!”

You have Graduated from being the Apprentice of Ron the Blade Dancer

Fame +10

Due to the unwillingness of Ron to grant you more rewards than this, a total of 2 level ups have not been given to you

You have lost the title 'Blade Dancer Apprentice'.

All Bonuses from the title will be removed

You have gained the title 'Blade Dancer'

- All Stats increase by 1

- 10% more movement speed.

“Open Status Window.”

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Lyndis,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,Sword Priest[/quart]RaceElfTitleBlade DancerHealth200Mana155[quart=Fame,Infamy]10,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]21 +1,25 +1[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]17 +4,12 +4[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]14 +1,18 +1[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0 +1,2 +1[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance5%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]10%,-10%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,5%[/quart]Bonus- Magic Affinity increase by 5

- Magic Resistance increase by 5%

- All Stats +1

- 10% more movement speed

- Fire Affinity increase by 5

- Intelligence increases by 4

- Wisdom increases by 3

Skill Window

- Sword Mastery Beginner 2 (89/100)

- Fire Manipulation Mastery Level 1 (66/100)

- Cooking Beginner Level 1 (13/100)

- Pocket Fireball Beginner level 1 (91/100)

- Fire Blade Beginner level 1 (73/100)

Lyndis made sure she had everything she needed and left as Ron was about to take a nap when Anna knee him while dropping from a tree.

Unknown to her, Ron had planted something into her as an experiment.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 10200~

- The last of the six training chapters for all of the main characters.

- To be honest, at first Lyndis was the least liked character in my mind then I continued to write and she somehow became similar to Eden in some ways. The same was with Ron as well since I made him look respectable at first and then immediately made him humorously disappointing which was fun to write.

- Lyndis was originally suppose to by the typical swordsman but then I wanted to add in magic as well but didn't want to call her a magic swordsman. So I created the Sword priest which is more or less the same thing but is stronger and weaker in certain ways.

- As a warning, the next chapters may represent the characters in different ways compared to the first 6 chapters. This is because there was a large, several months break from working on this series and most of the things I wanted to do disappeared from my mind. Due to this, some of the characters may not be in 'character' and seem emotionless or one dimensional side characters at times. I'm trying to work on this issue in volume 2 here...