Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 8:58

In front of the Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

“Is this the place?” I asked.

“Yes My Lady, this is the Raging Chimera School.”

“... What a name… Oh well. Oh, by the way, who is your Lady?”

“Ah, my apologies.”

“Hah, less formal.”

“Right, uh, I am sor-”

“Less. Formal.”

“My bad?”

“Better.”

I didn’t look at Captain Nev, he was wearing the same mask from when I had interrogated that servant from the Iron-Hammers, so even if I had looked, I wouldn’t have seen anything. But, I could tell, he was struggling with the latest batch of orders I had given him.

“Now then, Larry,” I used the fake name I had recently given him, “This school, what can I expect?”

“Yes My La- er, yeah… Cat…” Captain Nev barely managed to get my fake name out, the same one I used when meeting with the thieves guild. “The Raging Chimera School is a subsidy school belonging to the Canyon Family. Specifically, their patron is Gwyneth Canyon Fredirin, the seventh child of the Canyon Family.”

We had taken our simple wagon throughout the Capital and eventually made our way here, to the Sixth Circle, where this school was.

The next ruler of the Fredirin Kingdom would be the head of one of the six ducal houses, Zachary Gold-field, Patrick Canyon, Henry Lakeside, Isabella Pine, Analise Quarry, and Jason Steam-Burst. But, the next ruler would not be decided based off of their accomplishments, but off of their children’s. Those six, when they were children, competed with their cousins to allow their father to become the next king, and now, their children will compete to see who’s parent will be the next ruler.

With the exception of our Pine Family that is taking an unorthodox route, the families send their children out to earn merits and accomplishments. They can be personal ones, such as becoming a high ranking warrior or mage, become incredibly learned and knowledgeable, or even simply accruing fame. They can also be military accomplishments, business accomplishments, civil and administrative, political, or even simply by having powerful subordinates.

The children go out and try to better the kingdom and themselves to the best of their ability. And one way they can do that is by creating powerful warriors that serve under them. Simply the act of creating powerful warriors will earn them merits, but if those powerful warriors then go on to do great things under their flag, that would be even better.

To do this, the children fund and support various guilds, adventurer groups, mercenary companies, and combat schools.

The Raging Chimera School in front of us was one such combat school.

“Like a traditional chimera, this school specializes in three forms, the goat form is for fighting on unstable terrain, the lion form is for powerful frontal attacks, and the snake form focuses on defense and counter attacks.”

An aspiring warrior can join a combat school to learn their particular techniques and forms. They will also receive basic training, but the main draw is their unique skills, as Captain Nev just mentioned, the Raging Chimera School has three separate forms of fighting they can teach, and within those forms, are stances, techniques, breathing methods, and probably other hidden secrets.

“Elements?” I asked.

“Wind and Earth, about equal as far as we can tell. They don’t use true magic.”

Some schools, low-quality ones, only focus on physical traits, but most schools will incorporate magic in some way. A few schools train actual Magic Warriors, people who can not only use a weapon to fight, but can also cast spells as a mage, but those are somewhat rare. The majority, just fuse the two together. A warrior of at rank 3 or so will begin to use their magic to increase their own power, making their bodies sturdier, their strikes faster and stronger, things like that. Many warriors and knights stick to this method, but not all.

Some integrate elemental magic into their fighting style, using wind to propel their strikes faster, or encasing their weapon with fire, or making a layer of earth cover their bodies. This school was one that apparently did that.

“My- Cat, is this wise?”

“Hmm…” I looked around to make sure no one was listening before I answered. “The Canyon Family is going to go on high alert soon, so we will hit at least two of their schools first, then we will play things by ear.”

“High alert? No, well, that wasn’t what I was asking.”

“I know what you were asking. I chose not to answer that particular question. Larry, all you need to do is follow my orders.”

“Understood.”

I jumped down from the wagon and once I landed, I brought my hand to the mask that was on my face. Unlike Captain Nev’s, and the one I had used before, this was made of simple leather straps wrapped around my face, only my eyes were revealed.

“Sword?”

“This is the best we could find that fit your requests.” He said as he handed me the blade I had asked for.

I removed the sheath, a plain soft leather thing, and looked at the sword. It was falchion, the blade was sharpened only on one side, and the blade itself was thinner towards the hilt and flared out towards the curved tip. The entire length was just under three feet, the blade itself was about two and a half feet long, and the whole thing weighed just over eight pounds. For a falchion, it was not exactly long, but it was pretty heavy due to its somewhat crude design. It wasn’t that sharp, but it was thick and solid since despite being a weapon, it could also double as a hatchet.

Considering that my sword was around 35 inches long, and that I was only 44 inches tall, it would probably seem as if it was way too big of a sword.

However, it was very close to what I asked for, so I was rather happy with it.

“My L-Cat, we got that from a second-hand shop, so I don’t know how durable it is. I personally tested it and it seemed fine, but maybe a better sword would be best?”

I looked at it, and I could see several knicks on the edge, they were mostly sanded down, but they were still there. Even the leather wrapped around the hilt was a bit dirty and frayed.

“It will be fine.”

“I see…”

“Then, off I go,” I said after strapping the sword to my back.

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 9:04

The Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Ben, Son of Roka.

“Haaah…” I did my best to stifle a yawn.

When I was still in my twenties I had no problem waking up, but once I hit thirty, each year that passed, I found the mornings to be more and more disagreeable. Luckily for me, I didn’t need to get up that early, nowhere near as early as our live-in apprentices.

The Raging Chimera School had two branches, the main one here in the Capital, and one in the Canyon Family’s main city, Red Rock City. The one in Red Rock City was smaller, but it had the same basic set up, there would be several live-in apprentices who would wake up well before dawn and prepare the school for the day, mostly some cleaning and meal preparation. Those poor souls have probably been awake for at least two or three hours by now.

I used to do that back when I was still in training, but the idea of waking up that early, bah, I can’t even consider it now.

At this time, those apprentices had already finished their chores and were doing basic body strengthening and personal training. They would continue that until just before noon, then they would stop, do the preparatory work for lunch, and then when the cook comes in and finishes the meal, they’ll all have lunch. In the afternoon, the part-time apprentices that do not live within the school come over, and they do joint training or listen to lectures from the trainers.

In some ways, not all, but in some ways, I envy the apprentices. They still get to see their hard work pay off as their skills grow, but for me, who was technically a master, I rarely saw any improvements, and as old age slowly took over my body, I only saw my skills degrading.

Since I never reached any great heights and languished as a rank 4 swordsman, I didn’t teach any classes and instead worked as a receptionist, which to be honest, basically meant I sat around all day and did very little of anything.

Well, I did offer advice and occasionally spar with the trainees, but that was it.

Since no one would come in this early, perhaps I could go see if that old geezer Gort needs some help with the apprentices.

“...This… Raging...Chimera... School…?”

Right as I thought that, the front door slammed open and I heard a dull and halting voice call out.

“Eh, who could that be?” I said to myself and went to the front.

Standing there in front of the open door, was what I assumed was a halfling. The halfling was wrapped entirely in dark leather armor, hands, feet, even the face, no skin could be seen. All I could see was a pair of eyes that seemed as if they had no color, only two small pinpricks of black that was the pupils. No, as I looked closer, the iris in each eye was silver. Despite the tightness of the leather, I couldn’t really tell if it was male or female, judging by the body type, I would have guessed a male, but the voice made it sound like a girl.

And worryingly, the halfling had a decent sized sword strapped to its back, and considering it was a halfling, the sword could be considered huge.

“Yes, this is the Raging Chimera School, can I help you?” I asked while trying to sound polite. The halfling was somewhat rude, and still hadn’t even shut the door, but it was probably a prospecting apprentice.

“...Heard...Strong...Want...Test…” The halfling said without moving, or shutting the door.

Well, of course, we were strong.

“Yes, well, come on in,” I said and motioned to the interior of the school where we had several small offices where I could to the halfling in private.

“...Yes…” The halfling said, and then walked in, without shutting the door.

I frowned, and then after letting the rude halfling go ahead of me, I went and shut the door. Did the halfling not realize how much firewood we needed to heat this place? Eh, it probably didn’t, their kind are often nomads and they don’t usually spend time this far north, they prefer the more temperate grasslands.

Come to think of it, maybe that leather wasn’t armor, but was to keep the being warm? Well, no matter, I guided the halfling into one of the small meeting rooms, and without even looking around, it plopped into one of the two chairs.

“Would you like tea?” I asked even as I went towards the teapot.

“...No…”

“Well, let me know if you change your mind,” I said as I came back empty-handed, I couldn’t very well drink by myself. “I didn’t catch your name, I am-”

“...Name...Cat… Your… Name… Don’t… Care…”

Eh…. This halfling is really rude.

“I see… Cat then, why is it that you came to our illustrious school?” I said while keeping my annoyance off of my face.

“...Want… Test… Fight… Strong...Spar…”

“You… want to test yourself against us?” I said, sharper than I intended.

Occasionally, these fools come around looking to make a name for themselves by challenging schools, and while most of them end up getting thrown out, bruised and beaten, some of them actually have some skills.

However, that was pretty rare, and all certified combat schools have an informal agreement to not send their own students to pick fights, so this halfling is almost certainly self-taught.

“So, an exchange of pointers is it? Well, if I may ask, what is your rank.”

“...Don’t… Know…”

Eh… This halfling is an idiot. A rude idiot.

“Then, I think it is probably best that we don’t go forward with this spar.”

“...Coward…?” The halfling’s voice didn’t change, but I could see the mockery in its eyes.

“I see, well if you don’t mind some broken bones,” I said viciously.

“... Cowards… and… Fools… Talk… Strong… Prove… It…”

“Almost all of our apprentices that are currently here are Rank 1 and Rank 2, so if you agree to a no magic match, I can let you spar with one of them, and it will be with training swords.”

“...Good…”

“Follow me,” I said and abruptly stood up.

The halfling, Cat, followed me as I went into the back where we had an indoor training area. A few apprentices were here, but most were in the courtyard doing physical training. Those that were in here all stood and saluted to me.

“Good morning Assistant Master Ben.”

“Morning, Assistant Master Ben.

“How are you, Assistant Master?”

“Good day, Assistant Master Ben.”

After dealing with the rude halfling, the respect from the apprentices was a nice change.

“Call over Mek and Orth, we have a challenger,” I said and motioned towards the halfling that had followed me without a word.

“Yes, Sir!” The apprentices shouted and then after throwing hostile looks at the halfling, went searching for their fellow trainees.

I took this time to explain how this would work to the halfling, after all, it seemed really dumb.

“So Cat, the match will take place in one of our training rooms, I called over two apprentices because our school has different styles, so you can pick which one you want to fight. Since I see you don’t have a training sword, one will be provided. The fight goes until one side surrenders, is forced out of the agreed-upon bounds, or is knocked down three times. Also, when you get knocked down, you have five seconds to get up, otherwise you lose, and you may not attack when either person is on the ground. I will observe and act as a judge.”

“...Talk… Too… Much…”

I ground my teeth together to stop from shouting at the wretched thing. If it doesn’t want to know the rules, then so be it.

“Assistant Master Ben, I heard you called for us?” A voice called out to me and distracted me from mentally cursing at the halfling.

In the front was Mek, he was wearing the simple cotton garb we used as training uniforms, but it was damp with sweat. The upper part was open and his well-defined chest could be seen. Mek Specialized in the Goat Style of our school, he was thin and lanky, but still muscular. He was also a rank 3 fighter.

Behind Mek was Orth, his top was missing completely and he was still dripping with water, he even had a towel wrapped around his neck. Unlike Mek, Orth was all muscle, he was a bit shorter, but he was wider and weighed almost twice as much as the thin Mek. Orth, like Mek, was a rank 3 fighter, but he focused on the Lion Style.

This is Cat,” I said as I waved towards the halfling, “Cat is looking for an exchange of pointers.

I had told the halfling that almost all of the apprentices were rank 1 or 2, I didn’t say all, and it was its fault for not asking for more information.

“Hmm… I see.” Mek said, his eyes looking over the halfling disdainfully.

“Cat, Mek here uses the Goat Style, while Orth is a practitioner of the Lion Style. They are pretty different and-”

“...Don’t… Care… Fight… Both…” The halfling said without even looking at the two of them.

“Yes… Well…” I started while trying to keep my anger in. “The Goat Style focuses on fighting on unstable terrain, so to showcase that, Mek will need to fight in a special room, so you-”

“...Don’t… Care… Noisy…”

“Hahaha, Don’t worry Assistant Master Ben, I will be happy to exchange pointers with this fellow first,” Mek said, even while laughing, I could tell he was just as angry as I was.

“That settles it then, Mek, head to the room, I'll get Cat a training sword and we’ll be right over,” I said to Mek and watched as he left to follow my directions, then I turned to Orth. “And Orth, if Cat still wants another match, you can have a go then too.

“Sure…” Was his response.

Orth was an orphan, and due to his rough childhood, he didn’t talk much, but I knew he was extremely devoted to the school, he was probably angrier than Mek and myself combined.

“Now Cat, come over here and try some of the practice swords.”

Oh yes, we will show this brat the harshness of the world.

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 9:19

The Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

This turned out to be a lot easier than I thought.

From what Captain Nev had mentioned, challenging a school was frowned upon, and most schools wouldn’t go along with a challenge. As far as we could tell, the only real way to reliably get them to go along with it, was to insult their honor. If you threatened to tell others that they refused to fight out of fear, most of them would accept the challenge.

I had decided to do that, but also to act as rude and obnoxious as possible, if I could get them enraged, that would make things easier.

And it had worked splendidly, I had been here for less than ten minutes, and already I was swinging this practice sword to get a feel for it.

Now, all I had to do was crush them.

Easy enough.

“Cat, are the swords suitable?” The receptionist asked, a boring look man in his fifties.

The practice sword in question was simply a stick with cloth wrapped around the bottom. There was no hilt, which seemed questionable for a practice weapon, and the tip was rounded. In the past, it had been polished so it was smooth, but it was currently scuffed up and was clearly well used.

Still, the balance was fine and it was certainly a serviceable weapon.

“...Fine…” I spoke in my halting voice that I adopted for this. I, after all, didn’t want anyone to know that I was the one performing this challenge.

“Then follow me to the training room.”

I followed the old man into a room that was rather unique. It was smaller than the other one, twenty feet by twenty feet, but the center was not wooden flooring or stone tile, but loose dirt. There were pebbles mixed in, even a few sections that looked like it was sand, and there were two pools of water, one surrounded by mud, and the other in the sandy part. There were stumps positioned around, larger stones were individually placed while there were also piles in a few areas. Some sections of both the dirt and the sand were pits, and others made little mounds.

“How is it?” A voice asked.

This was not the receptionist, but a much older man who was already in the room. My opponent, Mek I think it was, was doing some light stretches in the center while this elderly man watched. He didn’t turn and face me, but he still spoke.

“The Goat Style is all about moving around on rough terrain, here, indoors, we limit it to some stones and stumps, but we have other training grounds outside that are-”

“... Don’t… Care…” I cut him off.

“HAHA, it’s just as Mek here said. You have an attitude problem. Well, Mek is my disciple of sorts, so I am sure he will show you how wide the world is.”

“...Talk… Less… Old… Man… Fight… Now…?” I asked as I swung my practice sword a few more times.

“You! How dare you talk to a Master like that!?” The now no longer stretching apprentice yelled.

“Now, Now, Mek, just smash this loudmouth down, no need to talk to people like this. Now, let's finish stretching.” The elderly said and then focused entirely on his student.

“Sorry about that Cat, he gets angry easier in his old age, but Master Gort is a skilled teacher, and his disciples will be your opponent, so that is why he is here.” The middle-aged man said, not sounding at all sorry. “Well, normally we start Goat Style matches ten feet away, so just stand somewhere you want, and Mek will start at an appropriate spot.”

I didn’t respond to the receptionist and instead removed my falchion from my back and tossed it towards the wall, and then I walked in and stood at a random spot. After a second, the old man left the fighting area, leaving only the apprentice behind.

I held my wooden sword in both hands at the ready while Mek was lightly hopping up and down, his practice sword, identical to mine, was held loosely in his right hand.

“Well, you both know the rules, so begin.” As the middle-aged man said that, Mek jumped into action.

Instead of charging at me, he jumped sideways and started trying to circle around me. Instead of avoiding the rocks and stumps, he was directly landing on them, and then bouncing off. Occasionally he would come a bit closer to me, feinting a charge, but he would quickly bounce backward away.

I for my part, just turned my body to face him as he circled around, slowly and steadily advancing towards him.

It took a few seconds, but eventually, a smug smirk appeared on my opponent's face, the same smirk that had appeared almost immediately on the two men observing the match.

“What kind of footwork is that?” He called out to me as he bounced further backward.

Instead of answering, I trod toward him steadily.

“I couldn’t be that, you don’t know any footwork at all? It looks like you’re just walking.”

There were a few other apprentices in the room, in addition to the one that would be my next opponent, and they were all snickering as they watched.

“This is pathetic,” Mek said as he lunged forward, changing direction twice as he did, but then pulling back, well out of striking range. “Are you a complete novice? You responded to each of those feints. Have you ever been taught how to fight with a sword?”

“...Never…”

“What?” Mek actually stopped completely, even his bouncing when I said that. “Really? This is ridiculous.”

The fact was, Olivia had not ever trained with a sword, after all, she was still seven, a girl, and rather frail. Pamela my older sister, also was never trained in any military art. If either of us had wanted to, I was sure our parents would have let us, but that never came up.

So Olivia knew nothing about using a sword, and for my part, I had never really used one myself. I'm sure I had at some point, swung a sword around, but when it came to real fights, I would either use my magic, or would use my own body as a weapon. A tool, a weapon like a sword, was something I didn’t need.

Footwork, stances, techniques, I knew nothing of them.

Suddenly, Mek seemed to fall forward off of the stone pile he was standing on. As he fell, he kicked off of the pile, and sent himself lunging towards me, even with my short stature, it appeared as if the dashing Mek was even lower than me.

At five feet away he suddenly jerked and launched himself towards my left, by the time I turned, he had already come to a stop on another plank of wood, and then he leaped up into the air, flying towards me while bringing down a powerful overhand chop.

Footwork, Stances, Techniques, I needed none of them.

As Mek’s two-handed slash came crashing down, I sidestepped away from him, his strike went harmlessly past me, and as he landed, I sent a horizontal slash that was aimed at the back of his head.

But, he was nowhere near there when my sword reached the area. When he landed, even before that, he, having realized I wouldn’t be hit, had given up on landing normally, and once his feet touched down, he tumbled forward. Just like when he had lunged down from the rocks before, he had sprung forward. By the time my sidestep and slash was completed, Mek had already put nearly five feet of distance between us.

“Oh, not bad reflexes,“ he laughed. “But that’s it. I bet you rely on those reflexes and your fast movements, but you don’t really know anything. That might work against amateurs, but against us, you’re nothing but trash, like a goblin. Come to think of it, maybe you are a goblin under all that leather?”

As Mek prepared for another assault, and his fellow apprentices laughed at his comments, I cut all of them off by charging forward.

All I did was run straight at him, and then as I came into range, I skidded to a stop and let loose with a powerful sideways slash, that missed him by a wide margin as he jumped backward again.

I could tell he was surprised by how fast I had closed the distance, but I also could tell he was in no real danger, he had dodged it with ease after all.

“Well, you are trash, but, well, decent trash. Let's see how long you can hold out.”

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 9:35

The Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

For nearly ten minutes, I traded blows with Mek. I charged and swung with powerful strikes, while he dodged and nimbly sent a flurry of strikes back. When I retreated, he would launch a powerful attack. Occasionally I parried and blocked, but I mostly dodged, and for his part, Mek dodged every attack.

But by now, Mek was getting tired, and I, I was learning how to fight.

I could have simply overwhelmed Mek if I had wanted too, but if I had brutally crushed him, it would have been obvious I was hiding my strength. I could easily break him, but then no one else would fight me, and things would get complicated.

So instead, I wasted my time with this game.

I was still nowhere near being a skilled swordsman, but by using my superior base stats, I could now put up a decent fight. Even now, as Mek was tiring, I was still holding back.

But, now it was time to finish this.

Mek had just bounced himself away from another one of my attacks, and this time, I quickly lunged at him again, without making any effort to reposition myself or regain my balance. For the first time in this fight, I thrust with my sword. Not only did I thrust, but I put nearly my entire body behind it.

Mek could tell I was powerful, he knew if he received this thrust, not only would he lose, but he would be severely injured and possibly even die. He also knew that there was no way I could ever hit with such a haphazard attack.

He jumped back and to my right, his right leg kicking off of a small mound of dirt, his left landing on a stump. My thrust missed him by a wide margin and left me completely open.

Rather than sending a large attack my way, he sent a fast one, he jumped forward and sent a single-handed downward slash towards the top of my head.

But, I stepped forward harder, as his jumping attack went forward, it would bring him past me and his slash would go over me and miss completely. And yet, I wasn’t done. Using my strength, I spun and twisted my body, turning my thrust into an upward slash.

As Mek slid past me, the tip of my sword flew up right into his armpit. I felt his arm dislocate with a pop. Mek stumbled forward, a pained expression already on his face as he let go of his sword.

With an injury like that, Mek would not be able to continue the fight even if he wanted too, it was my win.

Winning, however, was not why I was here.

As Mek stumbled forward, I used the force of my upward slash to completely spin my body around, and I used that rotational force to swing downward. Mek, who was on his way to collapsing, never even saw the attack coming.

My wooden practice sword’s edge crashed down onto his right shoulder. With a crunch, his collarbone splintered, his shoulder shattered, and the entire joint was reduced to tiny shards. The force of my blow sent Mek tumbling forward, he smacked into the ground, his face cracking into a stone and splattering blood as his lips split open. He rolled and came to a rest on his back.

An unconscious Mek, his face a bloody mess, with his right arm twisted and bent, his shoulder crushed and warped, laid there in the mud.

For a moment, the cheering from his fellow apprentices had come to a complete stop and silence reigned.

“...Weak…” I stated.

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 9:37

The Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Ben, Son of Roka.

“...Weak…” The halfling’s voice broke me out of my stupor.

“Call a healer!” I yelled as I rushed towards the unconscious Mek.

At the same time I reached his side, so did Master Gort.

Mek was bleeding heavily from his face, his mouth and nose were both leaking blood, and Mek was beginning to choke on the blood that was pooling in his mouth. I knew only the most basic first aid techniques, but that wasn’t the case for Master Gort. The old Master quickly, but gently, turned Mek’s head to the side, allowing the blood that was preventing his breath to leak out onto the floor. Master Gort wasn’t a mage, but he could cast the most basic of spells like most people, so from his hand, he created a small amount of water that washed the blood from Mek’s face. The only new blood came from his mouth and nose, there were no major cuts which was good, most likely both of these would stop given time.

But, suddenly Mek started choking again and gasping for breath.

Master Gort frowned, and then without warning, shoved his finger down Mek’s throat. After he withdrew his hand, Mek spit up a mass of blood into Master Gort’s waiting hand, and in the bloody goo, I saw two small white things.

“Teeth?” I asked.

“Yup.” Master Gort responded with a solemn expression on his face.

Another, smaller, amount of water appeared, this time falling into Mek’s mouth and washing away the blood. With that gone, both of us could see that his two front top teeth were missing.

“I… think he is fine here,” I started, but then looked at his right arm, “But his shoulder…”

Mek’s shoulder had dropped down almost three inches, his arm was limply bent behind his body, and when we pulled his shirt down, his skin had already swollen up and turned back. But even through that, we could see lumps hidden underneath it. Master Gort gently placed his hand over it, but even then, Mek groaned in pain.

“How… How is it?” I asked.

“A mess. It’s a fuckin mess. His shoulder is ruined. I don’t… I don’t even know where to start.”

“Shit! Where is the healer!?” I yelled.

“Ben, we’ll move him to a bed.”

“...Weak… Pathetic… Fight… Other… Now…?”

“You son of a bitch!” Orth yelled and then started running towards the monotone halfling.

“ORTH! Stop!” Master Gort shouted. “We need to move Mek, then you can fight.

“Help us move him,” I added.

Orth looked conflicted, but eventually, he came over along with two other apprentices. We slid a board under him, and then the five of us lifted him up and took Mek out of the room and into the medical room.

“Assistant Master Ben, Lomb ran to go fetch a healer, he should be back soon.” Another apprentice said after we laid him down on a bed.

“Okay, keep an eye on him, call us if anything happens, but we need to get back,” I ordered as I shared a glance with Master Gort.

“Orth, come with us, we need to talk.” Master Gort said.

Outside of the medical room, we stopped to regain our wits. I could tell Master Gort was shaken, but it was nothing compared to Orth.

“Orth, lad, calm yourself. You can’t fight like this.” Master Gort said while putting his hand on the young apprentice’s shoulder.

“I know, it’s just…”

“Mek and you are friends right?” I said.

“Yeah… we are... we are friends”

“Okay, well, you need to be in control to get revenge. So let's discuss this.” I said, but then left the start to Master Gort.

“Yes, okay, why did Mek lose?” Master Gort asked. “That fellow was a complete amateur, at least when it comes to using a sword.”

“But, the halfling is strong and fast. A strong body can be a replacement for skill.” I answered.

“Right. And Mek got tired as the fight went on. That fellow probably has a really good body, that fellow just wore down Mek.”

“Okay, then, what do I do different?” Orth asked, having calmed down a bit.

“Mek took his time, which was a mistake, but it is also the fault of the Goat Style, the Goat Style doesn’t have a lot of decisive strikes, right Master Gort? You are a master of the Goat Style.” I said.

“Bah, that was a long time ago. But, yeah, that is right. When Mek did go in for a decisive strike, he left himself open, he was too tired, and that fellow got lucky with that strike. Orth, you just need to keep striking, wear that fellow down instead. Plus, after a fight, that fellow will be tired.”

“Okay, yes, I need to avenge Mek, let’s go.”

“Wait,” I stopped them, “There is something else. Orth, have you ever fought a halfling?”

“Uh… I don’t think so?” He answered.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t either.” Master Gort added.

“I have once, they are a pain. Not too many of their kind become warriors, they tend to be weak and their reach is short. This one seems strong, but that’s not important, what is important, is that halflings are short.”

“Er, what does that have to do with anything? Shouldn’t that just make them worse fighters?” Orth asked.

“It usually does, but, it also means that their attacks come in from below, something you aren’t normally going to face. That is also why they make for good assassins, it’s hard to dodge or parry that type of attack.”

“Oh…”

“I see, Assistant Master Ben is right.”

“Also, because they are so small, you too need to aim lower. Most training will have you aim at an enemies head, neck, chest, or stomach. Some might even have you aim for their arms, but on a halfling, if you aim at those areas, you’ll hit nothing. So you need to aim downward, which is difficult.” I lectured.

“Hmm... And I bet, they’re just a harder target because they are so small. If you hit them, they’ll take a bunch of damage, but hitting them is pretty hard. That fellow was pretty nimble too…” Master Gort mumbled.

“Yes, that is true, but it won't matter for you, Orth. The Lion Style focuses mostly on full body attacks that should cut through the entire enemy, so you are already used to swinging all the way down, you just need to get used to the timing. Just keep attacking, and you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, okay, let me go knock that piece of shit around,” Orth growled angrily.

“Right, let's go.”

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 9:41

The Raging Chimera School, 6th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Ben, Son of Roka.

Since Orth didn’t focus on the Goat Style, we had gone to a different training room, this one was just a normal room, the same size as the other, but with stone floors.

“Okay, same rules as last time. Begin!” I announced the start of the fight.

“RAAAAAARG” Orth Shouted and charged forward.

A lion uses all of its strength, even when hunting a rabbit.

That phrase makes up the basis for the Lion Style. Every attack is one aimed to kill, every attack is powerful. If one attack doesn’t defeat the enemy, use two, if two fails, use four. Keep attacking, overwhelm the enemy with power.

Orth was extremely skilled with the Lion Style. He didn’t use feints, he didn’t slowly whittle down his enemy, he just put all of his strength into each attack and crushed the opponent.

People who used their speed to dodge attacks, were caught and smashed, those who boasted of a powerful defense, had their shell cracked open and were knocked down, those that relied on technique, were defeated without getting a chance to show their skills, and those that used their own strength, were beaten down with even more strength.

Orth was a prodigy of the Lion Style, within a couple of years, he would for sure be at least rank 5.

Or, that was how it was supposed to be.

The extremely powerful Orth charged forward, and like a lumberjack splitting wood, swung his sword straight down. It was such a powerful blow that it would probably kill the halfling, and it was so fast, that there was no way to dodge it.

But…

But, the halfling’s own sword shot out, a thrust aimed towards Orth’s head.

It never got there, however, because the tip of the halfling’s sword came into contact with Orth’s wrist.

There was a wet tearing sound as the giant, powerful wrist of Orth seemed to explode. Blood splattered across his face, his sword went flying from his grasp, and his left hand dangled limply from his arm, held on by only some muscle and skin.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! MY HAND! MY EYE!” Orth Shrieked in agony as he crumbled to his knees.

I could see something, a piece of white, sticking out of the center of his left eye.

“A bone…” I said shocked.

A piece of bone, part of Orth’s wrist, had actually been blown out from within his skin, and acted as shrapnel, embedding itself deep into his eye.

What kind of monster was this?