My eyesight returned soon enough and at a glance I could see I was in a medieval city of sorts.

*ding*

Congratulations! For being the first player to start the game you have been granted a unique title.

First of many: The first of the many blessed one to seek adventure in Eternium. +10 charisma.

Charisma stat has been unlocked, charisma, charm that will inspire others to follow you has bonuses to conversations with NPCs.

Congratulations! For being the first player to start the game and having more luck than possible you have been granted a unique skill, this will not take up a slot.

Well damn that sure was lucky, I guess everyone was busy fiddling around with their characters, snap decisions were my forte, while the title wasn’t super amazing, getting charisma this early would surely be a boon to questing, but first.

“Status.”

Status WindowName:EzekielAlignment:NeutralLevel:1Class:NoviceRace:DhampirSatiety:100%TitlesFirst of ManyFame:0Infamy:0-Health:80/80Mana:100/100-Attack:16Defense:4-Str:16Dex:14Con:8Sta:10Int:14Wis:14Cha:10Luk:21

God damn what was this character, the over powered stat difference would disappear eventually, but -2 con and -20 health for +18 stats was disgusting, that was about 3 levels difference and it would make a big difference while he was still a novice and gained no bonus points, what racial skills did this have.

“Skills”

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:(Racial Passive) DaywalkerBeginner10%As a descendant of the legendary vampire race you gain some of their strengths and weaknesses, though this is tempered by your human side.

-20% Health and Constitution during the day or when exposed to sunlight

+ 20% Strength and Dexterity during the night or when exposed to magical darkness, this bonus is doubled during the night of the full moon.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:(Racial Passive) Charming EyesBeginner10%While not the full power of a vampire’s eyes as a Dhampir you have inherited some aspects of them.

Lowlight vision: can see in dimly lit areas as though it were full daylight, can see grey shades in addition to outlines when in darkness.

+5 Charisma when people are looking into your eyes.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:(Passive) Devil's LuckMax~~Small chance for something really great to occur.

My eyes were popping out of their sockets, that meant there was no stat penalty to being a Dhampir, must be some of that human genes, ignoring the passive that was 20 stats, with the passive at night considering at all decimals rounded up it would be +24 stats and on a full moon which was every 28 days, a day in the game was every 12 hours or 3 hours irl.

The game had 6 hours of day, 6 of night so that would be every 84 hours or 3 and a half days I would get 31 bonus stats, and this was only while I was still a novice, later in the game I would still benefit from it depending on how I allocated my points, and in a way it was better than the starter races bonus ability points, and it seemed possible for me to level them.

“Inventory”

InventoryEquipment: Beginner Shirt, Beginner Shorts, Beginner Boots

Money: 2 Silver

Free space 23 slots

Stale bread x10

Enchanted Canteen (water) 20L/20L

Well that was enough faffing around, the other players would be spawning here soon, time to make my lead larger. I walked up to a patrolling guard with a grin on my face; I really was feeling lucky.

“Good day sir, I’m a traveller who only just arrived here, so I was wondering where exactly I am and any places I might need to know.”

The guard, a tall man with short dark hair and a scar across his face in steely grey metal armour stared at me for a second.

“A blessed one huh, weren’t expecting to see your kind for some time, you’re at the border of the Somner kingdom, and this is the citadel Wallenheim, there is a mage’s tower on the west side, to the east is the Redgrave dojo, here in the center is the town square where there is a well for drawing water, to the south is the marketplace this fortress is along an important trade route so merchants will often stop here and open a stall, past that way to the south is the road to Klein village and that road then leads towards the capital, Vittradgarde, to the north is the Wallenheim fort itself, the road also leads to the Kingdom of Crystalwyn but to pass through you will need to have a passport, this can be issued once you reach level 5 in the capital when you are no longer a novice, where you go is up to you, but you’ll have to excuse me since I’m a busy at this moment.”

With that curt ending I parted with the guard, I decided that I would try go to the dojo to learn weapon skills before going out to try hunt monsters to increase my level, if I hunted at night my efficiency would be much better.

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So I walked to the east side of the citadel and found my quarry, it stood out quite a bit, since on top of a building almost twice as large as those around it was a big sword sign. The doors were open so I walked right in and was greeted by grunts and shouts, 6 men were sparring in pairs while one watched them, most likely their master. Their master had wrinkles on his face as well as scars marking his long experience while an eye patch covered his left eye, his long hair was grey and thin, and his beard had begun to reach his chest.

“Continue.”

He blurted at the men sparring and began briskly walking towards me.

“What do we have here then?”

I stared him straight in the eye.

“I’m Ezekiel, a traveller I came here to learn how to fight.”

I saw a glint of red in his iris.

Devil’s luck has activated, power of Charming Eyes boosted.

“Humph, Usually I would tell you to shove you off to a training center, your level is too low, you don’t have a class and you don’t have sword mastery, but I can tell you’ve a harsh destiny ahead of you, so I’ll teach you if you think you can handle it."

Quest: The Sword Master’s TrainingAn aged sword master has seen talent in you and has offered to train you should you be willing to take his training.

Difficulty: F

Rewards: Old man’s training, ????

Failure or refusal: Old man will refuse to train you ever again, decreased intimacy with Somner Kingdom.

“I accept.”

“Very well let’s begin then, I’m Theo Redgrave, retired Royal Knight Commander and the King’s official army instructor.”

He walked up to the wall where a rack of weapons hang, he grabs a sword taller than myself and throws it towards me with one hand."

I manage to catch the sword and a small window pops up showing its stats.

Fine Steel GreatswordType:Large WeaponRank:EDamage:40Durability:200/200A standard run of the mill sword,.

Requirements:

Str: 16

Dex: 14

“That sword should be about your level, if you’re wondering about the dexterity requirement, it’s because it’s a sword, unlike a war hammer you need to be swift and accurate with it, now attack me boy.”

He grabbed a sword just like the one he threw me and took a stance, one foot forward one back and his sword in front of him, I ran towards him as fast as I could drawing my Greatsword behind my head and began to strike.

“Foolish.”

He met my sword with a simple wave of his sword, the tip hitting the base of my sword knocking me backwards.

“You can’t run like that with most attacks, it’s disrupts your balance save it for an all in thrust or when parrying, if moving to strike keep your feet as close to the ground as possible, slide if you have to."

"Don’t draw your sword behind your head unless the opportunity for the kill presents itself, it takes too long, you want your attacks to be swift and to the point, sword fighting is about precision not strength, it’s about leading your opponent and out manoeuvring them, once you have this you have the advantage, weight and power comes after this.”

I took his advice to heart and mirrored his stance, one foot forward

“Good this is the earth form, it is the middle stance and can be turned to from any other stance, and while it has no real weaknesses it has no real strengths either, your feet are in the forward position this is good to close or create distance between you and your opponent, it also enables you to step into your strike for more power, come strike again.”

This time I went forward without disturbing my balance though it was a good deal slower than my first and I was more cautious, when was about to reach attacking range I brought my sword to eye level and struck as fast as I could while stepping into the blow.

“Better.”

My master smiled while shrugging off my blow, he pulled his sword back, turned his blade to the side and met my strike while taking a half step back, deflecting my blow to the floor.

“A forward strike isn’t the only strike the only one in your arsenal nor do you have to aim at your enemy’s chest, they have eyes, hands, legs, a good strike on these can give considerable benefits to fighting, if you’re against a group cutting their legs will be more effective than trying to kill them one at a time, likewise you also need to protect yourself armour can only do so much so you need to learn to avoid as well as attack with your footwork, the second aspect of footwork is the side stance.”

As he said this he simply moved his foreleg back to his other leg.

“With the proper shifting between forward and side stances you can pivot around your enemy, becoming the wind, dodging their strike while returning you own bend your knees if you need to shift your weight fast and this is a good position to jump from, from a jump you can roll to get some extra distance, if you reach their back your enemy is finished likewise so are you if your enemy reaches your back. When stepping into a side stance strike you can use the rotation of your hips for extra force.”

“The other aspect of mobility is balance, recognizing your opponents balance is to read their movements and you can then disrupt or outmanoeuvre them, though there are ways to fake your balance but recognizing or applying this is beyond you for the moment.”

“Lastly to begin to understand the sword you need to understand the other two sword skills, the thrust and parry, the thrust is simply to thrust forward the tip of your sword, but its use is profound from any strike you can turn into a thrust and you can use thrusts to keep distance between your opponents.”

As he said that he stepped in to strike, the strike was around what I could dodge, but I stepped back to avoid and as expected he turned into a thrust and his sword stopped just before piercing my throat and he drew it back.

“Parrying can be done in two ways you can either recognise the balance of your opponents sword, this is different to their stance balance, recognize this then meet the side of their sword with force to unbalance them and take the initiative and I did to your first strike. The other is to recognise the direction of their blade and to meet with their sword with the flat of your blade and to deflect it as I did to your second strike.”

“Come now the time for words is up, the blade can’t be understood without experience, we will battle until you begin to feel the sword as part of your body.”

And so I began my journey on the path of the sword.

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