Tinker arrived at the warrior’s guild that seemed to be open at all hours. He saw that old man, behind the counter and produced the 10 gold coins

‘’I am here to sign up and here is the money.’’

‘’Very good’’ the old man said and pointed towards the door. ‘’Sign your name here and go through that door and ask for an instructor Canobi’’.

Tinker walked over, opened the surprising thick door slowly and entered into what seemed to be the main training hall. There were scarecrow dummies. Weapons of most sorts and a couple of people training.

A man in standard plate body armour walked over to him and looked down at him and smiled. ‘’Another outlander, sure many of you these days. Since you are new let’s start by hearing your past weapons training and preferences.’’

“Um good day sir are you instructor Canobi?’’ he nodded a yes. Tinker spoke with more confidence after that. “No formal training but I have read books on the matter and I want to wield a big sword’’.

The instructor face looked a bit disappointed. ‘’Books, never heard of a troll been beaten by a book unless it was a spell. But none the less, show me your stats window. Let us see if you have the necessary strength needed for 2 handed claymore . You will start with the wooden version it.’’

‘’Mine is the same as all others sir. I do have an above average wisdom. Are there any weapons that can compliment that?’’

This is going to be hard the instructor mumbled. ‘’Well I assume you have not chosen your class yet. We will not be giving you a claymore, broadsword or a shield. Maybe a standard sword or dual wielding. I suggest those as they might help you the most. Usually we teach and recommend axes but for you 2 short swords might be more to your liking?’’.

‘’Why would you say that?’’

‘’You said yourself your strength is normal. I would say I sense that you won’t like the shield and weapon of your choice to complement it. Further you mentioned you like a sword thus axes and war hammers are out. That leaves those items I mentioned first.”

“Ok I see that you know what you are talking about. You mind if I practice with the standard sword and dual wield short swords at the start so I can get a feel for both of them?’’

“Not at all only if you hit a scarecrow with both weapons for at least 3 hours each and don’t forget to try out different stances or angles. Never attack them half hearted and use all your strength’’.

Tinker agreed and watched the instructor disappear into and adjacent room and come back with 3 wooden swords.

“These weigh as much as the real thing and are well balanced. Go to any scarecrow and start. Come back to me once you are done. Then we will go from there and give you your other items.’’

Tinker nodded and left for a scarecrow far away from any person. He only say one other person hitting a scarecrow and the rest were standing around and mainly watching the sparring matches.

He took the standard sword first and swung with all his might. The shock rippled through him. He did not expect that it would feel like hitting a tree with a branch. He quickly gathered his strength and repeated the action.

After an hour he took his first brake. He watched a new sparring match from a distance and noticed that they did not just swing like him, they used thrust in their attacks aswell. He did not even think about that, after his brake he spent an hour thrusting the scarecrow in the chest and the odd thrust aimed at the face.

He took a brake again. Looking at the current sparing match he noticed the two people were moving around and not just standing still. His last hour he spent doing minor foot work and attacking from different sides. He would swing at the target while going to its left, and then follow up with a quick thrusting in its flank. He tried to simulate battle situations, but it was hard against an opponent that does not move and he had limited ‘moves’ to try out.

He took up the 2 short swords after his brake and decided to start off with a couple of swing each then he will do all the fancy things. He went at it as best as he could. When he got tired he kept powering on, when it was time for his first brake he noticed he has nearly been busy for 2 hours. A quick brake later and he was back at it again using his momentum for double strikes or a swing to the neck while ducking low and thrusting for the stomach. He stopped only because he received a pop up that told him that his strength has risen with 1 point.

Before he could start over the instructor came over to him.

“Well done, I was afraid that you were hopeless when you started out, but you showed me wrong. Have you decided on what weapon you would like to receive training in?’’

‘’Yes, the dual wield.’’

“That is good, here is your basic hardened leather chest and leg piece. They are lined with cloth so in effect you are wearing 2 layers of armour. Later you might want to upgrade to steel armour. As far as I know most dual wielders don’t because it slows them down. Here take the leather cap, boots and these pair of gloves. They might not have the best stats but they provide you with more than enough basic defence and protection. Later you will get real weapons after you prove you can handle them”

‘’I have training session every morning and afternoon for new recruits. In between and after I train personally with those that need it. Some nights like tonight I hang around, judge sparring matches and accept any who would try and beat me in a duel. But it’s been so long that I grow tired and fear the day someone with talent shows up. I just might be too rusty to give a half decent fight. I shall see you around and you may stay here to practise more.’’

Tinker said his thanks and remembered he had school in the morning, best to be going.

The first practice session felt a little odd to him. They showed basic sword patterns, foot stances and how to control one’s breathing. They are as follow

• Feet

Your left foot will be at back on a 45 degree angle. Your right foot will be in front, facing straight ahead. Most of the weight - about 70% of it, is on the back leg. The front foot is balanced on the ball with the heel slightly raised. This is so you can move it quickly. You can pull it back in a slip. Push off the back leg into a lunge, step sideways, or whatever you want. You could also drop the weight onto the front foot and pass forward. if both feet are equally weighted in the stance, some of these movements take a little longer. This back weighted "MiChuan" stance, has a light and springy feel, as though you could instantly change the weight from one side to the other - think of a cat walking - light and springy. It is also rooted like a tree into the ground, but flexible enough to change the sense of balanced rootedness to the opposite foot, in an instant. There should be some lateral distance between the feet. We call this get-away room. You don't want to take a step back to slip a cut while sword fighting and trip over your own back foot.

• Legs

Both legs are bent at the knee. Your hip, knee, and ankle joints will be on the same outer plane, so that nothing is straining and there is looseness in the joints. Try not to block up your body in any way. From the front, the knee of the back leg will not protrude past the toe.

• Body

The torso is turned to the same 45 degree angle as the back foot. Tailbone is tucked under to help straighten the spine. Shoulders are loosely rounded and the chest slightly hollowed. The spine is straight without being at all tense. Think of it as divided at the waist with the lower part sinking towards the ground and the upper part light, almost suspended, as though there is a puppet string attached to the crown of your head and held from above.

• Arms

Every joint in the arms is relaxed. The arms are not jammed at your sides. Neither are the elbows sticking out. There will be one line from the elbow to the tip of the sword a slightly curved line because the elbow is not locked. Hold your sword out from your body. The pommel points to the "dantian" - A word for a place inside the lower body below the naval. The tip of the sword points to the eyes of your opposite, and that's where your eyes are focused. The angle of the sword is just across the centre line of your body, forming a barrier the opposite would have to get past to reach you.

It is a good idea to stand with your sword using the correct grip and stance, concentrating on keeping your joints and muscles loose and unclenched. Breathe slowly and stand in this basic stance until it becomes pointless because you are stiffening up too much. Ten minutes regularly standing like that will help your sword fighting techniques more than most other things. Half an hour will change you from the inside out, but don't try that straight away. Build up to it.

He felt as if it was good to know all of this but he could not help but feel dual wielding was different. Right after the first session which was surprising exhausting he went over to instructor Canobi.

“Sir I mean no disgrace but wont my dual wielding be different than normal’’?

“That’s right that is why you are going to have private lessons with me. I may not look it but I have trained intimately with them so I can show you what I learned”

“That’s great, when can we start?”

‘’Meet me in 10 min right here’’

The 10 min past by so slow but Tinker was getting his mind in order.

“Alright, let’s start at the beginning when talking about dual sword techniques, only 5 of the 50 forms I teach are actually a dual stance and those forms are more designed for training your arms to use a single sword better. Thus you must master all of them and be able to use some parts of the one form, while going on halfway through another one. It’s sounds hard but once you start to do battle you will combine your own techniques and use them as the battle unfolds”

“I will be honest with you that I do not know the 5 stances my master talked about but he said my dual wielding was of the best.

Maybe later you can find another that can teach you this.”

‘’He said that one must maintain balance between strength and agility. Since every fight is different you never know what to expect. Some fights will require more of one stat then the other. You may think that having max agility would be best. But think about it for a moment, how does the fighting style between a warrior and assassin differ? You will take the best of both classes. You won’t have the attack power of the warrior or the attack speed of the assassin, but in theory you should be able to compete with them in a way and if you are good you can maybe beat them’’

“I think I understand sir, currently my strength and agility are equal.”

“Good, then maybe you can do what I could not. Maybe in time you will come back to me one day so that we can spar en see which dual wielder is the best. In all my years I have never encountered another person with balanced stats in agility and strength, other than my master. Let’s do the basics and see if you remember.”

Tinker went at it, trying his best. The moment before he could crack a smile Canobi interrupted him.

“It seems you were not there for the first few days of my training. Knowing a stance or sword techniques is one thing, but you must also focus on the grip. Assume a comfortable position, this might take a while.’’

1. There are different grips for different swords. I've heard that some who train in Kalamorian swordsmanship prefer to hold the index finger over the guard. This is easier for precision cuts but it has one very important downfall. This type of grip is very useful when your sword has a basket hilt or steel rings to protect the index finger. A Kalamorian sword does not. If you use this grip with a jian, your index finger becomes a prime target. One hit with a sharp blade is all it takes to remove the protruding finger - no more precision. So you might as well train in correct Heaven sword skills from the beginning.

2. The jian grip takes advantage of a lozenge shaped handle. The strength of your grip will be in the thumb and middle two fingers. This gives you a firm hold of the sword while leaving your wrist flexible enough to rotate in spinning deflections. I have seen students spin the sword by un pealing and reattaching their fingers. While it is true that this action makes the spin very easy, it is quite unstable. A simple beat to the flat of your blade during sword fighting, will send it flying out of your hand.

3. Another grip error is to place your hand with the thumb above the four fingers, or only over the index finger. This works well for a dao, but not for a jian. Different weapons, different sword skills. Be sure to practise the correct grip for the type of sword you are using even if it takes longer to get it correct.

Tinker just nodded. So much information to absorb and he was not even sure what type of swords he will be fighting with one day. Alas there was wisdom in his words.

This became Tinker’s routine when in Royal roads. Train at the warrior’s guild, learn the sword stances and the work at the Golden apple inn. As he expected the time for reading was no more. His Cooking went up another level to 4 while herbalism and handicraft were nearing a level up as well.

While browsing online and reading Royal road forums, Scot read about a group of people that claimed that they were part of a dojo at university and when they started playing the game they did more damage and found it easier to grind through tuff physical experiences.

That is when Scot decided that he needs to join something at school that can help him in Royal road like fencing and the like. He can search the internet for info on the drives home and other times, but since he has to spend a lot of time at school he might as well make the most of it. Scot thought that fencing would be best, but when he looked at the training program and hours he decided to pass. There were not many other activities to do at school that would improve his skill in Royal road. So he decided to join the gym and maybe get some muscles and boost his overall fitness. He assumed that would increase his stamina in game or at least make the drain from doing tasks less.

At the warriors guild they were finally allowed to start sparing against other new recruits. In just a couple of days they were going to be able to go outside. They were also told that they should wear all the armour they were given. It was not for safety purposes but more so that they could get a feel for them.

There were 12 new recruits. According to custom only groups of 5 may leave the city and start basic quests together. What tinker could surmise was that only he and another were outlanders. The rest were NPC’s.

“Before you go out we will hold a tournament of sorts. The winner and runner up will both receive plate armour and be the leaders of the 2 groups we send out. I have spoken to the instructor over at the mages guild and they have already decided the 2 frost mages that would be chosen. The matches will be done with wooden weapons and you may not use the real weapons you are to receive today. In turns you may come to me and collect them.’’

Nearly every person jumped at him at once. But Canobi just smiled, he was very use to these events. He handed them all out and resumed his usual stance next to water fountain that gave a good view of the entire hall

Of the group of 12 there was Aragon who trained with a big broadsword who no trainee could beat in sparring matches. 4 more favoured a big sword but not as big as his. 5 people chose shields with their weapon of choice. There was also 1 dual wielding axe user and Tinker himself that chose swords as his weapons. The other outlander went for a shield and sword composition.

With new energy everybody was practising their stances in full battle armour and real weapons. The armour was a minor adjustment but the swords felt just like the wooden replicas. Tinker swung with fury and was really in the moment when a loud sound of “oooo’’ went through the hall. It took a moment to see what’s going on, but there Tinker saw him Aragon standing with a smug look on his face and a cleaved in 2 scare crow at his feet. It was an impressive sight to see but Tinker went back to his training. He still had a lot to do before the tournament. The up side of all this alone training is that he received a few pop ups that told him his stats were improving.

Strength rises by 1 point.

Agility rises by 1 point.

Vitality rises by 1 point.

He received that message 4 times.

At the Golden apple inn the night before the matches Tinker told everybody about it and that he intends to leave the Golden apple inn for good once he is able to go outside the walls. He promised to stop by when he can and help in what way he could, but even he would not know his schedule in the future. Daisy said she would come spectate the matches, she mentioned that the whole city was in a buzz of a man named Aragon that showed great skill. Tinker was not afraid to face him, but if he could he would pass.

Unbeknown to the others, Tinker took the sword and swung with all his might at the scare crow and only made a minor cut in it. Nobody was around to see his disappointed face but that is just one of those secrets he would keep for himself.

They chatted about a few other things and Mistress Anan prepared a bundle of food for him which was supposed to be his breakfast before the match. He thankfully took it and stored it in his bag.

That night just before closing time Lan came by again. Showing no emotion on his face as always he went to take a seat and called Tinker over.

“I hear that you are in the 3rd match tomorrow against a warrior with axe and shield as weapon. I heard you chose two swords as your weapons. Do not worry I think you can beat him’’.

‘’Thank you and how do you know all this?’’

‘’I still have a friend or 2 left in the world that informs me of these things when there is time. I must warn you, that I have never been defeated by a dual wielding warrior. In single combat they are manageable and unless they have some trick or back up they don’t do well against a large warrior. Don’t look at me like that, I have faith in you, when I was young I sparred against a dual wielding master of the time and we fought to a standstill. Where I was the younger and stronger he was the more experienced and agile. Thinking back now he could have won but gave me a chance to beat him instead. So that is my advice for you. If you face that Aragon the whole city is in uproar about. Do no match him in strength, use your other abilities.’’

Those words were comforting in a way, but in the previous sparring matches nobody beat Aragon and tinker himself only won half of the practise sessions he was involved in.

“About the task I gave you, I have spoken with Morrain and she is pleased with the work you have done for her’’

Quest Complete!

A job at the Golden apple

You have worked for Morrain for 1 month and were not fired.

You have levelled up!

You have levelled up!

Quest Complete!

Help Lan’s sister Morrain

You have done what Lan has asked of you, his Sister is thankful for your help

You have levelled up!

You have levelled up!

Ting * Familiarity with Lan increased by 100 points

Ting * Familiarity with Morrain increased by 75 points

Ting * Familiarity with Golden apple workers increased by 50 points

‘’Take this 5 gold coins as payment for the month”

Just like that he gained 4 levels and had 20 new stat points to use. He divided them up between strength and agility. These extra points will help a lot in the matches tomorrow.

Lan said in a serious tone ‘’There will come a time in the future that I might have need of your help. Would you come to my aid when the time is right’’

Ting*

One man’s desire to right many wrongs

At an appointed time Lan will call on you for aid to help him with the last part of his plan to right all the wrongs in his life.

Difficulty level: D

Quest requirements: Must be a friend of Lan and be trusted by him.

Failing the quest will result in both Morrain and Lan being hostile towards you.

Tinker “Sure I will help any way I can’’

Quest accepted.

On the day of the tournament on a small flat piece of ground, tents and people were starting to gather. Tinker would best describe it as a small festival that was in the process of starting. If he had to guess he would say there were about 250 people. Later as the matches progressed more people would arrive.

Tinker walked over to the entrance and asked for a schedule. There he saw he was indeed in the 3rd match just like Lan had said and who his opponent was. What he also saw was that there were a lot more matches then 6. Apparently the mages guild sent over 8 recruits themselves to entertain the crowd. He opened his parcel from mistress Annan and ate some chicken stew. With his belly fully he stood in the crowd and waited for the first match to begin.

It was a 2 handed sword wielding warrior against a warrior with a shield and mace. It was not that entertaining to watch but the sword wielding warrior seemed to leave a few openings and was on the offensive the entire time until the shield man could no longer take it and forced an attack that failed and cost him the match. Even though they did not use real weapons they fought like madmen. It took about 20 min a match to start with announcements included. The actual duel took about 2 min.

Next match was between mages. It was not a battle but rather who could be the best at striking the most objects down from a distance with snow storm or who is the most accurate shooter of a frost bolt at 100 paces. It was very different but fun to watch none the less.

With his match up next Tinker equipped his items and went over to starting point. The other warrior did not seem so strong but Tinker was going to be safe. At the start of the duel both just stood there, neither making a move. Tinker then realised that shield man was waiting for him to attack so that he could block and counter attack. He gave 1 step closer, and the shield man did not move, then another step with the same result. In the heat of the moment Tinker decided that his opponent did not know if he had more stats in strength or agility. Thus he was being safe. He dashed off to the right side of the shield man. He did not go closer but kept his distance.

The shield man casually adjusted to keep is body parallel with his. Tinker walked a circle around the warrior while never breaking eye contact. Then as the crowd could feel the suspense and knew that the first strike was coming watched on in silence. Tinker with good speed lunged forward and opened with a swing from his left hand. The warrior used his axe to block and attempted to bash Tinker with his shield so that he would lose his balance. Tinker anticipated this and did not put his all into the attack and easily stepped backward to dodge the shield. He mainly wanted to see if the shield man would bring his shield across to block an attack from the right while leaving him open to the left. He did not, so Tinker new his opponent was one of the better shield men. They started with their attacks.

The shield main was strong on defence and after more than a few blows he started becoming more aggressive and trying to catch Tinker of balance. Tinker then came up with the idea to fake him losing his balance and then chose the time to strike. He picked this up from other sparing matches he watched. When a shield man gets their opponent of balance they use their most power full swing to attack. Tinker again attacked from the left forcing the shield man to use his axe to block, as the bash from the shield came Tinker was already going backwards and turning his back to his opponent and falling to the ground. They shield man saw this and started to raise his axe high and going for the winning blow, but then Tinker leaped up from the ground, one sword held high for in case the shield man swung faster than he expected, while the other sword was going straight for his neck. The shield man did not expect this and was to slow at bringing his shield back in, the shield was wider away than usual to make the swing of the axe motion better.

With that strike the match official called time out and declared Tinker the winner.

The other matches progressed in similar fashion. The match with Aragon was over in a few swings, it was a sad thing to watch really.

Tinker’s next match was against the 2 handed swordsman. This match started very different from his first, the swordsman went on the attack, he seemed to try and use his superior reach to his advantage. Tinker thought in a matter of seconds that if this is how he prefers to fight then he should get up close and personal. After deflecting another attack, he leaped forward towards the man and was now the aggressive combatant. The warrior could not keep up with 2 weapons attacking him and not giving him the time to perform counter attacks. Tinker landed a few minor blows and then the final thrust into the gut ended the match with the match official yelling it’s over.

It was time for the semi finals. Tinker was against Aragon of all people and the other outlander with his shield and mace was facing off against the dual wielding axe warrior.

There match was first and Tinker watched how skilled they were. The man with the axes had good strength and seemed to be winning when he finally ran out of stamina and lost the match. The entire time he was just defending and never once tried to counter attack until his opponent was tired. A good tactic right there, one should not forget to use.

Tinker was not overjoyed that he had to face Aragon but he would try his all. When there matched started Aragon swung, Tinker lifted a sword up to defend and it nearly got hit out of his hand. The amount of strength behind that swing was insane. This went on a few more times until Aragon tried new tactics. He used thrusts and jabs with swings in succession. Tinker used his better agility to deflect and dodge most of the attacks. Aragon did an attack that forced Tinker to dodge and then Aragon brought the sword down vertically towards Tinker.

He could not dodge the attack and defending against an opponent with more strength is rather brutal on the body. In the heat of the moment Tinker remembered that he once saw in a movie that the hero got attacked by a big monster. The hero crossed the swords over each other and absorbed the blow. Tinker did this and to his surprise it worked. With both weapons just used for defence the only thing left to do was kick, and he kicked Aragon with all he got. At that moment it was hard to tell who was most shocked, Tinker for kicking a man or the people who saw Aragon take a hit from an opponent. Aragon staggered back after receiving the blow. They both took a moment to gather there focus, then Aragon yelled and jumped in the air and swung down like his previous attack. Tinker new he should have dodged but alas he lost focus. He thought that since his defensive moved worked once, why won’t it again.

That was the last thing he remembered as he was woken up by instructor Canobi. Before he could talk Canobi beat him to it.

“That was a fool move you did at the end. His attack broke through both your swords and landed on your head. I am thinking if you had not wore your cap, you might have been dead after receiving a blow like that. But don’t worry you have an hour to recover before the party heads out.’’

“It hurts, I did not think it would pain so much.’’ This was the first time Tinker experienced pain in Royal roads.

“It was decided that you would be in Aragon’s group with 2 other warriors and 1 mage. Best of luck to you, I am sure you will do better than most at killing rabbits.’’

Later Tinker would realise that Aragon had passed the beginners training and that he had a skill called Fighting Spirit that gives a person more than normal strength for a short period of time.