William PoV

‘By practicing how to focus your strength with the sword you have learnt Bash

Health +1

STR +2

VIT +2’

Finally, seven days hitting dummies. I didn’t expect it would take this long.

I get in my combat stance in front of one training dummy, then I swing the sword while using all my strength. The glowing sword hits the dummy with explosive force, almost destroying the dummy.

It isn’t necessary to call out the name of the skill to activate it, I always thought how silly it is to call out the names of your skills before using them like in games and movies, so I really like the skill system in here.

“Good job”

The instructor is standing behind me with a happy expression.

“You are the first adventurer to learn this skill”

I turn around with a huge smile on my face, I have always enjoyed being the ‘first’.

“It’s all thanks to the instructors in this training center”

The instructor, whose name I learned during these last days is Eric, puts a hand behind his head and looks embarrassed.

“What do you plan on doing next?”

That’s a good question, I’ve got two sword skills so I would like to learn something else but first I will have to figure out which skill could be the most useful for me.

I already got my bag from Violet, she was surprised at how fast I managed to find the headmaster.

“I’m not sure yet, I’m going to look for a useful skill to learn”

Eric grins.

“Then I would like to recommend a place for you to visit before deciding”

“What place?”

“Have you heard of the combat arena?”

If that place is what I think it is I clearly want to go.

“No, I haven’t”

“Well, it’s only been a week since you arrived. Let me explain, the arena is a place for students to test their skills and put them to practice”

Just what I expected.

“But, at this point I imagine only adventurers with at most one skill are there fighting”

Right, a hundred thousand people have accessed this world so far, and learning skills takes quite long, it’s quite impressive that I have two of them already.

“So I want to give you this”

Eric hands me a letter, I grab it.

“Only one arena is open to all adventurers, with this letter you will be able to enter the elite combat arena, in there only the most talented students can participate”

“Thanks master, I appreciate it”

I wonder how many players have obtained permission to enter.

“I look forward to hearing about your adventures in the future”

After that I said goodbye and shook hands with him.

Then I go to the marketplace and get some food in my bag, having food with you is way more comfortable than going to the dining hall every time satiety drops.

“Hey, where did you get that bag?”

A group of five players approach me.

I haven’t seen many other players with a bag. I don’t mind telling them, sooner or later they will get something like my bag.

“It was made by one of the tailoring instructors”

“I see”

Says the one in the center that looks like the leader of the group, I suppose there are a lot of people who are playing together.

“Thanks for the information”

They all smile and go their way after thanking me.

My brother also went to the tailor and asked for a bag, he received a different task so there was no point in telling them about what I did exactly.

I walk through the academy for a while, I got the location to the elite arena from a NPC but I’m not sure if I should go, I want to learn a third skill and graduate from the academy as soon as possible, it would be great to be the first to leave this place.

What skill should I learn? Maybe some magic, I could become some sort of magic swordman, a healing skill could be helpful, even a crafting skill may be worth it, I’m even considering to learn the cooking skill, after all, food it’s a must have in this game.

While thinking about my third skill I arrived to the elite combat arena. There is a NPC guarding the entrance.

I grab the letter from my bag and hand it to him.

He grabs the letter and looks at it, after a few minutes I’m allowed to go inside.

There are around a hundred players in here, the place is divided in ten giant circles where people are fighting, next to the walls there are all sort of weapons and NPCs handling the order in which players fight.

I approach one of the NPCs.

“Excuse me, could you explain to me how the arena works?”

“To participate you have to choose a weapon, after that you can register with any of the instructors, you will be assigned to a number and a battle circle, when your number is called it is your turn to fight”

“I want to use a sword and register please”

The man gets a sword and hands it to me, it’s the same type used in the training center.

“Please go to battle circle 5, your number is 81”

“Thanks”

I look at the circles, the number is written all around them so it isn’t hard to locate the one assigned to me.

Inside the circle two players are fighting with swords, one of them is using a katana while the other uses a two handed sword. They must have learnt from a different training center, as I look at their battle neither of them are very skilled, they clumsily fight with the swords, so much for the ‘elites’ of the academy.

I examine the other players around the circle, there are players with different kinds of weapons, swords, axes, bows, staffs, it’s a good chance to watch other skills in action.

After three fights I start getting bored, I want to fight.

Up until all of the battles have been kind of boring, I understand it must be because we are all starting but I was expecting more from the players the instructors have picked.

“Participants number 56 and 81, please enter the circle”

The referee finally calls my number, I step into the ring.

A man clearly older than me steps into the circle, he must be at least two meters tall, twenty centimeters over me. He carries a huge axe.

I have to admit, I’m intimidated by his presence.

We both get to the center and look at each other.

“Let’s have a good fight”

The referee says calmly, looking at both of us, who nod.

My opponent grins, looks confident of his victory.

“BEGIN”

As the battle begins I move back and focus on my stance, my sword always pointing towards my opponent. He quickly holds his axe with both hands and swings it towards me.

He’s slow, I avoid the attack easily and move around him, he turns in my direction trying to hit me with his axe. Lucky for me, his movements aren’t only slow but predictable, he doesn’t have experience with his weapon.

Every time he attacks I dodge, soon he’s out of breath and gets even slower. I’ve kept my guard while dodging. After circling around him I still have energy to move swiftly.

Finally when I see an opening while he tries to recover his breath I charge with my sword using bash, the axe was dropped, my sword hit right in his arm, his huge body gets pushed to the side by a couple of meters and he falls to the ground.

He cries in pain while holding his arm, during the precious combats I noticed that there isn’t much of a pain reduction in this game, when hit, players looks seriously hurt by the attacks, at some point I will have to take a hit to know, but not against that huge axe.

“I give up”

My opponent says after being hit just once, looks like I was intimidated over nothing.

“Winner combatant number 81”

Players surrounding this circle look impressed, I suppose there aren’t many players with active skills yet. Most of them have only something like my sword mastery.

The referee approaches me.

“Please go back to the counter and register your win”

I do as he said and go back to the NPC that registered me.

“I won”

He looks at me, then writes something on a sheet of paper.

“Congratulations, your first victory has been registered, for adventurers that manage to get ten consecutive victories there is a prize, keep working hard”

A prize, that’s interesting.

“Do you want to register for another battle?”

“Yes please”

“Your next battle will be in circle number 2”

I head over to the circle and wait until it’s my turn.

When I’m called by the referee a female player is my opponent, she looks really small and has short red hair, what surprises me is that she is barehanded.

I’m not too keen on hitting a girl.

“I’m Iris, please take it easy on me”

She has an innocent smile and her cute expression makes me want to quit this fight.

“I’m William”

But my prize, I don’t want to lose.

The referee looks at both of us.

“Get ready, FIGHT!”

I’m not sure what to do.

During my seconds of doubt she makes a fireball appear in her right hand.

“Magic…”

Not realizing the danger of her skill I remain there staring the fire in her hand. She throws the fireball and I barely manage to avoid a critical hit.

‘Health -5’

I look at my left shoulder, suddenly the pain, I understand why my previous opponent quit after one hit.

But there is no time to feel the pain as I see a fireball in her right hand, then another one in her left hand.

Her cute expression has transformed in that of a femme fatale.

I’m afraid, I don’t want to be hurt again.

She throws a fireball, I dodge but the second fireball hits me right in the chest.

‘Health -10’

“Aaaaaaaaaaaa”

It hurts, it seriously hurts.

I try to calm myself, breathe in and out.

She has another fireball in her hand, I need to calm myself.

When she throws the fireball at me I avoid it and the next one too, then I step towards her and attack with my sword.

She avoids my attack and throws a fireball, which I hit my right leg.

‘Health -5’

I keep attacking while avoiding her fireballs, I no longer care about hitting a girl, I’m not willing to get hit again.

After a while she stops throwing fireballs and concentrates on dodging my sword, she must have run out of mana.

“I quit”

She says while smiling.

“Participant 81 wins the battle”

This is frustrating.

I didn’t even hit her.

This was her victory.

She walks out of the circle and I follow her.

“Hey”

She turns around.

“Congratulations”

Her voice is sweet, but I know better, she’s dangerous.

“It was your victory”

She laughs.

“I know”

“Let’s fight again in the future, next time I will make sure to win”

She looks amused.

“Next time I will another way to deal damage besides magic”

Then she turns around and leaves.

I go to register my victory, even though I don’t think it’s a win.

At least now I know what I’m lacking.

I want to use a shield, I want to stop her attacks.

Then I remember the instructor in the temple of Naleya, he was wearing a shield and I would like to see the priestess again.

After thinking about it I leave the arena, I will come back before graduating.

Learning how to use a shield is my priority.