About 100 words short of a typical chapter, but that's fine b/c it's second of the day.

Enjoy!

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After leaving the temples, Steel double checked his quest progress. Even though Roxanne had given him a quest, her encounter hadn't counted as one of the major locations and left him with three down and two to go. The last two places he had to visit were the Adventurer Guild and the Training Hall. Since he had to go out the east gate for the two quests, Steel decided to hit the Training Hall first and then the Adventurer's Guild since it was closest to the east gate.

After crossing the central plaza again, Steel made his way through what looked like the crafting district. Weapon merchants cried out from their stall and stores while the sound blacksmiths pounding away on their anvils echoed through the streets. Steel window shopped as he walked, but saw nothing he could buy as of this moment. His paltry 30 coppers paled in comparison to the cheapest swords and armor.

As he walked, he felt his stomach give a low groan of hunger. A quick check confirmed that his character would get hungry and being hungry would result in a 50% penalty to his stats. Thankfully, his beginner pack included 10 pieces of bread besides the copper and items from the tutorial. Steel had actually forgotten about the armor and weapons he had and quickly put them on.

The light armor fit him easily as he equipped it and the spear and shield felt comfortable in his hands. He gave the spear a few experimental swings before putting it on his back with the shield. As he rounded the last corner, he came across the Training Hall.

The hall was a small building with a large central courtyard filled with dummies and other combat practice equipment. Unlike the other places he had been to, there was no receptionist desk. Instead, grizzled trainers stalked the field and yelled out insults and instructions to the players who were practicing.

Steel walked up to one, “Excuse me sir, is this the place to train my skills at?”

The trainer looked him up and down and nodded, “Centurion style is it? You’re actually the first traveler I’ve seen that uses that style. Tell you what, if you want to change weapons I can help you with that.”

A pop-up appeared in front of Steel’s face, asking if he would like to change preferred weapons and armor skills. Steel shook his head.

“Unless you can help me with my dream of using two shields, I think I’ll stick with this.”

The trainer laughed and clapped Steel on the back, “Two shields you say? Ha; that is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. Tell you what, since you’ve made a good impression I’ll introduce you to out resident centurion specialist.”

The trainer walked Steel over to a corner where a few sacks were lying around. “Hey Eric, I got one for you!” The trainer kicked on of the sacks, causing to snort and fall over.

“Have fun now.” The trainer laughed as he walked off, leaving Steel with the twitching sack. Sighing at his apparent misfortune, Steel leaned down to look at the sack.

Now that he had a better look, the sack was actually a small person in a brown robe. He had an impressive beard and fine mustache, and as he got up he pulled a pointed hat out from behind him and sat it on his head.

“Oy, have ye never seen a dwarf before?” The little ma, dwarf, said.

Steel shook his head and straightened up, “No sir I have not. You are the first one.”

Eric the dwarf laughed and burped, getting up and holding his arm out, “Eric Stonefighter, retired soldier; pleased to meet cha.”

“Steel Resolve, traveler.” Steel introduced himself.

Eric eyed Steel for a moment, “Ye aura and fighting spirit be weak. I’ve never heard of ye and I don’t ye very well.” He stated bluntly.

Steel recognized the system telling him of his low level, fame, and intimacy.

“I can teach ye the ways of the centurion aye.” He continued, “But ye should know it won’t be easy. Centurion’s work best in groups, so ye individual training be quite fierce. Ye sure ye be up to the challenge?”

Quest Added (Special)Learn to fight like a CenturionEric the trainer has offered to train you in the ways of the centurion. It will be a long experience and will require much time and effort to accomplishObjective:Train under Eric for 3 days without quittingSpecial Objective:Try to increase your intimacy with Eric.Reward:Basic martial skills, Training Hall intimacy, possible secret loot

“I’ll accept you challenge sir Eric, but I do have somewhere to be at sunset today.” Steel admitted.

Eric grinned at him, “Don’t ye hurry boyo, sun a’ight even at midday yet. Training be longest dis first day, and ye should be done before sunset.”

Slightly bewildered, Steel quickly checked the time. It wasn’t even lunch time in the game. Apparently, the game had started early in the morning and Steel had not taken too long traveling around the city. Shrugging to himself, he followed Eric to one of the training rooms.

The training room was very large, feeling more like the bottom of a house rather than a single room. It was also quite plain, only holding padded floors and white walls. Eric stood at the center and smiled.

"This here be the specialized training room. All old trainers, like me, have one. We use it for specialty training for the more interesting people that come through our halls, and train them privately so as to not raise jealousy from others."

"So this isn't only limited to me? Other travelers are experiencing this as well?" Steel asked.

"Of course boy, don't tell me you thought you were unique?" Eric laughed, "Well, you are the first traveler I've taken an interest in, so I guess you can take some pride in that." He shrugged.

"Now, let’s get things ready." Eric snapped his fingers. Instantly, dummies appeared out of the ground in between Eric and Steel. Eric took out a wooden centurion shield and spear and tossed it to Steel. "Here boy, you'll be using this whilst training with me." Eric nodded toward Steel, "You can’t be using metal till ye know how to wield the weapon. Okay boy, shield bash the dummies and come to me."

The dummies were in a zig-zag formation, leading to Eric. Taking a breath, Steel charged in.

First dummy, he slammed the wooden shield against it with his left arm. As he swung it, he turned with the momentum and continued his charge into the dummy on the right. As he hit it, however, the wooden shield shattered into splinters, showering Steel in fragments and cutting his hp down an eighth. He dropped to the floor, grimacing to himself as he rubbed his arm.

Eric shook his head, sighing. "Boy, I told you to shield bash the dummies, not charge into them. Tell me, do you know what went wrong?"

Steel pulled a splinter out of his arm, "The shield's not made for combos?"

Eric whacked him with his cane, "No boy, it's how you're using the shield. Watch me do it." He gestured, and the dummies decreased to his own size.

Eric equipped a wooden tower shield of his own and ran the course. Instead of bouncing through the dummies like Steel had, Eric hit the first left dummy in the head by performing a clothesline maneuver with the shield. He then jumped over to the right dummy and hit it square in the middle, the blow sliding past the dummy and taking his momentum into the last dummy. He walked back over to Steel and displayed the shield. It did not have a single crack.

"Tell me boy, why do you think you need a basic shield skill?"

Steel's brows furrowed, "Um, so I can block with a shield and use it to bash enemies."

Eric nodded, "While that is an important thing, it's not the most important thing. Let’s say I give a boy a knife, and I tell him to cut a boulder. The knife ends up being broken correct?" Steel nods, "Now, I give the knife to a knife user with the basic knife skill. He also slashes at the boulder, but when he returns the knife is still usable. Do you understand?"

Steel plopped his fist into his hand, "So in other words, shield skills will lower durability loss."

Eric whacked Steel with the shield, "Ye fool, don’t be spouted nonsense boy. Ye need shield skills so ye can properly use a shield and not look like a total fool on the battlefield. Even a mage can use a shield, but it’s worthless without Shield Mastery and other basic skills.”

“A mage can use a shield?” Steel asked in wonder.

Eric rolled his eyes, “Aye, a mage can pick up a shield like any other person. However, metal is bad with most magic and mages aren’t known for their strength so tis a really fool-hardy notion. Now, drink this here potion and get back to work.”

For the next few hours, Steel felt like he was put through the ringer. Eric had him run through the course multiple times, first without a shield and he had to hit the dummies with his shield arm. Eric made him alternate between slamming them and tapping them; repeatedly yelling that Steel had to get use to the difference of force at the same speeds. After the running was done, Eric strapped a heavy weight to Steel's arm and told him to run the course again.

He had a lot harder time tapping, the weight taking his momentum and slamming into the dummies as he tried to pass. The weight was spelled so that every time it slammed, it stuck to whatever it touched. Steel spent a lot of time being yanked back by it, and his arm hurt like crazy. His hp kept falling when that happened, but Eric would give him a potion that would heal him and then he was back running through the course.

On a happier note for Steel, his stats were rising from the repeated training. So far he had acquired 3 strength, 2 dexterity, 2 endurance, and 1 constitution. He appreciated that stats boosts as he lay panting on the ground. Eric folded his arms and hummed to himself.

“Well boyo, that was a good start. It’ll be shorter tomorrow, but make no mistake it will be worse. Now, off ye go if ye want to meet that sunset deadline.”

Wincing, Steel managed a short bow before he staggered out of the Training Hall. Hopefully, he’d feel a lot better by the time he made it to the gate.