Wandering around town I finally made it to the training grounds. The sounds of metal and wood clashing could be heard, and many people were there hitting wooden poles with straw attached around them or sparring with one another. Entering a man likely in his 50’s saw me, smiled and walked up to me. “Hi to what do I owe the pleasure.”

“I would like to learn how to use a sword” I replied.

frowning the man said “I didn’t think elves used swords, especially not high elves.”

“This one does” I replied

laughing the man said “very well, head over to that rack, grab a sword and start hitting a pole. we will see how good you are”

heading over i looked at the arrangement of swords, there were large two handed swords, short swords, great swords and many I had never even seen or heard of. I took a basic one handed sword that was slightly longer than average and headed to a pole to start hitting it.

Pok pok pok the sound of me striking the wooden pole. I was finding it hard to swing the sword however I quickly found that I had no problem with thrusting the sword straight at the pole. Realising this, I thought back to school phys ed, and remembered some fencing clases I had.

In fencing they thaught us three styles. Sabre, where you can strike in any way you wish, slashes or stabs as long as it attached above the waist. I was never really any good at sabre, probably for the same reason that I have troubles slashing with the sword right now. Epee was the second style we were taught, it allows for stabbing at any part of the body, although slashes aren’t allowed. This style I was better at but, even then I was only average. A style purely focused on countering. Foil was the final style we were taught, and a style I excelled in. It allowed for thrusts in the top half of the body, and relied primarily on striking within the gaps of one’s defence.

Realising that foil is where my strengths were, I adapted my style to closely resemble foil. I implemented some of the footwork one would use in fencing and noticed that my accuracy and speed with the blade increased. The blade started feeling more comfortable and then a message appeared.

*triing*

Skill unlocked: Fencing MasteryThrough repeatedly striking with the same technique, proficiency in fencing has been unlocked.

Damage with a rapier increases 10%

penalty of 50% of benefits for not having a related class

Instantly my strikes made a cleaner sound when hitting the wood. I began feeling hungry and therefore ate one of my loaves of bread thus increasing my stamina and making me feel slightly refreshed. the bread itself tasted slightly stale but, when hungry anything can taste good so I shrugged it off and resumed hitting the pole.

After 4 hours of striking the pole several messages popped up in front of my with the usual annoying chime

*triing*

Agility has permanently increased by 1

Strength has permanently increased by 1

Dexterity has permanently increased by 1

Vitality has permanently increased by 1

having earnt extra stats and received lvl 2 in fencing I decided that I should change it up. where fencing moves forwards and backwards in a straight line, monsters can move in all directions. taking this into account, I decided to move around and try to develop a new way of fighting. I needed to be able to dodge attacks and strike in any gaps that an enemy exposes whilst targeting the weak points.

After 2 hours I had worked out that I could strike from any angle as long as I kept my balance. however, when I moved left r right, my balance faltered and my strikes dealt less damage. if I lunge or extend whilst moving forward, my strikes will do more damage. therefore as I strike I needed to add at least a half step into my movements.

After another hour passed, I heard someone clapping and stopped to turn and look at them. In front of me stood a tall woman, approximately 5’10” with long blond hair tied up in a bun and wearing a long green dress with gold embroidery.

“Nice footwork there, I haven’t seen anyone move like that here before. Did you come up with that on your own?” asked the woman.

“Some of it” I replied. “Its traditional foil with a few modifications to allow for me to dodge and attack my enemies for different angles.”

“Interesting. My name is Cassandra by the way, do you have some time?” The woman queried.

“Hello Cassandra, my name is Elyssa. I was just about finished so I do have a few minutes to spare” I replied. I was certain that Cassandra is an NPC due to her clothing. Since the servers just opened, it is highly unlikely that anyone would be able to earn such expensive clothing at this point.

“Marvelous, I have a request if you wouldn’t mind. I will reward you with a rapier for your work of course, maybe then you will be able to train on actual monsters” replied a grinning Cassandra.

“It would be a pleasure Cassandra.” I answered “and what may this request be?”

“there is a book inside a crypt at the cemetery. I require the book however to access it one would need impressive footwork. You look like you may be able to get it for me.” stated Cassandra.

*triiing*

Quest recieved: find the book for CassandraCassandra has requested you to go the cemetery to collect a book from a crypt. after collecting the book you must return it to Cassandra to receive your reward

Quest difficulty: unknown

Requirements:

Impress Cassandra with your footwork

Rewards:

Rapier

Unknown

Failure:

give up

do you accept?

“I accept” I said

“Good, here take this letter, it will grant you access to the crypt and it has a map on the map to show you where it is. I hope to see you with it soon” Cassandra smiled turned and walked away.

I followed the directions on the map to the cemetery. the air was damp and the trees were dead, just like out of a horror movie. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go at night. The cemetery had many graves at the front particularly the standard tombstone. as you walked deeper into the cemetery, you could see fancier graves most likely belonging to nobels. I headed to the back where the crypt was marked on the map. as I got closer to the crypt, a guard stopped me.

The guard said “who goes there” in a grump tone.

“I came here as a request from Cassandra to visit one of the crypts, I have a letter.” I replied nervously hoping that I wasn’t doing something illegal.

The guard smiled and read the letter. something seemed fishy about this quest, everyone seemed to know something that I didn’t. shrugging it off I waited for the guard to reply.

“everything seems in order, i’ll take you to the crypt.” the guard said

I followed the guard to the crypt. once I arrived, the guard said “good luck, you will need it.”

at this point I was really panicking. entering the crypt I heard an eerie tune which made me feel unwelcome. The tune was raspy and repetitive.Shivering I forced myself to continue.

Once I reached the bottom of the staircase after a 5 minute decent I entered a single room with no doors. At the rear of the room was a pedestal with what looked like a silver book with gold leaf pages. I smiled and thought this is too easy. as I approached the book, the book glowed and from the ceiling, walls and floor came a huge number of various traps. there were swinging pendulum blades, arrows shooting at intervals and spikes popping up out of the ground. I froze immediately.

“Why can’t anything ever be easy” I muttered. I walked around the room searching for a mechanism to deactivate the traps. after 1 hour of searching I realised that there was none, and the reason for the quest requiring someone with good footwork was because I was going to need to dodge the traps and get the book.

building up my courage, I decided it was time to try. I ran dodging the first curtain of arrows, sliding around a set of spikes that hampered my way and got sent flying through the air by a swinging bladed pendulum, and sent into the nearby wall.

health - 217

you are bleeding-1hp every second

realising that I had 163 seconds till I would bleed out. immediately I turned and ran up the stairs. I got to the top of the stairs in an amazing 1 and a half minutes. it’s amazing how fast you can move when your life is on the line. I immediately ran out of the crypt and through the cemetery to the temple next door. the priest inside saw me bleeding and immediately casted a healing spell on me.

“Cure!”

“what happened? you nearly died” scolded the priest after healing me

“I got hit by a trap in one of the crypts in the cemetery”. I answered

“Oh Cassandra’s work again” replied the priest with a frown “if you are going to attempt the crypt again, you should take some bandages, not that I think its possible to complete that crypt”

I asked the priest for directions to the nearest apothecary. The priest drew on the map I had of the crypt showing where the apothecary was. Turns out it was right next door to the information guild.

After reaching the apothecary I opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately the smells of putrid salves and decay was smelt. It seems that recently someone had died in the apothecary. I struggled to compose myself trying hard not to throw up and walked to the counter.

“Welcome what can I do for you” said the physician in a melancholic voice.

“I would like to buy some bandages” I replied

“Ok that 3 copper per metre” answered the physician

Since I only had 75 coppers and needed to buy food I opted to get 17 metres at 51 coppers leaving me with 24 coppers. “17 metres of bandages please”

“Here you go” the physician handed over the bandages and took the coppers.

Leaving the apothecary I headed back to the crypt stopping by a bakery to buy 12 loaves of bread with the remaining 24 copper. After I bought the bread, I went back to the crypt and prepared to tackle the traps again.

I spent what seemed like weeks inside the crypt trying to break through the traps. Every time I got hit I had to stop the bleeding with my bandaging skill. after being hit the third time. a message popped up.

*triing*

Endurance stat unlockedDue to receiving extreme amounts of pain you have learnt how to endure strong blows

Each point in endurance reduces damage you take from attacks

Each point reduces pain felt from heavy blows

after some time being creeped out with the melody I realised that the melody has a rhythm which matched the movement of the blades and traps. moving the the rhythm of the melody I dodge the first few traps successfully and get closer to the pedestal but, as it looked like I was going to reach it I got hit and sent flying back to the start by a springboard.

realising that I was onto something, I kept trying to dodge the traps. after 3 days had passed in game, I finally realised that my problem was that I wasn’t moving with the flow. in order to dodge the traps it wasn’t enough to just move forward with the rhythm, at times it was important to retreat. following the flow and rhythm, i skillfully manouvered around the area finally reaching the pedestal. Once I touched the book, the traps disappeared and I received the book.

Cassandra’s Tome10 years ago Cassandra had a crypt built in which she stored this tome. the tome was set as a test to find the one worthy of being her successor. the one who collects this tome may choose to become Cassandra’s apprentice

rank: Unique

Happy that I finally got the book I quickly ran out of the tome and went to the training ground. once I arrived at the training grounds I decided it was a good idea to check my status now that I had got the book from the crypt. “display status window”

NameElyssaAlignmentNeutralLevel1ClassnoneRaceHigh ElfTitlenoneFame0Infamy0Health380Health Regen1.9Mana2760Mana Regen13.8Stamina148Stamina Regen0.9Strength26Agility73Dexterity20Vitality38Intelligence276Wisdom289Leadership0Luck10Resilience10Endurance19+ increased skill exp 5%

+ NPC’s view as a noble

happy with my increased endurance I went to ask the instructor for Cassandra.

“Do you mean Lady Cassandra Silverwind?” said the guard surprised clearly recognising me. “she should be at her work. from here turn right, take the third left, and its the second building on the left.”

“Lady!? she is someone important?”I stuttered out.

“Yes, you will find out once you meet her” the guard replied mischievously.

“thankyou sir, I will be going right away” I answered.

following the directions of the guard I came to a top in front of a two storey building. from the building music was playing and shouting could be heard. Looking at the sign my mouth dropped. It was the Dancer’s guild.

Please review the fan fiction so I can know where to improve. It will also help motivate me to spend more time writing.