Chapter 18
18====================
To live in this world.
Living together with Gentia did not an anything special, just that I had soone to take care of. Certainly, I would take care of her in a good way, and she would appreciate it. But in fact, it proved to be an additional annoyance.
I woke up in the morning, washed my face, and prepared breakfast. Instead of serving a single serving, as usual, it has beco two. I beca more bogged down by labors of nutrition. When the al was ready, I went to wake Gentia. She was sleeping in a position that looked very comfortable, and she reached out her hand as she awoke with a dreamy face. She clearly wanted to lead her, so I grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen.
Once there, she fell asleep, her head resting on the table. It took her exactly five minutes to wake again.
When we finished eating breakfast, she awoke fully, and we headed to Kaseun’s mansion. She used his training ground to confirm what skills I possessed.
It seed that she wanted to confirm what I could do and how far she could push before we started training in earnest.
Her level of 49 was overwhelming for to face in training. She easily staved off my attacks one by one, whether by dodging or easily swatting them aside. Kaseun was observing it all and told that it was okay to show her my dual-swordsmanship.
To use it ant I had to activate my Shadow Swordsmanship. That ant that I would wield a one-handed sword, such as a bastardsword, as my main right-handed weapon, and a dagger in my left hand.
When I displayed my Shadow Swordsmanship, Gentia was greatly impressed. She could not understand why I chose to use normal techniques in my swordplay when I could be using it instead. She had studied my skills during our light sparring session, and she was clearly fascinated by the prospect of training .
That was how our bout ended.
After our training on the grounds, she wanted to head out, having so things to do in town. When Kaseun grabbed her to have lunch, though, she pretended that she could not resist his offer. So- we had a nice conversation while eating a delicious and pretty high-end al. After this, Gentia and I finally headed to the central square of Serenia.
The great fountain was located on this plaza, and the plaza itself was surrounded by and led off
Gentia already had a sense of the city’s layout, so she easily guided there. She led onto the eastern boulevard.
We ca to a general store and weapon dealer adventurers. Alongside side it stood a tower, I think it was called Langritsa. She led into the weapon shop first. While it did not sell legendary armants, they were still of above-average quality.
She bought four daggers, a belt to sheath them in, and two longswords. She had not haggled over the price one bit, so I guessed that Kaseun must have funded the items. She handed the weapons to , saying that they were her gift to , and then stated she had to go sowhere. She disappeared into the throngs of Serenia’s citizenry.
So I returned ho alone and went to sit on a living-room chair. I gently held the longsword and gave it a swing.
Unlike a wooden sword, its sound split the air.
‘It’s heavier than I thought.’
I had swung it with just one hand. However, it could be wielded with both my hands. The weight of it would lessen. After a few years, I would be taller and possess higher stats, so such a one-handed swing would not burden this much.
With my current body, daggers interested more than longswords.
Surely Gentia would teach many left-handed dagger techniques as used by rcenaries. She returned late in the evening, her entire body covered in dirt.
‘Ah, that was hard. Did you wait for long?’
‘No, I haven’t waited. Where have you been, your body-‘
‘I’ve been to the East Forest. I am supposed to teach you how to hunt, so I’ve been looking around, seeing what’s there. I’m looking forward to taking you there tomorrow, so we can start your lessons.’
What? How did she get covered by dirt, then? Sohow, she had made worry. Gentia entered the bathroom, shouting over her shoulder that she had to wash her muddy body first. After she had bathed for a long ti, she ca out, having put simple clothes over her slender figure. I decided then that we had wasted the day, not doing much.
Gentia was thoughtful, though, and figured that she could teach sothing during the night. She asked to bring the daggers that she had gifted . I did so, and she fetched a thick wooden board that she had used as a rcenary, as well as a throwing-dagger manual, written for rcs by rcs. The board looked like a dartboard, and the wood was pliable enough that daggers could be pulled out even if dug in deep.
There were many places in my house that I could hang it. When I had mounted it, she told to throw the dagger with my left hand.
She then laughed at my sloppy posture.
Gentia shoved the textbook into my hands, told to read, and then said no more. As soon as I received the book, I noticed a status ssage popping up before my eyes.
[—] Gentia wishes to teach you -rcenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C-[—]
[—]Do you accept? Y/N[—]
Without a thought, I accepted. If I got sothing better later, I could change it out. The only things in my skill column right now are Shadow Swordsmanship and Shadow Justice, so I had a few empty slots that could be filled.
[—]You have learned -rcenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C-[—]
[—]Workmanship of -rcenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C- is increased from 1 to 3[—]
[—]-rcenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C/Workmanship: 3/10-
I knew that only skilled rcenaries learned how to wield daggers in their off-hands.
Each ti that the skill’s workmanship is raised, the accuracy of the thrown dagger is increased, and the damage slightly increases. If the skill exceeds 5, the speed of drawing a dagger increases, and I would get a slight boost in agility after my throw.
The nature of the skill was quite monotonous, and it can be learned without any special conditions. It was all about accuracy adjustnt and an increase in damage output. However, this was not the main aspect of learning a skill.
The real magic happened in the manner in which you learned it, and the data flowed into my head: Detailed information on how to hold daggers, how to balance their weight and how to snap your wrist on the throw.
Although that sounded a bit simple, it was really as easy as that.
Still, knowing how to do sothing is not the sa as being experienced in doing it. This counted for my Shadow Swordsmanship and Shadow Justice as well. Still, I looked through the book as Gentia had instructed, and then made my throw, imitating everything she had taught .
After an hour or so, Gentia stood in awe.
There was a high risk of injury for beginners who held the blade, and she had just wanted to get a feel for what it was like to throw a dagger. She wanted to teach that once I trained a bit, it would not be as hard as it initially was.
Yet, from her eyes, my posture and grip completely matched the rcenary technique, after only reading the textbook once.
My technique was almost exactly the sa as the textbook’s. It was natural for soone to be inept on their first ti, but so perfect was my posture that Gentia asked that I make a few more throws if I wanted to. The first few tis, the dagger hit the board handle-first and bounced off. My hand beca more stable after a number of repetitions, and then- the tip of the blade accurately embedded itself into the board.
It’s an amazing talent to have. Gentia tried to point out errors, pretending to be embarrassed by my display and telling to keep throwing. Yet, she was already telling of advanced tips and tricks, without her even knowing it. I woke up from a daze, and it seed that an hour had already passed. During that ti, I had beco quite skilled.
My rate of learning was swift. Of course, I had not achieved a perfect hit ratio yet, but I guessed that I could perfect the techniques in a month at most or three weeks at least.
‘This kid … Are you for real, genius?’
It was beyond fast, the way in which I had learned this.
Gentia told of when she had first learned how to throw daggers. She had awkwardly grabbed the dagger in her right hand, imitating what Kaseun showed her. Starting with the right hand was the basic technique when training soone in the use of daggers. However, even throwing daggers with her trained right hand, it had still taken her two days to get used to the correct weight distribution, posture, and applied power.
Hers had also been a swift grasping of the core principles. Many rcenaries had encouraged and praised her, saying that a talented genius of a girl was among them. Of course, there were many of them more highly skilled than she in the rcenary company, so she had figured that they were teasing her.
As she got used to the feel of basic daggers, she started training left-handed. It was hard to use her unfamiliar left hand, so it had taken her up to four days longer than with the right hand. And in all that ti, she had thrown daggers without eating and barely sleeping.
And now, a little boy nad Judah had reached a level of proficiency in only an hour. Gentia clearly suspected that I had been learning left-handed dagger techniques with Kaseun, and had only pretended to be unskilled.
Still, I could see that she recalled my sloppy posture on my first try, so she must have decided that that wasn’t it.
It was purely my talent, Gentia seed to figure. She hadn’t even shown signs of envy or jealousy – she had just watched throw dagger after dagger in amazent.
I noticed that my left hand was shaking, the dagger still clutched in it.
‘Stop.’
I took a deep breath as I ceased all movent.
‘Let’s end it here. From tomorrow, you’ll have to run through the forest. So you need your rest.’
‘ … Yeah,’ I replied in a voice filled with regret. Throwing daggers was such fun! When I couldn’t do it, I had beco annoyed, but the more I threw, the more I got used to it.
‘Co here with those.’
I went to Gentia with the four daggers. She was holding a rectangular whetstone and was seated on the sofa. She patted the cushions next to her as if asking to sit beside her. I took a single dagger, sat down next to Gentia, and placed the dagger on the table before her.
‘Unless the weapon is forged from really good materials, using a weapon like this for a while quickly dulls its blade.’
She lifted the dagger and showed the edges of its blade. As she had said, after throwing it for an hour, its tip had beco dulled, and its point blunted.
‘If your weapon is not so good, all you can do is to consistently maintain it. For that purpose, a whetstone is an essential item to possess. So now, I’ll teach you how to use one. You know the basics?’
I nodded.
‘But you don’t know how to angle it, do you?’
‘No.’
‘It’s not that difficult, just a little annoying. Now watch carefully.’
As she went to work, I heard the sharp sound of tal on rock. In almost no ti, Gentia had sharpened the dagger’s blade. I did, in fact, know how to use a whetstone, having sharpened my kitchen knives with them.
Yet, I have never seen a blade sharpened with such ease.
Gentia asked for the remaining three daggers, and I handed one to her. As she started to sharpen the second blade, a system ssage popped up in front of .
[—]Because you have learned the correct thod to sharpen a blade using a whetstone, you have acquired the talent -Raise -[—]
[—]Talents are developed by repeating certain actions or eting special conditions[—]
[—]Talents only give a bonus to your actions. You do not gain a bonus to stats like your skills or characteristics[—]
I already knew all that, so I turned it off and looked up. Anyway, talent was naturally acquired by repeating actions. Like skills and traits, there was no limit to the number of talents one could acquire. Even so, they were not abilities that you could hold great expectations of. Still, having so talents were better than having none. When I sharpened the last dagger myself, Gentia stroked my hair and said that I did well.
Her touch felt good.
‘Now then, shall we visit the forest tomorrow? Since I’ve been sweating, I’ll wash myself again and then head off to sleep,’ she said as she stretched and stood up. Gentia said good night and waved at as she left the room.
I was also drowsy, so I placed the dagger on the table, washed my body, and went to bed.
Whether it was because of the fact that I was not alone in my ho, or because Gentia had stroked my hair, I could not sleep comfortably that night.
Reviews
All reviews (0)