After she finished healing him up, they trained for another hour before calling it quits for the day. Although he felt the training routine beco easier the more he trained, Lukas knew that Alara was going easier on them now.
It was almost as if she was testing the best way to train soone.
'She wasn't lying when she said she's never done this before,' Lukas mused as he watched her try to teach a group of goblins proper stances.
"It's not hard! Just do this!" she cried in despair as she perford a complex sword move with the smooth grace of soone who had practiced it for years.
The goblins, who apparently had no formal training until today, could do little more than stumble over each other's feet.
[Yes, although she is quite the formidable opponent, her teaching skills are... lackluster to say the least. If you want, I can compile her information into a simple trainer page for you.]
Lukas jumped, still not used to having a system inside his head. In fact, he was completely unfamiliar with the concept as a whole.
'This is like my brother's greatest fucking dream,' Lukas mused as he nodded his approval.
A second later, a screen appeared in front of him.
[Trainers]
[Alara]
- Age: 19
- Swordsmanship level: Low-Swordsaint
- Trainer Qualifications: Apprentice
'Low-Swordsaint? What's that?' Lukas asked as it sounded quite impressive. He wasn't too surprised about her ability to train, though he did wonder how it could improve.
[Low-Swordsaint puts her fairly high in the rankings of the Heavenly Emperor's army. However, it should be noted that without proper gear of that level, she would not be able to fight enemies at her skill level.]
Nodding to himself, Lukas made a ntal note to learn more about all of this later. One thing he especially wanted to know was how the hell these goblins captured her.
All of that would have to wait, though, as her slender fra was towering over him.
"Your turn, Ygroa," she said with a small smirk.
Groaning, Lukas nodded and grabbed his sword. Standing up, he assud the sa stance as before.
It wasn't close to perfect, not like hers. In fact, he wondered whether or not they could even be compared.
He could feel the imbalance of his stance, how he would have to make multiple unnecessary moves just to strike. Unlike Alara, who seed to be able to combine all facets of swordsmanship into every movent.
Offense, defense, and stamina.
Intuition told him those were the three most important aspects of swordsmanship to hone. Then there was the hidden one, the ntal capacity, where any bit of manipulation could open up soone's guard completely.
'Well, even if I'm complete ass at the other three, I should be good at manipulation,' Lukas thought with confidence.
Noticing his rising confidence, Alara smiled before saying, "Hey, don't be too smug. I've had a better stance since my diaper days."
Lukas couldn't help but laugh at the remark, especially since it was probably true.
Holding his sword in front of him, Lukas said nothing as he beckoned her forward. His sword was going to do the talking for him.
After watching dozens of his devout worshippers fall to her, Lukas knew he had to do better. That didn't an that he would—or could—win, but it did an he had to hold his own in so way.
Otherwise, they might not believe his god gambit anymore, which would put his fate entirely in this woman's hands.
Sching!
"You're distracted, Ygroa! Even if you're a god, don't underestimate !" Alara scread as she lunged forward, swinging her club from overhead.
Lukas was about to raise his sword to block when he noticed sothing. Her eyes had already moved on to her next task. No part of her body language suggested that she was going to follow through with this attack.
So instead, he faked as if he was going to block overhead before lowering his sword to his side, defending his stomach.
Bang!
Surprise was evident on Alara's face as her club struck cleanly against his sword. It was obviously a playful swing, one that didn't even make the sword go backward.
However, for him to block it after just one day of training was still amazing.
And this progress was due to two things: his overwhelming perseverance and intellect, a rare combination that most never achieved.
So people would have all the smarts in the world but never put in the work, whereas others were the exact opposite. They would put their nose down and dedicate everything yet still fall short because they were simply not good enough.
Lukas flashed a grin as he stepped forward, readying his stance once again. After suffering through an entire day's worth of painful training, he had learned enough to be considered an Apprentice Swordsman.
The thought excited Alara to no end. She wanted to see just how far he had co in one day. She wanted to see just how much further he could go.
"Not bad," Alara said as she backed up herself, assuming a completely new stance.
A slow wind flowed through the air. In just seconds, it accelerated to a gust, making everyone's hair smack around wildly.
The sand around Alara began rising as the wind's intensity grew, surrounding her in a spiral shape. Lukas gulped as he saw her eyes beco a pure white, knowing it could only an one thing.
For so ungodly reason, she was trying to kill him!!
"Uh... let's calm down..." Lukas began before stopping himself. His voice was so low and cowardly that he couldn't even hear himself, let alone the psycho.
WHISH!!
The culminating wind suddenly dispersed, sending sand flying into Lukas's face. Before he could even think to block the sand, Lukas found himself knocked on his ass again.
"The theatrics were rely a distraction," an irritating voice called from above him. "Why wouldn't you strike? I was sitting there, rely collecting energy. You could've easily attacked ."
'Why...'
Lukas closed his eyes in embarrassnt. He could've attacked her. He easily could have.
"Worse than that, you rely on your vision way too much. Sotis it will allow you to read your opponent. However," Alara began as she held her hand out to Lukas, "you must learn to grow your instincts if you wish to survive."
Lukas glared at the hand for a second before softening his expression. Nodding his head, he took the hand, and Alara raised him back to his feet.
Then she turned to everyone and said, "I'm done for the day. You all should get so rest because tomorrow won't be this easy."
With her job done, she ignored the scattered groans of the goblins and walked away. Then, as if forgetting sothing, she turned back to the goblins and asked, "Uh, where can I stay?"
" house!"
"No, mine!"
"No beat ! You take house!"
The goblins erupted into frantic shouts completely devoid of grammar. However, their sentint was clear: they were fine with sharing their house for her, soone appointed to be a trainer by their god.
Blushing, Alara whispered, "I- I don't want to steal your ho—"
"No steal!"
"We- we wants to give!"
The goblins shouted in earnest, bowing at a perfect 90-degree angle.
'For being so dumb, they know how to give proper respect,' Lukas mused, though he didn't know if he liked that or not.
On one hand, it was nice. However, it was also a symptom of the poor leadership they endured, where intelligence was considered less important than absolute servitude.
A shortsighted approach that not only ruined their lives but also made these goblins diocre soldiers.
'All but those eight,' Lukas mused, deciding who was going to participate in the tournant for leadership.
There was no need to have all the goblins fight when most of them obviously weren't cut out for the job. Instead, he would just have those eight duke it out. Luckily, they had a number easy to separate into brackets.
After Alara entered one of the goblins' tents, much to his delight, Lukas clapped his hands and the crowd imdiately went silent.
"Now that I am here, I will be fixing many things. To start, I will be adding structure to your army," Lukas began, gesturing to the group of elite goblins. "Tomorrow, I will host a tournant before we begin our daily training. You eight will spar to see who is fit to lead our tribe."
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