Mike picked himself out of the dust for the hundredth ti since breakfast. He channeled a small amount of mana to repair the new set of bruises and scrapes. His grey-haired, one-eyed torntor walked back to his starting position and casually leaned against the practice spear clutched in his hand.
"Is that all you have, boy?" Albert asked in a laconic voice while stifling a yawn. "I thought you might have improved a bit over the last month, but I must have been mistaken."
Mike gritted his teeth, stood up, and retrieved his own practice spear which had been knocked to the other side of the courtyard.
"One more ti old man." He said, as he took his stance. He was going to hit his trainer at least once. Since Mike was leaving for Wyrport today, this was his last chance.
Albert nodded, but continued to casually lean against his spear.
Mike took that as an invitation and started with a thrust towards Albert's torso, which was easily deflected. Mike expected as much, and using his right arm as a lever, attempted to put pressure on the other man's spear in an effort to unbalance him. Albert quickly took a couple steps back to compensate before whipping his spear into an overhead chop.
Mike caught the blow on the haft of his spear and redirected it to his right, before following through with another thrust towards Albert's face. The older man casually leaned out of the way before delivering a sharp kick into Mike's unprotected ribs.
"Sloppy. You're still over-committing on your counters. Any halfway decent fighter would have skewered you by now."
Mike stumbled back a few steps while coughing. He decided that he would win this one even if he had to fight a little dirty. He dug the butt of his spear into the soft dirt of the training ground, before whipping it up at Albert's face. The cloud of fine dirt obscured the older man's vision for a few monts.
Mike rotated his spear around at knee level in an attempt to sweep his ntor's legs. Displaying an unusual amount of agility in one so old, Albert calmly jumped over Mike's weapon while wiping his eyes with his free hand.
[I got him now!] Mike thought as he pulled the practice dagger from its sheath and stabbed towards Albert's torso.
Albert frowned a bit as he realized that, since he was in the air, he couldn't effectively dodge or block the strike. [Should have blocked that sweep rather than jumped over it. Gotten a little too flashy with this kid. Oh, well, guess I got to get a bit serious.]
Mike felt assured of his victory. He had finally managed to seal the slippery old man's movents and line up a finishing strike. Right before he struck, the world seed to blur, and he felt himself falling for a few monts before crashing down onto the ground a few ters away.
Albert looked down at youth who was struggling to regain his breath after the impact. "Not too shabby, boy, but if you are going to use cheap tactics like that, make sure they work. As it stands now, you are just going to upset your opponents."
He stretched casually and stifled another yawn. "Still, that was the closest you got to hitting since we started training together, so kudos. With a few more years of practice, you may even be good enough to make fight seriously from the start." He turned and started walking back into the castle. "Anyway, its ti for lunch, so I'm going to go ahead and call it a day."
Mike sighed and laid back down in the dust. He had improved a lot in the last month, but it evidently didn't help him in the end. He pulled up his [Status] again to review the increases he had gotten during his training.
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[Status]
Michael Rasmussen
Race: Human
Age: 15
Class: Skill Master
Title: None
Multiverse Traveler
Blessed One
Hunter of Renown
Battlefield Healer
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[Skills]
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Primary Skills:
Communication Magic (Rank 2)
Basic Healing Magic (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)
Inspect (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)
Initiate Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Rank 3) (NEW)
Basic Water Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Fire Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
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Secondary Skills:
Lifestyle Magic (Rank 0)
Running (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)
Basic Evasion (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)
Basic Dagger Fighting (Rank 2)
Basic Spear Fighting (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Sword Fighting (Rank 3) (NEW)
Basic Elental Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Riding (Rank 2) (NEW)
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Passive Skills:
Basic Fear Resistance (Rank 1)
Minor Mana Enhancent (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)
Minor Endurance Enhancent (Rank 2) (NEW)
Minor Agility Enhancent (Rank 2) (NEW)
Minor Strength Enhancent (Rank 2) (NEW)
--------------
Inherent Skills:
Traveler's Luck
Fate-Touched
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- Initiate Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Tier 1, Rank 3) -
The fundantal swordsmanship of the Almiran military. Focuses on the usage of a single longsword in either one or two hands. Characterized by a great deal of flexibility and versatility, with no specific strong or weak areas.
- Basic Water Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
One of the most basic forms of Elental Magic. Water magic allows the user to create and manipulate water. It is characterized by flexibility in both offense and defense, but lacks the overt power of other types of magic. Higher skill levels increase the mana efficiency and power of the magic produced.
- Basic Fire Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
One of the most basic forms of Elental Magic. Fire magic allows the user to create and manipulate fire. It is characterized by powerful offense, but lacks fine damage control and defensive techniques. Higher skill levels increase the mana efficiency and power of the magic produced.
- Basic Spear Fighting (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
The most rudintary skill of the Spear Fighting tree. Provides users with fundantal understanding of using spears and other, similar weapons in combat.
- Basic Sword Fighting (Tier 1, Rank 3) -
The most rudintary skill of the Sword Fighting tree. Provides users with fundantal understanding of using swords in combat.
- Basic Elental Magic (Tier 1, Rank 3) -
The most fundantal form of Elental Magic. Allows users to access magic skills for the four primary elents: earth, air, water, and fire. Higher levels of skill provide a bonus on mana efficiency and potency. This is a Prerequisite and Limiter skill for all other Elental Magic skills.
- Basic Riding (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
The art of directing mounts in both combat and non-combat situations. The most basic form of riding. Higher level of skill will improve the ability to bond with, train, and ride large creatures.
- Minor Endurance Enhancent (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
Through physical training the user has increased his/her body's natural limits. Provides a minor enhancent to Endurance.
- Minor Agility Enhancent (Tier 1, Rank 2) -
Through physical training the user has increased his/her body's natural limits. Provides a minor enhancent to Agility.
He had picked up a number of new skills, including two basic elental magic skills he acquired from overusing Lifestyle Magic in an effort to figure out how it all worked. Creating water and fire respectively to the point of emptying his mana pool a couple of tis was all it took to pick up those skills.
He had also discovered that strange energy he had felt flowing through him ever since he had reincarnated here was mana. Anyti he used it for one of his magic skills he could feel it traveling through him and leaving to create his desired effect. Like many other of the phenona that he had observed so far, he was taking his ti in studying it.
Mike stood up, dusted himself off and started heading to the ss hall for lunch. He picked up a bowl of stew and a small loaf of bread before moving to find himself a place to sit. The hall was almost empty, with only a few Order mbers eating inside.
Commander Beorn had been leading the Order in a large effort to find and eradicate the Anhilites in the area. While they had so success, the carved-cheeked leader called Smiler had eluded capture.
Mike had learned during his ti at the Order that the Anhilites that still occasionally plagued his dreams were really just ordinary n and won who had been twisted by so dark ritual. According to the Order historian/record-keeper/lore master Wendel, the Anhilites are a kind of cult. They worship a powerful demon lord by the na of Anhilus who is bent on world-wide chaos and suffering. The cult is lead by mysterious priest figures who are capable of performing a ritual which turns an otherwise ordinary individual into a loyal Anhilite at the cost of the participant's sanity.
Anhilites teach that suffering is natural, and that torture and death is the proper path for all living beings. To that effect they usually form small warbands based around a priest, and roam the world spreading destruction and chaos.
Recently, the Anhilites had been quite active in the northern reaches of Almir. While they were still raiding and causing general misery, they were behaving rather oddly. This particular group was a lot more cautious than usual, so despite the Order's best efforts, they continued to wreak havoc.
The thought of these strange madn caused a slight chill in Mike's heart. [I'm heading out tomorrow, so I shouldn't be worrying those crazy f******. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with them again.]
He finished his lunch and stood up. He left the ss hall and headed back to the barracks. There was a little bit of packing left to do, and he wanted to check in on Morris. He had developed a solid friendship with the man, and was looking forward to traveling with him.
He went to his room first, ntally thanking the commander once again for placing him in a single room, rather than the more common barracks most Order mbers lived in. He drew up short, however, when he saw a familiar figure waiting for him outside of his door.
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