Ugh, how many hours had it been, strike, dodge, thrust, parry, pivot, dodge, roll. He had been training me in the sword for almost 5 hours now, my clothes were drenched with sweat, I felt like I was about to lose focus, he took a diagonal downward slash against me, I parried it, pivoted to his side and thrust, my sword finally hit him.

-1hp

Of course even with just clothing on I wouldn’t be able to deal damage to him, he returned an upwards diagonal slash, I attempted to deflect it but it knocked me off my feet onto my back.

“Very good boy, don’t get cocky because I’ve been going easy on you, know your strength, but don’t forget that feeling you had for that is to become one with the sword, now you can begin to work the advanced sword skills into your fights, counter and riposte. To counter you simply attack into an enemy when an enemy is attacking you, your sword has to strike first disrupting their blow while you dodge it. To riposte you parry and enemies weapon in a way that misdirects their attack while simultaneously attacking.”

I wouldn’t forget this feeling, these 5 hours had been hard, but so much fun, the sword was so profound.

New Skill obtained!

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:(Passive) Sword Mastery.Beginner10%Knowledge and mastery of the art of the sword.

+10% damage when attacking with the sword

+3% movement speed when a sword is equipped

Sword Skills:

Strike, Parry, Thrust, Dodge, Counter, Riposte, Tumble

Stances:

Earth Form

“Master.” I panted while on the ground “I’ve obtained sword mastery”

“Good, good, this is measurement of how well you understand the sword, the best way to improve your skills is to understand them better, how to strike when to dodge, and the best way to do this is in real battle, sparring only does so much and you become used to sparring rather than battle. So first I will show you the other 5 stances, you can switch between them in combat and as you get better with the sword you can switch between them seamlessly, after this you can go practice in battle.”

“The five other stances are, water, fire, wind, wood and void, do note that stances are separate from your footwork.”

Then starting from earth stance he took his left hand off the bottom of the sword and raised the sword above his head, he then twisted his hand to point the sword downwards, he then turned his body to the side not moving his legs and once again grabbed the base of his sword."

“This is the water stance, this is a defensive stance its best used for blocking swords and arrows while retreating or closing distance, also when fighting on the low ground, turning your body to the side reduces the area you opponent has to strike and decreases the area your sword has to protect, though in this form attacks are limited to light side slashes and thrusts.”

I took the pose of water form and then he then took his left hand off the blade, rotated the sword so it was straight up and slightly behind him.

“This is fire stance, it’s an offensive stance best used to repeated attacks, sieving the advantage and keeping your opponent off balance, from this stance if you see the opportunity you should draw your sword behind your head for the extra force, there are three strike for you to make from this stance and three way for you to draw your sword behind your head for more power, the first is similar to the strike you made when you first came here, but you need to step into it. The second and third are a mirror, you draw the sword to behind your left or right should and add addition rotational force to your strike, but it will increase the distance for the strike and make your intentions more obvious, giving time to an opponent to recover and block. In this stance you forgo defence to your legs so take care when you use it.”

I took the fire stance then drew my sword behind my right shoulder similar to a baseball bat, then made the full strike.

“Good, next stance is the wind form”

He then dropped his arms, his hands and the sword were at hip level but away from his body and the sword tip was pointed towards the ground.

“The wind form lowers forgoes you upper body defence, for mobility and extra defence to your legs, since the form is deceptive in a fight an inexperienced opponent will often mistake it for you being fatigued or lowering your guard they will often try to take the initiative but the mobility given by the stance will allow you to dodge or parry better and thus a strong riposte or counter are possible which the stance increases the damage of, the stance is also useful for enemies that are shorter than you since it will negate their dodge bonus.”

I mirrored his stance while he drew the sword level to his chest then extended his arms.

“The wood stance itself is simple, it’s a defensive stance used to gain distance on your opponent and recover your breath, if you thrust when changing into it you can push your opponent backs, then or otherwise the tip of your sword keeps them at bay a while.”

I had taken the wood stance then suddenly the air seems to change, I felt a chill go down my spine, the old swordsman had only dropped his sword to hip height and drawn the tip behind him but something was completely different.

“The final stance is the void stance, it is both the strongest stance and the weakest for it relies wholly on your mastery of the other forms, as a stance it’s the easiest to change into another and doing so will give you extra bonuses to the stance you change into, but without the strength and mastery of the other forms it’s weaker than the earth stance.”

“Finally we’ll talk a bit about the art of war, as a swordsman you need to take in your environment and use it to your advantage, alongside this you need to deal with other enemies than just another swordsman, the bow is straight forward you either dodge or parry the arrow or you die, What do you think of fighting a shield bearer?”

So far the old man had only been lecturing me.

“I suppose I would lose no? His defence should give him the advantage if we’re the same strength.”

“So you would think when your only experience of combat is books, a heavy two handed sword like ours is designed to fight against a shield, think of it like a parry if they do it at the right angle they’ll be fine, but if you get enough strength behind your sword and the right angle to their shield you’ll cut through it or break their arm, even if you don’t do it on the first go if you continue to smash against their shield you’ll get through as long as you aren’t letting them perfectly block it you'll get through their defense, lastly it would be magic, what would you do against a mage boy?”

“I would dodge any of his spells, get close and slit his throat.”

“Good choice lad, good choice, in the past it was said ancient swordsmen developed a way to strike magic with their swords, but it was a highly guarded secret and lost to the ages, getting to a mage might be tricky and they often have a way to escape, even if you take their tongues many have other ways of casting magic, very few can use genuine voiceless incantation, but some can use gestures for their most used spell and some have runes or other magic tools, don’t try to chop through those though, they're usually tougher than they look, and if they aren't a magical explosion is often more trouble than you’d like.”

Quest completed: The Sword Masters Training.You have impressed the sword master and completed his training thereby being accepted as his apprentice.

You have learnt Sword mastery

You have learnt earth, water, fire, wind, wood and void forms

+ 5 Int for learning all the forms

Intimacy with Theo Redgrave at max

You have acquired the title: Redgrave’s Apprentice.

Apprenticed to Redgrave a legendary knight whose name and skill is known by many, in his home Somner Kingdom he is known as a Hero for defending it from a great calamity.

+100 fame

Increased intimacy with Somner kingdom and its citizens.

May occasionally be challenged by aspiring swordsmen.

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

You have levelled up.

Damn this quest was bigger than I thought, devils luck had really worked, if it activates more often like this I might just walk my way to the top of the rankings 5 levels, shame I was still a novice, but 5 Int for learning all the forms, how rare were these forms.

*growl*

Satiety has reached 25% your stats will be reduced by 20% until satiety is increased

“Gufawfawfaw, hungry lad, I forgot you were only a novice, you’ve tried hard.”

He barely managed to get it out since he found it so funny.

“As congratulations for becoming my apprentice I’ll give you my snack for today, but don’t ask me for it tomorrow gufawfawfaw.”

At which point he bent over from the laughter, reached into his pockets, grabbed some jerky and threw it my way. I was feeling the hunger so I popped it in in one go.

For eating the meat of a dragon you have gained bonus stats, a shame it’s old and dry otherwise you could have gotten more.

+3 to all stats

“Status.”

Status WindowName:EzekielAlignment:NeutralLevel:6Class:NoviceRace:DhampirSatiety:100%TitlesRedgrave's ApprenticeFame:100Infamy:0-Health:480/480Mana:600/600-Attack:59Defense:5-Str:19Dex:17Con:11Sta:13Int:17Wis:17Cha:13Luk:21

Training with the old man was getting me far ahead, while I shouldn't be able to get bonus points as a novice, my status was almost matching my level, while only 5 levels this was a really nice lead.

“Thank you very much master.”

“No need to thank me boy, it doesn’t grant me stats anymore I just enjoy the taste at this point, now it’s time for you to go learn the way of the sword in battle, and I’ve got a great idea as to what you could do.”

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