Hi guys!

Today Mano's training begins!

I provided a lot of information this chapter necessary for moving on. So I'm sorry if you find this one boring.

The second part of the day will be coming soon!

Remember to let me know what you think in the discussion thread and if i made any mistakes let me know! Enjoy! :D

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-Chapter 6-

The night of Mano’s duel with Charles.

In a humble cabin surrounded by training equipment, nestled alongside a large pond, a boy was sleeping soundly. Recovering from his multiple wounds incurred in his duel earlier that day. In the cabin’s common room a woman was pacing back and fourth with a complicated expression on her face.

The half-elf woman wore beautiful features with long red hair, gently flowing down to her hips. Her emerald eyes creating a striking contrast. She had a great figure. Boasting a modest bosom accompanied by an enticing hip line. One could tell just by looking she was incredibly fit. Not a shred of unneeded fat on her body.

Master Krieg was pacing around the common room of the cabin she and Mano stayed in. The room was warm, with a hearth in the far corner of the room burning brightly. The cabin was modestly furnished, containing the kitchen, dining table and lounge area. It was a stretch to call this three room cabin a training hall, it was more like a small home. Hanging above the fireplace was a long spear mounted just above a gauntlet with an abnormally large forearm section, almost like a shield. Every now and then Krieg would stop pacing and take a glance at the two pieces of equipment, think for a moment, and vigorously nod to herself before pacing again mumbling under her breath.

“That kid... He more than has the potential to learn my vanguard way.” Krieg mumbled to herself. “No! It’s too dangerous! Nine out of ten people die using that style. It’s too difficult for most to learn. UGH! What should I do?”

Mumbling to herself this way, she was constantly trying to justify taking Mano as her legitimate successor and disciple. While at the same time trying to convince herself it was too dangerous.

Master Krieg, despite being incredibly strict towards Mano when it came to training, had grown quite attached to the kid over these past three years. His honest attitude toward training and the fact that he never complained was very endearing. He sort of resembled a cute younger brother that she never had growing up. So she cared very much about his well being and future. Mano also displayed his incredible talent for the vanguard in his duel with Charles. If it wasn’t for this fact, she would have never even thought about taking him in as his disciple.

“Ugh, I need to think about this deeply.” Turning to look at the gauntlet and spear above the fireplace, Krieg quickly equipped both and headed outside. She needed to work off some of the stress from today. Wielding the long spear in her hand along with the heavy gauntlet on her arm gave her a familiar feeling, and she smiled. “I was always the most calm with these on me.” With a twirl of her wrist she began to spin the spear wildly in her arms, creating a low hum in the air. In a swift movement with great force she brought the spear’s blunt edge to the ground, vaulting up high in the air. With a flip she brought her spear high, and came down hard, slashing her spear towards the ground. The speed of the spear seemed to split the air itself, and a faint gold light could be seen surrounding Krieg’s body. “Fufu, this is the best.” She now wore a beautiful smile from ear to ear. After about what seemed to be hours, she finally stopped. A sheen of sweat on her body, the light white tunic and dark brown shorts clinging to her body. She didn’t bother changing into training gear and went out with just her pajamas on. This would definitely be a lucky sight if anyone was around to see it.

“I’ve decided.” With those final words she smiled and cleaned herself up, put the equipment back in its place above the hearth, and headed off to sleep.

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“Wow.” Mano sighed at the sight of Master Krieg in the training yard. Master Krieg was so enthralled in her training she didn’t notice the loud noises she was producing, and smiled to herself when she noticed the young boy watching her intently trying to keep unnoticed. But she continued training even harder, showing off her skills.

Seeing Master Krieg performing all those fantastic techniques brought stars to Mano’s eyes. She was flipping, striking, and dodging an unseen enemy. “I wonder if I could learn that too?” Mano wondered to himself as he tried to scoot closer to the window to get a better view. Wincing at the sharp pain all over his body. “Sigh,I really have a lot to learn. Charles was clearly more skilled than me, if I didn't get lucky at the end I would have really taken a thrashing.” Mano reflected to himself.

Taking a look back at Master Krieg’s performance one thing intrigued him the most, and that was the gold light surrounding her body. It was almost like the gold mist was being produced from her whole body. Mano noticed that when Master Krieg performed defensive moves the light would glow brighter and a half dome of transparent gold light would even be generated in front of her in a big area. “This must be a vanguard’s mana arts.” Mano sighed in wonder.

Mana arts were well known by everyone as the techniques used by combat specialists. Unlike mages, who possessed a large mana pool and the rare talent to convert their considerable mana externally into many different forms, the combat specialists would manipulate their considerably smaller pool of mana internally. Mana arts were the skills combat specialists used that would expend some of their internal mana to create many different effects. In this case, Master Krieg created a large dome-like shield in front of her.

Most people never learn mana arts because they simply didn’t need to. Not everyone going was going to be in the military or an adventurer after all. At Myst Training Hall mana arts training would normally take place after your fifth year of study, when most student’s would start leaving to their normal lives, staying only for the academic portion of school. This meant most students training after the age of ten meant to make a career in the military or adventuring, or simply came from noble families where it’s advantageous to have a combat background.

Mana watched Master Krieg until she finished her training. Seeing that she was done Mano carfully rested himself back into bed, looking at the sky outside his window. The stars always shown brightly in the desert, casting a gentle light into his room. “I’m definitely happy Master Krieg is my teacher.” With these thoughts Mano drifted off to sleep.

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The next day.

With the help of some of Myst’s resident healing mages Mano was back in tip top shape in no time, and was now sitting at his desk in the room that Master Krieg designated as the class room. Eagerly awaiting instruction.

“Alright! Since you passed your exam we can finally start your vanguard training formally.” Master Krieg was standing in front of the chalkboard wearing her normal leather and cloth equipment. With her red hair up in a bun to keep it out of the way. “Now first off. I want you to tell me how each combatant is separated in terms of skill.”

This was an easy one, Mano thought. As he responded easily, “Combatants are each separated into nine rankings, not including master and above. The first block of combatants are separated by stars. Ranging from one star combatants, all the way up to nine star combatants. After that there is a large threshold between nine star and the master ranks. Master rank is separated into only three tiers. Low, mid, and high masters, because at that level their skills are so specialized and different that it’s difficult to rank them. After that is the twelve numbered demi-god ranks, and finally above them are the Gods that govern the world.”

“Good, now tell me. On your future adventures you will come across many mages, in fact, most parties are led by mages because they hold a higher social standing than most people. Are they ranked in the same system as we combatants?” Master Krieg asked.

Mano knew this one by heart as well. “Yes, but their ranks are considerably harder to climb than physical combatants and generally speaking a mage is more powerful than physical combatant of the same rank.”

“Good!” Master Krieg was proud that her teaching wasn’t a waste and that Mano retained most of the information. “Now, finally I want you to explain the vanguard class to me.”

“The vanguard class is a heavy armored person who specializes staying on the front line, drawing the enemies attention away from their allies. They stand firm, absorbing any strike coming their way while at the same time dishing out pain to their enemies.” Mano answered with a smile on his face.

“Good answer, but not an entirely correct answer either. A vanguard doesn’t need to stand there and take any strike coming their way. This is a common misconception about vanguards that leads to not only people looking down on us as fools, but also leads many vanguards to their doom.” Master Krieg smiled slightly watching Mano trying to comprehend what she was saying. Master Krieg continued, “Just standing and absorbing every attack is definitely a way to defend against your enemies, and some styles handle it effectively, but doing so puts unnecessary burden on your body. It’s much more effective to also dodge or stop your enemies from attacking at all.”

Suddenly it dawned on Mano why Master Krieg emphasized flexibility and explained the training where he was attacked by Krieg while his movements were limited, told to dodge as she constantly attacked him. Building his reaction speed and battle instinct.

“Now, today I will ask you an important question. What kind of vanguard do you want to be?” Master Krieg asked, already knowing Mano’s answer.

“I want to be a learn how to be a vanguard like you!” Mano excitedly answered. “I want to jump around with a spear and block attacks the way you do! It’s so amazing! The way you used the spear along side your gauntlet!” Mano was excitedly making hand gestures and pretending like he himself was a mighty spearman, jumping around the room with his imaginary spear. “?!” Mano gasped to himself and covered his mouth with his hands. He just revealed that he was spying on Master Krieg’s training the night before.

Master Krieg revealed wry smile to Mano. “Don’t worry. I already noticed you were watching me train last night. Thats a bad habit you know? Spying on a lady.” Master Krieg walked by Mano and poked his forehead. Master Krieg retrieved the spear and gauntlet from the hearth and equipped them while making her way to the door. She turned to Mano and admitted, “I’ve already decided that I will be taking you under my wing officially, as my disciple. Follow me, your introduction is today.” She stepped outside wearing a complicated expression thinking to herself, hoping she was making the wise choice.

Once outside Krieg told Mano to wait out front, walking around behind the cabin. Once Krieg reached the shed attached to the back of the cabin she produced a few things. A large metal rod, and a pair of shackles. Bringing these tools to the front of the training hall she began to inform Mano on the purpose of these items.

“You are going to be heading down the most difficult path for vanguards Mano, prepare yourself. The specific variant of vanguard I’m going to teach you originates from the barbaric tribes of the Northern Hell Peaks, where I was raised by my barbarian father and elf mother.”

“The people there are hardy and learn to survive from a young age, constantly warring with nature. The monsters there are massive to behold and extremely deadly. The spear is the perfect weapon to combat these beasts as a vanguard. A spear’s reach along with its versatile form provides supreme offense and many defensive options. A powerful offensive isn’t enough to survive in Hell though. You need to boast a powerful defense as well so your allies can strike down the enemy freely while you defend them. That’s what this is for.” Krieg lifts her left arm, displaying the large gauntlet on her arm.

“The spear we use demands flexibility as well as two arms. As such we cannot equip the large tower shields most vanguards use. This gauntlet here is built to be extremely durable as well as angled so you can direct blows elsewhere, using the force of their attacks against them. If we are talking seriously from a Hellsman’s point of view, which is what people that practice our style are called. The gauntlet is the heart while the spear is the soul. One cannot exist without the other, and you cannot exist without both.” Master Krieg’s instructions were profound and it was difficult for Mano to understand.

“For now you will wear these at all times.” Master Krieg walked up to Mano and equipped him with the shackles, there were no chains on them so looked like small black bracelets on his arms and legs. They weren’t extremely heavy, but Mano found it difficult to move and noticed the resistance on the shackles grew as he exerted more strength. When Mano looked closer he noticed small writing on the shackles surface.

“These shackles were once worn by me when I was a young hellsman. They are magical and hold the property of increasing in weight as more strength is used by the body. They are the perfect weight training tool that will keep you constantly improving past your limits.” Master Krieg stated with a proud expression, handing Mano the large metal rod.

When Mano took the metal rod from Krieg he could feel his strength being sapped from his body. “This is your spear, It will accompany you at all times. From now on your spear is your brother, if I ever find you without it.” Master Krieg’s eye’s flashed and Mano shivered, knowing what to expect if he didn’t heed her warning.

Moving on Krieg added, “As you can tell, this spear has magical glyphs normally used on prisoners restraints. It slowly saps your stamina while you wield it.”

“You will continue your normal daily training program and will receive combat instructions from me in the evening. Don’t worry about passing out from exhaustion, I will make sure you can go through more training than ever.” With a wicked smile on her face she went into the house, only to exit with a massive barrel. Placing it on one of the tables outside causing it to bend slightly from the weight. She brought out a small mug filling it up with that wicked green liquid he was used to drinking by now.

“This is a much more potent version of the tea i’ve been giving you till now. I sent a letter to a healing mage friend of mine a while back, she should be getting to Roland any day now with her apprentice and they both will be staying here with us. She will take care of your muscles in the evening while you drink this to keep your stamina up in the day. I’ll be accompanying you throughout your training pushing you to the limit. Now get running! I’ll make sure you crush the competition in the Melee this year!” The wicked smile never left her face this whole time.

Sweat started pouring down Mano’s back. He hated that tea the most even though he knew it was great for him, and now that a healer would be here, that would mean no rest except for sleep. He’d have to endure this hell for the next four years.

With that monster Krieg pushing him, Mano never ran so hard in his entire life.

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