With a new sword and a newly sharpened dagger, the Ratter decided that it was time to get acquainted with her new weapon. Her teacher had advised her that it was a good idea to get at least ten hours of practice with any new weapon she obtained before using it in an actual fight. Every weapon has its quirks and eccentricities, and learning something like the handle becomes too slick if your palms started sweating was better discovered in the training yard than in the heat of battle. The guildhall had a nice, large training yard and provided rookies with one beginner's training dummy per copper. The Ratter bought a credit for ten of them, then picked up one a dummy and began looking for an unused section of the yard.

It was a bit trickier than she would have assumed. A lot of adventurers were using the yard today. Some veteran adventurers had private training grounds, she'd heard, but everyone else had to use the guild. Still, the few times she'd seen the guild's training yard, it was never even close to this busy.

The Ratter noted a large, powerfully built man, stripped to the waist and wielding a massive sword, lower his weapon and start moving towards a shaded area with buckets of water. She approached him as he took one such bucket and dumped it over his head. The Ratter swore she could see steam rising off of the man as he sat down. He noticed the Ratter and asked, "Needing to train?"

The Ratter nodded.

The man extended his hand. The Ratter took it and shook it. "Arhest Smithson," the man said introducing himself.

"The Ratter," she said in reply. The man nodded. A lot of adventurers go by nicknames, so if he considered the name odd, he showed no sign of it.

"I'm cooling off for a bit," Arhest admitted, starting to inspect his blade for any damage. "I've reserved this section of the yard for the day, but if you want to use it while I'm cooling down, I don't mind."

The Ratter nodded, saying, "Thanks. I appreciate it." She paused, then made a show of looking around and noted, "The yard looks busy today."

He laughed, then said, "That's an understatement. It rarely ever gets half this full. But with the sewers filled with Crows and Dark Guild members, most of the rookies have decided that today would be a good day to do some training, rather than risk getting caught in that kind of a free-for-all." He clicked his tongue as he found a small nick in his blade, then began pulling out a whetstone, adding, "I'm typically out here three times a week regardless, at least when I'm not on the job. I wish other adventurers could say the same: A rookie often thinks that experience is the best teacher, but it's like trying to read a book before you even know what words mean. If you don't know good practices from bad, you can't learn the right lessons from what experience teaches you."

She nodded, and agreed, saying, "My teacher taught me much the same thing." She gestured with her head towards the yard and said, "I'll get started. I've got a new sword I need to get familiar with. Let me know when you're done cooling off, and we can switch off."

Arhest nodded and went to work on the nick on his blade. The Ratter took her training dummy, then set its peg into the ground. She pressed the gem set at its top, and it displayed the illusion of a human fighter, sword drawn and shield ready. The "dummy" would display the illusion of a relatively inexperienced human swordsman for up to half an hour before the mana crystal inside ran out of power. It was better training than just swinging a sword at a wooden post, even if it was a little bit more expensive. The fighter would feel close to solid, but its weapons could not do any lasting harm. Still, more than a few rookies sported bruises because they'd underestimated their opponent's skill, or overestimated their own. More advanced and challenging dummies were naturally more expensive, but for a twelve-year-old with little actual experience in combat, a beginner training dummy was perfect for getting her into the swing of things with her sword.

The Ratter took a high stance, the one her teacher had called "Swooping Hawk", and began going through her forms, the illusionary fighter dodging and blocking attacks in response. After a few minutes of warming up, she began to up her tempo, pressing her opponent harder, and giving it greater difficulty in keeping up. After a few seconds, she spotted an opening and decided to take it. With a deft flick with her sword's pommel, she knocked the fighter's shield out of position, then quickly repositioned and drove her sword directly through the fighter's head, stopping after about half of the blade had gone through its face. The illusionary fighter disappeared, then respawned a minute later in a ready position.

Her master had taught her to only use as much of the blade as needed to make a kill. Sure, driving the full length of your sword into someone looks dramatic, but it means that it takes longer to withdraw it, and you can often be attacked before you can get back into a proper stance. Plus, there's always the chance an opponent might grab your blade and hold it in place, so you're defenseless while his buddies cut you down. As such, only use as much of your weapon as you need, so you're always ready to fight.

Taking a lower stance, one her teacher had called "Snapping Hound", she drew her dagger in her free hand and began moving in more cautiously. While Swooping Hark was about overwhelming an opponent with speed before exploiting an opening, Snapping Hound was more about quick, darting movements that focused more on attacking the existing openings in an opponent's guard or pulling them out of position after a feint, rather than trying to force an opening through combat. As such, it tended to be more focused on mobility and could often be more tiring to the user. However, it was a very good method for disposing of an opponent quickly, so you could move to another one without delay. Her teacher had described fighting someone using this style as "Trying to fight off an angry hummingbird". While an experienced opponent might have been able to fend off the darting strikes and feints, the fighter she faced was one intended for beginners, and as such lacked the skill needed to adjust his guard in time. She was able to throw his opponent off with a quick feint to her left, then darted to the right and jammed her poniard into its undefended ankle. As the fighter began falling, she took her sword and opened its throat. The illusion dispersed, then respawned again.

Her teacher had taught her multiple fighting styles that could be used against a multitude of human opponents. While it could hardly be expected to be useful against monsters and other non-humanoids, her teacher had insisted that she learn what he'd called The Seven Forms, so if she was ever in a fight against a human opponent, she wouldn't be caught unprepared. Dangers other than giant rats and slimes roamed the sewers, after all, and one can't always rely on tricks and deception to win a fight. Given time and experience, the Ratter was certain she could develop a style specialized for combatting giant rats, but The Seven Forms would make for a good foundation to build that style from.

For half an hour, she moved through six of the seven stances her teacher had trained her with. Swooping Hawk, Snapping Hound, Prowling Wolf, Stalking Tiger, Charging Boar, and Fluttering Moth. The seventh, Sneaking Rat, was a style purely for assassinating an unsuspecting target, and as such wasn't one to test here. It was one intended solely for daggers and she was already familiar with her poniard's quirks anyway, so it hardly mattered. Still, after moving through her stances twice within half an hour, she was pleased to learn that her new sword didn't seem to have any quirks that might be a hindrance in combat. She'd need another nine-and-a-half hours of training before she could be certain of it, but right now, it seemed her new sword was every bit as perfect as she'd thought it was.

After the training dummy ran out of mana, she picked it up and moved over to where Arhest was waiting. She sat down, then grabbed a wet towel from a nearby water bucket, and began wiping off her face.

After a moment, he noted, "Decent bladework. It's still a bit raw, but I can tell you've had some training."

The Ratter nodded, saying, "My teacher spent five years drilling it into me."

"It shows," Arhest said, inspecting his blade, seeming to be satisfied that he'd worked the nick out of it. "It still needs some work, but that's what training is for. Every ten hours you spend on training is one less hour you'll spend bleeding, as my father used to say."

"Wise words," the Ratter admitted.

Evening came, and the Ratter returned to her room at The Golden Tree. She was sore and knew she'd likely be worse tomorrow, but she was still undeniably a little excited. Tomorrow was the third day, so she'd be able to check to confirm that her "rat-killers" had worked. While she doubted that she could get enough baleen to seed the entire sewer system with them and wipe out giant rats that way, it was just one method she had in mind for the weeks and months ahead. Mapping the sewers, finding gathering places and breeding areas that the rats liked to gather around, determining the most effective and efficient methods of wiping out the largest possible number of rats, all of that took time. How long it took was less important than the fact that the job was done. It might take months, or it might take years, but if there were three things she had, they were time, patience, and imagination.