Training

"Dagger training you say?.. Wait just a moment…"

The receptionist went through a book with a slight frown on her face before she found what she was looking for and looked up at Mike again

"You're in luck, a new course on dagger training starts today at noon in the training field behind the guild, please speak to the person in charge of the session, Jack, about joining the course"

Mike gave a nod and walked away from the reception desk as he wondered what to do until noon, it was after all still early morning

'Might as well check out the training field…'

Mike followed the stream of people and walked out to the back of the guild and stepped out into a rather big courtyard were all kinds of adventures where training various things. From basic hand to hand combat to specialised anti monster training with a rather big dummy formed like a monster. Mike looked around and quickly found some stands off to the side where some adventurers were sitting and watching the training area and chatting, Mike walked over and sat down and observed the different training courses for a few hours while his mind drifted from place to place until he was woken up by his stomach growling and looked up at the sun to check the time

'Still about an hour until noon…'

Mike got up and left the adventurer's guild to search for some food, he walked around the city of Morkove for some time while snacking on some street food until he came to a plaza with an elevated platform where a group of people stood on wearing what could only be described as rags and metal collars while a crowd gathered around the platform. Mike's curiosity was piqued and he walked over to take a look at a man in plain clothing that stood on the platform yelled out to the crowd as a person in rags stood next to him

"Only 2500 for this one, he has a [Battleaxe] skill that improves his [Strength] while wielding a battle axe, ladies and gentlemen it's a steal!"

Mike gave a slight frown when he realized what kind of 'sale' this was, but after a few seconds his frown eased up as he thought

'Well, mom was a slave to her work too… Until she stabbed a knife through her eye that is… Guess it isn't too surprising to see slave sales in the streets here'

Mike gave a shrug and walked off, it was about time for him to return to the guild anyways, while he walked back he mulled over the idea of buying a slave for himself

'It would be quite convenient to have a person that was unable to betray me… Besides, I would be able to use [Drink] with them around too, but no way I am buying a male slave. Don't want some sweaty man running after me after all if I could choose a pretty woman instead… But it's not like I have money for that right now anyway so it will have to be put off for some time'

With such thoughts in mind Mike arrived back at the guild and went directly to the training field that was out back and looked around for a little while until he found a person that stood on the training field and spun a wooden dagger around with a bored look on his face, Mike walked over and asked

"Are you the person in charge of the dagger training, Jack?"

The person gave a nod before a slight smile crept onto his face as he looked Mike over

"You here for training?"

"Yeah"

"Good, then go and grab a wooden dagger over there… you might want to lose the poncho too, unless you want it to reek of sweat after we're done"

Mike gave a nod and walked over and grabbed a wooden dagger from the weapons rack before he took off his poncho and wrapped it around the knife and laid it off to the side of the training field and walked back to Jack that had a weird look on his face before he asked Mike

"What happened to your back? It's been a long time since I have seen such a big bruise"

Mike gave a sigh

"I pissed off a [Paladin]..."

Jack widened his eyes slightly before laughed out loud for sometime before he spoke again

"Oh, right I did hear about Julie smacking around someone yesterday... You pissed off Julie and lived to tell the tale, I suddenly admire you a whole lot… Say, what's your name?"

"I'm Mike… Is Julie---"

"Yep the one and only [Paladin] in the entire city, one of only three level 3's in the entire city of Morkove"

Mike gave a nod as a cold light flashed through his eyes, meanwhile, Jack looked around before he gave a nod

"Looks like it's only us this time around, now let's start the training… First come at me, I'll evaluate your skill and build a training plan after it"

"Okay…"

Mike lowered his body slightly as he spun around the wooden dagger in his hand, something flashed in Jack's eyes when he saw how dexterity Mike handled the wooden dagger and he also lowered his posture a little while raising up the wooden dagger to about eye level, Mike took this as a signal and punched by kicking off the ground and stabbing the wooden dagger forwards Jack who sidestepped slightly before he grabbed Mike's outstretched arm and made lightning fast movements of stabbing Mike in the wrist, elbow and shoulder before he brushed the wooden dagger over his neck and separated from Mike before he spoke.

"Be careful of overextending!"

Mike was slightly startled at how easy Jack would have killed him if this had been a real fight, but after the shock wore off the desire to learn under Jack only grew bigger, so he answered with a very motivated nod as he answered.

"Yes!"

A couple of hours passed like this and at the end of the training session Mike bare upper body was covered with a layer of sweat, perhaps it was due to his [Knife control] skill but he greatly improved from just one day of training and now felt more confident in going out to take a solo request

'I need to level up soon anyway so let's take a request tomorrow…'

Mike gave a nod as he decided before he turned to Jack that stood a little ways away and gave a bow as he spoke

"Thank you for training me today"

Jack gave a small smile as he spoke

"You don't need to thank me, the guild pays me for every session… But still I appreciate it, be safe out there Mike and remember to come to next week's training"

"Sure, see you in a week"

Mike walked over and picked up his poncho along with the knife that let out a soft red glow when he picked it up before he left the training field behind and walked out into the streets as his stomach growled

'I should get some food… let's wait until the inn serves dinner…'

Mike decided to save some money walked past all the delicious smelling street food stalls and made his way back to the inn where he took a seat and called out to one of the waitresses

"I would like some dinner"

"Oh, you're the one from the room upstairs, yes?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, wait just a minute I'll get you something to eat"

Mike put his poncho on the table along with the knife and waited for his dinner which soon arrived. It consisted of some kind of roasted meat along with some boiled vegetables and a light brown sauce, all in all, it tasted good and Mike quickly ate his dinner before he went upstairs to his room and put the poncho on the bed along with the knife and picked up a bowl along with a piece of cloth which he brought back downstairs and out into the courtyard behind the inn where he drew some water and poured it into the bowl before he began wiping his body down. After he was finished he went back upstairs and into his room where he laid down on his stomach and pulled up the covers and closed his eyes and soon fell asleep…

The next morning Mike awoke and sat up before he stretched and opened his hand as the knife flew over and landed in the palm of his hand, he stifled a yawn and got out of bed and wore his poncho.

'Let's go see what kind of requests are available at the guild…'

Mike left the inn and headed out towards the guild, on the way there he enjoyed the morning sun as he walked on the streets, soon he arrived at the guild and walked inside and over to the request board where a bunch of other adventures were gathered around already

'Now let's see if there's anything good…'