7 Saying Goodbye's

"Unbelievable!", everyone was stunned.

"I wouldn't believe if I didn't see it with my own eyes, it was a simple and extraordinary move which no one has expected..."

"Indeed... A movement which we thought as it was just a habit and a way get additional force to attack the enemy in the front, but the same movement was just now used to attack the enemy when they were behind him, which was his blindspot which is considered a weak point that a warrior is most vulnerable!"

"To think that he used his own blindspot to create an opening to attack when the enemy thought that they got him for good this time and were suddenly struck down without knowing what just happened!"

"Everyone including me thought that this is it for Jared when Kyle dodged that deadly attack which would have defeated him in one strike and slid on the side from below and got behind Jared, I thought that reversal had won the match for Kyle but suddenly the reversal was reversed...", an old looking man described his thoughts on the match with a sigh.

People in the gym who watched the match started analyzing the match that they just witnessed and started exclaiming the points which they found to be fascinating.

"Oh?"

Suddenly the middle-aged man sitting in the front row beside Alex and Chris near the ring stood up. He slowly walked up to the ring without saying a word. He also signaled Alex, Chris, and Tom to come along with him in the ring where Kyle and Jared were already standing with their swords pointing downwards.

Jared looked unphased and was catching his breath while Kyle was slightly bent forward while holding his stomach as that's where he was struck with Jared's wooden sword and was also trying to steady his breathing.

The middle-aged man entered the ring with the three of them and joined Jared and Kyle.

He then turned to face the little audience which consisted of the other members of the gym. He showed his right-hand palm indicating everyone to quiet down as he was going to say something.

"I, one of the masters of this old gym, am very proud to say that these are my students. Today they have displayed their proficiency in martial arts, and especially in the way of the sword. As I said earlier that these five didn't stop training despite leaving this city, but I never got any message from them which said that they have left this gym and will not practice anymore."

"And today they have displayed how far they have come...", the master looked at Alex and the others and continued, "I hope that they will keep practicing and will enjoy huge success in their life."

"Everyone present here was the witness of these matches that went down today and I hope that they have learned a lot. Earlier I instructed the juniors who joined recently or after these five left to watch carefully and get some insights if they can. I hope you all have benefitted by today's events."

The middle-aged man turned towards the five and signaled a boy standing towards his left, the boy understood what he was asking for left hurriedly to get it.

The boy came back with a large case which took two people to bring it in the ring.

Everyone was stunned seeing the large case. They were very familiar with every part of the gym, but they have never seen this large case before.

The case was five feet in wide and ten feet in length. They brought the case in the ring without any delay.

The middle-aged man slowly reached out to the case and said, "This is what I have received from my master when I was a student just like you all are right now."

"And I want this case contains all the greatest collection my master collected from all over the world. He liked to practice swords and collect profound swords which had great qualities", he continued.

"Today after seeing all your abilities and ditermination, I have decided to pass this treasure which I inherited from my master", he slowly opened the case while saying.

Everyone was looking at the case as they wanted to see what was in there which was passed down to the middle-aged man from his master and now he is passing it on to his students and he was doing it in front of all those present.

"The treasures passed on must be good and beneficial and it is also a heritage which lets the creator of the treasure to be remembered whenever it was passed on", someone said from the side in anticipation.

When the middle-aged man completely opened the case, everyone could see what was in there.

When the case was opened, it looked like an arsenal which was full of weapons. It consisted of many different types of weapons like swords, katana, saber, knives, etc. And these all were real swords.

"Kyle", the middle-aged man called with a loud voice.

Kyle stepped forward and bowed slightly and then stood straight. The middle-aged man put his hands in the case and took out a weapon. The weapon was a sword, it was two feet long and two inches in width. It was a shiny short sword.

"You are agile, your movement techniques are good and you can match any type of warrior and become an eyesore for them using your movement skills, so, to complement your speed this sword will be perfect for you, as it is slim, sharp, and fast just like you. This sword will complement you and you will complement this sword", The middle-aged man said while placing the sword on Kyle's palms.

Kyle took the sword and bowed to the master and stepped back to the place he was standing before.

Everyone looked at him with envious eyes.

"Jared", next name was called by the middle-aged man.

Jared came forward and bowed to the master and stood straight.

The middle-aged man took out a long sword from the arsenal. This sword looked like a giants sword, it was heavy but deadly. If one were hit by it even from the flat side of the sword, they would be sent flying.

"You have excellent strength and force to attack, this sword has what you need. It will provide you the additional strength and courage to fight your battles", man said while placing the sword in Jared's hands.

Jared took the sword and bowed to the master and stepped back.

"Tom", next name was called.

Tom stepped up in front and payed his respects to the middle-aged man. And this time the middle-aged man took out a long sword which was four feet in height and just two inches in width.

"I saw you use a long sword with less width and you used it efficiently and to its full extent, this sword will be good in your hands, use it well", the middle-aged man said and placed the sword in Tom's hands. Tom looked at the sword and payed respect to the master and stepped back.

Next up was Chris and his name was called, he stepped forward and stood straight after bowing.

The middle-aged man took out a katana and looked at it with his deep eyes and placed it into Chris's hands and said, "You have a great affinity towards katana, you should know that this is one of the most valuable blades in all the types of swords, use it well."

Chris took the sword respectively from the middle-aged man and stepped back after paying his respects and thanking him.

And the last person in the line was Alex, he was waiting patiently for his turn to get a reward and the inheritance from his master.

"Alex", he name was called.

Alex instantly stepped forward and payed his respects to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man looked at Alex for about ten seconds without blinking, it seemed like he was thinking something . And only then he moved towards the case. He took out a weapon which was wrapped in a azure coloured clothes. It looked like it was very old and the clothes wrapping it were at its limits.

The middle-aged man moved towards a table and placed the weapon covered with the clothes and slowly began to uncover it.

Everyone around wodened their eyes in excitement and anticipation at the same time and looked at the weapon which was being unwrapped by the middle-aged man slowly and carefully.

It was unwrapped.

The moment the weapon was revealed, everyone was shocked like they have never seen this before in their lifetime.

The wrapped cloth contained four blades with different attributes, and all the four weapons were a set. And it was meant to be given to a single warrior.

The middle-aged man carefully picked up a set of two blades and turned towards Alex, and said, "Here, this is a set of two blades but considered as one. These blades are meant to be used together. These blades are best suited for a dual wielder who uses two blades consecutively in his battles."

And he gave the dual blades to Alex and picked up another blade from the set wrapped by the azure coloured clothes.

This time it was a katana. But, it was a like a long sword. It was three feet long and two inches wide, and it was a straight blade. Anyone would think of it as a long sword if not for its hilt which was of a katana. The middle-aged man carefully placed it in Alex's palms without a word.

He turned again and took out the last blade from the clothes and it was a knife. It was half a feet in length and two inches wide. It had some carvings on both the flat sides of the knife which Alex didn't understand a bit. He received the knife as well from the middle-aged man.

"This was a whole set of weapons which was meant to be given to a warrior. They altogether make a complete set of weapons. They are not be misused, you have to promise me that. This is the most precious set of weapons given to me by my master", the middle-aged man spoke with authority.

And with that being said, Alex stepped back and joined his friends in the line.

"The weapons I just gave are of the highest quality in terms of materials and durability. These weapons will not get corroded even after exposed to a lot of blood. They have been preserved from a long time that even I don't know. They are made by an expert using the pieces of a meteorite long time ago", the middle-aged man continued.

After that the five students in front him bowed in respect and thanked him for these rewards.

Everyone around congratulated the five of them and they were envious of them at the same time. What else can they do?

Alex and company went to the middle-aged man again and told him about that they are leaving to their respective cities again tonight. After hearing them their master sighed and gave them some pointers to improve further. He did not try to stop them to stay for few days, he knew that they were good nd can handle themselves.

They turned and said farewell to everyone and were leaving the gym. The middle-aged man looked at their backs and remembered the first time they came to him with mixed feelings towards martial arts and wanted to give it a try. The middle-aged man didn't understand why he was having such thoughts.

The five walked out of the gym. They too had an odd feeling about this which they didn't understood either.

Little did they know...

---

They all took the weapons received from the middle-aged man and headed towards the railway station of the city to leave.

They talked about the fun experiences they had in the past two years when they were separated from each other. They visited the profound lake of the city while on the way to the station, they were fascinated by the lake as it approached night time. They admired the lake and remembered their childhood. While walking and talking they didn't even notice that they have reached the station of the Marblelake city.

This city in which they were born and brought up was named "Marblelake City".

Marblelake city was a big city and was prosperous city. The name this city got from the huge lake it had. At night the lake looked like marble, hence it was named Marble lake

And the city which was built around it got the name Marblelake.