Chapter 8: The way of the sword!

Blake and the others endured a torturous passage of the weeks, which slowly turned into months. They had been made to endure continuous training, moulding their bodies into armed warriors via diligent labour.

However, the time had finally come for them to start weapon training, seeing that the commander of the guard had been pleased with their progress so far with no one dying as of yet.

"Listen up you maggots!" The commander yelled, stopping everyone from their hand-to-hand combat training.

"I can see that you have all made excellent progress in your ability to hone and use your body as a weapon. Therefore, we will finally move on to the real weapon training." He said with a smirk.

Blake had to admit he was pleased and somewhat excited to be moving on to using real weapons, having grown stronger than the others in hand to hand combat, feeling like he had nothing left to learn.

Nevertheless, because of the rigorous training he was forced to endure, he had learned to control his body, which had allowed him to adapt to his Kobold form entirely in every element of movement.

Name: Blake

Race: Kobold Lv8 (105/1000Exp)

Health: 43/43

Stamina: 41/41

Mana: 37/37

Ability points: 7

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Strength: 8

Agility: 8

Intelligence: 8

Unique Skill: Dragon belly.

Skills: Sprint. Quick hands. Sneak. Claw attack. Punch combos. Kick combos. Blocking. Counter strike.

"Take these." The commander then said as he tossed what looked like wooden training swords onto the ground for each of them.

Blake watched as his landed on the ground near him before he bent down to pick it up, noting the surprising weight of it.

Clearly he wasn't the only one to notice it as the others all looked at each other to see what was going on.

"Heavy?" The commander asked with a smile.

"Good. They are three times the weight of a normal sword you would use." The commander said, getting their attention.

"Once you learn to use these, the real thing will be child's play. Now partner up and practice the basic strikes and parries you have been shown." The commander yelled, having given them a demonstration earlier that day.

Blake and Nev joined together as always, with each of them holding their new training sword in hand, letting their arm grow accustomed to the weight.

Blake could tell that Nev was excited, even if it was just a heavy wooden sword.

"Here I come Drak!" Nev yelled, lifting the practice sword before thrusting it forward in a stabbing motion.

Blake was forced to step back and parry the attack away to the side in order to block the attack, feeling the weight in his shoulder.

However, Nev wasn't done there as he attacked in a slashing motion next, cutting down from the right and then the left one after the other as Blake blocked both of his attacks again, using the correct footwork.

"Good. Remember you must think of the sword like an extension of yourself, not simply as a weapon." The commander said while he watched the group practice their attacks against one another.

Surge was attacking with all of his strength, knocking the training sword from his partners hand before he struck down on the Kobolds shoulder, dropping him to the ground in pain.

"Remember, if you lose your weapon you have only one thing left. Yourself." The commander said, not even batting an eye as he continued walking with his arms crossed behind his back to inspect the others.

Nev had finished his round of attacks and now found himself blocking the same moves from Blake as he thrust forward and then attacked in a slashing motion, using the weight of the training sword to further increase the power of his attacks.

[Slash skill acquired.]

[Stab skill acquired.]

The system said as Blake used the moves a few more times, seeing that the skills had indeed been added to his display screen.

Very nice. Blake said to himself as he finished his attacking sequence against, Nev before he started to attack again.

The group went over the basic attacks and blocks for hours until their arms felt as if they were going to drop off.

The commander didn't care that some of the other recruits were struggling to simply hold onto their swords as they could feel their muscles buckling under the strain.

"Alright, take five you maggots." He finally said, allowing them to stop and rest.

Even Blake was exhausted, feeling his body crying for rest as the muscles in his arms burnt from the lactic acid build up.

"Sir, a word." One of the other guards said as he approached the commander, catching the groups eyes for a moment.

The commander nodded before looking at Blake and the others.

"Wait until I return." He said, daring them to disobey him before he left to talk in private.

Blake and some of the others took a seat on the ground as they tried to catch their breath. Even Surge was tired, meaning that this training was indeed hellish.

So far only four months had gone by since Blake had been brought here. And honestly he wasn't sure if he would be able to endure 3 full years of this torturous training.

"Fuck, I'm exhausted." Nev said as he dropped to the ground next to Blake, letting his body sprawl out so he could lie on his back.

Blake didn't blame him, feeling the same way.

"I feel as bad as you look." He said, causing Nev to laugh at his joke.

"I bet you feel pretty damn good then." He said, lifting his neck up so he could see the look on Blakes face.

"What the hell are you weaklings laughing at?" Surge suddenly snarled from his seated position, sipping on some water.

"Oh but out, nobody asked you." Nev said, telling Surge to shut up.

"What did you say to me?" Surge said, standing up now and walking over to Nev before he threw his cup to the ground.

Blake had seen this coming for sometime now. The two of them had been at each others throats for a while, and it was only a matter of time before they had it out with one another.

"I said, piss off." Nev said, standing up so he could square up to Surge, meeting his challenge.

Surge snarled as he pressed his forehead against Nev's, with Nev returning the pressure.

"What is going on here!" The commander suddenly yelled, having arrived back to witness Nev and Surge's antics.

"N-Nothing sir." Nev said, as he and Surge quickly took a step back, not wanting to extract the commanders wrath.

"Nothing..." He said, clearly not being blind.

"Both of you, take up your swords and step into the pit." The commander said, causing Blake to almost slap himself in the face, knowing this would happen.

The others also got excited, wanting to watch the two of them fight it out as they got back up.

"Gladly." Surge said, picking up his training sword before giving Nev a dirty look.

Nev did the same and the two of them walked over to the small training circle that was used for one on one combat. While everyone else gave them room so they could watch their battle.

"I won't have my recruits fighting amongst themselves. SO. Lets get this sorted right away." The commander said.

"Besides, this will be a good test to see if you have learnt anything."

"Now, you are free to fight however you see fit, with the use of your training swords. The match is over when one of you admits defeat... Or can no longer fight." He said, making it clear there were no rules.

"Yes sir." Nev responded while Surge simply snarled in response.

"Now, fight!"

Surge didn't waste anytime charging in on the offensive swinging his sword like a mad man, using nothing but brute strength to attack with.

Nev did his best to parry and block the attacks, feeling the weight of them and not wanting to get hit at all.

Even though Surge was only using strength to attack, he was still proving difficult to deal with and Nev looked to be on his back foot as he blocked an overhead strike and pushed forward, meeting Surge face to face as he did the same, both fighting for dominance with their swords clashing against one another.

"You won't be able to contend with me! Drak may be there to keep you safe, but you are mine now." Surge said, snarling as he looked Nev in the eyes and pushed him away, breaking their exchange before he lunged in with a powerful slash to the chest.

Nev was able to raise his sword just in time, keeping one hand on the flat of the blade to help him block Surge's powerful attack.

Blake watched as Nev was sent through the air with that last attack, willing Nev to fight back and not give up.

They are both level 6... The only question now is who can use their abilities more effectively Blake thought as he observed their levels and stats, seeing they were almost evenly matched.

Nev landed back on his feet, having recovered quiet smoothly from Surge's attack. However, his training sword had taken a large amount of damage, having splintered from all of the blunt trauma it had received.

Nev took a look around, noting that everyone was watching him, including Blake.

Surges's harsh remarks made Nev realise that he had always been under Blake's shadow and had never been able to outperform him in practise or training, causing Nev to look down at the ground for a moment.

"I don't need anyone to protect me...." he said softly, not quiet loud enough for Surge to hear his words.

"Sobbing won't do you any good now, time to finish this!" Surge said, not caring what he was saying and charged in for another attack.

"I depend on my own strength and nobody else's!" Nev cried out, letting his rage erupt into a tremendous roar.

Blake watched on his display screen as Nev activated his Kobold's rage ability, giving all of his stats a boost before he charged in to attack, clashing with Surge as their swords met, splintering from the impact.

This time, Nev overpowered Surge, knocking him back and throwing off his guard, which caused him to lose his footing.

"N-No!" Surge yelled, knowing what came next, unable to do anything about it.

"Take this!" Nev shouted, slicing Surge's shoulder with a strong angled slice with his training sword before sending Surge flying backwards into the ground with a powerful thud.

"Winner, Nev!" The commander shouted.

All of the other Kobolds cried out in amazement as there epic battle had been brought to a close.

"He did it!"

"Amazing! He really won!"

Blake also watched with his arms crossed over his chest, happy that Nev had defeated Surge, also noting that he levelled up to level 7. Making him the second strongest after Blake himself.

Nev raised his sword into the air as a sign of victory while Surge was still lying on the ground, groaning in pain and unable to move due to Nev's attack.

"I won't let anyone stand in my way to the top. I will become stronger than anyone." Nev said to Surge before he turned his attention toward Blake.

"Even you."