Chapter XL - Dawn of a Swordsman

As everyone was completing their promotion quests, Marcus casually oversaw everyone's promotions. As everyone had received the second volume they all knew what they were able to promote into as well as what skills they could learn as their Tier 1 classes. One of the top bonuses was a permanent 100 bonus points for promoting to Tier 1. This would allow for stronger character creation as well as increasing their guild's power.

Marcus approached the Knight trainer, in his past life, this is what he would have followed, but he knew Artox would become an even more amazing tank than he already is now. Marcus decided this time around, that he would take the path that interested him the most following his prior ascensions...

He departed the Knight trainer and stopped in front of the Swordsman trainer. The tall, lean yet muscular, man was sporting an unique combination of Daimyo wear and European armor. His long black hair was done up in a chonmage and he was sporting a thin beard. He was standing against the wall resting one of his hands on the 3 blades at his waist.

"Greetings, I would be honored to learn the ways of the Swordsman" Marcus said as he bowed before the master. The Swordsman looked down at the Squire as his eyes lit up in a golden hue as symbols began circling his eyes. The gaze pierced through to Marcus' soul causing him a tingling sensation throughout his entire body... 'I can never get used to this feeling' he thought.

"Dear Baron, the path of the Swordsman is a tiresome and never-ending journey, are you sure this is the path destined for you? I feel a strong resonance within you for another path..." The Swordsman said.

Marcus nodded "Yes, I choose the path of the Swordsman!"

The tutor nodded and knocked on the wall behind him as it opened up a doorway and stepped through without saying a word. Marcus sighed and stepped through the portal following the Swordsman. As he stepped through the doorway, Marcus felt the disorienting sensation as he reappeared near the edge of a meadow in the middle of a forest. In the center of the grove, the Swordsman was standing there holding a long katana in both of his hands.

Marcus approached the swordsman and greeted him. The Swordsman simply replied "What difficulty would you like to attempt?"

Marcus pulled out both of his swords and replied "Chaos."

The Swordsman nodded and stated "Your challenge is to survive for 2 minutes to pass, bonus points will be awarded for each 1% of damage dealt to me, bonus points will be awarded for each 1% of remaining health you have at the end of the challenge."

Marcus nodded as he took his battle stance. The Swordsman closed his eyes as a purple aura began to envelop him. This was the system reducing his stats down to that of an average level 20 player, otherwise, the level 99 monster would decimate the player without ever being able to move. Due to Marcus choosing Chaos difficulty, his stats was increased that beyond a level 20, but he was hoping with his increased levels he could surpass him.

After the effects wore off a timer appeared above the two and reflecting a large 2:00 and as soon as it hit 1:59, the Swordsman didn't miss a beat and charged Marcus with his sword behind him and as he approached two steps away he performed a full overhead swing, his blade barely within Marcus' range. Marcus, who had a decently high AGI, was barely able to side-step to avoid this and unleased [Rush] counter-attacking the aggressor. Thanks to dual weilding, his Rush gains an additional attack, increasing it to three.

The Swordsman parried two of the attacks but was caught off-guard by the third and took even more when Marcus followed up with an [Overhead Slash] of his own and had lost about 8% of his maximum HP. The Swordsman quickly unleashed a counter attack of his own and created a distance as he took a classic samurai stance and sheathed his sword with his hand loosely hovering around the Tsuka waiting for Marcus to attack.

The timer had barely gone down 4 seconds during this quick exchange and Marcus knew that approaching the Swordsman was a certain mistake. Instead he took a defensive stance himself knowing well what was about to come. The swordsman glared at the Squire and quickly unleashed his Katana from the sheath as he begun swinging in wide arcs as he quickly advanced towards Marcus.

Marcus pre-emptively began back-stepping following the blade and as it approached began to deflect and parry to the best of his ability. The advancing Swordsman was too much and the last few hits landed taking a decent chunk of Marcus' health. Marcus was given no quarter as the Swordsman immediately charged forward again and used another overhead slash.

Marcus was unable to dodge this one so he crossed both swords over his head catching the katana blade in his and used all his strength to throw the attacker off balance. Marcus followed this up by rushing forward and shoulder charging the Swordsman and unleashed another [Rush] and [Overhead Slash] combo.

This seemed to have kicked the Swordsman into overdrive as he had dropped below 80% HP, meanwhile Marcus was sitting at a comfortable 92%. The Swordsman jumped off his back as he flipped his Katana through the air a few times and crouched down entering a different stance. Marcus crossed both of his swords in front of him as he knew this next attack would be difficult to block and nearly impossible to dodge.

The Swordsman began charging energy and as if magically propelled forward a dark and red aura danced behind him as his sword was pointed forward towards Marcus. He used both his swords to block the attack but still took a massive double digit hit and knocking him back a few meters. Once again the swordsman sheathed his sword once more, but unlike last time, he didn't need to wait to charge the ability as he once again began unleashing wide arc slashes as each slash was leaving a magnificent blue energy trails behind it as he was taking large steps towards Marcus with every slash.

Marcus knew not to panic but this was simply an intense fight and it hadn't even hit the halfway point. Marcus was attempting to dodge and deflect the attacks as blocking would be a massive mistake. The Swordsman was charging Marcus as each swing of his blade was getting closer and closer to hitting the mark and the last hit was one Marcus couldn't avoid and had to block taking out another double digit hit, he was officially below the tutor.

Marcus was cursing his luck as he couldn't use Mana Slash but he didn't lament on a problem he couldn't immediately fix. Marcus' skills were still on cooldown so he began trading blows with the Swordsman as the time ticked down. He had roughly thirty seconds left and his health was at 75% and the Swordsman was at 78%.

They had traded a few blows going 1% for 1% as they ticked down. The Swordsman attempted to create distance to unleash his skills once more before the timer ran out but Marcus charged forward and unleashed his own skills before he could get them off causing him to take a massive 20% hit from the three hits from [Rush] and the two from [Overhead Slash] dropping the Swordsman down to 50% HP and the timer going off signaling the end of the fight.

Marcus was standing there panting heavily as the fight was far more even than he had anticipated but somehow he barely managed to squeak through it with 70% remaining HP and the Swordsman at 50%. Hopefully this was enough to get the maximum rewards.

The Swordsman stood up and sheathed his sword and smiled. "You will make an excellent Swordsman, Baron Squire!"

<Congratulations! Quest Complete!>

<Tier 1 Class Unlocked!>

<Difficulty: Chaos>

<Assessment: SSS>

<Reward 2 active skills from 3>

<1 Random Passive Skill>

<Fame +10>

<Please choose active skill 1 of 2>

[Sweeping Blade]

Active Skill - Level 1 - Rank C

Slash outward from the user in a large circular motion and damage enemies within range of your blade. More enemies in range increases the damage dealt.

[Charging Assault]

Active Skill - Level 1 - Rank C

Attack three times as approaching the target. Each consecutive hit increases damage dealt.

[Shockwave]

Active Skill - Level 1 - Rank C

Quickly slash your sword from a distance and create a shockwave to hit enemies from afar. Consumes Mana not Stamina.

Marcus was conflicted as he wanted all three skills as they could really expand his repertoire. Unfortunately for him, he decided on [Sweeping Blade] and [Charging Assault] as due to his damaged Mana Circuit, he couldn't use MP. As he selected the two, the system chimed once more.

<Calculating...>

<...>

<Awarded skill Fencer!>

[Fencer]

Passive Skill - Level 1 - Rank B

Increases damage dealt by 2%, reduces damage received by 2%, and increases parry chance by 2% when wielding a one handed weapon and nothing in the off hand.