- A Friendly Spar

Returning to the training area he sees a couple of bored disciple groups talking on the perimeter of the arena and playing with their swords.

He avoids their group and moves back towards the equipment racks, looking for a pair of disciple clothing he manages to spot one in a slightly cracked box and heads towards the nearby tent to change with a male symbol sign on it. He leaves his clothing on the bench for the letter, not necessarily caring if somebody decided to steal the filthy jumpsuit anyway.

Exiting the tent, he can see people have begun to take interest in him with his unusual sword grip. He's rather annoyed that they are all grouped up but someone comes out and approaches him, making him relax a little.

"The new disciple I presume." A red-headed disciple points to me, "You shall receive the honor of dueling me first, Bogdan."

Feeling rather pleased that someone came to spar me instead of vice versa I agreed, "Ashur, let us have a fair duel then."

We proceeded to the middle of the arena on opposite ends and upon nodding to each other the fight began we charged at each other with our respective styles.

Our blades meeting crossing, I kick off the ground to the right to try and launch an attack but he meets my blade before I can get a hit in.

"What good is your sword style if it is not fast enough to counter-attack in the first place!" He sneers.

"I've seen a similar style being practiced by other disciples, I can see through your style easily!"

Not responding, Ashur continues to look for an opening as they exchange blows. While Bogdan possesses a much faster sword style he must also be wary of the dangerous blows from Ashur. Soon Ashur begins to be on the receiving end of more damage over time, confused he studies Bogdan.

'How can it be that I am performing much worse than before... James was still just a little bit slower than him.' Desperate for an answer his eyes suddenly come to his grip and he realizes a possible mistake and takes his hand out of the finger grip hold.

Standing close Bogdan is confused by this decision. 'Is he trying to trick me into underestimating him? Hah, won't work!" Bogdan once again charges Ashur as their blades arc towards each other's bodies, seeking to inflict bodily harm.

Unexpectedly Bogdan cannot believe his eyes as he sees Ashur easily reflect his blade and immediately arrives at his neck, ending the duel instantly.

"How can this be?! Hmph, perhaps you are a senior picking on us Juniors, how disgraceful." His face shows a sign of disgust.

"Hold on, this is some kind of misunder-." He's interrupted by Bogdan. "No, I won't hear any of your excuses, good day." He snorts and walks away from the arena, ignoring any of my words which frustrates me.

The arena turns deadly quiet once again as the group members simply lost interest in the fight. Though Ashur isn't focused on them as he gazes at his wooden sword, realizing that the grip would also nullify his sword skill in return for granting him a steady grip he gritted his teeth. "Who knew becoming a master swordsman wouldn't be so easy?"

He wanders back over to the group and tries to initiate a conversation for another spar before a few people walk up to him. "Aren't you a bit shameless to still be trying to bully us juniors?" They grew angry gazes on their faces. Suddenly a distinct voice spoke out to him.

"No he is a junior, I witnessed him join today myself. He is a beginner and you all should come to respect him for his skills." A man he had come to identify as James defends him, surprising him but making him grateful. The group of disciples immediately shut up and stared at Ashur in a newfound light of admiration. They all bowed before him and apologized, clearing the situation up altogether.

His eyes returned to me. "We still weren't able to finish our match last time, how about a spar?"

"Very well," I reply.

"I know a private arena away from prying eyes behind one of the more sizeable tents, but it tends to be quite loud near these residential tents."

We approach a miniature makeshift arena with chalk drawing on the floors to mark the arena as well as signs marking certain positions. As I get into my position, I ignore the sword grip on my handle to test my ability at its peak.

But before we can even start I drop my sword again and audibly sigh. Would his fighting style be eternally cursed, making him a useless burden on the battlefield who cannot even carry items efficiently without dropping them? What if he were to drop something important while running, what would fellow his fellow explorers think if he lost their most valuable items? These questions constantly plagued his mind.

James notices I again drop my sword, the same as in the last battle. Observing my sword he begins to speak, "I guess that sword grip wasn't able to cure your negative attribute that easily was it? Tell you what. You and I deserve a fair fight, and knowing I've only won by your clumsiness is upsetting. I'll call in a favor with the blacksmith and he can try to make you a chain of some sort to wrap around the blade and your arm, this is just one idea I think might work to help with the problem.

Ashur's eyes open widen in shock, he had just recently challenged him to a spar and now he was calling in a favor for him? Just what were these Highlander people on? But then again he figured it would be best to not look at a horse gift in the mouth and simply thank him for his generosity. As they made plans for tomorrow to meet at the blacksmith he decided to head home for rest and a long day of training for weeks to come.