Dexterity Training

After paying a generous silver piece for my bodyguard's meal plus tip, I quickly left the tavern to return to the dojo. My bodyguard kept her silent vigil behind me. I checked my player status and confirmed that the meal had completely restored my health. It was a relief to see my health was full again before I arrived at the dojo because I knew that I would lose more health during my basic conditioning sessions.

While walking on the street, I encountered a few suspicious looking characters. However, they saw Maisen standing behind me and took note of her butterfly-adorned scabbard; consequently, these would-be pickpockets quickly decided to find other marks instead.

When we stepped inside the dojo again, I saw Kalistra in the courtyard and decided to approach her.

My master saw me and she hissed at me.

Yikes, what did I do wrong?

Sister Maisen grinned and held out her right hand with palm facing up.

Kalistra's ears flattened as she grumpily pulled a gold coin from her pouch. She tossed it over to the human warrior, who caught it.

I turned my head back and forth between the two of them. "What was the bet this time?" I asked Maisen.

"Whether you'll return to the dojo on time," she replied nonchalantly.

I turned back to Kalistra and shrugged. It wasn't my fault that I returned to the dojo from my lunch break on time. If anything, the evil minx deserved to lose for having so little faith in me.

Kalistra motioned for me to come closer.

I obeyed and stood in front of her.

"I'm happy with your progress today," she began.

Uh-oh! I started sweating. The evil minx was setting me up again.

"The only training left is to increase your dexterity. For that, I would like to introduce you to our family pet," Kalistra grinned. She walked over to the pond and peered into the water.

I did the same and what I saw left my mouth wide open. There was a large, sandy-colored catfish in the pond. Why would a cat girl have a FISH as a family pet? OH, THE IRONY! There were a few smaller fishes in the pond as well, but I suspected that they were meant to be live food for the larger fish.

"Hello, Mof!" the cat girl greeted.

Suddenly, the catfish jumped out of the water. It opened and closed its jaw repeatedly, making several "mof" sounds. The fish had jumped toward me; when it dived back into the pond, the catfish whacked its tail against the water.

*SPLAT*

As a result, I was doused by the splash from head to toe. "Hey! What did you do that for?" I complained as I spat the yucky water out of my mouth.

The catfish started swimming in a circle around the pond as if it was laughing at me.

"Just you wait, Mof! I'm going to catch you and have you for dinner!" I threatened and started rolling up my sleeves. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my right shoulder and the ensuing pop-up message read, "-2 Health." Ow!

"Mof is our family pet. If you kill him, your life is forfeit," Kalistra threatened.

Maisen put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from the angry cat girl. My bodyguard turned her head toward Kalistra. "Please allow me to train him," the senior pupil requested.

"Fine," Kalistra spat out and turned her back on me. Her tail angrily whiplashed back and forth as she walked away.

"Mof is just being playful," the human warrior said. "And he is very helpful in training our students to increase their dexterity."

"How so?" I asked skeptically.

Maisen grinned. "Did you notice my immunity to electricity?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. How did her immunity relate to the catfish?

"I built up my immunity solely from training with Mof. You see, this little guy is an electric catfish," she revealed.

My jaws dropped again. On Earth, electric catfishes were usually found in tropical Africa and the Nile River. They discharged electricity to stun their prey and feed on other fishes. The discharge was not fatal to humans but three or four hundred volts of electricity would still be painful. "Um, what am I supposed to do with Mof? Catch it?" I asked.

"Yup," Maisen nodded merrily. "Your objective is to catch Mof and toss him out of the water before he shocks you. But don't worry. Mof has been trained to discharge only a small amount of electricity," she reassured me. "I'm rooting for you! You can do it!" she added and offered me a thumb up.

"Right, because you already have a bet with Kalistra," I muttered. My new instructor was definitely in on the con game. I sighed as I peered into the pond to examine my battlefield more closely. It was about eight feet wide, circular, and approximately three feet deep.

Mof was lazily swimming in front of me as if daring me to catch him.

"Here goes nothing," I sighed aloud as I removed my shoes and rolled up my tights and sleeves. I stepped into the pond lunged for the catfish.

*Bbbzzz*

I winced as Mof discharged a small amount of electricity. My pop-up message read, "-1 Health." I looked back at Maisen. "You'll pull me out of the pond before I die from Mof's electric shock, right?" I asked dubiously.

My bodyguard pulled out of her waist pouch a glass vial containing a lemon-colored liquid. "Don't worry. Neither Mof nor I will let you die," she grinned.

I squinted my eyes at the vial and a caption over it read, "Minor healing potion." I rolled my eyes and turned back toward my adversary. I stood motionless like a stone statue and followed the moving catfish with my eyes. When it swam within my range, I lunged for the fish again . . . and missed! I got slapped with another jolt and pop-up for my failure. I lunged after Mof a few more times with the same result.

I took a breather from my fruitless chase to clear up my stack of pop-ups. I saw that I had accumulated a loss of five health points. However, the very last pop-up was a nice surprise: "ACQUIRED: Immunity to Electricity, Level 1, 10% effectiveness, +100 XP."

"Nice!" Maisen yelled out in encouragement once she read my pop-up message.

I nodded in acknowledgment but kept my eyes trained on the elusive catfish. I was sick and tired of allowing the wily creature to lure me in. I was on the defensive this entire time. Okay, let's try another tactic. I took a deep breath and started chasing after the fish again. Mof was over a foot long and it was a tad on the chubby side, undoubtedly from all the fish that Kalistra had lovingly fed the little monster. I couldn't wait to grab the catfish and toss it out of the water!

I started cackling like a maniac as I chased the fish from one end of the pond to the other end. The water started turning cloudy as my movement stirred up the sediment at the bottom of the pond. It was getting harder and harder for my eyes to follow my adversary in the water and vice versa. And the water was splashing out of the pond, making it more difficult for Mof to detect my current location.

I decided to take advantage of the temporary change in Mof's habitat and changed my tactic. I stood still and waited for the catfish to come to me. A few minutes later, I spied a large object in the still-cloudy water slowly approach me. When the confused fish swam into my range, I pounced immediately—I lounged, took hold of the fish with both hands, and flung it out of the pond in one smooth, continuous motion. I watched in pure satisfaction as the ugly looking fish flopped around on his side.

The air sizzled as Mof discharged electricity hap-hazardously.

Finally, a smiling Maisen grabbed Mof and mercifully tossed him back into the pond. She turned to me and said, "Check your pop-up."

Oh! With my instructor's gentle reminder, I suddenly noticed the pop-up. I opened the message and it read, "Major faction quest COMPLETED. +100 XP, +1 Dexterity, +50 XP." I raised my fists in the air and pretended that I was a boxer winning a title match. I was elated to finally finish my conditioning. I walked over to Maisen and gave her a high-five. *Clap*

A student ran into the dojo and a moment later, Kalistra belatedly walked out of the building. She looked extremely unhappy as she slowly crossed the courtyard and reached our location at the pond. Without comment, she reached into her pouch for a gold coin and tossed it over to Maisen.

Once Maisen took the coin, my instructor put a hand on my left shoulder and said in a loud voice, "Lawrence Eugene Mulligan has met all the prerequisites to enroll in our Butterfly School of Swordsmanship. It is my formal recommendation as his instructor to offer him admission into our school."

Kalistra stood in front of me and nodded. "I, Kalistra, Heir to The Butterfly School of Swordsmanship, accept your recommendation to officially enroll Lawrence Eugene Mulligan in our school." Without warning, she grabbed my left wrist and slashed her claw over my forearm, drawing blood.

I immediately received three pop-ups. The first message read, "-2 Health." The second message read, "Profession ACQUIRED: Swordsman (Amateur), Level 1. +1,000 XP." The last message read, "Major faction quest COMPLETED. +500 XP, +250 Reputation, +500 XP."

YES! I thrust my arms up in triumph.

Kalistra rolled her eyes at my antics while Maisen looked on with a trace of amusement on her face.

The senior pupil understood why the nobleman was celebrating his enrollment. Maisen herself was just as happy when she enrolled in the dojo over a decade ago. Choosing a profession was a major life altering decision and becoming a melee fighter opened many opportunities in the kingdom. Some chose to become protectors and enforcers of the Law and Order. Others took advantage of their martial accomplishments to become leaders and lured followers and henchmen to their causes. Maisen was aware that Lawrence was pursuing the crown; the swordsman profession will provide ample opportunities for him to demonstrate his leadership abilities and draw followers and supporters to his own pursuit.

The Heir allowed a minute for the strange human to celebrate. Finally, she raised her paw. "Lawrence, we will have a small initiation ceremony for you tomorrow. In the meantime, I suggest that you visit the bath house and also buy some new clothes." She wrinkled her nose at the smell of the human.

"I'll take him," Maisen volunteered.

I looked at her. "Um, I'm not sure I could afford to keep you as my bodyguard," I said with embarrassment.

"Well, you already paid for my services for today. When I escort you to your home, my service will be completed for the day. Once you go through the initiation ceremony tomorrow, I can escort you as my pupil free of charge," she noted.

"That sounds good," I agreed readily.

"Then it's settled," Kalistra interrupted. "Maisen and I will meet you for breakfast at The Noble Lady tomorrow morning at seven. You are dismissed." She nodded sharply at me and walked away.