Chapter 12 – Training 101

"My name is Cedric Stormheart but you can call me Instructor Cedric! Usually, I'd only teach you a single weapons skill but since you've broken the record for that fledgling course, I can make an exception and teach you another basic weapon skill. As for whether you get anything more afterwards, that'll depend on your performance! Now tell me boy, what weapons would you like to learn?" Instructor Cedric lived up to his last name, he spoke with a thundering loud voice but he didn't come off as crass. It was as though every word was from his heart so it didn't come off as jarring and seemed to fit his character.

'If an NPC that you're not familiar with asks you to call them by their first name, then it means they have a positive impression of you and your favorability is heading in the right direction.' Abel recalled the information he had painstakingly dug up out of the depths of the forums. Not everyone was kind enough to post about their understanding of the game, some would go so far as to release false information in the hopes they would mislead others. Thankfully, such behavior gets flagged pretty quickly and the posts get taken down while the user that posted such things gets banned for a period of time.

"Sir, I would like to learn how to use a bow and the sword." Abel never had the idea to learn fancy magic skills, although they were both strong and cool, the financial upkeep of training as a mage was a terrifying prospect to the poor. Besides he had a good foundation in hunting in reality, a long with the martial arts he now 'knew', he was even more sure of going down the physical path. This didn't mean he couldn't learn magic, every being in Faeron would have access to mana, as to what they can do with it, that depended on many factors such as profession, equipment, skills and so on.

"Hmmm… Good choice, something for long-range and another for close combat. Although you travelers have your own gifts, it will come at the cost of flexibility, I doubt many of you could truly reach the peak of several weapon styles. But that's your choice to make though." The instructor still spoke with his characteristically loud voice even when he was standing right next to Abel.

"Let's start with the sword. Listen up and look closely kid, you first have to learn to grip your sword well. A proper grip ensures control and precision. It's crucial to learn how to hold the weapon securely without straining your hand otherwise you'll most likely hurt yourself instead of your enemy!"

Once the instructor started teaching Abel, he began to rattle on without end "Once you've properly gripped your sword, you have to establish a stable and balanced stance. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly bent and body weight evenly distributed. Even if the earth is shaking or the sky was falling, once you lose your balance you'll likely lose your fight! With balance, you can maintain a good posture to maximize control and minimize vulnerability. Keep your back straight, shoulders relaxed and head up. Once you've acquired these rudimentary habits, your footwork will flow naturally. Laymen think the sword is all about the arms, while you wield the weapon with your hands, you attack or defend depending on your footwork! This involves stepping, pivoting and maneuvering while maintaining balance. Mastering footwork is crucial for both offensive and defensive maneuvers. In fact, footwork is essential to all weapons. The footwork you practice with your sword can be applied when you're wielding a bow! Now, I want you to grab that wooden sword in front of that dummy and practice the movements I just showed you. Once I think you've reached an adequate level with the basics of footwork, I'll then teach you how to actually strike with the sword."

The instructor stood off to the side waiting for Abel to follow his instructions while the latter quickly followed what he was told.

Once he grabbed onto the wooden sword, he relaxed his shoulders, slightly bent his knees and followed the instructors' earlier movements. Abel realized that footwork was also a core part of the martial arts he knew so he picked it up pretty quickly. Without proper footwork, you'd leave yourself wide open to enemy attacks. Around 20 minutes passed by as Abel kept maneuvering and pivoting himself around the dummy, although he felt slightly silly, he kept repeating his actions without really knowing if he was doing it 100% correctly. He instinctively felt like he was doing it right but instructor Cedric stoic look as he stood and watched made Abel doubt himself. Suddenly, the dummy moved in to attack him and Abel instinctively pivoted his feet and maneuvered to the side, dodging the puppet that had come to a halt.

*Ding*

Agility (AGI): +1

'Open character status' Abel spoke within his mind, opening up his user interface to see his current stats.

Name: Red Sky

Level: 1

Profession: None

Alignment: Neutral

Title: None

Reputation: 0

Health (HP): 100

Mana (MP): 100

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGI): 10 -> 11

Endurance (END): 10

Toughness (TGH): 10

Vitality (VIT): 10

Wisdom (WDM): 10

Intelligence (INT): 10

Luck: 0

Satiety: 100 -> 83

Stamina: 100 -> 71

Abel took a look at the change in his stats but before he could check it out further, the instructor was already by his side and speaking to him once again "Not bad! I'd expect no less from a record breaker, even if it was a fledgling course."

Abel was somewhat surprised at the increase in agility, he had read that it was excruciatingly difficult to increase your characters stats without levelling up and that it would take hours and even days of relentless practice before seeing a minor improvement of +1. He attributed the easy increase to the training course and was even more confused as to why players weren't eagerly flocking to the training citadel. Even if players had the money to spend on skill-essence crystals to quickly learn basic sword proficiency, they could still come and earn some easy stat points.

Unlike other games with skill books, Faeron had skill-essence crystals. It was said that it required a very high level as well as great mastery over a skill to produce such a treasure, Abel wasn't sure as to what the requirements actually were. While the easier skills such as basic sword proficiency and so on were relatively cheap, it became much more difficult and expensive to procure higher level ones, especially active skills.

"Now that you've got the essentials of footwork down, it's time to learn some basic sword moves. Although these aren't the powerful skills you'll see professionals use, you should remember that the basic moves I'm teaching you now are the fundamentals to those strong skills! Without these basic moves, you'd never be able to learn those flashy skills even if you had the skill-essence crystals."

"Understood instructor!" Abel enthusiastically replied, now that he knew he could increase his stats and learn skills for free, he was beyond excited! He thought he'd just get the free skills but the stat increase was a welcome surprise to him.

"First you've got the most straightforward cut which involves a slashing motion with the sword. The angle and direction of the cut can vary, targeting different areas of the opponent's body. Common types of cuts include; horizontal cuts from left to right and vice versa, vertical cuts from top to bottom or in reverse and diagonal cuts which is a blend of the former 2 moves." As instructor Cedric explained, he made the moves in slow motion, slowly repeating them at higher speeds until he completed it 3 times in quick succession. "A feint is a deceptive or false attack intended to provoke a reaction from the opponent and create an opening for you to strike. Once you've practiced enough with a cut, you'd be able to initiate a motion as if to attack in one direction but quickly redirect the attack elsewhere, that is the essence of a feint."

"Next up is a thrust, a stab aiming to penetrate the opponent's defenses. It's often used to target specific or vulnerable areas such as the torso or face. Thrusting requires precision and control to avoid overcommitting and leaving yourself open to a counterattack." The instructor repeated his movements once again as he explained the need for control when performing a sword thrust. "A more advanced thrust would be known as a lunge. A sudden forward movement along with a thrust is to close the distance between you and your opponent."

"You should practice these 2 offensive moves before I try teaching you how to block and parry!" The instructor went back to the side and watched on, waiting for Abel to start his practice.

Consequently, Abel started the monotonous swinging and thrusting at the wooden puppet. Except this time, he paid close attention to the puppet in case it moved again. He understood it was an enchanted puppet that could move and test his progress.

'This also wasn't mentioned anywhere online…' Abel inwardly sighed, once more reminding himself not to trust everything he read. He should look more, think more and talk less. Although this aspect of the dummy might not be common knowledge considering how few people spend their time at the training citadel, it could also be like the stat increase, a piece of knowledge that was intentionally kept hidden by those that knew of it.

Abel kept up his footwork and aligned it with his sword moves. He'd switch up between different types of slashes and then try out a lunge when he could. He wasn't sure how many movement he'd made but he had kept it up for more than an hour before an alert popped up in the corner of his sight.

*Ding*

Stamina: 71 -> 9

Satiety: 83 -> 34

System Note: If Stamina drops to 0, user's health will start falling.

System Note: If Satiety drops below 25, user stamina will suffer a 50% debuff, accumulating by 10% for every 5 points of satiety.

"Alright lad, you should rest up for 15 minutes. Go get something to eat and drink and let your stamina recover. If you push yourself too hard you'll just end up breaking your body!" The instructor spoke up as though he could see through Abel's status screen and gave him a word of advice. "You can restart when you've rested for a bit."

Pant pant pant

"Understood *pant* instructor" Abel gaspingly replied before crouching down and grabbing the canteen on his side to take a small sip of water. It was incredible how even his sweat would be simulated in-game when he exerted himself, while a feeling of hunger slowly appeared. The simulated hunger was different from real hunger that would twist a person's stomach into knots, it was a weird feeling of emptiness.

Abel reached the small sack on his back and grabbed a loaf of black bread, he started stuffing it into his mouth while occasionally taking a small sip of water. The taste was pretty bland and very coarse but he didn't mind when he saw his satiety level going up.

Stamina: 9 -> 63

Satiety: 34 -> 74

After resting for 15 minutes, he got up on his own and repeated his earlier exercises. Just as he got back into he saw a new notification

*Ding*

Strength (STR): +1

Endurance (END): +1

Vitality (VIT): +1

Health (HP): +10

Feeling pumped up with the increase in stat points, Abel was even more motivated and swung his sword with more enthusiasm.