Chapter 2: Sword Of Friendship
Liam, The Sword.
I felt myself being moved; again and again, my body seemed to change both direction and speed. I felt motion sick, but I held out.
I was shocked—I could even feel my surroundings, and it was odd feeling old sensations again.
I quickly found out why: I was gaining skills at a shocking rate.
[Ability gained: Motion sense, lvl: 1]
[Ability gained: Touch sense, lvl: 1]
[Ability gained: Basic Practice, lvl: 1]
All of these abilities were the source of my newfound sensations. Motion was what was making me ill, and touch was what told me I was being held.
Finally, basic practise was a skill that let me get some introductory information on the movements needed and certain swings that allowed one to gain experience in swordsmanship.
In essence, it gave me a glimpse into a new realm known as swordsmanship, but it also helped my holder with basic practice.
It would give them a slight boost in their training efficiency and is the most important skill for a wooden sword. We were essentially practising swords, so that made some sense to me.
So my time continued to tick as my skills levelled and I even gained two new ones. By the time I had finished my day and was released from my user's grasp, he/she had spent 8 hours practicing, which was an impressive amount of dedication.
Anyway, here are my gains:
[Ability level up: Motion sense, lvl: 3]
[Ability level up: Touch sense, lvl: 2]
[Ability level up: Basic Practice, lvl: 4]
[Ability gained: Basic Swordsmanship, lvl: 1]
[Ability level up: Basic Swordsmanship, lvl: 2]
[Ability gained: Motion sickness resistance, lvl: 1]
[Ability level up: Motion sickness resistance, lvl: 4]
That last one was my personal favourite, but the rest were all useful and gave me certain information on different topics while unlocking and clarifying certain senses.
I could now tell specifically where I was being touched and could feel the fingers on my handle. I could also tell in which direction I was being swung, like north, south, etc.
Basic practise upgrading meant learning more about practise and effective techniques to practice; I was learning what I imagined to be a simplified version of biology, specifically about muscles and how to train them to their full potential. I was still at level 4, so there was still much more to learn, but it was a good start.
Swordsmanship was by far the most interesting, as I learned of a more holistic idea. I was learning from the very roots of what swordsmanship was, and I had only learned a little, but each part was fascinating. From the previous note explanation swordsmanship was applicable in my form and such showed up in my current form.
From what I could tell, swordsmanship was so much more than just the swinging of a sword in the strongest way possible; it was all about efficiency, with even a bit of psychology mixed in.
I was given a taster, and now I was hooked. I wanted more levels, and I wanted them now.
Sadly, it was well beyond what I could do; I was back to my dark nothingness except that now I felt the solid floor of what I imagined to be a storage cupboard.
Watching the clock tick by was far too boring, so I sat and pondered over certain subjects, one in particular I ruminated on far more than others.
Obviously, it was swordsmanship. I was now an addict, so I was going to try to give myself that boost. I thought of all I knew about swordsmanship, from its creation to its eventual demise on Earth.
I believe it was made from certain forms of sticks since humans' first creation, but what made a sword a sword? Its shape? Its use?
Who knew? I certainly did not, but I spent the night thinking about it.
[TIME: 1 month, 3 days] (1 day later)
The feeling of a certain hand woke me from my thoughts; sleep seemed to evade me now, and I could therefore spend months awake without rest.
The results from last night were clear before my eyes:
[Ability level up: Basic Swordsmanship, lvl: 3]
That's right I got a level from my effort; more information was given; and my greed was sated. But not for long, because after collecting my rewards, I immediately felt the need for more, and to my luck, my wielder had returned.
Theo Errendel, initiate of the Azul School For Swordsmanship. (POV change)
Right. I picked up my sword, ready for a day of practice. This would continue, I believe, until my swordsmanship reached level 20, where it would then only level from experience rather than just theory.
Readying myself I whipped up my status to check my stats.
[Name: Theo Errendel] [Lvl 14: 4160/10800]
[HP: 140/140] [MP: 12/12]
[Species: Human]
[Job: Initiate of the Azul School For Swordsmanship, Citizen of The United Kingdom Of Colours]
[Abilities: Basic Swordsmanship, lvl 7, Running, lvl 18, , Cooking, lvl 14, Hunting, lvl 12, Sleeping, lvl 21, Butchering, lvl 7, Colour Language, lvl 14, 5 Senses, lvl 17, Danger Prediction, lvl 4] [Press here for more]
[Power level: 98]
Well, I sure grew up fast. I still remember when I levelled up my cooking skill and my family celebrated with a feast, thanks to yours truly, of course.
I miss them; ah, never mind. So, back to it: my level had clearly stagnated since my monster hunting had stopped, but to compensate, my swordsmanship was much better. My power level was equal to my weaponry art skill multiplied by my level, resulting in a power level that appeared high but was actually weaker than that of many adults.
I remember my dad's power level being 2160, and he isn't really that strong. Well, to me, he will always be the strongest.
Anyway, I might as well practise while I blabber on.
As I swung, I noticed myself to be improving, almost by the swing. Was my natural talent that good? No, I was never that good; however, I did get into the Azul School, which is quite an achievement, but I wasn't THAT good.
I kept it up, and after only 4 hours of continued work, I levelled up my swordsmanship. Okay, that was weird. Weapon art skills were extremely difficult to level up, but I had already levelled up after only a 4-hour session.
It was meant to take 70 hours of dedicated practice, and sure, with my talent, that may have been nocked to 35, but I did it in 4.
My mind was having a hard time keeping up with this, but I simply could not think of why I would have levelled up faster, so I chalked it up to me having a good day. I then walked down to the canteen to eat some food.
I picked up a single lizard sandwich and sat next to some of my fellow initiates.
"Hello there, strangers, mind if I sit here?" I asked with confidence because I knew I needed to make some new friends; after all, I enjoyed company.
"Oh no, of course we don't mind if you come sit; we were just talking about our latest discoveries in the path of swordsmanship." The person who responded was a dark-skinned dude who seemed as friendly as one can get; he gestured for me to sit, and so I did.
"Speaking of," I continued, " I recently had a breakthrough to level 8."
Immediately all of them held their mouths open. "WHAT?" said the table of 4.
"Yeah, I don't know, but today was just a really good day, so it only took me 4 hours to break through." I said, proud of my achievement.
"Damn, now that is talent; unlike you, Blaze, this guy right here has actual talent." This was again spoken by the friendly dude, who seemed to be taking a jab at the orange-haired bloke sitting to my right.
"Oh, Avon, as if you're any better." He jabbed back.
Finally, the third and final person at the table intervened to calm the other two, saying, "Oi, can you two calm down and not fight? We just got a chance to befriend someone, and you can't calm it down for 2 seconds." He turned to look at me and said, "Sorry about that. I'm Isfrid, but everyone calls me Ice."
Great! I'd found my three best friends in only a matter of minutes.
Ice was a big guy with just as much patience as he had muscle; he was, as I learned, a man with a lot of patience. Especially when dealing with Blaze who seemed to be always looking for a fight, sadly, Avon was much too happy to retaliate so that kept me and Ice busy.
We chatted and got to know each other better until I had completely finished with my lizard. It must have been decently levelled, as I gained like 80 XP from it as well. For eating, that was not bad at all.
I said my goodbyes to my new friends and walked back up to my private study hall. Back to good ol' practise.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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