Chapter 6: I Want to Learn Something New
There was only one thing on my mind this week: completing missions. I had two weeks to impress all my tutors, and that is exactly what I was aiming for along with my physical training. I was on time to every tutoring session, took notes on what was taught, answered questions, and used the knowledge from my past life to make it seem that I was gifted in learning. I checked the results from this week's grind fest on the system.
{SYSTEM MISSIONS}
1. Run a total of 26 miles. (12 out of 26 completed) (TIME LIMIT: 4 weeks)
2. Impress all of your tutors. (5 out of 6 impressed) (TIME LIMIT: 2 weeks)
3. Complete both missions. (REWARD: 200 credits, +lucky ticket)
{Stats: Ray Glouse}
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Strength: 2.04
Dexterity: 2.02
Constitution: 1.55
Intelligence: 3.08
Wisdom: 3.08
Charisma: 5
Luck: 9
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I was feeling really good about both the increase in my stats as well as the progress I had made on both missions. It seems that because of my high luck stat, I was able to get bonus stat increases whenever I trained or studied. Since my weekly schedule was jam packed with activities, I was getting an increase almost every day. I also knew which tutor needed impressing, it was Nathaniel Hawk, who was in charge of teaching me military strategy. I was struggling with this topic the most because I had no military background, and games only had a limited overview on strategy. I was anxious about this until Friday's class where I saw a speck of interest from him during our discussions. It wasn't enough to impress him, but I'm pretty confident I could turn it around the following week.
It was the weekend now, and I was thinking of what I wanted to dedicate my weekends to. I could continue training or studying, but I was already heavily grinding those during the week and wanted to pursue something else that could benefit me in the future. I finally ended on one idea: swordsmanship. I needed a way to defend myself, and I had no prior experience in any type of fighting or martial art. With this idea in my head, I again met up with Captain Lloyd to ask him for help.
Ana had been busy these past few days as well preparing for the eventual move to the Royal Academy. She had her own set of training that I wasn't privy to that she had to attend. I wish I was able to view other's stats like in novels I've read back on Earth, but it didn't seem like that would be an option right now. Since she had her own set of training, I headed to the courtyard by myself where I spotted Captain Lloyd.
I jogged up to him and said "Good morning Captain Lloyd!" with as much energy my tiny body could muster. He looked at me and responded, "Good morning to you too master Ray. I can see you have your training garb on, but why is that? We didn't have anything scheduled for today if I recall correctly."
"Sir, I want to learn the basics of swordsmanship!" I gave him an earnest look while standing at attention.
He began holding his chin as he looked at me. I was nervous he would decline my request since I had just started physical training and was adding another whole concept onto my already heavy workload.
After around a minute he finally spoke up and said "Master Ray, the path of the sword is a long and arduous one. Unlike mages and priests who are blessed with a supernatural power, we who tread this path must pursue the pinnacle of swordsmanship. Along the way, our effort is rewarded by the goddess Iram who bestows upon us differing levels of aura. Some people never receive her blessing while others become heroes using these new powers. There is no need for you to embark on this journey right now, but I will oblige your request if you truly wish to go down this path."
My mouth was dry hearing his response, and it was a logical one. As Lloyd had stated, there was no innate aura system in this world, instead it revolved around the goddess of war, Iram. Not much is known, but every person who holds a weapon reveres her. Even EoR heavily emphasized Iram's importance by including missions you could complete to earn her favor.
"Captain Lloyd, I know the path is a long and arduous one. I would have loved to delay it if I could, but there are already others my age who have been training since they were toddlers. I am weak and have no allies or friends. If I start training now, there is a small chance I can close the distance with my peers. Please, I want your guidance in this."
He sighed as he shook his head. "You're a troublesome one you know that right?"
I gave a small laugh as he took me towards a part of the courtyard that had training dummies and wooden weapons. I could see the other knights training vigorously and even sparring with each other, their grunts and groans reverberating all around.
"Master Ray, since you're body is still weak, we will begin with the basics of basics: swinging a sword. I want you to try and copy this movement to the best of your ability, pay special attention to my entire body. Do not just focus on arms, but look at my hips, my legs, and even my feet."
Lloyd then got into a stance that made him look impenetrable, I held my breath in as I used everything I could muster to focus my eyes onto him. In one swift and powerful motion, Lloyd slashed downwards creating a strong gale of wind that pushed me back. I was totally amazed. I knew martial arts could be cool in movies and videogames, but seeing this one movement stirred my heart in such a passionate way.
"Did you see that master Ray? This is a slash, one of the basic movements for swordsmen. I want you to practice it until your arms fall off, understood?!" His tone was that of a drill instructor, but my tiny hands were shaking with excitement; little did I know how blissfully unaware I was at how painful swinging a sword could be.
I tried to replicate Lloyd's stance as I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself. I then swung my sword downwards just as Lloyd had done. As I swung downwards I realized I had positioned my feet unevenly and was now unbalanced. This caused my wooden sword to swerve during the slash and the recoil from the increased air resistance burned my palms. Lloyd had gone to help the other knights so I was practicing alone. I was told I could ask any of the knights for help but that I should first reflect on my own mistakes throughout the process.
I repositioned my feet and entered into the stance again. I will repeat this slash until I could no longer move my arms today, my goal was to both strengthen my arms and to have a deeper understanding of this movement. It looks like there truly is no rest for the wicked...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
MammothHistory
MammothHistory Hey everyone, thanks for reading so far! I realized I had changed the names of the duke and duchess from ch. 1 to ch. 2 so I have fixed that. They will be Duke Allen and Duchess Maria, as it was in chapter 1, sorry for the confusion.
I also wanted to let everyone know that this first part I am writing can be seen as a type of prologue before we begin meeting new characters. This prologue will focus on Ray learning the basics of many things in this new world and his efforts to improve himself.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone