Chapter 10: No Training Montage? (1/2)
Mike picked himself out of the dust for the hundredth time since breakfast. He channeled a small amount of mana to repair the new set of bruises and scrapes. His grey-haired, one-eyed tormentor walked back to his starting position and casually leaned against the practice spear clutched in his hand.
”Is that all you have, boy?” Albert asked in a laconic voice while stifling a yawn. ”I thought you might have improved a bit over the last month, but I must have been mistaken.”
Mike gritted his teeth, stood up, and retrieved his own practice spear which had been knocked to the other side of the courtyard.
”One more time old man.” He said, as he took his stance. He was going to hit his trainer at least once. Since Mike was leaving for Wyrport today, this was his last chance.
Albert nodded, but continued to casually lean against his spear.
Mike took that as an invitation and started with a thrust towards Albert's torso, which was easily deflected. Mike expected as much, and using his right arm as a lever, attempted to put pressure on the other man's spear in an effort to unbalance him. Albert quickly took a couple steps back to compensate before whipping his spear into an overhead chop.
Mike caught the blow on the haft of his spear and redirected it to his right, before following through with another thrust towards Albert's face. The older man casually leaned out of the way before delivering a sharp kick into Mike's unprotected ribs.
”Sloppy. You're still over-committing on your counters. Any halfway decent fighter would have skewered you by now.”
Mike stumbled back a few steps while coughing. He decided that he would win this one even if he had to fight a little dirty. He dug the butt of his spear into the soft dirt of the training ground, before whipping it up at Albert's face. The cloud of fine dirt obscured the older man's vision for a few moments.
Mike rotated his spear around at knee level in an attempt to sweep his mentor's legs. Displaying an unusual amount of agility in one so old, Albert calmly jumped over Mike's weapon while wiping his eyes with his free hand.
[I got him now!] Mike thought as he pulled the practice dagger from its sheath and stabbed towards Albert's torso.
Albert frowned a bit as he realized that, since he was in the air, he couldn't effectively dodge or block the strike. [Should have blocked that sweep rather than jumped over it. Gotten a little too flashy with this kid. Oh, well, guess I got to get a bit serious.]
Mike felt assured of his victory. He had finally managed to seal the slippery old man's movements and line up a finishing strike. Right before he struck, the world seemed to blur, and he felt himself falling for a few moments before crashing down onto the ground a few meters away.
Albert looked down at youth who was struggling to regain his breath after the impact. ”Not too shabby, boy, but if you are going to use cheap tactics like that, make sure they work. As it stands now, you are just going to upset your opponents.”
He stretched casually and stifled another yawn. ”Still, that was the closest you got to hitting me since we started training together, so kudos. With a few more years of practice, you may even be good enough to make me fight seriously from the start.” He turned and started walking back into the castle. ”Anyway, its time for lunch, so I'm going to go ahead and call it a day.”
Mike sighed and laid back down in the dust. He had improved a lot in the last month, but it evidently didn't help him in the end. He pulled up his [Status] again to review the increases he had gotten during his training.
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[Status]
Michael Rasmussen
Race: Human
Age: 15
Class: Skill Master
Title: None
Multiverse Traveler
Blessed One
Hunter of Renown
Battlefield Healer
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[Skills]
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Primary Skills:
Communication Magic (Rank 2)
Basic Healing Magic (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)
Inspect (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)
Initiate Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Rank 3) (NEW)
Basic Water Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Fire Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
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Secondary Skills:
Lifestyle Magic (Rank 0)
Running (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)
Basic Evasion (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)
Basic Dagger Fighting (Rank 2)
Basic Spear Fighting (Rank 2) (NEW)