Yard one was easily identifiable. Not only were there a multitude of different looking training devices and dummies on a massive field to practice combat with, but the grass itself was strange. It was blue, which was something he had never seen before.
Dante turned to Mia, who was about to leave him. “Why is the grass blue.”
Mia waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just a show of wealth for petty nobles. The grass is blue from some alchemist’s potion. It makes the grass resistant to mana, and tougher, which is a big help when combatants are constantly practicing their skills on it. In other words, it’s just as useful as the dirt that covers the other yards within the academy.”
Dante’s eyes went wide at her explanation, he knew next to nothing about alchemists, but thought the blue grass would be amazingly useful. “Does that potion work on everything?” If he could use it on his clothes, it would both make them tougher and mana resistant.
Mia’s laughing answer gave him a good idea of how absurd his question was. “No, the grass is changed by infusing the seeds. That particular potion only works on vegetation. It wouldn’t matter though, it’s a blue potion, so the effects are weak, and only effective for protection against new combatants’ attacks. That’s why it is just a show of wealth.” She turned to leave. “Alright, I’ll be here when your training is over.”
Dante waved goodbye and turned to the training yard. Only a few other students were waiting, which he thought was strange because there was over double that number in what he thought were instructors.
There were two reasons why he thought they were the instructors, the first was because they were all older and intimidating. Most of them staring at the other students with what seemed to be disdain. The second reason was Sir Andres, who standing among them.
As Dante walked into the yard, Sir Andres noticed him. “Ah. Dante, you managed to make it on time. Go ahead and get lined up.” The ‘line’ was a group of around twenty other students who were all dressed identically to him in the combat uniform of the academy. Without waiting, Dante stepped into line with them, imitating their squared shoulders as they stared at the instructors in silence.
They waited for around for almost an hour, when the sun was fully into the sky, before the instructors began to issue orders. In that time, a noble or two would periodically show up. He guessed that there were around forty of them now, roughly equal to the number of instructors.
He assumed that they were waiting for all the nobles before they started the lesson, which is why they waited until the sun was in the sky instead of first light like Mia had told him. But he seemed to be proven wrong when almost half of the instructors were dismissed by Sir Andres.
Sir Andres spoke up to address the ones that remained. “Alright, I guess this is the best we can expect… we will choose in order of rank this quarter.” He stopped and glared at a burly bald man who had a wide smile on his face. “Happy? I don’t want any funny business like last semester.”
The bald man happily nodded. “Of course.”
Seeing the man’s expression, Sir Andres looked doubtful. “Alright, get on with it then.”
The bald man began walking down the line of nobles, a smile on his face as he pushed and prodded the ones he found to be of some interest. He would inspect one, back up and rub his chin, then mutter to himself for a moment before moving to the next.
Dante was no exception. As soon as the burly man saw Dante, his eyes lit up, and he started to push and prod him. Muttering to himself as he moved to the next person in line.
The bald man continued for several minutes, not finishing until he checked over everyone, while Sir Andres was rubbing the crook of his nose in agitation for the entirety of the process.
“Alright Archie, you’ve had your fun. Just pick your student.” Sir Andres seemed to be running out of patience.
“Alright, I pick him.” He pointed at one of the stockier nobles in the line. The boy was large, at least 6 feet tall already, and had a mop of blond curls. He couldn’t really tell whether the boy was happy to be chosen or not. Much like the instructor, the noble was already smiling, and his expression didn’t change at all, there was just a quick nod.
Sir Andres gave a relieved sigh. “Alright next Sir Car-”
“I also want the weird looking one.” The instructor pointed directly at Dante.
Sir Andres didn’t answer, just groaned. He didn’t need to answer, another instructor was quick to speak up. “You can’t choose two. It’s my pick, wait until your next turn.”
The instructor who chose him, Archie, just turned to the man who spoke with a good-natured smile. “There’s no need to wait until my next pick, why don’t we just duel for him?” He gripped the pommel of his sword.
The one who had spoken up was still furious, but a look of hesitation crossed his face. “I don’t want him, but it’s the principal of the matter. You should act befitting of your title as a knight of House Calman.”
Are all of these instructors knights?
“But I’m not just a knight.” Even though he was still smiling, the tone was menacing. Archie winked at the other instructor, and the man flinched.
Sir Andres jumped in before things could get out of hand. “For the love of the Goddess, just take the two of them.” He glared at Archie. “But if you cause me any more problems today…” He let the threat hang in the air.
Archie just smiled and nodded at Sir Andres’ words.
Dante wasn’t going to complain. If he had to choose an instructor to teach him Swordsmanship, he wanted the strongest one, and Archie definitely seemed like he had some power to back up his domineering behavior.
Sir Andres sharply inhaled in agitation, then turned to the other instructors. “Alright, now that the only potential problem has been handled, I’ll let the rest of you take care of it. I need to check the other yards and make sure that there aren’t any issues.”
After Sir Andres left the other instructors began to choose their students. None of them walked forward to inspect them, they just pointed to one of the students when it was their turn.
Archie just ignored them, stepping forward he put a hand on Dante’s shoulder and led him toward the other boy he chose. After getting to him, Archie pulled them both off to one side of the yard. Then, he cupped his hands together to yell loudly. “Yard boy, get us 20 wooden swords.” He paused for a moment, then almost as an afterthought. “Oh, and bring over a healer as well.”
Why would we need twenty wooden swords… and more importantly a healer?
Archie turned back to the two of them with a smile. “Alright, what are your names and houses?”
The other boy who was also smiling replied first. “I am William, but you can call me Will, of House Savion.”
They both looked at Dante, still smiling, which somehow made the situation worse. “My name is Dante, and I don’t come from a noble house.”
Archie, who scratched his chin, just nodded. “Hmm, Interesting.”
William, or Will, didn’t even seem to register his words, or didn’t seem to care. “Why do you look like that?” He didn’t say it mockingly, but as if genuinely curious.
“I’m not sure…”
Archie waved the two of them to be quiet. “You two can socialize later.” He addressed Dante. “What do you know about world essence manipulation?”
“Nothing…”
Archie smiled and nodded. “Good, good.” Turning to Will. “You?”
Will looked up as if considering. “I have a good grasp on the basics, but I’ve never actually tried it.”
“That’s perfect, you’ll both be starting at basically the same time then. For the next three months you two will be sparring partners, so I would suggest that whoever is weaker doesn’t piss off the stronger one… Now, where are those blasted swords?”
Just as he said the words, two people ran up. A boy carrying a bundle of wooden swords followed by a middle-aged woman in a priest’s outfit. Archie picked up two swords
and tossed them both one each. “Alright Dante, the basics are pretty simple. Pretty much all you have to do is manipulate the world essence around you into the weapon.” He stopped as if waiting for him to start.
That is the explanation for world essence manipulation?
Archie noticed his confused expression and seemed to remember something. “Oh, that’s right. I would recommend only doing a small amount to start off with, if you don’t want to die. If you lose control, the sword will explode…”
That was his afterthought?
Will was just standing to the side, he looked quite happy to not be involved in the situation. Dante cleared his throat. “Perhaps you could give me a demonstration first?”
Archie scratched his head. “Hmm, maybe I should have started with a demonstration.”
He picked a sword out of the pile. As soon as he held the sword aloft, a blue glow covered it. It quickly became more and more dense as Archie put more world essence into it. “Right now, I am adding world essence until it is at a level that I am comfortable with. The better your control of world essence, the more you can add.”
“It will take you a while to be able to control a useable amount of world essence, but after its done, you have several options. In this stage, the world essence is useless and doesn’t improve the performance of the sword, but…” Archie’s eyebrows knit together slightly as he focused on the weapon. Slowly the world essence near the blade of the sword began to collapse in on itself, becoming narrower, almost as if there was a dull blue edge of a sword covering his original sword.
The now slightly pale-faced Archie began to teach again. “This is the swordsmanship I practice, edge control world essence manipulation, the world essence edge covering the sword is far more destructive that of a regular weapon. It is the standard type of world essence control, and about ninety percent of combatants practice it.”
Archie swung the sword at the ground, and Dante watched openmouthed as he saw the sword slash a trench into the ground below him. Anywhere the blue glow touched, the dirt seemed to just disappear. “The better your control, the sharper of an edge you can create, and the more world essence you can pack into it.”
“Of course, there are more advanced ways to manipulate world essence in a weapon, but most people never use them. It’s hard enough to learn one type of Swordsmanship control, learning a second is impossible for the average combatant… Also, I would recommend you also learn this edge control Swordsmanship, or you will have a tricky time getting through Mana shields in the arena.”
Archie wasn’t done. “Now I will show you what happens when you lose control of the world essence within the weapon.” He held the sword aloft, and the world essence began to dim until it was barely glowing. “I am lowering the world essence to a level that won’t cause too much damage, this should give you an idea of what to expect if you lose control.” He flung the sword into the air. The sword exploded with a loud bang, hurling wooden shards that bounced off of Archie and embedded into any objects in the nearby vicinity.
What in the fuck… No way is that happening in my hand.
Archie noticed Dante’s expression and laughed. “Now you know why I called for the healer. If either of you loses control, it won’t be nearly that tame.” His smile seemed far more menacing now. “Alright, you got your demonstration. Get to it.”
Dante just stared at the instructor, eye twitching. He was going to let him try to do that without an explanation first?
Dante let out a deep breath, calming his anxiety. He began to feed world essence into the wooden sword. It took far more world essence than he thought it would, and all he had to use all of his concentration.
In his periphery, he could see Archie, Will, and the healer all backup. It was quite obvious why they were doing it, but as soon as he noticed them, his concentration lapsed.
All he heard was a loud bang, and then felt pain erupt all over his body.
Dante fell to his knees, trying not to scream out in pain while he cursed Archie in his mind. He looked down at the pommel of the wooden sword that was still in his hand. It was completely intact, the tip of the sword was the part that shattered, embedding shards into seemingly every section of his body.
Archie walked up with the healer. “Alright, get him patched up before he loses too much blood.” He turned back to Dante with a smile. “Now that you know what it feels like when you lose control, I’ll teach you how to control it. You actually did better than I thought.” The man must have thought his joke was funny, because as soon as he stopped talking, he started to laugh.
Dante just stared at the wooden pommel in his hand as he heard Archie’s words.
I’m going to kill him…
Chapter 19
Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 19
After the healer removed the shards of wood from his body, Archie began to actually teach him to manipulate the world essence into the sword and control it, and the process had nothing to do with actually using the sword itself. Which really pissed him off…
Archie pulled out two glass-like orbs and tossed them to both him and Will. Dante caught his, it was completely clear and slightly larger than the palm of his hand. “This is a manipulation orb. I would suggest you don’t lose it, it’s the only one you’ll get for free.” He pulled another one out of his pocket. “With one of these, you can train in both World Essence Manipulation and Mana Manipulation without something blowing up.” Archie finished the last with a laugh. “There are a few other uses for these, but those uses are just for pretentious upstarts, and have no place in a real combatant’s training.”
“The orb will automatically stabilize and diffuse world essence and Mana. The first step is to actually fill it with world essence.” Archie narrowed his eyebrows as he focused on the orb. Where his hands were holding it, mist-like world essence began to pour into the clear ball. The essence itself was thin and could easily be seen through.
“After you fill it with any amount of world essence, compress it.” The mist began to compress down into the center. It turned into a small, dense blue ball within the manipulation orb. “When condensed, the world essence will stop leaking out of the manipulation orb. When you get to this stage, and can hold it comfortably, you will be able to fill a wooden sword without it exploding.” He stopped the demonstration by releasing his hold on the condensed world essence. It immediately expanded out into blue mist and escaped as it reached the outside of the orb.
“You have a month to be able to condense world essence in the orb. Any amount will do.” He looked at the two of them, making sure they understood. They both nodded.
He actually understood quite well. He understood that Archie had set him up to fail earlier, and the shards of wood that had been lodged within his body were clearly for the instructor’s enjoyment. He also understood that Will knew what would happen, he had backed off immediately when he tried to fill the sword with world essence.
Dante let out a deep breath. It didn’t matter, he had been treated like this before. From past experience, he knew that if he complained or tried to retaliate it would only get worse. He had been too trusting of Archie and almost blew himself up. Since he had left Alazel he had dropped his guard far too often, a mistake he wouldn’t make again.
“Alright, now that we’ve covered the basics world essence manipulation it’s time to break the two of you in.” Archie reached back into the pile of swords and picked out two new weapons. He tossed Dante one and kept the other for himself. Will still had the sword he had been given earlier. Archie pointed his weapon at the two of them. “Alright, two against one. We will fight until all of the swords are broken.”
Fight until the swords are broken?
The words didn’t make any sense whatsoever. Twenty wooden swords had been understandable when he had thought they were going to lose one every time they failed with world essence manipulation, but if they were just going to be fighting, he didn’t understand how they would break so many solid word swor
ds.
He quickly received his answer as Archie ran at them. Dante let a breath of relief out as the instructor charged Will first. The noble looked like he had at least some experience in sword fighting, as Archie swung at him he readied his wooden sword to deflect the blow. Archie, mid-swing, switched his grip on the weapon bringing it down flat on Will’s hand to an audible snapping noise. Will immediately let go of the sword, hunching over his hand in pain. Will clearly thought the fight was over after he broke his fingers, but was wrong. Archie swung the flat of his sword against Will’s ribs. The snapping noise was far louder this time, and the wooden sword broke in half.
Dante watched in horror, hoping his Constitution was higher than Will’s. There was no way that he hadn’t just broken a few ribs. Archie threw down his now broken sword. “That’s one sword down.” He walked over to the pile and picked another one up, then turned to Dante.
Shit.
As quickly as he could, Dante held his sword out between his hands and kneed it as hard as he could in an attempt to break it. His only result was pain in his knee.
Seeing what he was doing Archie laughed. “Good to see you have a brain on you.” The instructor charged him, and Dante knew he had no chance.
At half his maximum speed, he brought his sword up to deflect Archie’s first strike. The instructor used the same tactic he used against Will, changing his grip mid-swing and attacking his hand.
He was ready for the tactic, as soon as Archie switched grips and brought his sword down toward his hand, he utilized his full Dexterity and Agility, dodging the instructors attack completely and slashing at his neck.
He had no idea what happened next, one moment he was swinging at Archie’s neck, the next moment he heard a loud crack and he fell to the floor clutching his now broken ribs. He touched them lightly, checking to see how many were broken. Two of them, and three were cracked, thankfully none of them seemed to puncture a lung. He had broken his fair share of ribs in Alazel and immediately tried to get himself upright, laying down would only make things worse.
Dante's Immortality: Beginnings Page 18