The next few days were spent learning the language, something that would take a while even with Jace's experience. Anyone can tell you that the best way to learn a language is to be stranded somewhere with people who speak nothing but the language you are trying to learn. Although he was nowhere near fluent Jace was starting to pick up some small things, such as greetings or saying his thanks.
Most of his time was spent sparring with the young woman who he had fought yesterday. Her name was Weira and she was not the granddaughter of the elder as he first expected. Or so he gathered from the few things he could understand. One of the most interesting things that happened over the last few days was when he chose his weapon. There was a surprising variety of weapons in the armory, the elder even made it clear to him that if he was looking for something else she would have it made for him.
As honored as he was by the request he was sure that the smiths here would be unable to create a gun for him. For a while he thought about using a cestus as weapon. Cestus was basically a glove with hardened steel caps or spikes over your knuckles. A brawlers weapon, in the end he decided against it, most of his technique was all about holds and grips. Something he was not willing to use against monsters that may exist in this world. He tried out a variety of weapons, an axe was decent but in the end it was only truly useful when trying to slash something. He wanted something with a bit more flexibility in its use.
Next up he tried a halberd, Weira's preferred weapon. It was a difficult weapon to use well, those fancy flourishes you would see in movies or shows were impractical. It was a heavy weapon and would require a lot of practice before he would trust himself to be able to use it with any true mastery. He disregarded bows and crossbows, although they were viable, after using a gun it just felt. Weak, slow. They were undeniably powerful in their own right. But their true strength lay in their silence, they were great ambush weapons. Again not something he wanted to stake his life on. He was good in the woods but against people who literally lived in them, as did many of the people in this world. He'd be even more behind.
In the end the first thing he decided on was using a shield. It was such a versatile weapon, although many might not consider the shield a weapon. Jace thought otherwise, a well-placed bash could open someone up for a swift strike, the edge could be slammed into the softer parts of an enemy. Then of course its primary purpose, defence. Getting around a shield with pure skill was intensely difficult. There was a reason special weapons were invented to get around shields, such as the khopesh. Now that he had decided on the shield he had to decide on the weapon, in the end he settled with a shortsword. A longsword was too long to use properly with a shield, a bastard sword was a bit too heavy for his taste. The claymore, well, it wasn't even possible to use one with a shield. Not properly at least. So he settled on a short sword, in the Jian style.
His blade was simple but practical. Just as he would have preferred it. His first fight against Weira went as expected, he was obliterated. He range and skill far outstripped his own, even if she had trouble getting around his shield. In the end of their first match she simply hooked her halberd behind his shield and pulled which he automatically resisted, and then she pushed ramming her, dulled, point into his chest. Jace cursed as he was smashed into the dirt. Many of the fights after the first went similarly but he was learning, albeit slowly.
He also learned about the various proficiency levels. From lowest to highest they were ranked as. Beginner, Novice, Apprentice, Intermediate, Advanced, Veteran, Expert and Master. Each rank had ten sublevels, so if you reached beginner level nine your next level up would send you to the novice rank.
Another thing he figured out in the past few days he spent in the village was the reason why this air of pity seemed to follow Weira. She was born a mute, which for some utterly strange reason had an effect on her accessing the status sheet. Trishla explained to him that one had to access the sheet for the first time with their voice, and you couldn't change your options if you were a mute. If there was a mage or a system manager profession you could head to one of those to get that changed. But they lived in a small village in the middle of nowhere and were self reliant. They had left the various kingdoms they hailed from and settled out here in the ass end of nowhere so they could live the way they wanted to.
Another thing of note was that there were both classes and professions. For instance the guards could have the class warrior and the profession guard. Most of the inhabitants of the village had a fighter class of sorts accompanied with their profession. A few like the blacksmith picked a class that was similar to their profession. Their fighting ability would drop which out here could be deadly but their ability in their profession would get a sharp increase.
These professions where not permanent choices, you could change your profession once every six months. Any progress you made in your profession would remain. Skills in profession where almost always passive. For instance guards would have a weaker version of detect truth, they could somewhat notice when someone was lying. Farmers had an increase in yield, merchants would have an increase in caravan travel time, blacksmiths could create higher level items. The list was endless, this also made sure that each of the people in this world was more skilled and produced better than most people in his own.
Jace frowned as he thought of this, he had thought the wooden palisade that surrounded the village simple but upon inspection he discovered them to be anything but. Attacks on the village happened regularly, usually the elder would let the guard handle it and merely watch over them, letting them gain experience. If anything became difficult or if the opponent was too strong from the get-go she would step in. He learned that gran was indeed a lot stronger than the average person in this world. The people here nearly idolised her, he could tell from some of the older villagers that there was quite a past hiding behind the elder. But he had not asked as to what it was. It seemed rude to pry into his benefactors background.
He shook his head as it wandered from the palisade he was currently inspecting. It was a lot tougher than wood had any right to be, he had been experimenting on it for a while now, a full swing from his sword would hardly make a dent in the wood. It was also fireproof. The wood was stronger from both the skills of the lumberjack who cut the wood and the builder who had made the palisade itself.
Jace could already imagine the walls around cities or fortresses, high level professions combined with magic would make these walls extremely hard to penetrate. He wondered what war was like in this world, he was sure it would be massively different from the ones back home. Although a true high level warrior might have a similar deterring function as a nuke. Comparing people to a tactical missile , the thought terrified him. He briefly thought what war between the worlds would be like. How much could technology live up to magic and the sheer breaking of the laws of physics.
He wasn't a physicist but he was sure that the speed at which the elder had moved before was beyond the possible limits according to physics. Perhaps the presence of magic and whatever was behind it altered the laws. Maybe the laws of physics were different here, although he had heard that the presence of a new element could alter the laws and that the laws back home were nowhere near figured out. Jace sighed as he tried to wrap his head around the possibilities of his new home.
He didn't have much of a reason to go back home, he was an orphan. He joined the army as soon as he could, but was discharged. Unlike in the movies he did not punch an amoral superior officer. He was simply found unfit for duty, why you might ask. Nope, he'd banged his captain. They found out and he had claimed he had taken advantage of the captain because she had been drunk and he had put something in his drink. She had chosen not charge him with assault but he had been fire.
Of course he hadn't spiked her drink or taken advantage of her when she was drunk. He had loved her and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. But he was a mere private and she was a captain, he did not want to ruin her hardwon career. Of course once he was discarged and tried to continue the relationship he found out that the captain he was so smitten with was in fact married. That had been quite the blow, but well, he had always had a thing for the crazies.
First girlfriend stabbed him during sex, simply because she was excited. Second girlfriend had a restraining order against him after she had broken into his house and stolen his laundry to… use. Third girlfriend had mixed crushed medicine into his food that made him irritable so she could piss him of and get him to be overly aggressive during sex. Seriously compared to them the captain had been tame.
He suddenly paled, what would happen if he had a similar girlfriend but in this world. What if he dated a mage that wanted to turn him into an animal because she was into bestiality. Or if she tried to genderbend him! What if he dated a warrior much stronger than himself that had sadistic tendencies. What if he dated someone so skilled in illusion spells that he was dating a man without even noticing it. He sagged, this world was gonna be even more dangerous than the previous one for his dating life. Then he cheered up, on the plus side, nonhumans! Elvin ladies, dwarven broads, beastwomen. Interesting…
He sat there sinking into his own delusions with a spaced out smile, perhaps this world would hold more in store for him than the last.