Vivian walked up on Eldrian who was still deep in his training, which was quite impressive seeing as no one else was taking training so seriously. Even other NPCs wouldn't go from dusk to dawn. Unless of course they were new recruits and were being drilled by their training sergeant.
"Seems like you have made quite some progress."
Eldrian stopped midst pants and replied, "Yeah, but I don't get how I should rank up my weapon proficiency ranks. Do you know?"
"Oh yeah, that is confusing when you start training. The basic premise to ranking up is insight. So normally trainees who want to rank up a weapon would spar against stronger people. This allows them to experience real combat experience, which is far more valuable than hitting dummies."
"Wait, does that mean you can just rank up immediately if you already know how to wield a weapon properly?" Eldrian asked as he returned his current training spear.
"Well yes. But you have to have already made the insight your own. There is a key difference between knowing about something and knowing something."
"And if you don't want to spar with someone or can't find someone who is willing. Then you can just try to gain insight during the war. Most would choose to spar though since it isn't dangerous." Vivian added. "By the way, why do you ask?"
"Oh, it is just that I already reached the max level. So now I just need to complete the actual ranking."
"Wow. That was fast!" Vivian exclaimed as she looked at Eldrian in surprise. Normally it took newbies a few weeks to gain the levels.
To her surprise, Eldrian looked away shyly. He wasn't sure if he should take credit for it as a result of his work, or just the game making it easier for players. He also felt that it took him longer than it should have, but he reasoned this away by considering that he first tried out many different weapons.
"Hey, would you like to spar before touring the city?" Vivian suddenly asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Um, okay. But I am certain you will easily beat me." Eldrian replied.
"Then I will handicap myself. I will use the same weapon as you, and also limit my mode of attack. How about it?" Hearing her offer Eldrian felt he couldn't refuse.
Eldrian chose to start with a two-handed sword. He chose this weapon as he thought he might be able to rely on his strength to try and suppress her a bit. Unfortunately, he forgot he was in a fantasy game where stats determine these things and not physiques.
Luckily the training weapons couldn't even be properly used as clubs. Lying on the ground, thoroughly beaten, Eldrian found his situation rather funny. The wooden sword didn't hit hard, even though it had made plenty of solid connections to his face and many more to the rest of his body.
After lying on the ground for the duration of a tee break, Eldrian decided to face the music again. He stood up and faced Vivian. This time his plan was to focus on defense and dodging, over trying to win by force.
What followed was him being completely led by the nose. Soon he found himself again on the ground. While he had received fewer hits, he felt exhausted.
'Who would have guessed it is so hard to not get hit?' Eldrian asked himself as he went over the fight. 'Mmm, let's try to make her lose her balance.'
With this thought, Eldrian again stood up to face Vivian. By now, he completely ignored her pretty appearance. Seeing her more like an instructor, and he wanted to prove he was not someone who had no skill.
Again, Eldrian soon found himself on the ground thinking, 'How is she so fast. It is almost like she read my attacks, even before I started attacking.'
By this time Vivian was surprised at Eldrian's determination. Normally people would call it quits after two solid defeats. But here Eldrian had stood up to go for his fourth attempt.
This continued for almost an hour before Eldrian gained some ground.
"Yaah!" He screamed as his sword connected with hers. She had him on the back foot, but he had succeeded in forcing her to make concessions every now and then.
Like this time, with how his blade was angled she had no choice but to retreat. If she did not then he would finally gain a hit, or rather cut, onto her.
'So close. I just want to hit her once, then I will be happy.' Eldrian said to himself, hyping himself to continue trying. 'One hit, just one.' He kept repeating this as he dodged a diagonal downwards strike by rolling left. After his roll, he tried to counter with his own strike upwards.
Vivian, seeing his actions, was again forced to stop her next attack. While his blow would not end up as a vital hit, she was training herself too. Her training was to be able to defeat a weaker opponent decisively, without gaining injury.
The reason she had decided to try and train in this manner was simple. When she saw his determination, she felt she had to also take this fight seriously. And one thing which she had always thought was very important, was to be able to not get injured.
Because after an injury, your next fight would be more difficult, leading to more injuries. Maybe even death if you are outnumbered greatly.
After retreating to avoid his upward strike, Vivian brought her sword under his and trusted into his chest. This would have been a killing blow if she had used a proper sword.
Feeling the hit Eldrian stopped moving and rested. After a number of quick losses, he had learned how to take the most from these fights. His goal however was as of yet just a dream.
He wanted to only fight whilst sustaining shallow injuries, or if he must take a vital hit, he was determined to return the favor at the very least.
'I am improving, but not fast enough. At most, we can only fight for another half an hour before we have to start the tour. And this is only because she arrived earlier than we agreed on.'
Eldrian slowly stood up. Taking a defensive pose, with the sword angling downwards.
"You really don't want to give up yet?" Vivian asked as she looked at his tired body. Due to their constant fighting, he hadn't been able to take enough rest. He had even reached fatigue level 2.
"Why would I give up when I have not even made you tired yet?" He countered, seeing that she was still breathing easily. This was one of the parts which weighed the most on his mind. It seemed like she was easily dealing with him.
Shortly after their short banter they again locked blades.
Eldrian this time focusing on trying to block more than dodge. In the last fight, he only managed to block successfully around one in five attacks. The rest of the time he had to either take the blow, or dance to her whims.
'Horizontal slash, head height. Duck and thrust out the sword for her feet. Follow with an upward attack and jump back in motion.' These thoughts sprang into Eldrian's head as he saw the sword coming for him. He didn't know how he analyzed it so quickly, but he certainly wanted to try these actions.
What followed was Eldrian dodging under Vivian's sword. Before she could take advantage and strike downwards, she was forced to lift one leg to not get struck by his thrust. This threw off her attack, allowing Eldrian to do the follow-up strike.
This strike successfully hit one of Vivian's hands. In exchange, she forced her strike to follow through, even while she was off balance. The result would be a poor blow, but still a death blow.
Eldrian feeling this lied down again. This time elated with his small success. He also heard the system sound at this time.
{Player has managed to unlock Rank 1 of two-handed sword proficiency.}
"What are you so proud of? That blow would have killed you." Vivian taunted Eldrian in frustration.
She was really disappointed that a trainee of just two days had succeeded in trading blows with her. While the blow she received was minor, it would have affected her a lot if she had to fight someone else afterward. Almost guaranteeing her death if she didn't receive help.
"True I would die. But as a Chosen I would just come back. While the strike I delivered would weaken you a lot." Eldrian replied with a smug grin on his face.
"Also, we can stop sparring. With the last fight I finally succeeded in ranking up my two-handed proficiency. Thank you, Vivian." Eldrian continued as his smile grew genuine.
"That quick!" Vivian exclaimed as she turned to the lying Eldrian in shock.
"Quick? I hardly think so. It took me almost as long as the entire leveling time, just to unlock the rank." Eldrian replied frustrated that she would say it was quick.
"Are you stupid? Normally people take weeks to succeed in ranking up!"
"No way! Then why did your dad give me a three-day time limit?" Eldrian asked confused.
"He did what?"
"And he told me to master four weapons. So, I totally thought it was normal to be that fast. In fact, I was starting to feel like I was slow." Eldrian continued.
This left Vivian completely confused. One part of her was mad at her dad for setting such impossible standards for a newbie. Then there was the newbie who was showing her that it was indeed possible.
'Must be because he is a Chosen AND high elf.' She reasoned as she looked at Eldrian already standing up again. 'And what is with that recovery speed!?'