I focus entirely on Ron. The king's ring, the combat exam, my first dungeon raid, all of my worries take a back seat in my mind. I return to the familiar black world, devoid of anything that isn't my opponent. Taking a deep breath, I wait for what's to come….
"Start!" the instructor's voice fills the space.
This time, I won't let myself be the one receiving attacks. I shoot forward, reinforcing my legs to boost my speed. Before entering Ron's striking range, I perform a long thrust, shifting my reinforcement into my arms, causing my spear to rocket towards him. Due to the spear's speed, he is forced to parry. My spear bounces upward, but I don't waste a second. The spear's tip draws a crescent shape as I slash it downwards onto Ron's head. He raises his sword, receiving the blow without a problem.
He then attempts to counterattack by stabbing forward, but we are too far apart; a single step back is all it takes for me to be out of reach. I slap the sword with my spear and thrust. Expecting him to dodge, I don't place too much effort into the thrust, but that costs me dearly. Ron grabs the spear, shocking me. He then pulls himself forward, getting into the inner area of the spear, away from the tip. 'He's too close, I need to gain some distance.' Disregarding my wishes, he simply matches my movement, maintaining our close distance. A flurry of stabs and slashes rain upon me, the slashes should be easy to parry, but… 'If I try to parry that, the sword will cut through the spear's shaft like butter.'
Without being able to parry, I'm forced to dance at the sword's tune. 'He might be holding back, but his stamina is still at A rank, I can't draw out the fight.' Even though I realize that, I still have no way of stopping his reinforced sword. 'Unless…' The reinforcement that I had shifted on to my legs returns to my arms, slowing me down. 'It should be easy right? All I have to do is treat it like moving an arm.' I imagine my mana covering my spear, willing it to reinforce the weapon. A faint white sheen covers my spear, I raise it to receive Ron's sword.
SNAP!
It feels like an elephant stomped my spear. Despite the reinforcement, the shaft is violently torn apart. 'This isn't E rank strength!' Now that no obstacle stands between us, the sword threatens to behead me. Out from the dark world, a hand reaches out and grabs the sword. I snap out of my intense focus and see the instructor standing in between Ron and I. 'Holy shit, this habit of being on the wrong end of pointy things needs to stop.'
"You lost control Ron, you breached Will's reinforcement with brute strength," says the instructor. "I think it would be fair to say you lost."
"Dammit, I know. It was just getting good too. Oh, also, don't worry, I'll replace your spear man," says Ron, facing me.
"Huh? Oh y-yeah, I'd appreciate that," I reply, my hands still shaking from the final blow.
'If the spear didn't snap, my arms would've. Just how weak am I?'
After that whole ordeal, the instructor pulls me to the side and says,
"That wasn't too bad, but don't ever do something so stupid again. Trying a technique for the first time during combat is suicide. You are lucky I noticed Ron's mana output spike, otherwise, you really would've died."
"Besides that idiotic action, the rest was decent. Taking initiative against opponents you understand is a good idea. That move you did, shifting your reinforcement around, was good too. All that it needs is a faster transition, if you manage that, it will be quite fierce. You almost took out Ron from the start even with the shabby execution. Continue to practice full body reinforcement, it will greatly boost your combat abilities. Lastly, good job pulling off weapon reinforcement, but polish it up a bit. Or rather, a lot," saying all that, he pats my shoulder and walks towards Ron.
I do as the instructor said and continued practicing full body reinforcement. During the fight, without even realizing it, I was able to fully reinforce 2 limbs at once. I try to expand the coverage to 3 limbs for now. The slash I performed to recover after getting parried also helped a lot. 'My moves need to flow like that. Every thrust, every slash, they need to have a purpose and connection with the next move.'
Just like that, the training session ends, and we all leave the gym. Ron, who is waiting for me at the exit, approaches me.
"Hey dude, sorry about your spear," he says.
"No problem, it was just an accident," I say through a fake smile.
'An accident that almost killed me!'
"You have any special spear in mind you want?" he asks.
"Well, just an identical replacement is fine," I reply.
"What? No way! I'll give you a C rank spear at least," Ron says this like it's nothing.
"C rank!? That's way too much! We barely even know each other."
"What are you talking about? It's not a couple's present, I'm simply apologizing for my mistake. Besides, we are hunters, we clear dungeons to protect the citizens. If you want to become a hunter, that means you are a good guy," pride can be seen on his face.
'Ah! The stench of rich kid is too strong! Clearing dungeons to protect the citizens? As if.'
"Whatever, I'll be happy with anything you give me," I say.
At home, Tom is already making me something to eat. We talk about how my training is going and his grades. I ask him about inviting over some of his friends, but he dodges the question. 'How stupid am I? Of course he doesn't want to invite his friends over to the government apartment. Would they even fit in the couch?' After we finish talking, I start to practice my enhanced absorption. At this point, I can walk around, but it still takes a fair amount of concentration. I confirm that the tattoo isn't getting any darker and head to bed.
I open my eyes and find myself standing atop a city wall. In front of me an endless prairie, countless blades of grass are blowing in the wind. The sky is clear, only small groups of clouds are scattered across it. I am awestruck by the beauty of it all, nothing but peaceful nature. However, a small black spot appears on the horizon, slowly growing as it comes into view. What was an endless prairie, gets boxed in by the darkness. Eventually, it grows large enough for me to identify it. They're monsters. Minotaurs, cyclops, ghouls, and every other monster there is. The stampede of monsters keeps growing, turning into a wave that rolls over the prairie. The wave soon turns into a massive tsunami that encompasses even the sky. The world is enveloped in its shadow, and it continues to approach. At its peak, the tsunami collapses, tumbling down into a single point, me.
At the helm of the falling monsters, a single hellhound bares its fangs. Its mouth opens, eagerly awaiting the moment it reaches its meal. The hellhound crashes into me and begins to tear at my flesh. The rest of the them follow, and I am engulfed by the sea of monsters.
I shoot up from my bed, waking up from the nightmare. My bed is soaked in sweat, I'm breathing heavily. 'What the fuck.' The alarm on my phone rings, breaking me out of my shock.
"Will! Breakfast is ready! But you are going to have to eat it alone, I have to arrive early today!" Tom's yells pass through my bedroom's door.
Thinking nothing of a bad dream, I get out of bed and start my routine. This time, Ron is waiting for me outside the gym's entrance. He is holding a spear in his hands. A gorgeous long spear, with a metal shaft, it even has lugs right below the spear tip. Also known as 'wings' they prevent monsters from continuing to charge after being impaled. It doesn't have any fancy decorations nor color schemes. A silver shaft with only a couple of red accents.
"Morning!" Says Ron.
"Good morning. That's the spear?" I ask.
"Yup, rank C just as I promised. Actually, it's made with melted nightmare scythes. The instructor said you would like that. It should handle mana much better than the last one you had."
"Wow! Yeah, having a spear made of nightmare legs is pretty bad ass," I say. "Thank you so much for this Ron."
"What did I say, take it as my apology, I almost killed you after all," he replies.
"So, you were aware! Well, with this, I forgive you." I say with a small chuckle.
"Hmph, how gracious of you. Anyway, let's get started with the warmup."
By now, everyone already knows what they need to practice on. Also, the people who started learning the basics are now sparring with each other. Seeing this, the instructor decided to stand by and observe, occasionally giving people some pointers. Ron and I decided to spar a couple more times, but I also got to fight with some other people. Getting experience with facing different opponents is helpful. Some monsters are mages, others have weapons, you should know how to face all of them.
I finally got a legitimate victory in a spar; it was against one of the other sword users. She wasn't as aggressive as Ron, that allowed me to maintain the offensive and she eventually slipped up in her defense. Considering the people I'm fighting already had experience before we started the training course, one could say I'm quite talented. 'It must be the king's memories, that sense of familiarity whenever I hold the spear. Was he a spear user? How much of a coincidence is that?'
My combat proficiency isn't the only thing that's improved. I used to be a lanky guy, I had some muscle from carrying around all the stuff as a porter, but nothing compared to now. A hunter's body is nourished by the mana inside them, combining that with the intense training regimen, I've gained quite a bit of muscle. 'I should cut my hair though; it's getting rather long and sometimes it covers my vision during combat.' Another day's training over with, I make my way home.
"Hey Will! Wait up!" Ron yells, chasing me.
"What's up man?" I ask.
"Don't be a stranger like that. Let's hang out a bit today." He says, patting me in the back.
"What about your friends?" I shift my gaze to the pair of kids who accompany Ron everywhere. "That's right! Aren't you a kid, its going to be weird if we hang out."
"I'm not a kid, I'm 18! You shouldn't be older than 25, besides, we are both aspiring hunters, its not that weird. And those guys? They are the sons from one of my father's friends, leaving them behind won't be a big deal. I don't like them anyway," he says.
"Hmm, alright. Where do you want to go? It has been a while since I've had free time. I don't know any good places."
"Don't worry, I know a place."
"Wait, if you are 18, shouldn't you be going to college? I'm sure you don't lack the money," I ask.
"Huh? Why would I go to college?" Ron replies with a face full of confusion.
'This fucking kid!'