Unlike the day before, the main entrance and reception were quiet. Except from porcelains roaming the corridors of the Academy every now and again, the only people there were some Guild Members preparing their lecturers and that same old man who sat at the main desk. Similar to the other day, there were signs pointing to where you had to go but instead of showing the different areas of the building they all pointed towards the back half of it. Confused, Daniel approached the man again, asking:
"Hey! Do you know whats going on?"
"Uh!" the man exclaimed, drearily arousing from his rest, "Oh yeah, that. You got the memo to come early at least... unless you like waking up early... or something... Anyway! There's going to be some... something... oh yeah! Something about training in basic weaponry or something like that. Anyway since we're going to be seeing each-other for a bit over the course of elase-knows how long, I'll tell you my name. Its... I think its... oh yeah! The name's Kirk Donaldson. Nice to meet you... uhhh..."
"Daniel, sir."
"Nice to meet you... Daniel," he replied, before resting his head back down on the desk and seemingly falling asleep on the spot.
Half-content with the answer, Daniel simply gave up and questioning further, since he already knew that asking anymore of Kirk would be useless, something he grasped in the short while he's talked to him. Following the signage, Daniel found himself in front of two large halls; to the right, one with an engraving on the side to its entrance, spelling 'Class 1-A' and the other a simple and somewhat rotting set of wooden double-doors. Passing through the door that the signage was pointing to, the far left door, instead of being met with a large lecture hall such as what he had experienced yesterday, Daniel was met with a sprawling, open courtyard spanning the whole length of the building. The ground was horribly tread upon and what left of any grass or flowers had been grounded up into the earth, and a half-a-storey high pile of crates in its centre. Opposite to the doors, sat two Guild Members grudgingly sitting next to each other on the fencing that encompassed the grounds, staring the other down. One was a heavily scarred man, with a long, flowing black cloak, with a neatly buttoned shirt underneath that had seen its share of battles; along side it, sat a pair of empty holsters around his belt that continued down into his brown, and stained leather trousers. And the other was of course, Daniel's teacher. Wearing casual clothing compared to the other man, the teacher had lack-lustily put on whatever had fit him that day: a leather tunic that was obviously a bit too tight around the edges; a small unremarkable necklace of a gold coin which had aged terribly; a small brown hat that kept the blaring sun out of his eyes and a set of simple pants and worn shoes.
"Told you one of my porcelains would arrive first!" his teacher exclaimed, getting up in the face of the other Guild Member.
"Always blabbering on about useless things, Lanyon, its almost like your trying your best to make yourself out to be better than me." the cloaked Guild Member retorted, slyly
"Well, Victor, it shows that your so weak when it comes to me that you can't even tell when someones stronger than you."
"You little-"
"Now, now. No time to fight in front of our little visitor, isn't that right?"
"Fine, you won this time, stupid brat..."
The two men stopped their petty argument, and Lanyon got up from his seat on the fence and began to approach the boy who could only look on stunned.
"Your first again, Daniel."
"Yes, I guess I am sir..." he muttered, wondering why that even mattered.
"Well its gonna be a while before the rest get here so I might as well tell you whats going on and why you've been called on and all that boring stuff." the man paused before propping himself up on a large pile of crates that lay in the middle of the courtyard, "So. Normally, we would of done this at the normal time but it felt like it would be a good opportunity to drill something into you that would only take effect if it was early in the morning or late at night. Working, fighting, walking, in fact doing anything on the field can happen at these times. For you; sleep isn't a necessity out there, its an inconvenience and its gonna get in your way a lot. So, even if your sloppy, even if you can barely get yourself out your cosy little bed, you will arrive at the Academy at whatever time you're requested to do so for; same expectation on the field, same expectation here. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Some ignorant brats like your fellow porcelains won't get that and cry and moan until, before they know it, they've been kicked out of this place. For that reason, we're going to have you do some basic training with weapons, and get you used to working at the crack of dawn and having your skills, at your worst, be made into your best when your not sloppy, if that makes any sense at all to you. It doesn't matter if you have an art or not or how good that art is, everyone in the Guild knows and is good at at least one of these bad boys," banging his hand on the crates beneath him, "And, if you ain't, you better hope you have a good art. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now we have all that out of the way, lets get you your first weapon since you've got here early and you can be a good example for everyone else who comes." the teacher remarks, confusing Daniel to what he would be made an example of, before unpacking some of the various crates with an ornate and jewelled dagger he was keeping in his pocket, "Here ya' go. Its a small collection for now. These are the easiest to learn and the most simple to use. If none of these take your fancy, we'll be forced to take out the more complicated and advanced ones, but please try your best to use or even try to get used to one of these."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. But if you don't mind, stop calling me sir, its kind of embarrassing," he whispered, pointing to other teacher behind him, trying his best to, and failing at, not laughing his heart out, "Please?"
"Yes, si- Mr. Pierce."
In the crates now opened to him lay carelessly strewn about weaponry, ranging from a simple shortsword to a bow or even a quarterstaff. Most of these, Daniel had never seen or even handled, with the exception of a toy wooden sword he had as a small child. Upon a minute or two of nothing catching his eye, and the teacher impatiently glaring at the porcelain, he finally gave up, asking:
"Do you want to see the more complex weapon choices."
"If its my only choice, yes..."
"If I was you, a simple sword would do well. It matches your personality and from your build, I'd say it matches that as well. Nothing remarkable but nothing lacking either. Simple and honest. Don't you think that matches the bill?"
"No. I don't think it does."
"Eh? What do you think then, what matches, well, you?"
"Something seemingly simple and honest, but deceivingly so. Something that seems no different than a regular sword, yet all the more fantastical."
"A curved sword such as a falchion or scimitar might suit your pick then, or if you fancy something a bit smaller like a dagger, a shotel might work too."
"No. I don't mean anything as clear-cut than that. It doesn't want its intentions to be made clear. It wants to be made simple, but used different and surprisingly so."
"So, definitely a more complex weapon then. Fine, but I'll say this; I heavily encourage you to pick a more simple one. Its not just easier to learn. But it's easier to see results with."
"I understand this. But, as you just agreed, nothing 'simple' fits me."
As Lanyon simply nodded his head, he began to yank a large rectangular crate from the centre of the pile before revealing its contents as he had done before. The difference was significant in both scope and appearance. A longsword larger than the man who wields it, some sort of crossbow, a large longsword with a slight yet noticeable curve and a firm and decorated handle and guard, a metal object with a small trigger embedded into it and a barrel at its top and many, many more. Some, Daniel recognised. One was the metal object, as a gun, a newly developed weapon that attempted to replicate the weapon produced by the Gun Art's branch of the Weapon Arts. Another was zweihander, which his hometown guard captain wielded proudly wherever he went. Of course there were countless others that were unrecognisable to him, but one did stick out. He had never seen it, yet if felt definitely like something he would wield. Something simple, yet deceiving all the same. So, Daniel reached in into the crate and retrieved a large blade that when was revealed, the teacher could only say:
"Yes, yes... that makes sense. After all it was your father's weapon of choice too: The Katana."