Asher looked down at his new tattoo. It was of a little doll-like creature. Alice, his latest contract. Asher sat in the town guard training field. After an entire morning of training, His legs felt like they would fall off, and honestly, he wished they would. It was exhausting, to be honest. A three-kilometer run was quickly flowed by 100 sumo squats on silts and dead man sprints.
"I think Kaira is trying to kill me." After 3 hours of training, he finally got a chance to relax. He sipped on the water slowly to prolong his recovery from Kaira's brutality. He was hiding from the tiny terror. Asher summoned Alice for the first time since he made the contract. It was not an exaggeration to say the little doll in his hand freaked him out.
He had no problem with Themis. The little bird fluttered in front of training guards to startle them and mess them up. It would always chirp with glee when a knight fell on their ass. Asher had to admit. Themis had one hell of a mean streak. But Alice was a total unknown.
He looks the doll over, turning it over carefully in his hand. "You didn't strike me as the kind of boy to play with dolls." Asher jumped out of his skin as Kiara appeared out from behind him. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you are hiding from training to play with dolls." There was something sinister about the way that she said that.
"Oh no. I am just taking a break, and this is a contracted monster." Asher picked up the doll that he dropped when Kaira scared him. "I am just checking up on it." Kaira looked at Asher with suspicion.
"You are a strange kid; you know that, right?" Kaira sighed. "We still got some work to do. I don't believe that it is my fault you are going to the dungeon tomorrow. I must ensure you have enough skill to run from monsters."
Asher laughed it off. As he looked back at Kaira, Alice finally moved. The small doll jumped up and snatched the Queen's Tear necklace that hung from around his neck. "Hey, give that back." For such a small creature, it could certainly move. The little doll ran through the training guards. It was not even tall enough to reach the guard's knees, so it could quickly dart between their legs and in between sparring partners.
Asher did not enjoy running after the doll at all. He had longer legs, so he was faster than the doll, but the fact that it kept darting between people and under others made it hard to catch it. The doll jumped up on one of the barrels and taunted Asher. Asher dived at Alice only to have it jump and land on his head before running off again. Asher face-planted into the barrel.
Asher was beyond mad at this point. He summoned his Burning Halberd and swung the flaming blade at the doll. He angrily charges at the little doll—the little doll through the necklace up into the air before leaning its head back. The stitched mouth ripped open, revealing razor-sharp teeth and a frightening long tongue.
Asher came to a grinding halt out of pure fear. The razor-sharp mouth clamp shut as the tear-shaped jewel disappeared into the inky black mouth. The doll fell limp on the ground. "What in the Jesus Christ was that?" He instinctively made a cross with his finger like that would somehow stop the demon doll.
Kaira stood stunned. She thought Varas was controlling the doll, but she was unsure after seeing his reaction to it swallowing the jewel. One thing she did know was that doll was creepy. "What the hell is that thing?" Kaira inched away from the ragdoll hiding behind Asher.
"Hey, you're the guard lieutenant. Don't hide behind me." Asher shouted as Kaira pushed him forward. Both stopped as limelight wrapped around the doll and dragged it back into Asher's arm.
"Okay, that was weird," Asher mumbled under his breath. Asher was relieved his little nightmare doll was back where it could not do anything else, but this was short-lived. He realized he lost out on an advance tier magic item. "Damn it." Asher lamented losing the Queen's Tear, but the chiming of the system screen replaced this.
['Alice' will begin absorbing the power of the 'Queen's Tear.']
[Estimated time: 47:59:48]
[During this process, 'Alice' will be under the effects of summoning sickness until the end of this time.]
Asher was confused, but the next second led to even more confusion.
[New Quest has been unlocked]
Queen's Ascension
Acquire Queen's Tear 1/1
Acquire Queen's ???? 0/1
Acquire Queen's ????? 0/1
Acquire Queen's ???? 0/1
Acquire Queen's ??? 0/1
Acquire Queen's ????? 0/1
Acquire Queen's ???? 0/1
Reward: ??????
Asher looked with wide eyes and some annoyance at the System screen. This was ridiculous. He had just lost an item he was almost certain was meant to look for the other things only to get a quest about getting said items. Asher never wished the system was Mirr's face so bad. At least he could punch Mirr's face.
"Well, that happened. Let's get back to work." Asher sighed. He turned to follow Kaira back into the training field. "I was hoping my break would not be so... eventful." Asher sighed.
Kaira watched him walk back defeated. "If you say so..." Kaira did not like that this boy had such an unnatural creature under his control. "Well, since we got basic warm-up out of the way. We can move to refine that martial art of yours." She shoved the thought out of her mind.
"Martial art?" Asher did not know what she was talking about. He had learned any martial art since he came to this world.
"That skill you used to ring the bell during the trail. The one you used to jump so high." Kaira explained.
"That was a martial art?" Kaira was talking about his courageous charge. Asher did not realize that his skill was a martial art. "What makes you call it a martial art?"
"Regard told you about the types of fighters: Knight, guardian, duelist, scout, pugilist, assassin, scout, magus, and specialist. Right? Each type of fighter type has martial art skills. They are methods to maximize the body's capabilities without using mana." Kaira explained. "That skill you used was in line with a duelist style martial art."
"How do you figure that?"
"Duelists focus on high movement. Closing the distance between you and a target. We just have to adapt it to more of an assassin-type skill." Kaira explained.
"You say that like it's simple." Asher sighed. "What is the difference?"
"Each type of martial art focus on a specific fighting style. An example would be your current skill being used to quickly and effectively move from one location to the next with explosive force. An assassin would not need that skill because they must constantly be on the move." Kaira spoke with her nose in the air.
"I think I get it. But if it is such a good duelist skill, why must I adapt it? Why can I not just develop it into a stronger duelist skill?" Asher questioned. If he can use the duelist version, it would be less work in the long run.
"Because it would not help you." Kaira clicked her tongue in annoyance at Asher's questions. "You don't have any good offensive or defensive elements. Duelists are primarily melee damage dealers. A skill that will put them right next to the enemy is useful, but against stronger creatures, you will not be able to do much with just magic weapons."
"I see. But one thing that has been bothering me. I never learned martial art." Asher stated bluntly.
"I figured you didn't learn a martial art formally." Kaira sighed. "It is not hard to create a martial art. You have to figure out how your body can maximize its efficiency. Your martial art drains you because it is so underdeveloped. If you can develop it more, you can use it more than just one shot."
"If I develop it, does that mean I cannot learn other duelist skills?"
"No, you can learn any skill you want," Kaira answered. "But as you get older, you will find out that it will become harder and harder to learn martial art styles that don't work well with yours. As you fight more and gain experience, your body develops muscle memory. So, it becomes harder to learn types that focus on different features. Like learning a guardian martial art will be hard when most of what you know is assassin skills."
"So, I would still be able to learn it, correct?"
"Yes, but you won't be able to use it to its full potential. Usually, you want to stick with compatible skill types like assassins with scouts and duelists or guardians with pugilists and knights."
"Okay, so how do you suggest I can develop it?" Asher inquired.
"You need to focus on using the power in your legs without expending all your energy for one jump." Kaira stood with her leg firm on the ground. She launched forward with tremendous speed. As she stepped on the ground, she quickly changed direction but did not lose any momentum. She repeated the process several times, jumping from place to place. "It should look something like that."
"You make it look easy enough, but I've never been able to last more than one movement," Asher said tragically.
"Take your stance. Like your about to use that skill." Asher followed the instruction. He moved to position like he was about to use 'Courageous Charge.' "Now, build strength in your legs, but don't use all the force simultaneously. Jump forward but flick yourself in another direction as you land."
Asher built up the strength in his legs before launching himself forward. Asher tried to flick himself, as Kaira explained. Asher's foot slid, sending him spiraling onto the ground and into a wall. Asher stood back up, dusting himself off.
Kaira flinched as Asher skidded and rolled into a wall. "That has got to hurt. This is going to be a long day."
Asher stood up, testing his legs. They did not hurt or give out like last time. Asher pushed his legs. They did not feel useless like before but were slightly sore. At least, this time, he can walk. "Let's try that again."
Asher and Kaira train hard. Most of the attempts were met with Asher kissing the bright side of a wall. Asher could turn his direction only a few times. As time went on, he became more consistent. By the time they stopped, Asher could make the second step consistently, but it would drain him too much to make the third. Asher left to ready himself for the dungeon crawl that would begin tomorrow.