"Don't worry! I won't be trying any of this spooky stuff! I don't want to get trapped in a weapon!" Annie explained and nodded as I dropped the branch in the circle and finished the last Rune.
The area lit with light, and I reached forward, pulling out a short sword made of wood, and the light disappeared. Annie clapped as she came over, so I decided to play a trick on her as a joke.
"Ah! No! It's got me! Not enough blood!" I cried, and Annie came over and kicked me in the shin, making me cry out for real.
"I am not that stupid! Next time it will be between your legs!" Annie growled, and I laughed.
"It was only a joke! Jeez, you are just as violent as your mother!" I complained, and Annie glared at me.
"You have your weapon; now, what are you going to teach me?" Annie asked, narrowing her eyes at me, and I nodded with a smile.
"Come at me however you would like. You are free to use any skills you have," I said, and Annie looked at my wooden sword, and I said, "Don't worry about me."
Annie sighed and pulled out her daggers. I could see that she wasn't taking this seriously, so I would have to teach her a lesson right off the hop.
Annie dashed at me, activating Quick-Step to get behind me, but I stepped to the side as she did, swinging my sword. I caught the back of her knees, and Annie was on her back before she knew what had happened.
"That wasn't fair! You always know how I am going to move!" Annie complained as she got back up, and I nodded.
"Yup, so you are going to have to try something else. I may have lower stats than you, but I have much more fighting experience than you do," I explained, and Annie nodded as she dusted herself off.
"Fine! What are you going to teach me?" Annie asked, crossing her arms, and I walked over and uncrossed them.
"First is to calm down. Losing your head in a fight can result in you actually having it taken off your shoulders. Always try to stay calm in a fight, or you give the opponent the advantage. You become easier to read. This time, try to attack me head-on, and then mix some skills in after you get a feel for how I fight," I explained, and Annie nodded, taking in a deep breath.
When she let it out, she came at me in a flurry of slashes that I deflected, and then I saw her eyes move to the side, and I jumped back. When Annie used a quick step to try to attack from the side, I stuck my sword between her legs, and she fell forward.
"Wha?! How did you know?!" Annie complained as I helped her back up.
"Your eyes. You looked in the direction you wanted to go. When you use a skill like Quick-Step, you only have to know where you want to go; you don't have to look there. You give away your next move if you do, but you can use it as a trick and go the other way," I explained, and Annie hummed.
"That does make sense, but are you just going to make a fool out of me all day long?" Annie asked, and I laughed.
"Fine, you want to know what you can do? Use this sword, force your skill Backstab into it, and then practice on that large tree over there. I will teach you a new skill if you can drive that blade through the tree," I explained, and Annie looked at him with amazement.
"You can actually teach me a skill?! I thought that you only got those when you leveled up?" Annie asked, and I nodded.
"For most, but there are some that you can learn from studying them, but you need to have the proper stats, and sometimes achievement. The one you will learn is Shadow Splitter, but you need to be able to cut the shadow with your own first and to do that, you must use a tree to split a tree," I explained.
"Well, if you say so. It does sound like a good skill for me to have, but I think the sword will break before that happens," Annie said, but I shook my head.
"I promise you that your daggers will break long before this wooden sword does," I said and handed her the short sword.
"If you say so," Annie said, sounding unsure, and I groaned.
"Just go try it, and you will see," I said, shaking my head.
Annie still looked hesitant, but she approached the tree, got behind it with Quick-Step, and activated Backstabber. She stabbed forward and then let go of the blade as soon as she did, but the blade stuck in the tree.
"How is that even possible?!" Annie gasped.
I walked over to the tree, pulled the sword out that had sunk in two inches, and nodded.
"Not too bad for your first tree! Three days of this, and you will for sure get that new skill!" I said, patting her on the head.
"You really think it can do it?" Annie asked, and I nodded.
"Yup, I bet my last Ren on it! Now, I am going to talk to your father about fixing the problem I caused this morning," I said, and Annie nodded.
"Just be careful you don't get robbed, but I am sure you can talk your way out of it," Annie said, and I nodded with a grin as I turned back to check on Tracy.
"Aqu!" Tracy called, and her cast time was already shortening as a bubble of water burst from her hand and hit the tree this time.
"Very good! You both are going to be ready to fight real monsters in no time!" I congratulated Tracy as I walked over to her.
"Yes! I can see how this is helping me already! You are an excellent teacher!" Tracy exclaimed, and I shrugged with a smile.