Confused Alex was about to speak but Alan had gotten up and walked to the door. Alex followed, afraid of the consequences of ignoring the old man.
They went through the same path as earlier and reached the metal room on the basement 4th floor. It was the same as when they first arrived and there were no signs of blood on the floor.
The same as earlier, Alan went and grabbed a wooden claymore and a small round shield before turning to Alex.
"I could tell you have basic weapon skills, most likely weapon mastery since you were looking at all the weapons here like you knew how to use each of them but we will begin with swords for now."
Alex nodded and grabbed the same equipment as before and readied himself.
"I'm keeping my strength the same now that you have evolved, it should not feel as tough as before but it will still be a lot for a 1st Ring. Every day, you will be stuck in this room training nonstop."
Alan's last words made Alex's eyes widen.
"You may have weapon mastery, but that doesn't mean you are good at fighting. There are many other factors to consider and you have little to no fighting experience from what I can see.
"Until I think you are good enough to survive on your own, this is all you will be doing."
Alex was a bit scared of the future but he was curious about something.
"What about cleaning? You wanted me to do that earlier, so am I still doing that as well."
Alan nodded and said, "Yes but only the dirty work. Your little girlfriend will be in charge of cleaning everything else for the week."
Alex was confused for a second, but when he realized what he was hinting at he paled.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen and It's my fault so please don't pu-" "It's not for that. I don't care what two adults do together even when it's in my Inn but when it affects work, punishment is dealt."
Alex was cut off as Alan anticipated this. He had spoken to Alicia before this and she had a similar reaction but he also told her he didn't care unless it affected work. Since she was a good worker he only gave her a warning since Marie already punished her.
However, he also added another thing that made Alicia blush hard and the latter promised not to do it again during work.
"If I find out you knocked her up though, I will kill you. Now lets begin." Alan added one last thought before dashing and swinging his sword as Alex.
Alex was rattled after his words and barely managed to bring his sword up to block.
A dull clang rang in the room as the 2 wooden weapons collided and Alex was pushed back. His hand still felt a bit numb, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. He gritted his teeth and went in for an attack of his own.
His sword was easily deflected by Alan who then countered and forced Alex to raise his shield.
Their one-sided spar continued for the next few hours and they only stopped when Alex couldn't move anymore. Although he had monstrous stamina for a 1st Ring, he couldn't compete with a 6th Ring.
In his exhaustion, he had a moment of clarity and came up with a very interesting question.
"What's it like using Essence?" He panted between breaths.
Alan raised an eyebrow but answered, "It's like breathing. It just becomes something you learn at a young age and becomes an extra limb for you. However, when it comes to evolvers, essence can be used to create miracles, either to help or hinder others."
Alex nodded. He really hated his [Otherworldly Soul] title. Not being able to use essence was a huge handicap and it was unknown whether he would ever lay eyes on some sort of tool that he could use the blessing part for.
He groaned as he tried to sit up. He wiped some sweat off his face as Alan started walking toward the stairs.
"That's it for today. Eat, sleep, and be here before sunrise tomorrow. We will spar in the morning and at night and you will train on your own the rest of the time. When I think you are good enough with swords, we will move to other weapons."
"Why are you doing this?" Alex asked seriously.
There was no reason for Alan to help him after all he had done. He was just a freeloader yet now he was being trained by an ex-adventurer, and although he didn't know, Alan also had even more credible experience above that in the army.
"Although it isn't the only reason, I'm sure she would be sad if you died too soon." Alan responded as he opened and closed the stairs door behind him.
The other reason that Alan didn't mention was just his personal feelings. He had seen many talented kids as an adventurer and in the army meet a tragic end after being too confident or letting their feelings cloud their judgment.
And sadly, women were involved more than half of the time, and most related to disputes between love rivals. It wasn't the same as with Alicia, but he was more worried about Alex getting too confident about his unique Panel and fighting someone who isn't his opponent.
Alex knew what his words meant. He sighed, not knowing what to do. He thought Alicia was a sweet girl but really hoped she didn't like him more than a friend. It wasn't something to worry too much about now though, but he really was scared about her being pregnant.
During the beginning of their lovemaking, he did a good job about not finishing inside her, but as time went on, his memories were a bit more blurred. He could only hope.
He forced himself up off the ground. He gritted his teeth from all the soreness that assaulted his body. He trudged over to the stairs and groaned with each step he took.
"Why did it have to be on the 4th floor..." He complained as he slowly made his way up.
Upon getting back to the dining area, he found Alan had already begun his bar dance like the previous spar was nothing. Alex was jealous, but it only made him more determined to become stronger.
In a world like Nova, strength was king, so the stronger he became, the easier life would be for him. He may face many powerful enemies in the future, but his journey started now since a strong base will make it that much easier for him to grow later on.
After eating, he went up to his room and immediately fell asleep. He slept like a log and dreamt no dreams. He was totally exhausted as he had moved his body to its limits twice in the same day. He didn't think it was possible but it really took its toll on his body.
In the morning, he woke up and moved his still sore body downstairs. There were people there eating already and it was getting busier by the second. After a quick breakfast, he went down to the basement again and found Alan already there.
"Too slow. To make up for the lost time, no breaks and we go for longer." Alan said and immediately charged at Alex.
The latter hadn't even grabbed his weapons yet and paled as he ran to get a weapon. Barely grabbing a sword in time, he raised it and hastily blocked. He flew across the room and was now forced to fight without a shield.
This made it more difficult as he was now more exposed unless he blocked in time. By the end of the sparring time. Alex was in even worse condition than yesterday. Alan didn't say anything as he left leaving Alex to wallow in his pain.
"Fuuuuuuuuck." Alex groaned as he sat up against a part of the wall without weapons on it. He did some stretching to help relax his muscles before taking a nap. By the time he woke up, his soreness had barely left but he was required to still train.
Before that however, he decided to tour the room. He had only been in the middle part of the room and around the practice weapons but he never got a chance to see the real weapons or big pillars that interested him.
Several of the metal weapons on the right wall reminded him of the vague memories of history from his previous life, while most of the metals used to create the weapons were unknown to him. Some were blue or red, others were still silver or pitch black in color. The most striking thing was that many of them had a strange aura around them.
Alex wasn't sure what it was, but he had a feeling it had to do with essence. He could only sigh in defeat if the requirement to use those weapons was to use essence. He was finding himself very limited in how he could live.
He forgot that he hadn't told Alan about him having trouble using the showers or anything with an E-stone. He could only imagine how many E-stones were used in daily life in a city much bigger than this one.
Over the last few days, although he never really spoke to anyone other than Alan and Emma a little, he listened to the gossip around him. He found out this city was Floren and was on the south end of the Kingdom of Sorketh. The Sorketh Kingdom was one of the oldest kingdoms on the main continent, Novanna.
It was named after the world they lived in and was the biggest landmass on the planet. There were other smaller continents and some islands but even if you combined all their area together it wouldn't reach 50% of Novanna's total land.
The biggest races on the continent seemed to be humans, elves, dwarves, and demons on the north end of the continent. Apparently, humanity was currently at war with demons, but the demons lived on an island off the north end of Novanna so they were too far away to affect Sorketh.
If anything it helped the kingdom since Sorketh focused mostly on agriculture and other resources like mining and lumber. They made a lot of gold off of exporting to the Northern Kingdoms so Alex realized it was true that war stimulates the economy.
Anyways Alex made his way over to the pillars that stood tall in the far end of the room. There were many nicks and cracks in it but they were made of a very tough material so it didn't affect its overall integrity.
When he was done admiring he went to the left wall where he saw very basic weapons that didn't have any possible essence in them. They looked like normal metal weapons and there was a wide variety. Swords, Daggers, Hammers, Lances, Spears, Bows, Katanas, Maces, Ball & Chains, and much more.
He took a normal one-handed double-edged sword and took it in his hand. He began with some simple swings for a while, focusing on form and trying to remember what he did to get his current weapon mastery.
He did that for a while before going up to one of the big columns and slashing and stabbing towards it. It wasn't the most effective but he didn't see a dummy to practice on. Time passed slowly and he soon grew hungry.
Just as he was thinking of that, someone knocked on the door and it echoed through the floor. Emma soon appeared and stood at the top of the stairs. She slowly made her way down and Alex started cleaning up around him.
"Thank you for the food, I was just starting to get hungry." Alex smiled and she smiled back.
"You're welcome, if there's nothing else you need I'll get back to work." She turned to leave and Alex thought awhile before asking.
"By the way is there a way to use the showers without using essence?" This was vital otherwise he would have to try and use a sponge bath using drinking water.
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Just use it normally why does it have to be without essence?" His question was odd for her since ever since she was born she was surrounded by essence and magic.
"I can't use essence." Alex got straight to the point. Although he would sound crazy it was better to just tell it straight than try to come up with some half-assed excuse.
Emma rolled her eyes, "Haha very funny. I have to get back to work now." She said sarcastically as she opened the door.
"Emma I'm serious!" He yelled back but she ignored him as she closed the door.
Apparently, the only person he could rely on was Alan and that would be an awkward conversation to have.
He sighed and ate his food before going back to training.