Back at the cave, where Arthur and his mom are sleeping. A little while after James had rescued the little girl and her mom.
"Hmm, I'm back in my head again, where I trained last time."
[I think we should call it your mind palace from now on.]
"That works for me. Anyway, me being here means I've got training right?"
[Yes, there were a lot of errors in your previous fight against those goblins, so now we're gonna recall all that and see how you could've done better.]
"Ok, where do I start?" Arthur says, doing some stretches.
[Recall the battlefield and your enemies].
Arthur thinks about it and the mind palace changes into the place he fought the goblins.
"Woah, it's exactly the same, and even the two goblins I fought are here," He says, pointing at them. "But they aren't moving?"
[They will once the training starts. The first thing you're gonna learn is how to efficiently use your aether so you can use it more times in battle because currently your aether capacity is still low, and most importantly so you don't pass out mid-battle.]
"I think I get the gist of it. But again how do I do that?"
[Well with your current improved capacity, I'd say you can use the punch roughly twice before you're all out. So I'd suggest using percentages so you can track how much juice you've got left.]
"Hmm, so I can only use it twice if I use 100%, since using its full power would consume half of my aether?" He says, staring at his fists. "So I'm guessing if I tone it down to around 20% I'll be able to use it at least ten times or so."
[I guess you could say it, but that's only if you master it enough to precisely control your power output.]
Arthur stays silent for a moment, trying to come up with a was to control his power output. He ponders and ponders, then takes a deep breath, slowly releasing aether into his fists. It seems to be going well until it spiked and he fails. Disappointed, he tries again eager to get results, but fails again.
"Ugh! Why can't I get it right? This is frustrating," He yells, with a frustrated tone.
[You're thinking about it too hard, don't get too worked up, there's no need to rush. Controlling your emotions also helps in controlling your powers. So calm down and take it slow, let the aether guide you. Believe in yourself Arthur]
Arthur sighs, taking yet another deep breath with determination on his face and trying again. It goes on for what seems to have been hours and finally he got it.
"Yes!" He screams in excitement. "I did it, I finally did it. Haha."
[See I knew you could do it.]
"I think I need a name for this attack," Arthur says, still in excitement.
[A name?]
"Yeah, how about, Arcane Impact?"
[Sigh, you have a terrible naming sense but if that works for you, then 'Arcane Impact' it is. Now that that's dealt with, it's time for combat lessons.]
Rex begins explaining the fundamentals of battle to Arthur.
[You always need to be focused in battle and most importantly you need to have control over your emotions. An emotional fighter falls easily because it clouds their judgement in battle and the slightest distraction could lead to a fatal end. Never let your guard down. Now you will start with one goblin, and you will do it without a weapon. Good luck.]
"Without a weapon? C'mon!" Arthur complains.
[You need to get the hang of your arcane impact first because using it in battle is completely different than just practicing it in a calm environment. There are too many unforeseen variables on the battlefield.]
"I guess I have no choice then." He mutters, taking a deep breath to relax. "I'm ready!"
Just as he says that one goblin starts charging at him, although Arthur seems to have been prepared, he panics at the last minute and releases a 100% arcane impact, killing the goblin.
"Gah!" He screams in frustration. "I panicked! I really thought I had that."
[Just because you're struggling doesn't mean you failing Arthur, you can do this.]
"Ok, I'm ready this time!" He says, exhaling.
The goblin respawns and charges at Arthur again, and this time yet again he punches it with full strength.
[Again!]
He goes again and again, try after try, until finally he whispers to himself "Arcane impact 20%." And lands a clean hit on the goblin, sending it flying. "Yes!" He shouted, excitedly, for he had just landed his first precise hit with controlled power.
[You finally did it after the thirty-eighth try.] Rex teases.
"Oh shut Rex, let me have this moment at least."
[You celebrate too early, at least make sure your opponent is actually down before you celebrate.]
"What do you mean? I already ki-" Arthur was cut off before finishing the sentence, he glances down to check what the cause of the pain he just felt was, and to his surprise, it was the goblin he thought he had finished off. The goblin had stabbed him in the lower back. "Kugghuk!" He coughed up blood as the wound was deep and had pierced his organs.
[I told you not to let your guard down.]
"You asshole…" He says, falling to the ground due to losing too much blood. He blacks out for a moment then magically, as if all that never happened, he sees himself standing, unscathed. "What the hell just happened? I could've sworn I just died from blood loss," He utters, confused and checking his body for visible wounds.
[You can't die here and even if something were to happen to you you'd just come back to moments before the accident. It's like a tutorial stage where you have infinite chances.]
"But dying still hurt though!"
[Well just because it's not real doesn't mean all the pain you'll feel isn't.] Rex says, in a cheeky voice.
"You're quite the bastard, huh," He says with an annoyed tone in his voice.
[Well I try my best. Anyways, enough of the small talk, back to training. Do you know what your mistake was?]
"I know, I let my guard down!" He says, with a sarcastic tone. "But why didn't it die from one hit like the others? I'm pretty sure I hit it properly."
[Because you're using a minimal amount of aether, unlike before when you used half of it to release a powerful arcane impact…I can't believe this name is growing on me…but anyway this is where your swordplay comes in. You'll hit them with the arcane impact 20 % then follow it up with your sword skill to finish them off.]
"Sounds easy enough, with weapon mastery I won't have to worry too much." He words, brimming with confidence.
[You shouldn't completely rely on that skill, you'll hit a wall and cannot improve eventually. You can only master your weapon if you work hard to hone your skill, your body should remember those movements, that way you can create infinite possibilities which will be very helpful in future battles. Your weapon should become part of you.]
"Ok I understand."
[Think of a weapon and it'll appear in your hand.]
Arthur does that and a twenty inch long sword appears in his hand. "Nice," He says, nodding his head.
[A sword huh, interesting. Now are you ready?]
"I guess so," He answers, gripping his sword tight. "I can do this."
[Begin!]
The goblin charges at Arthur, swinging its blade at his stomach, but he dodges with ease, taking a step back and hitting it with a controlled arcane impact. "Rahh!" He screams, sending it a few feet away. He dashes at it, swinging his sword and slicing the goblin's head clean off, green blood gushing everywhere. "Phew! I did it," He states.
[You did well.] Rex says, with a proud voice. [Let's try that again.]
Arthur repeats that a few more times, yielding better results every single time.
[You've improved a lot.]
"Of course! Haha," He remarks, with an audacious smile
[Confident now are we? Let's see how well you'll do against two.]
The two goblins spawned rush towards Arthur. "Ok here they come. Focus!" Arthur charges at them, swinging at the first goblin in front, but it blocks and the other jumps from behind, slashing Arthur on his arm. "Ack!" He screams in pain, taking a step back to recover, but they give him no time to recover.
They charge at him yet again, he decides to focus on the one behind because the first goblin seems to be a decoy. He dodges the first attack and launches his attack at the goblin behind, but little did he know he wasn't out of harms way yet.
As he is too focused on the second goblin, the one he had just dodged and left behind leaps and slashes him across the back. "Ackk!" He screamed loudly. "Stop! Stop!" He yelled, and Rex stops the training drill.
He breathes heavily after experiencing such intense pressure from the battle.
[I told you it wouldn't be as easy as a one-on-one. Fighting multiple opponents at once requires you to use all your senses at the same time, following the movements of the enemies as you battle to create one-on-one opportunities. Do not solely focus on the one in front of you.]
Arthur sits for a moment, thinking of a strategy to combat these multiple opponents at once. He thinks back to all the things he's learnt so far and how he can apply them to the current situation. "I got it," He claims, getting into a battle pose. "I'm ready, let's go again."
The training restarts and the goblins charge at him at the same time as usual, he takes a deep breath but this time he doesn't charge head on. He wait for the goblins to get closer, he stands calmly, waiting for the right opportunity.
As the goblins reach him, one swings the blade at his thigh, aiming to immobilize him, but he jumps, dodging the blade and stomping its head to the ground then hitting the one behind with an arcane impact. "It hit," He says.
With no time to waste, he turns and stabs the goblin on the ground with his sword, killing it. He dashes towards the other one, stabbing it straight through the heart before it recovers from the punch it was hit with.
"Phew," He whistles, followed by a sigh of relief. "How was that?"
[Wow, you actually pulled that off. You sure are full of surprises. How did you come up with that?] Rex asks, with genuine curiosity in his voice.
"I don't know, it just came to me and I decided to give it a try."
[I see. Well that concludes your training for now. The sun should be up right about now.]
"I'll be taking my leave then," He says, walking out the door that just appeared behind him, and waking up immediately after.
"Haaaaa!" Arthur yawns waking up. He stretches a bit and slowly walks out the cave so he wouldn't wake up his mom. He stands outside, staring at the horizon filled with trees as far as the eyes can see and taking in deep breaths and exhaling. "This city used to be so peaceful. To think it'd become like this so suddenly," He says, with a somber expression on his face. "I wonder if it'll ever go back to the way it used to be."
He reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone. "Ugh, why'd my screen have to break? It probably happened when I was fighting those goblins," He says, trying to switch it on. "Does it even still work? God, to think I switched it off to preserve the battery."
He lets go of the power button, patiently waiting for the phone to turn on. And it finally does. "Finally! That felt like forever."
He unlocks the phone and searches the internet, checking for any updates on the news about the situation in Calgary city, his home. "Why isn't there anything?" He asks, confused. "Are the news stations down?" Continuing the search, but it unfortunately yielded no results as there was nothing. He closes his browser and glances at his messages "thirty-three messages? It's from James! I can't believe I forgot to check on him, I mean it's James so I'm sure he's okay but still, I'm kinda worried."
Arthur checks the messages and scrolls through them.
James:
He lets out a sigh of relief after reading the texts as the time stamps on the texts aren't from too long ago. He is extremely relieved that his best friend, whom he had grown up with, is still ok. He wastes no time in calling James.
The phone rings for a while, and just as he starts getting anxious, the phone is answered.
"Hello?" Arthur says, in a mild anticipatory tone.
"So you weren't dead after all." Answered James.
"James!" Arthur yells excitedly.
[END]
To be continued…