As soon as they were within ten feet of each other, they made their moves.
Kane attempted to catch Rylan with a thrust.
Rylan, expecting this, pushed the head of the spear to the side before swinging his upwards to catch Kane's chin.
Tilting his head to dodge it, Kane used the momentum from his thrust being adjusted to spin the spear around and slash at Rylan's chest.
Rylan quickly moved to block the attack before sending a kick at Kane.
Although Kane noticed this, he was still in a state of recoiling from his attack being blocked, and was unable to block.
Sliding back after being kicked firmly in the chest, Kane smirked at Rylan and teased.
"I didn't know we were fighting with anything besides spears."
Rylan smiled back and responded simply. "I don't remember saying we were only fighting with spears."
Kane chuckled.
"I suppose you're right..." Kane smiled and squinted slightly. "I guess that means my options have expanded."
He then ran at Rylan while swinging his spear overhead.
As Rylan went to block above, Kane readjusted to hit Rylan in the ribs.
Jumping back to dodge, Rylan thrusted his spear at Kane's chest.
Kane rushed towards it while stepping slightly to the right, holding his spear in his right hand, and swung his left fist at Rylan's stomach.
Unable to recover the spear fast enough, Rylan let go and blocked with his hands.
Recoiling, Rylan used the momentum to back off and create distance between the two.
Kane smirked.
"One to one."
Rylan didn't respond, instead looking at his spear on the floor.
He ran at Kane.
Kane thrusted his spear at Rylan's chest.
Rylan dropped down and slid underneath the thrust and grabbed his spear, swiping it at Kane's heel, knocking Kane to the floor before pointing his spear at Kane's throat.
Kane's eyes widened.
Rylan just smiled in response before reaching out his hand towards Kane.
Kane took this hand and got up.
"Not too bad." Rylan stated.
"That may be so, but clearly I have a lot further to go."
"Well we have plenty of time to work on it."
Kane nodded.
"You have no idea how right you are." He mumbled to himself.
"Now then." Rylan spoke. "You wanted to join the guards for a while if I remembered correctly. Right?"
Kane nodded.
"Well then, we'll have to work with the others to figure out a shift for you. The normal rate we get paid is about ten silver coins a week. And I don't mind sparring with you in our free time. Lindsey may have some new techniques for you to learn as well, although I can't be too sure."
"That sounds like it'll work for me." Kane smiled and shook hands with Rylan.
"Then welcome to the guards.
With that, Kane joined the village guards.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
.....
....
.....
Three months had passed.
In this world, each month consisted of five weeks and each week five days.
In that time, Kane trained with the guards and worked a shift guarding the gates, in his free time he enjoyed good meals at the inn, spars with Rylan, in addition to going to the forest on his days off to grind experience off of Ents, and learning more about the world he had found himself in.
By the third month he had gained one hundred more experience points than he previously had and gained over sixty silver just from being a guard and another thirty silver coins from selling Ent Cores, bumping his funds up substantially.
On this particular day, Lindsey was watching as Kane and Rylan sparred.
Kane jumped over the low sweep Rylan made with his spear and swung his overhead.
Rylan side stepped and followed through with his swing, bringing it back around to hit higher.
Kane ducked and rushed towards Rylan, tackling him and bringing him to the ground before punching him in the stomach, getting up, grabbing his spear, and pointing it at Rylan's throat.
Lindsey clapped as she walked over.
"Good job. You've improved a lot."
Kane smiled and helped Rylan up.
"I have you all to thank. I wouldn't have the opportunity to learn safely if it wasn't for you all."
Rylan pat Kane on the back.
"It's no problem. You helped the village when we needed you, so why wouldn't we return the favor?"
"Actually..." Lindsey started. "Kane, we never asked this... but how old are you?"
Kane froze.
"Actually, that's a good question." Rylan chimed in as he looked at Kane.
"You said that you left your home to come here, but you look really young." Lindsey said
"I suppose that's true, if my biological age is eighteen, then chances are I'll look eighteen forever." Kane mumbled to himself as he realized what exactly it meant to have a biological age of eighteen, and tried to figure out how to deal with this.
"Well I hope you don't mind us asking, but we are rather curious."
Kane let out a sigh.
"I'm about eighteen."
"Oh?" Lindsey seemed surprised.
Rylan seemed to be more surprised at this.
"You're younger than I am?"
"... How old are you???"
"I'm twenty four." Rylan chuckled.
It was Kane's turn to be surprised.
"No wonder you were trying so hard to learn about the world. You're just a youth. Barely an adult." Lindsey laughed as she seemed to come to a conclusion.
"Yeah, something like that." Kane smiled awkwardly.
*Gasp*
"Rylan, do you think we should try and get him sent to a school? The boy is quite talented. He's rather sharp as well. I think with the track record of having killed someone that used an eldritch artifact, they'd accept him even if he's a little late."
Lindsey and Rylan began to discuss sending him to a school of sorts.
"Oh please no, don't tell me I'll have to go through school again." He muttered.
The pair seemed to come to an agreement.
Lindsey turned to Kane and asked him. "Kane, how do you feel about going to a special school? It'll teach you some more fighting skills and some extra knowledge of the world. You'll be able to travel to some new places as well."
Kane debated whether or not he would be willing to suffer for another couple years before Rylan chimed in.
"It's only four years normally. Although I've heard that if a student performs well enough they may have the option of leaving early. It's good for you to get out more anyway. You've got potential, so don't let yourself be bound by this village."
Kane sighed.
"Fine. When do I go."
Lindsey smiled and put her hands in front of her.
"Whoa whoa, calm down there champ. You can't just go to one of the schools. And the one we mentioned is a more special one. Every few months, a caravan comes through different villages and they set up to test people from that village before accepting the ones that meet their standards. We could pretty easily claim that you're from here."
"Then when would I have to be tested?"
Lindsey seemed to try and remember something.
"Maybe another three days till they get here? You don't have too much time left, but it's mainly a test of combat talent. So you should be able to succeed in getting in."
Kane thought about it and nodded.
"Then I have three days to prepare for a test. That means three days to say goodbye to the townsfolk, and three days to train further. I can do that."
Lindsey and Rylan agreed before sending Kane on his way.
Within three days, Kane continued to train and told the villagers that he would be trying to get into the school.
On the third day, the silver screen appeared in front of Kane.
"Another plot event? This world really is based on games. And what the hell is a reputation point?" Kane mumbled.
As he read the event notification, Kane was practicing the 'Wind Piercer' technique on a practice dummy.
"I suppose this means that today is the day I leave the village. It had to happen sometime, I am immortal after all. I have so much more of the world to see. But I will return eventually." He thought to himself as he put the spear back and headed to the inn to get a meal so that we would be ready when the group showed up.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
....
....
.....
Two hours had almost had passed, and Kane was sitting by one of the gates and looking at the timer on the event notification.
In the distance, he heard guards call out that a caravan was coming.
He saw the caravan stop at the gate.
He watched the people on the ten carriages get off and surround the group that got off of the first one.
"PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE THE TESTING FOR THE ENTRY OF SAINT INFERNUS ACADEMY WILL BEGIN SOON!"
A loud voice boomed throughout the village as Kane began to smile.
"I suppose that means that it's showtime." Kane said as he walked through the gate.