"Come on, don't tell me you gave up" Rage's exhausted smirk drew on his face as Cedric gasped for breath barely keeping his grip on his sword.
Cedric lunged forward his blade aimed towards Rage's neck as Rage met his sword head-on, his dagger deflecting the blow with a resounding clang, the clashing of blades' sound echoed through the training ground as a lot of soldiers and players both kept their eyes on the duo who were sparring for almost a month now, Cedric will be heading for the imperial academy in the capital the next day accompanied by Rage, and so Rage decided to teach him some advanced sword techniques hoping Cedric can take the graduation exam early.
Rage tried to go for Cedric's blind spot but Cedric countered with a series of quick strikes, Rage parried each blow with ease, his movements calculated and precise as he seemingly danced around Cedric.
As the intensity of the fight escalated, Cedric's movements grew more frenzied, his attacks becoming increasingly erratic in an attempt to gain the upper hand.
With a sudden burst of speed, Rage launched a devastating combination of strikes, his blade a blur of motion as he pressed the attack.
"If your opponent is overpowering you, don't rely on your strength only, utilize your speed" Rage yelled as he kept striking Cedric's sword pushing him back.
In a swift and decisive move, Rage disarmed Cedric with a deft flick of his wrist, sending his sword clattering to the floor.
Cedric stumbled backward, his chest heaving with exertion as he stared up at Rage, "Man, not even the academy's upperclassmen are that strong, this is some rigorous training"
"If everyone is weak, does that mean you must be weak too?" Rage said extending his hand to Cedric who took it before assisting himself up.
"One more time" Rage said handing Cedric his sword as he took a step back.
"Well, I'm afraid that will have to wait, Your Majesty" Sir Waine called out from behind as both of them looked back to see the old knight accompanying Eve, approaching both of them.
"Well, our young baron here has reached 3-Star in swordsmanship, Sir Waine, aren't you proud?" Rage smiled proudly as one of the soldiers handed him a leather waterskin.
"3-Star at the mere age of 20 is unprecedented indeed, I'm sure the graduation exam would be a breeze" Sir Waine smiled back.
"And how is our baroness doing in her sword lessons?" Cedric said approaching Eve with a subtle smile.
"Well, she has the basics down now, Lord Sensei promised to teach her advanced sword techniques once she reaches at least 2-Star Swordsmanship" Sir Waine replied looking at Eve who blushed embarrassingly.
"Looks like we're really going to be in-laws" Rage laughed loudly as Eve's cheeks turned red unable to say a word.
"We're going to move at dawn, it's a 3 Days trip to the capital so we can't be late for the new year's Orientation day, as a senior I have to greet the freshmen of the academy as a part of my duties" Cedric said wiping the sweat off of his forehead with a piece of cloth before handing it to his newly appointed Squire.
"What's your name, kiddo?" Rage asked the squire, he looked no more than 14 and he was the son of a local merchant who was close with the Oakbrook family, he was an aspiring knight and Cedric decided to take him in as a squire to teach him the basics of Swordsmanship and Knighthood.
"A-Alden Brightwood, Your Highness" Alden stuttered under the pressure of their presence.
"It's Your Majesty, kid, since his father and the crown prince passed the title of emperor naturally passes down to him" Sir Waine educated young Alden as Alden started to appear visibly nervous.
"Oh, I'm sorry Your Majesty, please forgive me" Alden bowed his head apologetically before Rage laughed subtly.
"No worries kiddo, I don't like titles anyways" Rage replied as they were making their way to the castle.
"I still can't believe this is Oakbrook, It hasn't been three months since you all arrived here, and we have already progressed far more than we can imagine" Cedric Said as they passed through the castle's gates heading for the bathhouse.
"I'm still worried about Phoenix, there hasn't been a word of him ever since he left on that day a couple of months ago, I have to try and go back to our home soon to look for him" Rage said.
"But didn't you tell me your world is destroyed, thinking about it now, why did he go back then?" Cedric questioned in confusion.
"We have some safe zones that people still live in, it's not like the entire world was tarnished, it's just infested with monsters" Rage replied.
"I wish we could help you the same way you helped us someday" Cedric said taking off his clothes behind the curtain as Rage just put his armor in his inventory, after snooping around he figured that very few players had access to inventory, and it's probably only the P4 players, that's why most players were confused at seeing the Highthorn members take items in and out of their inventories.
"Don't worry about it" Rage said sinking himself into the warm water relaxing his body after the long day of training.
"How do you feel about meeting the emperor, I heard he planned a banquet inviting a lot of your world's and our world's nobles" Cedric said getting in the water, sitting just across from Rage.
"Well, It's to be expected, but I still do need to prepare some stuff before we leave tomorrow" Rage replied looking up as he sank more into the water.
"What do you need? I can have the maids get it done by morning"
"Just some clothes, and a proper sword, well I can get the sword easily, but not the clothes" Rage replied.
"Oh, we are about the same size, why don't you try some of mine? it's going to be difficult to have custom clothes tailored by morning"
"Don't worry Cedric, the trip to the capital won't take a day"
"Huh? A day? How?" Cedric sat up with a puzzled expression.
"Don't worry about it, let's just get a tailor to take my measurements"
After some time in the bathhouse, both of them made their way into the castle as Cedric sent a maid to call for the Castle's tailor, Rage told him some specific requirements regarding the clothing, and gave him a material called Scorpion Silk that he purchased from the Prestige Shop to use it in making the clothes, it was a material that was as light as normal Silk but had immense defensive properties allowing the tailoring of clothes that were essentially armors at essence.
Later that night Rage opened the prestige shop as he laid on his bed browsing through the various swords before one caught his eye, "Voidrend, it was the first unique sword I used back when I started the game, i was lucky to have it from a dungeon's rewards, but what the hell is that price? 150,000G? that's a scam!" Rage frowned in disappointment, "Well, I can't stay with these daggers for long, it's not like I can't afford it at the moment, but we need to save a ton of money for the clan house" Rage contemplated for a second before letting out a sigh and purchasing the sword, it was a light silver sword with a black handling wrapped with enchanted papyrus, Runes were drawn on each side of the blade as it emitted a subtle light, "Welcome back, old friend"
At the end of the second day, Cedric's tailor has brought 4 sets of clothes, setting them before Rage.
"Well, I remember asking for one set of clothes, don't tell me you wasted my materials" Rage glared at the nervous tailor.
"N-No sir, but some of your companions saw me taking your measurements and asked for their own clothes to be made with the same materials as well, you gave me a lot and I just used the excess" The tailor replied before Rage let out a sigh of disappointment.
"These damn leeches, thanks for your services, here" Rage took out a coin bag containing 200 gold pieces.
The tailor's eyes widened in shock as he started to stutter, "What, isn't that enough?" Rage said taking out 50 more, "That's all i can do"
"N-NO Your Majesty that's more than enough, way more than enough!" The tailor replied reaching for the coinbag.
"Alright then, scram" Rage made a shooing gesture with his hand as the tailor bowed down hastily stepping out of the room.
"Come in you fuckers" Rage yelled to Sensei, Jimmy and Madeen who were peeking through the door.
The three of them made their way in all taking their set of clothes and equipping it.
"Now we look like proper royalty" Sensei chuckled.
"50 gold each, come on" Rage extended his hand as they all rolled their eyes and handed him the money.
"I'm not charging you for the materials, but i swear to god if you do this again god help me" Rage said in an annoyed tone before he stood up.
"Wait, is that Voidrend?" Jimmy pointed at the sword on Rage's hip.
"Uh.. Don't worry about it!" Rage looked the other way crossing his arms.
"YOU SPENT 150,000G FOR VOIDREND YOU IMBCEL" Jimmy yelled pinching Rage's ears.
"OW OW! I CAN'T MEET THE EMPEROR WITH A DAGGER YOU DUMBFUCK IT WAS A NECESSARY INVESTMENT!" Rage yelled back.
"ANY SWORD, ANY! NOT VOIDREND FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Jimmy argued as Cedric's shocked expression was starting to be noticable by everyone.
"H-H-HUNDRED AND F-FIFTY THOUSAND GOLD!" Cedric almost blacked out before he bowed before Rage, "PLEASE LET ME TOUCH IT, PLEASE"
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Rage yelled at Jimmy before handing Cedric the sword, "TH-THIS IS A PERFECT SWORD, the balance, the weight.. everything" Cedric started to stare intently at the sword before Rage snatched it from his hand.
"It's also a cursed sword, if you don't have the mental fortitude to handle it, you'll go into a breserked state and kill everyone" Rage said remembering allocating the remaining unused 15 stat points into wisdom before he bought the sword, "Well the minimum wisdom required was 40, but i guess that's pretty high for this world's standards" Rage thought to himself.
"O-Oh, I'm so sorry" Cedric snapped back to his senses rubbing his head.
"So we leaving Hunter to protect the city?" Rage asked Jimmy.
"Yeah, Nyx's party is here as well and they have been training hard with the garrison so they should be able to handle things here for now" Jimmy replied.
"Alright Cedric, who's coming with us?" Rage asked Cedric.
"Sir Waine and Eve, Sir Jarred will be left in charge while I'm gone, he is pretty experienced, he was also the one who managed things when me and father were both away from the city in the past" Cedric replied as Eve walked in dressed in an elegant long pink dress with short white gloves and a white lace-up boots, a fascinator with a rose on her head and small handbag.
"Wow, just wow" Rage clapped, impressed at her style, while Sensei was left speechless just staring in awe, she quickly noticed him before she blushed and hid her face with her hand.
"Alright then, let's go"
They walked out of the castle to see Sylvora and Varon waiting.
"Is everything ready?" Rage asked Varon.
"Yes, My Lord, would you like to move out now?"
"Please"
Varon snapped his finger, suddenly behind him, an elegant carriage materialized, It was a mix of dark purple velvet and black accented with golden strips, on top was the clan's emblem, it's spacious interior fit for carrying around 10 passengers, to the front were 4 shadowmares pulling it, a fine looking gentleman wearing a top hat with a velvet buttoned jacket and a black pants held the leash.
Sylvora summoned her elite knights, 20 Horsemen adorned in heavy royal plate armor with the same color, all baring the clan's emblem on their chests, 10 of them took the rear as 10 took the front, Sylvora and Varon both summoned their shadowmares stationing themselves on each side of the carriage as the frontmost knight raised the clan's banner.
"I'm not surprised anymore" Cedric said before hopping into the carriage, "Come on" he called out to Eve and Sir Waine who were still processing what was happening, "We ain't got all day"