In his sixteen years of life (and a couple of days of undeath), Sarjay had never felt this tired which was incredibly irritating, considering his revenant status was supposed to come with infinite stamina.
For the past three days, without a single moment of pause, either Leon or one of his more senior disciples sparred against him, constantly pointing out his flaws and generally making a fool of him.
And that Leon just keeps going for hours! And he's like seventy, too. I'm beginning to doubt I'm the undead one here.
They hadn't even eased up against him during the night. Achilles had oh-so-helpfully lent them one of his better wights, and it was his sparring partner throughout the night. At least the wight he could score some hits against, but that was barely any consolation.
Sarjay's body could keep going on, but his mind felt on the edge of collapse. They had not gone easy on him at all, not in the slightest. Achilles had made sure they knew he could tank just about anything without dying, and that earned him a couple of swords through his arms, chest, and legs whenever he lost his focus.
Still, as much as he wanted to stab them all in their sleep, even Achilles, oaths be damned, he couldn't begrudge them for the training. He had all but asked for it, and even though he hadn't had the spare moment to check his Status, he knew he was improving by leaps and bounds.
Gah, why did my big fat mouth have to explain what a training montage was? I fucking did this to myself, ugh.
Sarja's distracted monologue earned him another stab through his left arm. He had turned off the pain ages ago, as soon as he realized he could, but it still startled him enough to stumble to the ground.
He quickly scrambled to his knees, bringing his sword into a high guard, ready to parry the blow that was sure to come soon.
To his surprise, the blow never came. Leon had dropped his sword, and was studying Sarjay with a contemplative gaze.
Oh no, I bet he has some new torture ideas. Sweet Jesus, why did I agree to this.
"We'll stop here for the day. Your attention is completely spent and continuing would only make you pick up bad habits." He picked up his sword and gave him an easy smile. "You know, you lasted much longer than I expected. I'm actually impressed. Keep it up."
As Leon made his way out of the courtyard, he just stared dumbly into the distance.
I'm… free? I'm free! His face split into a grin.
"Don't forget to be back here by dawn tomorrow! We'll pick back up where we left."
Of course, he wouldn't let me off that easily. The bastard. But he was still smiling as he left to explore the town.
Sarjay sat on a bench as he gaped at his Status. He had known that he improved significantly over the past days, but this was ridiculous.
Name: Sarjay
Level: 17
Class: Death Knight
Species: Revenant (Dead Human)
Status:
Health 75/100
Stamina: Infinite
Willpower: 3/100
Attributes:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Intelligence: 1
Constitution: 1
Endurance: 1
Will: 1
Unassigned: 13
Skills:
Swordsmanship: 45
He'd gained a whopping forty levels in swordsmanship, and a hefty thirteen levels overall. Sarjay cursed, berating himself mentally, if only he'd taken a moment to check his status while fighting and distribute all the new stat points, he was sure his beating wouldn't have been so one-sided.
Whatever. No point crying over spilled milk.
Sarjay grinned at the prospect of returning to the next day's training all powered up. As far as he knew, the whole Status and leveling thing was a hero thing. Most people only got little access to the System, for important notifications and the like, so turning up in the morning several times as strong was bound to wipe their grins off their faces.
He was glad he hadn't gone for Endurance with his original stat points, since his revenant status completely removed the need for stamina. At least, he thought Endurance was linked to stamina, but his assumption was based on books and video games.
Assigning ten points to Strength and the remaining three to Dexterity, he closed his Status and gave his body an overdue catlike stretch.
When he'd been summoned to this world, he had just appeared in the middle of Ardenburg, the capital of the Duchy of Canneria, where he had been promptly shuffled to the palace before being sent to kill the Dark Lord.
Come to think of it, now was the first time he actually had the chance to do some exploration. With that thought in mind, Sarjay got off the bench and started in a random direction.
Sarjay's first stop along the way was to purchase some much-needed clothing. His attire had not survived the training session intact. He'd only realized he was wearing practically tatters after a few minutes of getting strange looks from everyone he passed. Anticipating more of his outfits dying a violent death, he stocked up on multiple sets of simple, comfortable training gear.
As he left the store, he was surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice calling out his name. Turning around to the source of the voice, he saw it belonged to a familiar face. A tall, ashen woman with ember hair that Sarjay recognized as one of Leon's older disciples was approaching with an easy stride and a hint of a smile on her face. Sarjay didn't know her name, if he'd introduced herself before attacking, the knight was much too spaced out to notice. But Sarjay remembered how the woman had gotten her good through the thigh, and it caused her to tense involuntary.
The woman either didn't notice or didn't care, and began to speak as she approached.
"Hey! I don't think I gave you my name when we first met, I'm Lynn." She continued after Sarjay gave her a terse nod. "I heard it's your first time around here, so I thought I could show you around and stuff. Maybe grab a bite while we're out?"
Sarjay shook herself out of his stupor and gave a nervous laugh.
"Um, yeah, sure!" He straightened up and then added. "I'm sorry, It's just that the last time we met you were trying to stab me, and…"
"Oh, no problem, I get it. I'd be wary too, in your shoes, I think. And I wasn't trying to stab you, I got you quite good if I remember right." Lynn's face broke into a smug grin.
"I'll get you next time, I promise." Sarjay was already anticipating wiping that grin off his face. The extra stats would make a pointed difference, at the very least.
"Anyway, where to?"
"Well, there's this place that makes the greatest seafood skewers, they're pretty much almost world-famous! I'm sure you'll love them."
Sarjay did, in fact, love the skewers, despite not needing to eat anymore. He also decided he loved Blackrock. Back on Earth, he'd been a big city boy, and he'd gotten used to being just another face in the crowd. Here, though, everything was so much more… personal. It made him feel warm and comfortable and welcome in a way he hadn't felt before.