Reed stood in front of a large gate, 3 meters tall and four meters wide, reading the sign above it that read 'Cage's Combat School'.
The letters were bright red on a black background with a white outline.
This place was what many people had spoken about when Reed had asked about places where he could train with someone.
"What do you want?" The girl standing beside the gate asked impatiently. She was leaning against the wall and her clothes were stained with dirt and small bits of blood, things that Reed could not have seen clearly previously.
"People said that I could fight someone powerful here," Reed spoke calmly, which seemed to anger her. "So I'm here to find someone to fight with."
[???] [Tier 3]
[Threat level: Low]
[She seems angry at something]
Instead of a durability statistic and a note, the identify function when used on a person displayed their threat level towards him, and their current mood.
He didn't know what the threat level was judged by, but he didn't trust it.
It didn't tell him what they could do, and if he trusted that rating and they had a trick up their sleeve that they used suddenly, he could be caught off guard and killed.
"A fight huh?" She seemed to be angrier than before. "Sure, follow me." She opened the door and walked in without waiting for him.
He noticed her hands when she pulled open the door, her knuckles had skin scraped off them.
He followed her as they walked past the open ground beyond the door and into the main building.
She led him past a few doors and slammed one open.
"Hey!" She shouted. "Here's a new one!"
She gestured to Reed to enter the room.
"He's here looking for a fight!"
It seemed like they had interrupted a class, as there were two people in fighting stances, and others gathered around.
A big man at the front of the room looked at Reed.
[???] [Tier 5]
[Threat level: Very High]
[He's exasperated about something]
"A fight?" He asked, looking a little interested, and ignoring the girl next to Reed.
"I want to measure my fighting ability, I have not met a good opponent for a while, and I have grown considerably stronger recently."
The man seemed to understand, but Reed continued just in case of a misunderstanding.
"So I just want a few light spars to see if my skills are still up to par. I have no interest in fighting for no reason, and neither do I want to join your school. I am willing to pay."
The man nodded.
"Call me Cage, I'm the owner of this place."
Reed nodded.
"I'm Reed, nice to meet you."
Cage turned to another man.
"Orate, resume your class, I'll see to this man."
The man named Orate nodded and clapped to draw the student's attention as Cage led Reed and the girl out.
"Back to the door with you."
He waved his hand and shooed the girl away, who left with a huff.
"So," He turned to Reed. "What do you fight with?" He asked Reed looking at the sword strapped to his waist. "I'm guessing that's not all you use?"
Reed nodded again.
"I use every weapon I can."
Cage smiled at that.
"Very good, looks like you've had good training."
"I did." Reed affirmed as Cage started walking again, leading him to a room filled with training weapons.
"Go ahead, pick one." He motioned.
Reed picked a spear.
"Let's go."
A minute later, they stood across each other, Reed holding a spear, and Cage holding a sword.
Suddenly, Reed charged forwards, and Cage prepared to parry.
Reed attacked, and Cage moved, parried, and tried to counter-attack, but failed when Reed retreated out of his reach.
Reed attacked again, and this time Cage pushed the spear to the side while charging.
Reed used the force of Cage's push to move out of the way, then swung again.
It was knocked downwards, and Reed pulled it back before Cage stepped on it.
Cage had a smile on his face.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
He suddenly moved, and Reed waited till he knew what Cage was doing before he swung his spear.
A feeling flew through his head, and he started to move sideways.
CRACK!!
The spear in his hands broke in two as it failed to bear the power that Cage had used in his attack, the spearhead fell to the ground as Reed rolled to the side to dodge the sword that swung towards his shoulder.
"Sorry about that, got carried away." Cage looked slightly sheepish as he said that. "Been a while since I met someone competent like you."
Reed looked at the splinters on the stick he was holding.
"How did you realize that it was too strong?" Cage asked, referring to the fact that Reed had dodged before their weapons had made contact.
"Feeling." A one-word answer, but it seemed to satisfy Cage.
"Hm. Some people have that, I knew a guy who could tell how strong a weapon was just by looking at it, and that's always what he said when asked how he did it."
Cage shook his head.
"Anyway, what now? Do you want to continue? Pick another weapon? Or is this enough for today?"
"It's enough for now." Reed said as he reached for a pouch.
"How much do I owe you?"
Cage thought about the price for a moment.
"How about 5 silver per fight? Does that sound fair? Don't worry about the spear, since I broke it, it's my problem."
Reed silently counted five coins and handed then to Cage.
"Thanks, but just give them to the person at the door when you come here."
"I'll remember that." Reed extended his hand.
Cage took it.
"Come here often, it's boring to fight with students all the time, someone like you is a breath of fresh air."
"But I won't be here all the time, if I'm not, just find one of the teachers to fight, okay?"
Reed nodded and took his leave.
"Goodbye."