The sound of wooden training swords clashing filled the air. The soon to be 16 years old Markus Flair was having his final sparring match against his Father before he recieved his skill.
'Swords crossed, I backed up to give myself some space. Father is a counter fighter and waits for mistakes and openings to strike. Knowing that I lunged at him anyway and swung as fast as I could getting parried easily. Off balance from the parry, Fathers sword swung my way and I barely managed to block, getting sent rolling on the ground from the force.'
'Fathers swings are heavy, even the breeze created by a basic attack is enough to make my posture unstable. He came towards me slowly and swung three times. I managed to block all three and sent one of my own back at him. He parried with his hand, grabbed my shirt and threw me. Landing on my feet I rushed to him and attempted a thrust, Father correctly judged the swords range staying just outside it and with an immediate counter the fight was over,
'Whack.'
Even with Markus' Father being a master of the blade, he himself had little talent only being above average after regularly training with his Father for years. He was hoping to inherit his Fathers skill
[Weapon Finesse] which would help him improve with the sword immediately.
At birth everyone recieves a 'profile' without exception. The profile is an ability that allows its owner to materialise a screen only they can see that displays a summary of themselves. It contains information ranging from their name and age to useful data like skills, currency, appearance and to usless stuff like interests and dislikes. The most important words on the profile was [Skills]. It displayed and gave a brief summary on any obtained skills.
The day you turn 16 you will recieve a skill. For the majority of people in the world it would be the only skill they ever recieve. Skills could be gained while doing anything and would provide an effortless expertise in that field. They could be anything from cooking or cleaning to being able to shoot a beam of light from your sword or make you a master of combat and much more. The only catch was aside from your 16th birthday it was incredibly rare to aquire a skill.
Most people inherit the skill of a parent on their birthday but some could get a new one of their own. Markus' Father Ethan Flair was the most famous and decorated adventurer to ever live, having the feat of exploring the farthest into the world they lived in. The world outside of walled off cities was dangerous, filled with monsters, animals, crazy landscapes, demons and other abominations. But it was also filled with treasures found in dungeons, towers and ruins that nobody knows how they came to form considering humanity has barely explored their own planet and have no records of ancient history.
What little they had explored was thanks to Ethan Flair the adventurer who aquired 4 skills through his lifetime and found 'The White Wall' which was the farthest anyone ventured outide the cities. He was given the title 'Pathfinder' for his accomplishments.
The spar came to an end and Markus was hands on knees breathing heavily covered in bruises.
'Dehydrated after training I said with a raspy voice.'
"Couldn't you take it a little easier on me Father? Im young and have plenty of time to improve."
Ethan racked his wooden sword in the holder on the wall of their training hall and turned to face the fatigued boy.
"You wish to become an adventurer do you not? If that was real battle all those bruises on your body would be fatal wounds. The beasts out there are much less forgiving than I am."
'I rolled my eyes annoyed by the usual cold reply of the man I had to call Father, but did make sure to not let him see it as he is strict when it comes to attitude. But it was true, I am deadset on becoming an adventurer so I quietly took advice and criticism.
'Father doesn't allow me to go into the city so I've only ever really seen whats around our house. That's why, no matter what I will become an adventurer and see the beauty this world has to offer. To see the world Father hasn't showed me.'
A second later a flask of water was lobbed at the unsuspecting, still hunched over Markus and following a dull 'thunk' sound the flask hit Markus' head and then the floor.
'While agitated I silently picked up the water, downed it and left the training hall trying not to let it ruin my excitement for the skill I was going to recieve tomorrow.'
'I returned to our house and was met with a warm smile from my kind mother Catherine and a bath she had already prepared for me aware of my tough training.'
'The hot water stung my bruises but I gratefully enjoyed the bath and felt much better after getting out.'
'Afterwards it was around 4pm. I trained from 10am until 3pm with little breaks and from 4:30 until 9:30 I attended classes in my home with private tutors every day. Our family was very wealthy from all the artifacts Father discovered and sold while exploring. Father decided there was no need to send me to a public school and gave me no say in the matter. This unfortunately lead to me having no friends and poor social skills.'
'I was thought core subjects like math and English and then learned about enhancing. Enhancing was the key factor that would decide the outcomes in most battles, not skills. It is a manifestation of ones soul and with enough practice and experience it was possible to enevlope limbs with it making them stronger, faster and more resistant. It was a tough and long process to learn but it is a necessary ability if you planned to leave the cities.'
'After the hours of learning and training I crawled into bed and fell into a slumber immediately forgetting my excitement for tomorrow.'
'After waking up I instantly pulled up my profile looking for a certain word and there it was.'
[Skills]- Finesse,
The description of said skill was: All actions are skillfully and delicately executed with precision, wasting no movements.
'It really is a brief description' I thought while staring at the glowing white screen visible to only me. But then a thought surfaced in my mind. Father's skill was named 'Weapon Finesse' so if I inherited it why was mine just 'Finesse'. The only explanation was that the skill evolved when I recieved it. This wasn't unheard of as the skill was being honed by each holder and then passing it to the next. Father got 'weapon finesse' from his Father too. I shrugged dismissing the screen hoping the skill was still useful for wielding a weapon and went to prepare for my daily training.'
'Finesse' was a passive skill and so, it was always activated. I noticed during my "swing until your arms give up" training issued to me by Father, that my form and posture were much better than usual. My swings had more force and were somewhat elegant.'
Sometime later with arms feeling like they were going to fall off and a new record amount of swings before giving up, I lay on the floor,
"Ah the pain. Im gonna take a longer break than usual and think of a strategy for sparring"
'I think he is going to fight more aggressively now that I have my skill, he might even make the first move this time.'
Fathers sword style is pretty basic, he only ever uses thrusts, swings and parries. If I can get him to enhance once during this one I'll take it as a win', I said with a sigh, pinning my hopes on [Finesse] suiting and improving my fighting style.
Markus' style was flashy and involved using momentum to his advantage. The style included some spins, parries, swings and leg sweeps, so he was hoping finesse would help with parries and reducing wasted movements.
'After recovering until I could feel my arms again, I headed for the training hall and was met with a glare that was sharper than any sword.'
'I entered without eye contact and kept composed, determined to make him enhance, even one finger would be an admission of defeat from Father.'
'We stood opposite one another but something was off. His eyes while clearly annoyed, looked as though he was going to take it extra serious today, as if todays match had a purpose besides training.'