บท 23: Wooden Puppet
The acolytes who had also defeated the wooden puppet also shouted in joy as they looked at their palms after the tiny light like a floating dew entered their bodies. Some of them were flexing their muscles, running around with a greater speed and didn't seem out of breath. Vico had a grin with his crossed beefy arms while watching the new acolytes enjoying their new found strength.
Emery, Julian and Chumo nodded to each other, all thinking the same thing. They all proceeded to their own circle and faced the wooden puppets.
Emery selected a sword, as well as Julian, while Chumo went for a more unconventional weapon, a bow and arrow. Emery gave the sword a few swings to get himself used to it. Surprisingly enough, the moment he slashed it was lighter than the swords he had been training with, plus, the way the sword sounded as it cut the air, it was sharper than anything he had held before. Maybe it was safe to assume the battle with the wooden puppet could injure him since it also used the same weapon, so Emery didn't select start and opted for the option standby wanting to observe his friends first.
Emery watched Chumo's fight against the wooden puppet. Chumo kept on running in a circle as he dodged each arrow the wooden puppet shot. After each dodged shot, Chumo would take the chance to grab an arrow from the quiver on his side, put it on the nock and release, hitting the invisible wall behind the wooden puppet. A lot of shots had missed between the two sides, indicative of the five arrows left from the twenty arrows Chumo had in the beginning, so he decided to be more aggressive. Chumo grabbed multiple arrows from his quiver and shot it against the wooden puppet. The wooden puppet dodged all of it, but Chumo had run straight to the wooden puppet and punched its head with the last remaining arrow he had. Soon, a tiny orb flew toward Chumo and he gave a rare smile.
Emery missed Julian's battle against the wooden puppet but based on how Julian didn't seem to have a sweat on him and breathing normally, Julian had an easy time defeating the wooden puppet. In fact, watching Julian may have been a better idea than Chumo since Emery and Julian were using the same weapon, a one handed sword. Nevertheless, Emery turned his attention to Thrax, who was shouting 'Graahh!' and 'Ahu!' in each blow with the spear.
Thrax faced the level two wooden puppet. It looked like nothing had changed at least on the appearance of the wooden puppet but the way it moved was different. It dodged Thrax's thrust and punches with much ease, even managing to cut Thrax's uniform and making him bleed. Thrax's face was getting more contorted everytime he missed, until finally, he changed his grip on his spear and turned it as if it was a javelin before throwing it with another 'Ahu!'. He dashed behind the spear and tackled down the dodging wooden puppet and bashed its face repeatedly until it was broken to pieces. A slightly larger silver orb entered Thrax's body and he punched the air. "Alright!"
A loud cheer erupted as there was another group of acolytes watching Thrax's aggressive fighting style. He stepped out of the circle and sat on the ground, not minding the crowd, instead watching the acolyte adjacent to his circle.
Emery also got glued at the acolyte next to Thrax. That acolyte had a large, well-ripped body and was using a greatsword to fight against the level two wooden puppet. Clearly he had a high battle power since the bald acolyte had an athletic body. After all, it was a measure of a person's physical strength and endurance, but when they clashed swords the wooden puppet did a maneuver, tripping the bald acolyte, and the puppet's waved its greatsword before stopping an inch before the bald acolyte's neck. He was defeated.
Vico kept his big grin while caressing his overgrown beard with his large calloused hands. "Hahaha, thought ye can defeat 'tis puppet with brute strength, did ye? Try again, soft bone! 'Tis puppet has the same battle power as ye, so ye have to be clever. Treat yer battle as if ye were in a real one!"
Same battle power... So, didn't that mean Emery would have a chance? He gazed at his sword before closing his eyes and gave it a few more swings, trying to remember... the only thing he had left of his father. Tightening his grip on the sword, he placed one foot forward before pressing the start with his other hand.
[3...]
The wooden puppet started moving its limbs.
[2...]
A sword, the same as Emery, appeared in the wooden puppet's hand.
[1...]
It shot straight to Emery, but he was expecting it and parried the puppet's sword to the side, leaving the wooden puppet wide-open before stabbing straight into the chest! The image of the marauder appeared in Emery's mind and he suddenly mindlessly charged the impaled wooden puppet against the invisible wall while shouting and smashing it to pieces. The tiny orb appeared.
[Combat puppet level one defeated. Reward one battle power.]
Emery breathed in and breathed out, trying to steady his shaking hands. He didn't notice the tiny orb entering his body for his pounding heart was all he could feel. His father had always taught him to be calm especially when wielding the sword and try not to lose control, and soon everything was clear again. He summoned his status and indeed confirmed the increase of battle power, and another message.
[Received Swordsmanship technique lvl 1.]
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Avan
Avan more chapter are coming, please be patient with me.
บท 24: Level Up
Before Emery got to understand what was going on, information about the swordsmanship movement and techniques filled his mind. Sword plays he had trained before but didn't fully understand was now apparent. When Emery came back to his senses, he swayed the sword a little, eager to try out what he had learned before watching Julian.
Julian's style in sword fighting differed in a way that it was more centric in synergising it with a shield. Julian blocked a lot of the incoming attacks, looking for an opportunity, until an opening finally appeared and he struck down the wooden puppet on the chest.
Chumo, on the other hand, still used a bow and arrow and a sword was now hanging from his waist. He kept on switching weapons depending on the range between him and the enemy. If Chumo was close to the target, he used the sword; if he was at a distance, then the bow and arrow.
Thrax also fought the level three parrying with the round shield and spear while still shouting whatever his shenanigans meant. He hadn't used a second weapon on level two, so level three must be tougher for Thrax to use both weapons.
He watched Julian once more and paid close to Julian's sword play. Emery tried to incorporate some of those moves and once he got used to it along with his new understanding, he started the battle with the level two wooden puppet.
The level two puppet's techniques showed its worth. These were the moves Emery had just understood but he dodged, most of them although some cuts made their way through Emery's uniform. In the end, however, he was victorious. He sat once to take another rest and this time it only took him ten minutes to get his breathing pace back. His status showed him a battle power 8, so he was now at a state where Julian was at before fighting these wooden puppets. It didn't occur to him that if right now was back at their estate, he would be gasping for air except this time he didn't notice it.
After getting a sufficient amount of downtime, Emery had seen Julian and Chumo defeating the level three wooden puppet with ease while Thrax was making a mess on the fourth level.
He started the battle with the wooden puppet once more but this time, the puppet defeated Emery, but Emery wasn't going to give up here, not now when he was finally making some progress. He got back up and tried once more. Emery failed the second time on the third level. Still he wasn't done. Once more! Wiping off the dust and sweat accumulating on his face, Emery tried and tried until finally he was spent.
He laid on the ground, drenched from head to toe. That big grin however... It was worth it. His battle power was now 11 and level four was available.
Emery sat up, watching the others. Like him, there were a lot of acolytes who stopped on wooden puppet level three. There were only a few people battling the level four. Julian and Chumo sat beside him, while Thrax was still attempting to break through the level four wooden puppet. The two hadn't defeated level four yet so like Emery, they were also taking a rest. If level three was achievable by a lot of people, then level four would be like the line between those talented and weren't.
"That barbarian, look at him go. It looks like he can go on for hundreds of rounds! I guess he'll make a decent entertainer," said Julian, taking a sip of water from a crystal ball attendant in the stadium.
"What do you mean?" asked Emery.
"Hahaha, you'll see when you visit my home. Anyway, let's check out this gauntlet first."
Emery and Chumo agreed, leaving Thrax behind battling the level four puppet with a menacing look as if a madman.
The construct wasn't far away since it was located in the center of the stadium. It's rhythmic clanking, whooshing of the spinning wheel and slashing blades swinging from side to side brought goosebumps to Emery but at the same time, his eyes couldn't help but beam.
He had yearned to create something akin to this, well not this complicated however, but something simpler like the box he had made for Gwen. Shaking off his thoughts of her, Emery returned to observe the mechanical wonder.
The whole obstacle course was divided into three parts. First, were the alternating platforms on each side with space in between where one would have to jump to get to the rope waiting on the other side and land below a tall wall, which would have to be climbed. The second part in the middle was where it became a little tricky. It was filled with moving obstacles made of iron and wood that were always spinning and ready to knock down every acolyte that passed. The biggest challenge though, lay in the third part of the obstacle course. It was a long straight platform, about 164 feet(50 meters) in length and this was where those sharp swinging blades cutting the air were stationed.
There were thousands of acolytes training in this stadium, new and higher ranking magus alike, but it was clear most of them favored the benefits of fighting the wooden acolytes.
Thrax just arrived, after defeating the level four wooden puppet, drenched with sweat.
"Hey guys, that thing looks interesting," Thrax said, his pacing was still normal.
"You're still raring to go?" asked Emery.
"Yeah, I'm on fire!" Thrax said as he made his way first on the obstacle.
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Avan
Avan
Dear reader, I understand the story feels slow, I currently still occupied with creating the world-building and plot. Please be patient or return in a few days. thank you for your support
much appreciated
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