The Lord Izta left the training ground at the moment and left Emery and the others to practice on their own. The task is to find the weapon of choice.
Emery was sure he would always choose a longsword as his main weapon of choice. Since he was a child, it always had been his long-awaited dream to become a knight who fought with swords, just like his father. The sight of his father training his swordsmanship at their house's courtyard was etched deeply in his mind. And even though he was now a magus, Emery had never forgotten about this dream.
However, the same couldn't be said with the choice of his secondary weapon. The choice won't be that easy. Emery's lack of understanding of any other weapon besides the longsword made him really careful on this matter.
Shield, short sword, small ax, dagger, and dual wielding of two longswords. There were the 5 weapons listed in his mind that he wanted to try and get a feel of. Emery was certain he would use this opportunity to not just increase his strength, but also to find his choice of secondary weapon.
And to do so, Emery decided to fight against the level 5 combat puppet using the longsword and every one of the possible secondary weapons listed one after the other. This would let him know their advantages and disadvantages and also help him determine which one would fit him best.
[Combat Puppet - Level 5]
First, Emery used the dagger to fight the puppet. At level 5, this combat puppet started showing advanced techniques of dual wielding. Observing and experiencing the technique, Emery could really tell the benefit of using shorter weapons. By using the dagger as a secondary weapon, he could really learn the technique to use a shorter weapon effectively.
Unfortunately, just before Emery could really understand the essence of dagger fighting, he was defeated. He only managed to last for a few minutes against the puppet.
When he was about to repeat the course again, Emery suddenly heard a loud cheer coming from the next court.
"Kyaaa!!! Yeay!! I did it!" someone screamed.
Apparently, Klea had won against the first level combat puppet and had received her very first reward. Klea was smiling brightly when she looked at the reward she earned. The boys quickly approached and congratulated her.
"Congratulations, Klea. I didn't expect you to clear the first level so fast." Julian said in amazement.
Nodding his head, Emery added and smiled, "The second level will be much more difficult, but don't be discouraged and go for it, Klea. Give it your best."
"Aaa… I'm not sure about that. I don't think I can, guys." Klea said, while her legs squirmed.
Klea then started her fight against the second level puppet, while Emery, Julian, and Chumo continued their struggle against the level 5 combat puppets. However, much to their surprise, another scream was heard.
"Kyaaa!!! I did it again! Second level completed!" Klea exclaimed, as she started jumping up and down happily.
The three boys were a little dumbfounded when they saw how fast Klea cleared the levels. Glancing at the time, they realized it had only been less than one hour since she had cleared the first level. However, they were still happy for her and once again congratulated her.
Just when they thought there was no way Klea would finish another level that fast again, reality slapped them on the face, when they heard another scream an hour later. This time they were truly flabbergasted by this friend of theirs.
"Boysss! I'm now level 4! How great is that?.. it seems i am really lucky"
"..." Lucky? There's no such thing as luck when fighting against this combat puppet. The trio could only look at each other silently, while their gazes exchanged conversations.
"Did she say she never practiced combat before?" Julian said, while Chumo nodded his head as if saying, "That's exactly what she said."
Suddenly, the three boys started to feel worried in their minds thinking the same thing. Concerns about this monstrous talent of their friend and the possibility of her chasing in their expertise.
"There's no way I will let Klea chase me in combat technique. Let her be the queen of spells, but not queen of combat as well!"
Nodding their heads at once, the three boys immediately went to their court and jumped into the course again. Even though they were anxious about Klea nearly reaching their level, deep down inside they were really happy for her.
Returning back to the combat puppet, Emery himself was still struggling on deciding his secondary weapon. In the past hours, he had tried all the secondary weapons, from dagger to ax and then to the short sword. Trying out these different weapons definitely made Emery realize his basics were still lacking.
When people fought using a weapon, there were three basic attacks one could do: slash, thrust and strike. Meanwhile, the three basic defenses were: parry, block, and dodge.
A block was an action of strength using a body, weapon or shield to stop a blow. A dodge was an action of using speed and/or agility to avoid the blow completely. Finally, the parry was an action of using dexterity and finesse to use your weapon to turn aside your opponent's weapon, generally opening them for a counter if done right.
A slashing attack was easy to parry and block, but difficult to dodge. Striking attacks were easy to dodge and block, but difficult to parry, while a thrusting attack was difficult to block, but easy to dodge and parry.
When he tested the ax, the sensation he felt was genuinely new, as it was a complete new weapon for him. After using it for a while, Emery realized the ax was a weapon created for striking and slashing opponents, with no room for thrusting. Emery was sure he liked this ax very much.
The third weapon he tried was the short sword. Now, this weapon was very much similar to the long sword, so Emery's understanding with it had a higher starting point.
Having two swords of different reach, one long and one short made Emery feel the variations, but he still retained his proficiency and familiarity with swords.
Despite his countless failures, Emery kept repeating and training his basic skills, as he fought against the wooden puppet using the best of his ability. Emery was so concentrated on his task that he didn't realize Chumo and Julian had finally passed the level 5 before him.
Even Klea had reached level 5 just like him. However, Emery didn't really care about it anymore. He was currently in deep thought as he absorbed the techniques the puppet displayed. At the moment, in Emery's eyes, there was only him and his sword.
He tried his best observing and absorbing the knowledge of how the puppet utilized its variation with the short sword. He would then apply it to his own technique, before he replaced the short sword with the dagger and proceeded to do the same process of observing, absorbing, and applying. Emery employed this method on the shield as well as the ax.
As Lord Izta suggested, Emery experimented and focused on finding the best match for his longsword and learning to optimize its use. Slowly but surely, Emery was able to fight on par with the wooden puppets using the dual wielding.
When he managed to dominate the puppet using the short sword, Emery would then retry the process using another weapon.
Out of all the five choices. Emery actually prefered the short sword the best, but then he found the dagger to be the most versatile. There was also the fact that he had the mysterious tier 3 dagger in his storage ring that somehow made him think the sword and dagger combination would be the best for him at the moment. But deep down he didn't really wish to choose his future combat style based on the item he presently possessed.
With his increase in weapon proficiency, finally Emery managed to defeat the level 5 combat puppet.
[Congratulations, the level 5 combat puppet was defeated]
[Received 2 battle power]
[Received one battle art skill of your choice]
Seeing the notification, Emery couldn't help smiling and thought, 'Ah… Finally! The battle art skills!'
He then began checking out the available battle art skills he could learn.
There were two main categories of battle arts, one used to enhance his weapon and one used to enhance his body.
[Weapon technique]
[Sword - heroic slash]
[Sword - spinning blade]
[Sword - rending strike]
[Dagger - lunging stab]
[Dagger - hidden blade]
[Dagger - piercing strike]
[Dual- cross slash]
[...]
[Body technique]
[Strength up]
[Speed up]
[Defense up]
[...]
Looking at the list of countless different battle art skills, Emery clicked his tongue and said, "One skill as the reward is definitely not enough."