Learning to Strike

Before the sun sets I arrived at where this training hall is. I see the sign, albeit a bit about to fall off now with only one chain to hang onto. Aside from that, I do see some people using the training dummies.

"Hey there, going to use the training field? Oh I remember this outfit. You must be new here no?", a man stops his swings and approaches me. He seems to be a player here. I can't seem to see his name however.

"Yep, definitely new. You must be wondering where my name would be right? I can see where your eyes are going."

"Yeah, is this like normal? I didn't know names can be hidden."

"Oh don't worry about that, this is normal. I've had that moment too. Found out it takes a casual introduction first before you could see mine. Look, my name's Chilie.", suddenly a name appears atop his head. "Now you see it, right?"

"I do, I didn't know there's a function like that. I'm Karl.", the man smiles at my response. "Haha yeah, imagine my surprise. Even NPCs have this sort of function. Talk to old man Gregory there and you'll see, oh wait maybe you have seen it happen with Clara."

He thinks for a short second before stopping me. "Actually, scratch that. There's no point talking to old man right there. He usually just lets us be, then we get the rewards after a good while of swinging, then quest done."

"That sounds rather convenient. But it seems like you've done this quest a lot? Do you sell the items you get here?", if so that would be a rather convenient way to earn gold.

"Well, the thing is we never really got equipment of sorts. The paper did say we get weapons, but the quest did tell us it's based on our performance. Some people did try a lot of things though, like staying in the training field for days or provoking the old man. Nothing seems to have worked. Perhaps the poster was an unpatched asset."

"Oh, but I don't exactly recommend doing the last one. He usually knocks you out. Plus a lot of theorist says it's not worth it to kill an NPC either. You're going to be a criminal, and your adventurer license is revoked. You can still play of course, but you would be banned access to a lot of features.", Chilie added before placing his sword on his shoulders.

"I'll be careful about it. Then if there's no rewards then what do you get here?", a quizzical look now pasted on my face. Curious as to what they even get around here.

"We get a buff for a day! At this level of training field? It only increases our damage for a little bit, but it helps finish things faster. Oh well, speaking of. I do need to get back now, if you'll excuse me for a bit , I need to get this done before it turns dark. Nice to meet you though, Karl Hearth.", he says before getting to the closest dummy and started swinging his sword again.

So if I keep going here then I will get a buff. I will keep that in mind. It's too bad there is no equipment to be had but it's useful to have a buff. I don't have anything else to do right now, so I might as well complete this quest for a buff.

I stand in front of a dummy, it's just as simple as making a body out of a wood log and straws bundled to cover the body. A simple dummy. I also notice everybody seems to have been done with their session.

"Oh boy, it's the gawking young lad again. Aren't you going to be done yet?", a man comes out of the shed. "Tsk, just when I was getting sober. Guess works' not done yet huh."

It's the big guy from last time, drunk old man with big arms and a big tummy.

"I'll be done shortly!", I answered before swinging my wooden stick. I hit the dummy, and it shook from my hit, my hand I mean. It seems that I hit it a bit too hard. Maybe if I just focus on light strikes.

One, two, small and light strikes to the dummy. It's fast, but I can see that I am doing barely enough damage. But this might be more effective than hurting myself.

"You ain't going to be done with those wimp hits. Man up, hit hard, use all your muscles on that arm and back!", the old man yells from the shed. Following his advice, I did one heavy strike and used all my force into my hand. As I hit the dummy, I feel quite the impact return back to my wrist, it hurts but I was able to execute a good blow. I held strong to my wooden stick and continued doing heavy strikes.

"Good, do at least that amount of force. But like I said, use your back, not your hand, dammit.", the old man approaches and stood beside me.

"What do you mean? I did hit hard right?", I asked.

"You sure did, and hit more you'll end up breaking your wrist. Worse even drop your weapon. And using your back is easier on yourself than on your hand.", he replied, now sounding like an actual instructor. Is he always like this when sober?

"Hold it like this, and move further, make sure you hit but not close that you'd just hit them with the guard, or your grip."

Following his instructions, I adjusted my grip and stepped back. Two steps back, before breathing in for a strike. I held my grip tight, and stepped one foot in from the left, before making a slight twist to pull my arm further back. There it is, I feel this would be a good one. All of this in a second, I tightened my back and swung the stick and hit as hard as I could.

One hit, the dummy wobbled from the impact. Shorter than it is earlier, it seems that I was able to hammer it deeper into the ground.

"Heh, if I didn't always see you staring mindlessly I would have thought you're a trained fighter.", I looked at the old man to see his satisfied expression, a small smile emerges from his face.

"I'm glad that's good enough for you Sir.", I answered, a bit of sarcasm mixed into it.

"Hmm? Well you're sloppy, enough to make me act like a teacher again. Forget it, you earned it, get a weapon from the shed. Only one though, I will be watching you.", he responds, seemingly ignoring my sarcasm. He points his finger towards the shed.

"Are you sure? I thought you never gave any reward?", I questioned. He raises his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"Surely you don't think you can fight with that kind of shabby stick?"

My stick is rather beaten up as well from the impact, bruised and seemingly able to only deal one more hit. I suppose it's not exactly one for fighting.

"—and I'm rewarding a trainee, an amateur. Not those experienced combatants looking for an exercise, I would certainly expect more from them if they even expect a reward. If I just were to give one every time the armory would run out as well, so there you have it. Enough questions, I'm due for another good mug."

Wasting no more time, I head towards the shed. There is no torch lit up, so it was starting to get darker. I already have a weapon in mind, something easier to use in my opinion. Looking inside, I see all weapons free from rust, everything is freshly polished. I can also just smell the oil on the room. Was he always polishing these iron?

My eyes start to search, using every bit of light left. And then I found it, the same all piled up in a box. Taking one carefully, I feel the texture of wood on my palm and as I lifted it, the weight of iron at the other point. I took an iron axe from the armory.

"You got it? Good. I'll go now. Now be careful out there in the woods. You might find yourself with an arrow in your knee.", he remarked jokingly before heading out of the training field. A popup appears, indicating I have completed my quest and I see the buff status given to me.

Buff Status: Warmed Up

Damage increased by 20%

The damage increase is helpful, but as of right now it doesn't do much to my damage except add four points.

Now what? Is what I thought to myself, always finding myself aimless. But of course, there is only one obvious option. I need to level up, get better gear before heading out for my original plan. Earn money through auctions.

Heading back into the guild, I turn to look into the bulletin board once again. Having completed one quest, I did get a better weapon as intended, by chance even. There is a lot of request posted to be done, but none seems to be quite safe for me to do right now. Should I just take the risk?

"Let me take this request."

"Oh, a hunting request. It seems that you would need to get back one wolf carcass. They usually are seen in the woods, however I recommend that you stay in this area since it is dark.", the receptionist points her finger towards an area around the town, northeast somewhere around to the wall yet far from the gate.

"Why here specifically?", I asked.

"Our farmers are usually just outside the northern gate, since it is where there is a lot of flat lands. East of them is where their livestock usually are. The area around here is usually visited by wolves. We will include a bonus reward for guarding the livestock as well."

Commission Request: Guard Duty

Guard the livestocks at night, fight off wolves that may come to hunt. Bring back at least one wolf carcass.

Reward: 30 gold per body (Bonus: 50 gold)

I did check around the weaponsmith one time and I see I can get around one good iron sword for 50 gold coin. I can perhaps get armor and a shield.

"I'll go guard the area then. What if I wasn't able to get anything?"

"Then if it were morning by then, it should be safe to wander around the woods." Clara replies with a smile on her face.

Now here I am, night has fully arrived with the moon in the sky, my only source of light right now. Thankfully, I am in the open, and there is much light for me to see. The Northern gate is open, yet obviously there would be guards around it. However the herd of sheep are much further to the gate. Quite the distance, and I can see why there would a bonus to guarding these livestock.

From these distance, guards may not be able to respond to wild animal attacks the moment they see it. Getting here would at least guarantee one sheep hunted and eaten.

"Who's there?"

Without realizing it, while I was sitting around a dead log, I see light coming out of the small home.

"I was commissioned by the Adventurer's Guild to hunt wolves. They thought this place would be good grounds.", I answered while raising my hands. Soon the light starts to settle and I see the figure of a woman, she seems to be a farmhand judging by her clothes.

"Those guys? Thank goodness, they must've heard of the attack yesterday.", she says while approaching closer.

"Is it from a wolf?", I stood up, dusting off my pants from the dirt of the log.

"Wait, are you alone?", the farmhand asks, leaning to look to my back. Confirming I am alone, I can see her hand tighten her grip on her lantern.

"Sorry, if it was what I think it is, I don't know if you could handle it. I believe we were attacked by goblins last night.", answering my question from earlier, she turns around to look and inspect her surroundings.

"Goblins? How many did you see?", I asked. Surely if it's goblins, I can handle it. They're usually third rate mobs.

"Yes, they were speaking some sort of language I don't know. But I am sure they must be goblins considering the figures I've seen. They took one of our sheep, killed it before carrying it somewhere.", she answers.

Should I report this to the guild first? If I did that then they might come. Plus if it's goblins then it should be no problem for me.

"Don't worry miss, I can definitely handle goblins. I've been trained by Gregory, do you know him?"

More like lecture honestly. In any case, I have to reassure her and get her to go back home.

"Really? I didn't know Sir Gregory still had it. I heard he stopped being an instructor and just became a caretaker. It would be great if you're his apprentice!"

Well I did get he seems to be sort of retired from the job, considering the alcoholism and all. Is she happy to see an old man get back to his senses again?

"Yep, I sure am! But let's talk about it sometime okay? I need you to get back now. It would be bad if you get caught up in a fight.", I said while leading her somewhere in the middle of the way to her home.

"O-oh, um, okay! Be safe out there.", she says while hurrying to the door.

I look around and see nothing suspicious. I sat back to the log and wait, and wait. At moments when I feel like a change of view from the rustling grass, I look at the moon. The view is quite beautiful, the moon is bigger than what we have and the glow it makes is much more stunning. Not a sight like this in a populated city where I live.

Having stopped admiring the night sky, I turn my head down to check my surroundings. And easily from afar I see wolves approaching carefully. They're not rushing, and they seem to be quite uncharacteristically still from their positions despite the fangs they're baring.

Preventing the attack, I try to rush out to intercept wolves. I stood up and prepared my axe and shield, then ran.

And as I do so, I notice a glint from my right. Reactively, I turned and shielded myself and felt a hard blunt force taken. As I felt that, I pushed away whatever hit me with my shield to open up my view to see a small figure, probably the size of around three feet tall is now lying on the ground, groaning. Their long ears tell me and reddish pupils tell me they are most likely not human.

I can't keep myself being stunned by this. I thought to myself before rushing to where the wolves are, which are seem to be on the way to hunting. It is not quite the distance, but I do need to scare them off. I started to run towards them, though it seems they are unbothered by my approach. Taking in a huge breathe, and letting it expand on my chest.

"GET AWAY—!!", I shouted with the most I can muster, trying to scare off the wolves out of the field. Having heard my shout, the wolves turn their body towards me. It seems more like my shout had an effect on grabbing their attentions more than scaring them off.

Three...four, five?! I didn't realize it until now, but there seems to be at least five wolves around here. At least I am not surrounded, but I doubt this would be an easy fight.

Scanning them with my eyes, I found that their health is around twenty five points, right now I don't know how many I could do right now. I can see their fangs are rather longer than what I imagined wolves usually would have. Or is this a trait?

Daggerfang Wolf? It seems like that is what they are called when I see the name above their health. Do monsters not count with the name functioning? I guess it's because it's to name their race instead.

"Come on!", I taunted, stopping from my tracks to avoid myself being lunged at. Each move I make, they seem rather ready to move as well, but their eyes only turn to look at what I do, analyzing how I'd do. Baring their fangs to scare me off as well.

I try to keep my feet light, ready to take a step and readying my shield for an attack. Finally tired of waiting, one wolf comes to assault me. Lunging in front of me only to take the brunt of my shield bash, timing it right.

It's heavy, half of my stamina used just to take that hit. I thought to myself. Somehow, I don't feel myself nervous against these creatures. If this were reality, I would have weakened legs by now.

Whimpering, the wolf backs away for a bit, going back to its pack. The other wolves start to growl ever more furious, and now decides to attack together. One at my front, faster than anyone, the two others decides to attack me from my right side, where I don't have my shield covered.

"Dammit—", prioritizing the two wolves coming to my side I turned around and blocked their fangs with my shield, I can feel the fangs piercing through and grazing my arm. Yet now stuck on my shield, I proceed to throw the two aside as I swing the shield around. However, the one heading in front of me had already grazed my belly with it's claws, I was lucky enough to avoid it's bite as I turn yet their claws still reached me. The fourth one seems to have been hit by my shield as well as I swung it around, now knocked over.

Taking this opportunity, I hacked the knocked over wolf with my axe, dealing around twenty four damage. I could not finish it off however as another strike went behind me. Giving it no chance to graze me again, I intercepted it's lunge with my shield and bashed it. Leaving it dazed and dealing about five damage. One strong strike from my axe and I diminished it's health to zero, leaving it dead.

I looked at my health, and found I'm still around 34/50, which is a good sign I might survive if I could only take one or two bruises. I took a deep breathe, letting my stamina recover.

Which brings me to bringing down their numbers. The three seems to have recovered from my attacks, yet they seem to be more reluctant to attack now. Growling, the four groups up again and slowly moved to the side.

"—!!", I heard an unintelligable shout from behind me, and I see the goblin from before behind me, armed with a wooden club start speaking language I can't understand.

Seemingly following the command of the goblin, the wolves start to emerge out of the group and started encircling me. And as they completed their formation, one starts to attack me from behind, hearing their ravenous steps on the grass I turned and took the strike with my shield but unable to counter like before as I heard another one attack from my back.

I can't just take their strike anymore with my shield, so I decided to immediately go for the attack. As I turn around, I plant my foot on the ground strongly and twisted my body to form a wide cleave. Taking the wolf's head with the strike of sharp iron, cutting it before it is thrown aside from the force. The other wolf avoids it, and rushed in. This time, having space to react I was able to strike it with my makeshift shield, striking the body as I avoid the attack.

"Tsk—!", I hear my health going down by fifteen point and I turned to look at wolf biting my left leg. Immediately, I knocked it off with the blunt side of my axe, dealing seven points of damage before finishing it off with a strong chop when it fell to the ground. Suddenly, I feel a blunt force hit my arm, almost having me let go of my weapon. 

"Dammit, now you're riding it huh.", I see the goblin now atop of the wolf, holding onto it's thick fur. I turn my sight at the wolf I hit earlier with my shield, it seems to be recovering.

I could deal with this wolf first and lower their numbers or focus on the goblin riding a wolf. I now stand at 12 points of health. One bite and I'm dead, two hits from that goblin and I'm dead. I took in a deep breathe to prepare for the worst.

Sparing no time, I readied my axe and swung at the recovering creature, dealing twenty four points of damage, killing it. I hear the rapidly approaching wolf with how it steps on the grass field, ready to take a jump when close. A single second, the wolf jumps and bared it's fangs, it's either it hits me and I die, or it misses and the goblin hits me.

I'll just let it hit me. I thought, and punched the wolf's head in with my shield, letting it eat the wooden board.

More than sixty kilograms of force, of course it would be heavy. But it's not just me who's receiving the brunt of that force. Having taken an impact opposite of it's attack, it is sure to have reflected most of its weight back to them as well. Knocked over, the goblin now under the wolf's weight starts squirming away.

Let's see, twenty health points. I think I can do this with one strike. I took out the wolf and the goblin one by one and finished the encounter.

Is this always going to be hard? I thought to myself while collecting the loot. Looking at my menu, it is only around two in the morning. Five carcasses on my inventory, though quality does say it is common, I'll just have to wait until morning to complete my quest.

As I wait on the dead log once again, I see light hitting me from my side with my vision. Shadow starts to form more prominently as it got closer.