Chapter 13 - Sparring

“Lynn. These are your two colleagues, Jared and Ryan. They’ll assist you in your training after I get you started. Am I understood?”

“Ah, yes!”

“First, I am your commander. You will refer to me as such.”

“Yes, commander!”

“Next is to determine your fighting style. Do you have any ideas as of now, or should I provide you with a suggestion?”

Lynn fell into thought. Dawn, realizing this was likely to take a while, called Ryan over. “You will spar with me. Fight me, but try not to kill me. Understood?”

Ryan nodded. Without another word, Dawn leaped forward and swung at Ryan. Ryan jumped back, manifesting a bow and arrow, and firing the arrow, the arrow released before even landing.

Dawn deflected the arrow with her halberd, charging forward to attack Ryan. He turned, trying to retreat, but wasn’t as fast as Dawn. Dawn swung down, tearing through the earth beside Ryans's head.

“Not bad. You bought yourself several seconds, but were unable to turn it into a win. Either practice close-range combat, or improve your ability to gain distance.”

Dawn threw her gaze over to Lynn, seeing her hesitating. “Have you come up with something?”

“Ah, yes!”

“Commander,” Dawn replied.

“Sorry, Commander!”

“So, what is your idea?”

“Ah, yes. So, is it possible I can fight with my friends?”

“While that is possible, you will need personal combat ability as well. What will you be doing?”

“Ah, I was thinking of magical support! Stuff like throwing healing, and defending my friends!”

“That is a possibility. I would then recommend you either have a friend beside you at all times, or that you pick up close-range attacks of your own. After all,” Dawn rushed forward, her halberd lightly cutting the side of Lynn's neck, “You are vulnerable. And, your death would likely make your ‘friends’ fall.”

Dawn withdrew, demanifesting her halberd as she did so.

“So, which will you pick?”

“I’ll… have my friend as a guard.”

“Alright. These two will take you through basic conditioning starting tomorrow. Show up here at dawn. After you finish conditioning and are free to do as you please, begin training your ‘friends’ and your magic. Be sure to gain both recovery spells and offense spells. Any questions?”

“No commander.”

“Alright. Jared, let’s spar.”

Jared immediately manifested his sword and got into a defensive stance, staring intently at Dawn. When she began to charge, his stance shifted, his free hand lying on the side of the blade. Dawn simply struck, a powerful thrust aimed for Jared’s torso, but it was deflected, his body twisting, and the strain on Jared's face made evident how strong Dawn was. But Jared had a plan. After the strike was deflected, he untwisted, using the force to strike back at Dawn.

The slash cut through her flimsy clothes, leaving a moderate gash and exposing Dawn’s skin. Jared, blushing a little, was unable to respond to Dawn's counterattack, and was sent flying by her kick. Before he could get back up, Dawn’s throw halberd pierced the ground beside his head.

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“Not bad. However, you got distracted and lost. If you had been paying attention, you could have blocked the kick or rolled when you hit the ground.”

Dawn turned away, walking off to visit Plerith.

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When Dawn arrived, the town froze, staring in terror at their conqueror. Dawn ignored their gazes, instead searching for Jackson. Not finding him, she went to the town hall.

“- fight back? What idiocy. We’ll be dead before dawn breaks,” Jackson coldly spoke to the others in the room.

Dawn, thinking that the discussion was important, hid herself and eavesdropped.

“So you want us to live under that woman's heel? Unable to truly grow, to abandon our worship?” another man yelled.

“Our growth, stifled? Have you seen their farmers? Their magic is stronger than mine. Lauren is now on par with their farmers. If anything, rebelling would be what stifles our growth, not sticking around. And, talking about our worship? Don’t make me laugh. You couldn’t care less about the First of Blood, you only want the power of being a shaman.”

The man grew visibly angrier and angrier before swinging at Jackson. The blow flew quickly, nearly hitting Jackson before Dawn’s halberd pierced through it.

“Hello. I have some questions for Jackson, but I think there’s an issue to resolve first. Your worship requires human sacrifice, which I cannot allow. Next,” Dawn slashed off the man's hand at the wrist, “you cannot stop me anyway. As Jackson said, ‘you’ll be dead before dawn breaks.’ Any further comment?”

The man was in shock, frozen still, staring at his wrist and the lack of a hand.

“So, Jackson. Run me through all the equipment, technologies, and knowledge you-. No. Come with me. But think about that question, as I’ll ask you soon.”

Dawn turned back to the beheaded man, [healed] the wound so it’d stop bleeding, then left, Jackson following.

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“Let’s begin the meeting. Jackson, as I asked you earlier, run me through all the equipment, technologies, and knowledge Plerith has. Think of everything you can, please. Samuel, you will be next.”

“Magic, pottery, hunting, building, Clovis points, skinning, cooking.”

“Much the same for Foxshire, but we lack pottery,” Samuel chimed in.

“What runes does Plerith have?”

“[Flame], [Throw], and [Heal].”

“Alright. Jackson, when you return, pick 3 trustworthy townsfolk and send them to the teachers to learn magic. Also, pick someone who knows pottery to teach our teachers. Samuel, send Lynn to me soon. I’ll be in my house.”

Dawn left and began to meditate in her room, trying to understand [Illusion] better.

Her studies continued for an hour before a rustling of the curtain on the door.

“Uhm, commander? You called for me?”

“Yes. What runes do you know as of now?”

“[Soul], [Control], [Anti], [heal].”

“Did you use [Anti] and [heal] to curse the rats?”

“Yes.”

“I see. Show me [anti], and then you’re dismissed.”

With her room empty again, Dawn continued her studies.

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[Illusion] creates a wave of mana that interferes with minds, producing a new perception.

So illusion doesn’t produce light.

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Dawn thought about what new runes to learn.

Silence is needed for better stealth. After that… perhaps a spell to clean.

Dawn closed her eyes, listening to every sound around her. She covered her ears and listened to the silence. She repeated, on and off, trying to understand sound and its absence.

After several days, two runes floated into her mind. [Silence], and [Sound].

How many runes are there? Since [anti] is a rune, and [silence] & [shadow] are negative traits, does overlap exist?

Dawn continued her studies, aiming to learn a rune that blocks healing.

[Unhealable] came to her.

What’s the difference between [Unhealable] and [Anti heal]?

Dawn cut her hand twice, casting [unhealable] and [anti heal] once on each wound, with the same mana in each spell. Following her curses, she cast heal. The [anti heal] wound recovered at the same pace as the [unhealable]. Dawn’s mana sense followed the energy remaining in the spells, noticing the mana run out faster in [anti heal] though.

So, efficiency changes by which rune is used. Component runes can be combined in many ways, but are less efficient. Alright. Next, what is hygiene? Cleanliness?