Chapter 11 - Weapons Instruction

“The martial path is available to those without a core, though even those with one can utilise it. It is a demanding, intensely time-consuming path, so most who awaken never pursue it diligently. By now, you would have learned what a core is; very few awaken one, which is the prerequisite to becoming a Mage. The Warrior Path is less glamorous. A core provides a Mage with the focus to cast spells, a malleable source of essence they could bend to their will, on the other hand the Martial path differs greatly, since essence is a volatile energies that usually only a core can harness, the path was made to find a means to introduce it gradually to the body, to focus essence in a differing manner to strengthen ourselves.” Her Father explained calmly.

Sylvie felt she understood, though her father, Yorik, tried his best to explain it. She felt most children her age might find it difficult, which is one reason the martial path is introduced gradually.

Seeing that Sylvie did not raise a question, her Father continued, “Though the Martial Path is slow and gradual, it allows us to perform incredible feats of strength and acrobatics, despite not being as destructive as the Mage path it has served it purpose, with it we can fight Fierce and Magical Beasts on even footing without requiring a Mage. Even Mages are wary of those who follow the Martial Path at the advanced stages. I will explain it in more detail, but at this stage, it is rather useless to explain too much, since the requirement to start as a Martial Practitioner is first to train your body. Put it this way, you need to be tempered and adapted enough even to think of introducing essence gradually, without tempering our bodies are far too weak to channel essence in such a way without a core, so firstly we form the foundation, therefore we train. Any questions?”

Sylvie had a few.

“Is there a system or ranks I can follow? How long would I need to train to start? What stage are you? And are you stronger than a Mage?” Sylvie blurted out before she could hold herself back. She originally was going to ask one question at a time, though her excitement got the better of her.

Her Father chuckled at her enthusiasm as he said, “There is. Like Mages, we have a developed pathway. It begins with Apprentice, Low Order, Intermediate Order, Advanced Order, Master, Grandmaster, Venerate, Emperor, and Saint. Each rank is divided into four sub-ranks: lower, middle, upper, and peak. Progression can be complex; it can take around ten years or more to train your body to make it strong enough to start your journey as a Martial Apprentice. However, being an alchemist, you can dramatically shorten that as plenty of potions and concoctions aid this, ask Haryk for the recipes.”

Sylvie nodded. She recalled that Haryk once gave her brother Iron Bone Salves, a remedy for this body-strengthening process.

Her Father continued, “I am an Advanced Order martial practitioner at the lower stage. Your Father is one of the strongest in this district, and can I beat a Mage? Not all Mages are combat trained; it depends on our distance. Give a Mage time, and they have destructive power that a Martial Practitioner cannot compare to. It is difficult to bridge the gap with the advantages a core brings. Nonetheless, a scholarly-type Mage with no combat training, though? Of course, however, a trained High Elf war mage is something else entirely.”

“Dad is being humble! A Martial Practitioner of his stage can shoot an arrow faster than the eye can blink! It is well known that High Elf mages were so fearful of our bowmen, they designed artefacts to try to counteract them specifically.” Ballen said boastfully.

“Calm down, boy, you don’t know how scary those Mages can get; there is a reason the High Elf Imperium has the strongest War Mage corps in the lands.” Her father, Yorik, said gravely.

Ballen reluctantly took his advice, though he still seemed to hold doubts. Sylvie supposed it was one thing to hear something before experiencing it yourself; Ballen had only seen the capabilities of a Martial Practitioner and not a Mage before, so he found it hard to believe.

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Her Father seemed to want to remind Ballen again before she shook his head, knowing he would not understand. Instead, he continued, “Well, this is your first day, Sylvie, so there is no point overloading you with too much information; you’ll have plenty of time to learn. Let us begin with some basic body strengthening exercises and stretches. We will then try you with some basic weapon training.”

There, Sylvie and Ballen underwent variations of limbering exercises under their Fathers' supervision since range of motion and ease of movement were essential in martial training.

Since it was her first time and she was young, Sylvie underwent far less intense exercises than Ballen, who seemed extremely familiar with them; however, that did not mean it was easy. Just from these alone, Sylvie knew she would be sore tomorrow.

After she had warmed up, her Father ran through some exercises designed to strengthen the body. Some of these resembled martial arts in her previous world, and they served multiple purposes to enhance her body and give her basic hand-to-hand combat training. Her Father ran through the forms, prioritising good form over pace.

Sylvie felt tired after more strenuous exercise than she had in a while. Yet, she was surprisingly capable without much formal training background, which she felt she owed to maximising her traits.

After her Father was satisfied, they moved on to weapons training. Their area had a combat yard and a small roofed shed on the side with racks and racks of weapons. Ballen was excited at this part since he seemed eager to introduce her to his favourite weapon.

“Sylvie, you would suit the longsword like your bro!” Ballen said proudly as he went over to grab one for himself.

Her Father, on the other hand, was more subdued. He said, “Now, Sylvie, it’s time to find the weapon you wish to train with. Choose from the end rack. There are wooden weapons there built for children around your size.”

Sylvie followed her father's instructions, walking over and looking over the assortment of weapons, feeling indecisive about making a decision.

It was at that time that her Father added, “You do not have to worry about choosing! We have plenty of time to find a suitable weapon. You are not stuck with that choice. You can go through them all until you find one you feel most drawn to.”

Feeling less pressured by the decision, she examined the beautiful, finely carved wood practice weapons. Like her father said, they matched her frame perfectly, which would be great for her early practice.

Examining each, she went through the melee weapons. There was a beautiful Elven-designed longspear, emphasising reach and finesse, daggers with leaf-shaped ends, short swords and long swords; there were so many of them that she felt at a loss even if she knew this did not have to be her final choice.

It was three. Suddenly, Sylvie felt attracted to a weapon resembling a scimitar. It was wooden like the rest of the training weapons, but possessed a unique beauty with its intricate carvings and shape.

Deciding to try the weapon out, she picked it up and returned to her Father, who raised his eyebrow in surprise at her choice.

“A scimitar? Good choice, offers excellent manoeuvrability and excels in slashing. This is vital in the Great Forest as we often navigate in the dense foliage, and it’s a good weapon for quickly changing directions. Now, come here, I will show you the basics. I’m no expert with that weapon, but any Elf my age and experience are proficient in all the weapons on that rack. It’s not my weapon of choice, yet I know more than enough to begin your training!” Her father said positively.

On the other hand, Ballen seemed disappointed she didn’t hold the same passion as he did for long swords, though he quickly became happy again when they went through weapon forms.

For the next hour or so, her Father had her practising footwork with her selected weapon. She did not spar or wave it around with her brother and father or anything like that, though she had absorbed much knowledge from her father's instruction into her mind. She felt she could hold the scimitar somewhat properly and move fairly fluidly with it.

It was an illuminating experience, and she looked forward to doing it regularly.

Eventually, their Father decided they had done enough for today, and it was time to head back. Tomorrow, Sylvie would learn to utilise the bow while keeping up with her alchemy; she had a busy time ahead, though Sylvie was determined to make the most of it.