Sarah's Story Chapter 042 - Tough Training

Gregory apologized with a regretful expression on his face, and Sarah graciously accepted. How could she not, when sparring with the man just once had gotten her three levels? She hoped he would be willing to spar again!

For some reason, Gregory shuddered as the thought crossed her mind. She hoped he wasn’t catching a cold.

It was only once the spar was completely finished and everyone had gathered together to discuss Delphi’s training that Clara sneaked back in until she was standing inside her illusion. Her footsteps still weren’t perfectly muffled, but Sarah pretended not to notice.

Delphi’s problems were rather serious: she easily lost focus at all times, even in Dungeons. Even when her party was engaged in combat. Her reflexes and reactions were slow. And she made bad decisions in combat situations, poorly matching the party. For the last year she had been acting more like the party was escorting her around, because anything else was more dangerous. But that’s really not how a B Rank Scout should behave, and not one in an A Rank Party.

Sarah took this in with a serious expression on her face, recalling her own training silently. Lawrence chimed in to break the silence.

“Well, it sounds bad, but Delphi more than makes up for it. She never misses a trap, and we’ve been finding way more treasure than average parties do.”

“Yes, but she’ll never advance to A Rank if she can’t handle herself in a fight.” Arthur said.

Sarah turned to Gregory. A frown flashed across his features for the barest moment before he smiled at her. “Yes, Brawler Sarah?” he asked politely.

“What exactly do you want out of this training? If there’s not a clear goal, it’s going to be impossible to know if it’s done.”

“What do you mean?” Gregory asked, furrowing his brows slightly.

“Hmmm, well, when I was training to become a Brawler, getting the Brawler class was the goal, so I knew the training was over on my Choosing Day. For Scout training, there were exams to get the certificates. For the courses I passed, I knew the training was done when I passed the exam. For the course I didn’t pass, Exploration, I know what I failed to accomplish: Trap Detection.”

Sarah turned to Delphi. “Maybe we should start with where you’re at, and build on that? May I ask your Class levels and Skill Levels in [Danger Sense], [Threat Awareness], and any direct combat skills? Those are the foundation for me, at least.”

Delphi nodded with a vacant smile. “Of course. My Scout Class is level twenty, with a specialization in trap and treasure detection. My second Class is non-combat. My [Danger Sense] is level five, my combat Skill is [Dagger Wielding] at level nineteen, and I don’t have any Skills like [Threat Awareness].

Sarah’s eyes widened with surprise. “Level nineteen in [Dagger Wielding]?”

Gregory nodded. “We had her train for a while with some experts, and she improved a lot, but it hasn’t helped when we actually get in the Dungeons.”

Sarah thought for a moment, and nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, you don’t have [Threat Awareness]?”

Delphi tilted her head. “What even is that skill?”

Clara jumped in. “It’s like [Danger Sense], but more acute. You know, like sensing killing intent, sneak attacks, that kind of thing.”

Delphi’s head remained tilted. “You can do that?”

Sarah furrowed her brow. “Wait, how have you been getting by without that, at your level?”

Delphi smiled softly. “I can see to the truth of the world. Hidden traps, treasures, monsters; secret passages, rooms, doors; nothing is hidden from my sight.”

“And yet monsters still manage to get the drop on you,” Lawrence interjected.

Delphi pouted. “They move so fast! And besides, it’s your job to keep them off of me.”

“You should still be able to handle a handful of monsters on your own,” retorted Lawrence.

A vague idea of a training plan started to form in Sarah’s mind. “And your boosts?” she asked.

“Double Dexterity, Speed, Double Perception, and Intelligence.”

“Perception?” Sarah had never heard of that kind of boost before.

“It makes me more sensitive to the truth of the world.” Delphi responded placidly.

“And what kind of skills do you have along those lines?”

“[Visual Acuity], at level thirty-four.”

There was an intake of breath from everyone present. “Level… thirty-four?” Gregory asked, dumbfounded.

That was an incredibly high level.

“Well, it’s a Synergy skill,” she answered, as though that explained everything.

The rest of her party still stared at her, wide-eyed. But Sarah continued, the plan coming together in her mind.

“No other perception or sensing type skills?”

“Nope.”

Sarah grinned. “Okay.”

The goal was set: to get Delphi to the point where she could land a counter on Sarah.

Gregory frowned. “Isn’t that setting the bar a little too high?” He was still unhappy with his own performance against the Brawler. He never had landed a hit on her.

Sarah shrugged. “With her [Dagger Wielding], she should be able to do it. She has more boosts in Speed than I do. It’s more about her reactions and awareness.”

Delphi frowned. “I also have double boosts in Perception, y– ah!.” She brought her hands up to her forehead, covering the spot where Sarah had flicked a pebble.

Everyone at the party started as their various Skills responded with a delay. Arthur stepped back into a ready position. “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked, moving his hand towards his sword hilt.

Sarah raised her hands and spread her fingers, letting a number of pebbles fall to the ground at her feet. But she ignored Arthur and turned to Delphi. “Delphi, did you know I had pebbles in my hands?”

Delphi glared at her with teary eyes. “Yes, of course I did!”

“How many?”

“Eleven!”

“Why weren’t you able to dodge or block the pebble?”

“Why would you throw a pebble at me?!” Delphi protested.

Sarah turned to the rest of the party. “Who else knew I had pebbles in my hand?”

Gregory shook his head with a pale face. Clara and Lawrence also shook their heads, and Arthur merely narrowed his eyes.

Sam sighed loudly, interrupting the glaring contest. “Sarah, you’ll need to explain it. Nobody else got nearly three years of Brawler training before their Choosing Day.”

“Oh! Uhm…” Sarah said, eyes darting around as she searched for the words. “I guess what I’m trying to show is that there’s two parts to reacting to a threat: one part is being able to react to it, the other part is noticing it.” She looked at Delphi, who had lowered her hands but had a faint red mark on her forehead. “Delphi, you noticed the pebbles, but didn’t expect me to throw them, and when I did, you weren’t able to dodge or block them.” She swept her gaze over the rest of the Golden Swan next. “And the rest of your party didn’t notice the threat until it was too late.”

Sarah looked pointedly at Delphi’s hands, clasped politely in front of her waist, then looked her in the eye sternly. “And now that you know, or should know, that I’m a threat, where are your hands? Where are everyone else’s hands?”

Delphi blinked, then looked around. Arthur’s hand was nearly on the hilt of his sword. Lawrence’s hands were spread at his side. Gregory, holding the wooden practice shield and spear, had raised them slightly. Even Clara had raised her hands in Sarah’s direction.

Delphi’s hands were nowhere near her daggers.

She blinked again, then moved her hands to her dagger hilts, fingers wrapped around the familiar grips. Then she looked back at Sarah with raised eyebrows.

Sarah nodded. “Good, that’s where they should be.” Delphi’s breath caught as she swiftly drew her knifes and blocked another pebble flying at her face. She had, of course, seen Sarah take another pebble out of her pocket, and had seen her muscles tense the slightest fraction of a second before the Brawler’s thumb had flicked it at her.

Clink

Arthur’s hand darted to the hilt of his sword, but everyone else took another moment to react. They took it better this time, seeing that Delphi had managed to block the pebble.

“It’s a matter of mindset and mental preparedness,” Sarah said authoritatively. “If you recognize the threat and see it coming, your boosts and Skills can do their job.”

Gregory interrupted. “Yes, I see, but do you have to throw stones? What if you hurt Delphi?”

Sarah turned to him with a questioning expression. “Of course I need to use stones. Pain is an important part of learning.”

Gregory’s jaw fell slack, just a little, and Delphi paled.

Sarah turned to Sam.

“Can you get a blindfold?”

By mid-morning, Delphi had gained the [Sensitive Hearing] and [Sensitive Touch] skills.

By noon, she gained the [Threat Awareness] Skill, after Sarah had started masking her presence.

After that, Sarah had Delphi focus on dodging, rather than blocking with her daggers, and by dusk, she had gained the [Dodge] Skill.

The next morning Delphi arrived to the training yard with puffy red eyes and fresh tears on her cheeks. She was wearing simple training clothes; no armor. Not even her daggers.

“Please don’t make me wear the blindfold again!” she cried upon spotting Sarah. But Sarah merely shrugged.

“We’ll do that later. I talked with my mother about it, and she said it’s best to do the mental work in the morning and the reflex training in the afternoon, so let’s practice formation training first.”

And so, the Golden Swan practiced their formations with Sarah taking Delphi’s place, going through the motions of combat while Delphi watched how Sarah was moving, complementing the party’s simulated attacks and movements. Then, Delphi followed Sarah as they moved around the yard. Finally, Delphi and the rest of the party practiced while Sarah called out directions to Delphi.

After lunch, the blindfold went back on. The stones hit harder today, because Delphi wasn’t wearing armor. Every time she felt her mind wander, there was a little twinge from her new [Threat Awareness] skill and a moment later, pain blossomed on a new part of her body. Not terrible pain, but enough to leave a bruise.

That terrible Brawler wouldn’t let Clara heal her until after training was done for the day, either!

Scout Class Skill [Sensitive Hearing] has reached level 8.

Scout Class Skill [Sensitive Touch] has reached level 5.

Scout Class Skill [Threat Awareness] has reached level 4.

Scout Class Skill [Dodge] has reached level 6.

Scout Class Skill [Danger Sense] has reached level 10.

Still, the results spoke for themselves.

It just sucked!