The night passed very quickly, and a new day awaited me. As I looked at my calendar, I was reminded that my birthday was coming up soon. It is fascinating to recall that the year was already coming to an end, and I had less time in front of me than behind me.

 

With the assistance of Vesemir, my academics were no longer of concern to me. In the fighting class, we are continuing to practice the fundamentals. Although the training was rudimentary and repetitive, I benefitted a lot from it. We haven't been taught any special moves, but my battle capability with the sword has skyrocketed since coming to the Umbra Battle Academy. However, it pains me to say that I haven't made much progress in magic yet. I have reached the stage of sensing the magic around me, but I am still far from doing anything with it.

 

School passed by very quickly, and I had made plans with Vesemir to meet in the school field after school today. Today we were thinking of doing physical training together. But, in reality, it would be more of me helping improve Vesemir's close combat capabilities since he sucked at it. Although he knew all about the different fighting techniques in the library and was a semi-accomplished magician in our class, he possessed minimal talent in close-ranged combat, which could prove to be a problem if your occupation is an assassin.

 

We started our training by simple sparring. Vesemir's moves pronounced that he was not good at fighting. I'm surprised that he hasn't been a prime target for the rest of the students. I assume that his magic managed to scare away other students who didn't know any better.

 

Every time Vesemir attempted to punch me, he would leave many openings on his body, just begging me to abuse them. I did my best to correct Vesemir's form when attacking to minimize the number of openings. However, it was a slow process. The biggest problem, though, was the fact that Vesemir's physical stats were subpar. A combination of a lack of talent and a lack of training stunted the growth of his strength, agility, and endurance stats. I asked him what his stats were, and he hinted that all his physical stats were still of the F rank, which is absurd. Upon discovering this vital piece of information, I promptly changed our training course from sparring to pure body exercises. I instructed Vesemir to run laps, do pushups, pullups, sit-ups, and squats, the tried and true exercises to improving your physique. That plan fell flat on its face when I saw Vesemir dying from just running two laps. This was going to be very hard.

 

While I had Vesemir exclusively train to increase his stamina/endurance, I got to training my own body. I brought with me one of the nine E-ranked physical enhancement drugs and consumed it before training. During the duration of the effective time use of the drug, I showed my body hell. I followed the workout plan I had initially prepared for Vesemir but adjusted it to push my body to the brink of destruction.

 

By the time I was done training, I was lying in a puddle of my sweat. Vesemir sat beside me, exhausted from running a few laps around the track. That was enough training for us for today. The "sun" was still high, so we headed back to the library to work on something that wasn't physical. I read about different fighting techniques and information regarding weapons in the library while Vesemir read about magic. I saw that the book's cover about magic Vesemir was reading was very different from the books found in the library. I asked Vesemir where he got that book, and he responded that this was the book he purchased at the school store. He informed me that it was a training manual for a technique that raises the intensity of your magic, making your magic attacks stronger. It was exciting stuff. Unfortunately, it's useless to me, who's not yet able to use magic.

 

I was fascinated by the number of battle techniques that could be found in the library. Although I wasn't going to train in any of them, just the exposure to the many different fighting styles benefitted me greatly. Though I must admit, I was far more interested in the books discussing many of the eccentric weapons that people have used before. I saw drawings of all sorts of weapons I didn't know existed and their advantages and disadvantages and significant accomplishments. I would judge that the biggest benefit of these uncommon weapons is that your opponent is more unlikely to have little experience fighting against them. For example, everyone knows how to defend against a sword because it's so commonly used. On the other hand, if someone used a harpoon and harpoon fighting techniques to fight, few would know precisely how to respond due to their lack of experience going up against a harpoon user.

 

Among the many weapons I read about, the ones that caught my attention the most were the whip, strings, and the scythe. A common point about these three points is that they are all rarely seen used as a weapon, hard to learn, and terrifying if used by a master. The most eccentric of the three weapons is the string. Something so simple and so non-threatening can cause bloodshed unknown to your typical cold weapon[1]. Imagine strings, near invisible to the naked eye, zipping along the night sky, cutting through bodies in half like a hot knife cutting through butter.

 

The whip was also a fascinating weapon to read about. Like strings, the whip was highly versatile and deadly if in the hands of a master. Of course, everyone can crack a whip. However, a master will know how to inject life into a whip, turning it alive, making it slithering like a snake around you, cracking spontaneously in directions unimaginable, while continuously ramping up in speed, dealing devastating damage to everything it makes contact with.

 

Lastly, the scythe caught my attention partially due to its symbolistic meaning and its unorthodox fighting method. Many interpret the scythe as the weapon of Death, who is feared by many. Although the scythe is a weapon few use, it remains to be very famous due to its connection with Death or the Grim Reaper, as some might say. In addition, the scythe implements a fighting style foreign to other cold weapons. Since you can't correctly slash or poke as you would do with other cold weapons, the scythe is a weapon that focuses on controlling your opponent. The scythe is one of the best weapons for managing space between you and your opponent, and its unorthodox design allows you to attack from many angles.

 

Reading these many weapons planted my desire to become proficient in any one of them, or all of them if I could. Don't get me wrong. The sword is strong. If it weren't, it wouldn't be the most popular cold weapon. However, I didn't want to fall into mediocrity. Since almost everybody used swords, you would be no different from the next guy who uses a sword unless you were a prodigy when it comes to the blade. I was not one of those sword prodigies, and I didn't want to become just another person who's good with the knife. To stand out amongst the rest, I needed to differentiate myself someway. I could differentiate myself from other people and still be strong in battle, if not potentially stronger, by switching to one of the three unorthodox weapons I mentioned.

 

Out of the three weapons, string, whip, and scythe, I crossed out scythe because it would be very obnoxious of me to be carrying a scythe on my back all day. That would be the equivalent of putting a huge target behind my back, especially in this school environment. So that left me with either the string or the whip. One thing to note was that just because I shift my focus to another weapon doesn't mean I give up the sword. One is never restricted to only being good in one weapon. For example, whip users are commonly seen holding a sword in their off-hand when in battle.

 

I was still a little hesitant about crossing the fence about changing my weapon of choice. Thinking about it logically, I had a great sword technique with high potential already. There was little reason for me to switch away from the sword. I decided to consult Vesemir about my dilemma. After telling Vesemir about my thoughts. Vesemir gave me a serious look and said, "I understand where you are coming from. I completely agree about the prospect of you using either the whip or the strings. My only concern is who you are going to be learning from. These two weapons are not weapons where one can easily learn by themselves."

 

Vesemir made a lot of sense. If I do decide to either switch to the strings or the whip, who would teach me the basics?. Vesemir continued, "Unless the instructors are purposely withholding information about themselves, there is no instructor here that has experience using strings or the whip as a weapon."

 

I believed in Vesemir's statement. If there were anyone who would know anything regarding this subject, it would be Vesemir. My hope of learning either the string or the whip was rapidly fading away. Just when I was about to give up on the idea, Vesemir said, "But you should give it a shot."

 

"Huh?" I replied in a confused tone. Didn't he debunk why it was an unrealistic decision for me?

 

Vesemir continued his statement, "If there is a proper time to give it a try, it would be now. After all, we are in high school. This is a time for us to experiment. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out, and you continue with the sword. There is not much to lose." After saying so, Vesemir walked to a dusty area in the library and retrieved two books. After setting the two books in front of me, Vesemir continued, "In this library, there are no books regarding the usage of whips. But, there are two regarding strings. This book discusses the theory of using strings in battle and some of its history. The other is to instruct you how to grasp the basics of using strings in battle. Give these two books a chance. Again, worst-case scenario, you go back to using the sword."

 

With Vesemir's support and the tools to learning how to use strings in battle right in front of me, my determination to learn enlarged. That path I was about to embark on was going to be a long and tedious one. One that will not automatically guarantee power, fame, or glory. But I was committed to it. So from now on, I am going to carve my own path of greatness!

 

[1] Weapons that do not rely on gunpowder, such as swords, axes, spears, etc.