ArmamentCalligraphy

Long one today! I just really like daggers.

Lilith awoke a little before sunrise, and gently shook Amelia awake as well. “You need to get to your room before Kass wakes up. We don’t want him getting too suspicious.”

    Amelia, though groggy, got up. Pulling herself off of Lilith’s dick, a frankly absurd amount of cum spilled out. Standing up, both Lilith and Amelia watched it fall out for almost twenty seconds before the flow ceased. 

“That’s really hot.” Remembering herself, Lilith cast [Clean-Up], the cum orb taking almost three times as long to fully disappear. Amelia picked her dress up off the floor, and quietly moved down the hall to her room. Lilith used the time alone to look at her menus.

    Two levels! Guess being active during sex makes me gain more experience. Also sleeping all night with my dick in her. But now I need to do some thinking. I could, theoretically, get that Proselytize skill, and make Amelia a futanari. But then that might risk discovery from the other villagers. I’ll discuss with her, and see if she even wants to become a follower of Medenta, and what she thinks the best course of action is. Lilith’s train of thought would have gone on for a while longer, but the crowing of a rooster and the light shining through her window made her remember that training was starting. Quickly tugging on the same dress from last night, she made her way through the house to the central area of town, where Milo stood, several racks of weaponry behind him. Several other men were standing around, in varying states of tiredness. Once a few more people arrived behind Lilith, Milo strode forward.

    “Alright, let’s begin. First off, swords and shorter weapons will be more useful on this mission. If a goblin gets too close, your spear is useless. Everyone, come forward and take the weapon you’re most experienced with.” Several men came forward, taking swords, daggers,axes , and the like. Lilith went towards a pair of daggers. I already have a little proficiency with them, and I think twin daggers could be cool. Once the weapon racks were almost emptied, Milo called out once more.

    “Split into groups with people who chose the same weapon as you. Keaton, Hector, Casey, you’re in charge of your respective groups. Do some basic exercises to get a handle on everyone’s average skill level. I’ll be moving between groups, giving advice and help where I feel it’s most necessary.”

    With that command, the groups began work. The long-haired boy standing in the middle of the dagger group, the one called Casey, began talking. “Daggers are a specialty weapon. They don’t have reach, and they don’t have the heavy power of swords or most axes. Their selling point-” He took the two knives, and, in a flash of steel, was holding them upside down- “Is their flexibility and speed. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t use them defensively. In fact, they have defensive techniques unique to them. They just can’t defend in the way of blocking a blade like the other weapons. Instead, you have to focus on parrying and deflecting, as well as dodging. Could I have a volunteer? Yes, yes you there.” Pointing to a man in the group, the man came forward, holding a knife that seemed even more curved and wicked when compared to Casey’s simple triangles of metal. “Attack me.”

    “Really? Won’t I hurt you?” The man evidently didn’t seem to think much of the long-haired boy.

    “If you hurt me, I’m not demonstrating right. Go ahead, and attack with all your might.”

    “You asked for it!” The man brought his dagger down, and with another flash of metal, his had came down off mark, as Casey rushed forward and brought his own weapon to the man’s throat, his face like a demon’s.

    Casey turned to face the crowd, smiling. “See? I used my dagger to deflect his own. Instead of meeting his attack head on, I made it miss, and used the momentum to move closer. This strategy works even better against opponents with larger weapons, as if you hit them right, they won’t have time to hit you before you move past their range. Now, split into pairs, and practice moving in and out of this stance,” he said, moving into a stance with his daggers in front of him and one foot behind the other. “This stance lets you move in pretty much any direction with ease. That flexibility is important to use daggers to any proficient level.” Lilith ended up paired with the other youth who was manning the gate  As the two got into the demonstrated stance, The youth spoke up. “Your back foot’s too close to the middle. It’s meant to be in a sort of L-shape.”

    “You have much experience with these?”

    “A little. I’ve known Casey for a while, and he’s always been really into these. I just picked up a lot through osmosis.”

    “Are you two close?”

    “He’s my best friend,” the youth said, his mind seemingly thinking of other things.

    “No slacking off, Dylan!” Casey called playfully, walking by and looking at the pair.

    Shaken out of his memories, Dylan readjusted his pose. “Okay, now we should try moving in and out of this stance.

    A few hours later, after learning several other stances and attacks, Casey called out for sparring to begin. The dagger users all formed a circle, with two members being playfully shoved into the center. Casey handed them each a pair of blunted daggers, their edges dipped in chalk to see when a hit was scored. As the fight began, Lilith used the opportunity to look at her stats.

Nice. About a level for some basic training. Some actual sparring will probably make it go up even faster. Checking her [Dagger Proficiency] again, she saw it had leveled up, too. 

    Now, what to spend that CLP on… Lilith contemplated getting one of those skills she saw earlier, specifically that health-regenerating one, but ended up settling on an attacking skill for her daggers.

Unlocking the skill, she felt a pleasing warmth throughout her body. Looking back up at the sparring match, it had almost concluded, with one participant having far more chalk slashes than the other. Soon enough, one more slice decided the bout, with Casey calling out “Halt!” The loser handed back the knives, walking grumbling back into the crowd.

Casey spoke, his seemingly perpetual smile still present.“Anyone else want to try their hand against Flanagan?” Eager to try out her new skills, Lilith confidently strode forward into the circle.

“Ah, the priestess! Here are the sparring knives.” Handing the chalk-edged knives to Lilith, Casey returned to his position near the edge, for adjudication.

“Don’t worry, little lady. This’ll be over soon.” Flanagan was a tall man, a little over six foot at Lilith’s approximation. His stringy, grayish hair clung to his head, and he had the beginnings of a beard, at that stage between clean-shaven and fully grown where it just makes you look like a rat.

“It sure will,” Lilith retorted, getting into her stance and holding out the twin knives.

“On my call…” Casey held up his hand, and it felt like the whole world held its breath. “Begin!”

Lilith and Flanagan both moved towards each other with a rush of speed. Flanagan made the first attack, which Lilith parried with a sting of steel. However, Flanagan’s second knife came flying almost at the same time. Lilith was harried by an onslaught of slashes, Flanagan using his height and reach well, not giving her time to react or attack. Pushed back almost to the edge of the ring, Lilith changed plans; instead of parrying the next attack, she dodged under it, using her comparatively short stature to evade and get behind Flanagan. Before he could react, she made a quick slash along his side, but Flanagan retaliated moments after, giving her an equal mark. As the two moved around, more attacks were traded, neither opponent being able to get a leg up on the other. Tiring, Lilith made for one final move; instead of approaching, she prepared her stance, and waited for Flanagan’s move. When his arm began to swing, she moved. 

[Fade Slash!] Thinking of the newly learned move, her body moved almost on its own; slicing forward with one blade, then quickly stepping back the moment she felt the attack connect. Flanagan’s attack missed, and he looked shocked. Using the opportunity, Lilith rushed forward again, making a carve across his chest. 

“Halt!” Hearing Casey’s call, Lilith felt relieved, Flanagan stopping mid-swing. “Match goes to the priestess. Speaking of, milady, what is your name?”

“Lilith. And now, I’m going to go back into the sidelines. That took a lot out of me.”

“Understood. Who else wants to do some sparring?” Several other men strode forward, joking shove-fests breaking out over who was to go next.