25 Weapon Specialization

Thirteen went back to his dorm to cultivate after his fight with Eleven. While he was feeling down about his actions and a bit too embarrassed to remain in the dojo, there was another reason too.

The fight with Eleven had highlighted a few things for him.

'That's the first time I've consciously expended lifeforce. Between the various methods of employing Withering, and this new method of using Lifebringer, its becoming fairly obvious that the techniques shown in the Grand Life Tome are more like examples of what's possible.

'They describe a general method and outline its limits at each stage of cultivation, but the technique shown doesn't have to be followed to the letter. If it did, Withering would be useless with a sword.

'Since that's the case, I need to make time to experiment with my techniques. I can't think of any other use for regeneration, it's just something that happens automatically, but perhaps Lifesight can achieve more with training.'

As he was thinking this through, he also held in his mouth the heart of a Virile Fox which looked like a small red gem. He had started the consumption of this resource when he first started cultivating the Grand Life Tome, and it was now all but gone, melted to liquid that had long disappeared within Thirteen.

At this moment, the door opened slowly as Nine entered.

Looking at the remains of Elevens blood on Thirteen's hands, the bits he couldn't wash off easily, Nine sat on his bed and spoke.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks..."

"I was speaking with Four. He said you once warned him to hold back in sparring, as his strength could be dangerous if wielded recklessly."

Thirteen groaned as he knew where this was going.

Standing up from the ground, Thirteen patted Nine on the shoulder as he made for the desk "I know Nine, I'm in the same boat now. So don't worry about a thing"

"As long as you know." Nine said mildly. "It was a good fight though"

"Wasn't it?"

——

The rest of the day was spent refining his internal organs and practicing the usage of his three active techniques. Thirteen found that the longer he kept Lifesight active the clearer the sense became, and so began trying to maintain it for long periods.

While the ability itself consumed no stamina, it put a strain on his eyes when used for too long, so Thirteen had decided to try and build a tolerance, as if training a muscle.

The next day, Thirteen cultivated in the morning, sparred throughout the day, and then borrowed a book on weaponry to study at night. He needed to decide a weapon specialisation by the day after next, and he still hadn't made his mind.

When the free days came to an end, the next week started with archery & survival training. The targets this time were three dimensional and wrapped with leather. They each depicted various animals and were placed in the distant woods, behind partial cover.

The archers all had uniquely dyed fletching and were to 'kill' as many of the animal targets as possible with the arrows given.

When that day came to an end, it was finally time to choose their weapon specialisation. Thirteen stood in the practice grounds together with the other children and the great many weapon instructors. Instructor Diores began asking each student one at a time their weapon of choice and their reason why.

When finally he reached Thirteen, he asked the same.

"What will you choose, and what are your reasons?"

"I choose the Greatsword. We already learn the spear for a battlefield weapon, I already have a longsword for a personal weapon. I have archery for range. What I lack is a weapon to dominate multiple foes at once, and the skill built practicing my longsword will carry over."

"Good choice." Instructor Diores replied succinctly before moving on.

Thirteen took the chance to look around at the other students but didn't see Eleven among the crowd. Looking instead to the many instructors, Thirteen wondered who to approach. He was meant to stand with the Instructor of the weapon he chose, but…

'I have no idea who the greatsword instructor was.'

As he looked around, he saw one instructor, a large man with incredibly thick upper arms give him a small wave.

Approaching the instructor, Thirteen introduced himself first. "I am Thirteen"

"You can call me Instructor Alderan, wait just a while until we're done here and we can begin."

Instructor Alderan was bald and his face was scarred deeply, but rather than fierce, he gave a rock solid impression, like a mountain or a boulder.

Thirteen returned his gaze to the many other children as Instructor Diroes asked them each for their weapon of choice and reasons why.

Ten had chosen to learn the dagger to assist her unarmed combat, while Forty-five chose the sabre, wanting to wield an offensive weapon in conjunction with her flying blade to overwhelm her foes. Surprisingly, Nine chose to double down on unarmed training, claiming he was too reliant on the sword. This was something Nine had mentioned to Thirteen after they dueled for the first time, but Thirteen didn't think he was this serious about it.

When it got to Fours turn, Thirteen was glad to hear that he too opted for the Greatsword.

When the choices were all finished, only four of the 42 students chose the Greatsword, and they all soon followed Instructor Alderan to a clearing where seven swords could be found. 'It seems Instructor Alderan didn't expect a great deal of us to choose the greatsword anyway.'

Among the seven swords, one was as long as the large instructor was tall, while the others were all much smaller, obviously sized for children.

'Are they even really greatswords at this point? Aren't we just using adult longswords?'

"Okay, gather around for me"

"I heard each of your reasons for picking the greatsword, and while I personally would have just doubled down on what I knew, you all at least had reasons for learning a new weapon.

But let me tell you this" His gaze looked to Thirteen "very little of the skills you develop using a longsword will be applicable to the greatsword. In fact, it's better to not even consider it a sword."

'Not a sword?' Thirteen's confusion showed plainly on his face.

The instructor continued "A greatsword is long. Too long. If you try to parry an enemy like you would with a longsword, the tip of your blade will dig itself deep into the dirt. For the same reason, vertical, or steep diagonal slashes wont work.

When you use the greatsword, you don't use it like a sword. Your movements can't be concise, they can't be pretty, they can't be graceful. You will swing the greatsword in wide horizontal arcs with minimal diagonal trajectory. You will seek to cleave through your foes and break past their guard. While it can also be used like a spear, you must always consider the greatsword its own category of weapon, lest you die with your blade buried in the earth.

"With that out of the way, each of you grab a sword. Starting next week I will bring swords perfectly sized to each of you, but for now these will do to get a feel for the weapon."

Thirteen moved to the weapon rack and picked out one of the swords for himself.

"Okay, I want each of you to stand your sword in the ground next to you and see how its height compares to your own."

As they did so, Thirteen noticed that each of the swords was roughly as tall as the person wielding it.

"I'm sure you already have an idea, but a greatsword should generally be as long as you are tall. This is not a fixed rule, but too much shorter and it will instead be a longsword, too much longer and and even cleaving won't work realistically.

"Now then, shall we get to it?"

——

The class went as most first days of a weapon do, repetitions and explanations. The longer the class went on for, the more sure Thirteen felt of his choice. While all four students who picked the greatsword were strength metas, only he and Four had two attributes, and with the incredible stamina afforded to him by his healing attribute and life force cultivation, Thirteen felt he could swing that heavy sword around all day.

While he certainly got tired, it was never to the point that he couldn't power through.

With his weapon specialisation chosen and his new classes all started, Thirteen's schedule soon returned to normalcy. He continued to cultivate, to train, and to study. Like this, months began to pass as he adapted to the increasing workload.

Over time, Thirteen grew so used to the weight on his shoulders that he no longer felt it abnormal, and no longer dwelled on it.

While he thought of home from time to time, he no longer moped about it and simply worked harder to earn his name. Day by day his skill improved as he unknowingly set himself apart from most of his generation. The same was true of all the most talented children, vague rankings were beginning to form, and this was made only more evident at the end of every week when they sparred.

The repetitive routine was like the motion of a blacksmith's hammer, bashing out the molten impurities of the steel that would go on to form the greatest swords of the kingdom.