Something new

"So, are you gonna tell me why you're so interested in dragons?" Jet asked with a serious look on his face something that doesn't normally happen often.

Walking down the hall Salem was trying to think of an answer for why he wanted to know about dragons he didn't know if he could trust jet sense, he didn't actually know him for that long.

"I just find dragons to be cool creatures." Salem lied, hoping it was enough to convince Jet but the look on his face he wasn't so sure.

"Sure, but that looked more like research because you would have known most of that if you liked dragons all your life. Look you ain't gotta tell me what's going on just know whatever it is, I'll help you however I can."

The boys left the library and headed back down to the grand hall. As the boys made it to the hall, they weren't really sure what to do.

"Hey, we can always go back into the city." Jet said as they made it down the stairs. Salem pulled out this emblem and looked at the time.

Currently it was 8:30pm and they didn't have much time before curfew, only an hour and a half. "We wouldn't be able to do, much but we can go into the city to get some food." Salem suggested, and Jet just nodded his head, and then walked out of the boy's dorm.

The boys started to walk down the path that they walked the day before. They walked down the hill and followed the path for a while until they got to a gate with a pad on it.

Jet walked up first and pulled out his emblem and pressed it on the pad and the gate opened and quickly shut behind him. Salem walked up to the gate and done the same thing and walked through the gate.

The boys started to walk down the path behind the gate and walked into a cloud of mist and once the boys got through, they entered a big city. 

"It still amazes me that the city is behind this large fog it's no wonder we didn't actually see it." Jet said while he walked down the street.

"I think it's because the base is on top of the hill as well." Salem commented back. Jet merely shrugged his shoulders as if it didn't matter much to him.

As they walked down the street Salem walked into the convenience store and Jet followed behind. Looking around the store, there wasn't much they wanted but Jet got himself a couple of drinks and a snack cake to eat.

Once they left the store, Jet noticed something off in the distance. "Hey, wanna go check that out?" Jet asked Salem. Salem nodded and the boys walked off to a game store.

"That's awesome!" Jet said while he pressed his face up against the glass staring at a certain machine behind the glass. "I haven't used one of these in a long time. Let's go in I wanna play." "What even is it." Salem asked in confusion.

"It's a VR machine for the game Elementalist. It's a game for us to fight others while using our elements. It puts us in a real fight setting for use get for us to get better at fighting," Jet explained.

"Come one let's go play and I can explain more then." Walking into the building, the boys went up to the corner and saw a woman standing behind it, typing on a computer. She turned to the boys and noticed the uniform that they're in.

"Oh I see you boys are from the military base what are you two doing down here so late in the day." the clerk asked.

"We are here to play Elementalist." Jet explained to the clerk. "Oh? Are you first year students?" She asked the boys with one of her eyebrows raised. Without thinking the boys agreed, telling her that they were indeed only first year students.

"Well then, I'm gonna have to decline your access here. In a few weeks all the first years will come down to the city and you will be able to come in here free of charge because the school will pay for your admission. But for now, the first years aren't permitted inside. Thank you and have a good day."

She turned back to the computer and started to type again. 

"Well damn that sucks. I guess we should just go home." Salem said as he started to walk out of the game store. A bit annoyed, Jet followed suit.

Once Salem left the store, he could hear a beeping sound coming from his emblem and he pulled it out of his pocket. On it the screen was beeping and displayed

<30 minutes until curfew.>

Realizing that, Salem turned back to Jet as he walked out of the store. "We should get going. We have to make it back home before curfew." and the boys headed back to the gate behind the mist.

As the boys got past the gate,  doing the same thing they did entering the city, Jet had an idea. "Wanna race?" "Sure, I'll race you." Salem said getting into position along with Jet.

"On the count of 3 we will take off. 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3." and the boys took off running back up the path. They were evenly matched when it came to both speeds.

'Just how fast is Jet, although I feel like he isn't running as fast as he can.' Salem thought to himself and surprisingly Jet was thinking the same thing. Also, simultaneously they both started running a little faster, but there was a winner in the end.

"I. Won." Jet said while panting, bent over with his hands on his knees. Salem was tired but not as winded as he thought he'd be. 'I guess it was the transformation.'

Once Jet regained his breath, they walked into the dorm and up to their room. The boy started to do their nightly route which included showering, washing their faces, and brushing their teeth.

Once they were done, they turned in for the night. 

When Salem woke up, he was greeted with the same system message he got every morning.

<Daily 8 10 30 200 quest complete: sleep hours. exp gained. out of>

The next day they got up and started to go to their classes. "Hey after classes do you mind helping me with something in the arena." Salem asked Jet. "Hell, yeah, we'll go after we eat."

And with that the boys headed off to class. As Salem walked into the beast weapons class, it felt different. Salem felt a bit alone since his new friend wasn't in the class with him.

He felt bad Darrel got hurt so badly and he couldn't help him.

"Okay class. It will be. The same thing as. Yesterday although. Once you have the weapon. You wanna use. You will be paired with. Someone else to practice with. So, once you. Get the weapon. You want then. Find a partner."

After Mary Jo made her announcement, Salem then walked over to the wall filled with weapons and went to the only great sword on the wall. After picking the sword up, he checked the system again even though he thought there would be no change.

Except for him gaining the 2 additional stat points in strength when he picked up the sword. Although, looking at the system again he saw something that wasn't there before. 'What is this, why is there another experience bar here?"

He looked at the exp questioning what it was and why it had just now appeared. He saw that it was for the great sword that he was holding.

<1 5 out of great sword exp> 

Upon further inspection, he noticed he had another tab that wasn't there before, and he wanted to open it up, check it out, and figure some things out. Although he couldn't at the moment.

He first had to get through class and standing in front of him was a girl with dark pink hair colour and a smooth face. She was about 5' 4" with a body that would make boys turn their heads to stare at her looks that were only second to Celina.

She wielded a pair of dual swords. "You seem like an easy win. Wanna partner with me?" The girl said not really paying Salem much attention. Looking at her, all that Salem could feel was a bit of annoyance as he recognized who she was.

"You're that girl who swatted Darrel's hands away yesterday."

"What are you talking about?" the girl asked confused by his words. 'He's weird.' She thought to herself as she readied herself. "Sure, and maybe this will remind you." He pulled out the great sword and did his best to get into a fighting stance.

His stance was amateur at best, but it was still there. 'That is a good stance for someone with a sword like that I better keep an eye on his to see how he does with that.' Mary jo thought, while staring his way.

She raised her katana in the air and sliced it down. "Begin!" The sergeant announced. With that, all of the students began to clash their weapons trying to get a feel for how to properly use their weapons.

During this time, Mary Jo started to walk around the training hall to observe the students using the weapons. Any time she saw a student struggling with their weapon, she would go over and assist them however she could. Eventually her gaze fell on to Salem and his fight.

With the sword in front of him, both hands on the handle, and his left foot forward, Salem was ready. The girl started to charge in trying to catch Salem off guard.

Swinging her swords in an X motion she noticed something was off. Without a moment of hesitation, Salem thrusted his sword forward stopping her attack.

Pulling back, Salem swung his great sword horizontally. The girl noticed this and went to block the side strike, as she started to stop the attack, she noticed the force behind the strike. She was successfully able to stop the attack but noticed that the sword was slightly chipped.

'Just how strong was that strike.' The girl was thinking to herself. But she couldn't stop for long as another strike from Salem came her way.

'This is getting easier to swing.' Salem was thinking as he performed strike after strike, but he stopped momentarily as he noticed that the points in the great sword exp had gone up.

<Great 4 5 sword experience out of>

'How did it go up what did I do to make it increase.' Salem started thinking about it but during his moment of hesitation, the girl charged in once again and went to strike at him.

Noticing the attack at the last moment, Salem wasn't able to dodge properly and got cut on his arm.

Staggering back, Salem did an overhead slash in retaliation, but missed as he moved too slowly letting the girl have time to dodge to the right, cutting his arm again, but before she could make a follow up attack, she was unable to move.

Trying to seize this opportunity, Salem tried to move but found that he couldn't move either, along with a great wind pressure "That is. Enough you two. Are you okay. Salem?" Mary jo said while walking over to them.

With a confused look on his face, Salem just nodded his head. Feeling the wind pressure release from him, Salem stood up properly and gripped the sword. That's when he noticed the system had given him a message. 

<Congratulation you have leveled up your sword mastery. You learned the basic strikes for great sword. are now an apprentice swordsman. access to a tutorial master each strike properly along with stances. Learn these level again.>