Chapter 104: Weapon of Choice (Patreon)

The morning after Yumily’s concert, Aegis found himself standing in the midst of the Kordas training grounds. The sun was peeking up over the horizon giving a dark blue hue to the cloudless sky, and a light chilly breeze blew over him. He could hear the faint sounds of wooden impacts coming from various other players already up and training themselves on the dummies spread about the grounds around him, but he had no interest in watching them.

He had a problem that needed solving. Lying down before him on the rough sandy stone floor of the training grounds was a neat row of wooden weapons that Aegis had crafted for himself using woodworking. They were meant for training, not actual combat, so most simply imitated the shapes of the weapons.

There was a scepter, a mace, a short sword, a flail, a spear, and a quarterstaff. As Aegis stared at them intently while pacing, Lina stood behind him watching with interest. It was just the two of them now, as Amlie, Ruffily, and Savika had been offered an escort back to Rene by Tullan, and they took it. They had been eager to get back to Rene and continue to improve it and start planning out a defensive wall around the village just in case.

“It’s definitely, probably… well… hm.” Aegis started mumbling. Now that he could deal damage, he needed to choose a weapon of choice. Unlike fighters, rangers, thieves, or paladins and crusaders- frankly, any martial class, he didn’t get any experience bonus towards learning any weapon skill, which meant it’d be a slog to level, particularly beyond level 30. That meant leveling more than one would be a nightmare, so he wanted to make sure he chose the perfect weapon from the get-go.

“There you are.” Darkshot called across the grounds to them in a deep voice, causing Lina and Aegis to turn and see him approaching.

“Darkshot!” Lina cheered excitedly.

“Hello, everyone.” he replied. As Aegis had looked in his direction, he suddenly struck an odd pose with his arms on his waist, cloak billowing behind him in the light breeze. “You may be wondering, who is that handsome man with the longbow? The answer is simple. I am Darkshot.” he announced himself as he looked up to the sky, acting as though he was deep in thought about something. Aegis just rolled his eyes at him once he’d figured out what he was doing, noting that he had a livestream viewership right now of roughly 31 000 people for Darkshot to try and impress.

“Do you want to know why they call me Darkshot?” Darkshot asked, trying to sound as mysterious as he could.

“Because you shoot from the darkness?” Lina answered excitedly, but this made Darkshot break character for a brief second to throw a pout at Lina- he wanted to say the line himself.

“Yes. Because I shoot from the darkness.” He said it anyway.

“Darkshot, c’mon, I need your help.” Aegis motioned him over, and Darkshot nodded.

“Of course. There’s no problem that Darkshot cannot solve.” Darkshot replied as he eagerly power walked over to Aegis and the two of them looked down at the weapons side by side, whilst Darkshot suddenly took a white egg out of his inventory and cradled it carefully with both of his hands. This caused Aegis to stop looking at the weapons and stare at the egg instead.

"What's that?" Aegis asked him.

"Oh, no big deal. I just got an amazing new companion for completing my Ranger intermediate class quest. Once it hatches, I'm sure it will make us way stronger." Darkshot bragged.

"Are you sure? That looks like a pretty plain egg. Like, a big chicken or something." Aegis looked at it with skepticism.

"It's not a chicken." Darkshot snapped back.

"What is it then?"

"Well... I don't know yet..."

"So, it could totally be a chicken?" Aegis smirked.

"Most likely its a phoenix. Or, a baby roc. Or something even more epic, or mysterious." Darkshot said defensively. "Forget about my egg, what did you need help with?" He said hastily. Aegis shrugged and turned his attention back to the row of weapons on the ground as Lina moved to stand beside them.

“I can hit people now, but I need to choose what to hit people with.” Aegis explained.

“Hm, a hard choice. There’s so many good ways to hit people.” Darkshot nodded.

“I know.” Aegis nodded along with him.

“You could stab them. Swords are cool. Main characters in movies almost always use swords. Even in space movies. You know, like lightsabers.” Darkshot motioned to the shortsword.

“Eh, yeah… but most cleric-type players use scepters.” Aegis motioned to the scepter. “They’re easy to enchant with mana regeneration, and often get found in dungeons with divine buffing effects.” Aegis explained.

“Yeah, but, scepters are so lame.” Darkshot answered, and Aegis nodded in agreement.

“Ok, scepters are out.” Aegis kicked the wooden scepter away. Lina looked like she wanted to protest this rejection, but the scepter had already been kicked away before she got the chance, so she opted not to.

“What about spears? They have really good reach.” Lina suggested as she motioned to the wooden spear.

“Hm.” Aegis picked it up after equipping his shield to his left arm and started waving the spear around, trying out a few poses with it. “I dunno. It feels a bit clunky.” Aegis looked at it apprehensively.

“Clunky?” Darkshot raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah…” Aegis shrugged.

“What do you mean, clunky?”

“You know, like, it’s limiting having it in my hand.” Aegis tried to explain.

“How is it limiting? You can stab stuff from pretty far away.” Darkshot motioned to the spear.

“Yeah, but, what if I need to eat a direwolf steak?” Aegis asked.

“You take a lunch break! Most people don’t eat dinner while fighting.” Darkshot replied with an eye roll.

“Why not? It’s good for stamina regeneration.”

“It’s not good for damage dealing though, and a spear is.”

“Ehhh, I’m just not feeling it.” Aegis shrugged as he chucked the spear to the side near the discarded scepter.

“You’re telling me you don’t like spears because it prevents you from snacking in combat?” Darkshot replied in disbelief as Lina put her hand to her mouth to hold back laughter. “In that case, you might as well just toss all of these away. None of them are snack-friendly.”

“Well, I mean, it’s not just snacking…” Aegis replied defensively. “What if I need to use a potion or something?”

“Then just use your other hand!”

“But that's my shield hand. And, I’m right handed.”

“Aegis, my man, you’re telling you can’t eat steaks with your left hand?” Darkshot sighed at him.

“Well, I can, but, when my shield is equipped, it's really a pain. Look.” Aegis mimed eating something with his shield arm, and he had trouble getting the the hand to his mouth - though this was on purpose, he kept raising the shield at an angle that it’d intersect with his face and bump his cheeks before his hand could reach his mouth.

“What are you, a toddler? Just turn your arm a bit.” Darkshot couldn’t bear to watch it and stepped in, forcefully rotating Aegis’ shield for him so his left hand could reach his mouth. “See? Problem solved.”

“No, it’s not. What happens if an enemy is shooting at me while I’m eating? Look, I can’t see.” Aegis said as he demonstrated how, when his left arm was raised up in a way that his hand could reach his mouth, the shield on his arm blocked his view of anything in front of him.

“How about you just don’t try to eat something while monsters are attacking at you?”

“I can’t exactly ask them to take a pause so I can grab a bite to eat.” Aegis retorted.

“You’re a crafter, aren’t you? Just craft a food-dispensing helmet or something. Bam, problem solved.” Darkshot replied triumphantly.

“No way, that’d look stupid.” Aegis protested.

“And eating steaks while you’re blocking attacks doesn’t already look stupid?” Darkshot looked at him skeptically.

“Eating is a natural process of living, nothing is stupid about it.” Aegis crossed his arms.

“This guy’s hopeless.” Darkshot turned to Lina with a sigh, shaking his head. “You might as well just use your fists.” Darkshot said dismissively while waving his hands in frustration at Aegis, and that seemed to trigger a lightbulb in his head.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Aegis snapped his fingers and pointed at Darkshot. “That way, I can hit them even if I’m holding food in my hand.” He nodded as he thought about it.

“You’re going to steak-punch our enemies? ‘Wow Aegis, great job, it’s me, Hae-won here. Tell us, how did you kill the big bad raid boss dragon?’” Darkshot imitated Hae-won’s voice poorly. “ ‘I punched it with steak’ “, he then imitated Aegis’ voice. Darkshot had hoped this would discourage Aegis, but he only looked more excited afterwards.

“I’ve been so hung up on picking a good weapon, I didn’t even consider unarmed combat. Thanks Darkshot.” Aegis patted him on the shoulder, which caused him to sigh.

“It’s not a bad idea, plus, there are some shield attack skills you can unlock with your shield mastery.” Lina said to the two of them, and as she did, they’d spotted another familiar face walking towards them across the training grounds.

“Hi guys. Am I the last one back?” Pyri asked as she walked towards them.

“Nope, Rakkan’s on his way. He has his quest done, he was just off in some ruins and is making his way back still.” Aegis answered as he fiddled with his interface. “Did you get your intermediate class?” He asked Pyri curiously as he saw her still showing up as Wizard.

“Yup. Apparently there’s an intermediate wizard class that’s just wizard again. It’s not really special but it lets me learn a lot of magic.” Pyri shrugged awkwardly.

“Oh, that’s pretty cool.” Aegis smiled.

“Not as cool as yours though! A Shattered Healer? That’s amazing! And look at you with so many people watching you!” She walked forward and started adjusting his armor, straightening it out, then fixing his hair.

“Mom, stop.” Aegis sighed.

“What?” She shrugged as she took a step back, proud of her work. “And how was it for you two?” She turned to Darkshot and Lina.

“No problems.” Lina smiled.

“Got all the quests done in the end. It was thanks to someone helping me and Rakkan out with training. Speaking of that, if you really want to go with Unarmed Combat, you’re in luck.” Darkshot said as he looked at Aegis, who returned a curious stare. “You see, I’m a bit of a kung fu, martial arts, unarmed combat master now.” He said as he slowly took the fanciest fighting pose he’d learned.

“Heh?” Aegis replied with doubt.

“It’s true, Darkshot and Rakkan trained really hard. Maybe you could share some of the training with Aegis?” Lina suggested to Darkshot.

“Hm. I suppose, since we’ve got time waiting on Rakkan. But, you must be disciplined, and you must be vigilant.” Darkshot cleared his throat and began speaking in his deep theatrical voice.

“Ooh, can I learn too? Unarmed Combat sounds fun.” Pyri asked excitedly.

“Of course. Start by disabling your skill assistance for your unarmed combat skill, and unequipping your other weapons and shields.” Darkshot instructed them, trying his best to remember how Travis had taught him and Rakkan several weeks prior.

“Uh… I don’t have an unarmed combat skill.” Aegis replied confused.

“Me either.” Pyri shrugged.

“Oh. Right…” Darkshot thought on it. “How can they get the Unarmed Combat skill?” he turned to Lina for help.

“Just punch and kick the training dummies for a bit and you should get it eventually.” Lina explained while motioning towards the two nearest training dummies.

“Got it.” Aegis nodded, and both he and Pyri took dummies next to each other and started punching and kicking them. They looked like monkeys flailing their arms around wildly by comparison to what Darkshot and Rakkan were capable of now.

“Hm. I can see I have my work cut out for me. Terrible form, no technique. You're in for a long ride if you want to master martial arts.” Darkshot said as he paced behind them while they trained.

“Dude, we don’t even have the skill yet, relax.” Aegis grumbled back at him, but Darkshot was having too much fun playing the role of the teacher, and just continued monologuing about their training, until after a few minutes, both of them got the notification they were hoping for.

Skill Learned: Unarmed Combat.

“Ok, got it. Now, disable the skill assistance in the menu, right? Done.” Aegis said as he and Pyri fidgeted through their menus and disabled it. “Now what?” They looked at him expectantly, and he noticed that Lina was also following along.

“Hm. So… well…” Darkshot tried to remember. “The thing about breathing is, everyone can do it. It’s really easy, but if you think about it, then you’re thinking about it. Wait, that wasn’t it…” He shook his head, trying to recall Travis’ words.

“Yo, sup guys! Sorry I’m so late!” Rakkan called out to them as he arrived at the training grounds.

“Yay! Everyone is here.” Lina smiled cheerfully as she waved him over.

“Congrats on getting your intermediate, was it tough?” Aegis asked him.

“Nah, wasn't too bad.” Rakkan shrugged coolly, whilst Darkshot went to his friends list to check Rakkan's class.

"Rune Knight? What's a Rune Knight? I thought you were going Battlemaster." Darkshot asked curiously.

"Yeah... I was. But I saw all the other people following in Seraxus' footsteps, and, it just wasn't me. I'll admit, I also watched Herilon school those battlemaster players on your stream, Aegis." Rakkan let out a light chuckle as Aegis smiled at him and they all listened. "I got offered the Rune Knight class by one of the Battlemaster trainers... and, well, it felt more my style. I want to get powerful, but in my own way." Rakkan declared, then looked up at Aegis. "I hope it's alright, I know you wanted a Battlemaster for your group." Rakkan said hesitantly.

"Nah, I didn't want a battlemaster, I wanted you." Aegis replied. "Rune Knight sounds good, what sort of stuff can it do?" Aegis asked him curiously as all eyes watched Rakkan enthusiastically.

"I've seen one or two Rune Knight players on my past character, but they're really rare." Lina added excitedly.

"We learn to use special runes to power ourselves up. I've only learned one rune so far, from the ruins the quest was in. Rune: Echo." Rakkan said as suddenly a blue rune of several overlapping circles appeared on the back of his right hand, and as it did, a second copy of himself appeared beside him.

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Pyri said excitedly.

"Nice, you can copy yourself?" Darkshot looked in awe.

"Yeah, just one copy right now, gotta level it up. Apparently if I want to learn new runes, I'll have to find them scattered around the ruins of the world." Rakkan shrugged as he cancelled the spell. "Still uses weapons though, so my weapon training isn't useless. I can put the runes on weapons too." Rakkan demonstrated as he took his longsword out of his inventory. "Rune: Echo." He said, and this time the rune appeared on the base of his longsword's blade, causing a second copy of the longsword to appear in his left hand.

"It sounds like the perfect class for you." Aegis gave him a reaffirming nod.

“Yeah." Rakkan smiled proudly. "So, what’re you guys up to?” He asked.

“Aegis and Pyri wanna learn Unarmed Combat. I was just getting ready to start teaching them, like Travis taught us. What was that thing Travis told us when we were starting out?” Darkshot asked Rakkan.

“Uh, it was like… don’t forget to breath, or something? No, wait, it was like, everyone knows how to breath, but not everyone knows how to keep their balance.”

“Yeah that sounds right, something like that.” Darkshot said with a nod. Aegis and Pyri just stared blankly at the two of them.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Aegis replied.

“Whatever, not important. You gotta train your balance and stuff first, with some punches. Copy me.” Darkshot said as she demonstrated the first poses and movements Travis had shown them. Pyri and Aegis saw them do it a few times, and then repeated it a couple times themselves, and stopped.

“Ok, got it. Hit us with the next pose.” Aegis said to him expectantly, and Pyri nodded, eager to learn more.

“Nah nah nah, that’s not how it works. You have to repeat that over and over again, so your body memorizes the movement.” Darkshot stopped him.

“Yeah, that’s it, it's about memorizing stuff, so that it’s like breathing.” Rakkan nodded along.

“Are you sure these guys know what they’re talking about?” Aegis asked Lina apprehensively, and she nodded back.

“Alright.” Aegis shrugged. “If it’s going to take awhile, might as well practice on the move.” Aegis said as he started awkwardly posing and punching his way towards the exit of the training grounds, and as he did, he sent party invites to everyone. They all accepted and hesitantly followed behind him.

“Heh, that looks fun.” Pyri joined in.

“Please don’t tell me you guys are planning to walk through Kordas like that.” Darkshot said worriedly as he saw their weird pose-step-punch walking taking shape.

“Of course, we can’t waste anymore time. We gotta start leveling up as soon as possible, and I still have some stuff to finish in Kordas before I can leave.” Aegis explained as he passed through the archway between the training grounds and the streets of Kordas. He and Pyri moved side-by-side doing the awkward punching-posing-walking, causing several nearby players and NPCs on the streets to look at them funny. Darkshot and Rakkan made an effort to walk far behind them as they did this, to not be associated with them, while Lina walked in the middle.

Lina was tempted to follow along and join in, so that she could learn, but decided against embarrassing herself as she noticed a few of the players giving Aegis and Pyri judgemental stares.

“Are we martial artists now?” Pyri called back to Darkshot behind them.

“Nope… not yet…” Darkshot replied awkwardly.

“So what business you got left to do in Kordas?” Rakkan asked.

“You’ll see… but, don’t worry. It should be fun. I think.” Aegis replied with a not-so-reassuring tone.