Limitless Path

The third round was very much the same as the last two, with the exception that Beth specifically focused on playing defensive this time. Being reserved might not necessarily seem like the best way to improve one's skills, but she was so overmatched by this opponent that playing aggressive and forceful simply led to a quick death. She tried to observe how he attacked and moved, able to glean a few small insights before she found her heart in two pieces again. After recovering from this, her third 'death' of the day so far, she walked over to Baelvyr.

"How am I supposed to do this if my gear sucks?" she asked him.

"Whaddya mean?" he asked in response, now sitting on a bench by her half of the arena.

"Do you know what equipment he has? His sword just cuts through my armor with almost no resistance. I can't do anything to him if he can just instantly kill me like this. I could at least hurt him if my armor could take even a single damn hit," she replied while gesticulating with her left arm at where the phantom opponent stood in his circle.

"Yeah, that's a problem," he replied with a nod. "However, yer gonna encounter this shit a lot. Yer gonna fight people with way better than ya got, and ya gotta find ways to make up the difference. This ain't always gonna be the case, but I don’t want ya being surprised when it starts happenin' to ya in the arena and ya try to kick up a ruckus about it with the officials or somethin'."

"So, what, I'm just supposed to get my ass beat and be happy about it?" she asked, crossing her arms just under her moderately sized breasts.

"In essence, yeah," he said with a wicked grin. "This is life, girlie. It ain't fair and there ain't any shortcuts. Ya wanna be in the reverse position, able to beat people down even usin' just a wooden stick or yer bare hands? Then ya gotta go through the sufferin' now to get the strength later. Do a couple more rounds and then we'll go over what ya've done so far."

With a dissatisfied grunt, she made her way back to her circle in the arena floor, preparing for more of the mostly one-sided beatings. She got in a ready stance, signaling her readiness to Baelvyr as he did the checks before watching her opponent closely as the timer counted down. She stayed in place when the match started, letting the swordsman charge her with his blade extended to the side. He swept the blade in a horizontal slash as soon as he drew close, Beth deflecting it with a chopping motion of her sword.

The fight lasted longer the fourth time than any of her other previous attempts. It took the simulacrum more than two minutes to deal her a killing blow, Beth still frustrated by the fact that her armor seemed little defense against the swordsman's extremely sharp blade. She needed to win the fight based on her attributes and skills, and both of those were clearly lacking in comparison to her opponent.

The only thing she was able to do was fight, fight, and fight some more. She needed to try to get her weapon skills to the Journeyman level, the equivalent of combat skills being at Silver. She resumed her place in her starter's circle again, ready for the fifth match as she thought about what she had done wrong in the last match. Fighting defensively had done better for her than trying to be aggressive, but she was having to spend too much time counterstriking. She needed to try to step away from or around his swings, rather than having to knock his blade away constantly.

While the simulacrum was faster than her by a decent margin, its strength seemed to only be around the same level as her. She could probably overwhelm the man if she used one of her skills, but she couldn't land any kind of real punch or kick, so she basically couldn't use Crush. She was even worse with her sword, and she doubted that using Monstrous Blow to swat away his sword would really accomplish much. She signaled to Baelvyr when he checked for readiness, still thinking about what she could do to fight better.

The next fight was much the same as the one just previous, with Beth defending while observing the swordsman's movements. She was really trying to pick out any little thing from his style and movements that she could learn from to improve her own fighting. She had trouble in watching him and learning from what he was doing, but she felt she was gaining a little understanding from fighting him.

Every time she engaged with the swordsman, she tried to swing faster, but realized after a time that that wasn't really working. Speed wasn't going to make up the difference, so she was struggling to figure out how to improve. She attempted strength at some point, but slamming her sword infused with Monstrous Blow into the man's sword proved a rather poor idea. He made use of her momentum to riposte, skewering her near instantly.

After several failed attempts, she took a break to get some nutrients and quite a bit of water put away. Once she was refreshed, she sat by Baelvyr to take a rest. That, and to listen to his coaching on what she was doing right, and all the things she had been doing wrong.

"So, what am I doing wrong here? Teach me," Beth said to him.

"Alright, let me lay it out for ya, girlie," he replied. "Ya can only go so far in increasing yer speed and power. It's important, don't get me wrong, but ya got a lot of other areas ya gotta work on as well. Efficiency is king for ya right now."

"Efficiency?" asked Beth. "What do you mean by that?"

"Keep yer cool, I'm getting there," he answered gruffly. "So, swingin' faster and harder isn't workin' for ya. What ya need to focus on is efficiency now. That's gonna be yer next step to advance; what is gonna help ya get to the top of Apprentice and over the hump into Journeyman. And that's gonna be true for yer other skills as well; focusin' on efficiency is gonna get ya through Silver and up to near Gold.

"So, whadda I mean by efficiency? Let me talk about timing for a minute here. When yer dodgin' the enemy, ya gotta focus on stepping back the exact instant ya need to so ya avoid the opponent's weapon, and ya gotta step back the exact amount ya need to. This applies to everything ya do. This is why I was hammerin' on ya about yer movement and focusing so much on yer footwork. Basically, everything ya do originates with yer footwork and movement.

"And it doesn't matter that ya don't have any kind of movement ability or technique yet, this is still true for ya. Ya gotta focus on being more precise in movin', understandin' what the opponent is doin' and reacting at the last moment, and movin' just enough to avoid danger without getting out of position for yer follow-up. If ya move just enough that the swordsman's blade just dances across yer armor, that's where yer bein' the most efficient."

"So, you're talking about moving insanely precisely in the middle of a fight? Like, you want me to work on my movement a ton to make sure I'm not wasting energy?" she asked.

"Not just that," he replied. "Wastin' energy isn't really that big of a problem. What I'm really talkin' about is timing and positioning. At yer level, better movement is gonna get ya an advantage over the opponents who are sloppy in their movement, or it's gonna massively minimize the disadvantage when yer getting attacked. The better yer movement is, the better yer gonna do against everyone, from arena fights, to beast clearing, to special trials.

"And it doesn't just apply to yer footwork, either. It's also relevant with yer sword, yer fists, and yer feet. When yer attackin', swinging at just the right time, with no excessive movement, and stoppin' the strike at just the right time will take ya up to the next level. That's what ya need to focus on for Journeyman for both yer weapon skills right now. It's why I just keep tellin' ya that movement is key.

"It works the same with yer other skills. Moving the right way, at the right time, hittin' the enemy at just the right place, usin' just the right amount of force. It's not quite as important with some skills to get into Silver, that's more gonna rely on ya growin' stronger overall and getting enough mana to handle the upgrade. It will be more important in Silver, allowin' ya to move through the ranks and get up to the edge of Gold, though that's a way away."

"I sorta get what you're saying, but it sounds really difficult. How am I supposed to move just enough to not get hit? Especially against that guy? He's faster and more skilled, I can't just suddenly fight better," Beth replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

Baelvyr looked over at her with a massive grin on his face, arms crossed over his huge gut. "Practice," he said with a clear hint of schadenfreude.

Beth, arms still crossed, frowned at this. "I can't really tell if you're joking or not. I just have to fight until I’m better? Aren't you supposed to, like, coach me?"

"Ya act like I ain't been doin' anything. Ya could always try to find someone else with the skills and experience I got, but I don't think yer gonna have much luck there, girlie," he replied, laconically waving one arm as he continued grinning.

Beth stood up from the bench and rolled her shoulders before cracking her neck, getting ready for a long afternoon of battle. She moved back into the arena and took her place in the contestant's circle, bouncing a little on her toes to loosen up her legs. She assumed a ready stance with her sword held in both hands, blade angled up and to the left, waiting for the swordsman to appear and the next match to start.

She suddenly had a thought and shouted over to Baelvyr, "Hey, these aren't being counted, right? I'm not getting a bunch of losses for this?"

"Ahahaha, no girlie," his laughter boomed in response. "Practice dueling like this doesn't count for anythin'."

"Good. I didn't want to start my arena career oh and a hundred," she replied with a small sigh, half-closing her eyes for a moment.

"Oh and a million, at yer current rate," Baelvyr muttered to the side, Beth continuing to wait with her eyes nearly closed, though an eyebrow did twitch slightly.

When she fully opened her eyes again, Baelvyr was already signaling the contestants for the start of the next match. Beth signaled her readiness when it was her turn before turning her eyes to the simulacrum, waiting for his opening mad dash charge. She didn't have long to wait, the phantom combatant rushing towards her like a bat out of hell a moment later.

Beth really tried to apply the sorts of things Baelvyr had been talking about to her fighting, but it was definitely a new kind of struggle. She felt like she was dragging a truck uphill with the brakes locked on, every change she tried to make during the fight leading to a nasty wound or grisly death. She was persistent with it, but she was beyond certain it was the most difficult thing she had ever done.

Trying to adapt to fighting smarter and more efficiently was one thing, trying to do it against a powerful opponent was certainly another. It totally seemed to her like being thrown into the deep end headfirst, and she felt like she was in a maelstrom of blades as she was sliced apart match after match. This went on for hours, Beth losing all track of time as she was almost constantly under the relentless assault of the silver blade of her opponent.

She suffered yet another 'death' as she mistimed a swing against the man, who deflected her strike with a swing of his own that flowed through the deflection and into an attack, embedding the blade in her throat. Beth staggered back a step, coughing a little before recovering from the shock, already much more adapted than at the start of the day. She leaped back to her circle, ready for another round, but frowned and scrunched her brows as the opponent faded and didn't reappear.

"That's enough for today, girlie," Baelvyr said, standing up from where he had been observing on the bench. "Let me give ya a couple pointers, then I'm done for the day."

Beth walked over to where he was, accepting an unopened water bottle he handed her. She drained the thing in record time as he started his review.

"So first off, let me say ya did better as the afternoon went on. Ya may have gotten used to really fast progress because that's how it always goes through Copper and Apprentice, but now it's gonna take time and effort to advance. So don't be down that you don't jump ranks in a day or a week or even a month.

"Secondly, it's pretty clear yer right-handed. Ya swing from the right far more than the left, and ya favor moving to yer right far more than to the left. These are very obvious patterns that even smarter beasts can notice, let alone the kind of people yer gonna face in the arena. Again, the way yer gonna overcome this is practicing, workin' on attacking more from yer non-dominant side while fighting. Even just practicing swingin' yer blade alone and thinkin' about it will help.

"Lastly, ya need to work on yer aggression. It's difficult against a superior opponent that's capable of critical thinkin', but ya need to fight defensively. If yer getting overwhelmed, then ya gotta watch what the enemies are doin' and learn. Attackin' more or harder ain't gonna do nothin' but put ya into disadvantage, which leads to ya takin' wounds and eventually dying. Overcomin' the fear and the frustration at bein' on the back foot is critical to be able to fight stronger opponents and come out on top or just hold yer own."

"What's the best way to practice? Should I keep fighting in dungeons? Fight in the arena? What should I do?" Beth asked after listening to his instruction.

"Yeah, do it all. Work on fightin' beasts in the dungeons, work on trainin' with me and the others, and practice fightin' in the arena. Ya ain't ready for the real thing yet, but ya are ready for this training mode. I've given ya permission to activate this mode and four different opponents that yer authorized to fight. If I ain't around at some point and ya want to practice, ya can come in here and do it. Won't be any big fights in here for a couple years likely, so train when ya want," he replied before giving her a nod and walking off.