Chapter 12 - 9

Kaori

"You're all set?" Kaori's father asked. She had just finished putting on her shoes. She made sure that her clothes didn't have any dirt on them as she nodded.

"Yeah!" She answered back excitedly. Her mother came around from her room.

"You forgot your water bottle!"

"Oh, shoot." Kaori ran over and grabbed them. "My bad."

"Feel free to slow down, okay?" Her father asked and Kaori nodded.

"Yeah, yeah." Kaori threw her bag over her back, holding onto a black strap as her mother passed her a ceramic cup of coffee. "Thanks!" She drank it all in less than ten seconds, leaned in and kissed her mother on the cheek, and then did the same with her father. "Gotta go, bye!"

"Have fun, sweetie." Her mother said as her father simply smiled proudly.

As Kaori ran out the door, she had the sudden realization that she simply couldn't love her life any more than she already did. As she stepped out onto the stone streets, her neighbors all grinned and waved at her.

"Hi!" She waved back at each of them. Kaori was an eighteen-year-old girl of average height with hopeful blue eyes and short blonde hair tied into a ponytail that reached just below her shoulders. She tried to exercise as often as she could, so her physique was fairly toned and her fingertips had callouses she liked to think of as signs of her dedication.

Level 1

MP: 10/10

Attributes

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 1

Wisdom: 1

Luck: 100

Traits

Firm

?

?

She ran a few miles every day and, occasionally, she'd do bodyweight exercises that had slowly gotten her Strength and Dexterity up to 3 over the years. Whenever she looked at her Luck stat, it always brought a smile to her face. She knew she was lucky, she didn't need a stat to tell her.

She'd been born with loving parents, a community that was proud of her, and enough natural wit to place among the highest grade scores in her university. However, she tried to remind herself that Lumina, the goddess of Love, Peace, and Empathy, who she worshipped, would want her to give back to her community. So, as she walked by a few homeless people, she dropped a crown or two into each one of their cups.

Her university was fairly close by. It was a tall, regal building made mostly of wood. Golden gates held the rest of the city at bay, open gates which Kaori passed through with a sense of eagerness. Other students who were just arriving all greeted her.

"Oh, shit. It's her." Kaori heard a girl whisper somewhere behind her, but she ignored it. "Sira."

"Look, she's so cool!" Another one replied and Kaori held back a giggle.

Humility was great, but she figured these little ego boosts couldn't hurt every now and then. So, she put just a little bit more confidence into her stride as she made her way into the building. Once there, she bumped into a teacher.

"Oh, sorry Mrs. Aeko."

"Ah, Kaori. It's no issue." The teacher replied. "Did you do the assignments?"

"Yep!" Kaori nodded.

"Did you hear?" A student said to someone else, passing them by. Kaori just barely heard him. "Another demon attack happened north."

As the teacher told Kaori something, the girl sighed. She couldn't help but wonder if maybe she'd taken up too much luck and that, somehow, the rest of the world was suffering for it.

Every day, she heard stories about how demons were raiding villages or attacking travelers. Sometimes, she'd even see injured soldiers arrive into the different churches placed around Jade, seeking aid for cursed wounds. It tore Kaori's heart apart.

If there were something I could do. She would think sometimes. I'd love to help people.

After she finished speaking with her teacher, she walked into her classroom and sat at the front, as she usually did. Once here, she took out a small set of papers and a pencil and waited. The class started shortly after and, although she made sure to pay just enough attention to answer questions when prompted to, she found her focus hard to maintain. She imagined them, the warriors bravely fighting the demons out there. How they laid their lives down so that people like Kaori could have the peace she enjoyed.

They're amazing, really. She thought. The honor, the bravery. A lot of them probably deserve statues or something.

She couldn't do much like that. The only time she'd saved anyone was a very long time ago. When she was just about 14.

It had been a snowy day when winter had settled in and most people were keeping their doors shut. Kaori was walking home from work, as of course, she'd started working at age 13 as a maid for an inn, and she found an old man collapsed on the street. A younger Kaori gasped and ran up to him.

"S-Sir?" She tapped his shoulder. Even in that terrible weather, the poor man was almost naked. Kaori shook him, trying to see if the worst had happened. Remarkably, he took a small breath and that let Kaori know he was still kicking. "Come on, get up!"

It had taken all of her strength, but she managed to pull him up and get him standing. His skin had turned purple from the cold.

Status Effect: Frostbite

If this person does not find warmth soon they will die.

"I'll take that as a challenge, then," Kaori muttered.

Once the man realized someone was trying to carry him, he placed his bare feet on the snow and tried to stand.

"L-Leave me." He said. "I'm doomed."

"Oh no, you're not." She shook her head. "Come on, I know a place."

She turned around and dragged him to the inn where she'd just come from. It took fifteen minutes of using up more strength than she had in a while, but eventually, she was able to get him to safety.

"Miss Kokora!" She called out to her boss. "This man needs help!"

After a quick search for some blankets and a candle, they were able to save that man's life.

It was one of Kaori's proudest memories, but she knew it didn't come close to what others were currently doing.

A while into the class though, something happened. The door opened suddenly and two priests walked in. Kaori straightened her back, wondering what was going on. One was old, the other far younger. The old man had his hands behind his back. Kaori hadn't noticed it, but there was some sort of light shining onto her, passing through a wall. He cleared his throat.

"Greetings, students." He said. "I apologize for the interruption, but, I have an announcement to make."

"Oh?" The teacher said. "What is it?"

He gestured for Kaori to stand up.

What?

"You, what is your name?"

"K-Kaori." She replied.

"Ah, Kaori. I believe it is a name that means, 'bright', no?" Kaori nodded. "Heh. Well, it was given to you for good reason. Ahem, Kaori." He looked into her eyes. "You have been chosen to become the next Savior."

And, just like that, Kaori's prayers had been answered. She had studied them more than enough. She knew quite well who the Saviors were, and that, since these priests were here, this was no prank, no ruse. Still, she couldn't believe it. She laughed nervously as the other students started to whisper amongst each other.

"W-What?" She asked.

"It is true." He took on a fatherly smile and walked up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come, I will explain everything."

Kaori nodded.

"Of course."

And the priest grinned.

---

Ash

"Yeah, agh, this, agh, isn't, agh, tedious at all, agh!"

Ash was currently chopping wood behind the house. As the wood split, she placed the next log up on a stump for her to hack away at. After her first attunement session, she decided to work on her attributes first before she went to train with Keiko. So, she had been cutting wood for a fairly long time. And it was at this point that she'd earned her first point in Strength.

Strength Increased!

Strength: 3

Then, another message popped up.

Trait Unlocked!

Huh?

Quick Learner

Due to the Chosen trait, proficiency, attunement, and attribute EXP is increased by 100%.

Oh. Ash wiped away some sweat just under her horns. So, I only have this trait because of the Chosen trait? Nice. I guess it was just waiting till I did something for it to trigger.

Ash took a few deep breaths. This was hard work, but after the fight against the goblin, she understood that it was necessary. She had no intention of going through that much trouble just to kill such a small-fry creature again.

Does the trait start working now? Was it working already? Whatever, let's keep going.

She was at it for a little longer and her Strength went up again.

Strength Increased!

Strength: 4

Guess that's a yes to that. Should I just keep going? But, as she went for the same amount of time, she found that her Strength didn't go up to 5. Gets slower the higher I go, even with the Quick Learner trait. Okay. Maybe it's time to switch. She let the axe fall and walked back into the house.

Once again, the mud beneath her boots dirtied the floor.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, I just cleaned it," Satsuhiro said, standing up and walking over to it.

"Oh!" Metsumi grinned as Ash walked in. "COME! You have to try this out!"

"What?" Ash asked as she looked at the kitchen table and found some strange-looking food on a plate.

"I want you to tell me how this tastes," Metsumi said. Ash looked around and saw that the others were also eating it.

"Uh, what exactly is it?"

"Nevermind the ingredients, dear, just tell me how it tastes!" She slid the plate closer to her.

"Honey, they're here to work, not to be your test subjects," Satsuhiro said as he cleaned the floor.

"Shut it!" Metsumi barked back. "Now, go ahead."

Ash took a moment to look at the others. Keiko was eating away at the contents of her plate quietly, but Metsumi and Satsuhiro's daughter was staring at the meal with disgust.

"Hm. Sure." Ash shrugged.

The food looked like some strangely cooked chicken with a white sauce on it and some lettuce. Uh, okay. Can't be the worst thing I've had.

She took a bite and immediately regretted it.

"Um..." She started. "What the hell is that sauce?"

"It's a secret~" Metsumi winked. It tasted vaguely like milk.

"It's..." Realizing she was currently a guest, she caught the words she was about to say in her mouth and said, "it's fine."

"What!?" Metsumi looked offended. "Just 'fine'!?"

"A-ny-way." Satsuhiro said as Metsumi scoffed and turned around to wash some plates, "how'd the training go?"

"Hey," she addressed him. "You have the Quick Learner trait too, right?"

"Hm? Yes." Satsuhiro nodded.

"So how much time would it take to reach, I don't know, 30 Strength or something?"

"Well, the way attributes, and really most mechanics, work is that there are certain benchmarks."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that every 10 points, gaining EXP for an attribute becomes harder. You can consider the first 10 levels to be 'beginner levels' basically, and as such, you gain them exceptionally fast. After that, even with the Quick Learner trait we Saviors have, gaining the next 10 becomes far more difficult than the first 10. Then the next 10 after that, and the next 10 after that, and so on, until you reach 100, which is the maximum number of points you can dump in an attribute. So, to answer your question, if you wanted to reach 30 Strength, you could get the first 10 points probably this week, but the other 20 would be far harder to acquire. You get the point, right?"

"Yeah. Think so. Keiko," she turned, "can we train now?"

"Of course." Her voice sounded monotone, but she agreed. "Which weapon do you want to train in first?"

"Uh, well I had swords in mind, but which do you recommend?" Ash asked.

"Swords are famously reliable, yes."

"Swords then," Ash said and Keiko nodded.

"Alright. Could..." Her head tilted down. "Could you guide me to the field? I haven't memorized the layout of this farm yet."

"Sure." Ash didn't mind. She let Keiko hold onto a piece of her armor as she walked out. They emerged onto the empty field of tilled soil and Ash let her know they were there. "Okay, so what now?"

"Now you learn the basic strikes," Keiko said. Her unmotivated voice was honestly starting to get to Ash. It was one thing for her to be insulting Ash as everyone else did, but this was different. Sometimes, she sounded like just being around Ash made her more sad than angry. It was a kind of sentiment Ash rarely ran into.

Still, she transformed Lust and waited.

"This is a Form 1 stance," Keiko said. "There are 3 forms, for each weapon. They're all categorized the same, named after the martial artists who popularized them. This form, the most basic, is called the Sugeto form." She tapped her foot on the dirt. "One foot slightly out to the front, one slightly to the back. Hands kept low, blade kept in front of you. It's the most defensive form, which makes it the go-to for beginners."

"Okay."

Sword.

She said and Lust transformed.

"Now, blocking."

Everything they went over was stuff Ash would love to say was obvious, but couldn't, since she still remembered how her fight with the goblin went. As basic as this all seemed now, she had applied absolutely none of this when she fought.

Keiko stressed that establishing a good defense was far more important than a good offense for an amateur. Offense was as simple as "stab them with the pointy end", but a good defense was far more complicated. Parries, hard blocks, momentum blocks. Each one had a time and a place, and knowing when to use them was what separated the good warriors from the bad.

"A parry is when you push against an attack with either your weapon or a shield. Come at me, I'll show you."

Ash scratched her head.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "You're uh, not gonna be able to see it coming."

"Just do it." Keiko calmly replied and Ash nodded.

"Okay then."

Ash raised her sword and walked up. She slashed down with a vertical strike, ready to berate Keiko for making her do this when the attack inevitably cut her shoulder off. But, instead, Keiko walked into Ash's space and raised her own sword, pushing against Ash's blade. The move made Ash's sword recoil and go back to its raised position.

Keiko placed the edge of her sword against Ash's torso, and Ash felt cold steel touch her abs.

"That is a parry. It is probably the most complicated form of defense." Keiko explained. "It might look like I overpowered you, but it was the precision of my deflection that made the difference. Therefore, the higher your Dexterity stat is, the more likely you are to succeed at this sort of thing. If you get it right, it can leave an enemy open for an attack."

"How did you do that?" Ash asked, baffled. "Like, how did you know where my sword was?

"I could feel the wind as you approached, and I heard the blade slice through the air from above. Of course, at the end of the day I have to guess where your weapon is, but I do have means to make that easier." She replied simply. "Now, hard blocks."

A hard block was when a combatant attempted to stop an enemy's momentum as a whole, usually by pushing back against the attack and propelling the enemy's energy back to them.

A momentum block was by far the most common and simply meant that one would deflect an attack without stopping the enemy's momentum, however, if an enemy was too strong, they could break through your attack.

"Learn these," Keiko said. "They apply to most weapons. Spears, axes, glaives. It doesn't matter."

"Huh. That's a bit more complicated than I thought it would be." Ash then thought of something.

Level 1

MP: 100/100

"Remember," Keiko said, "try not to overexert yourself. Even if you have a stats advantage over your opponent, a fight can be decided by who gets tired first. If your arms feel too heavy to swing your sword, it doesn't matter if your Strength is 10 or 100."

Something then appeared in front of Ash.

Proficiency: Sword

Level 1 of 10 acquired!

Successfully executing an advanced technique, such as parrying, will increase your proficiency faster than normal.

Okay. Ash straightened up. Seems straightforward enough. So, taking this into account and what Keiko said, as long as I work on my Proficiencies, I should be okay. Understood.

"We should keep going," Ash said and Keiko nodded.

"Sure. Take your Sugeto form." Keiko instructed and Ash took the stance up, pushing her left leg out, putting her hands down, and keeping the blade in front of her.

"Done."

"Now, you will practice simple momentum blocking. I will come at you with strikes. Don't try to stop my momentum, just go with it. Step backward if you need to. Let my sword and body guide yours."

"Uh, sure," Ash replied.

"Alright. Now!"

---

By the time Ash decided she'd done enough training, an hour had passed and they were able to get Ash's proficiency with swords up to level 3.

"Fuck, fuck that's hard." She dry-heaved as Metsumi passed her a glass of cold water. "I didn't think defense was so complicated."

"Whether with weapons or with magic," Satsuhiro said from the nearby table. "Defense is always complicated, as it should be. It saves lives after all."

"Gotcha." Ash wiped away sweat and walked up to Satsuhiro. "So, what should I be doing?"

"I would say that leveling up is your top priority." He stated. "As soon as your missions start coming in, even if they're beginner-level, you might encounter level 10, maybe even level 15 creatures. Not just that, but, depending on where you are, you might outrank even some guards. Not in terms of levels, but authority."

"Wait, what?" Ash asked and Satsuhiro nodded.

"Yes." He continued. "Saviors, thanks to how powerful the Church of Magia is right now across Nova, outrank even a lot of officials. A basic guard on the street shouldn't ever bother you unless you do something terrible. That means that sometimes, people will look to you for answers when shit goes wrong. And you need to be powerful enough to give orders. Going back to the monsters, right now, you don't stand a chance against most enemies." He pointed out the door that led to the field of dirt. "Get your proficiency up, then go out for an hour, fight more and come back. All of your focus should be on the forest and on mastering your weapons until we can get you attuned. Once we get you attuned, we can add spells into your training regimen. We'll do some attunements every day, of course, but those are your top things to focus on."

"Okay." Ash turned around. Glancing down at Lust, she nodded. "Keiko, can we keep going?"

"Mhm."

"Alright. Let's do this."