Master Of None

Midnight had left the forge with Onyx on her back moving towards the house. Walker could swear that Onyx had grown again while they slept at night. ”I really am going to have to make him slither everywhere himself.” Walker talked out loud to himself lamenting his loss. 

Su had set up five training dummies in the training field. Three were already broken beyond repair but the one she was facing was in line with a second. She had been practicing the shield bash skill using both shields on two separate targets.

Su pushed forwards with the pointed bottom of her shield and stabbed in to both of the training dummies together. The cracking and breaking sounds of straw and wood sounded loud and clear in tandem. She had landed her attack then pulled the shields back and put them together in to one. She then used another shield bash and charged them forcing the two dummies apart and knocking them on to the ground. 

This strategy that she had been developing looked like it would be perfectly able to break groups up and also attack multiple opponents. ”Yu must have been thinking about this a lot to get to this point.” Walker was very impressed with the skill she had using both of the shields. He almost wished that they had thought of getting her two shields the entire time she had been a member of the party. 

Su was slightly out of breath but still full of energy. ”I thought that I would need to work on coordination more, but with this new vision skill I am able to see my mistakes better, I feel like I was lost when I started but I am getting comfortable now.” 

”I think your switch to the separate and combined shield will really put out opponents off guard.” Su nodded along thinking the same thing. ”Feel like having someone real to spar with? I want to work on getting more skills with the twin blitz swords.” Walker had been itching to practice with them but in the chaos of the fire and the forging he had been too busy or tired.

Su raised her shields and readied herself without a word. She was already in the proper mindset to train and battle so it was Walker who was behind. 

He pulled out the twin blitz swords and balanced them equally in each hand. ”I can already use a cross slash but I need something to really lock down an opponent.” Walker was not sure how t do this so he instead started making up swings from different angles. 

The metallic vibration and things from his sword deflecting off the shields were the only things making sounds in the training field other than their grunts. Whenever Su saw a chance to use a shield bash she took it and pushed Walker to dodge or defend. This made him think more on his feet and adjust to really close combat. He had been way too focused on magic and was nit at his best when in close combat battle, something that could be his downfall later on. 

He started to fall in to a rhythm using his dance of the wild rabbit while slashing with the swords in turn. He had slowly picked up this strategy finding that Su had more trouble using the shield bash skill against him when he was doing this. 

’The skill blade wheel has been taken from the sword saint system. The user has learned the skill blade wheel through consistent practice. 

Blade wheel- 1 mana cost per swing 

The user utilizes their agility and dodging skills to move in a spinning rhythm. They slash down using two swords one at a time in quick succession. The longer the skill is used the faster and sharper it will get. At the twentieth strike damage is doubled.’ 

Walker’s sudden stop made Su look at him expectantly, she knew that he must have just gained a skill to stop so suddenly and look so pensive. She had already been able to memorize what the faces he made meant and to prepare herself to hear something that normally would be crazy for anyone else. 

”Hehehe, do you want to really test your shield’s new defenses?” Walker’s evil expression made Su felt that this was no longer her own training session. Walker was definitely about to take over. 

”Well I don’t see why now.” The second she said this she was greeted by the twitching in Walker’s muscles as he raised one of the twin blitz swords to attack. The first attack was no trouble for her to deflect. Not a single bit of damage crept through. The speed that Walker used was slow enough giving her the impression that he had not actually gotten a new skill but just thought of a way to get one. 

While she thought on this she saw that he was twisting and slashing with the other hand. This was still no threat and easily dealt with. However before she could think any more the other hand was coming around to slash again. She realized that she could not push forward since every time she tried to raise her foot the next slash was coming. 

Walker was focusing on the blade wheel trying to build up the damage. He was not sure what would happen when he reached the double damage of the twentieth strike but by the time he reached the seventh he was already pushing Su to take steps back. The pace became more dramatic since she had to bring the two shields together to defend instead of deflect. 

The one sided attacks continued, the fifteenth strike was enough to send Su stumbling back and completely break her stance. Walker rushed in with the sixteenth which Su narrowly blocked. The shield was definitely much stronger and really improving Su’s defensive ability. 

Walker readied the next strike but just as he brought down the slash he felt a weakness overcoming him. Su saw this too and dropped her shields to catch Walker as he stumbled, ”Hahaha I ran myself out of mana. Only one left.” 

”Well while you rest you can tell me what that was. You seemed to get stronger every time you slashed at me. I couldn’t even push forward with a shield bash.” Su was impressed because she had never felt cornered so well and wanted to find a way to counter it. 

”Blade wheel. I get stronger the more attacks in a row I do using the skill. It uses my agility so I combined it with the dance of the wild rabbit.” Walker was breathing a little heavy and took a moment to catch his breath. ”If I reached twenty consecutive strikes my damage would be doubled. I thought I could really give your shields a good test. Although I can’t even see a scratch…” Su realized she had dropped them on the ground to help Walker sit himself down. 

”Oh I’m sorry my partners. I will never throw you in the dirt like that again. Did Walker hurt you two..” Walker watched this scene and realized that Su needed to get out more. She was literally talking to the shields like they were real people. 

While Walker recovered mana and rested, Su continued on practicing. She had learned that even with two shields she was still able to be backed in to a corner. This lit a fire in her that would not be extinguished easily. By the time she was down to the last of her mana Walker was there to help her stand just like she had with him earlier. ”You know you should be saving some mana to store in to those shields now, right?” 

The look of embarrassment washed over Su’s face as she realized she had forgotten one of the biggest reasons they all had their own gear crafted. They had needed a way to combat their lack of mana. ”I was just waiting until I went to bed to use the rest of my mana.” Walker could only giggle at Su’s stubborn replay. It would seem that hanging out with Remey so often had rubbed off in her just a little. 

”Let’s go eat dinner with everyone. I am sure that will work wonders for recovering a little mana.” His words dripped with teasing but that was fine since Su didn’t have the energy to retort. 

”You’re back!” The little voice of Gale sounded through the dining room as she sprinted and attached herself to Walker. ”Show me more wind!” 

Gale let mister Walker eat first. He has been hard at work all day. I am sure of you are patient he will show you something before bed.” Gale’s mother smiled apologetically but soon found that Walker didn’t seem to mind at all. 

”Magic? You want to see some wind magic huh? Hmmm, I was thinking that I needed to practice my wind magic you know. Let me eat something and I will have just enough energy to practice with you once or twice.” Gale released his leg at this response and went to find her own seat at the dining table. 

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