Nightfall

Chapter 19: A Friendly Competition

The next day's classes were as boring as they had been the day before. Sitting quietly and studying had never been a strong suit of mine, but the classes here pushed my limits to an entirely different level, and by the time of day in which I hiked back out to the central courtyard, I was dying to get up and stretch my legs. When I realized that even in my combat training class I would be sitting down, I couldn't help but groan and sigh, earning me a strong reprimanding from both the Proctor and Ryan.

The start of the lecture over swordsmanship was similar to the day before, however the recap was kept short and sweet. I could tell that the Paladin Proctor teaching us was not one for drawing things out. After the short, two minute recap of the hour long lecture he started, "Alright, one more day of initial information. Tomorrow we will begin combat training."

It was a relief to hear him say that, but that still meant I had to make through one more class of long, mentally intensive lectures.

"Since you all made it through the lecture yesterday you will be pleased to know that today's won't be quite as bad. The rest of the information you need to know is relatively simple to understand once you can comprehend the way your weapon pairs with your soul. And we all understand that from yesterday's lesson, correct?"

Everyone sat in complete silence.

The Paladin chuckled lightly, "Well, you'll understand it soon enough. Now, the second piece of information you will need to know is that the weapon you now own is strengthened by your spirit. The metal it is made of grows sharper and stronger as you yourself do. If your blade ever breaks during a battle I suggest that you retreat under any circumstances because your foes soul is much more powerful than your own."

Nods went through the crowd as the point sank in, and the Proctor continued, "I will come back to all of the points I present to you today after a brief explanation in order to fully explain as I did yesterday. So pay attention."

The nods stopped and turned into groans of despair. That is, with the exception of Ryan. He seemed almost happy to hear this and smiled "Good, maybe this year I'll finally understand all of this."

"The third piece of information you should know is that along with the ability to change forms each of your weapons possesses an ability. Think of your sword as a separate being, unable to do anything without your power, and the ability it possesses is sort of like its gift. Although, technically, its gift is actually magic."

"The ability it has could be anything, but like the rest of its attributes, the ability it possesses is typically something that goes along with your gifts. For example, a water type Paladin may have a sword that turns into a large sea serpent on command."

"That sounds freaking awesome." I whispered to Ryan.

"I've seen cooler ones."

"Really? Like w-"

"Pay attention!" the Proctor cut in.

We apologized and went back to listening to his lecture, "Now, lastly, as I previously mentioned your weapons have their own personalities. They aren't completely their own beings, but they do possess part of your soul. So, it is important to know that any of the information I have provided you with may need to be adopted in order to suit your weapon. Now, let's go into detail on the second point..."

From there the lecture began to slide into the lengthy specifics that dealt with what we had just been told. Ryan helped me through the hardest points, but by the end of it I was as mentally exhausted as the day before. Thankfully the tune of class changed dramatically the following day.