Chapter 24: Weapon arts
By now most Cadets were done with their spars.
I spotted Shin standing near a downright terrified opponent. The wolf man downright bullied his opponent the whole time, using his halberd.
As though sensing my gaze, he turned around and tossed me a thumbs up before facing his opponent again.
I could only shake my head in response before shifting my gaze to other cadets.
Unsurprisingly, Rachel easily trounced Rowan in their spar.
’They probably finished first.’
The girl was a monster.
Varic looked victorious as well.
As for Ayo, I couldn’t really tell. She was busy chatting with a Cadet that seemed to be growing more annoyed with each passing moment.
To my surprise, it looked like Song lost her spar. She rested slumped against the wall in a manner rather uncharacteristic of my image of her.
More so, she looked very lethargic.
’Did something happen?’
One of her lackeys, a green-haired girl, knelt close by talking to her. About what? I couldn’t really tell.
’It’s none of my business anyway.’
If it was a really serious problem she’d contact me. The Song I met in the cafeteria struck me as proud, yes, but certainly not stupid.
"That’s enough."
The sound of Kaito ending the last match broke me out of my thoughts.
The man stepped down from the raised platform he’d been resting on. His voice flowed calmly as ever.
"A disappointing percentage of you are completely lacking in the most basic martial arts knowledge. Even among those in possession of such knowledge, not many are able to use it properly."
He scanned the classroom coolly.
"It’d do you well to begin practicing whatever martial arts you use or plan to use today. Your first simulation will begin this weekend, as I am sure you know. Its results will be used to finalize your initial rankings, the importance of which goes unsaid."
With that he turned away, walking towards a corner of the dojo.
"Dismissed."
The moment he reached the corner, he sat down cross-legged, hand still on his sword, closing his eyes as he fell into a meditative state.
I turned to face my side, only to find out that Maki was already gone.
’Strange girl.’
On the other hand, Shin had finally stopped terrorizing his poor opponent and was heading towards me. I stood up to meet him.
"You planning on going to the dorms now?"
I shook my head.
"Nah, I still got something to do."
The simulation was a very important event for me, more so because it decided the rankings.
Being among the top ranks gave you access to some of the very best resources like artifacts, hunter tools, and most critically heartblood.
The top ten cadets could make requests for specific monster heartblood to use for progression, and the academy would go out of their way to procure it. They’d even leave the boundaries of Bastion if necessary.
Since whatever heartblood was injected determined the abilities you’d get at the next rank, I had to be extremely careful in choosing mine.
Error was a very cheat-like concept in theory, but I could easily get shit abilities from it if I chose wrong.
For that reason it was extremely important I placed high in the simulation. Especially since the skinwalkers would start making moves afterwards.
And if I wished to have even the slightest hopes of accomplishing that, I had to at least know how to use a weapon.
Hence, I needed to lock the fuck in.
I sent Shin off first.
Reaching the door, I gave the room a final scan, when I noticed a thin trail of blood below me.
It originated from the very center of the room, where Ren had been laying at the start of the class.
’Poor guy probably dragged himself out during the class.’
I sighed, then left as well.
On one of the pathways leading a bit further away from the central spire lay a large blocky complex with stone and metallic angular facades jutting out in geometric patterns.
I stood before a door at the very front of said complex. It was quite modest compared to what I’d seen at the testing center.
There was little need to knock so I just entered.
Behind the doors was a well-furnished reception room, with two hallways leading to either side of the building and a staircase at the back leading upwards.
At the center was a large curved table, behind which a single receptionist sat.
The woman perked up at the sound of the door opening, only to visibly lose all interest the moment she saw me.
’Ouch.’
Before I could even ask anything, she pointed to the left corridor.
"Second door by the left."
I just nodded before walking off towards the side.
The academy really had a sick obsession with making things uncomfortable. The corridor I was currently walking in was easily thrice my height. The sterile white lights shining from on high didn’t make things any more homely either.
Soon enough, I was at my destination.
There was a sizable sliding door to my left. The moment I stood before it, it automatically opened, revealing a room that lay nearly empty aside from a table at the center.
The man behind it flashed me an easy smile.
"I suppose it’s that time of the year again, no. What are you waiting for? Come on in."
I let out a genuine smile at that.
Regardless of how dreary I’d made this world, there were always characters like this man.
The moment I stepped in, he continued.
"I’ll guess you haven’t used a weapon before, right?"
Pretty accurate guess there. Most nobles, even commoners, would just stick to the techniques they’d been training with before.
Those that had no martial arts knowledge were overwhelmingly orphans, or poor commoners. Rowan was such a person.
I nodded in reply. The man took it as a sign to continue.
"And you need to learn how to use one before the simulation, don’t you?"
"Yes."
The man sighed at that.
"Have any weapon you currently fancy?"
The first thing that came to mind was guns.
An idea which I quickly shot down. Mainly because of a simple reason. The academy banned its use.
It wasn’t because the management had anything against its use either. Firearms were very fine weapons, they were the primary weapons of the defense corp for a reason.
No, the main reason was because guns couldn’t leverage the force of a hunter’s stats in the same way swords, spears, or even crossbows could.
Their power depended completely on the ammunition, design, and materials. So the power exerted by it would remain static, even if the hunter climbed in ranks.
And sure, there were definitely specialized guns out there that could in fact pierce higher-ranked monsters. Unfortunately, they were crazy expensive to use as they depended on heartblood to power them.
Hence, the Academy had seen it better to cut them off outright. To prevent Cadets from relying on them too much.
Of course, there were still hunters out there that used guns. It was none of the academy’s business though.
’Hahh...’
"A crossbow?"
I was in desperate need of a ranged weapon, especially one that was easy to use and didn’t depend too heavily on my strength.
The closest I could liken to the guns were crossbows.
They didn’t take as long to train with as bows, and I could set them up before fights easily.
The man nodded.
"That’s a pretty fine choice, not sure you’ll have the strength to carry one though. Will that be all?"
I couldn’t only rely on a long-range weapon.
Regardless of how much I hated the thought, there would inevitably be times I’d be forced into close combat.
Plus, my ability only worked in close range as well, even though I was far too weak to take advantage of it.
’Not a spear, definitely not a sword either.’
It had to be something not too unwieldy, heavy, but also leave me with a bit of room to move.
"You got anything for long knives?"
The man’s brow perked at that.
"An interesting choice, but I think we do."
The man dipped his hands in one table drawer, shuffling around a bit before pulling out two glass chips and placing them in front of me.
Both looked rather plain apart from some minor detailing on the front.
"Know how to use em?"
I nodded. I remembered writing them.
’Memory chips.’
It was a secure way of sharing information. Plus any files shared using them couldn’t be shared using any other means.
I placed a finger on both, and immediately two alerts popped up before me.
[Would you like to learn ’Long knives for dummies’?]
[Y/N]
[Would you like to learn ’Crossbows for dummies’?]
[Y/N]
I agreed, and instantly the knowledge was transferred.
No, I didn’t suddenly understand how to use either of the weapons. Instead, it felt like having manuals I could easily flip through in my head.
’I’ll have to go over them this night.’
Still, it was a step in the right direction.