Fractured God

“Mr. Bentley, I sincerely hope you won't beat around the bush any longer, I only have so much patience.”

“Trust me, there'll be no such thing. Follow me, though that “master” of yours won't get violent if he sees his student fail, correct?”

He looked up towards them. Their gaze was focused on a nearby sparrow that was picking through the dirt road.

“Hmm? Were you saying something?” They asked.

“Trust me, he'd rather stay at home than watch me go through your tests.”

The giant tilted their head slightly as they looked at Elizabeth.

“I wouldn't mind but if you say so Elizabeth.” He turned around and walked off.

“(With an exchange like that, I'd believe she is the master rather than that giant…)” Mr. Bentley thought as he felt the ground shake slightly with each footstep she took.

“Lead the way please, I have many things to do after I create my guild.”

Mr. Bentley began walking and the girl quickly began to follow.

“Ah, this will make a good first test.” Mr Bentley thought as he observed a tree.

He felt the green wood and nodded his head.

“What do you want me to do with that sapling?” She asked.

It was a tree sapling the height of Elizabeth and a stem the thickness of her arm. There were several of them in the area scattered about.

“(My Lord, I haven't really looked for one of these since I was a young man.) This is your first test. Slice through six of these with only a single strike. In a row, might I add.”

She walked up to the sapling and swung her blade down. It only went halfway in before getting stuck. Her eyes widened after witnessing this and she slowly pulled her blade and touched the blade.

(“Heh, good luck child. These trees secrete a certain sap to discourage predators when they're younger. It's sticky as they come and it has a particularly easy time sticking to the flat side of a blade. The finesse required to go through it isn't someth-”)

On her second attempt, she sliced clean through the sapling.

“I see, you have put less force than you might initially believe. It's much more about skill than force.” She muttered to herself as she went cleanly through another.

“(...Not bad.)”

It took her a few minutes but she eventually got it down to a tee and went through six trees in a row.

“(I suppose that last test was a bit of a one-trick pony. The type of people who'd struggle on that are the ones that have a hard time adjusting their style.) Done.”

He finished tying some stones on her.

“Are you sure this is fine? I can hold a lot more of them.”

“Trust me, this will get you cursing when you realise what you have to do.”

He got up and looked around in the forest. He kept his feet together and moved one in front of the other until he reached a nearby tree and left a mark on it. He did several more times, finally leaving a mark in six total trees.

“You're going to cut all these trees with those stones attached to your.”

“Is that all?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an hourglass.

“You're going to run back to the first tree after slicing the final one. You have to complete 20 rounds before this hourglass is finished. If not, you failed no matter how close you got. (“Everyone thinks they're bundles of energy until they try this.”) In addition, the slashes should, at least,” he looked at his hand and folded every finger of his except his thumb. “Be deeper than my thumbnail.”

Elizabeth stroked her chin while looking at the trees in the area. “How long is that hourglass used to measure?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I'm not sure, I guess we'll just have to find out.”

She clicked her tongue and pulled out her sword. “Tell me when to start.”

“3, 2, 1…”

She looked at him expectantly.

“What are you waiting for, I've already turned it upside down.”

She quickly ran off. (“Weren't going to say, “Go!” You old bastard!?”)

Again she exceeded the old man's expectations. Within five tries, she completed it, which amazed him, since if you never got it on the first three tries you'd have a rest for an hour or so before trying again.

“How many more of these do I have to do, Mr. Bentley?” She asked as wiped the sweat from her brow. She took the rocks off and sighed when she felt how sticky and wet her shirt had gotten.

“Relax, I'm putting you through some legitimate tests and besides you only have one left.”

Mr. Bentley had really started to take a shine to her. He expected her to be some stuck-up noble who did only the bare minimum, but her blood alone wouldn't have given her the skill to do what she did.

“Now, the last thing left to do is this.”

He walked to a nearby tree. It seemed especially old and sturdy compared to the others in the area.

He gave it a single blow and a few leaves fell. He sighed and flicked his fist. (“Sigh, I only count 6. Father time truly does come for us all…”)

“Are you alright, old man? Injuries don't heal as fast as they used to at your age.”

“I'm fine, thank you. For your final test to join the adventurer’s guild, you're going to land 300 consecutive blows on this tree and slice or grab every leaf that falls from the tree.”