Chapter 14: Solitary Dragon(1)
As the bell rang, we went and took our tray to the area near the lunch counter, where all the used trays and dishes were being transferred to an inner area of the canteen to presumably be cleaned
As I put down my tray, I saw it being lifted along with the others and taken through a tunnel that was pitch black
And I assumed the other side of the tunnel led to the cleaning area powered by water magic and will also be cleaned by the same water magic used to power it
We then left the canteen with a group of students who were also heading to do their own thing during the second half of the day
As we walked out, the others in our group were also discussing what did they want to do after lunch
It seems none of them was planning to go to their Class course except for me and Aika, which was actually a good thing for me since I will at least know someone in that lesson and would have a training partner
Although she is definitely going to demolish me in terms of being a Lancer
Schild and Nozomu were the first to break off from the group because they went to the practice hall where I met Schild, to have a spar
The hall was located right on the left of the main school hall so they broke off pretty early
It seems the rest were planning on going back to the classroom in order to have the Applied Knowledge lessons
Once we reached the forked path in the left wing, Yuuna continued downwards to the library
“Seeya later”
“Good luck in your lessons, I will hopefully find the thing you are looking for”
I waved to Yuuna as the rest of us continued upwards to our classroom
And after a while, we reached our classroom and everyone other than me entered the classroom
Even Aika
I was confused at first when she told me to wait outside as she took her weapon out of the classroom
No wonder it felt like something was missing earlier
After a minute she came out of the classroom holding a large bag that I remember seeing before and we continued upwards towards the classroom for the Lancers
We reached the classroom just after a few seconds
And as Aika was about to open the door
“Don't be shocked by what you see inside”
I was bracing myself to see something weird like the eerie teacher from the Assassin course
She fully opened the door and we walked inside
It was empty
Well not fully empty because there was obviously the chairs and the teacher's desk, and also obviously the blackboard for writing
But that was it
Which was the weirdest part
I thought it was supposed to be lessons
There being no other students is not anything weird since there might not be any other Lancer student in this year
But there being no teacher either means that the same eerie teacher thing is happening here as well or the school did not find a teacher for the course
Despite what they said earlier while looking at Aika about not to skip lessons even if they are much stronger than the average person of their Class type
It would have been very ironic if they did not have a teacher to hold the class after all that homeroom teacher had said
But after jumping to my own conclusion, I asked Aika about the situation that is happening currently
“So, what is going on here?
Is there no teacher at all or did they just hide away like the eerie teacher from the other class”
“You are right, it seems that the teacher that was originally applied to be stationed here has been transferred out due to the demand for Lancers in the field and they could not find another teacher to substitute for the busy teacher
So, I am just here alone for my lessons.
And what do you mean by an eerie teacher?”
I explained what happened during my prior lesson
She was surprised as she heard me recount the whole incident
“That seemed like quite an experience huh”
“Yeah, it was and I am still creeped out till now”
She then put down her bag and took out two different poles with different lengths
“So, let's get started, shall we?
Since there is no teacher then I guess I will be the one teaching “
I nodded
“Where do you want me to start?”
“From wherever you feel comfortable, even form the beginning if you are fine with it”
“Alright then let's get started with the difference in the weapons that our class uses”
She first put down the longer pole and brought my attention to the shorter one she was holding
“So there are three different weapons that us lancers, our any classes that use lances utilize
Although everyone refers to it as a lance, they are fundamentally quite different
This one I am holding is something that is usually used in ranged battles, and people usually carry multiple units of it in case they are not able to recover them in time, but there are some variations that have an enchant that brings them back to their owner once it reaches a certain distance or if the own evokes the spell
This is what we call a javelin, it is much shorter and lighter than the other types of lances
They are also sharp on both ends but only one side has its metal uncovered, with the other side being covered with either cloth or other material depending on the quality
This is to prevent the user from accidentally scraping the metal side on the ground which would damage the effectiveness of the javelin
And to prevent them from using the wrong side to attack the enemy”
She threw it and it stuck to the wall at the end of the classroom
She then said something and it returned to her hand
Those must be one of the enchanted javelins she talked about
“Although I said it is usually used for long-range battles, it does not mean people do not use it for close-quarters combat”
She then swung the javelin with two hands like a Bo staff, occasionally doing thrusts with the javelin
And in one of her thrusts, she let go of the javelin as it was being thrust forward and then grabbed ahold of it as soon as her hand reached the end of the javelin
Which allowed her to increase the attack range of her thrust and allowed her to make sure that it does not fly off by grabbing ahold of its covered end
“Because javelins are much lighter compared to other spears or lances, people can also try to do the manoeuvre that I did earlier since it is going to be easier to gain back control of the javelin by holding onto the back end of it once you
And this can also allow you to compensate for the lack of attack distance if you are fighting someone in close range, such as another lancer user who is using a longer lance
Although my best advice would obviously be to not fight a melee battle against someone with a longer lance if you do not have the ability to close the distance or if your attack range is much shorter than theirs”
I nodded as I put these lessons down in my brain
Shen then put down the javelin and picked up the other weapon which was much longer in length and held it with two hands
“Now this is what we call a spear which is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head
Although in my case I don’t know if I should call the shaft of this spear a bone or wood, since it is made from the Ents that are found in the Moving Forest near the border of our country
But I guess wood should be an apt term since they are technically trees”
She then gestured towards the pointed head of the weapon
“The metal here is usually the deciding factor for the pricing of the weapon, for example, common metals such as iron means that the weapon would be cheap and easy to find in most stores
While materials such as silver make it a bit rarer to find since it is a rarer metal and has various monsters that have weaknesses to it
And of course, we cannot forget about the legendary mithril, which is so rare that people would not believe it existed at all if we did not know that the existence of several mithril weapons that are in the hands of the head of states in various countries
But many people believe that there are not any more mithril underground anymore, since the end of the mithril age which lead to the overconsumption and loss of mithril due to the experiments done by the people in the past
But if we are talking about the most expensive spears that we can find in the markets it would probably be the gold spears or decorative spears that are often bought by the nobilities or rich families in various areas
They pretty much do not have any attack power and even their durability might be lacking compared to the high-level iron spears
But it still has a high demand among the rich and nobility due to design and the symbol of status that it provides”
“Modern spears these days also have the option of switching the spearheads in order to account for different situations
Either by having heads made of different materials or made in assorted designs such as two- or three-pronged spearheads”
She then said something under her breath and the tip of her spear shined slightly and came off
“Back when this design was first released, although it was quite convenient, it was also quite risky to use since the locking mechanism at first was not as good as the one we have now
This led to some magical engineers to think of using magic as a locking mechanism, which worked perfectly
But also made it so that people with no mana and magical abilities cannot use these new improvements
So, it was quite awkward the first time it was announced to the public
But luckily the locking mechanisms for non-magic-based spears are also improving, although it is obviously not going to be as convenient as the ones that utilize magic”
She then utters words under her breath again and the spears connected back in to one
“The thing I said earlier about the materials causing the price difference of the spears also applies to javelins
Although, javelins are much cheaper but less durable compared to spears, and stores usually sell them in bundles or pairs
So, you can think of getting some if you really want to get used to using them or want to use them as main ranged weaponry”
She held the spear with two hands and did some thrusting motions
“You can either use both your hands when trying to stab an enemy or”
She then did the prior thrusting motion by holding the spear with just one hand
“Or you can just hold it with one hand, if you like to keep your other hand free or are holding something else, but this depends on your arm strength so do not try this recklessly”
“And of course, you can try to use it to slash and use the blunt end to attack your opponent as well”
She then proceeded to set an example by performing more moves
“And now that we are done with the two important variations, the last one is a lance that is supposed to be our namesake, but we do not use it all since we Lancers are light infantry based Class
And lances are actually used by horseback Cavaliers or Armored Knights
They are mainly used for charging thrust either on horseback or on foot and due to them being much heavier compared to the prior mentioned weapons types, they can cause quite a bit of damage if utilized well
There are even some cases of lances being used to break down barricades
Bu their main weakness comes from being too heavy to be used by someone with low amount of strength and even if you have the strength to utilize, it is a much slower weapon compared to a spear and javelin
So, we lancer do not use it a lot despite it being what gives us our Class name”
She explained as she drew a Lance on the blackboard
Nice drawing that is for sure
“Although, those were the common ways to use each weapon, the way a Lancer fights ultimately depends on how they feel comfortable with and what they excel at
Now let us move on to the next step
Regarding skills that are usually used by Lancers
The best way is to teach you directly, can you summon your weapon?”
I nodded and said aloud
“Pierce through the darkness and lead me to the promised land, RHONGOMIANT”
As a bright yellow orb appeared in my hand, first a handle materialized in my hand and I gripped it which slowly formed an outline that was similar to the Lance that she drew on the board
She went to pick up her spear and javelin she put aside
“And my style is dual-wielding, so here I come”
She came towards me with tremendous speed