Touch of Fate

Mike picked himself out of the dust for the hundredth time since breakfast. He channeled a small amount of mana to repair the new set of bruises and scrapes. His grey-haired, one-eyed tormentor walked back to his starting position and casually leaned against the practice spear clutched in his hand.

"Is that all you have, boy?" Albert asked in a laconic voice while stifling a yawn. "I thought you might have improved a bit over the last month, but I must have been mistaken."

Mike gritted his teeth, stood up, and retrieved his own practice spear which had been knocked to the other side of the courtyard.

"One more time old man." He said, as he took his stance. He was going to hit his trainer at least once. Since Mike was leaving for Wyrport today, this was his last chance.

Albert nodded, but continued to casually lean against his spear.

Mike took that as an invitation and started with a thrust towards Albert's torso, which was easily deflected. Mike expected as much, and using his right arm as a lever, attempted to put pressure on the other man's spear in an effort to unbalance him. Albert quickly took a couple steps back to compensate before whipping his spear into an overhead chop.

Mike caught the blow on the haft of his spear and redirected it to his right, before following through with another thrust towards Albert's face. The older man casually leaned out of the way before delivering a sharp kick into Mike's unprotected ribs.

"Sloppy. You're still over-committing on your counters. Any halfway decent fighter would have skewered you by now."

Mike stumbled back a few steps while coughing. He decided that he would win this one even if he had to fight a little dirty. He dug the butt of his spear into the soft dirt of the training ground, before whipping it up at Albert's face. The cloud of fine dirt obscured the older man's vision for a few moments.

Mike rotated his spear around at knee level in an attempt to sweep his mentor's legs. Displaying an unusual amount of agility in one so old, Albert calmly jumped over Mike's weapon while wiping his eyes with his free hand.

[I got him now!] Mike thought as he pulled the practice dagger from its sheath and stabbed towards Albert's torso.

Albert frowned a bit as he realized that, since he was in the air, he couldn't effectively dodge or block the strike. [Should have blocked that sweep rather than jumped over it. Gotten a little too flashy with this kid. Oh, well, guess I got to get a bit serious.]

Mike felt assured of his victory. He had finally managed to seal the slippery old man's movements and line up a finishing strike. Right before he struck, the world seemed to blur, and he felt himself falling for a few moments before crashing down onto the ground a few meters away.

Albert looked down at youth who was struggling to regain his breath after the impact. "Not too shabby, boy, but if you are going to use cheap tactics like that, make sure they work. As it stands now, you are just going to upset your opponents."

He stretched casually and stifled another yawn. "Still, that was the closest you got to hitting me since we started training together, so kudos. With a few more years of practice, you may even be good enough to make me fight seriously from the start." He turned and started walking back into the castle. "Anyway, its time for lunch, so I'm going to go ahead and call it a day."

Mike sighed and laid back down in the dust. He had improved a lot in the last month, but it evidently didn't help him in the end. He pulled up his [Status] again to review the increases he had gotten during his training.

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[Status]

Michael Rasmussen

Race: Human

Age: 15

Class: Skill Master

Title: None

Multiverse Traveler

Blessed One

Hunter of Renown

Battlefield Healer

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[Skills]

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Primary Skills:

Communication Magic (Rank 2)

Basic Healing Magic (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)

Inspect (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)

Initiate Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Rank 3) (NEW)

Basic Water Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)

Basic Fire Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)

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Secondary Skills:

Lifestyle Magic (Rank 0)

Running (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)

Basic Evasion (Rank 3) (LEVEL UP)

Basic Dagger Fighting (Rank 2)

Basic Spear Fighting (Rank 2) (NEW)

Basic Sword Fighting (Rank 3) (NEW)

Basic Elemental Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)

Basic Riding (Rank 2) (NEW)

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Passive Skills:

Basic Fear Resistance (Rank 1)

Minor Mana Enhancement (Rank 2) (LEVEL UP)

Minor Endurance Enhancement (Rank 2) (NEW)

Minor Agility Enhancement (Rank 2) (NEW)

Minor Strength Enhancement (Rank 2) (NEW)

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Inherent Skills:

Traveler's Luck

Fate-Touched

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- Initiate Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Tier 1, Rank 3) -

The fundamental swordsmanship of the Almiran military. Focuses on the usage of a single longsword in either one or two hands. Characterized by a great deal of flexibility and versatility, with no specific strong or weak areas.

- Basic Water Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

One of the most basic forms of Elemental Magic. Water magic allows the user to create and manipulate water. It is characterized by flexibility in both offense and defense, but lacks the overt power of other types of magic. Higher skill levels increase the mana efficiency and power of the magic produced.

- Basic Fire Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

One of the most basic forms of Elemental Magic. Fire magic allows the user to create and manipulate fire. It is characterized by powerful offense, but lacks fine damage control and defensive techniques. Higher skill levels increase the mana efficiency and power of the magic produced.

- Basic Spear Fighting (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

The most rudimentary skill of the Spear Fighting tree. Provides users with fundamental understanding of using spears and other, similar weapons in combat.

- Basic Sword Fighting (Tier 1, Rank 3) -

The most rudimentary skill of the Sword Fighting tree. Provides users with fundamental understanding of using swords in combat.

- Basic Elemental Magic (Tier 1, Rank 3) -

The most fundamental form of Elemental Magic. Allows users to access magic skills for the four primary elements: earth, air, water, and fire. Higher levels of skill provide a bonus on mana efficiency and potency. This is a Prerequisite and Limiter skill for all other Elemental Magic skills.

- Basic Riding (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

The art of directing mounts in both combat and non-combat situations. The most basic form of riding. Higher level of skill will improve the ability to bond with, train, and ride large creatures.

- Minor Endurance Enhancement (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

Through physical training the user has increased his/her body's natural limits. Provides a minor enhancement to Endurance.

- Minor Agility Enhancement (Tier 1, Rank 2) -

Through physical training the user has increased his/her body's natural limits. Provides a minor enhancement to Agility.

He had picked up a number of new skills, including two basic elemental magic skills he acquired from overusing Lifestyle Magic in an effort to figure out how it all worked. Creating water and fire respectively to the point of emptying his mana pool a couple of times was all it took to pick up those skills.

He had also discovered that strange energy he had felt flowing through him ever since he had reincarnated here was mana. Anytime he used it for one of his magic skills he could feel it traveling through him and leaving to create his desired effect. Like many other of the phenomena that he had observed so far, he was taking his time in studying it.

Mike stood up, dusted himself off and started heading to the mess hall for lunch. He picked up a bowl of stew and a small loaf of bread before moving to find himself a place to sit. The hall was almost empty, with only a few Order members eating inside.

Commander Beorn had been leading the Order in a large effort to find and eradicate the Anhilites in the area. While they had some success, the carved-cheeked leader called Smiler had eluded capture.

Mike had learned during his time at the Order that the Anhilites that still occasionally plagued his dreams were really just ordinary men and women who had been twisted by some dark ritual. According to the Order historian/record-keeper/lore master Wendel, the Anhilites are a kind of cult. They worship a powerful demon lord by the name of Anhilus who is bent on world-wide chaos and suffering. The cult is lead by mysterious priest figures who are capable of performing a ritual which turns an otherwise ordinary individual into a loyal Anhilite at the cost of the participant's sanity.

Anhilites teach that suffering is natural, and that torture and death is the proper path for all living beings. To that effect they usually form small warbands based around a priest, and roam the world spreading destruction and chaos.

Recently, the Anhilites had been quite active in the northern reaches of Almir. While they were still raiding and causing general misery, they were behaving rather oddly. This particular group was a lot more cautious than usual, so despite the Order's best efforts, they continued to wreak havoc.

The thought of these strange madmen caused a slight chill in Mike's heart. [I'm heading out tomorrow, so I shouldn't be worrying those crazy f******. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with them again.]

He finished his lunch and stood up. He left the mess hall and headed back to the barracks. There was a little bit of packing left to do, and he wanted to check in on Morris. He had developed a solid friendship with the man, and was looking forward to traveling with him.

He went to his room first, mentally thanking the commander once again for placing him in a single room, rather than the more common barracks most Order members lived in. He drew up short, however, when he saw a familiar figure waiting for him outside of his door.