An advanced approach to potions and tonics is to consider the one consuming them as a kind of an alchemical baker or a flask, meaning a part of the alchemical process. The technique is difficult to master and requires non-trivial aptitude for medicine and related knowledge, but I have found the results marvelous.

  — Excerpt from Thoughts on Pots and Brewing

  Day 245, 9:30 PM

  Twenty miles away from the Frostworm’s Grave mountain, under the light of the moonlight, Everlast and I sparred. The woman was graceful and competent, her movements precise, but rigid.

  “Relax your back. Form is important, proper form even more so, but it has to flow.” It wasn’t really bad. In fact, by the third-realm standard she was great, but there was room for improvement, the bits of overly tense muscles her master hadn’t warned her about for some reason, even if a knight valiant must have noticed them even better than I did.

  Then again, I was an expert swordsman, maybe what I see as a problem is a problem only at my level of swordsmanship.

  “Raise your wrist a bit. Back down a tad…”

  Given the power of our bodies, we had little need for rest, so we sparred deep into the night. Still, after running all night last night, everyone was getting sleepy by two in the morning.

  “Let’s rest until dawn, and we can pick it up from there.”

  The practice resumed the next day. Based on what I was seeing, Everlast either had Initial Swordmanship, or she was very close to it.

  Does she get swordwomanship? It was an interesting question, but I’ve only been a woman twice, and only for several minutes before expiring.

  As the day drew to an end, I overheard Puresnow complimenting Newstar.

  “You are getting better.”

  “We would have had to throw him to the frostworms if he was not improving,” I said, half-focusing on Everlast’s assault. “All right, time for rest. We eat, then sleep for some six hours. After that, we will change partners. Everlast, by teaching others, we learn a lot ourselves, so try to help Puresnow improve. I will help Newstar, and he will owe me yet another favor.”

  “Why do you keep repeating that?” Newstar finally asked, sounding affronted.

  “Because you need to be aware that I am not doing this as charity, because you need to earn your knowledge, resources, and skills. Until you grow powerful enough, you cannot expect gifts, and if I stop reminding you, you might think this is something you are entitled to, instead of something you must prove yourself worthy of.”

  He smiled and opened his mouth to make a witty remark or something, but I didn’t want a change in the conversation’s tone.

  “Now, enough of your silly questions and childish sulking. Eat.”

  We ate a humble dinner of jerky, and while we didn’t really need to sleep that much, the human brain processes the day’s worth of information best when we’re sleeping, so having them take a long nap while I stand watch should help their training.

  Naturally, I didn’t explain my thoughts, and silently endured the jerky meal.

  “I have a suggestion, if you are interested, Newstar.” I said between the bites. “I just so happen to have a third realm spear with me.”

  I unwrapped the surprise package, revealing a decent spear I acquired for him. “If you want, I can teach you how to use a spear, and once we are done, I leave it up to you to estimate how much my lessons and advice were worth.”

  Newstar choked on his half-chewed jerky. “Did you buy a third realm spear and carry it all the way here? When did you even buy it?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “While you were taking your test at the scribes’ guild, when I realized you had no money for it and that you would not risk further debt just to test something.”

  “You’re that confident?”

  “I am a weaponmaster, and polearms are your weapons, glaive seeming the most appropriate. Unfortunately, I failed to find a proper glaive in a single afternoon, it is an uncommon weapon.” That earned me weird looks. Perhaps I’m too controlling, and I should step back?

  “However, if my offer does not entice you, we can train with your new short-sword,” I added, waiting for Newstar’s decision. Unexpectedly, Everlast spoke up.

  “I think you should take his offer. Dandelion seems really keen on teaching you, and after two days, I can tell he is an excellent swordsman, he has no reason not to teach you swordsmanship, especially since you two are friends.”

  “Fine,” Newstar grumbled, showing the expected amount of enthusiasm, but that was fine as long as we got the ball rolling.

  “Excellent.” I struggled to contain my victorious smile. “Basic training for a non-awakened can be done in a moon, but with your enhanced mind and body, we can get the basics covered in a day or two. In general, the basics of the spear are simple - poke the enemy with the pointy end. And even without training, humans have used them since the dawn of time. But to stand your ground against trained warriors, you will need to devote a week or two to training. Mastery will take a year or three, meaning mastering the spear is less time-consuming than mastering the sword and, for you, will yield a better result.”

  “You really are obsessed with me learning the spear.”

  I had shown too much enthusiasm. I took a deep breath and collected myself, tamping down my emotions. “Maybe. Seeing someone of your talent wielding a poorly conceived weapon, using half-baked techniques, hurts me as a professional warrior.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “We will practice with the spear tomorrow. Are you happy?”

  “I am,” I said seriously. “Now, I will take the first watch while the three of you rest. Lady Puresnow, do you mind taking the second watch?”

  Puresnow jolted at the mention of her name and shook her head. “I don’t mind.”

  “Great, let us rest, and tomorrow, we keep practicing. The frostworm should give up on searching the tunnels by the end of the week.”

  The night passed quietly, and we started even before the sun rose.

  “Attack me.”

  “Shouldn’t we start with stances, thrust practice, and such?” Newstar asked with obvious doubt.

  “You already know those things, but you learned them for a very long sword. Once I show you your inadequacies, you should correct most of them yourself.”

  He nodded and attacked, his stance all over the place. I stepped just outside his reach, but he followed through, taking a rushed step forward. I stepped into him, grabbed his wrist and pulled. The maneuver knocked him off balance, but I grabbed him before he fell.

  “For heaven’s sake, never chase after your enemies with your spear. It has reach, they need to come to you. But even if you wish to keep the initiative, never follow without a proper stance, you are opening yourself to a world of pain. If you miss, you miss, prepare for another opportunity instead of forcing a failed one. Alternatively, you can advance slowly, aware of your weapon’s weakness.”

  Newstar kept at it, with ever-increasing enthusiasm as we corrected his mistakes at inhuman pace. He had a decent head on his shoulders, not just for ascension theory, but also for combat. Even without my intervention, just hunting saurians in Summersweald, the boy would have become an expert given enough time.

  For the better part of an hour, I dodged as he improved at a visible rate. At first, I needed half-steps to handle him, then full steps, until I was forced to really dodge his stabs and slashes.

  “All right,” I said, probably with too much enthusiasm. “We are getting somewhere. Now, use your fire techniques. When you were fighting the frostworm, your strikes were all over the place, but now that you can aim at the same spot instead of blindly hacking away, we need to add properly timed fire. Once we incorporate that, we just need to keep your power from dispersing on contact. Let’s see if you can achieve some mastery over the technique.”

  In mere half an hour, he managed proper timing to unleash his magic for maximum impact, but his flames were wild and all over the place.

  “You must be running low on mana,” I said, more than pleased with his progress. “Sit and recover. Try to develop the technique inside your realm while your mana recovers. I will instruct the ladies in the meantime.”

  He sat and focused, his trust in me absolute, considering how exposed he left himself around us.

  Trusting strangers to such an extent is a horrible habit. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite you.

  I could only hope, so I left him alone and focused on the women. “Everlast, Puresnow, how about you come at me together? We can practice your teamwork and swordsmanship at the same time.”

  The woman attacked with zeal, and I regretted how high my skills and attributes were. Had they been worse, fighting one against two decent opponents would have offered me more insight than what I was getting by controlling myself and keeping the battle at their level.

  Maybe I need to dedicate a life to mastering skills properly instead of using system skills and level ups?

  It was a sound idea, but one that required a relatively peaceful world and a boring life. Both seemed like a luxury, given my lifestyle.