| abstract | - The boy had now become a teenager. Dressed in the white hooded robes of his fellow students the teen quickly tied it long hair in a ponytail as he yawned. "Get out of bed, Lazybone! We were supposed to meet the Guildmaster on the other side of the river but that was an hour ago! We better get going. Race you there!" Whisper said. "You're on!" Zane smirked running out of the room and headed outside where he and Whisper approached the Guildmaster waiting at the training ring. "You can put that old stick away. We'll begin training with real weapons now." 'Finally!' Zane thought before tossing the stick before taking an Iron longsword. "Get used to the weight of this sword, and let's see if you can hit Whisper with it." "Okay" Zane said entering the ring with Whisper. "Come on then. Let's see what you've got, farmboy" Whisper said pulling out her battle pole. "YAH!" Zane yelled swinging as she blocked with her pole, "Ha! Rah! Yah!" he grunted making a few more swings she blocked, "YA!" he yelled making one hit. "AH!" she grunted hitting the ground. "OH! Sorry Whisper!" Zane said. "Just a flesh wound farmboy and a lucky one too!" Whisper smirked. "Alright" Zane said making another swing she blocked but the force sent her hitting the ground as Zane kicked away her pole and pointed the sword at her neck. "Okay okay I yield farmboy" she said as Zane held out his hand and helped her up as Zane turned to the Guildmaster. "Now pay attention What I am about to teach you could well save your life one day. The life of a Hero is a dangerous one, and you must learn to block your enemies attacks if you expect to live long. Whisper will try to hit you but you can block her attack with you sword. Not all blows can be blocked you should be able to handle anything Whisper throw at you." "Okay only blocking then" Zane said getting into a defense stand. "YAH!" Whisper yelled launching a kick Zane dodge then swung her pole as Zane managed to block, "NGH!" she grunted swinging again as Zane blocked, "dammit! How did you block that?" "Skills" Zane smirked. "Well done. Now let's see if you can combine attack and defense" Guildmaster said as a very large man approached him, "ah, hello Thunder. Come to check your sister's progress have you?" "You could say that. Whisper told me you've got her training with some farmboy" Thunder said. 'Ugh! So what if I grew up on a farm sheesh don't mean I can't fight!' Zane thought with annoyance. "Maze thinks the boy has great potential" the Guildmaster said. "Enough to keep up with my Whisper? Bah!" Thunder said. 'I am fast enough to keep up with you, ya big behemoth!' Zane thought. "Well why don't we see? Whisper and the boy are just working on their melee skills now" the Guilsmaster said as the two turned back to the young teens, "all right children, let's see who has learnt the most in their training. This will be a no holds barred duel, just like your final melee test. Prepare yourselves." "Okay then" Zane said drawing his sword and Whisper her pole. "YAH!" Whisper yelled swinging as Zane dodge rolled then swung and hitting her twice, "AH! OH!" she grunted before hitting Zane in the gut with her pole. "NG! Nice hit!" Zane said. "You're not bad yourself farmboy" Whisper said as Zane swung again and Whisper launched herself back with her pole to dodge. "Now you got yo teach me that!" Zane said swinging as Whisper block. "Sure if you can beat me farmboy!" Whisper said as he kicked Zane back then swung again as Zane dodge and swing his sword hitting her two more times, "AH! Oh! "You can find a way through his guard! Attack again!" Thunder yelled distracting her a bit as Zane made one last his knocking her on the ground. "That's all wrong Whisper! You need to practice more!" Thunder yelled as she panted, "shame you couldn't see me fight in the Arena. You might have learned a thing or two, keep training if you want to go there yourself one day." "I could have beaten him if you hadn't stopped us" Whisper said as Thunder walked away. "We have few enough Heroes as it is, without the two of you tearing each other apart in training. Speaking of which, meet me as I make my way to the archery range when you're ready to continue your lessons oh and about your melee performance it was excellent. Fight like that in your melee exam, and you'll do well" the Guildmaster said. "Thank you Guildmaster" Zane said as he turned to Whisper, "don't listen to Thunder you did good! I bet one day you will hand him his ass in that Arena." "Yeah one day, you go on ahead I need to keep practicing" Whisper said as Zane ran ahead to the Archery range. "Let's continue our training with the bow" the Guildmaster spoke handing Zane a Yew Longbow, "to begin with, see if you can hit the three stationary targets and put some effort into it. The longer you pull back your bow string the more damage you will cause but make sure you stay within the circle." "Okay Guildmaster" Zane said approaching the line and drew the bow and began to pull back on the arrow and bow aiming form the dummy target then hit all three in the chest. "Well done! You hit all the targets! Unfortunately foes don't stand still, so let's see how you care against moving targets; you have a minute to score as many points as you can; the front target worth one point, the middle one is worthy three, and the one at the back will score you nine points and remember, the longer you pull back your bow string, the more damage the shot will cause. More damage means more points, but you have to balance power, firing rate and accuracy. Let's see what you can do." "Okay" Zane nodded as he saw the dummies begin to move back and forth as he began to fire at each one but hitting the one in the back the most time and by the end of the time earned around 200 points. "Excellent shooting my lad. Do that in your Skill test and I'll be most impressed" the Guildmaster said. "Thank you Guildmaster" Zane said. "Next will be learning about the ways of the Will. Speak to me when you're ready to continue with your training. I'll be heading to the island by the waterfalls" the Guildmaster said heading off as Zane followed. At the island the Guildmaster reached the end of the bridge before turning to the boy, "it's time to learn about Will powers. We'll begin by striking these straw dummies with Shock." "Okay Guildmaster" Zane nodded before taking his place in the center of the island. "All right, let's see what you've got." Zane then nodded and looked to the first dummy as the veins in his body quickly began to glow before holding out his hand "Shock!" he yelled hitting one dummy. "That's it. See how many you can hit in half a minute. Only attack dummies that are facing the center of the island, you won't get any points for hitting one on the back, you will only waste valuable mana. Using your will powers depletes your mana, and once used it takes time to replenish." "Got it!" Zane nodded as his right hand sparked with the Shock. After the thirty seconds were up the three dummies lay in burnt black piles as Zane turned to the Guildmaster. "Excellent use of magic, well done, you have learnt the three Hero disciplines. We can not move on to your final test if you're ready, or you can spend some more time exploring the Guild. I believe Whisper is about to go into the Guild Woods if you wish to join her" the Guildmaster spoke. "Thank you I will go see what Whisper up to" Zane smiled. "Very well. I'll be in the Map Room when you're ready to continue." Zane then headed past the Melee combat ring as a man approached. "Right, this melee combat against Whisper counts. Do you wish to be graded?" "Sure." "Right let's get Whisper and you in the ring, same rules as before, I have a special prize for you if you manage an A+" "Alright" Zane nodded. Later Whisper entered the ring as Zane smirked, "Thunder not her to distract you so let's see you can beat me." "You asked for it farmboy" Whisper said drawing her weapon as Zane follow, "AH!" she yelled using a jump kick as Zane dodged and swung his sword, "UGH! AH! OH! AH!" she grunted before hitting the ground. "Alright you can stop now. That was very impressive, Whisper should be ashamed. A+ that grade means I can award you a new weapon!" he said handing Zane an Iron Katana. "Oh" Zane said before seeing Whisper was gone. Later Zane went to the Archery Range to get a grade. "The Guildmaster has asked me to grade everyone's archery skills and if you get an A+ you'll receive a special prize you got one minute. Starting when you fire your first shot." "Okay" Zane said drawing his bow and approached the line then began firing arrows. ~Later~ "Wow! You...set a new high score! Wow! I ain't never seen any better than that! You got an A+. The Guildmaster said if anyone shot brilliantly, I could award them this" he said holding out a Yew Crossbow. "Nice, got two new powerful weapons now to get a final grade on Will" Zane said rushing back to the island. "You got 30 seconds once your first cast Shock, to hit as many targets as you can. There's a special prize for A+ students, you know" the hooded Will instructor said. "Let's do this" Zane said as he launched the first spell at the dummy. ~Later~ "That's astonishing. Bloody hell. A+ the Guildmater said to award these items to anyone who excelled at the Will test" the man spoke before giving Zane a Will Potion and a Resurrection Phial." "This one I better save" Zane said before drink the Will Potion and his eyes widen as his mana grew and his vains glowed brighter. Zane then headed into the woods to find Whisper waiting at the gate. "Come on, let's hunt beetles! I'll follow you into the woods" Whisper said. "Sounds fun" Zane said as the two entered the woods, "So where the nest this time?" "The beetle nest is just at the top of the-Wait!" she said as they heard something "did you hear that?" "Yeah" Zane whispered. "It's coming from over there" Whisper said as they looked across a pond to see three bandits, "bandits! If only we could get across that stream. I know, why don't you use your bow, or some of that lightning the Guildmaster taught you?" "It's called Shock" Zane mumbled. "I'll heal you if you get hurt" Whisper said as Zane pulled out his crossbow and in a matter of minutes killed the three. "We did it! Did you see the look on their faces?" Whisper said. "Priceless" Zane chuckled. "Wait till the Guildmaster hears about this!" Whisper said running back as Zane looked back to the three dead bandits. "Not the ones from that night, but I'll find them all" Zane said heading back to the Guild and for the Map room where the Guildmaster waited and got ready to move on again. "The boy mastered the skills quickly, but there was always more to learn. For years the Guild was his home, his school and his life but as time passed, his thoughts retuned always to the world outside. The life he had lost. The family that had been torn from him. At last, only the final day of tests remained. Success would mark the end of his training. He would receive the Guild Seal and be free to forge his own destiny he would become a hero."
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