Never Die Extra (Edited)

Evan D. Sherden, Hearing About the Legend (3)

The prospective members of the Dungeon Knights were busy using each moment to train at the Marquis’ Training Center. Of course, the most basic thing in training was the Rookie Training Act that had now been mastered by every member by now.

Paul, who wanted to become a wizard, had his mana consumption corrected during the training sessions. Now he was able to use mana quite efficiently.

“Woowoo…!”

As a bonus, Evan and Raihan also learned this from Shine. It was said that it was the most effective for the Rookies, but that was because it was a high-ranking training method rather than Evan’s personal training or other martial arts techniques.

Both of them were also learning the skills that belonged to the Rookie Training Act. They were able to learn the training method much faster than others too.

Naturally evolving from their original physical fitness method to the Rookie training was accompanied by a rather strange feeling. Growing from a lower skill to a higher skill consisted of a certain part of the system of the game.

“Alright, we’ll take a break now.”

“Vice Commander!”

“Ah…”

As soon as Shine declared a break, unlike other children who fell on the spot, there was a child who stood up and struck Shine. It was Marie.

She was the eldest of the five Rookies except for Shine and Belois (she was nine years old like Paul, but her birthday was three months earlier than him in February). Even taking that into account, she was overwhelmingly powerful compared to other guys. Her physical strength was superior.

“Is this another double-dagger attack? You’ll have to get better at that.”

“I will, Vice Commander. But the Master remarked the opposite…”

“Young Master…”

Shine looked back at Evan with an embarrassing expression, while Marie held her two daggers. But Evan, who was continuing to practice, didn’t notice his gaze. He simply nodded.

“It’s amazing that you have even a little aptitude for double swordsmanship. Not everyone is born with a talent like yours, Shine.”

“But she is also a child who doesn’t have certain talent in the long sword, Master.”

“Please examine her a few more times before saying that. If you do, you will realize something.”

“Vice Commander, please!”

“Hey.”

With Evan supporting her, Marie was more determined than ever. Shine had no choice but to confront her with Twin Blood.

It required a moderately tense posture so that Shine could react immediately when an attack came from any direction. While doing the special position, Shine felt the momentum that could be felt by everyone who handled daggers for decades or more.

It was also the best way to shorten training, and this was also the reason Shine’s aptitude had been steadily improving.

“Should we start?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Marie reacted to Shine’s provocation and clenched her teeth while holding two daggers. Then she bent her knees slightly and dashed towards Shine. The speed was as fast as an arrow shooting out.

“That child is growing very fast. Her speed was just amazing. Goblins wouldn’t be even to lay a hand on her.”

“I know, right!”

Raihan expressed admiration for Marie. He knew how weak Marie was half a year ago, so he was even more surprised at her rapid improvement.

“She is ready to compete against a common Paladin.”

“She seems to be close to the level. It’s clear that the new training method is, of course, greatly impacting all of us, but that alone cannot explain her amazing abilities.”

Most of the Rookies were talented in combat and martial arts. With their weak bodies, it was even more confusing to even think of such.

Even so, these five people weren’t seen in the main story of the Yo-Ma Great War 3 and 4 at all. It meant that they were living elsewhere without entering the dungeon, or they died somewhere. Or they could even have been introduced in a DLC that Evan didn’t know about.

Evan couldn’t really make sense of all of this.

‘They are great enough to go beyond the limits of their usual strengths…Especially Marie. That is why early detection and implementation is very important.’

Evan felt utmost sorrow at the thought of how many Rookies died during infancy or in the dungeon without proper training.

Although they were constantly searching for them now in the slave market through the slave trader, it was not as easy as expected. However, they were still fortunate enough to say that they had found and brought three more people this time.

Evan thought about giving him a bonus as well. Then he looked up.

“So, how is the training going?”

“I knew it would be like this… It’s one-sided.”

“Hey! Ugh…!”

“There, you keep collapsing. Don’t look away while you’re stabbing.”

“Huh… Aah!”

Shine deliberately did not attack Marie first but was accepting her attacks in return. When her posture was incorrect, or he found a large opening, he attacked her to make her realize her mistakes and correct her faults. Not getting distracted once during the entire fight made Evan realize that Shine’s ability had improved even more.

“You have been performing well, so far.”

“Ugh… Thank you, Vice Commander.”

Marie’s attacks did not pose any real threat to Shine, even when he loosened his defenses a little. Maybe she was also aware of it. Perhaps double swordsmanship wasn’t right for her, after all.

She couldn’t even control the two daggers due to her existence level in the first place. She looked so miserable while holding on to her weak aptitude and practice.

“I recommend changing it now. I always say that when you are young, it’s best to choose one weapon and focus on it.”

“But I want to be strong like the Vice Commander…”

Shine, who was also a Rookie, and had quickly leveled, and who was always by Evan’s side, had established himself as something of a role model in front of the other Rookie children.

Among them, Marie, who was mature for her age, had a particularly strong desire to grow. From the time Evan first met her, he had been sure about that.

“But Marie, if you want to become stronger, you have to choose a weapon that suits you better.”

“No…”

Shine answered her coldly. Marie bowed her head, making a strange sound like a dying dog. After repeatedly stomping several times in frustration, it seems that her stubbornness to learn the technique of double daggers had finally been broken.

At this point, Evan thought he had to give her a hint.

“Marie, what do you think it means that you have a faint aptitude for double swordsmanship?”

“Well Master… It means that I don’t have an aptitude for double daggers and that I can’t fight with two daggers at the same time, right?”

“That’s right. And actually, what’s more important here is the part about the quantity rather than the weapon. It’s very difficult to fight with a weapon in both of your hands, not to mention the necessary strength required to do so.”

“Two…?”

Double swordsmanship was a very complex technique.

It required a lot of skills. Among them, two of the most important talents required were the talent of handling daggers and the talent of handling two weapons simultaneously.

From the moment Evan realized that Marie only had a little aptitude for double swordsmanship, he was aware of the path she had to be directed in.

“It’s like writing a paper with one hand and playing the piano with the other.”

The point was that Marie had a part of the dual swordsmanship aptitude. Marie soon understood what Evan was trying to say.

“Then should I find a weapon I can handle?”

“Maybe a long sword would suit you because you have an excellent aptitude for long swords. But, what should you hold with the other hand? Think more about that. It could be another long sword or even a dagger.”

“Thank you so much, Master!”

After hearing Evan’s words, Marie started hopping around in excitement. She bowed her head to Evan as her short hair fluttered and went straight out of the training center.

She had probably gone to find her true aptitude right now. Twelve-year-old Evan looked at her and muttered, ‘Is this youth…!’

Then he glanced at Raihan.

Other Rookie children who were watching Evan and Marie’s conversation approached him carefully and started asking him questions. However, unlike Marie, who was born with a rather complicated aptitude, most of their aptitudes were already revealed to them. There was nothing more Evan could assist them with even if he wanted to.

“Melson, you’re good enough for a rogue because you’re agile and have a good eye, and you’re also very compatible with the whip, so there’s nothing else to fix or improve… ”

“I want to learn martial arts from the Commander!”

Evan was trying to answer them all one at a time to make them understand not to think about learning difficult things, but then one of them began to suddenly shout while raising one hand.

She had black eyes similar to Shine, but her skin was quite bright. She was a child with a clear contrast of black eyes. All of the Rookies were either pretty and handsome.

“No, why do you want to learn martial arts while you have such great aptitude for spears…?”

“I’ve told you many times already that you just need to focus on training your spear techniques. Why on earth would you want to learn a skill which you don’t even have the aptitude for, such as fighting? Besides, unlike other martial arts training, there is no special trick to learn yours; where you have to constantly improve your body movements!”

“I want to fight well even in the absence of weapons. You said that no one ever knows what could happen in the dungeon.” It was Ena who spoke.

“Well… Ena, listen carefully. If you spend extra time on fighting skills, then you won’t be able to focus on your other skills that much. It’s not that everyone just learns the basics of fighting skills and then moves on without learning anything else.”

“But fighting skills also strengthen the body. Besides, I can mix fighting skills with the spear and use them in battle!”

“Mixing fighting skills with spears… Oh, will you be able to learn each method?”

“Yes, I will!”

Fighting techniques developed with the aim of training your bare body and then using the whole body to defeat the enemy were extremely barbaric and had no specific laws or rules.

Your hands, feet, knees, your head, and even your elbows were constantly aching during training … Anyway, a fighting technique could be used in all sorts of situations nevertheless.

If you divided martial arts into two major categories, the first would consist of punching, and the second would consist of kicking.

“Each fighting method may be helpful in a situation where it is difficult to swing your spear and when an enemy appears right in front of you momentarily. Well…”

But Evan thought that wasn’t the right answer either. If you had a spear, you could attack long distance, so you could kill the enemy before letting it approach you, and then you would never have to face a situation where it was difficult to swing the spear.

“If we learn martial arts, I think we will be able to move more swiftly!”

Nevertheless, Evan was unable to reject Ena’s request because she knew that she was simply asking him to get stronger in other ways, too.

Most of the Rookies they had gathered were rejected by others and were not loved by their families.

Maybe Ena wanted to learn martial arts to form a friendship with him.

“…Alright then, then let’s try it a little. But we wouldn’t be reducing the time you spend on spear training… That means that you will have to physically train harder. Can you bear it?”

“I will, Master! Thank you very much!”

“Me too!”

“Me too, Master!”

“Commander!”

“… Then I’ll also learn it.”

As soon as Ena got permission from Evan, the other Rookie children started shouting in unison. Evan looked at them. In particular, he was looking at Arisha standing next to them.

“Why are you standing among them?”

“Because it looks fun.”

“It’s not fun at all, so get out.”

Evan said firmly that he would only teach them the basics of fighting skills, but the children still murmured with excitement. With a sigh, he gave the children about 30 minutes to master the basic movements before leaving.

It was time to go to his alchemy class.