Chapter 14 Armory
"We have an armory in the back of the house," Lexus said. "There are many dangerous weapons there, so don\'t go without me or without the battle tactics instructor."
Aion nodded, and then his father guided him to the armory. He had seen a warehouse-looking building attached to the back of the mansion, but he didn\'t have any reason to check it until now. After a while, Aion and his father reached the armory, and they found several sets of armor, weapons, shields, and other equipment.
Aion found numerous swords, but he wondered if the samurai class could work well with them… Still, for the time being, he decided to take a short spear. It was another way for him to train melee combat, but with a middle ranged weapon.
"Do you know how to use that?" Lexus asked.
"In the books that the battle tactics instructor makes us read, some of them mention several types of techniques and stances with several types of weapons," Aion replied. "I only have to put them to practice."
Inside his mind, Aion clicked his tongue when he turned around and saw his father looking at him… that wasn\'t how a five-year-old boy was supposed to talk, but in the end, he relaxed too much, and that happened.
Spearman Lv 09
Health: 34/34
Mana: 16/16
Stamina: 52/52
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 13
Magic: 04
Endurance: 07
Resistance: 04
Speed: 13
Status: 00
Spear Refinement Lv 0
Bonuses:
Skills: Quick Spear Lv 01,
Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 01
Improvement Points: 27
Accumulated Experience: 0
Coins: 00
Inventory:
Absorption: 0/1000
Processing: 0/1000
Reset
Considering the skills of the Spearman class, Aion decided to build it, at least at first, with a super quick attack class. Once he changed his class to that, he felt a lot more comfortable holding the short spear, probably because of the Spear Mastery skill. In any case, once he returned to the garden, he noticed that his half-brothers looked a bit bothered and interested in what he did.
"They always follow things by the book. That is why they never tried different weapons… they are too scared to disappoint our father by showing a pathetic demonstration of skill with other weapons," Aion thought.
Practice makes it perfect… and makes things easier. That gives room to comfort, and comfort brings room to complacency. Those kids were training hard every day, but they weren\'t challenging themselves that much. They had no idea that the time for them to challenge things was when they were young. Things get a lot harder once they get old. People began to be afraid of losing what they obtained in their lives, and that made them unable to challenge themselves…
At first, Aion just practiced thrust attacks imagining a dummy in front of him and then aiming at its vitals. Soon enough, he learned that it was quite hard to attack like that. He had to use his wrists and shoulders to give his spear stability and accuracy. He had to use the muscles of his back to give it power, and his arms had to be flexible enough to have speed.
Quick Spear granted Aion five percent extra attack speed per level at the cost of ten points of mana, and it could last a full minute. When he tried that, he noticed some progress, but it was minimal… He would have to use that to progress a bit faster while learning the basics.
After one week, Aion was finally getting the hang of the weapon, and then his father dropped a bombshell.
"You should spar with your brothers," Lexus said. "You aren\'t a master, but they don\'t have experience fighting spear users. This should be a good spar. Georges, you are up."
George was the fourth youngest of the boys, but he still was three years older than Aion. That wasn\'t much of a difference, Aion couldn\'t see himself losing, but he didn\'t want to crush the hopes and shatter the confidence of a shield. He couldn\'t allow himself to lose to a kid either… So, he could only aim for a draw.
"The others should pay attention as well," Lexus said. "When you get hit, you will have to pay fifty push-ups, and then the spar will be resumed."
Lexus complicated things as well… those who get hit will have to experience hell since the push-ups will tire them out. Thus, making them become even easier targets… Nevertheless, Aion knew what he should do to prevent that. He might end up getting scolded, but it was better than making his half-brothers feel ashamed.
Regardless, Georges looked pretty serious. Aside from Aion, he was the one that looked the least tough of the group since he was a bit short for his age and never was able to defeat his half-brothers when sparring. Thus, despite having the same black hair and brown eyes as his father, he looked like a weakling, thanks to his unconfident expression. Still, he charged toward Aion with his sword and shield in his hands.