Chapter 201: Blade MasterWe spent a while checking out swords. Raon explained to me that the |Blade Master| class allowed him to seamlessly wield two weapons in general. So there could be a sword and spear combo, or a scythe and hammer combo. It made me wonder why it was called |Blade Master| instead of |Dual Wielder|.

    "What are you feeling? You want two swords or some kind of weird matchup?" [Solace]

    "Hm... I don''t know. I''m unfamiliar with all of them. I never really touched a weapon in my life." [Raon]

    "Really? Don''t nobles go through some form of formal swordsmanship class?" [Solace]

    "Not mine. It was mostly learning about territory management." [Raon]

    Guess not all noble houses are the same.

    "I remember you knowing a bit about weapons. What would you suggest?" [Raon]

    "It''s a matter of feeling to be honest. Since you''re a beginner, a spear would be good." [Solace]

    "I''m not dual wielding spears." [Raon]

    "Okay, how about... The second easiest one: swords." [Solace]

    "Too basic." [Raon]

    Too basic? That''s a thing here too?

    "Sword and shield?" [Solace]

    One look and I knew that was not it.

    "Sword and dagger." [Solace]

    "That... isn''t actually that bad." [Raon]

    He picked up a longsword and a dagger and struck a pose.

    "Do I look cool?" [Raon]

    "Pretty cool. I feel like the longsword is too big though." [Solace]

    "Then what about this?" [Raon]

    He put down the longsword and exchanged it for a shortsword.

    "Looks balanced. Why don''t you give it a few test swings?" [Solace]

    Raon glanced at the shop owner who gave him a nod of approval. I forgot to mention we got to know the shop owner was familiar with us. We ran a few errands for him before and gave him the nickname of Boss.

    "Here goes..." [Raon]

    He took a few practice swings, which seemed to flow seamlessly. It was at a pretty good speed too.

    "I like it." [Raon]

    It was from there that we looked for his weapons in earnest. We took weight, balance, length, and a few other factors into consideration. After a grueling selection process, Raon settled on a sleek shortsword built on speed and a dagger with a curved edge made for parrying.

    "I''ll take these Boss!" [Raon]

    "Hmph." [Boss]

    Boss wasn''t a very expressive person. He accepted the payment and let us go on our way.

    "Nice. Are you ready, Alt?" [Raon]

    "Yep." [Solace]

    We traveled to an open area we found during a monster culling quest. Few monsters come here, but it was a nice spot we had lunch at.

    "You might want to take out your gauntlets." [Raon]

    "I''ll pass on that. I have something else I want to try out." [Solace]

    I casted |Thunderbolt Lance|. I can''t say it was strange to use a spear, but I can''t say I was comfortable. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get used to a weapon that is required for my strongest skill.

    "A spear? When the hell did you get that skill?" [Raon]

    "Shortly after you guys ran from the demon on the bridge." [Solace]

    Raon seemed satisfied with that answer. He then aimed his short sword and dagger at me. By the way, he had a weird form of holding the dagger in reverse-grip.

    ("Let''s take a look. |Analyze|.") [Solace]

    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

    Name: Raon Parthenos

    Race: Human

    Class: Blade Master

    Gender: Male

    Age: 16

    Level: 80

    Health: 9000/9000

    Mana: 4950/4950

    Strength: 1224

    Agility: 1533

    Intelligence: 1120

    Willpower: 2010

    Status: Stable

    Skills: |Molten Fist Lv. 7| |Obsidian Arms Lv. 8| |Shattering Blow Lv. 9| |Lion''s Roar Lv. 9| |Physical Boost Lv. 6| |Volcanic Arena Lv. 7| |Lava Conjuration Lv. 9| |Executioner''s Drop Lv. 7| |Fear Resistance Lv. 6| |Sleep Resistance Lv. 3| |Stamina Recovery Lv. 8|

    Unique Skill: |Enrage Lv. 7|

    Class Skills: |Cross Slash Lv.1| |Break Counter Lv.1| |Critical Stab Lv.1|

    Titles: |Blessed By Two| |Track Star|

    True Titles: N/A

    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

    I almost burst out laughing.

    ("|Track Star|?!") [Solace]

    I did not see that last time. He also gained |Fear Resistance|, |Sleep Resistance|, and |Stamina Recovery|. Not to mention that his |Agility| and |Willpower| skyrocketed. Raon wasn''t kidding when he said that he had to run a lot for his trial.

    "...Is something funny?" [Raon]

    I think he saw me trying to hold my laughter.

    "Nah, it''s nothing." [Solace] Sear?h the N?velFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Other than his stats going up, there was now a section for |Class Skills|. It was likely he would try to use them here.

    "You can start." [Solace]

    "Cocky, aren''t you?" [Raon]

    He still took me up on my offer. Raon activated |Physical Boost| and threw his dagger at me.

    "Really? How could you treat something you just bought like this?" [Solace]

    It was a bit slow to me, so I raised my hand to catch it.

    "|Cross Slash|!" [Raon]

    "Huh?" [Solace]

    Within an instant, Raon teleported to his dagger. He did, as the skill was called, a cross section slash on my torso.

    "Ow?" [Solace]

    The blades tore through my clothing, but didn''t even manage to scratch my skin.

    "Have you... been working out?" [Raon]

    Raon seemed to be as surprised as I was.

    "A bit." [Solace]

    I swung the back end of my spear, intending to hit him with blunt force. I didn''t really want to harm him, you see.

    "|Break Counter|!" [Raon]

    Raon caught my spear with his dagger, which was within the curved part of the blade. It was also then that I saw my spear snap as he thrusted his shortsword at my face.

    "I can see why there''s a "break" in |Break Counter|!" [Solace]

    I tilted my head to avoid the short sword. However, he grabbed my shoulder before aiming his dagger at me.

    "|Critical Stab|!" [Raon]

    His sudden proficiency with his weapons was astounding. Raon must have been lying about never touching a weapon before.

    "|Revolving Shell Arts|." [Solace]

    I really wanted to use a spear for this fight. However, Raon breaking it forced my hand. Normally, I''d do a "return to sender". Since I''m nice, I just made the attack veer off course harmlessly.

    "Boop." [Solace]

    I poked his nose.

    "I win~." [Solace]

    Raon seemed perplexed.

    "...Seriously, are you really only level 50?" [Raon]

    "I''m no liar." [Solace]

    That concluded our spar.

    "You guys look like you''re having fun." [???]

    A familiar voice rang out. Turns out it was just Wilharrow.

    "Wilharrow? What are you doing here?" [Raon]

    "I was curious about how the duel would go." [Wilharrow]

    "So you followed us? You know you could have just come along." [Solace]

    Wilharrow''s face turned red with embarrassment.

    "That... does sound like a smart idea. It sounded better to me in hindsight." [Wilharrow]

    "Well now that you''re here, how about a spar?" [Solace]

    I was curious as to how strong he was now.

    "I would love to." [Wilharrow]