It didn't take long for Lisbeth to set up a number of different trials around the training area, in total there was 4 placed in a line across the centre of the grassy opening. To the far left there was 4 thick wooden blocks placed above and in between slabs of stone, holding them in place, seemingly waiting for us to splinter through as many blocks of the dense looking wood as possible. The one next to it was a simple wooden post which had a thick layer of leather wrapped around it, making the top half at least 7 times bigger than the rest of it, another test of the sword's sharpness and penetration skills. Next to that was a straw dummy, held up by a wooden pole, holding a steel shield in its right hand. While the last one was another straw dummy that this time held both a shield in one hand and a small wooden sword in the other.
Lisbeth turned to me with a sly smile and said as if she were professing to the heavens, "Here, in front of you, are the challenges which I set forth. Best out of the four challenges wins this bet, however if we both succeed at two then the tie breaker will be a duel to orange HP. Simple really. So lets get straight down to it." At that she drew out her long falchion and moved over to the far left set of equipment which she stood in front of, with her sword raised above her head. I moved over to the side of the wooden blocks and watched how her sword abruptly burst into a yellow light before she swung the blade down with a tremendous amount of force.
The sword seemed to shatter the first block of wood without any problems at all, sending glowing splinters, which soon vanished in a white glow, into the air in every direction. The second block put up more resistance, but only managing to slow the blade's momentum slightly. The third block however held its place and stopped the blade from completely cutting through it, leaving the falchion half protruding from the block of wood. Lisbeth gave a slight nod an a contented noise at the damage her sword had been able to inflict.
She moved away from the blocks and gestured for me to take up my position in front of them. So I walked over to face the stone slabs which had three destroyed blocks of wood held within them. As I drew my sword the splintered sides of the wood, still held by the stone slabs, gave off a faint white glow and begun reconstructing its original shape from a pure white light. Within a few seconds the blocks had reached their original shape and the white glow was thrown off with a flurry of particles, leaving 3 blocks of wood as they were before Lisbeth's strike.
With the blocks now set in their places I raised my sword high above my head with both hands gripped tightly upon the hilt. The game registered this movement and a sword skill started to build up, giving off a huge red glow which continued to build. In my mind I heard a slight clicking sound, the skill was ready to be unleashed, so I swung my sword down at the wooden blocks, leaving a trail of red light behind the blade. I felt a slight resistance as the sword cut through the first block, the second block offered more resistance as my blade started to lose its momentum, it splintered through the second one and collided heavily with the third block, just managing to break it into two clean pieces. However my sword had lost all of its momentum and strength and so it wasn't able to do any real damage to the fourth and final block of wood
I stepped back from The stone slabs and swiftly sheathed my sword with a slight flourish. Unlike Lisbeth's heavy falchion, my short sword had cut the three pieces of wood cleanly into halves and no splinters had flown off like Lisbeth's strike. "Not bad if I say so myself." I comment knowing that I had one this first round by destroying three blocks in one strike, Lisbeth realised this fact as well and with a huff walked over to the second trial with her sword still held to her side.
Without waiting much longer Lisbeth held her sword to her side with both hands, building up a green skill, and within seconds released it against the leather rolls in a diagonal slice. Her sword completely sliced through the standing dummy, straight through the thick leather and through the strong wooden pole in the centre which was holding the whole thing upright. She moved away from the clean cut with a smug smile as the top half, now disconnected from the rest began to slide off.
I walked into her place waiting for the equipment to repair itself, the top half kept sliding for a few seconds but just as it was about to fall the to halves glowed green along the line Lisbeth had cut and the top half slid back up and connected itself once more. I drew my sword out once more and steadied it with both hands to my side, slowly building up a blue sword skill, I knew I couldn't recreate the sort of attack that her falchion had done, but at least I wasn't going to give a weak shot. I unleashed the strike by charging forwards and thrusting my sword through the centre of the dummy, piercing straight through the leather and wood so that the tip of the sword showed on the other side.
I withdrew my sword from the hole which it made and slowly sheathed back to my side, knowing that I had clearly lost this trial. To my side Lisbeth stood there, with a smug smile returning to her face and her sword resting lazily on her shoulder. "So that's one a piece now. Not feeling as confident now are ya." She said with a short giggle at the end. "For the next one it will be to see how well the sword can disarm opponents, pretty simple really." She continued in a more serious tone as she moved forward to take her position in front of the dummy.
However instead of readying her sword she tapped the air just in front of the dummy and brought up a small white menu panel which she scrolled through and swiftly ticked a few boxes before closing it and moving back. She looked over her shoulder to me and said "Turning on damage indicators, just in case we both disarm it." She said as a short explanation to her actions.
She quickly turned back to the dummy and readied her sword at her side once more and within a few seconds a lingering green smoke surrounded her white steel sword. She then burst forward with a resounding battle cry as she sped forward beyond normal human speed towards the shield. Within a split second of her releasing the sword skill she was standing on the opposite side of the dummy, still with her sword extended in front of her. The shield had split in half and the two sections fell heavily to the ground after hanging in the air for a few seconds. Above the dummy bright yellow numbers appeared, suspended, in the air reading "658 Damage".
Lisbeth lowered her sword and turned to look up at the damage indicator which she gave a brief nod to and moved back around the dummy and gestured for me to take my place to carry out my own attack. So I moved forward and held my sword to my side, this time only with my right hand, and turning myself to be side on to the dummy with my left shoulder pointing towards the shield. I closed my eyes , putting my false vision into darkness, however I felt a massive build up of energy in my right hand, making it shake slightly. I sensed a slight click echo in my mind to which my eyes shot open and with a huge roar I charged forward spinning my body inwards towards the shield, dragging my sword upwards diagonally across the bottom of the shield.
My attack left me facing away from the dummy and towards Sky and Lisbeth who stood there with impressed looks on their faces, from here I could also see the yellow streak of light which had been left behind by my powerful strike. I loosely placed my sword to my side and turned to see what sort of damage I had inflicted and if I had disarmed the shield. The shield was clinging to the dummy with the very little that made up its remaining metal work. My sword had smashed through the shield, rupturing the metal in one long straight line, however it was not enough to completely break through the metal or disarm the dummy of the shield. I looked up at the damage indicator and saw that I had managed to deal "786 Damage" to the shield, but by the reason of some algorithm within the game I hadn't managed to destroy the shield as Lisbeth had done with less damage.
I stood back from the dummy in annoyance, sheathed my sword away and slowly walked over to the last dummy which held both a sword and a shield. Lisbeth had been able to win two of the trials, whereas I had only bested her in one so far, so I had to win this one to at least draw and call the need for a duel which I would most likely win considering my level as a Front line fighter.
Lisbeth once more moved up to the dummy and opened up a white menu panel, in which she toggled some settings before moving away from the dummy and taking up a fighting stance. As she stood there, sword held out in front of her, the wooden pole holding the dummy up started to vanish from its stand leaving a slight trail of pixels which dissipated in the air. The dummy itself was left floating with a slight yellow aura surrounding its body and equipment. All of a sudden the dummy charged forward by lowering its head and speeding forward. Lisbeth also burst into a sprint and her sword gathered a red shimmer.
Within a second the two met halfway, the dummy spun round to its left imitating a strike with a sword, which Lisbeth swiftly blocked and then followed up with a swift strike which left a glowing gash across the side of the dummy. The mock fight was over very quickly and Lisbeth had clearly won it without much real effort. She got up from her stance, sheathed her sword away with a grin and looked above the dummy's head, damage indicators once more appeared and stated that she had dealt "403 Damage" in that one strike.
As Lisbeth moved away to allow me to take my place the dummy slowly floated back to its starting position and straw replaced the glowing gash, leaving the dummy as it was before. I withdrew my sword and held it to my side with one hand and begun to build up one of my strongest skills, knowing that I needed to deal as much damage possible in one strike to win this trial. It took only a few seconds before my smoking black skill was ready and I charged at the dummy before it had the chance to even move. I moved my body to perform a diagonal downwards cut directly along the body of the dummy. It tried deflecting my strike by hitting me with its shield, but I managed to duck under it just as my skill connected with its body.
I stood up straight and slowly turned my head to see the damage indicator above its head. "789 Damage" I had managed to easily surpass Lisbeth's damage leaving the dummy very close to being in two halves. I once more sheathed my sword and walked away from the dummy, which quickly reset itself again, and over to where an irritated looking Lisbeth stood.
"Two all." I say simply, knowing that it would be down to the tie breaker to decide the winner.
"Looks like we'll have to have a duel to orange health then, doesn't it?" She said in a confident and steady voice, still thinking that she had a chance to win this.
"Is there much point in having a fight, seriously I've fought on the Front since the first organised raid a year or so back. For example what level are you currently?" I asked curiously, wondering what her general level must have been to be such a proficient blacksmith, but knowing that it would be much much lower than my own.
"I'm level 48 right now." She said slowly realising what I was implying.
"Then there's no way you can beat me in a duel, even with better equipment." I said with a finality to it. She looked at me with anger in her eyes and her fists clenched at her sides. She knew that what I was saying was true, but she had to fight with her pride to admit it.
"Okay then, you win! Take your wager, the best piece of chest armour that I have ever created, a piece I had finished last week." She shouted in sheer annoyance and defeat, she swiftly opened up her inventory and started scrolling down, presumably looking for the armour piece that she had spoken of. However her search was cut short by Sky's urgent voice next to us.
"Woods, we need to go now! Aurora just messaged me that her and Terra are stuck fighting a field boss on the front, without any support as it caught them off guard."