Date: Saturday August 25th 2017

  Stading in front of the weapons Micah steps forward and hands Helo the first blade. This blade has the longest shaft with a six-inch leaf shaped spear head. Going through the motions that one of the guards are showing Helo, Micah is explaining about the weapons.

  “Now due to their smaller size these five are much faster to use but also require higher dexterity. They should work well with your build that is more perception, agility and dexterity focused. The defensive afterimages they make will be closer and smaller, but that just is a fact of life when you use smaller weapons.” Micah says while stopping Helo and handing time a small halberd.

  “You will also have to be more conscious about how you spin the weapon. Where your hand grabs and how small your protection is. These weapons won’t cover your feet or your head depending on where you are blocking, leaving a vulnerability.” Micah yells out like a drill instructor as he walks in a circle around Helo.

  Shaking his head he takes the halberd away and hands Helo a spear with a similar shape but a much longer blade. Watching as Helo follows the guard, Micah nods his head. That longer blade is better for slashing and has more weight on the front end. But it is still a spear. A few minutes go by as Helo is getting the hang of the weapon.

  He is spinning it well and can smoothly transition to a guard position. This lets him quickly thrust. With a nod Micah skips over one of the weapons and grabs a weapon that looks like a short naginata. It is a little unique with a more pronounced curve, it extends forward. This allows for the tip of the blade to be inline with the shaft. Due to this change in the blades shape, the weapon still has the spear tip. The tip quickly tapers into the front and back of the naginata’s one sided blade.

  Handing the weapon to Helo Micah watches as Helo wields the weapon. He is doing well and is even conscious about how he spins the blade and its effect on which way that it is facing. With a clap Micah stops Helo. “That is enough. Which blade do you think you should wield.”

  Micah points to the rack of five short polearms. A guard took the naginata from Helo and set it back on the rack. Looking at the weapons Helo quickly came to a decision. “Ah. The long-bladed spear and the naginata?” He asks seeing a little nervous with his answer.

  Micah stares at him for a moment before smiling. “Good kid. Those are the two I would have chosen as well. They are similar but there are two differences that I will show you when we start training.” Clapping Helo on the back he spins him so that he is facing the girls.

  As the girls are congratulating Helo, Micah and the four guards load up all the weapons and racks, then they head back to do whatever it is that they do.

  Looking at the sun it is almost noon. So, excusing himself from the girls Helo goes upstairs to shower before heading to the first floor.

  Everyone is there lounging and relaxing expect for Cody, Gabi and Kenneth. Cody has family at one of the towns in the valley. Gabi has family in Valley Reach and Helo doesn’t care about Kenneth.

  The rest of the day is relaxing and fun for Helo. They watch movies, play games and relax. Helo even found some time to meditate while the girls had a movie on. He has been spending some time watching how his bloodline’s energy moves. The ebbs and flows that come from his energy. He has also been watching how it grows stronger. Awakening more of his powers would amazing.

  When he pulls his bloodline out of his heart and circulates it through his body. He feels powerful and dangerous. Like the world should bow before him. Like every obstacle is an affront to his power, it is only another mountain to climb or another prey to kill.

  Pulling himself back after the movie Helo just sits there for a moment and blinks his eyes. His slitted eyes are glowing and his fangs are out. He can even feel his claws drawing blood where his hands are clenched into fists. Where does that wild thought process come from. Is that why they sealed my bloodline? So, I could get control of those rampaging ideas and emotions.

  “Damn, what got you upset Helo. I know that Jenny shouldn’t have gotten back with Alex but it wasn’t that bad.” Allie says from where she is laying next to Helo.

  “Huh? What?” Helo blinks and looks at her in complete confusion.

  “Hehe.” With a cute chuckle Hinata laughs. “Allie you weren’t paying attention but Helo has been meditation this entire time.” Hinat says while laying a calming hand on his arm. “Everything okay?”

  “Ah. Yeah. I’m okay. Just trying to spend some time understanding my bloodline.” Helo says to her after getting his heart beat back down.

  After that incident Helo just enjoyed the rest of the day.

  The next day Helo did his normal run in the morning and came downstairs to eat Aiko’s food. Getting to the first floor he saw Micah there again. “Round two?” He asks Micah.

  “Yeah kid, time to figure out which weapon you will use.” Micah leads Helo outside after he has eaten. There is another weapon rack but this time it only has two weapons.

  “Let’s start with the more common spear.” Micah hands Helo the short spear and pulls his own from storage.

  Helo looks and Micah’s spear in confusion. “How did you do that? Do you have a dimensional storage space as well?”

  “Mhm?” Micah says while looking at his spear in confusion. “Mhhhh no I do not. The only people with one are Graham and Elder Anthony. This is an item specific storage.” Micah sets his spear down and pressing it into the ground before pulling it out.

  “Do you see the left-over mark. It is basically a cast of the spear.” He shows Helo that mark and starts explaining. “The bag that you were given is made from special material with a spatial attunement. The easiest way to find this material on earth is from specific monster corpses. More specifically their pelts.” He pulls and storage bag from his back and shows it to Helo. “But there are other materials, they are just far rarer. So, the enchanters find this material and make a mold from my spear. Then they cut away the excess. Due to the limited nature. Then they enchant the mold that has a cast of my spear in it.”

  Micah steps closer to Helo and holds out his hand. On his hand is a nice ring made from what looks like adamantium. Which is what Helo’s stylus is made form. Instead of a crystal or a gem, the set piece of the ring is a metal spear shaped bar. It is only an inch long and very thin. Held onto the ring using the extremely durable material.

  “So, they enchant it and shrink it down using spatial enchantments. Now my ring has a perfect cast of my spear inside of it.” Micah says while looking at his ring happily. “The materials are rare and hard to enchant so there are two requirements to get a ring like this. One only the strongest of warriors get rings like this. Two only the greatest of weapons get it as well. Honestly the weapon is more important than the warrior. A strong warrior with a weak weapon will break it all the time. Then the ring is worthless.”

  With a nod Helo backs up and hold his spear in the guard position. For the next two hours Micah has Helo training basic steps, blocks, and thrusts with the spear. Sometimes he changes things up and has Helo use a deflection or a slash. After two hours he stops Helo to have a short break.

  “What did you think?” Micah asks when Helo catches his breath.

  “Honestly. To much stabbing. I felt like I was trying to push my enemies away. I prefer to be close and personal.” Helo explains to Micah.

  “Yeah, I can see that. I felt the same way when I first started. But the basics of spear work is keeping distance and stabbing.” Micah says this with a shrug and gets up to his feet. Grabbing the short naginata Micah holds it up. “This is almost a nodachi, but the blade is about one third of the length, not half. So, I still call it a small naginata.”

  Handing the blade to Helo they start practicing again. This time they are focusing on footwork, slashing, and deflection. Fighting this way feels a lot better for Helo. Micah is still showing him a few ways to stab, but it isn’t as much about keeping the enemy away. It is more about taking advantage of an opportunity.

  Liking the feel of the blade Helo is starting to enjoy his training. He is still going over the basic stances and how to transition between them. The basic stances have different blade positions and way to hold the naginata. “Keep in mind Helo, each stance and blade position haves its own advantages and disadvantages.”

  Showing Helo the high guard stance, Micah has Helo hold his position and he grabs a sword. “Now naginata stances are similar to kendo stances. Obviously, the shaft of the blade is longer. This gives you a longer reach and allows for you to wield your weapon like a staff. But when it comes to the basics you are going to be learning all of the kendo positions and transitions.”

  As Micah trained Helo in techniques, he had him focusing on his hand positions. “When wielding the naginata your hands are always moving. To alternate swings, attack with the butt of the shaft or even transition your blocks into quick attacks.”

  Demonstrating the movements for Helo, Micah shows him how he can start in a middle stance and use a sweeping swing to stand in an upper stance. Then as Helo steps up to attack Micah uses the shaft to block the strike. With his hands holding onto the shaft in a wider position he can use a lot of force to knock the strike to the side and reenter the middle stance while slashing at the open opponent.

  After the demonstration Micah has Helo run through five different stances. Each stance allows for an attack at a different angle and location. Some have the blade pointed up, others down, forward or backward. But while moving through the stances slowly with Micah showing him, Helo started to understand the smooth sweeping attacks that the naginata requires. Along with the precise handwork and footwork required to transition between the stances.

  After an hour of training Helo and Micah stop for the day. “Well kid, I think we found your weapon. We will focus on those basic stances and the ready stance. Once you are comfortable fighting someone with those stances we will transition into more advanced techniques and staff work.”

  “Thank you. This will be a lot of fun.” Helo says to Micah and hands the naginata back.

  “Keep it kid. It’s a tier 1 blade. It will be a good practice blade for you.” Micah says to him. “Spend some time trying to infuse the weapon with your aura or your skills.”

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  Heading out Micah steps into the house for a moment and says bye to the girls. The rest of the weekend goes smoothly for the party. Nothing interesting happens and they all spend their time hanging out and lightly training. One thing that Helo does notice is that Kenneth used to spend more time trying to flirt with the girls in the party, but he stopped.

  This is something the girls noticed and were thankful for. Helo appreciates him stopping as well but he doesn’t understand why and it makes him nervous.

  Monday comes around and it is another dungeon day for the group. Helo is excited to spend time practicing his weapon stances while in a fight. The group gets all their gear and heads to the golf carts by 9 o’clock. Standing at the entrance of the dungeon Hinata speaks up. “Alright we are entering the 24th floor. Everyone is pretty close to another level. Let’s stay calm and keep in formation.

  Entering the 24th floor the first think Helo see’s is a sandy beach. Taking a few steps forward he is standing on a massive beach. Behind him is the entrance that is coming out of a rock face. Surrounding the rock face is a tropical forest.

  “This was not what I was expecting to see.” Helo says to the group.

  “Elder Anthony likes switching things up.” Allie says back.

  “Well, it is a water floor but odd are that we are not supposed to enter the water. That usually doesn’t happen until tier 2. So aquatic enemies.” Hinata says while thinking to herself.

  Luna speaks up and fills in. “Water attacks from a distance, enemies that can jump, poisons, and sneak attacks is what the books say.”

  “Alright. Helo scout for us please. Kenneth will stay closest to the water. Allie will watch the trees and water. Cody will watch the water. Everyone else stay behind Kenneth and protect the support group.” Looking around them Hinata can see that the beach ends to their left. So, pointing the group to right she has everyone start moving.

  Entering the trees Helo decides to check the tropical forest first. With the close range and quick movement Helo decides to us his knives at the moment. He is excited to use the naginata but Micah made sure to instruct him that there was a time and place for everything.

  Wrapping himself in his bloodline concealment Helo heads into the forest and starts exploring. Letting his aura billow out Helo can feel about 13 meters around his body. Stopping for a moment Helo is surprised that his aura’s ability to blend into the surroundings isn’t as efficient.

  Taking a moment to focus, Helo can feel that it is because the surroundings are different than the forests he is used to. Moving forward again he uses some of his attention to feel around with his aura and try to slip in into the natural energy. It isn’t a smooth or effortless as usual, it also takes some focus but Helo is able to do it.

  “Mhm, the tropical energy is different than what I am used to.” Jumping into a nearby tree Helo looks around and the appearance is a lot different as well. The trees tend to be much thinner. The larger ones are spaced out more. The vegetation on the ground is also denser.

  Feeling more ready to move out Helo focuses on his senses and takes a deep breath. Following his sense of smell Helo starts tracking the unfamiliar scents. The first creature that he tracks is a frog that is sitting in a tree. “What did Allie say about colorful frogs…” Helo thinks to himself as the frog leaps from the tree and onto his hand.

  When the frog lands on his hand Helo uses his other to wipe it off. Looking at the leftover secretion Helo looks at the frog and uses ‘Identify’

  Tropical Monkey Frogpry

  Tier 1 Level 24

  This frog secretes a potent hallucinogenic substance from its skin.

  “Shit.” Helo is about to wipe it on his pants when he feels his heartbeat start to pick up. As his heartbeat rises his vision also starts to spin. Falling onto the ground Helo is staring at the treetops as the world spins around him. The colorful forest is now full of colors that Helo didn’t even know he could see.

  Trying to get to his feet Helo holds onto the tree but he keeps missing and falling back onto the ground. In his body he can feel a burning sensation as whatever poison the frog had burns through his body.

  Closing his eyes Helo tries to stand up, but when his eyes are closed, he starts feeling an intense nausea. Falling to his knees Helo stars into the darkness of his cupped hands and sits there as the world spins.

  Helo can feel his bodies potent vitality as it combats the poison. Not sure how long but it should have only be a few minutes the world stops spinning and Helo has enough senses to open his eyes and stand up.

  The first thing Helo sees is the Monkey from on the tree in front of his face. Freezing and not making a move Helo can see in his peripheral vision as more frogs jump around him. Looking into the beady eyes of the frog Helo doesn’t know what to do.

  The frog made the choice for him. It croaked loudly and as it opened its mouth Helo could see rows of sharp teeth. “Ah. Frog and Lamprey. Gross.” Once he finishes speaking Helo dives to the left and rolls away from the jumps of the frogs. Looking up Helo can see that there are five of the hand sized frogs. Not wanting to touch them he draws his throwing blades and throws them at the two frogs that landed last.

  As the blades pierce into the frog’s skin Helo draws his daggers. Stepping forward he uses ‘Double Lunge’ to kill two more before they can jump again. Landing back on his feet, he is ten feet past the frogs that he just killed. Using his aura sense, he can feel as the final frog jumps into the air to land on his head.

  Ducking low Helo lets the frog pass over him, following behind he is there as the frog lands. Stabbing quickly Helo kills the frog and stares at it for a moment. “I was almost killed due to hallucinogens.” Helo thinks before laughing. “Haaaa. That would have been sad.”

  Picking up the bodies Helo wants to use them to poison his throwing blades. Storing the five bodies away Helo continues on through the forest. He finds some scents that he knows. Wild boar, deer, and snakes. There are others that he has never seen before. Large crab like monsters, giant gorillas, and others. Helo has been exploring for about thirty minutes by now and decides he is good.

  Happy with his research Helo follow his own trail back to the entrance of the dungeon. Then he follows his parties’ footsteps to find them. While running passes the bodies of crabs, frog like men, fish, snakes, a shark, and other aquatic creatures.

  Running for about 10 minutes Helo makes it to his group and finds them in the middle of a fight with club wielding fish men. They are a little shorter than human height and have blue skin. They have large beady eyes and gills running down their sides.

  The fish men keep coming out of the water in waves attacking the party. Coming up from behind Helo summons his naginata. There are about fifteen of the enemies attacking his group. Kenneth, Allie, Hinata, Cody and Gabi are all fighting near the water. Luna and Aiko are back further with Lelai protecting them.

  The majority of the fish men are attacking the main group, but another batch is coming out of the water further back. This one only has three fishmen but it could be bad for Luna and Aiko. Running in from the side Helo has to physically stop himself from just attacking.

  Gritting his teeth Helo remembers what Micah said. “Helo, you have great combative instincts. But to use the Moon-Staff style you need to rein them in and focus on your technique. That starts with the basics.” Taking a deep breath Helo stops himself from jumping in and he steps in front of Luna and Aiko.

  Taking a deep breath Helo takes the neutral stance with his naginata blade up and by his left side. Facing his enemies Helo reaches across with his right hand, he enters the ready stance.

  Focusing he takes a step forward enters the middle position with his right foot forward. Holding the naginata level across his waist, the blade facing the approaching three fish men, Helo waits for them to draw closer. One of them steps in front of the others and sends a sweeping blow toward Helo from the left.

  Shuffling back a step Helo lets the attack swing by. Pulling the naginata up and into the upper offensive stance Helo has the naginata blade over his left shoulder. He steps forward and slashes down across the body of the fishman twisting to now face with his left foot forward.

  Blood arcs out in a spray of blue green liquid. It lands across the beach in an arc that follows the path of Helo’s blade. Now facing the other direction Helo pulls his naginata back the middle stance.

  The fishman to the right steps forward over his dying brethren and attacks in a similar way. Helo having already seen it coming, whips his naginata around into the middle-hidden stance with his blade facing backward. Blocking the coming attack with the butt of his naginata Helo takes a step forward and with all that momentum slashes his blade around and into both remaining fishmen. With another spray of blood Helo has ended the fight with two moves.

  Ending the fight with that big slash Helo smoothly stands straight and draws his hands together back into the ready stance. Dropping his hand Helo enters the neutral stance and smiles.

  Turning around with a big fanged smile Helo looks at the two girls. “I did it!”

  “That was awesome!” Aiko says and jumps forward hugging Helo. Still in the neutral stance Helo hugs her back with one hand while grinning. Lelai yips and runs a lap around them both.

  Luna who is standing back, coughs into her hand. “That was great and all but can you celebrate after the fight.”

  Turing around Helo looks and sees that another 20 fishmen coming out of the water charging at the group. “Ah. My bad.” Helo says while scratching the back of his head.

  As he says this Kenneth yells out. “Cure! They are using poison!” He is starting to stumble. They must be using those hallucinogens on their weapons.

  “Oh. My bad.” Aiko says and stops hugging Helo. Holding out a hand she starts casting her skills again.

  “Knives or naginata?” Helo says to himself.

  “Knives.” Luna says to him. “That is a lot of enemies to try new things on.”

  “Ah… yeah alright.” Helo says and dashes forward. Sending his naginata back into his storage he draws both knives form their sheaths. Helo is far more comfortable with his knives. But using the naginata was fun. He has been practicing the ‘Twin Fangs of the Beast’ style for longer than the ‘Moon-Staff’ style. But on that same note Helo doesn’t have a dagger teacher. Other than the notes from his necklace, which honestly are very good. Deciding that in the future he is going to take more time to go over the notes to learn the ins and outs of the style, like he did with Micah, Helo enters the fight.

  With both blades out Helo conceals his approach and hits two fishmen with slashes from concealment. He severs their spines and both of them drop as they start to bleed out. Their bodies dropping alerts the other enemies around the area. Helo has already used ‘Double Lunge’ to dash right and then forward. Ending his quick movement with a spray of sand into the air Helo stops next to Hinata.

  Watching her movements for a moment, Helo pauses and can tell that she is using the same positions and transition that he learned. She is using more advanced techniques. But the foundations are similar. “I know that!” Helo says while ducking under another sweeping blow. Stepping in, Helo stabs forward with his right knife into the chest of the fishman. He uses his bloodline to pierce its chest. Then he unleashes ‘Crippling Blow’ to stun the monster. Spinning he kicks the injured and frozen fishman backward to be finished off by Allie.

  “Hehe!” Hinata giggles under her breath while breathing heavy. Smiling up at Helo she speaks up “You learn for one day and suddenly you know everything?” Hinata jokes as she is stepping back into the ready stance. Infront of her the head of a fish man falls off.

  “Well, I’m just that good.” Helo says. Moving forward Helo uses ‘Double Lunge’. Jumping forward Helo dives over a swing. Hitting the ground with his shoulder he rolls forward. Using his second step as he is rising up, Helo jumps back and with a spin kills the two fishman that were approaching. He slashed them both from behind. Stepping over their falling bodies Helo gives Hinata and fanged smirk.

  Shaking her head with her own smile Hinata steps forward. Stepping up past Helo and in between two fishmen, Hinata is in the middle stance. She slashes upward to the left while taking a step back, defending a club strike. At the same time a ‘Mana Shield’ appears to block a strike from the creature on the right.

  Now in a high attack stance Hinata’s sword flashes down the middle and to the right. The fishman on the right slowly topples over with its head and left shoulder sliding off. The fishman is cut apart like Tameshigiri. Hinata stops in the middle-hidden position with her sword pointing back.

  About to jump forward because Hinata is now facing right and open to attack from the left, Helo stops as that fishman dies as well. It has the same cut as the one on the right but to the other side.

  With the flicker of an illusion Hinata’s body shifts. She is now facing to the left but in the same position, she used ‘Illusional Strike’ to hide her attack on the left creature and kill the right one with an illusion.

  Stopping with eyes wide Helo slowly breaks into a massive smile. “That was awesome!!!!” He runs up to her. The fight is just about over.

  “You had me so worried! But that was so cool! You have been working hard. That illusion covered most of your body!” Last week Hinata could only cover her arms and sword strike with an illusion.

  “Thanks.” Hinata says while blushing from all the attention. “I took your ideas about meditation and bloodlines into account. Pushing my skill that far is something I can only do once. I’m really tired.” She looks up with red cheeks. “But I couldn’t let you show off without reprisal.”

  “Ha! That was great!” Turning Helo looks at Allie. “Did you see that?!”

  Like Hinata, Allie blushes. She isn’t use to Helo showing this much energy. Due to his excitement his bloodline and lit up before the fight has yet to recede and his fanged smile and red eyes looks quite piercing.

  “Ye.. yeah. I have been helping her practice. We have been using my ‘Arcane Constructs’ to create easy targets. I’m getting better with my skill too.” Allie says while ending in a pout.

  “You will have to show me in the next fight.” Helo says as his bloodline starts to recede. With that the party collects the cores and continues on their way.