The Only Thing I Can Upgrade is Strength chapter 63

Previous Chapter —Table of Contents— Next Chapter

In addition to Master Motta, I also spent time with Master Siegfried. I wondered if Master Siegfried was in any way related to the Siegfried of legends… but that was unlikely. The legends were on Earth, and I had no knowledge of people going in the other direction- from here to my Earth. More importantly, his name merely sounded similar- so I translated it to Siegfried in my head. I hoped I couldn’t lose this ability to translate… but I occasionally spent some time listening to the sounds instead of just letting myself understand. Maybe that way I would learn the language for real…

Master Siegfried was younger than Master Motta, and more muscular. He was an expert in many types of weapons, and that was what I was here to learn. “Today, we will work on the sword… specifically the longsword.” He held up a sword, “As you can see, it’s has significant reach.”

I nodded, “I guess so.” It looked to have a blade around three feet long. It certainly wasn’t short.

“You guess?” Master Siegfried raised an eyebrow, then held the sword out in front of him. With just a small amount of movement he would be able to reach me from his position a good six feet away.

“Well… that sword is bigger-” I pointed at the nearby weapon rack, “And it’s not a polearm or anything.”

“That’s true. Why don’t we start from the smallest size.” He picked up a sword with a short hilt and a blade less than two feet, “This is a shortsword.” I was pretty sure the actual word didn’t indicate length, just like the longsword. It was more like small/light. “The arming sword.” The next sword’s blade was about two and a half feet long, “Then the longsword. Notice the hilt become much larger for a two-handed grip. Finally, there is the greatsword.” He held up the biggest one, with a blade almost four feet in length, “It’s the biggest… but also the heaviest. Not that you would mind, since you’re used to large, blunt weapons. However, do note that they handle quite differently. Let’s have you try out everything.” He tossed me the smallest sword.

I caught it by the handle, then I took a few swings with it. It was light and quick. “Seems like it would have trouble with armor.”

Master Siegfried nodded, “It’s best used on those without armor, or without full armor anyway. If you do it right it can still be functional, but it’s best as a backup for a spear or for moving around town. The same is true of the arming sword, though you can get a bit more power behind it.” He handed me the longsword. It was significantly heavier- but that wasn’t an issue. Overall, though, it still seemed fairly light. “I see what you’re thinking- is this really better against armor than a mace?”

He shook his head, “The answer is no. It is, however, much better against unarmored opponents, or anything you can cut. There is a trick, though.” He demonstrated with the greatsword by flipping it around. His hands held the blade near the hilt and near the point of the sword. He swung it, and I could see that the pommel would carry a lot of force. “Now, it’s a mace. Not a great mace, but you don’t have to toss your weapon aside to switch or carry two weapons. Of course, this one is big enough to chop through armor if you need to.”

I spent the next several hours actually learning the basics of how to use each weapon. Swords had better defensive options in general than maces, with a good number of ways to parry- and the right balance to pull it off successfully. The damage caused by a sword wasn’t just about the impact, but the slicing that went with it.

—–

I spent time training with Master Siegfried and Master Motta over the next several weeks- every day we didn’t go to the dungeon, and any day where our exploration didn’t take too long. Goblins were easy to defeat, but I found some of the practice parrying with swords helped against the goblins- even if I used my mace for it. I would have liked to try out a good sword, but I would have to use something inferior if I wanted it to be cheap enough. I couldn’t afford to have one of every weapon… and besides I could still only carry a few things. My magical mace was a better option against goblins- even those that a sword would be effective against. I had heard of magic that could make weapons change form, but it wasn’t common enough to fit in my price range- not that I even saw any for sale.

After the whole situation with the attackers in the dungeon everyone was a bit more tense, but we still returned to the dungeon. We didn’t find a boss every day, and they didn’t always have magical items. However, Halette managed to get a headband that enhanced her hearing. There were a few less impressive magical items that we sold- they would probably just be used for materials.

We became much more efficient at defeating bosses… which also helped with the aftermath. Less time would pass and less goblins would be attracted… and therefore we wouldn’t have to run away to the previous floor. I couldn’t count how many total goblins I had killed, but it was at least hundreds. I could see why allowing them to build up would be a problem.

I had leveled up several times since entering the goblin dungeon, and my overall Attributes had grown. Strength, of course, had grown in a ridiculous manner- compounded by the levels. Everything else was about what would be expected. There were beginning to be far too many mastery skills… However my class made training in many weapons rather easy. Good teachers helped too, of course, but everything contributed to Melee Weapon Mastery which now stood out above everything. I was in the camp that it stacked with other weapon mastery skills, but it wasn’t simple to prove either way. I couldn’t exactly turn it off, and everyone had different Attributes and levels of skill with different weapons so it wasn’t possible to do a fair test. It also seemed to increase the speed at which training in new weapons improved. It would still be better to have more proficiency in one weapon, but there wasn’t any single thing I could use to its maximum effectiveness in every situation. Unless I wanted to fight one type of monster for my whole life, it wasn’t a bad way to train.

Previous Chapter —Table of Contents— Next Chapter