When Propheus connected again he put on his chain mail, guard garb, leather boots and helmet before grabbing his pike and sword, left the barracks and went to talk to his mentor.
Yesterday he had obtained the promise to be trained in he use of a shield, a tool he had realized was much more useful than he first thought.
His instructor arrived a few minutes after him with a wooden buckler, a small flat round shield, in hand.
"Catch." He threw it at Propheus who caught it at the last second.
"This, is called a buckler. It is a round and flat shield with a strap and handle on its back to hold it, a metal center which is the strongest part and a wooden external circle."
As he talked he pointed at each zones of the shield with his sword.
"You equip it by passing your arm in the strap and holding the small handle. Yes, like this. Good. Now, the buckler is held with one hand. In fact all shields are one handed even the massive tower shields. Those type of shields cover your whole body but require a lot of strength to manipulate freely and are difficult to transport. As a foot soldier you cannot afford to spend all your energy on carrying your shield and end up useless or spent when the battle arises. This is why i will teach you the basics of Shield Mastery while only training with light round shields first. Those are the types used by foot soldiers. When you have the basics down we will switch to a square shield used by Pikemen."
Propheus was then showed how to hold and position his shield. He had to hold himself side ways with his shield arm forward, the buckler at the level of his shin and his sword's tip just behind its extremities.
"Excellent! Now i want you to swing your sword downwards, block with your shield and again attack with the sword but this time horizontally. Hum... bent your knees a bit... yes like this. Do it a hundred time then take a break and do it again. Three series in total."
And so for the rest of the morning Propheus trained on a dummy. He swung his sword, hid behind the buckler and pierced the straw belly for a total of three hundred times. When he was done his instructor came back and examined his movement.
"Do it again. Three times." was all he said before living his once more.
Once more Propheus trained his use of the buckler. As the afternoon sun rose high in the sky, bombarding the city with its warm rays, his chain mail heated and soon rivers of sweat ran on his face. He had yet to eat and drink anything today.
When he was finally done he was exhausted and famished. He was about to retire to eat something when he noticed his instructor observing him from afar. "Again!" he shouted mercilessly. Propheus had half a mind to disobey him and go eat something but he remembered how persisting in the Basic Training had been so beneficial to him and how the other players, those that had slacked off or given up half way through were now much weacker and had to catch up with him. with new determination and anticipation he lifted the shield again and took the stance for the three hundred and second time today.
The day ended after the ninth series. His instructor had dismissed him with a simple slap on the back he had then eaten with the rest of the soldiers at the long tables and shuffled himself all the way to his bunk where he had fallen asleep due to exhaustion.
As such he automatically disconnected from Second Chance.
He connected back at sun rise in the game, refreshed and ready for a second day of training with the shield he went in front of a dummy and did a few stances before his instructor arrived.
"Not too shabby... Lets see how you get by with a real opponent."
And just like this he drew his sword and attacked him. Propheus reflexes were what saved him, he lifted the shield just in time to intersept the blow with the top side of the buckler, pushing his instructor's sword out of the way but leaving a deep gash where the sword connected.
"The center! Intercept with the center!"
"Yes sir."
The instructor attacked again and this time Propheus shifted the shild upwards to better connect. there was a loud CLANK! and the instructor was pushed back.
"Good. Very good."
For the folowing hours the two of them turned around one another, the instructor showering Phropheus with hits and slashes and Propheus blocking them the best he could with the buckler. As time went by strength left Propheus, the shield became heavier, his movements clumsy. Several times he received injuries or was pushed down by the strength of the hits that he would have avoided at the beginning of the day. When the time for lunch came by Propheus expected to be granted a breack but it did not happen. They kept training all day long until the sun set.
"Tomorrow we continue."
Before disconnecting in his bunk Propheus went to the river to bath and applied a cold salve on his sore muscles and the many bruises that started to show.
The next days went similarly. Propheus held the buckler as best as he could and as long as possible, but ultimately, at the end of the day his arm was sore, he could feel every hit all the way to his bones and sometimes fell to his knees blocking them. In those cases the instructor would attack him with a flurry of hits and he would have to roll out of the way while holding the shield.
On the morning of the fifth day, just before lunch, Propheus lost his temper. As the instructor prepared to swing his sword downwards he stepped forward and bashed the man with the buckler. Taken by surprise the instructor stumbled back.
Oh god! What have i done?! despaired Propheus. Now he will kill me for real!
But to Propheus surprise the man started laughing.
"I was starting to lose hope, kid!"
Propheus was confused. He had just attacked his superior officer and he was being praised? that made no sense. Unless...
"What you just did is the sole offensive application of a shield. Bashing! There is two occasions where bashing is useful: when your enemy is preparing an attack or the exact moment the adversaries weapon strikes the center of your shield. Then there is the block and bash combo which will bush back your enemies and give you space to operate but this one is effective only in very close quarters... Remember them well, those can save you from tight spots if used in the proper manner!"
"Yes sir!"
"Now go eat! You must be famished!"
Without letting him time to change his mind Propheus ran to the tables and filled his plate with roasted boar meat and steamed carrots. When in the afternoon the training resumes, his attitude towards the exercise had completely changed. Not only did he use his shield to bash at the instructor he also moved around him and attacked with his sword, exchanging blows and strikes before hiding back behind his shield when the time was appropriate.
When he was dismissed he cleaned his gear at the river and ate with the rest of the players before going with the blond soldier who had recently ranked up to foot soldier to the forest to grind and exercise their formations.
As he lied on his bunk to disconnect Propheus realized that he had less trouble holding the shield for a prologued period of time.