Chương 258: Instructor Maya–It Has A Nice Ring To It

The three Unwanted Presences were a bit difficult to work with. I couldn't just instruct them in the same manner that I would instruct someone native to this world like me–I spent some time trying to get an understanding of their perspective on their situation and on the new world they had to live in from now on, and it revealed quite a few things. First of all, to them, weapons like swords, spears, halberds, and the like were 'ancient' weapons.

Not only had they invented 'guns' that could apparently shoot bullets made out of steel and powder, but they had gone beyond and apparently just threw super-explosives across long distances. I didn't really get it, but apparently, they could sail through their oceans without getting decimated by a horror of the depths, too. Daniel Williams, in particular, talked as if his old world had been alight with flames and destruction, but the description he gave sounded quite peaceful to me.

What's so brutal about powerful explosions? Clearly, he's never heard of the Battle of Corpse Forest, where Lataniel the Suneater built a forest out of impaled enemies. That's brutal. It has oomph. That's a real show of power and authority. What he's describing is just some fireworks, nice for a second, perhaps makes an interesting demolished landscape, but it simply lacks intent–Though listening to each of them speak, I and they quickly realised something.

Like everyone, I had assumed that they had all been scooped out from the same magicless world, but I had been wrong. There were pretty staggering differences between each of them, ranging from historical facts being altered to geographical inconsistencies, or even the year their world had been in at the moment of their summoning. So, while they had very similar former worlds, they had definitely not come from the exact same one. This was an interesting discovery, but ultimately a meaningless one to me.

It was a bit interesting and all, but when I asked about their mechanistry, they would draw a blank. They had advanced mechanical constructs, but none of those three actually knew anything about how they were built beyond some useless little facts. What was more important right now was their training. At the moment, there were mostly learning theories with the archmage and basic mana control.

On my end, I was building an adapted training regimen for each of them, whilst also trying to get them to learn some simple martial arts and to pick a weapon they felt most comfortable wielding. The last of which was actually quite complicated. Someone native to this world is likely to grow up seeing and interacting with people wielding a different array of weapons, from city or town guards to the unemployed folks calling themselves adventurers, but also regular people.

It depended on the area and nation, but many people were always armed. Typically, with a concealed dagger or a short rapier. The Unwanteds weren't so familiar with all of these weapons. They viewed them as objects of the past, so they struggled to actually properly imagine how they were used and in which scenarios.

"The spear is the king of weapons, right?" Where did you hear this nonsense?

"Huh, Is that… Is that not the case?" No, Daniel. There is no king of weapons. At most, spears and pikes are the most common on battlefields filled with regular soldiers. They are cheap and easy to make en masse and work well in formations, but outside of this, they lose a lot of their splendour. Nowadays, soldiers are rarely fighting other armies anyway. They are mostly peacekeepers within the borders of their own nations.

Those who wield weapons are mostly the explorers, the adventurers, the dungeon delvers, and alike. In this regard, a spear isn't the best pick. They travel a lot and encounter perilous terrain. Something that can be more easily carried is thus more favourable, and you also have to factor in buying the weapon and maintaining it. If you want to use a spear as your main weapon, you can't just go with a cheap, regular one.

You'll probably need to make an order for a custom spear from a blacksmith, which will be expensive. The Unwanted Presence seemed quite flabbergasted by the speed at which I was writing on my little handheld blackboard, but he got what I was telling him.

"So… A.. A sword is best?" I shook my head. The problem with teaching people entirely foreign wasn't that they didn't understand what I was teaching them, but they were too overwhelmed by the new information and unusual setting, that they were sort of hoping that I would just take them by the hand and guide them to make the right decision, but the only ones capable of making the right decision were themselves… … Well, not really in this case, but I also wanted them to think with their own heads.

I wasn't going to be holding their hands forever. In the end, Kevin Baker ended up settling with a halberd. Claiming that his ancestors had been known to wield such weapons in the past. It was a good pick with his already sturdy build and fairly good height. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Rose Miller decided to go with both a ranged and close-quarters option, in the form of a crossbow and club duo, saying that she would just stick with things she was familiar with. Apparently, crossbows and bows hadn't fallen out of favour as much as the rest of the weapons I was familiar with in her old world, but she did tell me that the crossbows she had used had been much different from the one she was wielding now. As for the club…

Apparently, that's how she would deal with the wild animals trying to mess with her cattle and poultry–She was quite vocal about her burning hatred for the particular feral beasts who caused trouble on her farm, especially foxes and martens. Meanwhile, Daniel Williams was… He had ideas, that was for certain.

As the days went on, his attitude faded away as he more and more realised that he was, in fact, in a world with real magic, a world of 'fantasy' as he would call it, and he actually had quite a lot of enthusiasm. Perhaps a little too much enthusiasm…

"Are there Katanas in this world?" What is he on about? Katana… Isn't it that one-bladed sword that's used a bunch in a country far south? I think they are right up against the edge of the continent and like getting into a fight with water monsters by the shores. I didn't think a specific kind of sword like this one would not only exist in another world but also have the exact same name… Who had it before, them or us?

I pretended that I would ask around to get a Katana made, but I just made one myself using 'Steel Shaping' and also some help from Nara, as I had never actually seen or held one of those swords before. They felt pretty nice in hand, but I always preferred double-edged blades. One-edged blades just made me think of giant kitchen knives. In any case, following the usual early-morning training with those three, it was time for my show–A series of duels between knights and warriors arranged for me to watch.

I was still seeking to acquire more combat arts from fellow knights and other kinds of warriors. I only had one, and it felt like a waste not to have more. Even if my knightly form seemed like the weakest of the bunch, I was well aware that it wasn't the case. It traded brute force for flexibility and versatility–I knew it very well. A knight should never be underestimated. There was a room to force my knightly self into something far more lethal… I just needed to put in the work.

Today, the first duel I watched was between two knights who only carried shields. Pavise shields made out of solid steel that they carried using both hands. Those things seemed to be genuinely impossibly heavy and unwieldy. However, they were handling them just fine as their primary method of attack was just to charge forward… Important to note, they were also wearing horrendously heavy armour. Usually, a set of full-plate armour wasn't actually nearly as heavy as the layman might assume, but those things?

They are even heavier than jousting armour. I can tell with just a glance. With how ridiculous this all seemed, I had been tempted to assume that these two belonged to a third-rate knight establishment, but that would have been a mistake to do so. They had two combat arts, while the average establishment usually only had one that was at the heart of the entire training the knights part of the group had to go through. One allowed them to seemingly grant themselves a sort of false momentum.

I am not quite clear on the details, but it seems like it allows them to move at their regular speed, but upon impact with their opponent, their strike would have much superior strength, as though they had been moving at a much greater velocity prior to making contact. It was interesting, but their second art was perhaps even more intriguing. It was basically the opposite.

They would stand perfectly still, and it would cause strikes to bounce off them as though they were actively pushing back against attacks despite not moving a muscle. Mmh… I'll ask the folks organising these duels to bring in these guys again, the first art they showed could be of great use to me.

The shield knights ended their duel without either of them having actually been defeated, leaving the space open for a singular individual to step in–Not everything was a duel, apparently, to get all of these people to show up and demonstrate their abilities to me, a little bit of deception had been used, so some would be alone, thinking that they were demonstrating their capabilities to a hidden jury that would decide if the performances were good enough to warrant a budget increase for the establishment.

Indeed, for some reason, Aesther directly funded nearly all knight establishments, mage academies, and whatever else. As if these places weren't able to fund themselves… At most, Rootriska and the rest would only give rewards depending on the number of warriors or mages who had been trained and had then subsequently begun working for the crown or nation, but rather than funding, it was just a carrot to incentivise these entities to do their best to work alongside the nation they resided in.

This is truly a bizarre country, where do they even find all that money to waste? Anyway… The lone fellow was wearing an interesting attire. He wasn't wearing a suit of armour, only a rather stylish helm accompanied by a fancy suit that emulated the appearance of what a general who didn't actually fight on the frontlines would wear.

Considering that he introduced himself as the representative of an actual knight establishment, it was a bit of an odd look to have, but it quickly made sense as he demonstrated the 'very versatile' and 'very personalised' combat art of his establishment. He unsheathed his sabre, the tip pointed upward as he shook it from left to right as if it were a wand… And suddenly, translucent knights appeared beside him, but not just that, he was able to make archers, mages, and even beasts.

"I am only a beginner, theoretically speaking, this combat art could be pushed to much greater levels by someone with greater talent than I!" He gave me a whole speech, leading me to understand that this fellow was representing a knight establishment that he was trying to build up. He was the inventor of the combat art. He had been lured here by a promise of funding for a project that hadn't even truly begun yet. … How great! That's a glorious combat art!

I can already imagine that the version I will be able to acquire for myself will be using actual spirits or souls that I own. There is the chance that it just overlaps with my 'Tortured Soul Release', but there is also the chance that it synergises with it. I'll have to make this guy show up again. Heheheh… I can already feel that this mission will be a big haul for me. Not only do I have a lot to gain, but I also have a lot of time to experiment with the new Mindscape equipment…