Varre was not looking forward to another training session, but he knew it had to be done. He racked his brain, trying to come up with any viable excuse to avoid it, but he simply couldn’t. Worst of all, he hadn’t even started feeling sore after yesterday’s exercises. Perhaps if he trained hard enough, he’d never get the chance to. That was the only hope he had left.

  The resigned king followed his chamberlain through the castle’s corridors and eventually arrived at the courtyard. Kerryn was already waiting. The retired adventurer was moving some of the equipment around, preparing the area for today’s exercise.

  “Good day your majesty!” the warrior yelled out, nodding in the monarch’s direction.

  Varre raised his arm in greeting. “I hope you haven’t prepared anything too crazy for today! My muscles still haven’t recovered.”

  The coach laughed. “Good one! A proper warrior only needs a good night’s sleep before heading off to another battle!”

  “Maybe,” the king grumbled, “but I’m not exactly a proper warrior am I?”

  “Fair point. That’s why you need to work even harder,” Kerryn pointed at the monarch, “now come on, we’ve got decades of progress to catch up on and the day is short.”

  Varre looked cautiously around the area. “Alright. What do I do?”

  “First, you need to drink the elixir,” the coach pointed to Benjamin, who retrieved the familiar vial.

  As soon as he swallowed the king felt the familiar shimmer flowing through his body. Ugh, he thought, I’m never gonna get used to this. He shuddered as he passed the empty container back to the chamberlain.

  “Now, it’s time for the warm up!” Kerryn started to jog around the courtyard and urged the monarch to follow.

  Unfortunately, what the former adventurer considered a warmup, seemed absolutely grueling by Varre’s standards. The two men spent two hours on jogging, push-ups, and weight lifting. Finally, the coach allowed his student a short break.

  As the king collapsed onto a chair, chugging water from a cup, Kerryn started browsing through the weapon racks. He found whatever he was looking for and, once he was sure Varre managed to catch his breath, threw a wooden sword on top of the nearby table. The monarch jerked reflexively, surprised by the sudden noise.

  “Now, it’s time for the real training,” the coach said with an evil smile.

  “Come on Kerryn,” the king moaned, “I think that’s enough for one day. Besides, I have an important meeting soon and-“

  “How about this then,” the former adventurer did a few practice swings with his own sword, “we’re going to spar now. If you manage to land a hit on me, even just a grazing one, I’ll let you go early.”

  “I’m not falling for that,” Varre rolled his eyes, “I’ve never used a sword before. I know I don’t stand a chance against a goddamn master!”

  “And when an assassin comes after you, do you think he’ll accept the same excuse?” Kerryn put an arm behind his back, “come on. I’ll even give you a handicap. I won’t use my right hand.”

  The king knew that arguing the point further was not going to work. Better to just get it out of the way now. At least this way, there was a chance.

  Varre got one last drink of water and stood up from his chair. He picked up the wooden sword and weighed it in his hand.

  As he said, he had never used a weapon like this before. Sure, he tried dueling with sticks back when he was a kid. He also saw some sword fights in movies and games, but he had no idea how realistic they really were. His only real experience with blades was when he happened to see some historical reconstruction duels at a renaissance fair that one his buddies dragged him to. Even then, it’s not like he was trying to learn any of their moves back then.

  Fortunately, Varre’s ancestors spent hundreds of thousands of years evolving to better swing sticks at each other. He even recalled some theory that early humans developed wrists that were better suited for throwing objects and controlling clubs. Swinging a wooden sword came to him naturally, even if the moves were primitive by the standards of an experienced warrior.

  Kerryn stood off in the distance, watching the king with curiosity. It was obvious that the monarch had never used a weapon like this before, let alone sparred. “I thought you were kidding. No one’s ever taught you fencing?”

  “Didn’t I already tell you?” Varre replied, “I’ve lost my memories.”

  “Right… Then let’s see if you kept your instincts at least. Come at me!”

  The king sighed, but got into a fighting stance. Or at least, his best impression of it. He put his left foot forward and grasped the wooden sword in both hands. He started to slowly walk towards his opponent, always trying to keep the left foot forward. Recalling some ancient memories of his former life, he tried to keep his balance on the backfoot, hoping to easily pivot away if need be.

  Kerryn did not react. He stood there, completely open. He held his sword in the left hand, his right, dutifully held behind his back.

  Once Varre felt he got close enough, he decided to try a surprise attack. He suddenly lunged forward, swiping downwards, aiming straight for the adventurer’s torso.

  The coach smiled. He easily moved his blade and blocked the attack. “Good. Again.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The king jumped back and repositioned. He attempted another attack.

  It was blocked just as easily. “Both hands. Try it as hard as you can!”

  Varre followed the suggestion. Forgetting the risk of a counterattack, he left himself wide open. Using both arms, he attempted an overhead swing at full power.

  Kerryn stopped it with just his left hand. “You’re a king, not some commoner! Enhance yourself!”

  “I don’t know how!” Varre protested.

  “Try! Recall the feeling.”

  The king did so. He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined the shimmering energies moving through his body. He tried to relax his muscles and concentrated on his breathing. Then, he felt himself twitch.

  “There you go!” Kerryn cheered him on, “try now!”

  Varre tried another overhead swing. This time, he put his entire soul into the blow. He yelled, releasing his frustration onto the blade.

  The adventurer held out his sword in turn. The weapons met, though for the first time, the king managed to move the opponent’s blade. Kerryn had to bend his elbow to absorb some of the force.

  “Good!” the coach congratulated his student, “that’s what I’m talking about! Now do it again!”

  Varre screamed again and repeated the motion.

  Unfortunately, though he might have finally achieved the enhanced state on his own, he only had enough energy to last for ten minutes. Suddenly, he felt himself deflate, mid swing. He gasped, surprised at the sudden change in strength. He had only undergone one day of training so far. He wasn’t sure if there was even any difference between his enhanced and his natural attributes. Still, he felt some change.

  Kerryn laughed boisterously once he blocked his opponent’s weakened sword. He finally showed his right arm and placed it on his student’s shoulder. “You did it! You finally enhanced yourself on your own Varre!”

  Even though he was tired, and frustrated with all of this training, the king had to smile at that. “It felt… weird,” he admitted.

  “It does. After all, your entire perception changes. You need to relearn your own strength, speed… everything is completely different! And don’t forget, you’re still new to this. Just wait until your enhanced attributes are several times higher than your natural form. Then you’ll really feel the difference!” the coach explained, excitedly.

  “I’ll take your word for it. Isn’t it a detriment to combat though?”

  “You’ll get used to it,” Kerryn said, “with enough training, you’ll be able to utilize both states to maximum effect.”

  “Did this earn me a break?” Varre suggested, hopeful.

  “It did. Go and grab yourself a drink.”

  The king turned to walk away, but he had a nefarious plan at hand. Instead of actually leaving, he used this temporary excuse to launch an unexpected attack at his teacher.

  Kerryn had to dodge backwards and frantically parry the blow. He made it, though just barely. To Varre’s frustration, he also kept the blade in his left hand the entire time.

  “You’re learning quickly,” the coach complimented, “the element of surprise is your best bet to defeat a stronger opponent. But I’m afraid you’ll need a little more training before you can beat me.”

  Varre shrugged. “Worth a shot. I’m still getting that drink though.”

  Kerryn did not object. Once the king was hydrated, he returned to his coach.

  “What happens now?” Varre asked, “I don’t think I can activate the enhanced state without any energy right?”

  “No. Now, we can learn some actual techniques!”

  Next, the retired adventurer walked his student through tons of exercises. He taught him some basic blows and blocks. He showed him how to hold the blade and how to move it efficiently through the air. In between each exercise, Varre got an opportunity to try them out in practice. He would try to attack Kerryn, or attempt to parry. The deal was still in place. If the king managed to land even a grazing hit on his teacher, the training would be over for the day.

  Finally, after hours of grueling training, Varre managed to pull it off. After a lengthy exchange of five blows, he managed to improvise a bit, switching to one of the more basic strikes he learned at the beginning.

  The swiped the blade low, aiming for Kerryn’s knees. That caught him off guard. Based on his lessons, Varre should have followed with a thrust instead. The adventurer quickly stepped back, but not far enough. The tip of the sword hit his thigh.

  “I did it!” the king yelled out, “I got you!”

  “Congratulations. You’ve done well today. Better than expected,” the teacher smiled proudly at his student, as he rubbed his hand against his pants. The wooden sword dirtied them a bit.

  “You know what that means don’t you?” Varre pointed at the coach, “that’s enough training for today! You better keep your word!”

  “I will, don’t worry about that. In fact, I think I have a surprise of my own.”

  The king followed Kerryn’s gaze and turned around. He saw Benjamin, bringing in a cart filled with food. It was getting pretty late, so it was definitely time for a meal.

  Varre wondered whether the adventurer allowed himself to get hit on purpose, just to let him have a small victory at the end, but frankly he didn’t care. He was far happier to finally be done with his training. His grumbling stomach also wanted a break.

  The king launched himself at the chair and started devouring the food, before the chamberlain was even finished setting it up.

  “I see today’s session really tired your majesty out,” Benjamin said with a warm smile.

  “You can say that again! I even managed to enhance myself!” Varre said, while ripping a piece of bread out a sizeable loaf.

  “Well done!” the chamberlain replied, “Kerryn told me he didn’t expect you to achieve that for another few days at least.”

  “He’s a quick learner,” the coach cut-in, “we still have years of progress we need to make up, but if this is the pace I can expect from Varre… I think we’ll achieve that before I retire!”

  Varre rolled his eyes. “I’ll make you eat those words. It’s just a matter of time until I beat you for real!”

  “I’m looking forward to it!” Kerryn laughed, “first, you’ll need to defeat my base form. Once you can do that, we will see how you fare against my enhanced state.”

  The king frowned. The realization that the coach hadn’t even used most of his power lowered his spirit a bit.

  “Don’t get me wrong! What you’ve done here today was still impressive. Most people take days, or even weeks before they learn how to enhance themselves,” the retired adventurer quickly added, “personally, it took me two weeks. If you keep going at this rate… I’ll be out of a job soon!”

  Varre smiled at that. Still, his stomach was still rumbling. He turned back to the food. Kerryn packed up his equipment, then bid the monarch goodbye.

  “I’m glad that that’s over with,” the king stretched, “I’m looking forward to a nice hot bath. It’s so nice to finally have a day where I can finish early.”

  Benjamin awkwardly cleared his throat. “I’ll make sure the bath will be ready for you, but I’m afraid it’s not the end just yet, your majesty.”

  Varre sighed. “What is it now?”

  “Well,” the chamberlain awkwardly rubbed his neck, “fortunately you do not need to train with master Lora today, but there is still the session with Court Mage Tobias.”

  “Of course there is. At least my muscles will get some rest. Well, where is he then?”

  “About that... Before you meet him, there is someone here to meet you,” Benjamin replied mysteriously.

  The chamberlain stepped back. Varre was now able to get a better look at the doorway leading out of the courtyard. He saw two familiar faces waving towards him. Zarkon’s apprentices, Jury and Perry were here to see him.

  He hadn’t seen them since the coronation. The last interaction he’s had with the old wizard was through Benjamin, when they met to investigate the poison. Varre had no doubt, that there could only be one reason they’d need to see him so soon afterwards. They must have had some critical information. Something that couldn’t be revealed too early, not even during the council meeting.

  Was it due to his high luck?

  Or did Kerryn simply allow him this small victory?