Dirin was going to go over to Markus to spar with him, but he saw that he was partnered with someone who was using a Warhammer. Dirin was going to go look for someone else, but before he could, someone tapped his shoulder.
Dirin turned around to see who it was and saw someone with a longsword that was wrapped with leather, and wearing the same pads as Dirin. He was taller than Dirin and had a lean build. He had the longsword held and pointed to the side, not to hit someone by accident. "Do you have anyone to spar with?" Dirin shook his head no, which caused the man to breathe out a bit. "Thank goodness. I couldn't find anyone to spar with. I'm Ritchard."
"Dirin. Do we spar here or go somewhere else away from the stands?" Dirin asked.
"I'd say somewhere over there. Maybe closer to the edge?" Ritchard pointed with the tip of the longsword as he started making his way over with Dirin following behind him. Once they were there, Ritchard put some space between them with a couple of steps back. "Countdown?"
Dirin nodded, and Ritchard started to count down from ten. Dirin was prepared for an assault immediately, but found that both of them were standing still after zero. Ritchard took a small step forward, making sure to keep his footing as he approached. He swung down with a large reach towards Dirin's shoulder.
Dirin didn't have any background in fighting at all and could only bring up the quarterstaff quick enough to stop the sword from hitting his shoulder, but a small part of the quarterstaff hit it instead, and it was a much lighter hit than what Ritchard was going to do. Dirin took a quick step back as he tried to regain some breathing room, but Ritchard took another step forward and swung at his side this time.
Still trying to gain his footing again, Dirin was too slow on blocking the hit and took it to the side, causing him to fall. His side was aching, and he could tell a bruise was going to form, but the padding and the leather on the longsword, the pain wasn't too much for him to handle.
As he got up, he let out a small groan of pain as he held one of his hands to the side before putting it back on his quarterstaff. "Do you want to attack, and I block this time?" Ritchard asked, causing Dirin to nod immediately.
Ritchard adjusted his footing this time and held his weapon in front of him this time and making no move towards Dirin. Dirin took a couple of deep breaths as he slowly approached and was about to strike down with it, but the professor stopped him by grabbing it. Dirin found himself unable to even budge the staff as he looked back and finally noticed the professor.
"You shouldn't swing like that, and you're standing like you have a sword." The professor let go of the quarterstaff before adjusting Dirin's hand placements and his footing. "Left foot in front and right foot behind. Too wide. Hold the staff with your thumbs going towards each other." Dirin did as he said and found the hand placement a little awkward, but he didn't argue about something he didn't know anything about.
"When attacking, you moved everything at once when it should go with your weapon, then your body. You moved both hands together when you were swinging down, but one of them should be used as a pivot. For now, aim for the temple of his head. Don't worry about hurting him since that is the goal, but he does have a helmet on for safety."
The professor took up another quarterstaff and demonstrated how Dirin should attack. "Don't strike down but come from the side instead. If he blocks it, you can follow up by shifting your hands to attack with the other side on the other temple. Practice it for a bit while I go correct his form." The professor went over to Ritchard and started talking to him.
Despite how close they were, Dirin couldn't hear anything they were saying. Probably something to do with his abilities, then? Dirin stopped trying to overhear anything and practiced the movement a bit. It was awkward at first, but he got used to it the more he did it. He looked over at Markus, who was simply trading hits with his partner. It looked like he got help before him and also practiced a couple of swings.
The professor walked back over to Dirin. "I remember that you were also getting overwhelmed easily by simple swings. If he thrusted a bit, I would understand, but thankfully, you're just a beginner, so I'll leave it at that. Widen your hands to both ends for a stronger block and keep a firm footing on the ground. I see a kid over there who needs desperate help, so I'll go over there and check on him. Be safe."
After that, Dirin approached Ritchard and saw him performing a couple of blocking techniques. So, he gets to learn how to block before he is hit, but I get hit, then learn how to block! The bruise on my side is proof of unfairness. Dirin sighed and regretted not being a little slower in agreeing to spare Ritchard.
After a couple of minutes, Richard went into a different stance with his longsword angled a little lower than last time and his feet wider apart. "Ready?" Dirin asked as he got into position as well. Ritchard nodded, and Dirin took a step forward.
It was still Dirin's turn to attack, so he wasn't worried about getting a little closer. When he was sure that Ritchard was within his reach, he swung his quarterstaff using his left hand as the pivot and took a step forward. Ritchard raised his sword slightly and took a small step back with his right foot, keeping his left foot in place.
The moment that the quarterstaff made contact with the longsword, Dirin slid his hands towards the other side while taking a step forward again and used the other end and hit Ritchard on the temple. It wasn't a light hit and made a loud thud while Ritchard's head shook slightly. Dirin could've gotten a better hit, but switching ends was still a little awkward for him.
"Okay," Ritchard said while taking a small pause. "Maybe we should go back to regular sparing. I had more fun with that."
Dirin was quite confident about not doing well with regular sparing, but he agreed. They both stood a little bit away from each other, and Ritchard led the countdown. Once at zero, both of them took a step forward. Ritchard had a wide stance as he swung his sword towards Dirin's leg.
After taking a step back to avoid getting hit, Dirin moved his quarterstaff while taking a step forward, hoping to hit Ritchard, but missed because Ritchard also took a step back. Dirin tried to follow up with another strike, but Ritchard had his sword up and blocked it.
Dirin was going to do the same thing he did before, but Ritchard took a step forward and drove his shoulder into Dirin's chest, causing him to stumble backward. Ritchard then followed it up by raising the longsword and thrusted it towards Dirin's left peck. Dirin was still trying to recover from the shoulder bash and didn't even see the thrust, causing it to land with little effort.
Dirin fell on the ground butt first. "Okay... you win. You win." Dirin was breathing heavily, and so was Ritchard to a lesser extent. "Let's take a little break, please."
After they agreed to take a little break, they both took their helmets off. Ritchard had dark black hair and a sharp face. He had brown eyes that narrowed as he watched other people spar and rest. He had warm skin that was starting to show a tan.
After a bit of rest, the professor opened a cooler and offered everyone water. Dirin took the water bottle and took a big sip. The water was cool and made him feel better quickly. He was going to remain silent and catch his breath before starting to spar again, but Ritchard asked him, "So, are you just going to learn the quarterstaff? I plan on learning every weapon here myself."
"I plan on doing that as well. Want to split the load in half, and we just tell each other how the other half works? Only for learning, though, and not for practice. I'll still need to practice them." Dirin offered, as he was desperately hoping to cut his workload by as much as he could.
"Sounds good to me. I could use as much help as I can get. I'm trying to learn aura as well as this, so getting to do less is probably much better for me anyway. Any way you want me to contact you?"
Dirin told him his number, which Ritchard repeated to himself. "If you're able to. Will you also send what you learn about aura as well? It would help me and could help you memorize it more easily."
"I feel like you're trying to benefit from my work." Ritchard smiled as he looked down at Dirin.
"We will benefit more if we work together, Ritchard." Ritchard was correct, but Dirin didn't want to admit it.
Ritchard finally agreed to it and sent everything that he knew currently to Dirin. Dirin read the text, and it was a lot more than what Ritchard could've learned during this short amount of time. He must've done something similar to me and practiced some things before coming to Falem. Dirin quickly pinned Ritchard in his messages and put his phone away. He was planning to read it tomorrow morning before he headed to his classes.
After a bit, Ritchard and Dirin kept sparing a bit, with Ritchard winning a majority of the time while Dirin only won a couple. It was now obvious as to why Ritchard was just better at sparing than him, so he wasn't as surprised whenever his attempts to attack got blocked or countered, but he did make sure to watch out for things other than his longsword now and then. This went on until the class was done and everyone was dismissed.
Markus met back up with Dirin as he waited at the edge of the sand. He was sweating, and his hair stuck to his forehead. He had a smile on as he looked at Dirin. "I think I figured some things out that can help with my path. If I can give specific weapons different enchantments that are more specialized to them, then I can make the enchantment stronger as well as the weapon."
Dirin was confused since that seemed like something everyone would know, but he smiled and nodded as he listened to Markus spout on more of what he had learned. If he learned something, then I guess it's good, regardless. This was the last class Dirin was planning on going to today and was now going to head home. That was until his phone buzzed with a message from Tillie.