I called my Pledge and swung it back and forth, “okay,” I stopped and eyed Lucille, she stared back, “what I’m going to be teaching you isn’t proper combat practice so usually, we won’t spar or anything like that but since your friends still aren’t here, I think we should start this whole thing by teaching you about something that I like to call kiting,”
“Kiting?..” Lucille looked down at her pledge in unconfidence, “what’s that?”
“It’s basically you going near a monster, attacking it, and then leaving just as it’s about to fight back,” I explained as best as I could but I felt that my point didn’t come across all that well so I simplified it even more, “basically a hit and run tactic,”
Lucille’s expression went from a frown to something more confident and eager, she nodded, “got it,”
I smiled, “you look like you know how to do it,”
“Sort of?” She replied, “I know that I can hit once and then run away from a monster that can easily kill me if that’s what you’re asking?”
“It’s close,” I nodded, it was a solid theory overall and most assassins would have done exactly that; hitting a vital spot and then running away but that’s not what I want to teach her.
“But also not really,” I looked around, curious if Zyra and the rest were done changing and saw that the field around us was still empty, good, guess I still have time to verbally explain how kiting works to Lucille, “monsters have… a set-” yeah videogame terms aren’t going to work here, “well it’s hard to explain but essentially, you can attack a certain number of times before monsters hit you back,”
“How?..”
“Good question,” I said.
“And to answer that, you’re going to have to look at their size,” this was a mechanic ingame that, arguably, is kind of hidden but also not really because all it takes to learn what it is, is a single skim through the monsterpedia, “think about it like this- smallest monster that can be found out in the world is 3 feet tall,”
Lucille nodded at me, I continued, “monsters like Pygmies, Giant Rats, Hounds, Giant Insects, and the like are a part of this category and the important thing to know here is that if they’re small, then they either attack really quickly or have some special ability that can take down things bigger than them,”
“I don’t follow?” Lucille’s confused expression twisted my smile slightly.
“Right, well, uhm… think of it like this- wait, do you know what evolution is?” I asked.
“That the monsters have strayed far from the Goddess’ designs?”
“Something like that,” eh, it’s close enough, “well, to go by your point, monsters changed because of something called adaptation,”
Lucille nodded slowly and since she didn’t say that she didn’t get it, I assumed that she knew what I was talking about so I kept going, “and this happens depending on their environment and what a monster is,”
I looked up at the sky, okay, I feel like I lost myself in that explanation, let alone Lucille, how do I simplify this?..
I shook my head, well, I guess there’s no point in explaining evolution itself…
“Okay, so that was a bit complicated so just think of it like this- if a monster is small, then they’re going to figure out a way to kill things bigger than them so they can eat, and these are either staying in large groups like Pygmies, or, in the case of some insects, like the Purple Centipede, it’s poison,”
“I think I understand- you’re saying that they can still bring us down even if they’re small?”
I nodded, “yeah, and you’re probably wondering why I’m explaining this to you,” Lucille returned my nod, “and that’s because you need to watch for this kind of thing when you’re kiting,”
Honestly, I had strayed from the topic of kiting a few sentences back but it’s fine, I’ll get it back on track, probably, “for example, take a look at the first monster you fought; the Grisly Spider.”
I bit back a wince at my stupidity of using a pseudo-mini-boss as an example- but it was already too late, I already used it as an example.
And I mean- it’s not like it isn’t a good one? Grisly Spiders are considered to be pseudo mini-bosses because they have a lot of stuns in their arsenal, and even though their attacks can be easily dodged but if it lands, then expect your health bar to go down in half.
“Uh… it has several abilities that you need to dodge but you can, technically, time them,” okay, I’m back on track, I think? “And to do that, you need to know that a Grisly Spider only shoots its webbing when it has the time to form in its mouth,”
“So running around and wasting time is a bad idea?” Lucille asked and I snapped my fingers at her.
“Exactly!” I confirmed, “you spend most of the fight fighting the spider so that it doesn’t have the time to form webbing inside of its mouth and shoot it at you,” I raised my Pledge, “and the term I refer to that is stun locking,”
“What?”
“Okay, I’m using the Grisly Spider as an example again- that particular monster can let out a screech right?”
“Wait- I get it, uhm, if the spider can make my head spin with its screech over and over again, then I won’t be able to do anything right?”
“Right, that’s exactly the point,” my grin widened, man, having such a smart student is such a blessing.
“Well, technically the spider won’t be able to screech again for a while after it does that attack so it can’t stun you repeatedly or even keep you in that state unless there’s a lot of them however-” I swung my Pledge, “- a smart Slayer can get them to not shoot their webbing,”
I knew worded that wrong but thankfully, Lucille understood regardless, if her nod is to go by, “the spider can’t do that but what you’re saying is that if I keep attacking, the spider won’t be able to shoot out its web,”
“Correct,” I nodded, “good job on figuring that out, now, to continue, I’m going to add that just attacking the spider over and over again is a bad idea, why? Because it will retaliate and worse, possibly kill you, and that is where kiting comes in,”
I hummed, that was a good transition right? I watched Lucille’s expression for any confusion and found none, great!
“It’s worth noting that Grisly Spiders will attack no matter what once they get going however, that’s a benefit to you than it is for them because you can, if you’re fast enough, do a simple pattern of attack which is; you go in and attack them, wait for them to retaliate, and then, you dash away as they attack before moving to the spider’s blindspot, which is usually their sides,”
“I’ll remember that,” Lucille slowly nodded.
“I know you will,” I encouraged with a soft smile, “but continuing on, when the spider turns to you, just continue attacking, hit one of its eyes maybe,” I know that sort of thing is now possible since this isn’t a game anymore, “and when it attacks you again, you dash away and repeat the process, that’s called kiting,”
I smiled sheepishly, “I know that I said this is similar to hit and runs, and what I just told you is to get close to the spider and just attack but it’s similar right?”
Lucille, a girl who’s thankfully smart enough to understand my explanation even when it’s clearly lackluster, nodded, “yeah, they’re similar and I think I can pull it off easily,”
“Good,” I nodded, “and I want to talk about the different sizes of monsters and how the speed of their attacks are affected by it but for now, let’s discuss the last and most important part of kiting,”
I stared out of the field again and found no signs of her teammates, “monsters, after receiving enough damage, will eventually go berserk, and this state of theirs can take in a variety of different forms, for Dire Wolves they go faster and stronger, for Pygmies they get speedier and if they’re still in a group, would even back away from you to heal,”
I continued my explanation, “and then for Grisly Spiders, they would…
“Fire their webbing rapidly,” Lucille guessed correctly, most likely because she got to experience it firsthand.
“Yes, but also release a much more powerful version of their shriek right after,” I added, “and you need to watch out for this state in particular when fighting monsters because no matter how good you are at kiting, your flow will break when a monster goes berserk,”
“Make sure to watch out for when a monster goes berserk, alright, got it,”
“Good- and I guess your friends are here,” I pointed to our right where Yhaine and Zyra- who were wearing a simple white T-shirt and orange pants, - could be seen walking to where we were, “I’ll cut this off here since I already taught those two what kiting is, for now, let’s just wait and I’ll start the explanation for the exercise that I want you guys to do,”
Minutes later, Zyra and Yhaine reached us, I greeted them with a wave and started the explanation for the exercise they were going to do, “thank you all three for coming,” I paced back and forth in front of them, “today I’m going to teach you three how to properly spot the markings of different monsters,”
Zyra reached her hand out, “won’t these be taught in our monster class?”
“Yep!” I confirmed, “but that’ll take a while and since you three are going to hunt this weekend, we’re going to have to rush this particular topic,”
“Ok, fine, guess that makes sense,” Zyra murmured in reply before staying silent.
“Great! Now, to start, I went and decided that if you guys are going to learn how to spot monster marks, then it’s better to learn it directly,” I stopped and stared all three girls down, “so with that being said-” I pointed my Pledge to the forest located to my left, “- I went on and created various marks in there, and what you are going to do is this: find them all.”
“Rather obvious,” Yhaine stretched, “but it also sounds kinda easy doesn’t it?” I only grinned when she looked at me for an answer, “ok?.. Fine, you can pretend like this is a big deal but we’re going to do this easily,”
“I hope so,” I shrugged and stepped aside, I gestured towards the forest, “well? You can start now, and the exercise ends either when night falls or when you find all of the markings,”
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” Zyra’s casual stride made me feel like she was treating this exercise as easy and when her two other friends followed with their own confident expressions and movements, I only smiled.
They’ll learn how hard spotting marks for beginners is soon enough.
When all three of them disappeared, I activated Maximum Speed and blitzed towards the shed where my team was staying at.
When I arrived, all three girls eyed me curiously, I nodded at them.
“Guess they started huh?..” Laceresta leaned back with a grin on her face, “it’s sad that there aren’t any “monsters” this time around but I can wait,”
“Are you saying you’re excited to beat up a bunch of fledglings?” Fafnir chided with a shake of her head, “you should be better than that,”
“What? I’m just saying that this is kind of exciting, well, what’s going to happen is kind of exciting I mean,” she shrugged, “I can’t help it, acting like an Amazoness to train them sounds fun,”
I took a seat next to the Lioness and grabbed a cup of tea that Zyra placed in front of me, “it’s not like it’s going to be a fight anyways,” I added my two cents, “since Lucille and her team are still new, and not to mention, their reservoir is pretty small compared to ours,”
“All good points,” Fafnir nodded, “still though, when are we going to combine our lessons?”
“Two weeks from now maybe?” I hummed in thought, “maybe after a month? A month of basics sounds good right?”
“We’re not really in a rush so yeah, maybe,” Laceresta agreed, “a month it is then,”
“By then I’m sure that they’ll be a lot more experienced so can I say something?” We all nodded at Zath, “isn’t it better if we teach them like that only after a week of lessons?”
“You’re saying that we should push them harder?” Laceresta tilted her head.
“No, I’m saying that it’s more efficient timewise for us to rush that kind of teaching, after all, the month that we plan on teaching them the basics will be cut into several parts per week no?” We all nodded, “ and that’s why it takes so long, because we’re going to dedicate days to our own individual lessons,”
“But if we teach them together now…” I trailed off, chewing on what Zath was trying to say, and she had a good point.
I tapped the table, “... if we teach them together now, we’d be able to compress our time tables and since things are going to be harder for them, they’d also get more experience? I guess?”
“But then that would mean that we’re going to spend entire afternoons simply teaching them right?” Fafnir pointed out to the nod of everyone else.
“I can verbally teach them how to pitch their tent and camp during lunch or during our free time in between classes?” Zath suggested.
“Good idea,” the Dragon nodded, “and I can also teach them how to manipulate Light when they stay at the suite every night,”
“I’m pretty sure that Lucille and the rest said that they wanted to occasionally spend nights in their dorms,” I shook my head at Fafnir’s suggestion, I wanted her to respect Lucille and co’s wants for privacy and I kind of get it, having sleepovers every single day just sounded exhausting.
“I agree, but it’s better to give them space,” I added.
“I understand,” Fafnir backed down, “then I’ll teach them alongside Zathania during the day then,”
“It’s also better if we grade them at the end of each exercise,” my maid added.
“That’s a good idea!” I said excitedly, “grading them on their performance is actually a very good idea,” I repeated, wondering why I hadn’t thought of that, “ok, so I’m not going to grade them today-” Zath snorted and I grinned, I’m too lazy to grade them right now, I’ll admit that much, “- I’ll only tell them about it,”
Laceresta spoke, “so we’re grading them, then that means I also have to do it right?”
Fafnir nodded at the Lioness, “yes,”
“I don’t think I can do that,” she rebuked.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because… well, how do you even grade fighting us?” Her hand went around to gesture at everyone, “we’re so much stronger than them it’s sad to think about,”
“It’s better if we give it points I think,” I told them my idea, “like you know, sports?”
Zath looked at me, “Hm, a simple system like that is effective so good point, and I assume the point system goes from 1 to 10?”
“1 to 10 yeah,” I repeated Zath’s suggestion, “so that’s how we’re going to do things then, next Monday they’re going to fight Laceresta once they find enough “clues” from her marks?”
“Yep,” the Lioness answered, her lips curling into a feral grin, “and they’re going to learn how to fight a monster that’s going to beat them down with all its might,”
I sighed, “please go easy on them,”
I called my Pledge and swung it back and forth, “okay,” I stopped and eyed Lucille, she stared back, “what I’m going to be teaching you isn’t proper combat practice so usually, we won’t spar or anything like that but since your friends still aren’t here, I think we should start this whole thing by teaching you about something that I like to call kiting,”
“Kiting?..” Lucille looked down at her pledge in unconfidence, “what’s that?”
“It’s basically you going near a monster, attacking it, and then leaving just as it’s about to fight back,” I explained as best as I could but I felt that my point didn’t come across all that well so I simplified it even more, “basically a hit and run tactic,”
Lucille’s expression went from a frown to something more confident and eager, she nodded, “got it,”
I smiled, “you look like you know how to do it,”
“Sort of?” She replied, “I know that I can hit once and then run away from a monster that can easily kill me if that’s what you’re asking?”
“It’s close,” I nodded, it was a solid theory overall and most assassins would have done exactly that; hitting a vital spot and then running away but that’s not what I want to teach her.
“But also not really,” I looked around, curious if Zyra and the rest were done changing and saw that the field around us was still empty, good, guess I still have time to verbally explain how kiting works to Lucille, “monsters have… a set-” yeah videogame terms aren’t going to work here, “well it’s hard to explain but essentially, you can attack a certain number of times before monsters hit you back,”
“How?..”
“Good question,” I said.
“And to answer that, you’re going to have to look at their size,” this was a mechanic ingame that, arguably, is kind of hidden but also not really because all it takes to learn what it is, is a single skim through the monsterpedia, “think about it like this- smallest monster that can be found out in the world is 3 feet tall,”
Lucille nodded at me, I continued, “monsters like Pygmies, Giant Rats, Hounds, Giant Insects, and the like are a part of this category and the important thing to know here is that if they’re small, then they either attack really quickly or have some special ability that can take down things bigger than them,”
“I don’t follow?” Lucille’s confused expression twisted my smile slightly.
“Right, well, uhm… think of it like this- wait, do you know what evolution is?” I asked.
“That the monsters have strayed far from the Goddess’ designs?”
“Something like that,” eh, it’s close enough, “well, to go by your point, monsters changed because of something called adaptation,”
Lucille nodded slowly and since she didn’t say that she didn’t get it, I assumed that she knew what I was talking about so I kept going, “and this happens depending on their environment and what a monster is,”
I looked up at the sky, okay, I feel like I lost myself in that explanation, let alone Lucille, how do I simplify this?..
I shook my head, well, I guess there’s no point in explaining evolution itself…
“Okay, so that was a bit complicated so just think of it like this- if a monster is small, then they’re going to figure out a way to kill things bigger than them so they can eat, and these are either staying in large groups like Pygmies, or, in the case of some insects, like the Purple Centipede, it’s poison,”
“I think I understand- you’re saying that they can still bring us down even if they’re small?”
I nodded, “yeah, and you’re probably wondering why I’m explaining this to you,” Lucille returned my nod, “and that’s because you need to watch for this kind of thing when you’re kiting,”
Honestly, I had strayed from the topic of kiting a few sentences back but it’s fine, I’ll get it back on track, probably, “for example, take a look at the first monster you fought; the Grisly Spider.”
I bit back a wince at my stupidity of using a pseudo-mini-boss as an example- but it was already too late, I already used it as an example.
And I mean- it’s not like it isn’t a good one? Grisly Spiders are considered to be pseudo mini-bosses because they have a lot of stuns in their arsenal, and even though their attacks can be easily dodged but if it lands, then expect your health bar to go down in half.
“Uh… it has several abilities that you need to dodge but you can, technically, time them,” okay, I’m back on track, I think? “And to do that, you need to know that a Grisly Spider only shoots its webbing when it has the time to form in its mouth,”
“So running around and wasting time is a bad idea?” Lucille asked and I snapped my fingers at her.
“Exactly!” I confirmed, “you spend most of the fight fighting the spider so that it doesn’t have the time to form webbing inside of its mouth and shoot it at you,” I raised my Pledge, “and the term I refer to that is stun locking,”
“What?”
“Okay, I’m using the Grisly Spider as an example again- that particular monster can let out a screech right?”
“Wait- I get it, uhm, if the spider can make my head spin with its screech over and over again, then I won’t be able to do anything right?”
“Right, that’s exactly the point,” my grin widened, man, having such a smart student is such a blessing.
“Well, technically the spider won’t be able to screech again for a while after it does that attack so it can’t stun you repeatedly or even keep you in that state unless there’s a lot of them however-” I swung my Pledge, “- a smart Slayer can get them to not shoot their webbing,”
I knew worded that wrong but thankfully, Lucille understood regardless, if her nod is to go by, “the spider can’t do that but what you’re saying is that if I keep attacking, the spider won’t be able to shoot out its web,”
“Correct,” I nodded, “good job on figuring that out, now, to continue, I’m going to add that just attacking the spider over and over again is a bad idea, why? Because it will retaliate and worse, possibly kill you, and that is where kiting comes in,”
I hummed, that was a good transition right? I watched Lucille’s expression for any confusion and found none, great!
“It’s worth noting that Grisly Spiders will attack no matter what once they get going however, that’s a benefit to you than it is for them because you can, if you’re fast enough, do a simple pattern of attack which is; you go in and attack them, wait for them to retaliate, and then, you dash away as they attack before moving to the spider’s blindspot, which is usually their sides,”
“I’ll remember that,” Lucille slowly nodded.
“I know you will,” I encouraged with a soft smile, “but continuing on, when the spider turns to you, just continue attacking, hit one of its eyes maybe,” I know that sort of thing is now possible since this isn’t a game anymore, “and when it attacks you again, you dash away and repeat the process, that’s called kiting,”
I smiled sheepishly, “I know that I said this is similar to hit and runs, and what I just told you is to get close to the spider and just attack but it’s similar right?”
Lucille, a girl who’s thankfully smart enough to understand my explanation even when it’s clearly lackluster, nodded, “yeah, they’re similar and I think I can pull it off easily,”
“Good,” I nodded, “and I want to talk about the different sizes of monsters and how the speed of their attacks are affected by it but for now, let’s discuss the last and most important part of kiting,”
I stared out of the field again and found no signs of her teammates, “monsters, after receiving enough damage, will eventually go berserk, and this state of theirs can take in a variety of different forms, for Dire Wolves they go faster and stronger, for Pygmies they get speedier and if they’re still in a group, would even back away from you to heal,”
I continued my explanation, “and then for Grisly Spiders, they would…
“Fire their webbing rapidly,” Lucille guessed correctly, most likely because she got to experience it firsthand.
“Yes, but also release a much more powerful version of their shriek right after,” I added, “and you need to watch out for this state in particular when fighting monsters because no matter how good you are at kiting, your flow will break when a monster goes berserk,”
“Make sure to watch out for when a monster goes berserk, alright, got it,”
“Good- and I guess your friends are here,” I pointed to our right where Yhaine and Zyra- who were wearing a simple white T-shirt and orange pants, - could be seen walking to where we were, “I’ll cut this off here since I already taught those two what kiting is, for now, let’s just wait and I’ll start the explanation for the exercise that I want you guys to do,”
Minutes later, Zyra and Yhaine reached us, I greeted them with a wave and started the explanation for the exercise they were going to do, “thank you all three for coming,” I paced back and forth in front of them, “today I’m going to teach you three how to properly spot the markings of different monsters,”
Zyra reached her hand out, “won’t these be taught in our monster class?”
“Yep!” I confirmed, “but that’ll take a while and since you three are going to hunt this weekend, we’re going to have to rush this particular topic,”
“Ok, fine, guess that makes sense,” Zyra murmured in reply before staying silent.
“Great! Now, to start, I went and decided that if you guys are going to learn how to spot monster marks, then it’s better to learn it directly,” I stopped and stared all three girls down, “so with that being said-” I pointed my Pledge to the forest located to my left, “- I went on and created various marks in there, and what you are going to do is this: find them all.”
“Rather obvious,” Yhaine stretched, “but it also sounds kinda easy doesn’t it?” I only grinned when she looked at me for an answer, “ok?.. Fine, you can pretend like this is a big deal but we’re going to do this easily,”
“I hope so,” I shrugged and stepped aside, I gestured towards the forest, “well? You can start now, and the exercise ends either when night falls or when you find all of the markings,”
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” Zyra’s casual stride made me feel like she was treating this exercise as easy and when her two other friends followed with their own confident expressions and movements, I only smiled.
They’ll learn how hard spotting marks for beginners is soon enough.
When all three of them disappeared, I activated Maximum Speed and blitzed towards the shed where my team was staying at.
When I arrived, all three girls eyed me curiously, I nodded at them.
“Guess they started huh?..” Laceresta leaned back with a grin on her face, “it’s sad that there aren’t any “monsters” this time around but I can wait,”
“Are you saying you’re excited to beat up a bunch of fledglings?” Fafnir chided with a shake of her head, “you should be better than that,”
“What? I’m just saying that this is kind of exciting, well, what’s going to happen is kind of exciting I mean,” she shrugged, “I can’t help it, acting like an Amazoness to train them sounds fun,”
I took a seat next to the Lioness and grabbed a cup of tea that Zyra placed in front of me, “it’s not like it’s going to be a fight anyways,” I added my two cents, “since Lucille and her team are still new, and not to mention, their reservoir is pretty small compared to ours,”
“All good points,” Fafnir nodded, “still though, when are we going to combine our lessons?”
“Two weeks from now maybe?” I hummed in thought, “maybe after a month? A month of basics sounds good right?”
“We’re not really in a rush so yeah, maybe,” Laceresta agreed, “a month it is then,”
“By then I’m sure that they’ll be a lot more experienced so can I say something?” We all nodded at Zath, “isn’t it better if we teach them like that only after a week of lessons?”
“You’re saying that we should push them harder?” Laceresta tilted her head.
“No, I’m saying that it’s more efficient timewise for us to rush that kind of teaching, after all, the month that we plan on teaching them the basics will be cut into several parts per week no?” We all nodded, “ and that’s why it takes so long, because we’re going to dedicate days to our own individual lessons,”
“But if we teach them together now…” I trailed off, chewing on what Zath was trying to say, and she had a good point.
I tapped the table, “... if we teach them together now, we’d be able to compress our time tables and since things are going to be harder for them, they’d also get more experience? I guess?”
“But then that would mean that we’re going to spend entire afternoons simply teaching them right?” Fafnir pointed out to the nod of everyone else.
“I can verbally teach them how to pitch their tent and camp during lunch or during our free time in between classes?” Zath suggested.
“Good idea,” the Dragon nodded, “and I can also teach them how to manipulate Light when they stay at the suite every night,”
“I’m pretty sure that Lucille and the rest said that they wanted to occasionally spend nights in their dorms,” I shook my head at Fafnir’s suggestion, I wanted her to respect Lucille and co’s wants for privacy and I kind of get it, having sleepovers every single day just sounded exhausting.
“I agree, but it’s better to give them space,” I added.
“I understand,” Fafnir backed down, “then I’ll teach them alongside Zathania during the day then,”
“It’s also better if we grade them at the end of each exercise,” my maid added.
“That’s a good idea!” I said excitedly, “grading them on their performance is actually a very good idea,” I repeated, wondering why I hadn’t thought of that, “ok, so I’m not going to grade them today-” Zath snorted and I grinned, I’m too lazy to grade them right now, I’ll admit that much, “- I’ll only tell them about it,”
Laceresta spoke, “so we’re grading them, then that means I also have to do it right?”
Fafnir nodded at the Lioness, “yes,”
“I don’t think I can do that,” she rebuked.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because… well, how do you even grade fighting us?” Her hand went around to gesture at everyone, “we’re so much stronger than them it’s sad to think about,”
“It’s better if we give it points I think,” I told them my idea, “like you know, sports?”
Zath looked at me, “Hm, a simple system like that is effective so good point, and I assume the point system goes from 1 to 10?”
“1 to 10 yeah,” I repeated Zath’s suggestion, “so that’s how we’re going to do things then, next Monday they’re going to fight Laceresta once they find enough “clues” from her marks?”
“Yep,” the Lioness answered, her lips curling into a feral grin, “and they’re going to learn how to fight a monster that’s going to beat them down with all its might,”
I sighed, “please go easy on them,”
