[German Swordsmanship Manual]
[Stage 1 Training Quest]
[Master 4 basic stances (Ochs–Vom Tag–Pflug–Alber)]
[Proficiency 95/100]
[Basic stance correction]
[Reward — 500 points, 500 copper coins]
Whew, anyway, after consistently practicing the basic stances, I had reached 95. At 100, I'd move to the next stage, right? It clearly said Stage 1 basic training quest. I had Hans start by swinging a wooden sword 100 times rather than a real sword.
"Ugh, I'm dying!" Hans wheezed.
He was groaning from continuously using muscles he normally didn't use, but that was something he had to push through. Still, it wasn't lonely since we were training together rather than alone.
"Huff, huff. 100 times! I'm done."
"Good job. You have to do this every day, so brace yourself."
"What?! Every day?"
"Yeah. We'll call it a day with this, so go home."
"Th-thank you. I'll see you tomorrow, Wolfgang!"
Look at him groaning like he was dying but then sprinting away the moment I told him to go home. That meant he still had energy to spare. I needed to work him harder until he couldn't even manage a goodbye. Anyway, I lit a candle in the front yard where darkness had fallen and took my stance. I planned to finish Stage 1 today.
Ochs, the stance that naturally emerges the moment you draw the longsword's long blade upward. The sword tip points toward the opponent's face and is effective for defense. However, it's disadvantageous for offense.
Vom Tag, a stance for downward cuts. The most offensive stance, characterized by the ability to flow into various cutting attacks. It was also the stance I'd use most.
Pflug, a preparatory stance for raising the sword tip to thrust at the opponent. It can be used to gauge distance or as a feint. Similar to chudan-no-kamae in kendo, or slightly lower. Low priority.
Alber, a stance that lowers the sword tip downward to expose the upper body. This stance is meant to lull the opponent into a false sense of security before finishing them with a fatal counterattack.
After refining these four basic stances, I could now automatically assume the stance as soon as I drew the longsword. The system's influence played a part, but I had also practiced diligently, as if engraving it into my body.
Since it was simple stance practice, it was very repetitive and tedious, but to make it come out instinctively, I absolutely couldn't afford to train half-heartedly. I was a knight who knew nothing about swordsmanship, and if I wanted to grow further, I absolutely couldn't neglect this sword training.
[Stage 1 Training Quest Complete]
[500 points, 500 copper coins awarded]
Finally, the quest was complete.
And I immediately moved to Stage 2.
[Stage 2 Training Quest]
[Refine 5 Meisterhau (Scheitelhau–Zornhau–Schielhau–Zwerchhau–Krumphau)]
[Basic stance correction]
[Proficiency 0/100]
[Reward — 1,000 points, 1 silver coin]
With the longsword my father (Aseldorf) had left me—a man I couldn't even remember—I was finally learning attack techniques. The game called Medieval Knight dealt with the life of medieval knights and was a genre-blending title popular worldwide, but it couldn't be called a game with perfect historical accuracy.
For example, looking at the combat system, motions differed by weapon, but it was a stretch to call them authentic martial arts from medieval times. If German swordsmanship had been implemented when I was playing, even if I didn't know it in detail, I would have at least recognized it, wouldn't I?
From starting with Ochs to reaching Alber, these were stances I'd never seen before in my life, so they felt quite foreign when I first practiced them. Fortunately, with the help of basic stance correction, I could now execute them flawlessly, because the stance was immediately corrected as soon as I drew the longsword.
In that sense, this world built on Medieval Knight seemed to be one that filled in the gaps the game had left. Or perhaps the being called the operator had created the more perfect world I had unconsciously wished for.
What kind of existence the operator was, I had no idea.
So I couldn't afford to dwell deeply on thoughts about them.
Can you hold water in a sieve? Some things are simply beyond grasp.
It had taken me a month to learn the four foundational stances of the German Swordsmanship Manual. Realistically, would it make sense for someone like me, who didn't know the first thing about swordsmanship, to learn them in such a short time? Without the system's help, who knows how many years it would have taken.
In that sense, I couldn't fully appreciate how fortunate I was to have this transcendent helper by my side.
Thanks to the system, I could safely adapt without falling into despair in the world of Medieval Knight.
It was painful and worrying that I could never see my family again, but what could I do? People can't live if they can't move forward. Sometimes I'd think of the home-cooked meals my mom used to make, buy this and that with points to eat, and wipe away tears, but each time I'd pull myself together.
Recently, I had been intensively practicing wrestling.
I'd heard somewhere that knights were actually masters of wrestling rather than swordsmanship. When knights fell during combat, they couldn't easily get back up. While you could run or climb wearing plate armor or chainmail, falling was a different matter entirely.
Knights who went down like that became easy prey. Soldiers carrying thin daggers would swarm the fallen knights and stab them through gaps in the armor to finish them off. So learning wrestling alongside swordsmanship was essential for me. Even if the fight wasn't decided by swordsmanship, I could take them down with wrestling.
So with the points I'd accumulated, I first purchased the Manager Scouter, then the Wrestling Manual. The Manager Scouter was essential for personnel management. I spent a total of 6,000 points.
I had spent most of my points, but I could earn them back.
Because I had an endless supply of repetitive quests.
[Wrestling Manual]
[Refine 5 techniques (arm bar–breaking down–tackle–leg sweep–throw)]
[Basic stance correction]
[Proficiency 0/100]
[Reward — 500 points, 500 copper coins]
Since German swordsmanship relied heavily on close-range cuts, wrestling was essential even for body-to-body engagement. As the description put it, you could call it a knight's fundamental skill. Various wrestling techniques existed, and methods like hooking the inner or outer leg to throw an opponent would be highly effective.
Anyway, since wrestling was hard to practice alone, naturally the sparring partner was Hans. I expected to struggle since Hans was bigger and stronger than me, but contrary to my expectations, I subdued him easily.
Hans was dumbfounded, and I was baffled too.
Was this guy going easy on me?
"Why are you so weak? Are you going easy on me?" I asked.
"Wolfgang is too strong! Your strength is incredible!"
"I can't believe it. Let's go again."
"A-again? Aaah!"