Forced to Change the Story

Abel arrived at the Hunter's Guild. Unlike his first visit, this time, he wasn't the least bit nervous to enter.

He walked in and headed to the last place he had met Kyle's group.

After walking for a few minutes, he spotted them again, chatting and laughing as if nothing had changed. He slowly approached, but before he could even get close, they noticed him.

"So, you decided to come back," Kyle said.

Abel nodded, feeling a little awkward, considering he had technically stolen Kyle's armor and had even planned to sell it along with the ring.

"What made you grow a pair?" Valerie asked, munching on some snacks.

"Vince managed to convince me. He gave me some good advice."

Valerie's jaw dropped. "Vince?!" she repeated, staring at Abel like she was waiting for a different answer. Each time Abel nodded, she echoed Vince's name again, as if the idea was simply too ridiculous to accept.

"They're similar in a way. Maybe that's why Vince did it. Anyway, I'm glad you decided to return," Jess said with a smile.

"By the way, I'm sorry for taking your armor and ring," Abel said, turning to Kyle.

"No worries. I couldn't care less about them." Kyle replied, but the group shot him a weird look the kind that said, Yeah, right.

They knew he was lying.

"Now that Abel's here, we can finally go back to the first floor," Vince announced.

The group got up and found a transportation vehicle. A few minutes later, they reached a teleportation circle and were already back on the first floor.

This time, Abel didn't throw up. He still felt weird, like his organs were out of place and slowly realigning inside his body.

As they walked, looking for a good place to set up camp, Vince gestured for Abel to join him at the back of the group.

"You chose to fight for yourself," Vince said, proud of Abel's willpower.

It wasn't easy to return to the same place that had left him paralyzed with fear and on the brink of death.

"Hearing how you went through something worse than what I did and still managed to fight… I figured I might as well fight to live," Abel explained.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Once they found an open area, they stopped.

"This is the perfect spot for us to train Abel," Kyle said, scanning the vast space.

"First things first—" Kyle started, but Abel interrupted.

"I just want you guys to know that I'll be going to the Divine Academy in six days."

"Damn, that's even worse for you. Now we'll have to work your ass extra hard," Valerie commented.

"Well, at least we won't have to waste much time training Abel. No offense," Jess said, realizing too late how bad it sounded.

"Why help me, though? Do you even gain anything?" Abel asked, genuinely confused.

Where he came from, nothing was done out of goodwill. Even the smallest favors were counted, even between the closest of friends.

In the story, the main character was powerful. He had helped Kyle's group a lot during their short time together.

But he wasn't the main character. He had nothing to offer them besides his potential.

"Do you need a reason to help someone in need?" Kyle asked, the question rhetorical but honest.

"No more wasting time. The training will be simple. For the next five days, you'll train without the armor."

"We'll start with just fists, then move on to wooden weapons, and finally real weapons. This will give you real combat experience and help you develop muscle memory." Kyle laid out the plan.

Abel would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid.

He had the urge to ask them to only use hand to hand combat, but he knew that at the academy, he would have to fight with swords, bows, daggers, and more.

He wouldn't have the luxury of choosing when and how a fight would happen. He had to adapt fast.

And this was the best way to do it.

"Also, don't feel discouraged if you don't win against any of us. You're not supposed to. Just focus on seeing progress. That's what will motivate you," Jess added.

"So… who am I going against first?" Abel asked.

***

On the first day, Abel fought against Valerie.

It wasn't even close.

Even though she was holding back, giving him chances to land hits, he kept throwing his training out the window the moment the fight began.

The same thing happened with everyone else. He struggled to stick to the training.

But that was expected.

After a few hours, he was at least able to throw proper punches and dodge basic attacks. His movements were predictable, and he fell for feints too easily but mastering combat in a single day was never the goal.

The goal was muscle memory.

They wanted his training to become second nature.

But there was one major problem. Abel was out of shape.

He got tired fast. Since he hadn't been blessed by an artifact yet, his natural power and speed were extremely limited.

He had to use Kyle's recovery and healing potions multiple times within an hour just to keep going.

To avoid damaging his body from overuse, he was forced to rest naturally for a few hours.

By the end of day one, Abel had mostly just gotten beaten up but at least his body was learning.

On the second day, they started with hand to hand combat again, but this time, they applied more pressure and used stronger attacks.

Abel barely lasted five minutes before he needed a break.

During his resting periods, they taught him how to use the sword, axe, and spear.

It was Valerie's idea.

"If you can master all weapons, why limit yourself to just one?"

With his gift, he picked them up very fast.

By the end of the day, they even let him use steel weapons in some rounds of hand to hand combat just to help him develop the reflexes to use weapons in a fight.

On the third day, they finally used wooden weapons.

Getting hit by them hurt like hell. Even their weakest attacks left bruises.

And that's when Abel realized something.

No matter how much he trained, he would never be able to keep up with someone blessed by an artifact.

The blessed energy made their bodies far stronger than a peak adult male's.

The whole time they had been training Abel, they hadn't even broken a sweat.

And even their weakest attacks still hurt a lot.

Abel needed to be blessed by an artifact.

But not just any artifact.

If he wanted to make major changes to the story, he couldn't afford to have a weak one especially since all of his future opponents were monsters.

On the fourth day, there was no fighting.

Abel's body had taken too much damage, so this was a rest period.

Still, he trained his mastery over weapons focusing mainly on the bow.

According to the novels he had read, there was no limit to how much one could master a weapon.

The strongest swordsmen could defeat powerful opponents with just one swing.

It was unlikely, but, it would be cool to beat someone with one swing.

The fifth day arrived.

The day they would switch to real weapons.

"Don't worry, Abel. We won't kill you," Kyle said.

But Vince smirked. "Maybe on accident. But definitely not on purpose."

Abel paled.

"And that's the guy who somehow convinced Abel to change his mind," Valerie sighed.

"Don't hate on me for doing something you couldn't," Vince teased.

Valerie swung her sword at him. Vince just laughed, effortlessly dodging.

Kyle ignored them as Jess tried to stop their fight.

"We'll graze you with our weapons. It'll be the closest thing to actual combat you'll experience during training."

Abel clenched his fists. "Don't worry. This time, I'll be ready."