It's been a few days since that last dream. Surprisingly enough I haven't had that dream in a while but I do feel like there is something missing... I really should do what that guy asked me but... the only blacksmith I know doesn't seem to like me very much.

I'm beginning to get more and more flak for being powerless as of late, of course, my friends are backing me up but honestly... I'm grateful but there is no way that'd make me feel better... I already know how useless I am and I genuinely can't think of a way to be even remotely useful unless it's through advice and the like. Seems to be the only thing I'm good with.

The President of the school, Amile Lockheart - a girl with long black hair and shark black eyes, a nodachi at her waist.

She had challenged Mikael and lost, I noticed that her stance and movements didn't really work with the weapon she had. Her physic and poise definitely fir the style of a katana more than whatever she had learned to use before, which I could only assume is a Bastard Sword.

Let's go over how the fight went, shall we?

"You really want to do this?" Mikael asked her, hands hovering over his waist as if holding the sword already.

"Of course, if you win, I'll give up trying to recruit you. Plus... this'll be a good learning experience." Amile chuckled.

"YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO BEAT MY FUTURE HUSBAND!" Xue shouted from the bleachers within the training room.

"WHEN DID I EVER SAY I'D BE YOUR HUSBAND!?" Mikael yelled back, Amile laughing at the sight.

"Alright, alright, that's enough fun now!" Amile butted in, "Let's start."

The Pres moved in, each one of her slices seemed more like she was using a normal sword. More accurately, the mentality comes from a Bastard sword. She was slicing in the right directions since the sword wouldn't remain stable if she didn't and wouldn't cut properly but there was too much wasted movement. She would lock in her arms as if trying to defend an attack whilst the type of sword she was using didn't accommodate such a combat style. Typically swords can pretty easily parry and block attacks (not encouraged), but nodachi, katana, and the like were less made for this. The swords were meant for quick duels that could end in an instant. You can parry sometimes if you're good enough but that'd typically result in your fingers being cut off.

It's not like she wasn't completely incompetent with the sword either, as I've voiced, but it led to her quick defeat. Mikael looked to be pushed back a bit at least, which is to be expected by someone who is also an S-Rank like him.

Irritated, I spoke up, "This just isn't working... it's all wrong."

Curious, Amile looked at me, "May I ask what you're referring to?"

"It's how you use your sword. That's a nodachi, not a katana, not a Bastard sword, none of those. You just aren't using it properly!"

She gave me a mocking chuckle, "I see, why don't you show me how it's done?" She held out her sheathed sword, pointing at me, "Show me, go on."

I let out a sigh, heading down the bleachers and grabbing the sword, bringing it to my side.

"Odachi's, or Nodachi's, whatever you want to call this," I unsheathed a small portion of the blade, it was a bit too heavy so I visibly struggled against the wait, but in action, I should be fine since I have the technique down. "You can still use these weapons with quite a lot of skill, its use is very different compared to something like a long sword, which has a closer combat style that relies a lot on defense and counters. This is essentially a purely brute force weapon, similar to a katana, though even a katana can be used in a more calculated and close-ranged fashion due to its shorter blade. A nodachi has none of these traits... well," I shrugged, it sort of does but mostly doesn't."

I unsheathed the blade, grasping the hilt with two hands, and bringing it close to my face.

"These swords were the equivalent to someone holding a massive club and then sending them into battle. Your entire goal was to cleave as many as possible, as you can see, swings are a lot wider, you'd have to bring it close to your body like this," I swung it as hard as I could and quickly swept through the area around me, quickly slicing through the air, "It's essentially what, people," I paused to catch my breath, placing it back into its sheathe. "What people believe long swords are used like, more like how colossal swords are used. But here's the catch, you can also," I quickly unsheathed the blade and sliced across the air, "It's hard to do it like this," Both hands are on the hilt now, "You can quickly do it like this," I sliced the air quickly a few times, "I'm terrible at explaining this, sorry. But essentially, you have the mentality that it's possible to defend in an attack by how you prepare yourself for a parry and the like. Problem is that you can't do that, the sword can break too easily and the guard isn't meant for that kind of thing, it's essentially only used as a finger guard."

I think I'm right. I kind of rambled and contradicted myself there but I'm pretty sure I got it right on the mentality argument.

"Do you get what I'm saying?"

Amile nodded, "I can understand where you're coming from. So be more aggressive, is that what you're asking?"

"No, you should use the distance that you are granted by the weapon," I handed it back to her, sitting back down in the bleachers, out of breath, "I can't last that long, man..." I shook my head, wiping away the sweat on my brow, "I think I explained it wrong. Like a katana, you have to make sure every move counts, and like a spear, keep your distance. What swords grant in defensive options aren't there with this type of sword. That's what I'm trying to say. Make your moves count rather than focusing on smaller cuts on vulnerable areas of the body and focus more on getting in when they can't attack you back or when you've avoided an attack whilst keeping distance. It's a bit long-winded but I'm sure I got my point across now."

She nodded, "I get what you mean now." Amile bowed to me, "Thank you for your advice."

"No problem," I'm a bit embarrassed now.

Mikael placed a thumb on his chest, "It's because of some of the techniques I learned from him that I'm as strong as I am now!"

Amile looked at me with a raised brow, "You don't have experience, yes?"

"Yeah, I just did a lot of research. Not like I haven't tried it at all, though."

"I'll try it, the advice."

I gave her the thumbs up.

Melamir barged into the room a few minutes later, "I heard the Hero is fighting!?"

We looked at her, confused.

"Did I miss it?"

*****

This is a first.

Though it seems to still be pretty early, for some reason I'm in a forest. I'd love to try and figure out why such a thing had happened, I have literally nothing to go off of.

After the initial panic had worn off, I decided to try and find out where I really was.

I think I was in the forest at the side of the school. I should probably get to class since the practical assignment is today and I can't continue to miss those.

Practical Assignments: For those not in the know, these are when we go into dungeons and fight monsters. It's so we can get experience and even get stronger. Any of the students can go in at any time (With supervision), but we are forced to do it every once and a while. You can sit out a limited number of times and I've run out. If I don't do it, my grade will drop... so... I'm forced to try and fight monsters way stronger than me.

I head to our class, Mikael surprised that I was late drags me into one of the lines that had been set up for the class, each line being a separate party.

Mikael and Beatrice forced me into their party.

In front of the myriad of students and behind the teachers who would monitor us was a gate. It's specifically a gate that the school would use that leads straight into a Goblin farm, which isn't exactly what I'd call a good idea as a first enemy for the students due to their heinous nature but at the moment, that is neither here nor there.

Out of everyone, the only one without a party was Melamir.

"Aren't we gonna invite her?"

Mikael shrugged, "She said she didn't want to be in a party. I tried convincing her but she kept refusing."

I clicked my tongue, worried since Goblins, even at low ranks, can take out high ranks easily if the high ranks aren't prepared enough.

Goblins are smart, and people have hunted through this specific floor many times before, so at some point, they'd have come up with some solution for higher ranks, plus, Hobgoblins, even at C-Rank, can flatten an A-Rank's ass through skill alone sometimes.

"Didn't expect you to get worried," Beatrice commented.

"You know how bad Goblins are... even if she tried burning my face off, I don't..." I stopped myself from going further.

"She's an S-Rank, she'll be fine."

"Not until she's outnumbered and wastes all of her mana. The Goblins have their way after all."

"Well, we have some Goblin students here as well," She pointed, "See?"

I shook my head, "High Goblins are very different compared to regular Goblins and aren't complete fucking maniacs. They won't know shit."

Mikael butted in, "We have a lot of strong people this year, it should be fine," Mikael pointed to a High Orc wearing a suit that a butler would wear standing next to a beautiful young woman with long black hair. "His senses are really sharp and has an alarm on him at all times that will alert everyone to retreat."

"Did the teachers give him that?"

Mikael nodded, "He has the best senses out of all of us here. The instant he hears distress, the dude will probably get there in a second."

"He's that good?"

"Not as good as me," Mikael smirked.

After a few minutes, they started funneling parties through.

In the group, are roles are thus; I am the trap maker, they are the vanguard, pretty simple.

We cautiously make our way through the forest, a small barbed knife in my right hand and a rope in the other, Mikael in front whilst Beatrice is beside me.

All of the students appeared in different areas within the dungeon which is why parties went in one at a time.

We all stayed close to bushes and trees, making sure to check our surroundings frequently.

Since I had the better senses out of all of us, I managed to catch a group of Goblins surrounding us which were quickly handled by Mikael.

After a few minutes, we encountered a Goblin encampment set up in front of a cave.

I had to resist the urge to vomit when I saw what they had placed in front of their base.

Two corpses, women - quad amputees, both dead and placed on stakes.

"What do we do from here?" Mikael looked like he was gonna break, averting his gaze, attempting to remain calm, "Math?"

"First, let's take them down and give them a proper grave."

Commonly, Goblins do not guard their bases to bait people into traps, so we could just do what we pleased.

We took down the bodies, placed them side by side, and prepared burials.

I hate that I looked further - both stomachs looked stretched and malformed, bruised, bleeding, stretched to their absolute limits. The smell as well was horrid, it actually made me break, vomiting all that I had eaten prior.

Luckily for Beatrice and Mikael, they had magic to cover the smell.

Both buried, we placed down a green flare. It was so they'd know to pick the bodies up later.

We tore down the encampment's entrance and used it as a way to make traps. I set one up, tripwire.

It wasn't too far from the cave's entrance.

We then set up a fire right at the cave entrance, Beatrice stayed with me as Mikael went to plug any extra exits that the cave could have.

Using magic, we made it so that the smoke blew into the cave, and then, we wait.

It didn't take long to watch them pour out.

Here are some important facts regarding why Goblins look the way they do. Goblins can actually be snuck up on pretty easily since regular Goblin's ears are normally made to hear forward, better for hunting after all - so their ears are pointed like a cross rather than what normal ears would be like which is pointed more towards the back of one's skull.

Stronger Goblins, like Hobgoblins, have ears more similar to Elves, and they also have a better sense of smell.

They evolved better so they could lead the pack - the best way to describe it, and also, Goblins typically don't have a good sense of smell, their noses are too small after all. This means it's harder for them to breathe if you smoke them out, and a lot of them came out due to this lack of air, not even considering the fact that caves have limited airways in the first place.

Mikael got back to us just in time to watch the Goblins get taken out by tripwire traps, each of them either falling into pits and breaking their legs or dying by magic explosions.

The first step was done.