Quest to Become a Hero

[X] Attend one of your courses.
-[X] Evasion, Beginner

After your first encounter with something trying to kill you and that extremely shady corpse you came across in the forest, you are absolutely certain it's time to learn some survival skills before you end up getting hurt. Or killed.

You head to the Guild with your companion in tow in order to take the first class you paid for, the beginner's course about evasion. After arriving at the Guild you immediately head through the lobby to the stairwell leading down labeled with a sign reading 'Training Hall' hanging above it.

You're quite surprised at how large the staircase is as it slowly opens up as you go deeper until it's wide enough for five people to walk abreast, but more importantly is the intense sound of metal clashing along with shouts from ahead.

It takes a little more walking for the stairway to open into what you are certain is the most misleading example of a Training Hall that can be found anywhere.

In front of you is a rather massive training field established in a perfect dome shaped cavern, about thirty people are in various rings attempting to beat the other unconscious with blunted weapons. Farther back from the practice rings a few people seem to be practicing archery on what looks like rats (hard to tell at this distance) running around in a large pit while beside the range a pair of people in robes are...

'Wait a second... Did that person just summon a fireball? And the other is swinging a whip of lightning. Okay, the Guild is apparently far more prominent that I expected. Even the township's Lord only has two magicians in his retinue while the Guild has two just practicing here, hard telling how many are out on work.'

Before you an fully process it all and start looking for your classes a wooden doll walks over to you, holds out a hand with a box melded into it, and simply stands their in silence. You stare at it confused until you noticed the words painted on it's chest - Hall Guide - which gives you a rough idea of the box's purpose now that you get a chance to look at it, a slot large enough for your Guild Card resting at the top.

A moment after your card is slotted in a small window appears in front of you asking whether you're here to spar, practice, or partake in one of your purchased courses.

Noting the other options for later, you tap the option for the Beginner's Evasion course and are then told to follow the human sized doll to your course area. Arriving reveals a smaller section of the cavern marked off with a wooden fence and a sign hanging from it that reads 'Course Field D' in which eight similar wooden dolls are lined up beside a a black haired young lady reclining in a wooden chair.

She is dressed in weirdly tight black leather clothing that might be armor, or just made to look like it while her hands fiddle with a plain looking dagger. You join four other waiting adventurers standing across from her and the puppets, the woman giving you a glance that causes your brain to start screaming at you about needing to run.

A shudder goes through you before an intense heat bursts forth from your chest and your brow, your vision slightly blurring as golden specks appear alongside multi-colored flickers of light. They fade away almost immediately, but your possible instructor is now giving you a stare usually reserved for street-side doomsayers or other disreputable people from what you've seen.

Your guide hands the Guild Card back and walks away from the field back to the entrance, the instructor yelling after it.

"Starting today's course, reject further students."

Afterwards she leans forward in her chair, the dagger disappearing somewhere in the process, and looks at your group with excessively cold eyes. Her expression and tone are pathetic as she says,

"Alright, some of you have had my course before. Some of you haven't. We'll be starting like I always do, for the next fifteen minutes I'm going to watch you try to dodge these low class puppets attacks to determine how each of you needs to learn as well as your progress.

Have fun~

Course puppets, non-lethal sparring. Constant pressure."

Her last few lines were said as a small smirk appeared on her face, before you can even start to dread your decision you are immediately punched in the face by a wooden fist that sends you sprawling to the ground. You roll away to distance yourself from the others before getting up to find the puppet slowly stalking towards you, alright how the hell are you supposed to deal with this?

What do you do?
[] Screw this, avoid getting punched again regardless of how stupid you look in the process. That really hurt.
[] Try to avoid the hits, but not at the cost of throwing yourself around everywhere. Gotta maintain, somehow, a level of dignity and exhausting yourself seems a bad idea.
[] Dodge every hit with the smallest amount of movement possible. You'll probably get hit, but it's likely the least exhausting method stamina wise.
[] Write-in.

[X] Screw this, avoid getting punched again regardless of how stupid you look in the process. That really hurt.

Throwing all sense of dignity, or the like right into the wind you immediately decide to avoid getting hit regardless of your composure in the process. Let people with actual skill in this handle that, all you know is that punch hurt and you don't feel like getting straight up knocked the hell out by another one. Besides if you got hit too much you would bruise and it's not a fitting look for a scholar.

It's next attack comes swiftly after, the faint sound of air being cut through reaching your ears before you notice where the puppet swung from, so you do what seems most obvious. Throw yourself directly backwards onto the ground. Incredibly your plan works as the wooden fist strikes about two feet above your head, but you soon realize your mistake as you roll across the ground away from a hasty stomp that makes the dirt floor crunch in a rather uncomfortable manner. What follows is likely a show that looks akin to an old man trying to crush a particularly annoying spider, a foot chasing you around the area until you finally manage to earn enough room to scramble back up onto your feet.

From there things slowly get worse though you keep in mind to avoid going prone due to the sheer difficulty that had resulted in. You avoid most of the attacks, or at least turn those that would land to less painful spots than your face, even ending up meeting the puppet's punch with your own out of reflex at one point. While it was certainly a cool sight to witness you can't really recommend it considering the throbbing sensation coming from your newly difficult to clench hand, but in the midst of being chased down by a lunatic puppet you have no time to focus.

By the time you hear the instructor yell,

"Puppets Standby Mode."

You are sore from the dozen punches that have landed and covered in a thin layer of sweat which is more than enough to hint at your sub-par physical fitness. Gasping for breath, you lean forward and place your hands on your knees as you try to relieve the tension of the situation, it obviously wasn't dangerous but you couldn't help feeling fear. If these puppets really wanted to kill you... you don't think you could survive.

'Hell, i'm not even sure if these count as creatures, so Domination might not even work. Hmm, maybe I should test it?'

Before you can carry along that train of thought you find yourself face to face with your instructor, dull purple pupils staring at you with a hint of condescension as her rather cold tone breaks the monotony of panting formed by the group.

"Horrific work, you made the right choice to ignore flashy moves and focus on avoiding any hits possible, but you started out on a bad foot. Maintain mobility if at all possible, going to the ground should be a last resort. Also, your physique? Horrendous. Take some time to train. Low stamina will kill you faster than a knife.

Don't just rely on your feet. Twist and bend your body. Shift your shoulders. Make full use of your body to squeeze out every bit of distance you can. Now, back in line. Three more rounds of this, I'll guide you all one at a time between bouts."

As she moves onto the next person in the course you turn your eyes to one of the inactive puppets, it didn't take part in the bout and hadn't moved since you arrived. If you wanted to test Domination then that would be the one. Plus, if somehow things went horribly wrong it might be useful to save your life in this torture disguised as training.

Do you test your power on the puppet?
[] Yes
[] No

While you're resting before the next round starts you notice your minion off in a corner of the training field, it's eyes locked onto the training group as it hops around seemingly...

'Why is it acting like it's dodging attacks? Is it trying to learn from the course too? I don't even understand how it would manage to understand any of this!'

You pass a confused glare the rabbit's way, but it seems not to mind as it continues whatever it's doing without breaking pace.