Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening

FEW HOURS BEFORE

Kieran had knocked on her door but she wasn't around. When she got back, she met him leaning beside the door waiting for her with a patient expression.

"Hmm, were you looking for me? I was out, you could have-"

"I don't have your contact details."

Kieran interrupted, raising his head.

"Then have it now or you'd never do it."

Ruby said stretching forth her hand to Kieran.

Taking her hand in his, Kieran paused, lost in its softness and he looked up and it hit him for the second time how beautiful she was.

Her beauty wasn't the overwhelming kind, it was subtle, her red hair had been tied into a ponytail highlighting her slender neck. She had high cheek bones, a slender nose and smooth skin that could clearly feel.

Moving his eyes away from her green eyes, he gazed at her full lips and shook his head snapping out of his trance, pulling her hand and put his watch in contact with hers, exchanging contact info before back of weirdly, avoiding her eyes.

Although, he did his best not to show it, Ruby still captured everything, giggling to herself.

"So you aren't blind after all."

She said, teasing him.

Acting like he didn't hear that, Kieran continued,

"Do you know how to fight, martial arts?"

"Huh?"

Ruby voiced out upon his strange and abrupt question.

"I want you to teach me how."

"What brought this about?"

She asked.

"I didn't tell you about how I landed in the infirmary for a week, did I?"

He asked, getting a sigh from her.

"What do you want to learn?"

She asked

"I don't know, the basics. As long as it doesn't stop me from learning the scythe."

He stated

"The scythe? That's a complicated weapon, you sure?"

She asked him, slightly confused as to why he would pick a weapon like that instead of a sword, spear or one of the other common and rather easy to learn.

Based on what she knew, there weren't many records on scythe users, the information was so scarce, people assumed it didn't exist. Other people tried to wield it and create their own martial arts for it but gave up in the process.

Not receiving an answer from Kieran, she understood that he had made up his mind.

"Alright, when should we start then? We would need somewhere to train." She said, giving up on any intension she had to convince him to pick another weapon.

"Now."

He said moving away from the door, into the camp, leaving her no choice but to follow him.

....

PRESENT TIME

Walking out of the sports centre now that their time was up, Ruby said to Kieran,

"We need somewhere else; this place isn't sustainable."

No matter how much CP Kieran had right now, it was destined to burn if he kept wasting them here each time he wanted to have a lesson with her.

"I'll find somewhere else,"

He replied. His intension for coming here wasn't just for the lesson with her, it was his form of survey, He wanted to have an idea of how expensive the camp's resources were and he had to admit it, they were very expensive.

"There's nothing we can do now until we find a better place."

"Just give me the history lesson. We can head to the canteen."

Kiera said, taking the lead as usual.

He hadn't been able to work for a while now; the old man didn't let him even though he said he was fit enough to cook.

As compensation, he still got payed half his salary each day and got free high-quality food to help him recover faster. He hadn't had taste of that kind of food in a while, it was just too expensive.

All the special treatment the old man had been giving him hadn't gone unnoticed by someone as suspicious as Kieran, and he didn't think the head chef treated him that way because he knew Leora.

For some strange reasons though, Kieran didn't mind the head chef's attitude, he even felt a little comfortable, something he found hard to admit.

This time when they got to the canteen which was mostly empty past its rush hour, Kieran took a seat in a corner at the far end of the place. He had no desire for something like the last time to repeat itself.

Ruby noticed this small detail, but couldn't be bothered to point it out. At this point, she was no longer surprised by Kieran's extremely cautious and suspicious nature.

She even wondered how they became companions or friends, if he even considered her as one.

'Not like I can say he's my friend too' she thought to herself.

Taking a seat and looking around for a minute if the spot was concealed enough or if there was someone present that he had to look out for, Kieran became calmer when he saw none.

"You can start."

He said, and Ruby who had been waiting patiently nodded and spoke,

"The scythe, although complicated, is a weapon known for its versatile nature. It can be used for both offence and defence. From the shape, you can tell that it probably started off as a farm tool. In my opinion, it just like modified sickle."

Kieran nodded, he already figured this out.

"It's simply a pole arm with a curved blade attached to a long handle, which in ancient times was usually made of wood, whatever type of weak metal they had then, or a combination of both."

"Although, scythes are rarely asked for, present day design and manufacturing technology makes it better than the primitive ones they came up with back then."

She continued, taking a sip out of the drink she had bought when they stepped in.

"Apart from the traditional agricultural type scythe which acts as its origin, a few other types were developed, like the war scythe which had a thicker, heavier blade around 3-4 feet long and a shorter handle that was modified for combat"

"The other types?"

Kieran asked expecting her to tell him all she knew, he didn't want to pick one that wouldn't suit him.

"Another modification the ancients made was to combine a spear and a scythe, giving it a longer handle and a blade with a pointed tip. The other type of scythe is the Japanese style Kama."

"It's simply one with a short straight handle that was initially used for harvesting and self-defence. The modified version though, is one you could say was made for battle. It's called a Kusarigama."

Kieran frowned at the strange name.

Noticing his reaction, she explained,

"The Kusarigama is a Kama with a chain at its bottom attached to a weighted object. It pretty much as complicated and sometimes more, than mastering a regular scythe because of the long chain. It even got tagged, the blood reaper"

"Compared to some other weapons, the regular scythe has a longer reach making it effective against multiple enemies, it can be used for both offense and defence and like swords or axes, it can inflict slashing and chopping damage, but with a more curved trajectory."

"It also had a speed issue as it was slower than swords or daggers due to its weight and length, but with current day technology, if you find a skilled enough craftsman, that won't be a problem."

She clarified to him.

"In comparison to the other polearms like halberds and spears, scythes have a more curved blade and a shorter handle, making them more suitable for close-quarters combat. Traditionally, most scythes have a single blade facing inwards, but there are some rare cases of a double-edged scythe. Personally, I think you should pick this. It allows to reverse the blade's direction without changing your grip…"

"…improved cutting efficiency."

She concluded, taking the last sip of her drink.

'Nice voice'

Kieran thought, still taking time to process the huge amount of information she had dropped on his laps.

"If the information on scythes was as scarce as you claimed, how come you know this much? You don't even use one."

He asked.

He had no idea what weapon she used, but something told this although she appeared very knowledgeable about the scythe, she had no interest in it.

"It's a family secret of sorts, you don't need to know,"

She said with a strange expression, as if recalling a bad memory.

Not willing to push further, he hummed

"Hmm"

"Thanks for telling me all this."

"Not a problem, you are going to need it for the combat training class that's coming up soon. The camp is going to ask for the weapon details then and make a tailored version for each recruit. You should have made up your mind by then."

She added, getting Kieran's nod of agreement.

"I'll do with a double-edged scythe like you said, although I am curious about the double-blade one and the kusarigama, but that's for later."

"Good thing you know your limits. Hehe."

She commented giggling to herself.

"It was a nice day, but I have to go do somethings, I still have to earn some CP unlike you."

She said bidding him farewell.

'She's probably headed to the gambling space. I wonder how someone like her ends up there.'

He thought, thinking back to the gambling space he had seen her.