Inside there was a man wearing pretty similar clothing to hers standing at a desk fussing with what looked to be paperwork of some kind. Behind him there was a larger area more typical of a dojo. Swords and knives dotted the walls, some clearly practice blades while others appeared to be live metal. Where there weren't weapon racks there were mirrors for checking your own form.

He looked up as she entered. "Well hello there. I expect you're one of the recruits then? Looking to get some experience at melee fighting?"

"That's the idea. I had some practice in the beta but my stats got reset."

"Or to translate that you have some prior experience but you're out of shape and you're used to your body being better than it currently is. Alright, have you already stretched? And do you want to fight in a reset field with live steel or should we start with training blades?"

"Oh, you have a reset field, I was worried you wouldn't. Still, probably better to start with the training blades. Oh and I did stretch."

"Good choice. I'm Alistair by the way."

"Emily."

"Nice to meet you Emily. Why don't you find a weapon or two you're comfortable with and then do a few katas to get used to how you're moving. If your form is good enough we can have a couple bouts. Otherwise, I'll work on fixing it."

Emily smiled. "Okay." She walked past the deck and circled the walls a little eyeing the different racks of weapons. After her first loop she gravitated towards a display of short swords pulled out one of the training ones to test the balance. She took a couple swings before putting it back and trying another. After her fourth sword she went back to the second and made her way onto the sparring floor.

She started on the first kata of the sparrow form checking herself in the mirror as she moved. After the sixth repetition she felt satisfied enough to move onto the next kata. The second took her another six repetitions but the third only took her four as she started to hit her stride a bit. She continued on through the sixth with only three repetitions for the last three. Then she moved to start over and try to chain them. She made it through the first three katas on her first run before messing up and starting over.

After her third attempt, this one making it through the fourth. Alistair stepped onto the sparring floor. He was holding a longer sword. "You seem reasonably skilled. Care for a bout?"

"Always." She turned to face him, turned her sword down and away and gave a small bow.

Alistair gave a slightly shallower bow back. "Three... Two... One... Begin!" He didn't attack immediately, politely not claiming the tiny edge of being the one to count out beginnings.

He did however bring his blade up into an aggressive posture. It looked a bit like badger form.

Emily surveyed his stance and brought her sword into position. The shorter blade was a bit of a handicap for her but she trusted the instructor to gauge her skill level. She took a few steps and watched as he carefully mirrored them before she lunged.

One fast exchange later she felt the tip of Alistair's sword kissing her shoulder. She stopped. "Point to you."

He nodded then took a step back. He waited for her return nod and a second after that before he reengaged. This time he took the role of the aggressor. Pushing her back a few steps before she was forced to engage. He matched her careful parries for a few stoked before ramming through with his greater strength and claiming the second point.

By the time she managed her first point it was six - one. She smiled widely through almost all of it, her expression changing to a grimace just for a couple of the harder blows.

"Well earned," He acknowledged. It had been a complicated series of feints and parries that set her up for the jab to his side. "Do you want to switch to live blades for a round before we take a break?"

"Reset field on?"

"Yes."

"Sounds good then." She walked to the rack she had picked her sword from and switched it for a sharpened equivalent.

When she stepped back onto the floor she confirmed that the pink diamond in the corner of her vision had switched to the green circle that indicated being in a reset field and took her stance again. For a blooded bout like this the countdown was handled by the interface.

Alistair gave her the space to make the first move.

She struck out with a flurry of blows, being careful to keep her blade close to handle his counters.

She took a couple knicks on her arms in the first exchange and managed to land a single knick in return.

The fight progressed from there, the weight of the fight was clearly against her but she was just barely holding her own and scoring a few wins in return.

Until she committed just a little too much. She managed to score a deep cut to his offside shoulder but in return his sword went through her right lung.

Her endurance wasn't as high as she was used to and she blacked out.

When she came to she was seated on the floor of the sparring surface and all her cuts were gone. She confirmed that the reset field had triggered and things were back to normal. "It's been a while since I took a blow like that with low endurance. I forgot how much it takes over everything."

"Yeah, it'll do that. You okay?"

She shook her head then nodded. "Yeah I'll be okay just need a few seconds to collect myself." She touched her chest to remind her brain that it was in fact intact and then gathered her legs into a crouch before standing up.