I've recently had this compared to a slice of life in the RWBY world... I gotta say, I see it. not that i think its bad, I actually enjoy those stories and writing this was fun as hell. Sorry for no updates, I was graduating High School finally. Grad practice sucked many a dicks I must say. also, I crossed this over with FC4 as I was writting this as I was big on the game, so there will be a far cry arc in this story somewhere. though it will not be just a rehash of the story, but that is for later. So without rambling anymore, this is chapter 10 of Gamer's Arc, hazza
Chapter 10
The rest of my shift was uneventful after that talk with Junior. I just watched the small amount of people dance around the floor in their lewd fashion and chew on my bullet. At two, I hopped on my bike and rode to my new apartment twenty minutes away, at the midpoint from work and school. I walked up the stairs and found my room, apartment 311. The place was bare except for the essentials, so I set down my reloading bench in the bedroom, which had a wooden floor. Making sure it didn't scratch the wood, I placed some ripped up of the clothes I outgrew on the floor under the legs.
At two thirty, I crashed on the carpet in the living room, using my usual bed set up for the night. Snorting awake, I pulled on the looted sunglasses I took off the dead vandal, my red ones are for work, I saw the time was eight thirty. It was going to take half an hour to reach school though. I had a full night's rest and missed English. All and all, today seemed like it was going to be a good day.
I left my stuff on the ground and showered with hot water for the first time in ages. After cleaning my hair, I stepped out, not wanting to be late for my history class, I quickly threw on my plated vest and hoodie, since I wasn't going to wear my suit to school today. My jeans found themselves on my legs and my boots were the last thing I had on me.
I locked the door behind me and replaced my sunglasses on my face with my helmet as I exited the building to hop on my bike.
The trip to school was relaxing and I even got another level in my driving as I pulled into the garage. It was only nine lien for a day of parking, which while expensive, gave me the peace of mind that no two-bit thug was going to try and steal my bike.
The school bell went off as I reached History, so I just walked in and sat at my desk as everyone settled down for the lesson. As the man taught, I made a note in my mind to set my scroll to go off at seven as I really wanted to pass English so I didn't have that man again as a teacher.
Class passed without fanfare. Everyone was too nervous to talk to me, so I had spent most of my time reading the textbook after doing my work. The next class was the same and the last class followed suit.
The hour in practice was spent with me getting the lyrics for Poor Jack down. So far I had gotten four levels in singing, but I couldn't get one of the lines down. "No, no, no! More regret, more glee! That laugh is too kindhearted for the king of Halloween! Practice with me, 'I am the pumpkin king! hahaha." The woman gave a deep laugh that had a hint of malice in.
I imitated it as I sang the line once more, "I, JACK, the pumpkin king. That's right, I am the pumpkin king, Ahahaha. How was that?" I asked
"There you go! I knew you could do it, now let's start from the top!" I sang the song once more, trying to get the emotions right down to memory, so that when I had to move around, I could keep the emotions with the words. "That's it! Now, keep practicing, I have to help Danny with being Oogie-boogie." I nodded and checked the time. I had thirty minutes left, so I kept with the singing and gained another two levels, setting me at fifteen. After I felt I had the song down enough for the day, I switched to trying out Jack's Lament.
The days passed quickly and all too soon, it was time to perform. With me having a place to call my own and a ride that allowed me to actually use it, I could finally train like I had been missing. After practice, I would use two hours of my free time to work out. I stuck with endurance for my VIT, but threw in some cardio weight lifting with my smaller boulders for STR. In the two weeks, I had gained four points in STR and two more in VIT which was due to my insane amount of work. I didn't take a break no matter how much I hurt while working out.
My DEX and WIS didn't move as I didn't do anything note worthy like add something to slow my movement or plan anything extensively. I did gain three in INT because of diligently studying my play for hours during free time at school.
The curtains were closed with the narrator giving the opening. I was decked out in my costume for the opening number that had barely noticeable particles of Dust on it that would soon engulf me in fire. I was nervous, partly due to the fire, mostly because of the anxiety that I'd do bad and some due to not thinking my stats were enough to give a good show.
Acting (Passive): Level 28 – Put on a convincing role that is not your own. +56% quality of acting
Singing (Passive): Level 32 – Shift your voice to make music. +64% quality of sound
Dancing (Passive): Level 20 – Move body in a pleasing display. +40% coordination
Sure the numbers were big, but the base, except for dance, sucked, so they were just adding onto a bad performer to make an average one. I might suck terrible, but I didn't want to bring anyone down with me! I was still the disgrace I was when I turned thirteen, but I didn't have people relying on me back then. Now that I did, it was stressing me out!
The music began and I quickly jumped onto the wooden horse that was being pulled. The song went off without a hitch and when my part came, I was able to hold in my panic as my body burst into flames long enough to do the elaborate spinning dance on the horse and dismount inside the well.
I tossed off my gear as the platform raised back up to the stage and revealed me in the striped suit with the ghostly white makeup covering my face along with the charcoal for the eyes and mouth.
Everyone around me was cackling after the number ended and celebrating while I had to give a slight stage bow to the 'monsters.' I almost broke character when Kevin chest bump Bobby hard enough that the round boy almost fell on his ass.
I slowly walked off the stage as people praised my character for the deed to allow room for Ashley's part with the doctor. Once they had done their scene and Percy dragged off Ashley in his wheelchair, I backwards walked into the stage with the people still praising the character. The mayor, or Jonathan, followed with a bullhorn painted black. On the queue, he started talking and Jack was able to sneak off by the band members.
This was a problem for me in practice. The moment I heard 'Bone Daddy,' I would always chuckle, so when I was able to keep my part along with the tired emotion, I was ecstatic. The backdrop changed as I walked into the iconic curvy hill. I took a deep breath and began my number. There wasn't much dancing to be done, but I had to get the abrupt motions and ethereal walk down while doing the song.
Act one was soon over as the three little trick-or-treaters nabbed Santa and took him to the lair. In the down time, I helped the stage crew set up the slide that I would be riding across the stage that was suspended by wires.
The play continued on without a hitch for the second act and after two hours, the event came to a close with me giving Ashley a small kiss as the curtains closed. I would have blushed up a storm, but my Gamer's Mind cut that off before it could take root, leaving me with just a dusting on my tan face. As the narrator finished his ending, my eyes cascaded with messages as everyone cheered. "First performance completed flawlessly! +1000 bonus experience" "Acting level up. Acting level up. Acting level up. Acting level up" "Singing level up. Singing level up. Singing level up." "Dancing level up. Dancing level up."
I grinned at the messages as I dismissed them. As the last one fell, I took a seat on the corner and drank a bottle of water. Just three more like that and I should be done with acting for the next while. I would still train them as they had many hours already put in them and all, but I wouldn't be doing another play anytime soon. Plus I had to take off work for Monday and today to get the shows in and I really needed the money to keep my apartment.
I saw Ashley coming over, "Great show Jaune! You really pulled off Jack!" I gave her a sheepish smile as I grabbed a nearby water for her as well.
"Thanks. I tried my best. Still, I could have done better with the What's This number. I thought it fell a bit flat," I said, frowning at the little mistakes I did. Ashley just laughed and patted me on the shoulder.
I sighed and got to my feet. Might as well head home. Washing off the makeup was a bit hard, but I managed easily enough. Better than some of the actors, like the vampires who had a whole set up they had to take off. Once in my casual wear, my jeans and Luka hoodie, I was off to grab my bike.
Traffic was bad, but I was able to get home before the nine. The rest of the plays followed suit like the first, if not netting me as many points due to repeating it.
The semester ended anti-climatically. The only thing that interested me was that I finally Maxed a skill. My scavenge arrived at level ten as I was picking some berries while exercising and that was the finally level. It dumped a bit more knowledge on what was safe to eat and such before it settled down. Another notable thing was getting my Wisdom to forty-four due to planing out multiple exercise routines for my down time. I believed I got so many levels because I read a few books on proper muscle building instead of just winging it.
With some of my free time, I skipped work out days and ran out to small towns nearby that needed a little help. I finished about nine more F classes, so I only needed fourteen more before I could test for an E class license.
I was thankfully able to pass my English course with a low D, so I was happy about that. The rest of my classes were straight As, but the D made it so I wasn't on honor roll. I didn't much care, but it was a bit disheartening to have my hard work spit on like that.
I gained a construction branch of skills from reading the do it yourself shelf at the school.
Machinist (Passive): Level 1 - Ability to use machines to mold objects into workable shapes. +2% speed and quality of work.
Automotive Mechanic (Passive): Level 1 - Ability to work on vehicles. +5% speed and quality of work on vehicles.
Industrial Mechanic (Passive): Level 1 – Ability to work on equipment and heavy machinery. +2% speed and quality of work.
Plumbing (Passive): Level 1 - Ability to fix up the plumbing utilities
Electronics (Passive): Level 1 - The ability to work with electronic or electrical equipment. +2% speed at working with electronics
Construction (Passive): Level 1 - Ability to build structures. +1% build speed
I didn't practice anything because I really didn't care to at the moment. My bike was still going smoothly and I had no attention to mess that up. I figured I could go to a junkyard one day and buy a junk car that no longer worked. Fix it up to level the skills and get a working car for cheap in the process.
I woke with a start on the first day of my next fourteen days off school. With a grin on my face, I got ready for the day of improving myself. I pulled out my scroll and searched the words, home-made forge. I was finally going to start working on weapon smithing, but I'd start with dumb things like hooks and the like before I moved to daggers, then to swords.
I gained the list of ingredients. I was going for a coal fire one mainly due to cost reasons. Fire dust, while a better product because of constant heat, was expensive to upkeep for a hobby. The first thing I needed was a large amount of fire bricks, steel grate, and an air supply. The fire bricks would be a problem as that was around four hundred pounds of material and I could only carry two-sixty, but the rest was simple to grab. I would get a hand powered fan, like they use to use back before gunpowder, so I didn't have to be near an electrical source. Since I would be doing this in the woods, near my clearing, I didn't have the option to plug the thing in.
As I bought the stuff from a hardware store, the man gave me a strange look when I didn't need help with the two hundred and fifty pounds of bricks, I drove to my clearing to dump the bricks and went back to another store to grab the rest of what I needed plus scrap metal from the junkyard. It was a fairly simple process that cost me two hundred lien. The last thing I did before I forged it all was grab a two hundred pound chunk of railroad track for the junkyard for about twenty lien, I needed an anvil and why not use a railroad track?
I built the forge up quickly as it was a simple set up. Once I lit the fire in the forge and using what little know how, got the heat going, I was soon forging away at nails and small knick knacks after realizing I didn't have the skill to smoothly bend metal at the moment. That would come in time, but not today.
By the fifth nail, I had gained a level in forging and I found that my next small ironwork turned out a bit better, but I was also getting the hits' strength down, so I didn't hit too hard or too light.
As I hammered at the heated metal in a disposable long sleeved shirt, I found that I slowly gained VIT and STR over time. By the seven hour mark, I was sweating, tired, and sore, but I had one more in my VIT and two in STR from constantly swinging my hammer at the metal. My forging grew to level four, so I had a boost of eight percent in all my work.
I planned to hold off until level ten, so I could craft a dagger that wasn't shit. It wouldn't help me by going into this half-assed. "Ding, WIS up!" I cleaned up in the pond after I hide the anvil in the brush. The forge was five hundred pounds, no one was going to take that, but the anvil could be grabbed. Once I was clean, I pulled on one of my custom suits from my inventory and got on my bike.
I was sore, but that didn't hinder my driving in the least, I even netted another point, rounding me up to twelve. The night in the club was once more uneventful as I stood vigilant to the side, insighting people to level up my skill, no longer analyzing them as it didn't benefit me to do so anymore when I could find the intent of people.
My winter break went by fast. I mostly just forged the entire time, but I never did get around to level ten, so the most I did was make an axe head to practice thick blade work. In the end, it turned out pretty well. The fire of the forge did a good job in keeping me warm too, to the point I just stopped wearing a shirt while forging, opting for gloves only. This had netted me, Fire Endurance (Passive): Level 1 – ability to endure the heat of fire. -2% fire damage. Which I had gotten to level four over time so the forge fire barely singed my skin. That said nothing for my emerging body hair, but I didn't really care if a some of the little amount of chest hair I had poofed into flame.
The only break I got was doing the last fourteen jobs I needed to reach fifty and spending Christmas with my mom and sisters.
One Christmas, I rode up to the house and pulled into the driveway with my night rod. I just had turned off the bike as I saw my sisters, still in their pajamas peek out of the house to who brought the bike. I pulled my helmet off as I dismounted the ride and my sisters all ran to tackle me. This was the first time I've driven my bike there, I had usually left it back at my apartment or training ground so I could have a nice run to cool off after practice.
I sidestepped away from my bike as the little to be hunters-in-training flying take-down me to the asphalt. I could have stopped it, but my body was a hard thing to hit when I was unyielding, people in the crew back at school would complain that I had too much muscles when I helped set the stage and people ran into me carrying things.
Without waiting for me to get to my feet, the girls dragged me by the arms into the house. Thankfully the trio picked up my torso doing so, so my Luka hoodie didn't get to dirty. Inside, I was greeted by a slightly welcoming and a slightly annoying sight. My mom was sitting by the tree, but Thomas was there too, sitting in his arm chair in front of the TV.
When the girls dropped me to run for the tree, I spun to my feet while summoning my gifts for my family from behind my back.
I had gotten my sisters small practice blades that could channel dust to work on dust spells along with a few vials of different kinds of dust. Being the older brother, I couldn't condone my sweet, evil, little sisters whacking things with a blade like I do. I gave my mother a cleaning kit for her twin daggers since she kept complaining about her old one getting useless.
I set my helmet down on the table as I fixed my hair with an absent swipe. I slide my presents under the tree before flopping down next to my mother on the couch. She gave me a hug and kept glancing at my helmet. I answered the unspoken question, "My boss tasked me with a little extra job for his business and since I performed with flying colors as well as went beyond the specs of the job to the point where I uncovered some betrayals on his partners' parts, he awarded me a motorcycle so I didn't have to run everywhere."
Mom made the obvious observation when I said this, "He knows you're fourteen right? It is illegal for you to drive." The tone was not disappointment, but confirmation that he knew my age.
I shook my head with a grin, "Junior doesn't care too much what is legal for my age. I'm just one of his employees, one that can do extra jobs due to his training. The man runs a gang on the side of his business empire, so he more follows the law as a guide than anything."
My mother frowned at this, but the squeal from the three girls distracted her. My little sisters seemed to like my gift of practice weaponry for them if the noise and another set of flying tackles were to go by. Before they started playing with them, I sternly told them, "Now, don't go using these without mom there to help you. While the dust I gave you is mostly harmless, it could still be dangerous if you willy-nilly flung it around." The girls all nodded at this and opened the rest of their presents.
I didn't get anything, but I was fine with that, it was nice to just spend time with mom and the evil ones. As we were relaxing after the dinner mom made, Thomas opened his mouth to my annoyance, "So, boy, what is this that you killed someone last month?" The smug look on his face made me want to erase it with a bullet.
I growled as my mother gasped and my sisters stared at me. "Assassin from a gang wanted to kill my boss and I happened to find him, so he took his anger out on me for ruining things. He hit me a few times and I shot him. End of story." The man didn't lose his smug look though. If anything, it got bigger.
With a snort, he said, "Looks like the little maid can't take care of himself on his own. A few months away and you've already killed a human. Not even I have done that and I've been in the business for three decades." My fists clenched in rage at the man's words, but I didn't raise to his bait.
"I'm not just a hunter though. You are. You kill grimms, I stop people from messing with business," I told the man through clenched teeth. With a hard exhale, I continue, "Now... if you'll excuse me, I must go train for next week, I have a test for my E class licenses."
I pushed myself to my feet and gave mom a hug before I was mobbed by my sisters for their good bye. "I'll cya next weekend guys." Once my farewells were said, I grabbed my helmet, pulling it over my face as I exited the house to do just as I said I would.
Once back in my clearing, I pulled out my neglected blade and did a few warm-ups with her before I really started working on my sword work. By nightfall, I managed to get two more levels in the skill thanks to the nine hours I stuck with it. Now at level thirty-four with a boost of one hundred and seventy percent to my sword work, I felt slightly better with my swordsmanship even if it was no where near Bic's skill level. That man could still pick me apart with ease.
Back at my apartment, I slept on my mattress which I didn't bother with a bed frame, so it was on the floor. Before I fell asleep, a blue window popped up in front of my face. A quest window that I accepted instantly. The amount of experience will help me because I finally figured out the rate of experience I needed, it was my level times one thousand and one hundred, so I needed twenty-six thousand and four hundred to reach the next level, but I only had thirty percent in so far.
Become an E-Rank Tyro-Hunter
Reward: 10000
Failure: Do not become E-Rank. Cool down is a week's time
The next day found me at the hunter's office once more. I walked over to the person on duty today, a young blonde that looked bored. "Hello, I would like to schedule a test for my E class license."
The woman sighed out, "ID sir." I fished out my hunter's licenses and handed it over. The woman inserted it into her computer. With a few deft types, the woman glanced over the screen with her cheek resting on her hand. "Hmm... Okay Mister Arc, you seem to have the right number of F ranked jobs done. Why do you have a C on here?" The woman gave me a lazily raised eyebrow.
"I hunted the wrong group of beowolves near a town on a job. They were significantly tougher and dangerous, so the mayor recommended a high rank. Soo... When can I get a time?"
The woman went back to her computer and rapidly tapped on the screen to open pages. "Um... Come by at... one this afternoon for a test. It's just going over the usual, 'are you ready for E class?' stuff." I nodded and she handed my card back to me. With the plan in place, I decided to go grab a bite to eat at the grimm meat seller. I choice some more Boarbatusk meat since I liked the peppery aftertaste and basically killed time driving around for the morning, since I didn't want to tire myself out before my test.
One rolled around and I was directed to a room near the back. I was the only one there, so I was immediately let through to the testing area. In the room, I saw a familiar face. 'Well, I'm not getting out of here without a little blood.'
The man, Chris, I thought his name was, looked up and gave me a grin, "Ah, you're that kid that headbutted me. Hmm, so you are here for you're..." The man checked his scroll, "E class. Well, you've set a standard you have to pass, so..." The man gave a sadistic grin as he twisted a small clock, "You know the rules, begin."
This time, the man didn't stay on the defensive. I had to duck a hard left hook and roll out of the way from a sweeping kick that would have taken me down. I was back on my feet in an instant and had my pistol in hand along with my sword. I fired off three rounds at the man as I lunged with the blade, but he easily dodged the close ranged shots and parried the blade aside with the palm of his hand on the flat.
Seeing my blade fall to his right, I struck out with my foot while turning my body to the side to put more power behind it. The hunter easily twirled around it and delivered a crushing hit to my hip that sent me rolling across the room. Since I didn't have my glasses on, I didn't know how much health that took, but from the pain, I estimated a good fourth.
I didn't allow myself to stay down for more than half a second before I was charging back at the man, firing the rest of my seven round magazine at the man.
I reached the whirling man as my slide locked back, so I started a barrage with my blade and threw in some backhands with my pistol to change up the pattern, trying to get a glancing blow on him while keeping him from attacking me again. I mentally casted analyze on the hunter and got the reply of;
[Hunter Test Giver]
Chris Mentez
Level ?
?/?
?/?
STR: ? + 30%
VIT: ? + 30%
DEX: ? + 30%
INT: ? + 30%
WIS: ? + 30%
LUK: ? + 30%
I tried not to pause in my assault as I digested the information, that this guy was on the level of people like my mother. "You've gotten faster boy!" The man cried as he jabbed me in the nose through my flurry of offense, splitting the bridge and caused blood to start flooding out of my nostrils. "Not fast enough though!"
I had to get distance between us, 'I should have worked more on my speed!
I gave another hasty swing to create some distance between us, but the man just caught my blade. The moment I felt the metal stop, I lashed out by hopping up and slamming both legs out. The man bent backwards, so I fell onto my back as he ripped my sword out of my hands. The moment I hit the ground, I forced my body to spin, as if I was starting to break dance, and threw out a few wide kicks as I used my arms to toss my body back onto my feet.
I tucked my pistol back in my holster as I once more charged the man and started throwing out a flurry of punches and kicks to try to hit the man, but all he did was redirect the hits with ease. The man caught my leg as I gave a roundhouse to his ear. I paused at the sudden change in action, but the clock started to ring, so I dropped my weight from my lower leg and let my unheld foot slam into the man's shin.
The hunter didn't react more than tossing my leg away, so that I had to do a one-handed cartwheel to get back to my feet. "Dammit," I sighed as I pinched my nose to try and stop the blood flowing out of my nostrils, the bridge was a lost cause, but I could stop the nosebleed. My eyes flashed with a message that my Physical endurance went up by one, so that was a slight bonus.
I saw the man pick up my longsword and look it over, "Are you using this to kill grimm?" The man asked as he gave it a spin around his side, testing the balance.
I gave a confirmation that sounded silly since I was looking up, holding my nose shut, "Yeah, I've kept her maintained to the best of my abilities."
"This is not a weapon a hunter should use," the man said before tossing me the blade. I easily caught it by the hilt and bleed off the momentum with a spin of my wrist. "Grimm hide is too thick for a normal soldier blade to cut. That will service for things up to a lesser beowolf, but even that fight would be iffy. A minor boarbatusk, hell a lesser beowolf? That blade wouldn't do more than give it a bad paper cut unless you used it like a hammer."
I nodded at these words, "I was thinking the same thing too. I just haven't gotten around to grab a better blade yet. Any suggestions that would help me become a E-Rank hunter after more training?"
The man looked me over as he scratched his chin, "Hmm... You could use more hand to hand combat. While you can hit hard and fast compared to a soldier, you need more power behind your punches if you lose a weapon. Your blade work is impressive, but compared to full fledged hunters, even normal E class hunters, you are weak." I would have been disappointed at his blatant words, but I always knew I didn't hold a candle to any hunters, I was just a kid swinging a sword. "I see no formal training in what you do, but that could work in your favor as it is unpredictable, but study some styles to incorporate so that you can switch attack patterns, same with hand to hand. It'll confuse grimm if you suddenly start going on aggressive defense. Other than that, work harder and just get better. I hope to see you in a week's time for your retry."
I gave him a curt nod as I spun on my heels and I sheathed my blade. My nose had stopped bleeding, so I didn't need to hold it anymore. I quickly walked out of the room to start upping my training. I needed more speed first of all, then I could work on my power. To work on my speed, I needed to head to the bookstore to buy some training manuals for something quick, boxing for my punches and a martial art for kicking. This would also follow the man's instructions for styles too.
I parked outside the bookstore and drew out my wallet with a hundred lien in it. Using my bike's mirror, I wiped the rest of the blood off my face and walked into the store. I made a beeline to the do-it-yourself section which I knew from past visits held combat books. I checked through the selection and found the boxing book along with another style that looked promising. Muay Thai, while not focused on leg work, more balancing, looked perfect in the brutal hits to compliment human combat.
I bought the texts and quickly drove over to the clearing to practice them. My bike was parked in the shade of the trees. I was lucky this part of the forest wasn't blocked off or it would be annoying to get here. I found that the constant patrols along the highway to my left a few miles away, kept the grimm limited to a pack of beowolves every fifty square miles. The first book I cracked open was the booking beginning manual. I quickly read through it and found that it had pictures that took the reader through the steps of every move which would be perfect in helping me learn it.
Once I finished the relatively short text, I stored it away as I pulled off my sweatshirt for the oncoming exercise. I took the basic stance in the book and slowly made it work for me using the image in my head. I did consult the book once more to make sure I had things right so I wasn't teaching myself bad habits.
I gave a slow punch to get the movement down and made sure to step into the punch to add more force behind it like the book told me. After the twentieth punch, the window I was waiting for showed up.
Boxing (Passive): Level 1 – Ability to fight as a Boxer. +2% speed of punches, +2% damage with punches, +2% better footwork.
I couldn't keep in the smile as I went back to teaching myself the basic stances for defense, offense, and the proper positioning for footwork, because I found that was what I needed most. I could throw a punch, but my legs were mostly just moving enough to keep me upright or dodging, they weren't really helping my power or anything.
In three hours, I was covered in sweat, my body steaming from the heat radiating off my skin in the late December weather. Even though it was cold as hell and I was half-naked, I couldn't stop grinning as I continued punching the tree in front of me to get the right motions down. My hands were bleeding, but I didn't really mind, they would be fine for tomorrow and I knew how to splint a broken finger in case I did manage to hurt my hands again so that I could continue training.
My boxing skill steadily rose up to the fifth level by the time I dropped to the frozen dirt. My hand to hand rose by two as well, but I found the boxing more of an accomplishment because I just learned it. My VIT rose with hand to hand, turning it to ninety and netted me the max in my affiliation which gave me the boost of one hundred percent more stamina and one hundred percent more stamina regen. It was slow going, nine months of work, so I felt that I earned that MAX skill.
After a few minutes of feeling the burn, I checked the time to see that I had another two hours until I needed to head over to Junior's for work, so I stayed on my back and opened up my Muay Thai book. I read the basics of the style in the store, but the history was interesting in itself. It was created in eastern Mantle in an old country named Thailand, the small island off the coast of the continent. Was used for warfare, but under a king, it turned into a sport in the time of peace he brought. There was a small section on the bottom, quoting the king on the sport, but it was in a foreign languag-... "Skills gained!"
Linguistics (Passive): Level 1 - Allows the user to learn languages faster. +10% faster learning speed with languages
Thai (Passive): Level 1 – Ability to speak, understand and read Thai. +1% fluidity in Thai.
'Alright... This could be useful for when I learn Greek this year.' I dismissed the windows and went back to reading about the stances and how they fight. The exercise regiment looked brutal and I couldn't wait until I could start. That would be tomorrow however as by the time I got my skill in Muay Thai, I had only thirty minutes to get to Juniors. Muay Thai was promising though, "Muay Thai (Passive): Level 1 – Combat Sport that uses stand-up striking with various clinching techniques. +2% more striking power, +2% better grappling, +2% speed of strikes."
My time at Junior's was fine, no one messed with anyone during the time we were open. I killed time by chewing on my bullet and writing out a training regiment for my combative skills for the next month.
I wrote it out on a sheet of paper. I would warm up with a ten mile sprint to work my free-running. Skip some rope to get my footwork improved and use to the extra bounce I needed to fight. Shadow box for a few rounds, two for boxing only, two for Muay Thai, and two finding out how to combine the two into a fluid style. Each round being five minutes. Work the moves on a tree to get use to hitting solid targets for grimms are not going to move when I hit them. Weight lift for increase in power, ten sets of ten squats, bench press, and military presses with boulders. Since I didn't have a partner to practice my grappling and clinches on, I would just practice the motions, but I wouldn't be able to go to far into that field without doing live practice. Lastly, I would do some stretches to loosen my muscles and get more flexible as I'd noticed that I even with all my training, I wasn't able to do more than a head high kick. I wanted to be able to do a split by the time school let out for the summer.
So my workout was;
-Ten mile sprint
-Skip heavy rope for ten minutes
-Seven, five minute rounds of shadow boxing
-Seven, five minute rounds of Muay Thai shadow boxing
-Six, five minute rounds of combining styles in shadow boxing
-Ten sets of ten Bench Press, ten sets of ten squats, Ten sets of ten Military press
-Clinches for ten minutes
-Sword work for thirty
-Stretches for five
My plan in place, I could wait for tomorrow to start! I even gained three WIS for my planning, using my research material effectively, and balancing my training! I dropped two more into my WIS to get the affiliation with it, so I could possibly train that up along side everything. "Wisdom Affiliation (Passive): Level 1 (10) - -5% of mana usage." I could barely keep the stoic look that was expected of the employees of the club.
I panted out in exhaustion as I finished the ninetieth rep of my weight training, metal music blaring in my ears, "Why did I want to do this?!" The rock slammed into the ground with a resounding thud behind me as I staggered to my feet. I found that training clinches was rather bland without a partner and mostly pointless, so it was with a heavy heart that I pushed through it and memorized the proper positioning to start a clinch. I finished up there and started on my sword work and mixed it with shadow boxing to act like I was fighting multiple enemies.
Once I was done, I dropped to the dirt and slowly stretched out my strained muscles, singing along with the music to train up my music skill along with my training. I had already gained two in the two weeks I did it as a side project. Couldn't really sing and lift though.
My limbs tingled as blood slowly flowed through the swollen parts and I was careful not to overextend myself. My two boxing styles had raised one more level, more STR gained two, and my VIT one. I moaned into my hands as I flopped back to the cold ground in nothing but exercise shorts. Before long, I fell asleep for a quick nap.
I awoke at two, so I was asleep for two hours, my workout was rather short, only an hour and forty minutes, but it was one of the most intense ones to date and as I bathed in the pain, I couldn't help but think, 'I'm going to improve so much if I stick with this!' The rest of my day was spent working on my free-running in the woods, gaining another level finally. I figured out that I get a level for the level times ten, so I had to run three hundred and ninety miles over flat terrain, but it went faster if I added in jumps and the like which I did regularly, which was why I finally reached level forty.
The next week passed quickly. It had snowed on new years, so that just added an element of resistance that netted me the skill, "Frost Endurance (Passive): Level 1 – ability to endure the cold of ice. -2% frost damage." While the snow wasn't hurting me per say, this did make me feel warmer as I ran, so I was all for the steady increase of the skill, which leveled up by the hour multiplied by the level, something I figured out while forging without a shirt. It was basically fire endurance, but with the cold, so I figured that the same leveling applied to it as to the counterpart. Though, this was easier as I was standing in the snow and I couldn't keep my forge burning for hours on end, I would run out of coal at points and it would take a few minutes to get it back to good heat.
Spending a total of forty hours in the snow without a shirt on put me at level nine by the end of the week. A feat that I would not wish again as it was a good zero degrees Fahrenheit for most of that time.
This was great training, but I couldn't help but question, 'How reckless has this ability made me?'