Me and Boxer Ben stood on the beach that I had embarrassed myself in not too long ago when I ran like a headless chicken to shade, though now I feel noticeably more tougher in front of the sun, I think that's my recently increased constitution doing that work, my sunburn debuff also disappeared not too long ago.
"Alright, we're gonna hit pads, if I face the mitts towards you, you hit with a straight. To the sides, it's a hook. facing down, it's an uppercut." He said as I nodded along. "This is to train your muscle memory and reaction speed, you need to pick up where I move my pads as quickly as possible, without neglecting technique of course.
I held my hands up, entering my stance and waiting for him to show the pads so that I could hit 'em.
He held the mitt in front of his face, I sent a jab, he held the other facing me, I sent a right straight.
"Too slow, you'll get murdered." He said, smacking me around the face, that was when I realised I let my hands down and forgot my defences.
"Hands up, hit just as I raise my hands." He explained. "Again."
He shifted two pads facing down, one on top of the other, I threw an uppercut. He put one in front of his face, I threw a straight.
He smacked me across the face, this time I was keeping my hands up and managed to block it, my hands still hurt a bit though, even with the thick padding of 16 oz gloves.
We continued this song and dance for a few minutes, each time I messed up, he gave me a few pointers and we continued on, he intermittently threw strikes in between the combos he had set up to train my reaction time and slowly but surely I was improving.
Actually, scratch that, fastly but surely, because-
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Perception score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
no one improves their perception by 20% in the span of a few minutes, yeah, I'm sure the fact that I was sparring a lot and getting into fights had something to do with it, but it was still an incredible improvement, it helped me react just that bit faster.
Boxing (5/150)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
My punches became even more crisper and he noticed this, or at least I hoped he did, because he was smiling soon after the level up.
"Alright, I'm gonna call a friend up, in the meantime, do some burpees, you're gonna spar with that friend when he arrives." I nodded and got to work, going through the motions.
By the time the friend arrived, my entire body felt like it just wanted to die, burpees were hard man…
Still, I had to train to get that money in order to help rebuild the gym, and I'd do whatever it took, my interference caused the gym to burn down, even if it was inadvertent, I still needed to chip in.
After taking a few deep breaths, I got into my stance and faced my sparring partner.
"You'll be sparring with no breaks, you both get a break when one of you loses, go as hard as possible." As hard as possible? What did this guy do? I wasn't gonna be that mean to someone who wasn't a dickhead like those thugs from before.
Thwack
A big red boxing glove smashed into the side of my face, the man clearly wasn't holding back, he hit me with everything he had
-36 HP
It fuckin' hurt too, I had a feeling I was quite fragile judging by the fact this knocked a third of my health away, maybe I should invest whatever points I get today into constitution.
Fuck, I need to revert to my old strategy, beat the piss out of em before he beats the piss out of me.
Launching forward, I sent one Strong Punch to the ribs which was blocked and a regular right straight to the jaw, which landed.
He returned back with an overhand right to the jaw which was countered by me barely dipping out of the way and returning back with an uppercut, but the guy didn't relent, he kept pushing forward and eventually got me into a clinch, sending a few light shots into my kidney.
-15 HP
-16 HP
I say light, but they still would've broken my ribs if I wasn't a gamer or some shit. I managed to push him away before he landed a third strike and threw repeated jabs to his face, advancing as he backed off.
He dipped down and tried to throw a hook to the body, but the instincts from pad training kicked in, I saw a target facing down and threw my entire body into a Strong Punch which I had converted into an uppercut.
Strong Punch (4/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
He got sent to the ground on his back, Ben started the count.
"1… 2… 3…"
The man rushed back up, pounding his fists together in order to try and intimidate me.
I stared him down as we both advanced towards each other. He sent a jab which I slipped and returned with a clean cross to the nose and jaw, he took that and retaliated with a hook behind the ear, which sent me onto the floor.
-25 HP
I was barely able to stay conscious, I knew Ben was performing the 8 count, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.
My health bumped back up, everything felt a little more clear, but I still felt helpless. I clenched my teeth hard and with everything I had, I tried to stand up.
Only to fall back down.
"Ding ding ding." Ben shouted, which I managed to catch onto even in my terrible state, the next thing I know, water was dashed onto my face and I was given a few minutes to return to a slightly more desirable amount of HP.
Boxing (6/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
"Don't worry, he's fine, he recovers fast." He explained.
"Ngeh…" I groaned in pain.
I soon recovered and he had me train my reaction speed, he noted I was fragile but he also noted I was fast too, he wanted me to train my reaction time so that I could use my agility to send fast counters and most importantly, not get hit.
He also noted I was able to pull off a very Strong Punch, he didn't teach me that so he was a bit confused on how I was able to use such a technique but he wasn't exactly bothered, instead, he was excited, he wanted to use it as my trump card.
This was when I was first bothered to actually read the description of the technique.
Strong Punch (4/25)
Each level in this skill increases the power of your punches by 0.1x (Stackable)
I also decided to read up on Sneak attack since I also got that recently.
Sneak attack (1/25)
Each level in this skill increases the power of your attacks from a hidden position by 0.1x (Stackable)
These were pretty good.
He said we were gonna train that punch as much as we could as well as my reaction time, he did that by throwing slow punches that slowly ramped up in speed and intensity to the point I could barely dodge 'em, as well as opening himself up to counters whenever I did dodge.
Throwing even two Strong Punches in quick succession did drain me of a lot of my energy, I knew that to survive in the ring and beat up my opponent, I needed to conserve my energy and wait for the perfect moment to throw such a strike. Ben managed to tank just about all of my Strong Punches, it frightened me how casually he just ate them.
I was nowhere near his level, that was for certain.
We had gone through this training for quite a while, I was getting used to using my head movement and footwork in order to avoid these relatively fast blows, and soon enough, a flurry of notifications came in.
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Perception score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
Strong Punch (5/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Boxing (6/150)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
You have levelled up
You have 3 stat points to allocate
All in perception.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this, throw me some more combos."
He threw them at the same speed and intensity as he did before, but I managed to evade and create distance and counter with regular strikes, I got clipped with strikes a lot less than I had before too, it was quite amazing.
And then he ramped the intensity up AGAIN, to the point where I could barely dodge those strikes, I was on the verge of thinking he was a prick who just wanted to make me suffer the moment I improved. But he wasn't, he had a big task on his hands, he needed to bring someone who was somewhat incompetent to competency, and that simply didn't come with holding back.
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Agility score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
This time I focused a lot more on agility, I had to use my footwork instead of my head movement, I was making sure I was in awkward angles to hit so that when he did throw the hits toward me from that position he would stumble a little bit or trip over himself and give me opportunities to throw a Strong Punch here and there. He was still obviously imitating someone way below his level, if he went even at a fraction of his abilities he would probably murder me.
As usual though, I was beaten up quite a bit after that training and I needed to rest up. By the time I did though, I felt very mentally exhausted, still, I needed to go on, I needed to improve even more, I would rid myself of all this fatigue when I slept.
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Constitution score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
Damn, I was simply being showered with EXP and stat gains, I felt unstoppable, I wasn't gonna stop until I dropped dead.
"Wow, I've never seen someone like you, you grow so quickly, you were sorta shit a few days ago but now, now you're kinda something, I gotta give you that."
I smiled. "Of course, I'm just a fast learner-"
"Let's see, I can't think what else I should teach you anymore, I think you should just focus on increasing your power as rapidly as you increase your other attributes, and make sure you have the technique to back that strength."
I nodded and went along with his vague orders, shadowboxing and throwing in a few push ups every other combo, which really did bring me to my limit after a few minutes of this, but my rapid regeneration allowed me to go on when my limits were just about to break.
This rigorous training of course came with fruits of labour, as another shower of EXP rained down on me.
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Constitution score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
Boxing (8/150)
+100 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
I still didn't level up but hey, something was better than nothing. The moon had risen by that point so I felt as if it was my cue to sleep. I had a long day ahead of me so I needed to rest well to rest my mind.
Quest Alert:
Amateur Boxing Tournament:
Defeat a series of 4 opponents, each encounter bringing tougher and tougher challenges. Do what it takes to get the gym in working order
Rewards:
Martial Arts Slot (Rare)
100,000 Beli
+3 To all physical stats
Y/N