Chapter 4: Of Men & Mice...
--Adventurers' Guild - Main Entrance--
Ignoring the alert, Feng tilted his head upwards to see a smirk adorning the big green guy's face. Standing at nearly three meters compared to Feng's own average height of 1.7 meters, the man loomed over him and the amazing amounts of muscles on his figure further added to his intimidating look.
'He must weigh at least thrice my weight and all of it being pure muscle… He must be some instructor or high-up in this guild… Better be polite.'
"Ah. Greetings, mighty sir. This insignificant one is glad to have provided you with some amusement great sir. I am Feng, a traveler seeking to improve himself and was recommended to seek the Adventurers' Guild for the best training. I will be extremely thankful if you would advise me where do I sign up for training?"
Bowing deeply to waist height, Feng respectfully greeted the large man and waited for his response only to be shocked by the growl emitting from him.
"Pah and I thought it would be someone worthwhile teaching, looks like it was just a fluke. Come back when you grow a spine, little one or just go join the merchant guild if all you have is fancy words."
Snapping upwards from his bowing position, Feng glared at the large man.
"I was merely being polite to a senior who is clearly more accomplished than me. That does not mean I will allow you to dishonor my training or my master's teachings. Take those words back."
The large man raised an eyebrow and spoke intrigued by Feng's sudden impassioned words.
"Ooh? Looks like that little one has some fighting spirit after all… But what can you do with that tiny bit of strength? Come then, prove me wrong. I'll let you hit me. As long as you damage this thick hide of mine, I'll apologize and teach you some tricks."
"Very well. I accept your challenge."
Feng snapped out an acceptance and took up a fighting stance, shuffling his feet into a familiar position with all the weight of his body firmly planted on his back leg and raising his hand in front of him. Narrowing his eyes as he focused on the large man's body, Feng took a quick step forward and smoothly lifted his front leg and snapped it out into the side of the man's knee, causing it to fold just enough to bring his solar plexus into range of Feng's fists as he rained a continuous chain of blows into that single spot.
"Oof. Oof."
Feeling his breath running out due to the untrained condition of his body and the big man hardly seeming to feel his blows, Feng quickly ended his combination with a quick step forward stomping the man's instep while flowing his arms into a sharp downwards elbow strike into the solar plexus he was hammering on.
"Ooof."
Feeling that all he did was merely driving a tiny amount of air out of the man's lungs, Feng decided that desperate times calls for desperate measures and settled on a single decisive blow to end this confrontation which barely lasted ten seconds…
'Damn this useless body'
Gathering his weight and twisting his body which was still facing downwards from the elbow strike, he rotated upwards and brought his knee crashing into the only vulnerable spot within reach…
*DING: CRITICAL HIT!*
"UGH."
Settling back into a neutral ready stance, Feng cheekily mocked the large man who went momentarily cross-eyed.
"I do believe that blow seems to have gotten through your thick hide?"
Recovering from the surprise knee to his groin, the large man glowered at Feng and muttered a low reply.
"… That's just not right man. You don't go for groin strikes in brawls. That's just against the bro code. But yes, I must admit you have good technique and you did win that little challenge although you cheated with that last strike of yours… Anyway, follow me, you qualify for training. Oh and I'm Roth, just Roth, we trolls don't really give a Tergun poop about titles and all."
"Sure thing, Roth. It is a pain to keep up that nonsense anyway, so we are using this training hall?" Feng cheerfully followed Roth through the side-door and entered into a large training hall filled with straw dummies and racks of wooden weapons stacked against the walls, noticing a few people are diligently chopping away at the dummies with their wooden swords.
"Nope. You passed the Adventurers' Basic Test, that means you qualify for our guild's private training, come with me to the back."
"Wait what? Then how about the rest of the travelers here? You mean they failed the test?"
"Nope. Didn't you read the notice pasted outside the guild? It said all new travelers can go around the back to enter the training hall directly for BASIC training and only those who are testing for the Adventurers' Guild should enter through the front door."
"… Uh. No. I didn't see the notice."
--Adventurers' Guild Private Training Hall--
Crossing into the backroom as Feng muttered a sullen reply upon his realization that his over-focus and stubbornness have caused him to not check around properly…
Roth shut the door behind Feng as he guffawed and said jovially.
"Hahahaha! Seems like you are a good fit in this guild after all; charging in head-first without thinking too much is a mark of a young adventurer… Not an old one though, you might want to keep that in mind. Anyway, here we are in the private training hall."
Looking around him, Feng realized that the hall was a significant upgrade over the one outside despite being only being two-thirds of the other's size. With racks of blunted bronze weapons containing a much wider variety, sturdier looking dummies as well as targets around the walls for ranged weaponry and even a long hanging bag that is for unarmed training, this is definitely a much better training area… Plus the privacy will ensure his planned training methods will not be copied.
"Well, go ahead and pick a weapon and start training! I'll give you some advice and teach you something good when I think you are good enough."
"Can I choose more than one weapon to train with?"
"Ha, surprising lad aren't you? Go ahead, be warned that I won't go easy on you and expect all your chosen weapons to be up to a certain standard before I will teach you anything at all. So what are you intending to choose anyway?"
"That's fine, Roth. I'm going with unarmed, sword and dagger."
"Interesting choices, I can't wait to see what you'll surprise me with next… well get to work then!"
*DING*
Nodding at Roth, Feng decided to first open his notifications to check out the likely quest he has received and older alerts before starting on his training.
[Test Completed: Opening The Doors
You have opened the Adventurers' Guild Door… even though you clearly lacked the strength to do so. Weakling.
+3 Strength
+1 Constitution]
[Test Completed: Test of Strength
You have passed Roth's test, which required you to simply do your best and put all your strength into your blows. Instead you decided to cheat and executed an admittedly excellent series of unarmed techniques culminating in a low blow… Congratulations for substituting technique for brute strength… perhaps that's how you compensate for lacking size in the bedroom as well?
+2 Strength
+3 Dexterity
+2 Agility
+1 Endurance
+3 Wisdom]
[New Skill Obtained: Unarmed Mastery
Congratulations, you have learnt to fight with your body. The true sign of a knucklehead, after all who else will be dumb enough to use fists against blades, fireballs, monster claws and other assorted weapons in the world.
(Passive)
+10% Unarmed Damage
+5% Recoil Damage Reduction
+1 Strength
+1 Constitution
+1 Dexterity
+1 Agility
+1 Endurance]
[Quest completed: Entry Trial [Adventurers' Guild]
Congratulations, you have somehow passed a test you had no clue about, did not intend to do or even needed to do, simply because you didn't read a notice… a REALLY BIG notice written in big bold letters. We aren't sure if you are really dumb or very special… Congratulations anyway, try not to become even more special by hitting your head too many times during your training.
PS. In case you didn't realize, this message was lovingly customized for you! Toodles!
Objectives Completed:
1) Enter the Adventurers' Guild
2) Pass Roth's Test
Bonus Objective Cleared: Impress Roth [+10 Relationship with Roth]
Rewards: Access to the Adventurers' Guild Basic Training (Private)
Quest triggered: Combat Training for Dummies… Advanced [Adventurers' Guild]
Trying to not suck at one weapon not good enough for you? You have now taken on a harder quest to be less of a noob at multiple weapons… Good luck!
Objective: Learn [Sword Mastery], [Dagger Mastery], [Unarmed Mastery]
Bonus Objective: Impress the instructor by gaining more skills.
Rewards: Learn [Skills] from Instructor depending on your success
Failure: No Rewards (Even in case of partial completion)]
'Grr... Those damn admins! Che, but those stats should help me accelerate my training a little and I can't wait for this body to get up to at least my real body's standards. Anyway let's start off simple.'
Grabbing a sword and dagger from the racks, Feng equipped the sword in his right and the dagger in left before turning towards the nearest dummy and commenced swinging away at it. Not putting any strength into his blows, he simply focused on sharp and crisp movements to familiarize himself with the weapons in his arms and setting up a rhythm that he could flow from slashing with the longer sword to stabbing with the shorter dagger.
*DING*
After hitting the dummy with both weapons ten times in less than half a minute, Feng checked the alert which popped up.
[Congratulations! Your training has earned you:
+2 Dexterity
+1 Agility]
[New Skill Obtained: Sword Mastery
Congratulations, you have learnt to fight with a sword. It is long enough to keep you from dying too easily when trying to kill something unless you are up against a bow or magic… On the bright side, it is also a phallic symbol; hopefully it will help you get some action. One can always hope… Doesn't mean it will come true though.
(Passive)
+6% Sword Damage
+1 Strength
+1 Dexterity
+1 Agility]
[New Skill Obtained: Dagger Mastery
Congratulations, you have learnt to fight with a dagger. Short but deadly, it is like a cute miniature version of the sword. Can also be used to poke people more stealthily… is that the only way you can get some?
(Passive)
+8% Dagger Damage
+1 Dexterity
+2 Agility]
[New Skill Obtained: Dual-wielding Mastery
Congratulations, you have learnt how to flail around with two weapons. Try not to accidentally kill yourself.
(Passive)
+10% Accuracy with off-hand weapons
+1% Chance to block with off-hand weapons
+3 Dexterity]
'... No, I must focus… no strength increases from the training, probably due to the fact I'm not using much strength but focusing on speed and technique. I'll have to work on that later but time to test out my theory'
Whacking the dummies a few more times with both weapons again before checking his skills list, Feng broke out into a victorious smirk.
'I was right, how fast you gain skill EXP is a factor of number of blows and likely how good the technique is… In other words, focusing on speed to increase the number of blows will maximize skill gains efficiency but this is still too slow… I should train my unarmed combat as well...'
Feng immediately shifted his weight fully backwards to settle into a familiar stance before continuing his striking of the dummy only… with the addition of his feet lashing out in a straight thrusting kick into the dummy alternating randomly but yet synchronizing perfectly with his blades.
'Hmm.. my mouth is free, too bad I don't know any magic chants and such… Unless.. Santor*u from that pirate anime? I could wield a sword in my mouth but… that will look retarded and restrict my spell-casting in the future… oh well this will have to do for now'
*10 minutes later*
[Congratulations! Your training has earned you:
+5 Dexterity
+5 Agility
+2 Endurance
Sword & Dagger Mastery have leveled up to Novice 5
Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up to Novice 4
Dual Wielding has leveled up to Novice 2]
"Huff... Huff..." Feng panted as sweated dripped off his entire body and his muscles quivered with the effort to even hold up the copper weapons.
Leaning at the side of the hall, Roth shook his head in disbelief at the sight of Feng's method of training.
'Looks like this body is still unable to keep up with this pace. Better take a quick break, hmm I wonder if breathing methods will work equally well here…'
Settling into a full lotus sitting position, Feng let out a long breath and became still as a statue with only the slightest movements of his abdomen showing that he was still breathing. After a minute, he uncurled himself and stood up while maintaining his meditative state.
With his eyes closed, Feng suddenly exploded into a flurry of punches, palm-strikes and kicks at the dummy, constantly moving around with all his blows precisely targeting vulnerable spots. After nearly a minute of frantic blows, he planted his feet firmly and launched an unceasing chain of fists at the dummy's head for a full ten seconds and advanced with his entire body weight behind the last blow causing the straw head to fly off cleanly, unable to withstand the abuse.
*DING*
*pant pant*
Dropping to the ground after his intense session with the dummy, Feng sprawled ungainly on the floor to regain his breath.
'Da-damn this useless body. Need time to recover some stamina before I can train again, might as well take this time to check my gains.'
Groaning as he moved his aching hand to pull up the notifications, Feng completely missed the thunderstruck look on Roth's face.
[Congratulations! Your training has earned you:
+3 Strength
+5 Endurance
+3 Dexterity
+5 Agility
Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up to Novice 6]
[New Skill Obtained: Meditation
Congratulations, you learnt how to sit down and stone. You sure you aren't on any drugs dude?
(Sustained)
+10% Recovery rate when meditating
+1% Effectiveness for any focus-related skills]
[New Skill Obtained: Breathing Technique
Congratulations, you can breathe! Not sure how you survived so long without knowing how to before… but have a nifty skill for learning how to breathe properly like cool monks.
(Sustained)
+1% Recovery rate while maintaining technique
+5% Bonus Unarmed Damage
+5% Recoil Damage Reduction
-10% Stamina usage while maintaining technique
Duration: 10 seconds
10 Stamina Drain/s after 10 seconds]
[New Skill Obtained: Chain Punching
So you think you know Chinese Kung Fu? … Well you clearly actually do. So, have a free skill you unrepentant balance breaker… Go ahead and knock the stuffing out of all your foes… your straw dummies foes, we'll see how well your knuckles will fare against weapons.
(Active)
+10% Attack Speed
+5% Unarmed Damage
+5% Critical Hit Rate
+5% Critical Damage
10 Stamina Drain/s]
[For demonstration of advanced understanding, skills have been automatically ranked up:
Meditation & Breathing Technique have leveled up to Novice 3
Chain Punching has leveled up to Novice 5
For learning an advanced Monk class skill, you have been awarded:
+5 Strength
+5 Agility
+5 Constitution
+5 Endurance
+5 Luck]
'YES! Score! Martial art techniques DO carry over. The extra bonus is just icing on the cake… I wonder what other techniques I might be able to recreate for an extra boost. Hmm…'
Sitting down to meditate and regain his breath again, Feng continued the cycle several more times alternating between weapons and unarmed combat before finally coming to a rest after a full three hours of training.
*DING*
[Congratulations! Your training has earned you:
+5 Strength
+10 Endurance
+6 Constitution
+8 Dexterity
+3 Agility
Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up to Apprentice 4
Sword & Dagger Mastery have leveled up to Apprentice 3
Chain Punching has leveled up to Apprentice 2
Dual Wielding has leveled up to Apprentice 1
Meditation has leveled up to Novice 8
Breathing Technique has leveled up to Novice 7]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone