Chapter 53 Training And A Crossing Point
"Your skills with the daggers are better compared to before but your hands are still a bit stiff every time you swing, you're not using a sword or any large weapon, they're daggers, their main function is speed and flexibility, you should be able to spin them around or change your grip on them in a split second." Wolf talks to Shadow while spinning the daggers around his hands with ease, showing Shadow an example of what he is talking about.
"It's tough in the beginning, you might think your daggers will slip out of your hand while attacking but the more you practice the natural it will get, that's the only thing you should focus on, for now, we'll go over more things once you get that down."
Shadow nods exhaustedly, his will to train more already extinguished. For the last couple of days, everybody was training their proficiencies while simultaneously going to the forest to hunt monsters and level up.
On the other side of the field, Reign blocked an attack from Jack and got blown back by a good couple of meters. Ever since he saw Jack killing the giant wolf he had wanted to take him as a teacher, after days of pestering him Jack finally relented and agreed to coach him a bit.
"Your reflexes are good, the speed and power behind your blows are a bit above average but your technique, that's going to take a lot of practice to improve, honestly I have no idea how your swordsmanship got to this level while having it so bad." Jack shakes his head as he observes Reign, even though he was showing a look of slight disapproval he was actually shocked after sparring with Reign.
(This guy, his attacks are wild and have no pattern, that together with his reflexes and natural instincts make it difficult for most opponents to follow him if he just improves on his fundamentals, how scary will he become?)
Jack had seen many geniuses during his life, Reign could rank amongst the top when it came to fighting, his style of fighting was simply unnatural, not following any conventional method of using the sword.
(Not just the sword, he actively uses his legs and the free hand to attack as well, filling in some of the holes in his swordsmanship with them, this kid, he was born for fighting.)
Jack's evaluation of Reign was incredibly high, Reign was a superb fighter, although a newbie with the sword, he was trained since early age in MMA, his father and uncle made sure to drill the basics of hand to hand combat to him and Shadow.
Bang!
Tank and Greenie were locked into a struggle of power, Greenie was using all of his strength to swing the hammer while Tank was giving it his all to block it with his shield, every time he saw an opening he would swing his axe as well, trying to catch Greenie off guard.
That never worked though, as a being with Vajra blood Greenies fighting skills were incredibly high, probably the highest in raw talent amongst all of them, so it was easy to imagine how his and Tanks fights usually ended, neither one used skills, only their weapons as the goal was to improve their basics.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Beast was having it a lot easier compared to the others, shooting arrows at faraway targets and moving targets was all the practice he needed as an archer, putting his wolves to good use he would sometimes put the targets on their back and made them run everywhere while he tries to hit them, making it a good training session for both him and them.
"So, when will you teach me the move you used against the wolf?" Reign asks Jack with sparkling eyes, basics were important, he knew that, but the skill that cut the giant wolf in half was something he wanted to learn as soon as possible.
"I told you already before your swordsmanship reaches a high enough level it is impossible, you would just cut yourself while trying it, take your sword and let's continue, when your fundamentals are good I'll teach you a new skill if you can comprehend it or not is up to you." Jack walks towards Reign with his sword at the side, slowly lifting it he starts attacking Reign again, not giving him a moment to rest.
After 2 hours.
Reign was on his bed, tomorrow was the day when they were finally going to hit level 16 and finally prepare for the journey to the town. Bringing his hand up he checks his status.
Name: Reign
Level: 15 ( 7 680 / 8000 )
Class: Swordsman (more info in the class menu)
Race: Human? (more info in the race menu)
Attribute points: 10
Strength : 22 (27) (+4 from ability, +1 from item)
Agility : 31 (38) (+5 from ability, +2 from item)
Endurance : 14 (15) (+1 from item)
Vitality: 16 (18) (+ 2 from ability)
Willpower: 16 (17) (+ 1 from ability)
Spirit: 22 (32) (+4 from ability, +6 from item)
Proficiencies:
Knife Proficiency D
Hand to hand combat A
Sword Proficiency B +
Skills:
[Inspect ] – Rank B
[Lightning charge] Rank A
[ Lighting movement ] – Rank C
[ Lightning Stab ] – Rank B
[ Compact Punch ] – Rank C
[ Lightning Bullet ] – Rank C
[ Swordsman] – no rank
[ Downward slash ] – no rank
[ Swordsman Heart ] – no rank
Ability:
Lightning manipulation S ( lvl 29 exp: 99%)
Unknown rank ??? ( lvl ? exp ???)
Ever since yesterday his Lightning manipulation was stuck at 99%, when he asked the system about it he only got this as a response.
[Level 30 is a crossing point for abilities, even though you will not have any bottlenecks at the earlier levels and the levels above it, every crossing point will require you to comprehend a bit more about the ability before you can continue leveling it up.]
Reign thought a lot about it, he had a feeling that by improving his lighting charge he would be able to go through the passing point, but so far he only had slight ideas on how to do that.
(My lightning charge is great for a quick surprise attack but loses it power right after that, if I could make it more flexible and make it so I can simply use it as a boost to my movement speed it would definitely improve and let my ability enter level 30.)
Clenching his fist he goes to sleep.
Early in the morning, everyone arrives at the gate, excited to go to the forest and finally level up.
"I wonder how big the town will be, will there be many people in it? " Shadow jumps up and down like a little kid while asking everyone. Reign hits him on the head as he replies
"Quit being so loud, we have to first level up and then travel to it, you think it will be a picnic or something, we might die during it, so be serious."
"Ouch, alright, alright." Shadow scratches the area where Reign hit him while talking, everyone else just chuckled at the familiar sight of the two.
"Alright kids, have a good time, and don't forget, don't you dare die out there." Jack waves them off before giving them a stern look together with the remainder.
Everyone nods seriously and makes their way towards the forest, their target was the dark forest as they have barely gone thereafter their fight with the Wood Folk, they were now prepared confident about fighting them, even if the same number was to charge at them again.