A Nerfed Gamer in Avia Chapter 2 - Training Time!

I had woken up quickly since I was excited for today, I moved to my bathroom quickly washing myself, not jumping in the bath this time since I was rushing.

I then quickly got dressed in a white tunic and black trousers with some old mediaeval shoes as I then ran to the large dining hall. I realised I had slept in when I entered to find my family sitting at the table.

I should introduce my siblings, first the oldest, Damien Avernus. He had our father’s blue hair and our mothers red eyes. He was 9 so his face looked pudgy and young.

Next my two sisters, Sofia and Floria Avernus are twins and happen to look very similar to our mother, they had her long white hair and our fathers green eyes. The way to tell them apart was by their hair styles, Floria hated her hair hanging down so she tied it up, whilst Sofia let it hang down her back like our mother did.

Then finally were my two other brothers, Tuck and Andrew Avernus, 7 and 6 respectively.

Tuck had our fathers blue hair and our mothers red eyes, he looked like a mini Damien something Andrew tended to tease him about.

Andrew however had blue hair and our dad’s green eyes, he looked like a mini version of our father.

And then that leaves me. I was 5 so my body and face would change a lot but I was the only son that had our mothers white hair along with dad’s green eyes.

I quickly took my seat as I began eating the food that was already waiting on the table.

“Glad you could finally join us” dad said with a laugh, I gave him a playful glare which only seemed to make him laugh more.

As soon as he calmed down, he put his knife and fork down before looking at each of us “Damien you’ll be starting your training in Qi Cloak and its many offshoots, Benjamin will also be joining you since we have discovered he is an Instinctual Qi user” father said.

Tuck and Andrew looked at me in envy before glancing away back to their food.

My relationship wasn’t very good with my siblings, I barely knew anything about them, I was a lot older than them mentally so I couldn’t really enjoy spending time with them.

I tended to spend more time with my mother or father since I could have an interesting conversation with them and since my father was quite busy, I spent most of my time with mom when she wasn’t training the twins which quickly got me a reputation as a mommy’s boy.

I didn’t care what I was called but it did sadden me to not have a good relationship with my siblings, I was hoping training with Damien would allow me to gain a friend. Only time will tell.

It didn’t take long for us all to finish, we quickly went out into the grounds, grass all around with very few decorations.

Everyone started doing their physical warmup and then their workout. Father guided and taught me the starter workout since I was nowhere near as fit as my siblings.

Qi helped a lot at first, whilst I didn’t have my cloak active, I did move my Qi through my body, it soothing my aching muscles which allowed me to go a bit longer but soon I was sat on my ass off to the side as I watched my family workout.

This continued for about an hour before mother went away from us with the twins, Tuck and Andrew immediately sat down and started meditating whilst father guided me and Damien to the side of the mansion where three giant boulders awaited us.

I narrowed my eyes as my dad moved over activating his Qi Cloak. Qi soured to life around him as it swirled around his body, power oozing off of him.

You see this world also had cultivation tiers, you could cultivate your energy the normal way or through killing monsters. Father was Eternal Tier 3, he was one of the strongest people in the world.

Father moved forward as Qi coalesced around his first and forearm and then he threw his fist forward as it slammed into the boulder on the far right.

I saw his Qi slam against the rock, the Qi allowed his fist to pierce into the rock before it then exploded into pieces.

I wasn’t sure how he did but I had an idea.

“So” he said as he turned to face us both, his Qi Cloak retreating back into his body as he moved over to us “you both can use Qi Cloak, so now we will be using an application of Qi Cloak called Qi Fist” he said.

“Like this?” Damien asked as his Qi Cloak flared to life around his hand.

Father started helping him correct it as I walked up to the rock.

I lifted a hand as my Qi Cloak flared to life, it all immediately focusing on my fist and forearm, I changed the form of Qi to kind of make my fist and forearm into a spear so I could pierce the rock.

I then focused more Qi around the end of my fist so when the punch pierced, I could expel it to gain that explosion my father did.

I pulled back my fist as I heard a “Ben no!” my father shouted but it was too late.

My fist shot forward, the Qi hit the rock first, chipping it before it broke, it wasn’t strong enough.

I wasn’t able to stop it as my fist slammed into the rock, a sickening crack sounded out as I pulled my hand back, my finger bent inwards to my palm, I gipped and almost vomited at the sight.

My father was at my side in under a second as I held my wrist, the shock had worn off but now all i could feel was pain, i hadn’t realised I was screaming until my father whispered to me “activate your Qi Cloak” he said and I listened.

Qi flared around me as I collapsed to the floor in pain, my dad sat down pulling me into his lap as he whispered to me to try and calm me down.

I watched as my Qi rushed to my hand, immediately easing the pain, I also felt Qi enter my body from my father, it aided and refilled my diminishing reserves.

My Qi worked overtime to try and heal the injury. I wouldn't do it anytime soon but with me being an IQU, my Qi could work a lot faster and so I guessed it would be healed in a day or two.

I didn’t cry, only gritted my teeth in pain, i enjoyed mountain biking and had broken a bone or two when I crashed a few times. I was used to pain at this point.

With the Qi softening the pain and my experience, it wasn’t enough to make me cry, I didn’t realise at that point but my lessened reaction made my dad confused as a 5 year old would probably cry.

I hadn’t realised anyone else was here until mother crouched down in front of us, looking at me with worry, father explained my stupid mistake and mother looked positively furious at me.

I was quickly lifted up, my father guiding me, he continued to refill my Qi so it could keep healing me.

I passed by Damien, Andrew and Tuck who all looked at me with worry. Damien looked positively mortified and ashamed for some reason.

Damien’s POV

I let out a sigh as father guided my idiot brother inside, mother and my sisters following them.

“Is he gonna be alright?” Tuck asked with a quiet voice.

I nodded in response “he will be, he’s an IQU, his Qi can heal a lot faster and much more efficiently than us, as long as dad keeps his reserves full” i said and Tuck nodded, his worry lessening.

Benjamin was too good, I thought that constantly. I was jealous he got so much attention from our parents, I hated how he seemed more understanding and smarter than all of us.

I threw myself into books and training with an obsession unbefitting a child, I had gotten a lot smarter thanks to it but I realised it was stupid. Ben was smart, he was more mature than me but I constantly forget that we’re both still children and brother’s.

I had never given him a chance because of my jealousy but his… injury shocked and scared me. I was his older brother and so it was my responsibility to look after and protect him.

I was foolish, I won’t let my jealousy get the better of me anymore, I’ll help Benji and he'll help me, I'll be the brother I should've always been.

Benjamin’s POV

Father stayed with me for a while, a few hours, my Qi had now forcefully pushed my fingers back to their correct position. Obviously the forceful fix had hurt and had broken them more but now my Qi was slowly fixing the bone.

I had asked father how my Qi knew to heal to distract myself and he had explained.

You subconsciously used Qi to heal your body, you mind do the work for you which is why the better you got at controlling your Qi, the better your healing was, of course since i’m an IQU, the only way my healing would get better is if I had more Qi or if I consciously healed myself which is a very advanced technique which my father forced me to promise to never try unless he was teaching me it.

Qi could heal anything as long as there was something there to heal. It could mend cuts and breaks, it could even mend it if a hole was in your body, although you’d probably bleed out before it could fix it.

Qi can’t heal if you’re missing a limb for example. It uses the organic tissue around the wound to heal, it simply sped up the body’s natural regeneration. Which is why it couldn’t heal lost limbs or large injuries.

That was interesting information to learn because if I could get a skill from the gacha that allowed me to regenerate limbs and Qi worked with it, i’d be able to heal from almost anything.

A grin formed at that thought, my dad just ignored me.

As soon as night came, my dad left with an order to come and wake him up if th4e pain got worse after he filed my Qi.

I deactivated my cloak, letting my body rest as I laid in my bed. I quickly fell asleep.

The next day, I did the same, only one of the maids helped me wash myself on orders from my mother. I was uncomfortable with it but I wouldn’t defy my mother, she could be very scary when angry.

I then went to breakfast before we all went outside to train. I was obviously forced to watch, I kept Qi Cloak up, dad would come over whenever my Qi got low to refill it.

Everyone split off again, we moved back to the boulders, I sat on the grass, dad sat beside me helping me heal.

I was astonished at the rate, my hand would be fixed by night came if I had to guess, it would definitely be done by tomorrow morning which meant I could get back to training.

“So I have to expel the Qi upon contact?” Damien asked my father who nodded.

Damien then moved his Qi Cloak to his fist, it enveloped his forearm and fist before he punched the air, the Qi barely expelled outwards, he seemed to be doing something wrong.

“You’re not gathering enough Qi in your fist” father said.

Damien then nodded, moving over to a straw punching bag dad had set up, turns out, you’re supposed to practise on less hard things, the boulder was the final test for Qi Fist.

It would take awhile before we would be ready to destroy that thing, you see Qi Fist is the beginner technique, training in it helped strengthen your Qi and helped improve your control.

Qi was like a muscle, you had to push it to improve it, of course the only way to gain more was to increase in tiers.

Damien was currently Peasant Tier 3. Two tiers above me.

As Damien went to town on the bag, I turned to dad.

“What are the other Qi Cloak techniques?” I asked.

Dad hummed in thought before answering “there are a lot of them, the most prominent ones are Qi Step, Qi Sight, Qi Block, and Qi Kick.

Qi Step allowed the user to propel themselves forward at greater speeds. Qit Sight is recommended to use with Qi Step, it improves your perception and allows you to process things faster.

Qi Block allows the user to create a solid surface of Qi on certain parts of your body to block attacks. Qi Kick is just the kick version of Qi Fist.” he explained.

I nodded in understanding. I trusted everything he said, he was a war hero after all and very talented.

The next day, I was wrong, my mother didn’t let me get back to training, even though my hand was fine, she said I had to wait another day to be safe, I reluctantly agreed.

The next few weeks passed much the same, I practised Qi Cloak and Qi fist. I got Qi Fist down easily, I had actually done it correctly against the boulder but my Qi and my body weren’t strong enough to damage the rock.

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So I spent the next three weeks training Qi Cloak. Dad had offered to put a punching bag in mine and Damien’s rooms so we could practise in private.

I had also not been neglecting Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist which from now one will be known as WSRSF, It was much harder to level without an opponent to fight against so it sat at a measly level 3 but Qi Cloak was at a 13.

When Qi Cloak got to level 10 something interesting happened.

Achievement Completed!

Reach Level 10 with Qi Cloak - Completed!

Rewards: 50 EXP

It wasn’t much but it would help. I had discovered some other things as well.

Qi Cloak (Lvl 13):

A basic use of Qi, you simply push your Qi out and cover your entire body with it.

Abilities:

Increases Physical Capabilities

Can protect against attacks at the cost of your Qi.

Gives a Regeneration Factor whilst active.

Techniques:

Qi Fist - You focus Qi on your fist and forearm in a specific way causing an increase in piercing power and strength. You then expel a large amount of Qi from your fist to cause internal damage within your target.

Qi Fist was added to Qi Cloak as a technique. The other thing was big.

Our father had given me the Avernus Cultivation technique, he had tried to teach me it but I found I was incapable of doing it because of this.

Error! Cultivation not compatible.

User cannot cultivate, can only gain exp via absorbing the energy from a defeated creature.

It turned out I couldn’t cultivate because the system didn’t allow it, that sucked but it was fine.

IQU’s were rare so my dad believed it had something to do with that which was lucky.

One more thing that stood out was the fact that when I completed Qi Fist for the first time without wrecking my hand, it got added to the techniques portion and I got 5 levels with Qi Cloak for it.

It made me quite happy to see it jump 5 levels like that.

It had been three weeks since that fateful day. Me, father and Damien were all in the garden, training.

Father was off to the side laying back against a tree, his eyes shut, he wasn’t sleeping, he was meditating.

Damien stood beside me trying to complete a new technique father was trying to teach us.

Damien was training on Qi Sight, I unfortunately wasn’t allowed to train in it until I was older so to appease me, dad allowed me to train in Qi Kick.

It was the same as Qi fist except that you had to move the Qi around more since you could hit a target with many parts of your food.

Right now I was practising moving the Qi around my entire foot. Damien was trying to get Qi Sight to work.

Qi Sight was interesting technique, you see the people of this world don’t fully understand how our brains work, I’m not sure if they're exactly the same but… it feels the same you know?

Moving on… They train Qi Sight through trial and error. I had a good idea it had something to do with infusing certain parts of your brain and the nerves at the back of your eyes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no fucking clue how our brains work, not a single clue but I do at least know our eyes are connected to our brain via nerves at the back of our eyes.

I at least know that so I have a better idea than Damien over here on how to do it but my age strikes again, because of my fuck up three weeks ago, he won’t let me practice with Qi Sight since if I fuck up again, that means bye bye brain.

And I may or may not listen to his advice later. Trust me I ain’t going to do something that stupid again.

I let the novelty catch up with me and thought I was smarter than I actually was.

Soon Father stopped our training and we went and had dinner before I retreated to my room after giving everyone a goodbye.

Now I stood in my room, glaring at my punching bag. Night had already come and I guessed my family was getting ready for bed.

I however was fucking around with Qi, I couldn’t stop myself, I intended to get Qi Kick doen and then I’d be on Qi Sight.

My Qi Cloak flared to life around me and I glared at the bag. Qi coalesced around my foot and I twisted my body as my foot slammed against the bag.

The bag swung to the side from the force of the kick but nothing else happened.

“Fuck!” I glared at the bag. What am I doing wrong?

That’s what it hit me “I’m an idiot”.

Qi coalesced around my foot against and I kicked again, only this time I didn’t try to make my Qi pierce the bag.

The result was both exciting and annoying.

The bag was kicked to the side again only with the added force from me expelling more Qi than usual. Instead of forming the piercing attack, the bag had a sizable hole in it and flew off the hook on my wall and to the other side of the room.

Qi Cloak Technique Unlocked!

Qi Kick added to Qi Cloak Skill

I then pulled up Qi Kick

Qi Kick - You focus your Qi much like Qi Fist only instead of splitting between piercing and explosive power Qi Kick focuses completely on power, by expelling a large amount of Qi with the kick.

And of course I also got an extra 5 levels in Qi Cloak.

Qi Cloak (Lvl 18):

A basic use of Qi, you simply push your Qi out and cover your entire body with it.

Abilities:

Increases Physical Capabilities

Can protect against attacks at the cost of your Qi.

Gives a Regeneration Factor whilst active.

Techniques:

Qi Fist - You focus Qi on your fist and forearm in a specific way causing an increase in piercing power and strength. You then expel a large amount of Qi from your fist to cause internal damage within your target.

Qi Kick - You focus your Qi much like Qi Fist only instead of splitting between piercing and explosive power Qi Kick focuses completely on power, by expelling a large amount of Qi with the kick.

I nodded in satisfaction, I needed to find a way to level WSRSF faster because If I get achievements for Qi Cloak, I hopefully should for WSRSF as well.

The next day after training with Dad and dinner, Damien had started walking away from the dinner hall, I quickly jogged to catch up with him as I patted him on the back.

“Hey Damien” I said in greeting as Damien turned and nodded down at me.

“Hey Ben, what’s up?” he asked and I slowed my pace to walk beside him.

“I want to ask for some help, I have been making my own fighting style, I got struck with some inspiration and I really want to perfect but I can’t without an opponent.

Damien stopped as I finished speaking, he turned and looked down at me, seeing my pleading look before he let out a sigh and nodded.

“Okay fine, i’ll help you” he said reluctantly “but dad and definitely mom, can never find out got it?” he said forcefully.

I was way too excited to care so I nodded quickly “of course” I gave him my best grin followed by a thumbs up.

We both quickly made our way to his room since it was bigger, of course neither of us saw or heard our father down the corridor, he watched our interaction with a massive grin on his face. We wouldn’t find out he knew about our secret training sessions until a few years passed.

Me and Damien stood across from each other “so you want to just spar?” he asked and I nodded.

“Okay Benji let’s do this” he immediately shot forward and threw a punch at me.

My Qi Cloak came to life as I dodged the punch, Damien didn’t have his up since he was a much higher tier than me, he was holding back a lot.

I stopped back as Damien charged again this time though I was ready, I was crouched with my arms ud and hands open, my palms facing him.

Damien threw another punch, I managed to see some influence from the Avernus Style in the way he moved, it seemed father had started teaching him the family’s martial art style.

His punch was telegraphed and whilst it was a lot faster than I could usually handle, WSRSF had a very cool aspect to it, most of it was instinctual and the system seemed to ingrain its techniques into my body like I had been practicing it my entire life.

Of course it was level 3 so I moved clunky and slow as I moved his fist off course and then proceeded to use my smaller body to trip him over so he tumbled forward and hit the ground hard.

I hadn’t even realised what I was doing until it had already happened.

I was quite caught off guard, it seemed Damien was as well since he stayed seated on the ground, looking up at me in shock.

I was surprised to see a massive grin spread across his face as he got up and patted me on the head, he seemed proud of me which was a new thing for him.

I of course being the child I am, I smacked his hand away as I glared up at him, he just chuckled in response.

“How about we make a deal?” he said once he had stopped laughing.

“What deal?” I asked, he just smiled.

“I’ll help you train and when you have perfected it, can you teach me it?” he said with a smirk.

I noticed how he said when. He fully believed I would perfect it, he believed in my capabilities.

I would never admit and I would forever deny that it ever happened but I immediately broke down in tears as I hugged Damien’s waist tightly, he was completely caught off guard as he awkwardly patted my back.

I had never had a family member believe in me, I hadn’t noticed how much I hated not having a family, those thoughts were buried long ago but now I had a mother who loved me, a father who was there for me and a brother who… believed in me.

I ended up crying for a few minutes as everything caught up to me, I had never really stopped and just thought about my previous life because I knew it would hurt.

I couldn’t bring myself to care though because this life was so much better, all I had to do was find my friends and it’d be perfect.

So I wiped my eyes, determination settled in my mind, I resolved myself to become stronger for my family and to find my friends.

I went to my room and immediately went to sleep.

The next morning I threw myself into training with a gusto I hadn’t ever had before.

Once me, Damien, and father split off, I showed him I could do Qi Kick and he seemed proud of me.

Damien had also gotten down Qi Sight so father decided to teach us Qi Block, another simple technique.

It took me and Damien two hours to get down with each other's help, father was looking at us with a grin so we both made sure to give him a suspicious look.

A new technique was under Qi Cloak now so I gained another 5 levels getting Qi Cloak to level 23.

Qi Block - You focus your Qi to a particular part of your body. You gather a large amount and condense it together to form a more solid barrier of Qi than the passive blocking of damage that Qi Cloak does.

I had also gotten WSRSF to level 5 thanks to Damien.

After some more physical training, we had dinner then me and Damien moved off to go to his room to spar again.

This time we got a lot more done, we spared 3 times and I got WSRSF to level 10. I was right by the way.

Achievement completed: get an Epic rank Skill to Level 10.

Rewards: 1 Gacha Token

The Token went to my inventory thankfully so it didn’t just appear in front of me and Damien so I quickly excused myself and went to my room before clicking on Gacha in my menu.

Gacha

[Equipment] [Skills] [Perks] [Companions] [Special]

I was going to pick Perk or Skill again but I was unsure which I wanted. I ended up deciding on Skill again.

Rolling Rarity…

Rarity Rolled: Common

Rolling Skill…

Skill Rolled: Cooking

Cooking (Lvl 1):

The user’s ability to cook. Higher level improves the quality and taste of food you cook.

I probably shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up but good news is that it now shows the rarity rolled and I found out WSRSF was an Epic rank Skill thanks to the Achievement.

It turns out levelling got much harder the higher skills were so it took another month and a half before WSRSF got to level 20. In the same amount of time Qi Cloak got to 35.

So I gained another 50 Exp from Qi Cloak and another achievement from WSRSF

Achievement completed: Get and Epic Rank Skill to Level 20.

Rewards: 1 Gacha Token (Rare+) + 200 EXP

WSRSF also gained its first technique.

Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist (Lvl 20):

This style involves understanding and re-creating within one’s body the flows of torrential and undulating forces, putting this into the user’s fists.

This style is the perfect blend of offence and defence.

Level increases understanding and mastery of the style and can unlock techniques created by User’s at higher levels.

Techniques:

Instant Movement – By using some fancy footwork, the user can elegantly and quickly move towards his opponent like he is flowing, using a swift feint, followed by a fast-piercing attack, the user targets the enemy's weak points from places they cannot predict.

The Gacha Token made it so I could only get a Rare and above Skill, that’s what the Rare+ meant, also to show how hard it is to level now. I have been training with Damien for a week now and it still hasn’t gotten to level 21.

I was sat on my bed and I decided to use the Gacha, I was already getting addicted to rolling on it. I was surprised I didn’t use it as soon as I got it. I wanted to try saving them so I could focus on the skills I had now but I couldn’t stop myself.

I picked Skill

Rolling Rarity…

Rarity Rolled: Legendary

Rolling Skill…

Skill Rolled: Sharingan (Tomoe 1)

You have got to be shitting me “let’s go!!!!”.