Part 6 - Training and Progress
Liz rolled out of bed, literally, at the sound of harsh thumping on her door.
She was expecting to feel sore, so it wasn’t the end of the world, but it was so much worse than her prior experiences staying in shape for her roles in film.
Truly, she felt like her head was a rubber band that had been stretched too far and finally snapped. With a thought that took entirely too long, she sealed away her fatigue and soreness behind a [Mental Partition] that felt entirely too much like a new crutch she would rely on forever. The skill did way too much to be a simple general option offered to most. She guessed there were hundreds of alternatives out there, but this skill kept her from even needing to focus on tedious tasks.
One more use of the skill to focus on not stepping through the floor, and she was ready to readjust her pain settings for a new day of training. Headaches, gone. Limbs, set to a dull throb maximum. Torso, pain set to zero.
She was ready to work until her body literally couldn’t function anymore.
Then she found a new pair of sandals and finally opened her door.
“Disciple Liz!” Arlyen was quite literally barking at her right away. “You are late for your training regimen! You’re lucky you’re so damn frail, because I normally would deny a late trainee their morning meal! Get some jerky in you and get outside the town gates five minutes ago!”
She was going to love this. She already had ideas, and the role she once played as a side character in a military fiction movie had her chuckling internally at the idea of actually experiencing basic training.
She hated her younger self.
This was clearly hell.
She was well aware they’d established the limits of her stats the first day, but during mana refreshes, she was being forced to complete a full set of physical exercises. Every day was a struggle against her will just to keep going. She simply was not interested in slacking off and dying from events she wasn’t prepared for.
Push-ups and burpees were great for her [Mental Partitions], too. Autopilot away!
The worst of the exercises were wall-sits. Without her [Earth Manipulation] turned on. It was actually becoming second nature so quickly she wasn’t sure how to not use the skill, meaning it took her full focus to not rely on the skills as a crutch for them. Problem was, Arlyen could somehow tell, and would add stone weights to her lap every time she unwittingly began to cheat.
Liz’s stone body parts were so dense that not using the skill to hold herself up seemed impossible. Any weight beyond her natural body would cause her bones to creak in protest, and she’d be forced to turn off that part of her mind to get the weights removed.
Apparently, these were for when she didn’t have mana to move normally, like if a canceler skill was placed on her, like the famed [Guardsman’s Buff] that turned mana regeneration into Vitality, used to prevent plucky classers causing trouble with skills in town.
The skill exercises that the physical exercises were operating around were the most interesting part of the sessions.
For conjuration, she was taught complex details about creating weapons.
“Stone weapons suffer from similar flaws to other metal weapons out there. Most [Warriors] end up with skills to enhance their weapons and improve durability while they’re used. Your skill is focused on unarmed combat, but blunt strikes won’t always work the best. You correctly deduced that the wolves yesterday would be susceptible to piercing attacks, but your range limitations on your [Earth Manipulation] kept you from forming a long enough blade to pierce those with higher level defensive skills.”
The lesson shifted into a lengthy session of [Earth Conjuration] to create various weapons of stone she could keep within range and control with enough power to be useful in combat.
Surprisingly, her favorites ended up being sharp, dense claws for piercing and slashing enemies with, while her fists remained her strongest and most artful choice.
She’d practice her conjuration of stone weapons and tools until her mana was gone, then turn to physical exercises for a while until she had enough in her pool to move on to training her general skills.
She’d capped out [Mental Partitioning] and [Learning] already, but she had plenty of work to do in order to cap her other skills.
[Martial Arts], [Awareness] and [Roll with the Punches] came down to sparring sessions, which were now held on more equal footing rather than being pure beat downs by her teacher. The control it took to suppress your own abilities to match a lower level student must’ve either been an impressive display of technique, or a teaching skill of some sort.
[Identify] was helped along by Kuai-Bao, who would bring along the latest catch of fish from the lake for her to use the skill on before the morsels were lost to the huge creature’s terrifying maw. Apparently, Arlyen had some sort of remote connection like telepathy with her bonded companion, and could pass along instructions like that with ease, despite the many miles between their new and old training grounds.
The last two skills were [Stunning] and [Imaginative].
She had a sneaking suspicion that her appearance skill was going to be her own effort, in the end.
Her creativity skill was loving her efforts each day to hide things from her teacher. Liz had learned from the first day of training that she could create gaps in her stone by spreading it across her body for reinforcement. One application of that knowledge was obvious. Her new method to avoid being robbed by thieves. She could store things inside hollow parts of the stone.
Stored snacks.
Stored coins.
Or making herself lighter for her dreaded wall-sits by leaving a little bit of herself behind for a while.
Until she got caught.
Arlyen seemed to actually approve of the idea. Negating common risks like having your pouch of coins stolen was already useful, but being able to carry small goods around without risk of losing them was valuable for a number of jobs and tasks life would throw at her. Even keeping materials for starting a campfire out of the rain was immensely valuable in the long term.
Eventually, she got interested in testing how her stone would hold up to her mentor’s Stygium whip strikes.
Stygium was a magic metal infused with the element of Decay, of all things. The stuff was outright lethal to living creatures, and just normal metal against non-living things.
Her teacher had a sly grin on her face when she finally relented on the idea.
Liz, for her part, regretted her choices. Sure, the metal didn’t hurt her stone by making it wither away, but her teacher was a high level [Paladin] with skills to boost herself while using whips. There was nothing to prepare Liz for losing her leg from the calf down.
It made sense in retrospect. Whips were incredibly dangerous things that usually didn’t do well when they met armors like steel, but when the system came into play and started throwing skills to cover the flaws in the weapon, they became more than slightly game changing in their viability.
Arlyen had explained why all armies didn’t tend to train soldiers to use them, and it generally came down to how hard it was to teach new recruits to use them and be effective, as well as the nature of the weapons being just inefficient in most wars.
Still, despite the overall strengths of the stone she had incorporated into her body, the whip had severed the foot from her body incredibly easily. Her mentor seemed satisfied with the horror inflicted upon Liz at how fragile she really was in this world.
Thankfully, the severed limb melded back together with the stump once the two were brought close enough that she could use her skills to merge them again.
Then she promptly began working on getting a true armor skill added to her repertoire.
More beatdown training. Yay.
It only took five days. Mostly due to the mana costs, she managed to finally raise [Earth Conjuration] to level 32. Her general skills had already capped, except for the straggler, [Stunning] which stubbornly refused to go up after it reached level eight.
She guessed she would need to work on that one with some quality time in the local bathhouse. Which she’d yet to visit, and had been growing increasingly disgusted with the state of her body, likely the real culprit for her lack of levels in the skill.
Finally, she felt she could class up with peace of mind, [Stunning] be forgotten until a future investment.
~ ~ ~
She opened her eyes back in the Seer’s tent, with a noticeably improved aesthetic. The purple of the tent fabric was unmarred by the nasty teeth that had littered the folds before, and the ground felt much more solid, though the writhing mess beneath the stone floors could be felt like an endless tremor through the ground.
“I knew you’d come,” Seer gave her a fun little performance of being a fortune teller waving her hands over the crystal ball before her.
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“As if I’d never return!” Liz gave a small chuckle before sitting across from herself.
“So, how’s the new life?” Seer started off with small talk, of all things.
“I’m actually really being put to the grindstone. It wasn’t even this bad when I had to play that one teenage superhero role, abs and all.. Though I imagine you already know, since you’re me.”
“Oh just relax. Let this be fun. You’re finally going to have some options for once. Great job getting used to the system and becoming a functional person again! Would you like to see some food for thought?” Seer dramatically raised her hands over the ball on the table, waving her fingers back and forth as though the performance was a requirement, and for all Liz knew, maybe it was.
She gazed at the images and noted that there were three side-by-side different projections, each with different shades of blue light coming from them.
The first revealed her fully encased in stone armor, like some sort of rocky juggernaut, smashing through enemies like a titan. It was a lighter shade of blue. [Earthen Monolith to Seira] was the name that appeared in her mind.
The second image was another sort of defensive class, with swirling stones around her body that could intercept attacks and keep them from reaching her. She felt this one would be expanding her area of control over the earth around her, with an active defense system. [Seira’s Satellites of Redirection] was the name, and was the darkest blue shade of the offerings, though the stat distribution of the build seemed to be much more difficult with the math on how she wanted her style to allow her to operate.
The final image seemed to be a more direct upgrade of her current class, only with a complete abandonment of the strength stat. In the image, she was moving fast, darting around the dire wolves she had fought before with immense speed and then crushing the wolves with axe kicks and roundhouses. [Acrobatic Templar of Seira] was a shade of blue right between the two other options and just spoke to her in a way the others didn’t. She liked to be fast, nimble and accurate.
The [Monolith] class seemed to be aiming for the slower route that promised an incredible ability to power through enemy attacks. [Satellites] was a purely defensive mage choice with flexibility, but given how her second class wasn’t locked in, she couldn’t make a decision that might prevent her from fighting back with her strongest class.
“[Acrobatic Templar of Seira] is the only real choice for me, isn’t it?” Liz asked.
Seer chuckled, “You’d rather be given the choice than have me tell you like last time, right?”
Liz placed her hand over the image in the ball, then watched as the light of her old class exited her hand and the new light was absorbed.
“Agreed. I guess next time I see you, it’ll be for my second class?”
“That it will, though you’ll be here much sooner than you think.”
Before Liz could ask about that, the world began to fade.
[*ding* Congratulations! You have upgraded your first class - [Acrobatic Templar of Seira] - Earth]
[*ding* Congratulations! Your class has leveled up from level 32 to level 67!]
[*ding* You have gained the following stats per level! +10 Free Stats, +60 Dexterity, +50 Vitality, +60 Speed, +20 Mana, +70 Mana Regeneration, +40 Magic Power, +40 Magic Control from your class! +4 Free Stats for being Partially Human, +2 Vitality for being Partially Stone Golem! +1 Vitality from your element!]
[*ding* For reaching level 50 in your first class, you have unlocked the passive class skill [Rigid Body]!]
[Rigid Body: Your perseverance and adaptability are exceptional, and with this skill, your body will keep up, too. Increased durability of your body based on Vitality per level. -1000 Mana Regeneration]
She accepted the skill immediately. It sounded like the exact skill she’d been working towards, hoping to help her body keep up with her combat style.
[*ding* [Seira’s Tenet of Equivalent Exchange] has leveled up! 32 -> 60]
[*ding* [Earth Authority] has leveled up! 32 -> 67]
[*ding* [Earth Manipulation] has leveled up! 32 -> 67]
[*ding* [Tenacity of Stone] has leveled up! 32 -> 67]
[*ding* [Mental Partitioning] has leveled up! 32 -> 67]
[*ding* [Martial Arts] has leveled up! 32 -> 46]
[*ding* [Identify] has leveled up! 32 -> 43]
[*ding* [Awareness] has leveled up! 32 -> 49]
[*ding* [Roll with the Punches] has leveled up! 32 -> 67]
[*ding* [Learning] has leveled up! 32 -> 50]
[*ding* [Imaginative] has leveled up! 32 -> 36]
[*ding* For attaining level 64 in your first class, you have unlocked your second class - [Beloved of Earth] - Earth - Lv1]
She chuckled at her new second class unlocking. “Sooner than I think, huh?”
Then she got up from her bed and nearly choked.
[*ding* Class 2 - [Beloved of the Earth] has gained a level! 1 -> 2]
[*ding* You have gained the following stats per level! +3 Vitality from your class! +4 Free Stats for being Partially Human, +2 Vitality for being Partially Stone Golem! +1 Vitality from your element!]
“Right… even sooner than that.” She decided to disable the notifications for her second class. It would probably cap at eight before she got to the bottom of the stairs.
She muttered under her breath as she opened her door and headed past the nun guarding her door and down the hall in search of water and food. She was parched and far more hungry than she was for her previous class-up. She wondered if the few words of small talk somehow amounted to a lot more time than she’d thought. Even her muscle fatigue was dramatically reduced.
“Arly, what the hell have you been doing to her out there?” Sylvestre’s voice sounded angry when Liz got to the bottom of the stairs.
“Huh, wrestling with wolves seems to be an effective leveling method for the girl. Straight to the upper sixties is a huge benefit for your-”
Sylvestre literally picked Arlyen up off the ground by the front of her casual tunic. They must’ve checked her level already.
Liz winced, but decided it wasn’t her problem and made for the nearest pitcher of water she could find. The warm afternoon light streaming in from the windows reminded her that it was still the late dry season in the area, approaching the rains to come in the next months.
“You could’ve gotten her killed, you absolute numbskull!” Sylvestre sounded beyond irate, which seemed to be the flavor of his character when Arlyen was around. He usually was more reserved when Liz spoke with him. Love sure changes people, she thought idly, with zero sense of irony.
Arlyen seemed amused, likely since she had a huge level advantage and the benefits of being a [Warrior]. She just shrugged. “Honestly, the kid has some serious anger issues. She killed the wolves without breaking a sweat, I promise!”
Liz poked her head out of the kitchen attached to the main church area where the two were arguing. “Sure, no sweat. If you ignore having my bones in my right arm shattered and my left leg chomped on, you might even call the fight easy.”
Arlyen glared her way, “traitor.”
Liz chuckled as she returned to her hunt for a glass of water, then hopefully some freshly cut pineapple. She was a little surprised to find a lot of foods from the area matched ones she could find on Earth. Their regional specialties were all about fruits, and pineapple just happened to be one of her favorites, when cut fresh. She was a Cali girl, anyway, so tropical was fine by her.
She was also lucky they were so cheap, since she didn’t technically earn money for the church yet. All she’d been doing was sleeping, eating and training. Although, she did qualify as a member of the elite in this country because of her tag and the new religious symbol she wore around her neck.
Sylvestre began a tirade at her teacher as Liz sated her newfound appetite, and then returned at last to break up their fight.
“So, how long was I out?”
The one sided argument ended there.
“Three days.” Arlyen studied her more closely.
“Still [Priestess] tagged,” Sylvestre commented.
“Well, yeah. I made a promise and I’ll stick to it. I may not be an entire idiot now that I’ve fixed my head a bit, but I’m still devoted to Seira. Why?” Liz tilted her head slightly in a quizzical gesture.
“It’s because your class quality was high, and your level has doubled but you’re not tripping over yourself despite your stats exploding by comparison, even with so many days of getting used to the old values.” Her mentor was ever the helpful one, pointing that out.
She reviewed her skills and found the culprit with a chuckle.
“It’s because I have an evolution of the skill [Adaptable]. I think it’s why my ability to get used to these changes has been so quick. It’s been pretty fast, frankly. Definitely not normal.”
“I was worried you hadn’t gotten a divine class this time, and the gains would be small.” Sylvestre gave a weary sigh as he sat back down, finally giving up on his lecture at Arlyen.
The gnoll took a seat nearby, looking at Liz. “So? What did you end up with? Stat weight alright? Any risks or difficult new skills?”
Liz gave a sly grin at the questions.
“More or less the direct upgrade. It’s nimble and quick, with a magic stat focus that’s pure [Priestess] and not [Warrior]. Earth still, for both classes right now, in fact. Level fifty skill was a vitality enhancement for my body, which I took. Hasn’t eaten my combat skills from the general list, so I am thinking this one is different from [Roll with the Punches] which is what I wanted. Hopefully those combine eventually.”
She checked on her levels again, seeing the delightfully expected result of any Earth class on her current body.
[*ding* Class 2 - [Beloved of the Earth] has gained multiple levels! 2 -> 8]
[*ding* You have gained the following stats per level! +3 Vitality from your class! +4 Free Stats for being Partially Human, +2 Vitality for being Partially Stone Golem! +1 Vitality from your element!]
She then turned towards the stairs.
“Class two is ready for its jump at eight. Metal is the target, but I’ll let you know what happens.”
“Wait! Your stats. You said that your class was ‘nimble and quick’ but if that’s the case, what’s happened to your strength stat? It was already quite low.” Arlyen actually sounded worried.
“Oh right! It totally crashed. Almost forgot about that. Only a whopping 83 points.” Liz had the good grace to be a little embarrassed at having forgotten and how she’d begun acting tough to hide how tired she was feeling.
“Free stats? Use them until your strength is at least two hundred if you can.” Sylvestre chimed in helpfully.
“Right, right.” Liz had at some point begun seeing Sylvestre as a mentor in his own rights now. He’d been great company for games of chess before, but he seemed to be trying to be fatherly towards her the past several days. She wondered if he was trying to offset Arlyen’s influence a bit, but the last thing she wanted was a new father figure. She had a perfectly amazing father back on Earth, and had no interest in replacing him. The role was something special to her.
She fixed her stats, aiming for the two hundred mark.
[Name: Elizabeth Fereday]
[Race: Stone Golem/Human Hybrid]
[Age: 21]
[Mana: 17,940/17,940]
[Mana Regeneration: 12,986]
Stats
[Free Stats: 300]
[Strength: 200]
[Dexterity: 3,243]
[Vitality: 2,680]
[Speed: 3,313]
[Mana: 1,794]
[Mana Regeneration: 3,544]
[Magic Power: 2,078]
[Magic Control: 2,078]
Classes:
[Acrobatic Templar of Seira] - Earth - Lvl 67
[:Seira’s Tenet of Equivalent Exchange 60]
[:Earth Authority 67]
[:Earth Conjuration 32]
[:Earth Manipulation 67]
[:Tenacity of Stone 67]
[: Rigid Body 1]
[: ]
[: ]
[Beloved of the Earth] - Earth - Lvl 8
[Class 3] - Locked
General Skills
[:Mental Partitioning 67]
[:Martial Arts 46]
[:Identify 43]
[:Awareness 49]
[:Roll with the Punches 67]
[:Learning 50]
[:Stunning 2]
[:Imaginative 36]
She nodded in satisfaction, then headed for her room to meet up with Seer again. She was only a little worried about depriving herself of proper sleep for another indeterminate amount of time after already going through the three days of her last visit to her soul.
“Oh well, You only live twice, apparently.” She did not want to go through what was necessary to get a third chance at life. She just knew she would live to regret that choice of words someday.