With his new punishment in effect Ajax found himself a lot more restrained. This worked out very well for his new training regiment. Hatchet took the time that whole first day in sparring with him to ensure that he wouldn’t hurt people accidentally with his new strength. Most level twenty-fours had around 650 total stats with the elites pushing 700. He had 661 points just in his mental stats, add to that the 600 point infusion in one day and he was liable to injure some of the younger villagers who hadn’t reached that point in their stats.
A deeper look into his punishment came with the answer to his training. He would once again accompany Hatchet as he went out. But instead of Hatchet being there to look out for him he was just there to finish the fights. His new mission was now to engage with the low level creatures without killing them.
The first thing he noticed after the first day was the noticeable increase in control the new training granted him. He could now apply as much strength as he wanted without having to slowly build up to it. The second was the noticeable drop in experience earned. Previously he would gain anywhere from 50 to 100 exp a day at the least. The last two days of hunting got him a grand total of 5. It became obvious to him why his brother had slowed down to a crawl in his own levelling. That’s to say nothing of his parents.
As he was fighting off two bears he found himself still missing his fine control mid battle. The bears were weak, level twelve at most according to his skills. He didn’t even need to use [Mana Syphon] anymore, instead he had to limit his barehanded strike so as to not break their necks.
“Well, it seems that you have the limiting control of your abilities well in hand.” said Hatched as he walked over and put down the bigger of the two bears. “We’ll leave this one be, I spotted a few cubs running around and I don’t want to leave the bears that have just finished returning to the area to be exterminated.”
I simply nodded along and proceeded to carry the bear carcass over to the butcher. Bear meat turned out to be a bit of an acquired taste, but with little else in options during the repopulation of the forest following the kobold infestation the village had grown to really enjoy it.
It seemed odd for us to be returning so soon, it wasn’t even noon yet. I wonder what Hatchet has planned? He knows that I will be leaving a day or two after my Apprentice Trait ends. Surely he knows that I will have plenty of time to rest on my trip over to Lessis. After dropping off the big bear and getting assurances of the specific cuts to be set aside for the both of us I followed after Hatchet. For the first time since I started training under him he led me out towards the eastern side of the village.
“So far we’ve only worked towards helping you control yourself with your newfound strength,” he said as we entered one of the many caves that opened on the side of the mountain. “With you leaving in a little over a week, I think it’s time to help you find out just how far you can push your new powers without restraint.”
We exited the cramped tunnel into a massive open space. There were a few targets set up on one side of the wall but the large cavern looked a lot like an arena.
“Here we have the space, structural integrity and privacy for you to go all out without having to worry.” Hatchet continued as he started to stretch. “You’re going to be fighting me for real now. We’ll start with you not using your mana so you can get a good feel for your physical stats.”
He handed me blunted versions of the weapons I was used to carrying. While he wanted me to get a good idea of my power and push me he still wanted to make it as safe as possible without compromising the effectiveness.
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We squared off against each other, circling, I was looking for a weak point to exploit. Thinking I finally saw an opening I charged.
Hatchet P.O.V
The kid came charging at me. He was a lot faster now than at any point in the past week. Clearly he had been restraining himself when adjusting to his increase in stats. The speed he had seemed to surprise even him as he almost crashed into the wall after I stepped out of the way.
We were looking to train him so I stayed on the defensive for the first twenty minutes of the fight. I could see him gaining more and more control as the fight progressed. I could also get a feel for how high his stats now were. His Strength, Dexterity and Endurance seemed pretty balanced, they were somewhere around 125, maybe a bit higher on account of him still getting used to them maybe in the mid 130’s. His Perception was also at least at 100, though I couldn’t get more accurate than that, it could be quite a bit higher.
He never told me what his stats were, but if he started from around the mid fifties, he would have to have spent at least 230 points in Strength Dexterity and Endurance. A physical focused build, a slight bit different than the even split we had discussed, but definitely strong.
A few retaliation strikes let me know that his vitality was even sturdier, north of 150. Despite my initial doubts about his path and surprising ability to not spend his stats it clearly worked out for him. He fought exactly as I would expect of a level twenty-four. This despite having lower levelled skills than they usually do by this point, so despite his not neglected mental stats he still surpasses a physically focused warrior in physical stats. This might not be the case as he continues to level and split his points but it should allow him to get himself established in the Adventurer’s Guild and gain their protection before revealing his abilities with mana.
Deciding this was a good place to stop I sped up and with a well placed strike from behind him sent him tumbling to the ground.
“That was good” I said as he quickly got back up. “Let's take a break and then we can see what you can really do. With how well this trick of yours seems to have worked out, I almost think you wasted those points you spent in your mental stats.”
All people needed to spend points into Vitality and Perception. After passing level fifty, you started to need to drop a few points in stats opposite your focus just so your body could keep up. I am really starting to think he wasted his potential by splitting his focus like this.
“You ready?” I asked after a good half an hour break.
He simply nodded at me and I felt the distinct presence of mana being expelled from him. It wasn’t anything massive but it was a constant trickle. It also seemed to not be moving away from him, instead it was somehow being fed back into him.
He took a step forward and I felt mana spread throughout the ground of our arena. An instant later the ground beneath my feet started to give way. I quickly regained my footing and looked back at him. I was lucky to look up just in time as he was almost upon me. He is a lot faster now than he was before. Whatever he was doing with his mana increased his speed and strength considerably.
I managed to dodge the slash by the skin of my teeth and back away looking to create space. As soon as I jump though he releases a quick burst of lightning from the end of his blade.
The bolt is comparatively weak to what I have seen back in my adventuring days. That he was able to release it right after charging an opponent and without having to speak any more than made up for it however.
The biggest problem casters had when in combat was that their spells had their target locked at the beginning of the chant. Mages needed to know where their quarry would be a few moments before it got there, this let other warriors of similar level to them have a chance in one on one combat by reacting and being unpredictable every time a chant started.
This was not a problem that he would have however. The bolt took me in the chest and I felt my muscles spasm once or twice and the current went through my system. He seemed to be pleased with that and kept charging after me, not leaving me a moment to come up with a plan.
This was definitely an anomaly, I was level fifty-two. Being a scout I focused more heavily on Perception and Vitality but I should still have a combat strength comparable to a level forty-five. That he was pushing me back at level twenty-four was astounding. My early carelessness let him get the upper hand and he used it to land a few lightning spells on me. My body was a lot less responsive than I would have liked. It took everything I had to finally get a good strike in and be able to call an end to the spar.
“That was really something.” I managed to get out after a good few lungfulls.”We’re going to be doing this for the rest of the days before you leave. We’ll keep up your physical only training as well, I would suggest you keep your mana under wraps until you have spent a few weeks or months in the Adventurer’s Guild.”
He barely nodded at me from the floor. Despite the high cost of his fighting style he nearly took out an adventurer over twice his level. To think that I had thought him splitting his stats was a waste of potential. He would probably be able to defeat me in a few months now that he could also increase his skills with the stat caps removed.