Chapter 16: Training Halls and Tranquility

This map is very convenient. I think it’s a soul bound item as well. The zoom and drag features are especially nice. 

Once Roth marked the spot of the training hall on my map I was able to find my way along just fine (though I went back to the main road when I saw a cloaked figure give money to someone. That seems like it’s above my head.) It looks like I’m almost there. It’s just one street north of the main square and large enough to take up half the block. Aside from that it isn’t any different from the other buildings on the street (black stone construction, red trim on the tiles and gargoyles made of the same stone as the rest of the building spreading their wings on the corners) The archway is a set of double doors in a dark wood framed in the same red as the roof tiles.

Lets open it up. Wow this isn’t what I expected (though I’m not really sure what I did expect). The first thing that I think when you open the door is opened is “massive”. The entire first floor is just one gigantic room. It is surprisingly well lit having magical crystals that give light (much like the one that I own) along the walls as a huge, square skylight in the ceiling that must be 50 feet across. It goes through the second floor and I can see a balcony with rows and rows of full bookshelves after it. There are a few people sitting in chairs up there, but they seem to be able to completely ignore the grunts, ringing of metal on metal, smacks of bodies hitting mats and yells of pain coming from below. Speaking of below, the walls to my left and right as well as the one through which I just came are lined with weapon racks holding various axes, swords, bows and arrows, spears, shields, knives, poleaxes, halberds, spiky balls on chains, nunchucks, ninja stars, throwing knives and darts as well as tons of other weapons that I can’t name or imagine how to use. The weapons are all real and - judging by the yells of people sparing - very sharp. 

The floor is separated into five main sections. There is a huge circle in the center and lines along all of the cardinal directions that separate the rest. The south west area (keep in mind that having just entered the hall I am looking north) is filled with all sorts of training dummies. They are mostly straw with a few more durable looking ones off the the side made of metal or wood. Some just stand in place while others have constantly moving joints that make you avoid their arms. Not all are human either. Large monsters that I have no name for also make up their ranks. People of all builds using all sorts of weapons are wailing away at the dummies, practicing skills and learning to be comfortable with their weapons. 

The north west corner has lots of weights and what looks like magical devices that people are using to improve your strength. Some are rolling boulders around while others are doing more recognizable exercises such as pushups. 

The north east corner’s purpose is more difficult to comprehend, but I think it is an area to train agility. It has a pathway that loops around it’s outer edge which people are running around, but the far more interesting things are inside that. There are several different areas that are all connected which make up an obstacle corse. It has places where one must sprint along six inch wide poles that are driven into the ground with the distance in between them increasing every step you take. There are areas where you must run across an area whilst avoiding swinging logs. Areas that have large pits below them which you must move across using only your arms and the rings above you. I can tell that I am going to enjoy my agility training. 

The south east area only has one thing in it, sparing areas, but there is a wide variety of different styles. Some are big, some are small, some are flat, some have hills, some are well lit, some are dark some are filled with obstacles, some have nothing but ground, there is even one that spews up fire in random locations to burn the combatants. This area seems to be the place to go if you want to practice the techniques and skills you gained from the dummies and see how effective they really are. After all, there is a big difference between slashing at an immobile man of straw and fighting someone who is going to fight you back. There are a bunch of men and women standing near the weapons on the wall that are all dressed in the same black robe (with various armor and weapons over it) and they all have the same patch on their left arm: a scroll with a sword on it. These people seem to be instructors for champions to fight against if they don’t have a friend to battle. They also seem to be giving advice to the trainees, correcting their stance or showing them where to stab for maximum effect. It doesn’t look like any of them are trying particularly hard and I don’t see any of them loosing their fights. 

The last zone is in the very center of the hall and is a huge circle. The people inside of it are the best of the champions in the whole hall from what I can tell. They are all fighting with more finesse and less errors than the people in the sparing area. This seems to be the last place area of the hall to train in before setting out on your adventure. I’m not totally sure what the training in this are is exactly, but what I do know is that it involves group combat. All of the participants are grouped into teams of four to six and then are fighting the other groups. I don’t think that I’ll make any special effort to learn about it right now because I don’t have a group, but perhaps I’ll create on here. I do already have Keith, even if he would be next to useless in a fight… Ha, who am I kidding, the odds of me finding even one other person who can put up with me and doesn’t make me want to stab him or her are about as good as me winning a fight against one of those instructors, let alone the two I would need to make a group of four. I should stop daydreaming and get training. 

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Now, what to do first? I would like to go upstairs and check out some of the books up there because I think it’s my best bet to learn a little magic (a dream which I have not given up on and never will because MAGIC!) however, reading books takes time and there is no guarantee that I would even find a book on it in the first place. I will most definitely go up to that library eventually, but for now I should focus on enhancing what I already have. That means agility training (yes!) if I want to stick with my plan of grinding stats first and combat abilities second. I have no objections to that so on to the north east section it is. 

I’m walking there along one of the pathways that separates all of the sections. It’s about one hundred yards to the agility section, so why don't I get started on my training now. No reason to wait. 

With that I start off at a run, not quite sprinting, but closer to it than to jogging. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. This is quite relaxing actually. Yes there is the beginnings of a cramp in my side (stupid endurance) and my breath is going in and out faster with each breath I take, but there is also a tranquil calm that comes with it. It is as if my mind is in a separate place from my body. A place where I can forget about all of the issues that I have and just focus on each step. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in…

“GAH!” The sudden appearance of a window causes me to loose my rhythm and trip over my own foot in the most undignified way that I can imagine. Things start to slow down as my hands and face near the dark cobblestones below (Time Slow is officially the best skill ever). I tuck my chin to my chest and turn it into a roll as much as I can. It’s successful and I quickly look around to see who noticed. Phew. My yell gained me a few looks, but either they assume that the roll was part of my training or falls are more common here than I think. Wow, I didn’t even notice, deep in my trance as I was, but I’m already on the circular track around the agility area and judging by the deep burn in my legs and how bad my cramp is, I’ve been here for a while. Let’s see what despicable message broke me out of my running trance.

Ok, as I’ve been running along I gained two messages saying:

Due to running at a rapid speed for an extended period of time your agility has increased by one.

(just to clarify, the fact that have received two messages that say that means that my agility has actually increased by two.) And one message saying:

Due to being out of breath for a long time and ignoring the pain to push on your endurance has increased by one.

But none of those three messages were the one that broke my trance. They were all waiting until I could click on them just like the ones I had received during The Trials of Volos. There was however another message.

You have gained the skill Meditation. By putting your mind into a state of tranquility and calm and pushing all external thoughts out of your mind you can enhance your brain’s ability to process information and create better plans or analyze information with greater proficiency. Meditating while sitting in a meditative position will double mana recovery and increase health recovery by 50 percent. Higher levels of Meditation will make the mana and health recovery even greater and allow for even better mental processing. (The first time that a champion meditates they are awoken after one hour due to a previous incident. When using Meditation in the future, please note that Templa is not responsible for any deaths caused by the overuse of Meditation.)

That is a pretty great skill if not for the mana recovery than for the thinking and health regeneration bonuses. That warning at the bottom does worry me slightly though. I was completely lost in my state of mind. If the system hadn’t woken me up I can very realistically see myself running until I drop from completely exhausting myself or from becoming so dehydrated and starved that I drop dead. Speaking of, have I eaten since I got here? I think the only time that I did was during that one night when Zim brought me to Roth’s shop. Even then I didn’t feel like I needed to eat or drink and I don’t need to now. What the heck is going on game? 

When Templa was first released a large number of champion deaths occurred from starvation and/or dehydration. This was investigated by the governing AI and it was concluded that because low level players were unable to make large sums of money they either had to use all their money to buy food and forsake equipment upgrades that would allow them to make more money or starve. To fix this issue, the governing AI removed hunger and thirst from players until they had reached level 10. 

Huh? I didn’t really expect an answer when I asked that question, but thank you game. I wonder if I can do this for other things I don’t know. Probably nothing that would give me an advantage over other players like knowing what their skills are and stuff, but for other things I’m sure it could be of use. Something to keep in mind anyway. 

Now, lets get to the part of agility training I’m most looking forward to. The obstacle corse.