The next week was a week of training. We had returned to the Guild hall and borrowed a room. After selling the 23 petty and 7 minor magic talents, as well as the Minor Photosynthesis for five silver and the Average Seduction for two gold, we had placed all of the money on the table. Several of the others on the team had taken magic talents as well. Cam had taken a petty fire and petty lightning talent so that he could learn to enhance his sword strikes. Brie had taken a petty lightning so that she could learn a new form of attack magic. Fontina had taken a petty lightning talent. Edam had taken a petty death magic talent. After reading the first few pages of the grimoire he had realized that a power at such a low level wouldn’t alter him unless he let it consume him, and the grimoire contained techniques to avoid that, even with a Master level talent.

Twenty three Petty talents came to one hundred and fifteen silver. Seven Minor came to seven gold. With the other two the total came to one hundred and twenty silver and eight gold. Then we put in the money for the items we kept. Fontina had taken a petty lightning talent, so she put in five silver. Edam had taken an average Darkness and a petty death, as well as the grimoire and the darksteel dagger, so he put in five silver and fifteen gold, five each for the dagger, book, and talent. Brie took a petty lightning, so she put in five silver. Cam put in ten silver for his two talents. Then there was me. Two minors and a petty came to five silver, two gold, plus five gold for the suit of mithril mail.

All told, that came to one hundred thirty silver, twenty five gold. Luckily the money could be split up five ways easily, so everyone got twenty six silver and five gold. We also received over two thousand eight hundred DP from killing so many rats, so each of us got five hundred and sixty two DP.

The next day I decided to try and increase my rank to Average before our next trip. I wouldn’t have any help from a talent this time, but I also didn’t need to sleep or take a break. I really liked the spear for its reach, but it was just too long for a trip though the caves. The hand and a half sword wasn’t ideal either, as the narrow corridors restricted which moves I could use, but for now I would have to stick with my sword and shield, maybe swapping to something else later. Maybe if I got a chance I could pick up a good close range weapon. With my constant use of Rage to solve issues, maybe an ax or a hammer, or even just a mace would work.

First, I would do a bit of shopping. I sprinted to the blacksmith’s shop to get a new shield. After all, I could always use more Endurance. There I looked over what shields he had in stock. I could get a wooden shield for a silver, or one with a metal band around the rim like I used to have, for five silver. Or I cold spend two gold for one with a layer of metal over it. I could go with something fancier, like a mithril shield for ten, but I had a lot more shopping to do, so I went with the metal covered shield.

I also picked up steel vambraces for a gold and ten silvers and a steel helmet for two gold. With my purse now five and a half gold lighter, I went back to the guild. Now that I had money I should find a better place to stay, but for now I would put my stuff in the locker here. With my new armor and shield, I went to the training field. I needed to get used to the weight of them. So, until lunch time, I spent my time battering straw men with my shield. When I broke the straw man for the second time I decided it was time for lunch. Five portions of soup later I came back and found that the field staff had set up some upright bales of hay instead of proper targets.

For the next several hours I alternated the between holding the shield on my left or right arm, punching the bale, and hitting it with backhand blows. Every time one arm would start hurting badly from overuse, I would swap to the other hand, and by the time I switched back it would be all but recovered. This meant that I was able to keep going for six hours straight.

When I was done, I looked around. Both arms were in constant pain from the burning, and my entire upper body was sore from the constant twisting as I swung my arm. Most people thought that punches and swings were all in the arm, but there was a considerable amount of upper body needed to properly put all of your power into a swing. The bail of hay was completely destroyed and this was the second pile that the guild staff had made for me, so that would have to be everything for today. I collapsed on the ground, staring at the ceiling, when a tiny fairy flew over me. “Finally, you finished.” she said in a high pitched voice.

“Uh, yeah.” I said. “Do I know you? I remember someone mentioning a pixie in their party.”

“That would be me.” said Nguri. I couldn’t see him but I recognized his voice from the accent. “This is Rushan, she’s ar healer.”

“Oh,” I said, laying there too sore to lift my arms. “Hello, Rushan, my name is Michael. Sorry I can’t shake your hand. It’s kind of hard to lift my arms.”

“Yeah, I can guess that. Want me to heal them?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

She landed on my chest and a warm feeling went through my entire body. Thirty second later she took flight and, while I felt extremely hungry from my exertion and the recovery, and tired from that hunger, I wasn’t sore any more.

“So, are you guys looking for me?” I asked, seeing their entire team standing there.

“Acshully, we were hopin ta fight you again. I been practicin, and since I heard you were back, I thought I’d challenge ya.”

“Fine, I can do that. Just let me eat something first.”

Name: Michael, son of Brin Mason

Race: Human

Age: 18

DP: 875

Status Effects: None

Criminal Status: Banished (Gray Forest Town)

Common Talents

Strength: Petty

Endurance: Major

Dexterity: Petty

Intelligence: Petty

Willpower: Average

Wisdom: Petty

Charisma: Petty

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Personality: Major

Perception: Minor

Stats

Strength: 27

Endurance: 31

Dexterity: 25

Intelligence: 11

Willpower: 27

Wisdom: 15

Charisma: 8

Personality: 28

Perception: 20

Talents

Average Improved Immune System

Average Devil’s Luck

Average Rage

Petty Ice Magic

Average Swordsmanship

Minor Light Magic

Petty Water Magic

Minor Fire Magic

Monster Talents

Average Troll Regeneration

Minor Tough Hide

Skills

Workout: 12

Study: 5

Spearmanship: 10

Shield: 13

Shield Bash: 13

Shield Throw: 2

Use Magic Item: 5

Throwing: 5

Swordsmanship: 15

Dodge: 6

Magic Skills

Freeze Touch: 3

Freeze Bolt: 5

Freeze Edge: 7

Glow: 2

Condense: 2

Fire Bolt: 1

After seven helpings of whatever they had ready, I was stuffed. I think I found the limit of my Regeneration. I might be able to recover super quickly, but my need for energy and materials for that recovery would be limited if I couldn’t eat more. I didn’t see any way to train stomach capacity directly with DP. Maybe there was a talent for it, but I didn’t know what to look for. I could visit the talent vendor we sold those magic talents to. He could probably help me out, and even if the solution was a monster talent I could just buy it. The DP menu didn’t let you buy monster talents. Apparently they were ‘anathema’, whatever that means.

After supper I went to the toilet and waited for my stomach to stop hurting from all I had eaten, then went back to the training field. The other team was waiting for me, wearing their field armor and holding wooden practice weapons. “So, Ya ready ta git yer arse kicked?” Nguri asked, and I nodded.

Their three fighter were lined up against me, Nguri with his mallet, Chura with his two handed sword, and Byaslag with a spear. Edam had heard that we would be fighting, and had come to the field to take bets on the side. I wasn’t certain that I could beat all three of them at once, but I still put my last gold on myself.

Once the bets were finished, Edam started the match. Chura charged first, as the other two stood back, so I threw the wooden practice shield at his face. He wasn’t expecting it, so I got in a solid hit that knocked him off his feet. I ran over beside the dwarf holding his nose and grabbed my shield before running at the others.

Chura engaged me next, and I brought up the shield to block his overhead swing before swinging at his stomach with my sword. He jumped back and I noticed the Byaslag wasn’t where I had seen him standing. A dodged to the sword just in time to see a spear go through where I was standing, missing me by centimeters. He had used the opportunity to circle around behind me.

I stepped back so that both of them were on the same side of me. That would allow me to keep an eye on both of them. They tried to get behind me again, but I kept backing up until I was at the wall of the field. Now that it was impossible for them to get behind me they closed in and swung at the same time, the spear coming at my shield arm and the sword at my sword arm. Instead of trying to block and parry at the same time I stepped to the side, knocking the spear towards the enemy sword. Byaslag wasn’t expecting that, and lost his balance, stumbling forward a bit. Now that he was off balance, I hit him in the back with my sword, making him fall forward and drop his spear.

I ran forward and kicked his spear away as I swung at Chura. He easily blocked my clumsy swing, but at least he wasn’t able to swing at me again. I tried to swing again, only to have my feet pulled out from under me. I looked at my legs to see an Elf grabbing them as a Dwarf lept at my face.

He landed and started punching me. Soon I also had blood coming out of my nose. I was stronger than him, however, and managed to shove him off of me, into Chura’s legs, knocking Chura over. If I could use magic this would be an easy situation to deal with, but as it was banned I would have to figure something else out.

Thankfully I still had a shield on my arm, so I swung at Byaslag’s head. I heard something crack, and he released my legs and grabbed he skull. Rather than grab my dropped sword I got up and ran to grab the spear. I needed distance.

Chura and Nguri came at me, but Byaslag was laying on the ground screaming as Rushan healed his cracked skull. Receiving outside help would officially take him out of the match, so I wouldn’t have to worry about him. The other two were unable to close the distance as I backed up towards the center of the ring, using my superior reach to swing at anyone that tried to close.

I wouldn’t be able to do that for long, as the field wasn’t that big, so before I got backed up by too much I let Chura swing at my shield arm, knelt while blocking it, and swinging the spear sideways at Nguri’s legs. That caused him to fall over sideways, but he grabbed my spear so that I couldn’t use it. Seeing that, I jumped forward and grabbed Nguri’s dropped hammer. I had no experience with that kind of weapon, but at least I had something in my hand that I could use to defend myself or attack.

With the spear being too large for him Nguri stood up and ran at me, so I returned his hammer with a hard throw. Once again he was hit in the face, this time screaming even louder and collapsing on the ground.

With only one one opponent left I knew that the fight wouldn’t be that hard. He swung at me multiple times but I blocked all but one of them with my shield. That one was poorly aimed enough that I was able to step out of the way.

He soon got tired enough that I could get behind him and grab him in a chokehold. He surrendered before I had to knock him out.

I went and collected my winnings, seven gold and three silver. Apparently, few people bet on me because I was fighting three people at the same time. “You guys need to work on teamwork.” I told them as Rushan finished healing them. “You had the advantage of numbers, yet you kept giving me opportunities to take out your friends. Getting helmets and working on your stamina would help too. Sure, I just got one today because I couldn’t afford one until now, but most of my attacks were against your heads because you left it wide open. As for the stamina, you started to slow down after only a few dozen swings. If you were facing large numbers of enemies, you might need to swing at them hundreds of times. The way you are now, you won’t last against hoards.” I nodded. “Tell you what. If you want my help, meet me back here tomorrow morning at eight. We’ll work out together.” The three nodded and I left. Now that I had the money to do so, I had an idea.

I went to the talent vendor that we sold the talents from our last dungeon dive to. Many people sold random talents they picked up from monsters here, so I figured he might have what I wanted. So I asked him. It turns out that most people only saw it as an inferior version of Life or other healing magic, so there wasn’t much demand. After buying three of them for two gold each and a Minor Expanded Stomach from a Boar Man for one gold, I left.

The next day I presented my presents to the three of them. “What do you think my strength talent is?” I asked one of them. Seeing my muscles they all agreed that I must have at least a major talent for it. When I told them that I only had a petty talent and that I had moved bricks until I got strong enough to do more, then moved even heavier loads, practicing for hours, to get this strong, they barely believed me.

Then Chura remembered something. “Is that because of the Troll Regeneration you showed me?” he asked, and I nodded.

I explained to the others that I don’t get tired very quickly because my Troll regeneration was constantly restoring my body to a non-exhausted state, including recovering my mana. I then pulled out three talent crystals and handed one to each of them. “That’s why I bought these for you. They are only Minor versions, so they will only recover your physical and mental energy five times as quickly as normal instead of ten, but it should allow you to work out much longer and harder than normal.”

They looked as each other, then Chura put the crystal in his mouth. Soon, the others followed. Once the candies were dissolved, I looked at them and nodded. “Good. Now we run around the outside of the practice field. We’ll keep it a short fifty laps today. And here’s the catch.” I picked up a wooden sword. “If you lap someone, you get a free swing as you pass. So you’d better run as fast as you can.”

The others thought that the idea would be good motivation to keep them running and grabbed a weapon. We all wore the free practice leather armor for this, but I would have them switch to their normal armor in a few days so that they would get used to moving in it. I gave them a ten second head start and they all started off at a normal running pace, Chura in first place, followed by Byaslag, then Nguri, about what I would expect given their heights. They decided they didn’t like the idea so much when I suicide sprinted past all three of them, hitting each of them lightly in the back as I passed and almost making them trip. The second time I lapped them, slightly after they passed the starting point, they all tried to block, only for me to alter my swing and hit them somewhere else. “You can’t parry when running away!” I said to Nguri as I rolled and hit his legs, knocking him over before springing back on my feet and continuing my sprint.

They probably assumed I wasn’t tired, but I was. I was breathing heavily and all of my muscles were starting to burn. That was the point of suicide sprints. But the Talent slowed the advance of my exhaustion so that once I got to that point I only got exhausted slowly. By the fifth time I lapped them I had pretty much plateaued at a point where I would only be a little more tired by the end of the exercise. They had picked up their pace, though, and Chura was even slowly gaining on me, as he had longer legs. By the time I finished my laps he had gotten three good hits in on me.

We laid on the ground for a few minutes, gasping for breath and waiting for our muscles to stop burning. As I had the strongest version of the recovery and wasn’t quite as exhausted to begin with, as their version plateaued at a lower point, I got up after about ten minutes and told them to meet me in the cafeteria when they were recovered enough to make it there. Fifteen minutes later they came to my table to find plates full of ham, bread, eggs, cheese, and fruit sitting there. “Come on, sit down.” I said. “Eat as much as you like. One thing about the Talent is that it makes you extremely hungry.”