Owen had to keep himself from laughing as a classical fantasy goblin appeared on the other side of the courtyard. Each of the constellations flashed and hummed as the goblin began to move. Owen also prepared. He had been fighting on and off ever since the system was first introduced to earth, fighting all kinds of monsters and even some humans. Getting into a ready stance, he couldn't help but grin, this was going to be easy. He felt the flow of his mana and began cycling it through his body.
When the goblin drew close enough, Owen sidestepped the swing of its club. Or at least he had thought he had. The club struck hard against his thigh and a loud cracking sound echoed after. Owen bit back a scream as he swung his spear to the side, bashing the goblin in the side of the head with the shaft, then he followed up with a stab through the center of its skull.
*First round cleared. C grade achieved.
Second round will begin in 5 seconds.*
Owen bit back a complaint, as Xerxes watched from just outside the range of constellations floating around the courtyard. Owen couldn't figure out what had went wrong. He had thought he timed his dodge perfectly, but his mana hadn't reacted the way it normally did. It had felt like molasses when he had tried to pump out mana through his leg which caused his kicked off to be even slower. Pushing from his mind for now, he focused on using his HP to heal his wound while he watched the next monster being formed.
It was slightly larger than the goblin and wielded two sticks with skulls tied to the tops of both. As it slowly moved in, Owen's leg had finally healed to a point at which he could walk, but dodging wasn't going to be an easy task anymore. Just as he was about to begin an attack against the new monster, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Confused, he turned to ask Xerxes why he tapped him, but when he looked no one was there. Turning back, he barely had time to notice the skull being swung towards his head, before it made contact sending Owen dazed to the ground.
Stars flashed in his vision for a second before he felt another blow crash against his head and the lights went out. The next second everything was bright again and Owen found himself standing outside of the courtyard next to Xerxes.
*You have lost.*
He looked around confused for a second before Xerxes cleared his throat. "That was, well it was an interesting performance. I was surprised when you fell for the hobgoblin's trick, but I supposed somebody has to."
"Har har har," Owen laughed sarcastically. "I didn't know they could do that," Xerxes just shrugged his shoulders. "You will challenge this gauntlet a minimum of twice a day. Since the first one is already out of the way, we will move on to something else before you end the day challenging it again."
Owen sighed and nodded. He was already certain he could do a better job if he immediately challenged it again, but rules were rules. Allowing Xerxes to lead him, Owen began asking some of the questions he had been wondering about for a while, yet weren't necessarily accessible through the guild information packets. They walked through the old school, heading towards the opposite side of where the courtyard was. Owen stared around at it while they passed enamored by the design and architecture. They walked past several of the pagodas that made up the buildings of the school. Each one finely decorated in bright colors, though mostly red in color.
Owen walked through in fascination as he hadn't seen anything like it on earth, other than in movies. He gave himself a moment to appreciate the view as they moved through the school, before finally asking his first question. "How many additional stats can I gain?" He asked before realizing it was poorly phrased, though thankfully Xerxes seemed to understand his meaning. "The most you can hold at anytime is 10. All stats amplifiers apply to these extra two stats, but the most important thing is you can only have ten stats total. However, if you have gained one from a class or a secondary class, then they will be swapped out when you upgrade the respective class, keeping their point value." Xerxes said.
He closed a gate behind them as they moved to an enormous staircase that stretched down the entire height of the mountain. Owen gaped as not only were there decorations along the stairway, but each step was much steeper than any he had experience on earth. He had to very carefully watch his legs, to make sure he didn't let old muscle memory take over, lest he fall down the entire staircase. "So, since I have the chaos stat from something other than a class, there won't be a chance for me to accidentally switch it out with something else?" Owen asked as he carefully kept the same pace his master was leading with.
Xerxes let out a deep sigh, but continued moving down the steps. "You shouldn't play around with chaos as much as you do. That is an element for the gods and the gods alone. They can easily survive the backlash, whereas you cannot. If I hadn't been able to call you to my realm, you would have died." Xerxes said, leaving Owen nothing to say. He hadn't even considered how close he had been to dying. He had sort of just pretended it hadn't happened and moved on. Even now the thought didn't bug him as much as he thought it would, especially since he was still able to consider what might've happened had he not tricked Quinn into coming too close.
Not sure what to say, he stayed silent and after several more minutes of descending the steps, his master sighed again. "The only way to replace your ninth or tenth stat is if it isn't given through a title. Any other method of gaining one of the two extra stats allows the user to upgrade and possibly replace it with a higher quality stat." Xerxes said, but Owen was now confused, so he barely paused before asking another question. "You said higher quality stat, do stats have a quality rating, or did I just misunderstand?" Owen asked, hoping there was a quality aspect and then pumping his fist when he was right.
"Yes, the ninth and tenth stat have quality ratings. They aren't as spectacular in difference as equipment rarities, but there is a difference. They range from low to average to high. An example of one of these progressions would be the affinity stat is an example of a low tier stat. All it really controls is how much and how easily you can channel an affinity into your mana."
"Couldn't you do that by yourself?" Owen interrupted and he saw Xerxes nod as he took a particularly steep step. "Yes, exactly, that is part of what makes it a low tier stat. An average tier stat usual is given through a secondary class, or an upgraded class. The equivalent would be the intelligence stat. While it sounds like it would control how smart you are, it is mostly focused on the finer details in creating elements with your essences. The intelligence stat helps to refine and make it easier to purify your essences, which makes it easier to use elemental magic."
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"The final upgrade would be dependent on both your progress, class quality and how you have focused your secondary class. To upgrade the intelligence stat to the high tier stat, you would need one of those things. Now the upgraded version," Xerxes started as he gestured for Owen to follow him off of the stairway, leading him into the forest surrounding the mountain. "The upgraded version is called Genesis. Genesis is the last step to becoming someone truly gifted in their abilities when it comes to the elements. Genesis allows the user to more easily control their element, change their element into just a component, and transform it into another one."
Owen was a little confused, but he offered what he though a simplified version was. "So, it lets the user who may have focused on the ice essence to possibly use the fire essence if they had a genesis stat at a high enough value." Xerxes beamed at him and nodded. "Exactly, so that is just one example of a path, but understand that your chaos stat is not something that has an upgrade path. It is already a high tier stat, though your stats are at a low enough value that it won't be an issue, but keep in mind as you get stronger the possible backlash from using it will never become less dangerous. Only more so as what you are capable of becomes more impressive."
Owen nodded seriously and finally looked around slightly confused as they stood in the middle of a forest with steep hills and thick overgrowth. "We have made it to our destination. Every monster on this level of the mountain is no stronger than level 45. As you move up the mountain through the forest, the monsters will grow stronger. The final level before you reach the top has some beasts higher than level 80, so when you get to a point where you can fight no more, make your way back to the steps and climb back the rest of the way. You will then be expected to try yourself against the gauntlet before you will be excused to have some of your own free time."
Owen didn't even try to fight back his growing excitement. Each monster he would come across was going to be a challenge, but he felt prepared and more than happy to try and use his new skill. As soon as Xerxes gave him the go ahead, he rushed off deeper into the mountain side forest looking for monsters to kill. He heard Xerxes turn around and begin walking away and Owen pumped his fist as he saw his first monster in the distance. It was a giant pig, several times larger than any pig he had seen on earth. It had tusks jutting from its mouth, with each one giving off a sense of danger as the end of each tusk had its own energy that seemed to make the air around it shimmer.
Without hesitation, Owen activated his new skill and keen eye, while rushing towards the pig monster.
*Elemental Scrofa - Level 41
This monster can imbue its tusk with separate elements creating devastating attacks that can either be launched or injected into foes.*
Owen couldn't help the laugh rising from his chest as he felt his power surge. Everything became more clear and he marveled at the effects of his Energetic Embrace skill. It seemed like the perfect skill, but after several seconds, Owen saw different sections of his skin look like it was bubbling. His whole body began to hurt after 10 seconds had gone by and at the fifteen second mark he wanted to scream. He pumped as much HP into his body in an attempt to reduce the effects and was able to keep a tight hold on the effects his skill had on his body.
His resources were dropping incredibly quickly and he realized he wouldn't be able to use it for longer than a minute, otherwise his HP would drop to zero and it would only be a couple seconds after that, that his skill would burn him up from the inside.
Brandishing his spear, he began his charge at the pig again, this time not focusing on his skill, but just bursting down the monster as quickly as possible. Thanks the the 80% boost to stats, the fight ended almost immediately after it had begun. Owen had managed to strike it directly through the head. Its entire body had seemed to ripple when he had stabbed it and tiny wounds tore their way across the pig's skin. Feeling satisfied he looked at the notification before sitting down to recharge.
*You have slain Elemental Scrofa - Level 41
11,000 experienced gained, 8250 experience has been consumed by your 1st grade soul.*
Owen groaned, but didn't let it get to him. The pig hadn't been that hard to kill and for at least a while, it would only take a couple at a time to get him a level up. Sitting down to rest, he settled in comfortably against the tree. It was several more hours until the end of the day and he wanted to try and reach level 30 before the sun would go down.
----------------------------------------
Myra threw he axe, making sure to not shouted her skill that time. She had built up the habit of shouting some of her skills, since she had been fighting with Owen and some of the other so frequently but her sponsor, Ivar, had said she needed to break the habit. So, he had dropped her off on the battlefield of some kingdom and told her he would only bring he back once he was certain she had broken the habit.
Her axe spiraled through the air, turning almost like a boomerang as it struck the fleeing commander in the back of the head. He immediately went limp as his body toppled to the ground and Myra stomped through the mud as she went to go retrieve her axe. She technically didn't need to retrieve it, but unsummoning it only to resummon it was a huge waste of mana and she still had another battalion to fight her way through. Turning to the soldiers that were staring at her, their eyes filled with fear, she wiped the blood from her forehead and charged forwards again.
Several hours later, Ivar had appeared and gave her a big grin. "You did it, you managed not to say your skills for over three hours in a row." Myra panted while looking up at him. He wasn't very tall, but she was so exhausted she could barely stay standing. He had blonde hair that had been shaved on the sides and tied back behind his head. An enormous blonde beard that had been braided down until it reached past his collarbone. Tattoo decorated his arms and chest and he had a large battle axe strapped to his back. Several other types of weapon were attached to him in various ways, but Myra had still never seen him use any of them.
She had fought his echo several times already, but even though she was on the cusp of reaching level forty after today, he refused to fight her with his real body. Letting herself be teleported again, she was back in the campsite Ivar had set up on this planet. It was different from where she had originally trained with her sponsor, but that was just the type of person he was. Looking for fights everywhere and anywhere.
"I will be able to contact Owen and Peggy after I reach level 50 right?" Myra asked her tone daring her sponsor to say no. He only grinned and nodded. "I have already talked with both of their sponsors and it has been agreed upon, but they will still also need to reach the goals their sponsors have set for them." Myra nodded and started her second attempt against the training gauntlet.
She had managed to reach level ten that morning, but this time, she was going to reach 15 at a minimum before going to bed. The first ten rounds went similarly to how she had done it that morning, but she had a little bit more energy left in her as the eleventh round began. A titan appeared, wielding a greatsword that was larger that a car and swung it down at Myra who managed to just barely dodge the sword, though the shockwave created by it hitting the ground pushed her back preventing her from doing a follow up attack.
She danced back and forth between its blows and defending whenever it looked like the shockwaves would push her back. Eventually she managed to take it down after using her fated blow skill. "Ivar's fated blow!" she shouted as her slice removed the top of the titan's head. It collapsed and right as the 12th round was supposed to start all of the mana in the area disappeared as Ivar looked at her with disappointment in his eyes. "I thought you had learned to stop shouting your skills. It looks like I am going to need to find a more challenging fight to put you in until you've learned your lesson."
Myra groaned and cursed under her breath but smiled. There was faster method to level up than to go through a series of Ivar's "punishments," she would reach level 50 before Ivar would even notice.