Scattered around my feet are dozens of empty bottles. Hiccuping slightly, I move around while controlling the wind around my body. Maintaining separate wind spells for each of my limbs and body was very draining initially, I had fainted a few times due to running out of mana. However, after two days, I have managed to get the hang of keeping the wind going at a slow rate, and speeding it up with more power while attacking. Scattered around me are piles of shredded wood, to help me gain control I was surrounded with wood and each time I put too much force and cut it with my wind, I would be shocked. Thankfully the wood didn’t beat me like the training dummies did, but there was a lot of wood. Sir Lee said it was about three trees worth of wood that I had shredded, I certainly had been shocked enough to know it was about that much. With a clap, Sir Lee gains my attention.
“Outstanding, with that you’ve learnt how to control your wind magic enough to fit your Dancing Fox Wind Style. Now, we only have six days left here, and I want you to rest for one day before you leave here. Now, the next part of your training will be to combine your wind magic and the style you learned earlier. This should be a piece of cake, you know both, weave it in. You will be finished when you destroy every wooden dummy. If you run out of mana before you destroy them all you will fail the test” Waving his hand, this time hundreds of dummies appear around me. As I prepare to fight them all, I turn and face Sir Lee first.
“Sir Lee, may I ask you a question?” Seeing him nod, I bow slightly and a bit embarrassed. I ask “M-may I call you T-Teacher Lee?” Keeping my head bowed, I hear Sir Lee laugh.
“Little One, you may call me as you like. You have my permission! Teacher Lee huh, that has a nice ring to it, we shall drink to that once your training with the Dancing Fox Wind Style is complete.”
Looking up smiling, I once again bow and turn my attention to the hoard of wood dummies staring me down, I let my arms relax at my side and start up the wind around me. Taking a deep breath, I wait for the first dummy to approach me, and as it does, I focus more wind into my legs and move myself swiftly towards it, punching out and tensing myself at the last moment before I hit, while also speeding up the wind around my fists. Smashing the dummy apart, I move swiftly to my next target, swinging out with a leg this time. I put too much power in the wind around my leg, forgetting I had already increased it to move and feel a familiar shock, but don’t let it stun me this time. Lowering the wind around my leg, I keep the kick going and smash it apart and pivot once again, facing the next target.
Many, many hours, shocks and splinters later, I stab my fist through the last dummy and use my other fist to smash its head. Panting, bandages soaked in blood, wind cuts along my arms and legs, I look around. I did it, I really did it. Steadying my stance and keeping my body relaxed and wind maintained low, I walk towards Teacher Lee. Bowing once again, he claps. “Well done my little student. Well done indeed, you’ve learnt the basics of Dancing Fox Wind Style wonderfully! You have a long way to go to master it. Always seek ways to improve it and forge it to your own style.” Nodding, I notice a prompt coming up on my System.
[The Drunken Fist Weaver has acknowledged your efforts.
You may now choose a Class.]
Tilting my head in confusion, Teacher Lee smiles at me. “Has your System offered you a Class?” Nodding, he makes a go ahead gesture to me. Taking that as permission, I open the prompt up.
[Based on your level and knowledge, you may choose any of the following Classes. Please note, choosing a Class is final and will affect your next Class upgrade:
Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter
Beginner Wind Magician
Beginner Swordsman]
Looking at my options, I knew which one to pick as it fit me perfectly. Speaking out loud, I say “System, choose Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter.” Seeing Teacher Lee nod, I felt something warm overcome my body, a refreshing feeling. Breathing in, I feel my muscles slightly change, the wind still surrounding my body becomes calmer and smoother. Breathing out, my body stops changing and I feel light. Opening my eyes that I had closed at some point, I look over my body and can make out that my arms have become slimmer but I can see my muscles are more outlines, same with my legs. I think I’ve dropped in height by a few centimetres, but overall I feel slightly stronger. The training has given me more strength that I thought I’d have, but even with this I wouldn’t be able to defeat that Tarantula. But it’s a start.
Looking at my System, I see something completely new.
[As you have obtained a Class, you have unlocked Stats. This will be shown with your Status when prompted.]
Raising an eyebrow, I call my status.
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Alisha
Demonic Fox and Human Hybrid
Level 10
Health: 400
Mana: 500
Experience: 7,700/10,000
Class: Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter
Class Level: 1
Experience: 0/50000
Skills: Demonic Fox Awakening (Incomplete, 3.53% Awakened), Lashing Fire Kick
Spells: Wind Magic
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Stats
Strength: F Agility: D-
Intelligence: F Toughness: F-
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“Stats? Strength? Agility? W-what is this?” Confused, something I seemed to be a lot these days, I ask while looking towards Teacher Lee. Nodding, he explains.
“Normally once one reaches level 15, they will gain Stats. This shows the growth of certain areas. Strength refers to how strong you hit, Agility is how fast you can move, Intelligence is your capacity for learning and magic and Toughness refers to how much of a hit you can take. Gaining this early must be due to getting a Class. Your stats should be all Fs correct?” Frowning, I shake my head and tell him the letters and symbols next to my stats. Frowning, Teacher Lee puts his hand to his chin and thinks. “Your Strength and Intelligence makes sense, Agility would be because your Class would focus on speed and movement, but your Toughness is…very bad, taking a heavy hit could land you with severe injuries. Strange, with your monster side and your past, your Toughness should be similar to Agility. Well, that’s fine. Raising these stats is very difficult, and doesn't just increase with level or training. I don’t know many methods, and they wouldn’t help you either, but fighting can help raise them slowly. Don’t worry too much about them for now, I knew plenty of people at a much higher level that still had all Fs!” Laughing, he pats my head with his big hand. Grinning with embarrassment, I bow and thank him again.
“Now Little One, no time for any rest. It’s time for the next stage of your training, I will be teaching you a small bit of my speciality, Drunken Fighting! It involves drinking plenty of alcohol so it’s a lot of fun! I will train you to maintain your drunken state while using your Dancing Fox Wind Style. Or rather, your Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter Class!”
“Drunken?”
“Oh, remember when your head was all groggy, light headed and you were finding it hard to talk clearly? That means you were drunk!”
“O-oh, I didn’t like that, the smell was too strong and I can’t think right.”
“Hahahaha! You fought like a champ when I first tested you, at that time you were drunk! Trust in me as your teacher Little One, I will ensure by the time we have finished, you will be a champion at your local bar! Hahaha!”
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Seeing the excited look in Teacher Lee’s face, I smile and nod. Trusting in this old man has led me to gaining things I never thought possible and a new kind of strength that I can forge myself. Even if I am to be stuck in that labyrinth for the rest of my days, I will at least be able to survive with my speed. Releasing the wind around me and keeping my body in a relaxed state, I sit down at the table once again and pick up the egg that I haven’t held in so long as I wait for Teacher Lee to explain this new martial art.
“Oh, you seem rather attached to that egg. You received it from Cerberus, yes? Do take care of it, when it hatches it’ll treat you as its mother.” Nodding, I caress the egg and smile while looking at it. “Right, as you may have guessed, Drunken Fighting is a style that relies on you being intoxicated; drunk that is. It relies on you being unpredictable to your opponent and works wonders to throw them off! It’s not helpful against monsters, unless they are trained in the ways a human fights, it does help since it can increase your strength, but I would recommend it only for humans. Being in a drunken state eliminates the need for acting to throw an opponent off, and you yourself will be at an advantage since your movement will be very sloppy, but with training you’ll still be swaying back and forth while punching the competition away!”
Tilting, I ask “Couldn’t I just do that normally?” Shaking his head, he explains “While drunk, your entire body will naturally relax. When you’re in a normal state of mind, some parts of your body will still tense up, like your shoulders, knees, back and neck. The Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter style is a form that relaxes your arms, legs and body and tense up at the last moment, but there are ways to see what muscles are tensing up. By drinking, you’ll eliminate that natural tension thanks to the alcohol, making it much more difficult to predict how you fight!” Nodding in slight understanding, Teacher Lee continues. “You don’t want to drink too much, as you’ll pass out, but you don’t want to drink too little as it could wear off quickly during a fight. First, we must do something about that smell of yours. Close your eyes, and concentrate on eliminating the smell of alcohol. I will release alcohol fumes from weak to strong, give me a thumbs up once you have managed to ignore the smell and get used to it.”
Closing my eyes, I hear a bit of fidgeting before Teacher Lee speaks. “Oh, and put your egg back on the table. I don’t want you getting drunk from the smell only to drop it!” Wondering what he would think if he knew I nearly dropped it while falling down that hole, I put the egg back on the table and closed my eyes again. Soon, a strong smell of alcohol overwhelms me. I have gotten used to the smell during my training, and soon I manage to get used to it. After a few more minutes, I don’t feel any effect from the smell and give a thumbs up. Soon, the smell disappears and another one replaces it, much stronger than before.
Feeling a bit light headed with a blush slowly creeping up my face, I adjust my breathing and focus on getting used to this smell. It takes a few more hours but I finally am able to smell and not become drunk. Nodding my head and giving another thumbs up, a very heavy smell hits me, it’s very similar to the smell from when I was walking towards the shrine. Feeling the blush on my face at full force and my head groggy immediately, I struggle to get used to it. With ragged breathing, I feel my body relax more and I start to understand what Teacher Lee was saying, feeling muscles I couldn’t completely relax become relaxed. Refocusing, I eliminate all thoughts and focus on getting used to the smell. It’s a struggle, and after nearly ten hours I’m only just barely used to it and am still feeling the effects.
Taking a big breath in and out, I keep focusing as the hours go by, and by the nineteenth hour my head is finally clear and my face is no longer warm. After another hour with the smell, I give another thumbs up.
“Alright Little One, that will do. I doubt they would have a stronger smelling alcohol than this, let's move onto the next stage. We will test your tolerance.” Pouring some amber liquid, bourbon by the smells of it, he hands me the cup and we drink while talking about small topics. Slowly, I start feeling the effects of the alcohol take place. Telling Teacher Lee, he nods and gestures for me to keep drinking, and two cups later, I start speaking poorly while swaying slightly.
“Hic…I hope Sally and Gray are okay, what if they're hurt, why did I have to fall…hic…I want to see them again...hic” Crying, I hold my head in my hands. Feeling a pat on my back, I calm down a bit.
“It’s okay Little One, trust in them. You’ll see them soon, I promise.” Nodding and wiping the tears away, I go to drink again but Teacher Lee shakes his head slowly. “The state you’re in now is a bit too much. I now know about where your tolerance is. Here, drink this.” Handing me a bottle, I drain the contents right away and nearly right away my head clears up. Blinking, I wonder about what I was just saying. Feeling embarrassed again, I look down while Teacher Lee pats me on the back again.
“Alright Little One, time for more training. Here, drink this, it will make you drunk to about the right amount.” Drinking the contents of the cup he handed me, I get up and move away from the table. With the feeling of being drunk coming on again, I kick up my wind magic and relax my body. The drunk feeling fully hits me and I start swaying. “Good, don’t think about hitting and just follow the training from before! If you do, you’ll be shocked.” How do I think of the training and not think of hitting at the same time? Deciding on letting my body move as it wills, I see ten dummies appear around me. Knowing I would be shocked if I make a mistake, I stand in place, swaying. Approaching me from behind two dummies try to attack, but I sway and dodge the attacks without thinking about it and lash out a back hand.
After an hour, the feeling of being drunk is still strong and I’ve been shocked a few times. It’s a lot worse with the beatings still happening, and without thinking of it, I let my mind wander and throw out attacks. The punches are messy, the kicks nearly throw me off balance, in fact my butt hurts since I’ve fallen over way too much. Breathing unevenly, I sway and dodge another attack while a fist slams into the dummies face, smashing it into pieces. Sensing another attack from in front, I lean back like I’m falling over and kick up, keeping my balance with one leg. Destroying that dummy, I look around to see there are hundreds around. Teacher Lee must’ve summoned more of them while I was busy, and turning up the wind around my body, I drunkenly stumbled towards them, like I was going into my final battle…nearly tripping in the process.
***
Waking up, the first thing I feel is a massive headache. Moving my body up and sitting up, I glance around, clear minded. I don’t remember much of what happened after I had that drink, but looking around I see piles of dummies, all destroyed. Looking towards the table, I see Teacher Lee looking at me proudly. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I walk over with my head held in my hand, my breath stinks, my body hurts and my head is thumping with each step. Laughing, Teacher Lee asks me “Little One, are you feeling the after effects of being drunk?” Nodding, I remember what he told me earlier, about having a big headache after drinking a lot, I sit down and rest my head in my arms. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it!” Shaking my head, I mutter “I hope not.” Laughing, Teacher Lee pats my back.
“Here, drink and eat! You’ve passed the test! It may have seemed easy, but very few people can achieve such a result while drunk. You have a very natural talent for it!“ Putting a bitter smelling drink and delicious smelling meat in front of me, I tried the drink first, praying it wasn’t alcohol. Finding it to be bitter but rather nice and warm going down, I drink more. It’s hot, but great. ”That is coffee, I do not know if you have it in your world, but it works wonders when waking up after a big night.“ Nodding in agreement, I take some of the meat and eat. It’s also very delicious. Looking at my system, I see a new skill.
[Drunken Brawler.
With teachings from the Drunken Fist Weaver, becoming intoxicated due to alcohol will give you an increase in strength, while decreasing your motor skills.
Strength will be raised one rank while intoxicated. Strength will fall a rank once intoxication has worn off.]
“Little One, today is the day you’ll be leaving. You have talent, keep pursuing this path of yours.” A bit sad, I nod and thank him once again, with a laugh he pats my back again. Even though it has only been only two weeks, and I’ve been training for most of those days, meeting a human as nice as this and willing to teach me to become much stronger makes me smile once again. “Before you leave, I have some gifts for you!”
Bowing to Teacher Lee, I see him put a big sack on the table. “Now, this bag here is much better than the small sack you have there. Inside, I have given you ten bottles of that alcohol, drink one to get drunk enough to do that.” Pointing at the hundreds of destroyed dummies. Smiling, I scratch my cheek and nod. “I put some hair bands in there. I won’t say to cut your hair, so instead you should tie it up.” Handing me one of the so-called hairbands, I look at him and tilt my head. Smiling, he demonstrates as he grabs the hair at his back, and using the band, ties it neatly so his hair is up. Doing the same, it felt strange having my hair off my neck, but I noticed when I swung my head around my hair stayed behind me and didn't whip around.
“Lastly, I put some nice treats, snacks and little things like soap and bottles in here. Share them with Sally and Gray when you get back. Keep those bracelets, use them while training. They won’t shock you anymore, but they’ll still double the weight of your arms and legs. Make sure to take them off now.” Nodding, I take the bracelets off and feel a lot lighter. I had completely forgotten they added weight. Turning to Teacher Lee, I bow once again.
“Thank you Teacher Lee, for everything.”
“Don’t mention it Little One. I haven’t had anyone visit me in a very long time, and from your story I may not see anyone for a long time after this! Take care of yourself.”
“Teacher Lee, may I bring Sally and Gray here?”
“Mm, I don’t recommend it. I am knowledgeable in fighting with fists, your friend Sally would be better off with someone to teach her the sword and shield, and your friend Gray the hammer. But feel free to come and visit me when you get a chance, I would love to hear stories of you conquering your fate and carving your own path!” Smiling and bowing to Teacher Lee, I thank him once again. Moving my meat and canteen into the bag, I also place the egg inside and caress it once more. Smiling, I sling the bag over my shoulder while tucking the old sack into my waistband.
“Teacher Lee, thank you again for everything. I will come back someday and share with you the stories of my adventures!”
“Don’t mention it, don’t mention it. Little One, I wish to tell you one last thing. The System will not acknowledge an external dungeon or labyrinth without it being connected somewhere.”
“D-does that mean I can exit the labyrinth?!”
Nodding, he pats me on the back. “It’ll be dangerous and long. Be careful, pick your battles carefully, and always remember you can run. Use that nose of yours to sniff out the exit. Look for the smell of trees, water or anything that may lead to the outside world. Good luck, Alisha.”
With his final words, I see my System prompt with a message, as a blinding light hits my eyes, I take in one final look at Teacher Lee, thankful for everything he has done.
[Your guidance has ended, returning you to the Shrine of the Drunken Fist Weaver.]