We transferred to a different sparring ring that wasn't covered in my blood, and the next two hours were spent swinging my heavy steel axe repeatedly. Camille stood to the side, calling out every mistake I made, even the tiniest ones. My footing, my stance, my center of gravity, heck, even my line of sight while swinging were scrutinized. For the entire first hour, I never got past five swings before Camille found something to bitch about and started the count all over again.
But as annoying as it was, it wasn't all that bad. Thanks to my Class, I never tired one bit, so I just kept on swinging and swinging, following Camille's directions until finally, something happened.
[Through sheer effort, you have learned the Skill ‘Axe Mastery Lv. 1.’]
My swings were suddenly guided by a weird instinct inside me, correcting any errors I made and making my swings faster and more efficient. It felt like a pair of hands were holding onto my arms and telling me how to swing properly.
Soon after I gained the Skill, I breezed through Camille's demand of one hundred perfect swings for every basic form she taught me. Goddamn, Skills were something else.
“I presume you gained the appropriate Skill?” Camille asked once I made the last proper swing.
“Yeah, I got Axe Mastery. I didn't know it changed things that much.”
“Indeed, Mastery Skills are the most important components in any warrior's arsenal, even more so than levels,” Camille said. “From now on, you should focus on improving your Axe Mastery above all else since it shall serve as the foundation of your combat style. Prioritize it over leveling.”
“Can't I just gain levels and train it at the same time during real fights?” I asked.
“What level are you now?” Camille asked me out of the blue.
I checked my Status.
[Status]
Name: Bob Dinkle
Age: 35 years
Level: 21
Race: Human
Class: Stubborn Bastard
Class Perk: Stubborn as a Roach
[Languages]
Arcadian
[Passive Skills]
Regeneration Lv. 3 - Increases the rate of natural healing.
Unarmed Mastery Lv. 2 - Provides a boost to proficiency in unarmed combat and enhances the damage of unarmed attacks
Physical Resistance Lv. 4 - Reduces all physical damage taken
Masochist Lv. 1 - You gain strength proportional to the level of pain you endure.
Minor Poison Resistance Lv. 1 - Slightly reduces effects of poison.
Axe Mastery Lv. 1 - Provides a boost to proficiency in wielding axes.
[Active Skills]
Hard as Fuck Lv. 2 - You can harden specific parts of your body, massively increasing their physical resilience. Mana cost: Low
Blood Bag Lv. 1 - Convert mana into blood inside your body. Mana cost: Moderate.
[Traits]
Divine Body - Your body has been constructed by a god. Your body recovers faster and is resistant to ailments.
[Accolades]
Champion of Carnage - The God of Battle and Carnage has chosen you as his Champion. Combat proficiency and battle intuition are significantly improved.
Dauntless - You have fought with no fear or regard for death. You are now immune to magically-induced fear.
“I'm twenty-one.”
“You are a level twenty-one warrior with a level one Axe Mastery. You are sorely behind what is normal for people at your level,” Camille said. “The norm is for you to have upgraded your Mastery Skill to the next tier before your Class evolves, because then, leveling your Skills becomes far more difficult.”
I think I'm missing a bit of context here.
“Let's pretend I didn't go to school,” I said.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I'm already there,” Camille said flatly.
“What do you mean by upgrading Skills to the next tier? And what's this about evolving Classes?”
Camille gave me a stare of disbelief. “You're not lying. You seriously don't know. Did you grow up under a rock?”
“Hey, enough with making fun of the village idiot. Just answer me.”
“Skills come in tiers. Everyone gets a Skill at the first tier, and when it reaches level 10, it upgrades into the next tier as a more powerful version,” Camille answered. From what I remember, that was what happened with my regeneration and physical resistance Skills. The ‘minor’ in their names was removed as they got upgraded.
“For Class Evolutions, it occurs at certain levels, specifically at 25, 50, and 75. When you reach those levels, your Class undergoes a qualitative change that gives you a massive boost in power,” Camille continued. “But that doesn't mean you should rush a Class Evolution. The opposite is true: you must strive to upgrade all your Skills to the second tier before evolving your Class because all experience you receive after that is reduced.”
“Does that mean I'm fuc— I mean, did I mess up big time?”
“I don't know what you mean by ‘big time,’ but no, you do not have to worry. You can hold off your Class Evolution at level 24, but all experience you acquire while holding off is negated.”
Well, that doesn't sound too bad after all. I could take all the time in the world to grind my Skills to the next tier. It's not like I'm in a rush anyway.
Before I could ask more questions, Camille held up a hand. “That is enough for now. We will discuss everything else tomorrow during our morning lessons. For now, we consolidate everything you learned and apply it to live combat,” Camille said as she drew her sword and stood in front of me. “Get ready.”
Before I could even lift my axe back up, her sword was already slashing through my flesh.
•••••
By the time I got back to my hotel room, my mind was tired as fuck. Not only did Camille carve me up real good until the ring was completely drenched with my blood, but she also made me clean up everything. That bitch.
But as much as I hated her right now, I had to admit, she was outright terrifying and competent. I foolishly thought at first that her sword was probably the reason why she could cut me up so easily. When I said that, Camille picked up a wooden sword and fucking sliced my torso open with it just as easily as her steel sword! I knew there was some Skill bullshit going on there, but damn, that shut me up.
The training was torture, but my bad mood disappeared right away when I re-read the notifications that came in as I underwent Camille's grueling training.
[Regeneration has leveled up to Lv.4]
[Unarmed Mastery has leveled up to Lv.3]
[Physical Resistance has leveled up to Lv.5]
[Masochist has leveled up to Lv.2]
[Axe Mastery has leveled up to Lv.3]
[Hard as Fuck has leveled up to Lv.3]
[Blood Bag has leveled up to Lv.2]
That was a lot of Skill level-ups. Axe Mastery even leveled up twice! With all this improvement, I could almost say that all that pain had been worth it.
Almost. I don't think it'd be worth it if I went insane from all the pain I endured from Camille's training. What was worth it though was seeing her face when I finally got to land a hit on her.
It happened near the end of our training schedule, when several hours of sparring already went by and I had been cut so many times I was already fighting naked with my pants shredded. Camille was crazy strong, and her stamina was off the charts, what with being able to keep up with me for so long. But she wasn't tireless like me.
Camille slashed for my neck right as I was hardening my torso and left hand with my Class Skill, which had been level 2 back then and thus could only harden two body parts at a time. She already knew that I could only harden two body parts at a time just from her observation skill alone, but what she didn't account for was my Skill leveling up mid-battle and allowing me to now harden three body parts at a time. From what I've seen from her, she would've considered that possibility, but her fatigue must've been building up and caused her to miss that fact.
As soon as I got the notification, I immediately hardened my neck, and Camille's slash, which she always performed with the exact minimum amount of force necessary to be efficient, got lodged in my flesh for a fraction of a second.
That small window gave me the chance to sock her right in the face, and with my strength buffed to a crazy level thanks to my Masochist Skill, she flew from my punch and slammed into the wall hard.
The normal response would've been me checking if she was alright. But c'mon, the bitch was cutting me up for several hours straight and I was annoyed as fuck. So I laughed loud and hard and with all my being, and I might have asked her ‘Was that all you've got?!’
I shouldn't have.
Let's just say that Camille extended the training session a bit to get her revenge. I wonder if people knew that she could cut things with her sight alone? Bitch didn't even move a muscle. She just glared at me, and all of a sudden, Little Bobby plopped on the floor.
Yeah, that was… I don't want to talk about it.
At the very least, the dick-chopping woman had the basic decency to apologize for lopping off my hotdog like that. And looking on the bright side of things, I at least learned that I could regenerate a brand new dick. I could've just stuck on the old Little Bobby on and waited for it to heal, but I was worried that it may not heal with the proper alignment.
As for what I did with the chopped Little Bobby… let's just hope nobody picks the trash for food around here.
As soon as I got back to my hotel room, I checked over the stuff I left behind to see if I had been robbed. The pouch of money I hid inside the mattress was safe, and the satchel that I left on the bedside table was still there. Everything was in place.
Except for the sealed envelope sitting smack dab in the middle of my bed. I was pretty sure it wasn't there when I left my room this morning.
I suppose the normal response to this situation would be to open the envelope and read whatever message it had in store for me. But that was just playing right in the hands of the smartass who thought he was being clever by leaving behind the letter in my room while I was out. If that bastard thought they could manipulate me like some puppetmaster from the shadows, they're gonna have to face me directly.
At this point, I was pretty sure that I was under surveillance by the bastards who sent the assassins after me. I peeked outside my window to look for any suspicious individuals, but the only suspicious dude I saw was my own reflection in the glass.
Damn, I needed to comb my hair or something. I looked like a bandit.
Despite not spotting anybody suspicious outside, I was confident that I was being watched. I wouldn't be surprised if there were Skills that let people watch me from ten kilometers away.
I preferred being watched, anyway. That way, they could see how I lit a candle and burned their little envelope into ashes. If they wanted to tell me something, they'd have to say it to my face.
They must've been reading my thoughts, because no sooner had the envelope burned fully into ashes when somebody knocked on the door.
“Room service!” a voice called out from outside.
Oh, right. I requested the receptionist downstairs to have dinner brought to my room. I was starving.
I answered the door, where the valet who brought me the food was standing. Except he had no food, and the valet was wearing a black hooded cloak.
The valet stabbed me in the heart.
I don't think he was a valet.