Chapter 3

It didn’t take as long as I thought. I repeatedly side jumped left and then right while staying in the boxing stance. At first, I was a little unsteady when I landed and a couple times I ended up stumbling when I couldn’t stop myself. It was really hard since I couldn’t use my arms to steady myself. Eventually though, I managed to become quite good at it. I even managed to do several at once without falling over, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I started trying to run forward while doing the side jump. I zigzagged as I went forward with my hands still in the boxing pose. I saw the benefits in doing this kind of training though.

By learning how to use this technique, I could definitely increase my chances of avoiding long-range fire. As I was thinking along these lines, an arrow flashed past my eyes. Surprised, I stopped and looked around. The elf that had previously been shooting at the targets was now pointing her bow at me. She was about a hundred feet away from me, well within bow distance. As I watched, she pulled out an arrow from the quiver on her back and nocked it.

“Hey, elemental.” She called out to me. “PVP isn’t disabled and no attacks are gonna hurt you. How about me and you spar a little bit, I need some practice hitting a moving target.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. I bet it would help with my Boxing Footwork and I was really starting to get bored with just hopping around. I nodded. “Sure. Are we just going to keep going until one of us gives or will we have a win condition?”

The elf thought for a second before putting her suggestion in. “How about if I shoot you ten times I win, but if you hit me twice you win.”

Seemed fair. “Alright, when do we start?” I asked.

“Now.” As the elf said that, she drew her arrow backward. I watched as she let go. I could barely make out the arrow before it hit me in my chest. I felt the arrow hit me but it was more like a light tap then the expected force. The elf paused. “You gonna dodge are you going to just let me win.”

I grinned. I liked her attitude. “Nope, just wanted to see what an arrow felt like. Don’t worry, I’ll start for real now.” I actually just wanted to see if I could dodge the arrow while it was in flight but before I could even attempt to side jump the arrow had already hit me. Arrows weren’t as slow as people thought they were in the movies. It seemed as though I would have to anticipate the shot and dodge that way since my original method wasn’t going to work.

I took up my boxer stance and beckoned to the wood elf. “Come on then, I’m ready.”

She nocked an arrow and started to pull it back while I continued to stand there. As she started to reach what I estimated to be a full draw, I side jumped left and then left again. The arrow flashed by, missing me by over two feet. I grinned. This was more like it.

Now I started running towards her, pretty much in a straight line. As soon as she started to draw her bow back, I immediately started zigzagging, trying to prevent her from getting a shot off. This time she didn’t shoot right away but kept her bow draw as she followed my darting figure. It was scary seeing that sharp arrow pointed right at me. I watched her eyes and I saw them slightly widen. Acting on instinct, I immediately side jumped right. The arrow missed me by mere inches. She had realized I was jumping and tried to correct her aim.

By now I was within thirty feet of her. Nocking another arrow, the wood elf started to pedal backwards to keep some distance between me and her. She drew back her bow. I heard her yell, “quickshot!” and her arm started to glow. Expecting the worst, I immediately side jumped to the right. The arrow flashed by me and I jumped to the left. As I did, an arrow slammed into me midair. The impact was greater than the last time I was hit, more like a hard shove now. I was thrown backwards, not far but enough to knock me off balance. A third arrow slammed into me, knocking me onto the ground. After I fell, I saw a fourth arrow whiz over my head.

On the ground, I knew I was easy prey. I rolled left, trying to avoid any more arrows. Standing up, I saw the wood elf had just released an arrow that plunged into the ground where I had just been laying. The glow in the elf’s arm turned off. This was starting to get dangerous. I immediately started sprinting at the wood elf, attempting to get as close as I could while the elf was still trying to reload.

I was a mere five feet away when the wood elf released an arrow straight at my face. I instinctively blocked the arrow but while my arms blocked I felt something hit my chest. The wood elf had tackled me. I slammed my hands downwards, attempting to hit the wood elf as we went to the ground. I hit the wood elf though I couldn’t tell where. The wood elf got off me and I scrambled trying to stand back up. The wood elf was kneeling on the ground, her bow aimed at me. Her arrows had fallen out of the quiver and she picked one of them up and tried to draw it. I had just started to get to my feet. Pushing off the ground, I jumped forward, punching the wood elf in the chest.

The wood elf flipped over, smacking her head on the ground. The arrow she had been trying to knock fired up into the air. It barely went ten foot before falling back towards the ground. She laid on the ground, stunned by the blow. I myself hadn’t been able to keep my balance from the jumping attack and fallen next to her. We both just stayed there on the ground. Eventually, I picked myself up.

I reached my hand down towards the wood elf. “So, did I win?”

The elf shook her head as she let out a little chuckle. “Just maybe.” She grabbed my hand and I pulled her to her feet. She kept hold of my hand and shook it. “Anyways, my in-game name is Arya Vineling.”

“My name is Agni Delgaldo. What was that you used against me?” I really was curious. That was the first special ability I had seen so far.

She chuckled. “I guess you have only been here for a little bit. I used the skill Quickshot. It basically increases my firing speed for thirty seconds, for me that’s enough to fire four arrows. You want a quick rundown of how training goes around here?”

I nodded. “It seemed a little vague but I could tell it isn’t easy.”

She grinned. “Nope. I guess it’s a tradeoff for being able to use all skills, you have to work harder for them. Well, first I learned Basic Archery Stance. I just had to pretend to draw my bow while following the proper technique. After close to a hundred tries, Guff taught me Basic Archery: Aim, and Basic Archery: Release. Together they combined to form Basic Archery. It may be different for you though, I’m not sure since I didn’t take any melee combat classes which you obviously did.”

I was curious now. “So what does basic archery do for you? I mean, it seems obvious but what are the real gains?”

She shrugged. “Alright then. Basic Archery lets me aim a bow, recover 50% of all arrows fired as loot, 10% speed in arrow firing, and also gives me a 10% increase in damage with arrows. Once I learned it, Guff gave me the option of buying a bow, quiver, and a weapon skill. I took it, obviously, and he taught me the Quickshot skill.”

It seemed as though the ten copper was really just the beginning choice between mage or warrior. As I thought about what I wanted to do though, I realized something. “You didn’t say how you got the leather armor though.”

Arya laughed. “Well, I bought the armor from the general store downtown. There was some monster subjugating quests that I completed and I used the money to buy the armor.

Everything clicked. “Ah. So were you one of the people that came in the first day?” How else would she have had enough time to train, gain a skill, and also complete quests? Obviously, she must have been part of the first wave.

She nodded. “Yep.”

“Then why are you here training instead of gaining levels?” It didn’t make sense. Leveling was the fastest way to get stronger so why was she here?

“Simple. The proficiency gain in physical skills means that training here is a lot easier than anywhere else. Right now I’m trying to level my archery skill.” When she said that I remembered the +10% proficiency that the training camp had.

I nodded. “That does make sense. I guess that’s why they have an instance training method in case it gets too crowded.”

“I guess so.”

I sighed. “Well, I better get back to training then. It seems as though I still have a ways to go in order to learn boxing.”

“After you learn boxing, do you want to do some quests together? I could use a melee fighter to distract some of the mobs.” Arya’s proposal caught me off guard. I thought about it for a second before nodding.

“Sure. We shouldn’t be too far apart in levels since the game has been out for only a day.”

Arya nodded. “I’m only at level four so it won’t be that big a deal to catch up to me. Anyways, I’ll leave you to your training. I still have to level up my archery.” She picked up her bow and the arrows that were still scattered on the ground. Then she went back to shooting at the targets.

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Going back over to the dummies, I continued doing side jumps. Now that I had seen how effective it was in combat, I really put my heart into it. After about ten minutes, I heard a ‘ding’ sound. The blue screen popped up in front of me.

Due to constant effort, the skill ‘Boxing Footwork Basics’ has been learned

[Boxing Footwork Basics: lvl 1(0/100)]

A second blue screen appeared in front of me after I dismissed that one.

Quest ‘Boxing Training I’ Complete

Reward: Boxing Footwork Basics

I tried out a side jump. Whenever I jumped, for some reason I jumped while crouching slightly. Because of this, I kept my balance easier and I was also almost skimming the ground with my foot. When I side jumped one more time, I attempted to change direction mid-jump. It worked, kind of. I ended up tripping, though I did trip in the direction I was trying to change to so maybe that was a skill to learn in the future.

Instead, I decided to go over to Sergeant Guff. “Sergeant, I finished learning Boxing Footwork Basics.”

The sergeant looked up at me. “Did you now? Demonstrate a side jump for me one more time.” I complied. “Well, it looks like you really did. In that case, I’ll teach you three basic moves for boxing. The first is guard, the second is jab, and the last is hook. These three are basic moves for boxing but more are available. However, they’re the only ones I teach for free.”

Sergeant Guff went over to the dummies. He took up his boxer stance with his feet even with his shoulders, resting on the balls of his feet, and the left side of his body slanted towards the dummy. “I will teach you jab first. It’s a fundamental boxing move and very basic. You simply want to step forward with your lead foot and extend your arm out in a punch. Then quickly return to your stance.”

He stepped forward with his right leg. As he did, his right arm snapped forward, the momentum behind the blow strengthening the punch. Using the rebound from punching the target, Sergeant Guff withdrew his hand and went back into his boxing pose. He turned to me. “If you hit the target and do the technique properly, it will do an additional 1% damage. Of course, learning the Boxing Basics will further amplify the damage and this is factored into the skill bonus. This is true for all skills. If you manage to complete a technique accurately, it will increase the effect by 1% even without having learned the skill.”

It seemed right. Say I was a black belt in the real world. Since I already knew how to do the correct technique, then I wouldn’t need to be trained. At the same time, I wouldn’t gain the skill unless I trained in game. However, doing the correct form would still mean I was better than the average person just doing a karate chop thus, the extra effect. Still, that 1% seemed useless but gaining the skill didn’t seem too hard. It was a balancing effect, effort in-game trumped real-world abilities though there was a bonus if you knew it in the real world.

Sergeant Guff moved onto the next move while I was thinking. “This move is called hook. It’s a fundamental boxing move and very basic. You want to take a step forward and rotate your body by pivoting your hip in the same direction as you throw the punch. Have your elbow up as you throw the hook.”

Once again, he demonstrated the move. His left foot stepped forward and his right arm came back slightly, elbow raised up. His upper body swung left while his lower body stayed rock solid. His right arm flashed outwards in a curve and smashed into the dummy. As soon as his arm hit the target, he retracted it and fell back into his stance.

He turned towards me. “The important thing to remember is to always stay in your stance. Put your weight behind each blow, don’t sacrifice power. But at the same time, don’t put so much power into the punch that you are put off balance by missing the target. If you do so, you can be caught off-guard.” To demonstrate this, he punched forward at the dummy but missed it by half-an-inch. He stumbled slightly when it went past the dummy. “If that had been an enemy dodging, he could easily have landed a blow that knocked you over onto the ground. If you land on the ground, you’re fighting capabilities are immediately reduced.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Sergeant Guff.”

Sergeant Guff grunted. “Don’t thank me. It’s my dang job. Anyway, the last move is called guard. I had to teach it last since it’s supposed to be a defensive move and you didn’t know how to fight before. In this one, you just have to learn how to block properly.”

He turned towards me. “First you get in your stance.” I took up my stance. “You want to have your non-dominant foot forward like you’ve always had and your feet even with your shoulders. Have a slight bend to your knees and rest on the balls of your feet. Keep your non-dominant hand forward and vertical with your dominant hand diagonal and backward. By shifting your hands upwards and downwards, you can choose what part of your body you want to protect. Downwards means protecting your abdomen, upwards means protecting your head. Keeping it in the middle means you protect a little of both. Go ahead and attack me.”

Sergeant Guff was in his own stance with his hands shifted upwards. I moved forward before attempting a jab. I felt like a ragdoll as my momentum dragged my right hand forward. Actually, more like a slingshot as I added my own power to the punch. It went straight forward and slammed into Sergeant Guff’s left forearm. I withdrew my arm and returned back to my boxing stance. Sergeant Guff nodded. “Nice jab Agni. Try to aim for my stomach this time.”

I swear I tried, I really did. However, it’s really hard to aim a punch accurately. It took me three tries to actually hit my target. As the jab went straight for his gut, he moved both his hands downwards. My hand hit his left elbow, causing it to become numb from the force.

After I retracted the blow, Sergeant Guff grinned. “Good attempt. As you saw, when you see an attack coming for your upper or lower body, just move your hands there. You want to have both hands there to block the attack. If there are multiple attacks coming at once, then only block the area you think is important instead of splitting your hands up and trying to defend both areas. In the latter, you can at best block both but usually, you end up not blocking any attacks. This way you guarantee a block on one of the incoming attacks instead of possibly missing two attacks.”

I nodded. It made sense to block one arrow for sure then try and fail at blocking two at once. Maybe I would be able to do it when boxing became higher level. Sergeant Guff started to give me my marching orders. “I want you to practice the hook and jab. Afterwards, you can find me to practice the guard.

Training Quest: Boxing Training II

You have been asked to practice boxing

Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon rejection of training

Reward: Basic Boxing: Hook, Basic Boxing: Jab

Penalty: None

Accept Quest: Yes/No

I selected yes. “Thank you, Sergeant, I’ll go ahead and start practicing.”

Sergeant Guff nodded. “Get to it then soldier.” As he went back to lounging in the chair, I started whaling on the dummy. I knew that learning these skills is what would keep me alive in this world. So, I decided not to do it half-baked. I would jab once and then hook twice, trying my best to transition between them smoothly. It was a lot harder then I thought and if I was back in the real world I would have definitely pulled a muscle.

Then I started jabbing twice and hooking once, making sure to alternate between hands with every punch. It. Was. Hard. I spent about forty minutes punching before I received jab the skill.

Due to constant effort the skill ‘Basic Boxing: Jab’ has been learned

[Basic Boxing: Jab: lvl 1(0/100)]

Due to constant effort the skill ‘Basic Boxing: Hook’ has been learned

[Basic Boxing: Hook: lvl 1(0/100)]

I then went over to Sergeant Guff. Just like the last time, he asked me to demonstrate the punches. Afterwards, he took me over to the back row of dummies. The previous dummies looked like the upper body of a man sticking out of the ground. These ones looked like wooden men. They were more like giant action figures than anything else.

Sergeant Guff patted one of them. “These are my pride and joy. They’re the reason that we’re qualified for training soldiers even though we’re such a small town. These’re magic automatons They’re similar to golems since both can move once given orders but golems are temporary and these ain’t. I’ll feed em’ some mana so they can start. They’ll hit you with some basic hooks and jabs while you guard. They’ll keep at it until you gain the skill so don’t expect to stop. Now, do you wish to start the training now or wait a little while?”

Training Quest: Boxing Training III

You have been asked to practice boxing

Difficulty Level: E, Quest failed upon rejection of training

Reward: Basic Boxing: Guard

Penalty: None

Accept Quest: Yes/No

Of course I wasn’t backing down now. I’d already spent about two hours trying to learn the basic skills to fight here. It actually wasn’t that bad since most people had to train for two months to reach the level I had, I guess this was the advantage of learning in-game. Muscle memory was what allowed athletes to react to things instantly. If Arya had heard correctly, muscle memory is what became ingrained in us as we trained. I guess that’s the advantage of having digital muscle. They can be reprogrammed.

Sergeant Guff patted the chest of the wooden man. A glowing green circle appeared where he touched the automaton and the green glow extended in lines all over the wooden man. The automaton stood up slowly. Sergeant Guff stood in front of it. “Take the basic boxing stance. Perform basic boxing combo’s 1, 2, and 3 alternating between them randomly on the person in front of you. The command to carry out this task is ‘Start’ and to end this task is ‘Stop.’”

“Acknowledged.” A robotic voice came from the automaton. It shifted into the boxing stance.

Sergeant Guff turned towards me. “Stand in front of it and tell me when you’re ready.” I did as he said and nodded at him. “Start.”

I turned towards the automaton and started as I saw a punch heading right for my face. I tried to bring my arms up but it was too late. The punch hit me in the face, stunning me and rocking my head backward. I swung my head back around to face the automaton and was immediately hit in the gut with a right hook. I doubled over out of reflex, even though I really only felt a pinching sensation. Two jabs hit me in the head, disorienting me before another hook made me fall over.

I was attempting to get up when a jab hit me in the head, causing me to fall back to the ground. “Stop,” came Sergeant Guff’s calm voice. He approached me and helped me get to my feet. “Well, that was a disappointment.”

I hung my head. “Sorry Sergeant.” I was frustrated. I worked so hard and put so much effort into it, only to be caught off-guard like that. I didn’t even get a chance to hit back.

Sergeant grinned. “Real combat is a far cry from training by yourself as you just saw. Boxing is all about hitting the head of your opponent, keeping him disoriented and breaking his guard. Once you do that, you can pummel him anywhere you want to. Remember that, keep your guard up even if you can’t see the opponent.” He turned towards the robot. “Amend previous order. If the opponent has fallen to the ground, give them twenty-seconds before continuing.”

“Acknowledged.” The robotic voice sounded once again. Since I had been on the receiving end of these automatons I knew just how kick-butt they were. It was seriously making me curious. Was there a magic profession that allowed the making of these? If so, could I learn it? I imagined forming a ninja squad of wooden puppets and just unleashing them on poor, helpless monsters. Once it was there, it was hard to get rid of. I decided I was going to have to find out more about the magic automatons. Though Sergeant Guff did mention golems as well so maybe that was an alternative. Hmm.

Clearing my head, I took up my boxing stance in front of the automaton. Keeping my eye on it, I called out to Sergeant Guff. “I’m ready.”

“Start.”

I saw it this time. The automaton took a step forward, a right hook flying towards my face. The lack of hesitation meant that if you weren’t prepared, you were in for a nasty surprise. Luckily, I was prepared. This time at least.

I immediately brought up my two hands. Thud. Its fist impacted my forearm and then disappeared. I shifted my hands downwards so I could see since my hands had been blocking my vision. The automaton was throwing a jab with his other hand towards my gut. I shifted my hands down to block it. Right after another jab was thrown at my head. I blocked it. I shifted my hands downwards and a left hook caught me off-guard in the cheek. I stumbled backward but kept my hands up. Lucky I did so since I caught another blow with my arms. I pedaled backward, reset my stance, and started thinking.

Static defense wasn’t working very well. I attempted to dodge the blows by side jumping but it didn’t work. Right as my feet left the ground, another jab hit me in the chest. Because I was in midair, the punch knocked me off balance. I landed badly on my foot and tripped, causing me to fall to the ground. Looking up, I saw the automaton had paused, his fist less than two inches away from my face. When I got up, the wooden man pulled back his fist and got into the boxer stance.

It seemed like side jumping was a good technique for dodging long-range fire but not for close range combat. Well, the whole point in this was to learn guard so I guess I just had to buckle down and learn it. I took up my stance again. After about five seconds, the automaton suddenly started its assault.