Chapter 5: Explanation and Body Strengthening
Author: Well, Hello there. I just wanted to stop and repeat my answers to some of the questions that were asked in the comments. I did do a reply to them so if you check it you can find what I have said for a little more detail. First off, I will not be personally making Alice's PoV. If a fan wants to send me a PM and I can give you more details about her and your more than welcome to right a PoV for her yourself if you give me the finished project. I will probably only make a couple minor changes (if it needs it) then I will happily post it as a chapter. Second, I have no relationship experience or any real life experiences to speak of. Games I have played is also limited to Dark Souls, Dungeons and Dragons, and Everquest. Those are the main things I played. Not much to go on hehe I know. Well then now I wanna ask a question of pacing. Should I spend a lot of chapters making the training with lots of mini time skips? or Should I do one big time skip? Well... Since this is going to be a delayed answer to me. I decided to give you a taste of what his training is like. Then next chapter giving you a taste of the training's finished project. Depends on the comments I guess. Its not just me making this story its kinda Reader Interactive I feed from you guys ^_^. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Enjoy!
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Alice: "* sigh* Fine."
Dremal: "Alright! Please no more of me just getting my a** kicked."
Alice: "No promises. Everything does after all depend on you."
Dremal: "Can you start off by explaining how for one I didn't die. Then by explaining how those Foam Golems came into existence seemingly out of nowhere?" (For those of you who asked about or was questioning the golems existence.)
Alice: "Well first off all, I put a condition on this entire space itself. The space as I call it is Alice's Sandbox. Simple I know, but I needed the space to train this body and even though I have all the information in the universe, I have never had the need to exercise any of it. That is until now."
Alice: "The condition I made is that health cannot fall below 1 hp. The reason being I don't wanna keep dying. Having to die sucks and is too painful. I know it sounds redundant because death is nothing in this game besides a lost level, even though stats gained from training do not disappear. So it’s like this: every time you level you gain 10 stat points you get to place wherever you want. Your Health, Mana and Stamina go up by 10% per level along with it, these are passive. Players’ starting stats are 10 across the board with 100 Health, Mana, and Stamina. "
Alice: "Although there is no penalty for us since we are level one, it is still inconvenient to die as we cannot place our revive point inside my sandbox. I made it like this just in case some other Players find this place. No items that were made inside the sandbox are able to come out. For example these golems cannot leave and go on the journey with us. Nor can they even leave this training room."
Alice: "Now to answer your question about the golems. Since I used them as an example you have a bit more information on them. Expanding on that information, they are training dummies that are magically created by the system I made in this room. Thus, I am not the one who supplies mana to these creatures."
Alice: "Now then before you ask about the system I might as well just tell you about it. The system is just a program I made that you can input commands to create the Foam Golem Dummies you need. Any level setting, any size setting, any number settings, etc etc. You can make them pretty specific to for example."
Alice: "Golem! Level: 800, Size: 200ft, Intelligence: Medium, Number(s): 2, Player: None, Enemy: Each other, System protect players: Alice and Dremal. Begin!"
Two giant Foam Golems appeared side by side. They look the exact same as the little ones my height that I was fighting... err well losing to. The moment they fully appeared they seemingly disappeared. What happened ? Did the program fail?
All of a sudden a gust of wind or was it a shock wave, blasted all around me. Strangely though, I wasn't affected by it. Looking at Alice she wasn’t either. The golems, if you slow it down, had recognized each other as enemies and both launched the same attack at each other. A plain old punch. Both hit each other at the same time. The strength of the punch had sent both of them flying away. I look to my right, there is one getting up around 500ft away, as to my left.
The golems stood up seemingly staring each other down. Then in an instant they disappeared. I can't seem to keep up with any movements they make. I understand just how powerless I am even more, but I also understand that with time and experience maybe I too can be that strong. HOPE IS RENEWED! I am very anxious about my future. However since I can't really see this battle it doesn't quite help me. All I can do is feel the shock waves.
Dremal: "Alice... wait Alice can you actually see what they are doing?" Her eyes and head are darting all over the place seemingly following their movements.
Alice: "Yeah. Unlike you I can view and process information at light speed so my eyes can see everything that they are doing. However the down side is - if I made it so they could do harm to us - I could see the attack coming, but my body has no way to keep up."
Dremal: "Well, this is cool and all, but I cannot even watch. Can we possible move on I wanna get stronger as soon as possible."
Alice: "*sigh* Fine. It doesn't help me at all either. Begone!"
The golems stop their fists movement just inches from hitting each other in the face. Then they sink into the foam floor as if they turned into water, becoming one with the foam floor.
Alice: "Well then moving on to mine and your training. It is better to focus on getting stronger in one particular area of specialization so what kind of attacker or supporter do you imagine yourself being?"
Dremal: "Hmm. Well I don't wanna get hurt and I want the battle to be over quick. An assassin type or ninja type something with kill strikes and high dps, with agility to retreat or to be stealthy. Ooo just imagining stealth killing those stealth based spiders and creatures in there. Hehehe see how they like it!"
Alice: "Guess imprinting does happen to all ages. Well fine! Make the girl be the main attacker why don't you!"
Dremal: "What are you talking about?"
Alice: "We are permanently a party dipstick. Thanks to my creator. So to survive in this world or any other we have to work together to kill. So basically if you wanna be a stealth killer sneaking up behind things or in there blind spots you need a tank or some kinda bait as a distraction."
Dremal: "O... then if you become a tank don't we need a healer or something along those lines? Why don't you stealth along with me? Either me or you attack first by catching the mob off guard and attacking its vitals, then if its still alive the second person comes in and finishes the job?"
Alice: "You’re an idiot. Do you know every mobs anatomy? If not how can you know its weak spot? What happens when you attack a mob, but it has a higher defense than you can pierce?"
Dremal: "Well... I .... thought.... You could tell me the weak spots... and we avoid the ones with higher defense...?"
Alice: "Naive! Sure I can inform you of the weak spots of creatures I know of, but like the spiders you encountered they have really high defense. Will you avoid them as well? There is always going to eventually be a situation where we cannot avoid things. So might as well prepare for them."
Dremal: "I... I see... No, I will not avoid the spiders. So how should we deal with them?"
Alice: "Like this, Yes. I will train you how you want; you shall be the assassin/ ninja of our party. I will be the main tank. However I shall teach and learn - along with our classes - support magic so we can assist each other however is needed."
Dremal: "Are we able to make a class that sounds that OP?"
Alice: "This game has characters that have leveled up enough to be classified as gods. Along with the ability to create and destroy worlds. This universe... this game, allows and expresses freedom of play to players. We can play and make things how we want."
Dremal: "Then what stops the players from constantly killing new players?"
Alice: "The best effect is when a player joins a protected world like this one. If that doesn't work then next best things is to wait till he is bored or offline. Simple as that."
Dremal: "So you allow players to torture other players?"
Alice: "Yes, however to make the ones getting tortured not feel too bad. Torture makes the pain setting get reduced by 30% along with no penalties of dying by other players hands."
Dremal: "Pain settings? Wait there was such a thing? Can you change the settings?"
Alice had a panicked face for a split second then recovered. "Yes, however I can no longer change our settings as I have said before the creator locked me out. Our pain settings are set to 100% real pain."
Dremal: "Why is it set to maximum??"
Alice: "Oh, that is not the maximum. The max pain setting is 120% any more will cause your brain to fry and cause permanent damage to your physical body. The only people that choose that setting are the extreme masochists and believe me they exist."
Dremal: "Well... I guess 100 % doesn't sound as bad as the 120% it could have been. How do you even get percentages of pain though? How much of a difference is 70% pain through torture to the 100% pain I am apparently normally privy to?"
Alice: "It is scaled. Just like if I was slowly twisting your ear it can start from 0 then as I increase the power and pressure of my twist the scale goes up eventually leading to me ripping your ear off. As I go through the motions I could ask you what scale of pain you are in and you can most likely give me a number of your rough estimate. It is under that same concept, but since you are human you can't give an exact estimate like I can."
Alice: "I could give you the mathematical numbers, but I doubt you have the ability to comprehend them so what I said is a dumbed down human version for you. Will that suffice?" (Author: No way in hell could I give you that data. I'm not smart enough to even figure out gravity let along pain comprehension numbers. So please don't actually ask for them.)
Dremal: "Yes, Thank you I think I understand the concept."
(Author: Also I just realized she bullshitted her way through telling him really about the pain settings. Like how she set his and didn't tell him. Crap she has a life of her own! Everyone run!)
Alice: "Very well then. Moving on I, should explain the class name of the class you are going to get from this training. It is called the Shadow-Walker class. It has the abilities you want: stealth, high damage per second, vital strike, Shadow walking capabilities as well as any shadows there are you can merge into them and come out in any other shadow. A useful ability. It will also be equipped with support abilities such as healing, buffs, and illusions. Poison is optional and would be appreciated with this class."
My eyes seemingly sparkle when she explains this class. Yup, I want it!
Alice: "However this game’s downside is that abilities can be learned multiple ways:
1. have a skill book or scroll to get skills.
2. NPC's can grant you abilities in exchange for some sort of quest.
3. Npcs can train you physically/mentally.
4. You can teach yourself."
5. Skills/abilities being granted to you by a higher being…
Alice: "The reason why I say it is a downside is because I didn't put any skill books in here and there are no NPCs around us to give us abilities. So if a player doesn't have the resources to get a skill book or is able to complete a quest from an NPC, his or her options are limited. There are Trainer Halls located in every major city, but they cost a bit of money to join. So most players are left to be self taught by going out into the world - hunting low level creatures - with no real skills or abilities to do so; struggling to earn up money by either banding together or die repeatedly while trying." She is smiling that devilish smile again. Is... is that drool I see?
Alice: "Well I made it that way so it might be unfair, but hey its player’s choice to play the game. Yet they always come back. Kyayayaya! (her evil villain laugh girl version =p yup she is a sadist.) Now then my class... will be something new, when I complete it I will get to name it. Hmm... let's see I'm going to call it Quintessence class. Seems fitting for what I want."
Dremal: "What exactly do you have planned for it?"
Alice: "Well unlike you all I need is the strength to go along with my skills. So I need stats. Basically I am an everything in one package. I need levels and other stats to use a lot of my abilities, but that is only a matter of time. So we only need to worry about your training really. I will get mine done by training alongside you."
Dremal: "Cheater! Oh, well not that I can say anything. I need your help, if you didn't have this knowledge I would've been screwed. Thank you for taking time to invest in me."
Alice gives another quick devilish smile again then says. "Well, let's get on with it then. First off how is gravity treating you? Do you need another upgrade of weight?"
Dremal: "NO! I'm good. Barely able to walk around at this moment, anymore and I will die. So we will physically attain the abilities? How do I learn to shadow walk?"
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Alice: "Yes. Skill is everything in this game. So to obtain it physically is actually the best method. At least to me it is. Shadow walking is just magic in which case is the power of imagination in tangent with your mana pool. You can't cast anything above your mana pools capabilities, if you do it causes a weird effect. Visual demonstration is better for understanding. Try to imagine you melting into the shadows."
Okay... Melting into shadows... Kind of like Shinob* from Bakemonogatar*. I begin to imagine me in place of her melting into the shadows. Wait... just thinking doesn't make me use mana. If it did everyone would always be out of mana. (I think it would be better to call it merging with the shadows)
Dremal: "Okay... I have the image in my head, but how do I initiate the usage of mana?"
Alice: "Mana is blue. Imagine the color blue surrounding your image. That's the simplest way to explain, I think"
Once again I imagine the shadow just below me. Me, clad in shadows, sinking into the shadows just like those golems, that seemingly come from the floor. Then I surround it with the glowing color of blue...
Alice: "Alright you tried it. Now take a look at the effects. Since you didn't have enough mana to actually do it you have gained something lesser."
Upon opening my eyes I look down to see black fog enveloping me. Oh, cool! I look like I am clad in darkness! I can't see my hands or feet clearly and if I didn't know better I wouldn't be able to tell if I had clothes on either.
Alice: "Looks like the skill Shadow guard to me. Ever heard of stone skin? It has a similar effect to that. It will block a certain number of attacks before disappearing or reaching a certain damage output."
She walks over and decks me in the face. Bam! I'm out like a light.
(Author: I like the idea that mana is willpower or mental fortitude so I am going to use it like that. Slave Harem has a good example of what happens when mana runs out so I will use it in a similar way. So I am not going to get copyright infringement upon me.)
I wake up apparently a couple minutes later by her slapping me awake. I feel really demotivated. I died just earlier, had horrible things done to me and even failed to cast a spell even when getting things explained to me. Why even bother? I should just log out and return home to read some manga or something. Why should I be subjected to this abuse? I am not getting paid enough.
When I sat up all I could do is apologize to her for being useless. She gave me a strange look when I started mumbling about wanting to go home and read manga, catch up on some light novels that I could be reading or something. Then it looked like she had an epiphany of some kind, she ran to my backpack took out a couple of clumps of Killjoy Herb and ran back shoving them in my mouth.
Hmm. Quite nice having such a beautiful girl feeding me something. I definitely don't deserve this opportunity; she should find someone better to hang out with. She deserves better in her life. I slowly chew the grass, the liquid going down my throat (the liquid goes down the throat AFTER swallowing). All of a sudden I feel better. Weird why do I all of a sudden actually feel some motivation to do the things I want to do. I will kill those spiders! Fuck going home and being useless again! I will explore and I will gain Alice's love .... eventually.... hopefully.... she's kind of a sadistic bitch though... did I jump the gun on loving her? No, no matter what or how she is I will always love her!
Dremal: "What the hell was that! I felt like shit! Also you lied!"
Alice: "Okay. First off all, that is the effect of using all your mana. Mana is your mental stability and fortitude once it depletes you will have no willpower. Willpower is the force that you exude when you want something done. Thus, without it the opposite happens, you don't want to do anything of any real importance. Second. I did not lie I said I thought it was Shadow guard. I didn't realize it was just an illusion cast over yourself to change your looks like that. Either way it used all of your mana to cast that simple illusion... must have been one of two reasons. One it was because it was the first time you ever cast a spell. Two it could actually be something different, maybe it had another ability besides and illusion."
Alice: "I don't really know since I am not connected to the system and I wasn't the one who casted it. I can only draw so many conjectures from the visuals. Well anyway magic lesson is over for now you pathetic excuse for a man. Let's move on to physical techniques and skills."
I stand up and she stands up. Hmm. Too close when we both stood up I almost head butted her. Taking a quick step back, I recorrect my position waiting for the next explanation.
Alice: "First off lets grab you some weapons from the wall." She points to the left corner of the room on the side that has the door I entered through. In that little corner upon closer inspection were all kinds of weapons. Wooden, Foam, bamboo and steel weapons of all kinds. "I suggest either daggers, short swords, or even rapiers."
I walk over and pick up one of the sickles. Yeah this would be good it would make me look like the grim reaper when I kill someone... but thinking about it I can't stab straight into something’s chest and pierce its vitals like this. I would have to aim in a weird way to do that... I pick up a dagger. Yeah this is the easiest I can throw it for a ranged attack and I can pierce straight on... I might need that curve that the sickle has though. I find a dagger that has a similar curve to it. So I pick it up as well. A regular dagger in my right hand and the weird dagger in my left. Yes, this feels to be the best for me at this moment.
Dremal: "What is this weird dagger called?"
Alice: "Interesting choice you have. That dagger is called a Karambit. Hmm. You may end up better than I thought. The ones you grabbed are steel ones. Put the sheaths on and store them like that. Then grab the wooden foam ones of the same weight and style. Those are what you will be practicing against me with. The steel ones are for the golems."
Dremal: "What happens if I kill a golem... Can I even?"
Alice: "Yes, if you deal enough damage they will fall to the ground and re-meld into the floor. No experience will be gained through killing them though. Only benefit is it makes one less enemy to deal with and the feeling of accomplishment I guess."
I pick up and put down a bunch of foam daggers and Karambits until I find a pair that match the size and weight accordingly. It was a rough guess at best. I am no expert on weapons nor on weight judgment.
Alice: "Okay I guess I should show you how to use those properly." She walks over and picks up wooden ones that look like mine. "Now. Follow along with the motions that I am going to go through." Then she slowly goes through some type of form. A combination of attacks and parries by the looks of it. Counter strike after a parry attack after counter-strike. Yes there is a difference a Counter strike flows from a parry into an attack while an attack starts from scratch.
I very clumsily follow along. Even though she is doing it super slow. I cannot keep up at all and I am making so many mistakes. Then after tripping over myself I noticed she is also doing foot movements. Geez! One thing at a time, this time I get up and try following just her foot movements.
Step forward with the right foot with the knees slightly bent. Adjust weight from left foot to right foot slide left foot in a semi circle to behind right foot, about a shoulders length apart.
(Author: I don't know any martial arts or forms just basically winging it. Please don't take anything to heart.)
I think I am getting it down after about an hour of just going through the foot motions. I finally have enough leeway to notice I have been staring at her perfectly toned ass most of the time. Oops. Shouldn't have noticed now my stance is awkward more leaned forward with my knees even more bent. Guess its time to focus on the upper part of her body as well. Once again I begin going through the hand motions along with the foot motions. Clumsily doing the hand motions. After 20 minutes, I at least have not tripped over myself this time.
It takes another hour or two before I have the form that she has been continuously doing. It sucks even though we are doing it slowly, it takes a huge toll on the body. I am drenched in sweat and wrought with pain. I can't even imagine how she must be feeling, she has been doing the whole thing since the beginning without a word. Looking at her she is also drenched in sweat.
Seeing her try so hard, I feel reinvigorated so I continue to press on without complaint as well. Little did I know I was the one trying harder: my gravity is 3 times while hers is only at 2. Bitch. We continue to do this until I finally drop only an hour later. Hearing me drop, she gets out of her trance like state, looks at me and then drops to her knees as well. I crawl to my backpack and drag it over to her. I take out some of the herbs and hand her some, then as I’m about to put some in my mouth she stops me.
She take some blades of grass and stacks them on top of each other like pages in a book, after stacking about ten blades she lifts them. Opening her mouth while leaning her head back a bit, she tears the bottom of all ten at the same time: a waterfall of rainbow colors flow into her mouth. I can see her gulping every once in a while. A little bit later the liquid stops flowing from the herbs and she closes her mouth taking one last gulp. I can see just a small trickle of rainbow liquid sliding down her chin and dripping into the space between her sweat covered mounds.
After the liquid was drained from the herbs, the herb then turned into a dried out clump and the little bit of force she was using to hold on to them was enough for the herbs to crumble into tiny particles that fell down on the floor.
Alice: "This is what happens to the herb after the liquid is gone. No need to waste your appetite on dust. Once you get the liquid follow me."
I quickly imitate her gathering a few pieces and drain them of their liquid. Feeling a lot better I stand up to follow her. She put her weapons back on the rack and so do I. Was there any point in grabbing the steal weapons and having them on me too? No, guess not, next time I will stick with just the foam ones until I actually have to battle.
She then walks out the door and into the kitchen side of the room. She then proceeds to wash her hands and arms in the sink. Then she opens up one of the three massive fridges and pulls out some ingredients.
Dremal: "Umm. I don't know how to cook." (Author: Yup I don't real shocker I know)
Alice: "Don't worry I have never cooked before either. So we are going to learn. Wash your hands and come help me I will tell you what to do." (Author: Gonna skip explaining things in detail here because although she has never cooked she still has the knowledge thus it turned out great)
After we finished cooking we sat down at the table and started eating. One of the best meals in my life and I helped making it. After finishing up eating I was told to wash the dishes since she did most of the work. So I did. Then she directed me to the restrooms and told me to take a shower. Clothes will be provided inside.
When I went into the directed bathroom I was expecting rows of urinals toilets and shower stalls, but all I got was one toilet, a really nice sink with a slash bowl, a mirror above said sink and there was in fact a shower stall, but next to it was a huge in-ground bathtub. On the wall next to the toilet was a closet it contained training vestments like what she was wearing only my size. Inside was also fresh towels. I took a quick shower getting all the sweat dirt and blood off me then went and soaked in the already filled tub. (was filled before I even entered) After an hour of soaking and washing myself I dawned the outfit and went to the training room. Man am I tired though.
Alice was inside the training hall still training. Guess I don't get to see her in an after bath glow.
Alice: "Ah, you’re back. Well go over to that corner to sleep. We will start again in the morning for you."
Dremal: "What about you? Are you just going to train through the night?"
Alice: "Yes. Unlike humans I don't sleep, so I can continue to train. If I make too much noise well.. too bad. Now hurry up and go to sleep."
I think she is working too hard regardless of her being an AI. Oh well. I walk over to the corner of the room she pointed towards and fell down asleep for some proper rest.
And that is how the first day of training went by.
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Author: Phew that was a long one. Sorry had a sudden inspiration to write this and could hardly stop. So glad you could enjoy a long chapter ^_^. If you didn't enjoy it well. Shit. To each there own I guess. Hehe! Hoping to read your comments hopefully you will enjoy the rest of my story. Thank you so much for reading. See you next chapter!
Edit: Special Thanks to Gaju-Nim on proofreading this chapter. Thank you very much!
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