moving on

Klaus was excited for more than one reason. The first one being the fact that he was told by his father that they would be progressing to the next stage of their training, THE WAY OF THE FEET.

Already he had spent years on the first stage of the martial arts he was practicing. This was Crav Maga. A martial art that was dubbed "The arts of ten limbs". Now he was done with the first stage taught to him by his father, THE WAY OF THE FIST. This stage primarily involved the strict use of one's fist alone and concentrated on variety of skills and techniques that could be performed with the fist.

Spending almost twelve years learning the first stage was fun but even he was happy that it was over. Learning that he was moving on to the second stage of the martial arts was spectacular to say the least but something else gave him even more joy.

" I was actually able to knock him off his feet. Twelve years...twelve years and finally....I did it!!!" Klaus sat on the ground in the dojo saying excitedly. Although the closing moments of the training ended the way it had always done for twelve years. He was left on his back, beaten and defeated by his father.

But this time around, that meant nothing to him. As the only thought he had on his mind was the convincing hit he had gotten in on his dad during the training session. Nothing felt better than that to him. But deep within, a thought lingered and this somewhat ruined the moment for him.

"I didn't do it on my own. This weird thing helped"..." Just what are you?" Klaus said thinking back to how he had selected an option from the screen that appeared in front of his face and was able to perform what he described as a "great feat".

" I guess if I really want to understand then I'd have to at least pay attention to the things that had appeared before". Klaus thought. And then his mind wandered back to the night before and how a notification of some sort had appeared. Thinking about it alone, the display screen appeared again and now he was looking at something that had his mouth wide open.

[Congratulations, host has successfully awoken host's genes]

[Nether genes successfully synchronized]

[Would you like to view your profile?]

[Yes] - [No]

"What?!!" Klaus said excitedly

"... I mean yes!!!" Klaus said jumping to his feet then he began to punch the air and do all sorts of acrobatic movements. But then he stopped because amidst all the excitement, something occurred to him.

"Wait, how did this happen?" Does it mean I have broken my mana shell?". It has to be". Klaus sat back on the ground as his mind began to wander about.

"But if that's the case, does everyone who breaks their shell get a ...err...a system like this?" Klaus thought struggling to identify what exactly the screen that popped up in front of him was.

With no answer provided at the mean time, he figured having a look at what this strange system entailed was not a bad idea.

"Not even a user manual?. How am I supposed to figure out all of this things on my own?" Klaus thought frustratingly as he struggled to understand some of the icons and things he saw on the screen.

"Nether genes synchronized?. What does that even mean?" Klaus said not fully understanding quite a few things still.

"I have a profile?. Okay let's see it" Then using his mind, he selected the "yes" option beneath the suggestion. And immediately, the old screen dissipated and another one came in place of it. But this one bore a new set of information.

[Host profile]

-Name: Klaus Dean Jackson.

-Nether Gene - Shadow

-HP - 18

-Race: ???

-Class: ???

Stat attributes.

-Strength - 10

-Agility - 7

-Speed - 7

- Durability - 5

- Perception - 8

....

"Wow, its like a video game or something. It has my name, health status and all"....

" Nether ability?. And it says shadow" what does this even mean?" Klaus thought looking at what was displayed on the screen.

"And it's not displaying my race or even class?" He said discovering the space was empty with no information on it. But there were other things that were needed to be seen. So he spent less time on one subject matter.

"Wow, it has my own stat charts. This is impressive. Though the numbers attached to it look disappointing. I don't know what the standards are but by earthly standards, a persons strength level at nine isn't much to be proud of " Klaus thought and he was right in a way. His stat attributes would be considered weak by mere looking at it. But what he was unaware of was that he was almost if not at the peak of his class.

Teenagers his age were not necessarily as strong or even as agile as he was. The numbers displayed by the system was the system's standards. His training from a child up until the point he was at the moment earned him those stat numbers. Regular teenagers with no training would probably fall below him. But given that the era of magic was invoke, this didn't really mean much.

This was because a fight with a skilled magic user and a regular trained person like Klaus himself had the odds of who the winner would be swinging in favour of the magic wielder. So in a way, having magic still stood out more compared to natural fitness which had a short limit.

"I have completed two out the three quest handed to me. I wonder what would happen when I complete the last one". Klaus thought. He had played some of the vintage games that existed quite long ago. And the experience from them gave him some insight of what was happening. Regarding the daily quest, he was careful not to be optimistic but bore in mind that as the term "Quest" was used then almost certainly, there had to be some "Reward" attached to it.

"It would be a pain if there turns out to be no reward" Klaus said thinking about how it would simply be like training with "Shiro senshi 2.0" as he termed it.

"Wait what kind of reward will it be come to think of it?" Klaus thought as he imagined a bunch of things that could come out of it. But the very thought of it alone was discouraging. He felt like he was reaching too far.

"Lift 100 kilogram huh. Let's get to it then" Klaus said under his breathe as he got up from his sitting position. He thought about what was heavy enough within the dojo. And while his eyes saw many things, he felt they would fall below the weight required or be too much. He needed something precisely around that weight.

His thoughts eventually ventured to one place. A smile appeared on his face as he walked straight to another door opposite the exit of the dojo. He opened it with the key hanging out on the door. And when he stepped in, the first thing he did was shake his head and chuckled a little.

"Dad wouldn't just get rid of all this vintage things. What are we in, 2020?" Klaus said laughing by himself.

The room he found himself in currently could be referred to as a gym. It had all sorts of equipment in it. Dumbbells, Bar bells and all sorts. The only odd thing about it was the state of equipment in there. They mostly looked outdated and some of the metals were losing their paint coating.

"Just one pull of this one should do it" he said as he bent down and held a bar bell that was still on the ground. He placed his hands away from themselves and positioned his legs well. He had occasionally being in there to workout on days his dad decided there was no training. And one time his dad had seen him in there and opted to teach him the proper way to lift weights. At that moment, he realized there was very little his dad didn't know about getting strong and all that came with it..

Making sure his back was ached right, he pulled. At first it was a struggle, so he put extra power in it and pulled with everything he had and eventually, he lifted it. Then dropping it back on the ground causing quite the loud thump as the iron met the solid floor made from one of the magic era minerals. This room was engineered this way unlike the dojo's floor that was made of wood.

But if Klaus was asked, the wood made no difference in reducing the pain he felt each time he landed hard on it. Perhaps the floor was his real problem all this years he thought as he imagined it being replaced with the one used in the gym. A smile cut across his face as he stepped out of the gym.

*Bing*

[Daily quest complete]

-Test of strength completed

• Reward - [+2stat points added to strength].

-Test of endurance completed.

•Reward - [+1 stat point added to durability].

[Bonus reward for completeting first quest - 2 free stat points]

[Host can place free stat points in attributes as wished]

[Would you like to check changes]

[Yes] - [No]

Not wasting time Klaus picked the "yes" option and the screen changed the display once again.

[Host's profile]

-Name: Klaus Dean Jackson.

-Nether Gene - Shadow

-HP - 18

-Race: ???

-Class: ???

Stat attributes.

-Strength - 10 [+2]

-Agility - 7

-Speed - 7

- Durability - 5 [+1]

- Perception - 8

...

"Okay, this is cool" Klaus said as he inspected the changes.

"How do I know this new change has affected me?" Klaus thought for a minute then and an idea crossed his mind. So he rushed back to the gym and went straight to the same bar bell he lifted previously.

Bending down and getting his posture right, he pulled and lifted it. But this time, he could tell there was a difference.

"It's either this junk has lost weight or the stat point really did work!!!" Klaus said excitedly as he was more inclined to believe the second one.

"Hey Kay?. What are you doing in here?" Arsha walked in with her eyes moving around the place. Apparently she wasn't all too used to the gym as it was rarely opened.

"Nothing, just doing some extra work" Klaus lied. He was excited about all the strange things that were happening to him and would have loved to share it. But just like himself who was still having doubts as to how real it was, he figured someone who hadn't experienced it would have even more doubts. So in order not to cause any more confusion, he decided he'd keep the system a secret for the mean time.

"Oh..okay, your mum on my way here asked me to call you for lunch. Apparently you have been down here way too long. Are you still sore after the " beating" I gave you yesterday? " Arsha said with a smile on her face.

"Yes that!!!!.. That!!.. Oh thank you so much Ash" Klaus said bowing down the way he would to his father. When he stood up, they both looked at themselves and began to laugh.

"By the way what actually happened. You were showing me something and I refused to look. Next thing I know, everywhere turns quiet and suspicious. I open my eyes only to find you on the ground unconscious. You just completely blacked out!!." Arsha said.

"I guess I was too tired from the training before and I pushed my self too hard with the whole "shell" thing"... Klaus whispered the last part. This was believable enough and Arsha didn't think too much about it.

"Hey, after lunch. Can we go...somewhere?" Klaus asked with a grin.

"Okay, fine...just where there are no buildings this time" Arsha said and they both began to laugh again.

"Trust me, no where near that field".....

...