5 Big Boy Training
(AN: Almost 2000 words this time. Please share any completely useless skill ideas you have.)
A humanoid creature stared at Alistor from beyond the fog, its empty sockets filled with unending famine. The personification of hunger. Suddenly, it disappeared, not even leaving an afterimage. With not a single sound or even a footprint, its claws were mere inches from the back of Alistar's neck. It tore through the emerald aura surrounding him like wet paper.
-
The sound of a knife on a chalkboard resonated through the forest. The force of the impact cracked the icy ground and scattered the falling snow. The creature used this chance to bite the head off of its prey, but just as it was about to reach him Alistar grabbed its jaw with his bare hands. He snatched the beast down to his level, placing his other hand on the top of its mouth, opposite the other.
*Snap!**Squelch!*
With one visceral pull, the head of the beast was split in two and tossed to the side.
[40th Floor: Windigo Nest]
The Windigo, Alistar's first hurdle during his climb to power. Even now, he couldn't hope to match their speed and uncanny nimbleness. They couldn't possibly match him in raw power, but their razor-sharp claws and jaws with similar grip strength to crocodiles make for a nasty combo. That's not even mentioning how intelligent they are. These 12 ft, malnourished, lanky beasts were the first and most humbling experience for the cocky young Alistar.
He had to train for years in slowed time just to beat one of these things. Now, however, they just make good training dummies.
"Hmm, that didn't work. Maybe if I focus my aura at the point of contact…"(Prana sounds kinda stupid)
Alistar began rambling not caring to notice the three Windigo watching from atop the trees, watching and waiting.
When they thought his guard was down, two of them swiped at his throat and legs simultaneously, only to be stopped by two concentrated orbs of emerald aura. It wasn't mentioned in the book, but this was a more advanced technique than [Diamond Skin] called [Sun]. It's pretty lame for a technique name.
[Light Arts LV 38]
'Well, that worked.'
He created two scythe-like blades from his forearms and sliced off their heads simultaneously. This is accomplished using [Mana Constructs LV 80], which is a derivative skill he obtained from [Mana Control LV MAX]. At first, he used it a lot to hit his enemies with magic arrows from afar, but that got boring very quickly.
'Next.'
The remaining Windigo on a treetop could only watch as its body got further away and its head fell to the ground.
[Light Arts LV 41]
[Godspeed] is very similar to [Flash Step LV MAX], so it isn't a hard technique for him to master. It simply empowered his legs to move at superhuman speeds. However, this wasn't Alistar's goal. What he wanted was the derivative technique of [Godspeed] called [Mongyoku] which, in a nutshell, allows him to become a ninja able to run on water and vertical surfaces. Even things like leaves falling to the ground can be used as a foothold.
Realistically, he doesn't need this technique as he has [Barrier Magic LV 35] which allows him to create a foothold anywhere he wants, but who doesn't want to run on water like a Naruto character?
He tore his way through the forest using nothing but his new techniques. After killing the "hulking" 20ft boss, his skill capped at level 50. That was to be expected, it's only due to his insane ability to learn and adapt that he got it that far. Now, he just needed more information on how Prana works. In order to max out a skill, one must master it completely.
Unfortunately, killing these things didn't get him much XP. If you kill the same monster too many times, less experience and loot can be obtained from them. In other words, killing the same motherfucker too much is a waste of time. They're just overgrown toothpicks anyway.
-A Few Months Later-
[80th Floor: Dragon Sanctuary]
*Bam!**Bam!**Smack!**Boom!*
"Dammit…" Alistar swore.
He was currently fighting an Earth Dragon. It was a big, beefy, and scaly boy. Before even getting the chance to breathe, pillars of earth rained down on him. Whenever he dodged, stalagmites grew where his feet landed. His new technique came in handy as Alistar used them as footholds.
[Casual Punch LV15]
Alistar sped forward using [Godspeed] and [Flash Step LV MAX] in tandem, becoming a blur of emerald and black. His fist just barely made it to the dragon's jaw as he gave it a nasty uppercut.
*Boom!*
Its mouth was forced shut, but before he could get another attack in, the dragon liquified the earth underneath them and slid backward. The earth dragon didn't look agitated in the slightest. It spit a gob of blood off to the side, looks back at Alistar, and a battle-thirsty grin appears on its scaly face.
Fighting this dragon can be compared to fighting Toph Beifong in her prime, along with a hulking body and nigh indestructible scales. Using the kicked-up dust, the dragon made whips of earth and sand. Each time they hit, it sounded like gunshots.
Alistar created gauntlets with long blades at the knuckles using [Mana Constructs LV 80]. He hit the dragon over and over again while taking hits from the earthen whips and rock bullets traveling at Mach 1.
*AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH*
With one final push, he punched the dragon directly in its eye, penetrating its skull with his blades.
"Toph is better! Explode!"
Both of his gauntlets exploded into deadly shrapnel, shredding the dragon's brain. Only when Alistar felt its body go limp in his arms did he let his guard down. He slid his now gore-covered arms from the dragon's skull.
[Level Up!]
"Phew, that's it for tod- SHIT!"
Before he realized it his right arm was missing, and he just barely dodged the blow to his head.
Before him was a humanoid man covered head to toe in black scales. With a menacing 8ft frame, bulging muscles, and claws with a sketchy-looking purple liquid coating them.
[Observe]
Name: Grendal
Age: Indeterminate
Level: 300
Title: Dragon King
Overall Combat Ability: SSS
Current State: Annoyed
'Nope.'
Alistar disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing on the [1st Floor: Home].
"He never disappoints, that Grendal. It's gonna feel so good to wipe that cocky grin off his face!"
Grendal is the next wall Alistar has been stuck at for a long time now. The Dragon Sanctuary was such an insane jump in difficulty from the 79th floor that he couldn't hope to get past it as he was now. The boss of the 80th floor has humbled Alistar more times than he can count at this point.
Deep down, Alistar knew that if he evenly distributed his stats, he would at least stand a chance against Grendal, but he couldn't, in good conscience, choose to put points in a stat that he could grow on his own, regardless of how difficult it may be.
He could have all the wealth in the world with his luck alone as proof of that. Now that he's been pushed to this extreme, it was time to take some desperate measures.
[Healing Magic LV MAX]
His missing arm slowly started stitching itself back together from his shoulder. He had a training method in mind, but everything he had ever read on the topic steered him away.
The manipulation of gravity is a method of training in many works of fiction. Alistar had done a lot of "research" into the topic. Mainly posts online showing how much force it would take to rip lungs from their internal cavity, don't ask why. Everything he could find led him to believe that using the force of gravity to train was a terrible idea outside of fictional works. However, he wasn't a normal person.
He "calculated" that using [Flash Step LV MAX] makes him experience 6.85 g's on his body. But, what if he always had that amount of gravity affecting his body? To be more specific, 96.6 m/s^2 constantly fighting his every move. however, he needed some way to experience this without affecting the environment. For this reason, he has been leveling up [Enchanting] and [Crafting].
A few minutes later, his arm was completely healed, so he got to work on his crafting. His crafting and enchanting levels were still much lower than he'd like, so he would have to rely a bit on his luck stat to compensate.
He very carefully crafted two bracelets, two anklets, and one necklace. The jewelry adds a customizable resistance to each of his limbs and torso. This essentially lowers his base strength to that of a gym rat his age. These resistance bands work by accelerating him in the opposite direction of his movements at any given time. So, normal gravitational forces from the earth are pulling him down along with the added acceleration from the bands, making it much harder to move or do anything for that matter.
The enchantment is also formed as a kind of curse, so the wearer is the only thing affected. Speaking of acceleration enchantments, he suddenly got an idea for his next prank item.
"Hehehe…" Alistar cackled.
It took a few hours to get used to his new training. He periodically has to use healing magic to put his organs back in place due to the irregular forces of gravity jostling them back and forth.
His stats, especially vitality, began rising exponentially. The [Pain Resistance LV MAX] skill dulled 80% of his pain throughout this process. After his organs settled down, and the pain lessened, he decided it was time to actually go to school so he wouldn't forget all of his pranks…homework yes that.
But, that begs the question. Why is Alistar doing this? Yes, Grendal has a small hand in it, but why does he go through such pain and misery just for something as elusive as strength?
Putting it lightly, his bio mom wasn't a good person. Alistar did everything he could to find freedom away from her, but no matter what he did, he couldn't escape. It was the law. After all, what could a small child who just barely learned to walk do against the police dragging him back home? He swore to himself that he would become strong enough to not be limited by things such as laws or authority. He would obtain freedom.
He would do what he must to win, to escape, and to be free. Alistar Black would do almost anything to obtain the true freedom to do whatever the hell he wanted. Well, that's what he thinks anyway.
"8 hours should have passed outside. Ah, to be a scrub yet again…at least my light arts skill will finally get some real action," he said, a little distracted from the constant pain.
"Status"
Name: Alistar Black
Job: The Gamer
Age: 15 (Are you tho?)
Level: 145 (+25)
Title: Pedo Destroyer
STR: 105
VIT: 73
AGI: 90
INT: 22
WIS: 14
LUK: 600
Points: 125
Overall Combat Ability: S
His stats have been steadily climbing since starting this awful training. Even with an 80% resistance to pain, it's still eating at him. It can be compared to having a constantly stubbed pinky toe. Very much not a fun time, but it was better than looking at a static screen.
-A few minutes later-
"Even cooking breakfast is a damn chore!"
Alistar yelled in indignation, waking everyone up.
