Flora landed in a wood in front of another colossal portal-gate in a high wall. By now, she knew what to do and entered the portal.

Zone Information

Name: The Seven Masters Dojo

Color: Yellow

Enemies

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 2h

Drop: 0%

Neutral

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 1min

Drop: 0%

Friends

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 5sec

Drop: 0%

Automated Reputation Losses

Fighting outside sparring areas: - 5 Rep

Littering: - 1 Rep

Using weapons or armor: - 3 Rep

Automated Reputation Gains

Consumption: + 1 Rep per 10 VirDos

Quests: + 1 Rep per Quest

Teach: + 1 Rep per hour

The compound consisted of a green garden with one modern main building composed of steel and glass and several smaller buildings from different earth cultures, like traditional Chinese and South American.

Walking toward the most prominent building, Flora passed martial arts classes, which looked to her barely trained eyes like Tai Chi. All the pupils wore the same uniform, wide rust-colored trousers, and an orange top or sash.

After Flora entered the building, she immediately spotted the information counter and checked in. The anteroom opened up to an atrium packed with cheering spectators watching four boxing rings with ongoing fights. Flora stayed clear of the crowd and analyzed the zone information.

The quest page was sparse with just one quest giver, the information booth, and two quests available: one daily quest attending a lesson and one weekly quest participation in a workshop. However, the training tab was several pages long. Flora let Aidan count the different martial art styles, and he came up with 101. Flora hadn't even known there existed that many. She needed a recommendation.

Flowing Flowers to RadGlory Flow: "Sweetie, what martial arts should I train? I'm at the Seven Masters Dojo."

RadGlory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "Sorry, Ma, busy! Take Karate or something! And don't take a grappling art! You won't like to wrestle a slime or a dragon! And under no circumstances take Aikido! Bye!"

'That didn't help. What's wrong with Aikido? And wrestling dragons sounds like fun...'

She visualized a majestic dragon and then her choking it. 'No, that doesn't work, my arms are too short of reaching around its neck'. She tried to imagine an armbar. Same problem. 'A little finger/claw-bar?' The dragon in her mind raised its front leg with Flora hanging on for dear life and smashed it in the ground. 'Alright, I see the problem. But what's a good martial art against a dragon?'

Fortunately, Flora knew a few martial arts enthusiasts and called an old friend and business partner.

"Look who finally thinks about her old pals!" A window opened up, showing a pale man with white sideburns and a thin mustache reclining in a canopy bed. He wore a silken burgundy dressing gown and smirked at Flora. Unfortunately, Flora was distracted. The world around her had sped up. 'It's like I pressed fast forward on a video-tape or selected double playback speed on YouTube. Ah! Maybe, the time dilation got deactivated because I am communicating with the real world.'

"Earth to Flora! You call me, and then you just show me your gaping mouth! And what the heck are you wearing? Is that marble?" Though Edgar's choice of words was harsh, his tone of voice was intrigued.

"Let's skip the talk about clothing because you're sitting in a glasshouse, dear. Are you all dolled up for a Hugh Hefner look-alike competition?" Flora fired back.

"Honestly, darling! You look amazing!" Edgar exclaimed after he enlarged Flora's countenance. "Where did you get your face done? Dr. Orlowski? No, he is virtuoso, but even he isn't that good."

"I did it myself!" Flora smiled smugly while failing to sound humble. "I'm in this VR-thingy. You know, we complained about the game that got all the young people addicted? It is absolutely horrible!"

"Tell me all about it! Are you addicted yet?" Edgar asked, excited.

"I am! And I was even violent and headbutted a poor guy!" Flora whined with gusto. Germans loved complaining, and Edgar and Flora were enthusiastically German in this regard.

"Amazing!"

"And French bank robbers abducted me!"

"Wonderful!"

"I died several times today because a mad scientist implanted a device in my neck, which allows me to communicate with machines!"

"Awesome!"

"And one time because I tried to do parkour tricks!"

"I'm so jealous! I drank a cup of tea in a cozy cafe and read a nice book about gardening! I'm bored out of my mind! Tell me what I have to buy to join you dying amazing deaths in virtual reality!"

Flora gave him all the information she had, which wasn't much. But she was sure CentralTank made it easy to acquire the gear. Otherwise, they wouldn't have 200 million customers.

"At the moment, I'm at a dojo and confused about what's the best martial art to learn. Can you give me a recommendation?"

"There Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu no Jiu-Jitsu 'best' Jiu-Jitsu martial art, per se Jiu-Jitsu, there Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu only Jiu-Jitsu the best Jiu-Jitsu martial art Jiu-Jitsu for you Jiu-Jitsu and Jiu-Jitsu a specific Jiu-Jitsu situation."

"Alright, Jiu-Jitsu! But Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling art, and Robby said I don't want to grapple with a slime or a dragon. I'm pretty sure he is right about the first."

"A slime sounds slimy and a dragon impressive, but think about it this way: Who is the greatest enemy of mankind?"

"Itself! I see where you are going. So Jiu-Jitsu is the best against humans, and that makes it the best choice."

"You Jiu-Jitsu are Jiu-Jitsu a Jiu-Jitsu great Jiu-Jitsu student, Jiu-Jitsu my Jiu-Jitsu darling Jiu-Jitsu."

Flora felt better after the phone calls. She looked at the training-list, and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class was going to start in ten minutes. Though Flora liked the idea of doing Jiu-Jitsu, she didn't want to disregard Robby's advice. Therefore she searched for a striking martial art as well and found Wing Tsu.

The description said it was a German branch of Wing Chun, a kind of Chinese kungfu invented by a woman. Because it wasn't a fighting style Robby had practiced or came up in the UFC matches they watched together, Flora hadn't heard of it before. But she was willing to give it a try. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had its origin in Japan. So she had Japan and South America covered and thought it would be nice to add a European or African martial art in the mix. In the Chinese-Japanese conflict, Flora was firmly on the side of the Chinese because they produced some of her toasters. That a woman had developed the Wing Chun added a bonus, not because women were the better fighters, but they had a different reach and core area than men.

After Flora booked the courses for 100 VirDos each and got her uniform, she failed to locate a locker room, so Aidan showed her how to speed change. Flora marveled at the practicality of the system. She just had to drag the uniform from her inventory to the equipment tab, and she was ready for training.

Name: Seven Masters Dojo Monk Training Set

Type: Clothing

Slot: Torso and Legs

Effects: + 3 Training efficiency in everything a Buddhist monk needs to know.

Tier: 1

Rating: B

Zone Information

Name: The Seven Masters Dojo

Sub-Zone: Beginner Classroom

Level-Cap: 24

Color: Yellow

Defeat

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 5sec

Drop: 0%

Restrictions:

Combat mana-skills locked

Level Cap: 25

Bonus:

+ 5 OV Physical Regeneration

Automated Reputation Losses

Disobeying the coaches: - 1 Rep

Littering: - 1 Rep

Using weapons or armor: - 3 Rep

Automated Reputation Gains

Passing a Lesson: + 1 Rep

Coach: + 1 Rep per hour

Teach: + 1 Rep per hour

The room was familiar with its soft wooden floor and mirrors on the two walls. Unfamiliar was the menagerie of pets. Raptors, cats of prey, and wolves sat or lay well-behaved lining the other walls. Aidan explained you could carry pets in your inventory, but only if the owners' reputation with them was high enough.

First, Flora thought if so many people had pets, maybe they brought an advantage to your gameplay, but then she remembered in real life, furry companions were popular too. To be on the safe side, she instructed Aidan to research the advantages of having a pet, and if you could have machines like toasters as pets.

A petite redheaded girl got the 50+ pupils in order and started the lesson. In a clear, carrying voice, she introduced herself as Teacher Clowdy and her two assistants as Coach Rididi, a tall Latina woman, and Coach Mortalcoil, a beefy white guy.

Next, she went over procedural topics. The beginner I course entailed seven lessons a la 1.5 hours. The seventh lesson was a test and a tournament. Only the best 50% of the class, were allowed to advance to the Beginner-II course. 'That's harsh. I stumbled into an elite school!'

"The Seven Masters Dojo grading system is a mark of quality and pride. No excuses like 'I had a bad day' or 'my level was lower than anyone else's.' are accepted. After the five beginner courses, there will be five intermediate courses; after them ten practitioners, ten advanced, and ten master courses. Nobody reached the master courses without failing a class. Losing and failing is part of a fighter's life, and our system makes you deal with this, or you will wash out."

Afterward, the lesson began. Flora learned how to get out when someone sat on her and, generally speaking, how to snuggle aggressively.

Flora's concentration was long gone when she took the next course, Wing Tsu. She just tried to follow the instructions and suppress any deranged giggling. This state of mind wasn't new to her. She reached it when she was younger and worked past her mental limits. In the last years, her body gave out before her mind. Therefore she enjoyed the carefree ride of hazy consciousness.

She didn't remember how she reached her lair but managed to put herself in the training coffin and connected to the workshop. Next, she ordered Aidan to hold her pool-attributes low. Unceremoniously, she flopped on the workbench and fell asleep.

Flora woke up shortly after seven o'clock in the morning and felt horrible compared to the nights before.

"Aidan, why do I feel like I spent the night in a tumble-dryer?" she asked sleepily.

"I'm not familiar with the sleep experience of humans in tumble-dryers, Milady. If I had to guess it is because you have five stacks of the 'Bruised' debuff and you overdrew your stamina."

Bruised: 5x - 10% stamina regeneration. Time remaining: 4min 9sec; refreshes every time you take damage.

Overdrawn Stamina: 3x stamina cost, physical exhaustion.

Metal-Handicap: 6 OV

"Please deactivate the training-coffin, Aidan. That should eliminate the bruised debuff. But how can I get rid of Overdrawn Stamina, and what caused it?"

"One hour of sleep time per stack, so two hours to lose the debuff. Stamina or concentration have one bar for every tier of strength or intelligence. You have 50 LV strength at the moment. The level value is in tier 3, that means you have your regular stamina bar and two overdraw bars."

The explanation provoked Flora to look at her bars.

Health: 188/190

Stamina: 121/470(3)

Mana-Pool: 7/220

Concentration: 340/340

"My lack of Mana-Regeneration prohibited you from using the taser more often, right?" Flora concluded after studying the values. "My Physical Regeneration offset the damage of the rattling and the taser, but why didn't it work on stamina?"

"Yes, Milady. Because you caused the rattling, the hits from your body against the coffin counted as your actions. It caused your strength to rise significantly, but drained your stamina."

"Let's go over my gains." Flora decided. She hoped it would clear up some of her questions. "The changes cover two hours of free-running, then 3 hours of martial arts and 9 hours in the coffin. Modify the display of the attributes, so zero growth shows as well."

Physical Power + 8 Level

Physical Macro-Control + 1 Level

Physical Micro-Control + 1 Level

Physical Vigor + 8 Level

Physical Regeneration + 1 Level

Physical Defense + 19 Level

Physical Perception + 0 Level

Magical Power + 0 Level

Magical Macro-Control + 6 Level

Magical Micro-Control + 5 Level

Magical Vigor + 13 Level

Magical Regeneration + 13 Level

Magical Defense + 9 Level

Magical Perception + 0 Level

"I expected more growth in Physical Regeneration, to be honest. Look how much defense has grown, and my regeneration worked overtime."

"Physical Reg has a value of 79. That's tier 3. Tier 3 is at your level 30 times harder to raise than tier 1 attributes. Tier 2 attributes are only four times as hard."

"I see, this explains the slow growth of physical controls as well. They are above level 50. Please explain what you meant by 'at your level'."

"Attributes need a different amount of experience to level up depending on the tier of their level value and their level value: Tier 2: 2 times the level value in XP, Tier 3: 3 times the level value in XP and so on.

Additionally, if the attribute value is one tier higher than the tier of the player, it is multiplied by factor 2, two tiers higher by factor 10. I found no definitive answer about the factor three tiers higher; the most common guess is 25.

Your level is 1. That means raising an attribute

from 10 to 11 takes 10*1*1 = 10 training XP

from 30 to 31 takes 30*2*2 = 130 training XP

from 60 to 61 takes 60*3*10 = 1800 training XP."

"Burned toast and stale jam! That's a difference!" Flora calculated in her head the tier 4 XP: 100 to 101 -> 100*4*25 = 10 000.

"The XP acquired in lower tiers for higher tiers is not wasted. When you level up, the system recalculates the training XP. If you reached level 25 now, your Physical Regeneration would grow to 102 LV."

Flora nodded and looked at the magic attributes. "We have to find a way to cast magic in the trainings-coffin. Put it on the to-do list, dear."

Then she worked through the following notifications.

Affinity/Resistance Lightning + 11 Level.

Affinity/Resistance Tempering + 20 Level.

Mana-Skill Use Built-In Skill + 12 Level.

You gained the Skill: 'Repair' + 3 Levels

You gained an ability: Acrobatics.

Do you want to form the ability specialization 'Free-Running'?

"It is better for the growth of Acrobatics and Athletics, the parents of Free-Running, not to establish a specialization. But some spells need specific specialties, the automatic-mode works better with them, and of course, they give a bigger stamina bonus than the general ability."

"Please, show this kind of message directly so that I can ask the teacher."

Flora was irresolute, so she fashioned a coin with 'Yes' on one side and 'No' on the other and threw it in the air.

"Yes."

You gained an ability specialization: Free-Running + 5 Level.

Do you want to form the ability specialization 'Hand-to-Hand Combat'?

"Yes."

You gained an ability specialization: Hand-to-Hand Combat + 10 Level.

Ability Melee + 1 Level.

You gained an Achievement: Trust in Luck: You left a decision to luck.

+ 1 OV to the Affinity/Resistance Entropy

Flora laughed. Sometimes the game was cute.

Stat-Tables:

Physical Attributes Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equipment Modded OV Power 50 0 55 22.2 0 0 22 Macro-control 57 0 62.7 23.8 0 0 24 Micro-control 51 0 56.1 22.5 0 0 23 Vigor 33 0 36.3 18.1 1 0 19 Regeneration 79 0 86.9 28 0 3 31 Defense 46 0 50.6 21.3 2 0 23 Perception 31 0 34.1 17.5 0 0 18 Magical Attributes Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equipment Modded OV Power 19 0 19 13.1 0 0 13 Macro-control 29 0 31.9 16.9 0 0 17 Micro-control 30 0 33 17.2 0 0 17 Vigor 48 0 52.8 21.8 0 0 22 Regeneration 48 0 52.8 21.8 0 0 22 Defense 35 0 38.5 18.6 2 0 21 Perception 14 0 14 11.2 0 0 11 Pools OV Mods Equipment Modded OV Health: 190 0 0 190 Stamina: 470 0 0 470 Mana-Pool: 220 0 0 220 Concentration: 340 0 0 340 Affinities and Resistances Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Psychokinesis SSS 28 17.5 5 23 Transformation SSS 28 17.5 5 23 Bloodmagic SSS 1 3 1 4 Metal F 10 9.5 0 10 Lightning F 23 14.4 0 14 Tempering F 25 16.5 0 17 Entropy F 1 3 1 4 Mana-Skills Category Rating LV OV Mod MOV Telekinesis Magic, Psychokinesis U SSS 52 23.8 0 24 Magical Push Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 28 17.5 0 18 Magical Pull Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 27 17.1 0 17 Transform organics Magic, Transformation U SSS 53 24 0 24 Transform inorganics Magic, Transformation U SSS 25 16.5 0 17 Clean Magic, Conjuration U SSS 3 5.2 0 5 Use Built-In Skill Technology, Command B SSS 43 21.6 0 22 Repair Magic, Psychokinesis/ Technology, General B SSS 3 5.2 0 5 Abilities Category Rating LV OV Mod MOV Mechanics Crafting S 27 17.1 0 17 Athletics Physical C 47 22.6 0 23 Modelling and Design Crafting SSS 45 22.1 0 22 Medical Science Science C 31 18.4 0 18 Negotiation Social B 3 5.2 0 5 Melee Combat F 1 3 0 3 Electronics Crafting S 5 6.7 0 7 Acrobatics Physical D 1 3 0 3 Free-Running Physical, Acrobatics, Athletics D 5 6.7 0 7 Hand-to-Hand Combat Combat, Melee D 12 10.4 0 10