The next day Leon found himself escorted by Malorie to the school and into an area of the campus where the buildings were oddly oriental in design. Most construction in the Dungeon Cities seemed to be largely dwarven or almost Gothic in design. So the contrasting buildings seemed odd to him.

There Leon was guided into one of the pagoda like buildings and into a room with what appeared to be a large tub in the middle.

“It appears that we are a bit early.” Said Malorie as she sat down on a chair beside the door, “you might as well strip down and wait in the tub. You will find out what its for when the instructor arrives.”

The way that she had said instructor made Leon feel like this was not just a class where he learned something through a lecture. Especially when she told him to strip. Leon wasn’t a self-conscious kind of guy. He never had been. But still it felt kind of awkward to just take his clothes off in front of a woman he hardly knew, even if he was only ten.

“At least buy me dinner first before you try to get me naked woman.” He muttered under his breath as he started pulling his shirt off.

Malorie apparently heard him because she buckled over laughing in her seat. She seemed to be in a full-on giggle fit by the time Leon finished undressing and placing his clothes beside the tub. He stepped into it and sat down.

“I already did!” she wheezed out between bouts of laughter.

Leon facepalmed hard, she had definitely cooked him dinner last night, “Touché Mal, Touché. I don’t suppose you can tell me why I am sitting naked in a tub?”

It took Malorie several minutes to get a hold of herself before she turned serious, “It’s so you don’t get blood all over your clothes. Getting a Regeneration skill requires you to be injured… repeatedly.”

Leon was suddenly thinking it may be a very good idea to use one of his seven vouchers to pick up a regeneration skill instead of learning it the hard way. It was very tempting, but Leon was saving those vouchers to be used when he discovered a very useful skill that he could not acquire any other way. Speaking of…

“Is there any way I could get a book that has a list of extremely rare or very difficult to acquire skills?” He asked.

“I’ll show you to the library. There’s a whole section dedicated to all of the recorded skills the Guild has ever encountered. Of course, every skill there was volunteered up by the people who had them. Some skills people develop they take with them to their graves.” She replied.

They lapsed into silence after that. But the silence was soon interrupted by a person opening the door. It was an Ommatidia, pulling a wheeled table with it that had a bunch of rather pointy looking objects.

“Oh, good! You are already here. I am Healer Lorina, I will be administering the instructions here until you have acquired a Regeneration skill. I take it that your Mentor has already given you the gist of how that is accomplished?” Lorina the Ommatidia said in a very high octave voice.

Leon nodded but was unprepared for what happened next. Pain exploded out of his left shoulder eliciting a cry from his mouth as he turned to find a long needle sticking out of it. He went to try and pull it out when his other shoulder exploded in pain, and he found himself unable to move either of his arms. Fear gripping him, Leon tried to stand up when two more needles slammed into his knees, then two more into his hips.

Leon was sitting there in the tub with giant ass needles sticking out of his body and was now completely unable to move. He cast his eyes about, looking over to his completely apathetic Mentor and Lorina with panic building in his chest.

“Ok now that you are injured and your body’s natural ability to heal itself is being suppressed by the needles. You need to focus on the damage that your body has received and concentrate fully on Willing your body to push the needles out and heal behind them as they are being pushed out.” The Ommatidia said as she stood there in front of Leon like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

It took Leon a good long while to get his heart rate down, but for some reason it just suddenly clicked, and he was no longer panicking over the presence of the needles deep inside his flesh. After that he focused deeply on the pain radiating through his joints. Getting an internal feel of how deep they went. With his Meditation skill Leon was able to concentrate much more easily, the pain seeming to fade as he lightly tapped into the skill, not going all of the way down into his core, just using it to focus.

After who knows how long, Leon finally grasped at the full extent of the damage. Concentrating on the foreign objects that were stabbed through his flesh Leon focused on his desire for them to be removed and the damage healed. That was when another needle suddenly introduced itself into his system and he gasped in pain. This needle stabbing through his forearm and all the way through, between the bones and sticking out the other side.

Another needle intruded on his other forearm in the same way. This one pulled Leon completely out of his meditation and caused him to nearly scream as tears flowed out of his eyes. He almost gave in and used one of his vouchers right then and there. But he focused and clamped down on his emotions. It was just pain, and if he could endure it, he would be rewarded with the ability to heal himself.

Again, Leon focused on what he wanted. Ignoring the presences of his Mentor and the Ommatidia that was basically torturing him. Leon focused all of his willpower into getting that skill.

Malorie FleshShaper

Malorie watched her Mentee going through exactly what she had decades ago. This method of gaining a regeneration skill was brutally painful but had the added benefit of possibly unlocking the Pain Management skill as well. The boy would need both of those skills for what she was planning for him. She wanted him to have every resistance skill she could cram into him. And the only way to gain those resistance skills was to repeatedly take damage from specific sources like acid and fire or ice. To gain those skills one had to be able to heal themselves and deal with the pain.

She was hoping that she could force him into developing a Trait. The holy grail of power in this world. Traits were a requirement for an individual to enter into the third Tier of power. At least usually. In order to get a Trait, one needed to have at least five skills in the third Tier of their development. They then needed to combine those skills and merge them with their own soul. Not only would this free up space for more skills, but it would also remove the mana costs for those skills that made up the Trait. The best part of a Trait was that it would then eat up any skill gained that had something to do with the Trait itself.

Traits were difficult to Level up though. They needed to eat skills and be exercised in specific ways that pushed the boundaries of what one was capable of. But each level in a Trait was comparable to a Tier jump in power for all off the effects it had absorbed which was far and above worth the effort to get there.

Malorie’s first surprise while watching Leon was how quickly he’d calmed down from the unexpected assault and subsequent pain. Her second surprise was when he appeared to gather himself up and begin meditating deeply enough that his tears had stopped streaming from his eyes. That was when the next two needles were applied, going all the way through his forearms between the bones. He had cried out and his body shook from the pain, but he’d pulled himself together very rapidly.

Every ten minutes Lorina would add another set of needles to Leon’s body in increasingly painful ways. None of the damage being done to Leon was anything that he wouldn’t be promptly healed of by the end of this session. But this training had to go on until he gained a skill.

Malorie’s third surprise came shortly after a set of needles was forced through his femurs. He’d screamed in agony for several moments before his eyes gained a steel like resolve in them and soon all traces of pain were washed away from his face. Replaced by an angry grimace.

As time wore on and Leon was now thoroughly looking like a pincushion, she noticed something that she had not expected to see for at the very least another ten hours. Several of the needles were slowly being pushed out of his body. Checking the time, Malorie raised an eyebrow at this. It would be far from a world record as the fastest time to gain a Regeneration skill. But it happened far more quickly than she had hoped for.

As the training continued Lorina had to start replacing needles as they started popping out of Leon’s flesh and plopping into the bottom of the tub. The training would continue until each needle only took his regeneration ten minutes to remove. That was the standard practice and the bare minimum that was required by the Guild. If your body could heal most flesh wounds within ten minutes of them being inflicted, you would need some extremely catastrophic damage done very rapidly in order for anything to be lethal to you. Of course, monsters in Tier two dungeons were perfectly capable of doing that much damage easily. Tier one dungeon monsters would still be dangerous, but not nearly as life threatening at that level of regeneration.

By the time Malorie was done training Leon in all of his resistances he should be able to take on a Tier three dungeon with an adequately prepared team at his side. Resistance skill training was the least popular of all skills to train in. But in Malorie’s opinion, they were the most valuable skills in a Dungeoneers Arsenal. They were passive, used very little mana, and could save your life in so many situations it was ridiculous.

Malorie decided she might as well go and prepare some food for when the boy was done with this training, he was going to be hungry by the end of it.

Leon Crumbl

Leon wasn’t sure what skills he’d gained over the hours. He just knew that he’d definitely gained a couple that had been eaten by his Trait. First had been when he suddenly gained mastery over his pain. It still hurt, pain was still pain, but it was no longer the same as it had been. It was nothing more than a warning that something was wrong and needed fixed. It had lost the power of its urgency that normally clawed at the mind.

Next, he’d definitely gained a regeneration skill. His body began actively rejecting the presence of the needles at a much more accelerated rate. When the first needle had fallen out of his body Leon had been elated. That was, until another needle replaced it in exactly the same place.

Leon didn’t know exactly how long he’d been sitting there when finally, a needle was not replaced the moment it fell out. Soon more and more needles dropped out of his flesh until none were left. Leon looked up at the Ommatidia who was grinning at him.

“Congratulations my boy! You have passed this class with flying colors. Remember to level that skill up as much as you can, its very useful in keeping yourself alive.” Lorina said as she retrieved dozens of bloody needles from the bottom of the tub.

Leon quickly used his Utility Pocket to clean himself off then dressed himself. Looking around for his Mentor.

“She headed home to make some food for you. Figured you’d be hungry from sitting around all day.” Lorina said as she shooed him out of the room.

Leon returned to Malorie’s home in the city within a half hour. Finding that indeed food had been prepared. After dinner Malorie sat back with a strange look in her eyes as she obviously debated with herself as to whether she wanted to say something. After a few seconds she cleared her throat and began to speak.

“Leon… Now that you have a Regeneration skill. I think it would be best if I go over my plan for your development with you. However, it requires that I reveal some information that is normally kept secret until the upper echelons of Tier two. It is information that you will not find written down anywhere and is only passed down from those who already know it to a select few.” She started leaning back into her chair, “Needless to say, what I am about to reveal to you must not be spread about willy-nilly. But from little things I have heard you say, and the fact that I know that you have the Hero Title I believe it is in your best interest to go with the plan that I have formulated for you.”

Leon’s eyes went wide her mention of the Hero Title. How did they know about that? Seeing his alarm Malorie smirked at him.

“Do not worry, I myself have the same Title it is what gave me my affinity for flesh magic. It also makes me learn skills 10% faster and increases the effects of any other Title’s that I have by 5%.” She said slowly, “The Hero Title is… different for each individual who gets it. The differences seem to be based in whatever act got one the title and how many lives it saved over the minimum 1 billion. Most people who get the Title have no clue what the action was that got it for them in the first place. Some few have gotten the Title just because their birth prevented a war or somehow prevented a famine or other random things. The Title itself is not special, Millions of people have it, but the rewards always include a Perfect affinity of some sort.

“But honestly the Title is not what I wanted to talk to you about. What I wanted to talk to you about is what skills you will be using to develop your Trait when you are ready to do so. You may have never heard of a Trait, but they are essential to reaching the third Tier-”

“Ok wait a second, back up.” Leon suddenly interrupted, “I’ve heard people talking about Tiers, being a Tier one, two or three. But no one has ever told me what that actually means.”

Malorie blinked rapidly at that before seeming to gather herself,

“Sorry about that, I forget that a lot of this is not just generally known information. A Tier one being is a person or creature that has Skills that are within the first Skill Tier and sufficient mana capacity to use them effectively. They can have up to three skills in the second Tier and still be considered a Tier one being as they will not have the mana reserves or capacity to use those Tier two skills to their fullest.

“Tier two is where an individual has upwards of four skills in the second Tier and fully capable of leveraging them effectively. They can have Tier three skills and still be considered Tier two. It’s pretty much the same as a Tier one.

“Tier three is different. Any Tier three being, be they animal, person, or monster has a Trait. Traits are, at first, a fusion of five or more skills that become inherit in into the body and soul of an individual. The Trait will then consume any skills related its founding skills, integrating those skills into the Trait. In order to fuse skills into a trait… one must be able to feel or sense their own soul in some way, then purposefully bring their skills together and mold them into one. The newly molded skills will then merge with your very soul and become a trait. Anyways, a Tier three being is one who has a Trait and at least five skills in the third Tier with the mana to utilize them effectively. The jump in creating a Trait is where most people end up stuck. You can’t just combine anything together and make a Trait… Well, you can, but it could very well cripple you if you combined certain things.

“In order to progress into Tier four… Well, I don’t actually know all of the requirements. What I do know is that it requires the creation of a synergistic Trait with your current trait and the Merging of those two traits into one. Beyond that only the elders of the Guild on the 14th layer would know.”

Leon’s mind was going into overdrive at the thought of what all this could possibly mean for him. He already had Body And Mind Of The Traveler which meant that he could focus on creating a synergistic trait for one that already enhanced his entire being. He was technically ahead of the curb, but his level of actual power was lacking. Malorie interrupted his musings as she continued.

“What I would like to do is get you trained up in as many resistance skills as your soul can manage to hold and train them to their utmost alongside training your magical skills. Once you’ve reached the threshold, I will guide you in the creation of your first trait utilizing every resistance, body enhancement, mental enhancement, and magical skill available to you. I believe this is the best way to create a Trait that will allow you to progress further than I ever will.”

Malorie leaned back in her chair as if her entire spiel had taken a great deal out of her. Leon pushed his plate forward on the table and leaned forward. Contemplating what he had just learned and what it all meant for him. Honestly it wasn’t all that much. Looking at his own skills right now he could see the potential for a Trait that would be perfect for a Rogue, if perception filter and stealth were incorporated into a Trait… well he would be hard pressed to find someone who could actually find him if he didn’t want to be found.

Leon shrugged his musings away, “I agree with you. Based on what you just told me I think it will be in my best interest at least to follow your advice. I have a lot of room for skills yet. So I assume that it’s going to be a lot of resistances I’ll be getting.”

“And Titles, I’ll train you in combat once you’ve gained a few magical skills so you can pick up a few… Titles that are hard to get.” She spoke.

“Like the One Against Swarm and One Against Horde?” he asked.

Malorie nodded, “And a few others like Giant Slayer and possibly One Man Army if we can swing it. They are hard to get but we will get to the requirements when the time comes. For now, go get some rest, tomorrow we will start you off on Acid Resistance because it’s an easy one to get. Depending on how quickly you get it, we can swing by the Fire Resistance trainer as well. Don’t worry about the dishes I will clean them tonight.”

With that Leon felt that he’d been dismissed, he retreated to his room to continue reading his bone Lore books.

Silvester GreenStone

Silvester was seriously concerned. The reason for his concern? The Dungeon. For some reason he’d been losing divers 25% more on the lower floors than he’d ever seen before. And not just new teams that were visiting his city, no, several of the teams that had up and vanished beyond the fiftieth floor of the Dungeon were old hands at this particular dungeon and they knew what to look out for. Something was changing in his Dungeon, and he didn’t like that one bit.

Writing up a report, Silvester placed it in the next shipment to Dungeon City #1. For now, all he could do was try to maintain order and hopefully get a report as to was going on down there that was causing these sudden party wipes so much more than usual. Especially only on its first-Tier floors.

Gerald Crumbl

The house had gotten a bit lonelier since Leon had left. Even though it had only been a few days since he’d gone to train at the Dungeoneers Guild School Gerald already missed his presence. Ameillia even more so he expected. But he was currently holding something that should brighten up both of their moods. An Invitation to Gerald’s uncle’s four hundred and fiftieth birthday. It was going to be a massive weeklong party in the city of Cracked Stone Keep.

It would be a good opportunity for Gerald and Ameillia to show off little Lilly and brag about Leon to their family. Plus, it should help lighten the mood around the house if they went and had a celebration. Maybe they would even start thinking about adding another child to the family? Who knew?