The conversation continued until dusk. No conclusions were reached, and the final note was everyone should think more on it and they would meet again tomorrow. Levi had hoped they would know more about what had happened to everyone, seeing as they appeared with other people, but their knowledge was even less than his own. He suspected they might have access to some other information, particularly pertaining to leveling as there was a larger sample size to draw conclusions from.

But that was for tomorrow. Before they left, Kelly made sure he knew he was expected at the training field early in the morning. He was looking forward to it. It was exciting to finally test his progress against others. But that excitement paled in comparison to his joy at seeing a bed. Alex lead him to an empty room full of beds in central command that was used before they had enough houses built. Alex said the quality was a bit lower than the log cabins, but Levi didn’t care. It was a bed, and that was good enough for him.

Morning came, and Levi found himself waking with the sun. He quickly put his outer clothes back on and made his way downstairs to the kitchen and mess hall that made up over half of the first floor. During the tour yesterday with Alex they had made a pit stop to get some real food and he had been in heaven. It was only a simple stew, but after half starving in the dungeon anything decently cooked would have sufficed, and since the food was made by people with a cooking skill it was anything but ordinary, the basic ingredients and lack of seasoning not detracting in the slightest from the rich flavor.

It turned out it was a good thing he had woken up early too, as he barely finished his breakfast before Kelly swept into the mess hall like a howling gale, pulling him along in her wake as she snatched a quick snack before dragging him outside, where he was met with a sleepily blinking Alex.

“Alright,” Kelly said, “before we get started we need to set up some ground rules first. This is a spar, so I don’t want to see any killing intent of any kind. Got that?”

Levi nodded along with a sleepy “yes captain” from Alex.

Kelly continued, turning to Levi.

“So, I’m not sure what kind of combat power you have, but I’m letting you know right now, you’re weak. Maybe you can defeat Alex here, but I doubt it. And he’s like a child compared to my firepower. You know why this outpost was established? Me, that’s why. My firepower is so overwhelming I can singlehandedly protect everyone here.”

She paused, raising her hand and shooting a fireball into the sky. Levi watched as it soared up before exploding, creating a noticeable boom. He could feel the air from the explosion a few seconds later washing over him. She was probably right that he would have a tough time surviving something like that, but there was more to fighting that overwhelming firepower. You didn’t need to be able to punch away a nuke if you couldn’t even be hit by one.

Levi kind of zoned out for the next part. Kelly kept going on about firepower and how amazing hers was. It didn’t really seem important, so instead Levi watched the people going in and out of the mess hall. A few of them seemed interested in what was going on, but maybe they realized Kelly wasn’t going to finish anytime soon. The only person who seemed more interested was a girl who stopped to watch for a few seconds before climbing up the watchtower. A short while later Kelly finally wrapped up.

“Now that you know the difference between our firepower it’s time to get into some basic theory. Since you survived up till now you must know something, but we’ll start at the very beginning to make sure you don’t miss out something obvious. First, what level are you? David didn’t tell me.”

Levi hadn’t told anyone his level yet. He had thought about keeping it secret, but it didn’t actually seem all that useful, and the way Kelly said David didn’t tell her confirmed his suspicion that there might be a way to check someone else’s level. He had tried, and he couldn’t do it, but it sounded like at least David could.

“Twenty-three.”

“Only twenty-three? Are you sure?”

He nodded. He hadn’t thought about it much, but it might make sense for his level to be lower than other people’s. He did spend a long time recovering from his broken hip.

“Huh,” Kelly said. “I guess you don’t have your level twenty-five skill then. Alex, tell him.”

Alex snapped out of his daze, rubbing his eyes blearily. He obviously wasn’t a morning person.

“Twenty-five? Oh, you mean the class skill.”

He then turned to Levi before continuing.

“I assume you know about how you get regular skills right?”

“Yeah, every five levels you get a generic skill slot. It is different at twenty-five?”

“It is. I assume you’ve realized that skills are based partly on what you can already do, right? So it’s kind of like that, but at level twenty-five, and we assume for fifty, seventy-five, etc., you gain access to a kind of super skill, one that, instead of being based off of things you have done, is based off the skills you already have. And it’s powerful. We’ve also theorized that there is some way to control it, similarly to the skills you can unlock. If you do something with intent to gain a skill you are much more likely to gain a skill than doing something with no intent, and it’s similar with the super skill. I call it a class skill by the way. Your intent influences it, such that we’ve theorized that even if two people have the same skills they might have access to a set of entirely different class skills based on how they interpret their own skill set.”

Levi mulled over what Alex just told him. Perhaps Aecylic Empowerment wasn’t as powerful as he thought it was, although it was strengthened now, so he found it hard to imagine everyone having access to skills that powerful. He only needed two more levels to see for himself. It would be easy to compare it once he knew what these class skills actually did.

“What that means is you’re weak,” Kelly said, jumping back in. “The super skill you get is powerful, often defining the role you are able to play in combat. Take Alex here. His super skill allows him to create some sort of armor that covers his body. It’s something not even I can break through easily. You already have all the available skill slots before you get your super skill, so you can’t change any of that now, but you can try and figure out what kind of skill you want to unlock which, if we’re right, has some influence on what choices the System gives you. That will be focus of today’s training. Now, both of you take your positions. It’s time to fight.”

Kelly motioned for Levi and Alex to move over to the sparring ring, clearly demarcated by a large circle etched into the dirt. The whole thing was a little rushed, as Kelly kept going on about basic information, but Levi wasn’t really going to complain. He did need more information if he wanted to make good choices and get stronger, and fighting others qualified. So far, they hadn’t asked anything of him except his level. He would be a fool to say no to free information, especially in duel form, as it was easy to restrict his own power and thus the information he was giving them in return.

“Okay, are both of you ready?” Kelly asked. “Yes? Alright, good. Now, Levi, you mentioned you have some sort of body enhancement skill, correct?”

“Yeah, it makes me stronger and stuff.” He had mentioned the fact when talking about his dungeon dive, although he hadn’t gone into specifics.

“Alex will primarily be using his super skill to protect himself, so don’t be afraid of hurting him. He also has some boxing training, so good luck. Alright, begin!”

As Levi watched, Alex seemed to transform, his sleepy expression leaving him as he settled into a boxing stance, hands held before him. Levi stared in fascination as Alex activated his class skill, a surge of dark blue rippling out of him until he was fully covered. Where there once was a person now stood a life-sized statue, looking like some monochrome toy action figure. It looked kind of like that superhero villain living with an alien symbiote. For his part, Levi’s posture remained the same, neither Brawling nor Combat Sense imparting some special style or technique.

He waited for Alex to make the first move, but seeing him content to stand there, Levi started forward. Both Concentrated Will and Aecylic Empowerment were humming in the background, and he made sure that he was only drawing a little Aecylic Energy. There was no reason to give away his power. He could always reveal it later if he found the people here trustworthy.

As soon as Levi entered Alex’s range, Alex struck, lashing out with a right hook. Levi was prepared to leap back, dodging away from what he thought would be a lighting fast attack. It was slow. Too slow. Dodging it was laughably easy, all he had to do was tilt his head to avoid Alex’s fist. And the same for the next one. And for the one after that.

Levi’s combat skills combined together, working in tandem to allow him to easily sidestep Alex’s clumsy punches. They actually were quite skillful, but to Levi’s inflated stats they were just too damn slow. He thought he could dodge them with pure stats alone, not even needing his skills to tell his body how to move. Levi continued dodging around, enjoying seeing just how close he could cut it when dodging, his opponent’s blue fist nearly scraping his skin as Levi wove a dance around the incoming blows. But only dodging was boring, and Levi decided it was time to counterattack.

He started off slowly, not wanted to blow Alex away despite the assurance from Kelly he could go all out. He needn’t have worried; after the first punch he could tell the blue covering was defense oriented, the momentum from his fist dissipating on contact. It felt like he was punching water. His punches connected, but instead of the energy being transmitted from his fist to his opponent’s body, the energy spread out, allowing Alex to receive an attack intended for only one area with his whole body.

Maybe Kelly knew what she was talking about. Levi slowly started to ramp up his power, each punch faster and stronger than the last. He ignored the fists being swung at him. He could leave his dodging on auto pilot, only focusing on testing out his opponent’s defense.

But as his blows failed to show any effect Levi began to feel annoyed. Even the small amount of Aecylic Energy he was channeling was singing to him, begging to cow his opponent, show him the difference between them. It felt like he was mining, but instead of swinging a pickaxe at the wall and concentrating his power into a single point, he was swinging a peel, one of those shovel-like things bakers used to take pizzas out of a brick oven. No matter how much power Levi used it just harmlessly dissipated, not concentrated enough to piece Alex’s defensive skill.

Frustrated, Levi knew it was time to end the spar. Already he could feel the urge to fully let loose, to blow his opponent away with sheer power. He knew he could too. He could feel the potential for violence calling out to him, whispering how nice it would feel plunge his fist through his opponent’s chest, the rush he would feel as he ripped out his still beating heart and…

Nope, he wouldn’t be suckered in this time. There might be a time to let loose, but not now when he was trying to stay low key. Overpowering Alex’s blue shield wasn’t the only way to end the fight.

Levi waited for his opponent to show an opening. Alex soon obliged, throwing a roundhouse punch towards Levi’s head. It would have been a fine attack assuming the two people fighting had equal speed. They did not, and Levi ducked under Alex’s arm, picked him up, and lightly tossed him out of the ring. Lightly meaning he made sure Alex still landed on the compact dirt of the training field. No need to ruin a perfectly good log cabin.