Saturday, September 5th, 2015

How the fuck do you get a skill for flying?

Woke up with no headache, which was glorious. And then that thought filled my head. I had suppressed it the day before with work and raising skills. But now I was left to wonder how could someone get a {Flying} skill in just a few days.

There were a couple obvious possibilities like they didn't get their skill system on the same day and might have had it for years and just randomly showed it off now. Or that their ability different dramatically from mine.

But thinking about it and wondering how I could create a skill to fly was maddening. Fly with a hang glider or ultralight and then all of a sudden be able to fly? Tie a few thousand birthday balloons onto myself until I floated? It was enough to almost give me a headache so I wrestled with crazy dog for a bit then started the day.

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Started catching up to the days translations and new fictions while trying not to faceplanet Kerbals in the other window. After successfully catching up and not dying in the other window I was on to the news. Looking for super flying blondie found nothing new. I was thinking good, or I might be a bit bitter, when I found something more amazing.

On Tuesday in Spain, in Malaga to be exact, there was a bank robbery. It had made the news at the time but no real details were released by the police. Until a early morning Saturday their time an anonymous source released the bank's security footage to a CNN affiliate.

The footage was up on the CNN website and across the internet soon after. It showed a roughly 6 foot tall man walking through an external wall of the building, through the interior wall the safe was built into. The man stepped inside the safe where he was picked up reaching into locked safety deposit boxes at seemingly random until he had filled his backpack. After only a few minutes of looting he turned, walked out through the walls and was gone outside the building. There was no apparent damage to the walls on the not exactly high res camera footage, and definitely no holes.

All I could do was sit and stare at the footage on my computer. That seemed even more impossible for a skill than flying. How would you train that? Gain the skill by walking through air, a gas, skill it up walking underwater, a liquid, then what walk through a solid like tissue paper and somehow you'd be ready to walk through a sheet of plywood?

All I could do was sit there thinking for even longer before saying, "Seriously, what the fuck?".

I sat there browsing until my cell alarm reminded me work was soon. Barely remembering my plan I grabbed a few granola bars, a workout outfit, a towel, and a water bottle, and then headed to work.

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I almost unconsciously worked on {Sneaking} and {Hiding} when it wouldn't be too obvious but my mind was still on the flying and bank robbery videos for most of the shift. It wasn't until I was nearly done that I gathered myself together enough to plan.

The goal tonight was first to add the skill {Running} to my skills list since I was nearly 100% sure it would work. Second was to level it to at least Beginner level right away, maybe Advanced if my out of shape body allowed. I'd figured I would have to take several breaks to recover between runs. The third goal was to try and gain some notification about heat resistance, or a skill, or something, using the sauna.

I finished around 10:30pm and changed to get ready for the first run. I stopped by the dry sauna to set it to 90 Celsius and 60 minutes to let it warm up. I then picked a treadmill that my {Hiding} skill said was least in view of people since I had a premonition. Happily a computer monitor blocked the front desk staff's view of me as I warmed up with a slow walk.

Slowly picked up the pace to 5mph which was a fairly moderate jog. Even then I was struggling after a bit but concentrating on my breathing and foot placement kept me going. Unfortunately I barely made a mile on the first run before needing a bit of a break.

Second run was 15 minutes later which I spent walking around the club keeping warmed up. I had my breathing down from the start, and decent enough technique. I checked my Mental Stamina, and it was 21/21.

About 17 minutes into the run the pain hit. Unfortunately my unspoken premonition was right and I went set my foot down wrong as the hammer blow hit. Down I went onto the treadmill. Off I went to behind the treadmill as the window popped up.

Due to your actions you have gained a Skill.

The skill {Running} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 6.5%, has been created.

One of the more embarrassing things to do in the gym. I ended up with startling the front desk guy with a loud boom. And ended with a slightly sore face, and a bruise on my leg from hitting the machine behind me.

I turned off the treadmill, explained I'd lost concentration due to a clip on the news channel playing in the treadmill's built in TV. It wasn't the first time either of us had seen people too distracted by the TV's to workout properly, or at all, so he seemed to buy it.

When he went back to the desk I checked my Mental Stamina.

Mental Stamina: 11/22

Which answered a question I'd had the other day. When I was testing {Walking} in the woods it felt like the level up pain was half or a third of a new skills. It actually turned out to be just under a third. Another proof that I can't properly compare different pains.

In theory I could now upgrade {Running} 3 more times at 9 Mental Stamina total, leaving me 2 MS left to get home. Provided I didn't activate {Sneaking} or {Hiding} since leveling them would likely leave me passed out on a sidewalk or worse. And providing that going from a Beginner skill to Intermediate was still only 3 points.

I still didn't know if gaining resistances drained my Mental Stamina either.

So many freaking questions.

I decided to head to the sauna first. It shouldn't be more than 10 points in the worst case so I would still be able to drag myself from the club to home with my 1 Mental Stamina if careful.

Left my workout outfit on since it was fairly light and opened the door. No one was there but damn it smelled. It had been cleaned by a coworker around 4 or 5 but clearly a few very sweaty people passed through.

With a small 'Muahaha' I went to the slop room, grabbed some deodorant, and sprayed a bit into the sauna from outside the door. I didn't want to get a lot of superheated deodorant or sweat in my lungs so I let it dissipate while I filled my water bottle with warm water. I left the bottle in a locker in the change room and went into the sauna again.

One of the benefits of a dry sauna is that they are warmer since you can sweat easier in them than wet saunas. The higher heat lets your heart rate go up and it can burn up to half the calories of a light jog in theory. So my less fat than a week ago body burned a bit more calories as I waited.

Occasionally checking the clock outside through the sauna window gave me a rough idea of the time. I planned to be in no more than 20 minutes at a time with breaks to rehydrate and cool off a bit between. Ruining my health just to get a possibly useless resistance wasn't in my plans.

About 15 minutes in the pain hit. For the first time it wasn't entirely in my head. I felt like every inch of skin was burning, and every bone in my body ached, from my skull down to my little toes. My vision grayed out as I tried to get up but my body wouldn't move. After at least 20 seconds of pain my vision started to come back and I could shakily move my arms.

A window popped in front of my eyes as I tried to get up from the bench.

Due to your actions you have gained a Resistance.

Heat Resistance has reached 11.

My muscles were twitching and hard to control as I pushed open the door and staggered out to the change room benches. I didn't bother trying to close it or turn the sauna off. Grabbing my bottle I spilled a bit trying to take a drink.

"Stats Window".

Mental Stamina: 11/22

Apparently Resistances didn't need Mental Stamina. I don't know what stat they drew on but it was painful in an entirely new way. I was now hurting body and mind.

I was clearly done for the night so I grabbed my towel and hit the showers. I was a bit hesitant to turn the heat up considering the burning sensation was still on my skin. But heat can be good for muscle soreness and they were sore.

The effect of Heat Resistance was apparent immediately. I found myself slowly turning the dial farther and farther into the hot water section only to still feel comfortable. I had to stop before it reached the end of the dial but the higher temperature were far more bearable than it would have been the day before.

I managed to get mostly cleaned up before the apocalypse of pain came. My body seized up as I lost consciousness standing in the shower.

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The feeling of the water hitting me was the first thing I felt as I woke up. My head ached. My body ached and a window was blocking my vision.

Due to your actions you have gained a Skill.

The skill {Pain Tolerance} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 9.2%, has been created.

After I read it the window slowly faded only for another window to pop up.

Due to your actions you have gained a Resistance.

Pain Resistance has reached 5%.

Due to unlocking two resistances you have unlocked the Resistance window.

Staggering out of the shower I checked the clock. It was after 4am, almost 5 hours after I started the shower. I was so dazed I hadn't even noticed how waterlogged my skin was.

I thought of opening my resistance window to see it but I knew I'd just end up punching the air trying to hit it.

Drying off, I got dressed, staggered past the night guy with barely a word, tottered home, let the dog run wild on the front lawn and crashed.

Another day that didn't go as planned to say the least. I did end up checking all my windows just before bed. Even the useless title window.

"Skills Window"

{Hiding} (Beginner, Active) EXP: 43.9%.

{Knife Fighting} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 0.0%.

{Pain Tolerance} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 21.3%.

{Running} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 6.5%.

{Russian} (Novice, Passive) EXP: 0.1%.

{Sense Bloodlust} (Intermediate, Passive) EXP: 32.0%.

{Sneaking} (Beginner, Active) EXP: 36.7%.

{Walking} (Advanced, Passive) EXP: 25.1%.

"Resistances Window"

Physical

Heat: 11

Pain: 5%

"Stats Window"

Mental Stamina: 1/23

"Titles Window"

Slightly Masochistic:

5% Pain into Pleasure when equipped

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Author's note: Tables will change a bit as I learn how to do them a bit better.