Chapter 43

Getting Stronger

The weekend was spent just as I had planned. I teleported to my old tree house base and fortified it just a little more. Then I created a new wood elf body and teleported back into the tree house base. I would leave it here when not practicing. Since I would be practicing every day with very rarely any down time I should be able to feed and clean it and keep it alive. Now all that there was to do was to endure the training. So I did just that, for almost a year.

One year. It took one year for me to feel confident enough to challenge for hand to hand combat in the illusionary arena. It would have taken me a lot longer, but after three months of training I had an idea. One that changed everything in the way that I trained. For no particular reason I was thinking about when I was still just a virus that day and how I had programmed my other viruses using my system interface. Then it hit me. If I could program the viruses, could I program the bodies that I had also? If I could then I could have it train in the poses all day long and take care of itself. Then I would train twice as fast.

My idea actually worked, or at least it worked close enough that I drastically sped up my training. I was able to program my wood elf body to practice all of the poses and weapon forms I had learned inside the tree house. I of course had to make a much larger area for it to practice in. I was also able to program it to eat food I left for it. I still had to teleport in everyday though. It seemed that while the wood elf body practiced the knowledge or muscle memory was not transferred into my consciousness until I took over that body.

This still cut down on my practice time considerably and I was able to travel more and have a little bit of free time. I had tried switching to other humanoid bodies to see if there was a difference in ability but I could not really tell a difference. I also did not seem to be able to program more than one extra body to practice and take care of itself. There went my dreams of having a giant clone army. I was also very close to finishing my four star dungeon runs for the headmaster. I had conquered two already and I was ready to try the third and final one this weekend. After that all I had to do was solo a single five star dungeon and I was free from the headmaster’s tasks. I am really hoping I can pass today’s hand to hand combat test to free up some more time. Things are definitely getting harder as my level increases.

Speaking of which, I haven’t checked that in a few months. I wonder what my progress looks like right now? Status without Bonuses or Skills.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form)

Level: 126 (Transcendent)

Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned

Unassigned Stat Points: 206

Strength: 77 (85) Agility: 75 (85) Intelligence: 80 (100)

Wisdom: 70 (90) Constitution: 75 (100) Perception: 62 (70)

MP: 10000 out of 10000 HP: 1000 out of 1000

MP/Regen: 900% per hour HP/Regen: 100% per hour

Miss Helen’s killer training regimen has actually boosted my Strength, Agility, Constitution and even Perception. I expected the first three, but the perception boost is a nice addition. I guess it is from trying to predict where she is going to strike me during our beat down sessions. My title hasn’t changed though. Oh that’s right I have to use my points first. Transcendent is every stat above 50, God-Like is every stat above 100, and Demi-God requires every stat above 100 and a spark. I still have not figured out what a spark is yet. I will need to figure that out before I leave.

If I put 30 in every stat and then load another 10 in both intelligence and wisdom to keep them high for my casting that will leave me with 6 leftover that I can use later if needed. That sounds good.

Status without Bonuses or Skills.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form)

Level: 126 (Hero)

Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned

Unassigned Stat Points: 206

Strength: 107 (115) Agility: 105 (115) Intelligence: 120 (140)

Wisdom: 110 (130) Constitution: 105 (130) Perception: 92 (100)

MP: 14000 out of 14000 HP: 1300 out of 1300

MP/Regen: 1300% per hour HP/Regen: 130% per hour

Interesting, all my stats have reached at least 100 with my bonuses at seems to have changed my title to hero. Yep I feel ready to try the level 150 monk class challenge. I had waited this long to assign my points for a reason. If I felt confident with my old stats, then more power should clinch the win. I head over to the illusion arena and see Miss Helen, Teacher Sven, the Headmaster, and a few other instructors waiting.

“I hope you don’t mind Mark, but I invited some others to witness your first challenge.”

“That is fine Miss Helen. I believe I am ready to take your first challenge. I request to fight a level 150 monk in hand to hand combat.”

I could see a little smile form on Miss Helen’s face.

“Very well Mark. Please step into the arena.”

I moved into the center of the arena and waited calmly. Win or lose I had improved tremendously over this last year. I had a few new spells and I had earned a lot of money from the dungeons. I knew for a fact that I was stronger in melee and magical combat. Now I just needed to prove it to the rest of the world.

The arena around me shimmered and suddenly the only person I could see was a bald wood elf about 20 meters away from me. Inspect.

Illusionary Wood Elf Monk Level 150 Magic: Unknown

I don’t know if my luck was finally kicking in or if this was some sort of hint that Miss Helen knew about my secret, but this might be easier than I thought. I don’t mean that I would easily pass, but I definitely had an advantage fighting against a wood elf. Since my other body was a wood elf I had an in depth knowledge of what exactly they could do and what to watch out for. I bowed to my opponent and got ready for a good fight.

I decided that I should try and take the offensive from the very beginning. I charge my opponent and sent off a flurry of blows all focused on the extremities. I had discovered over time that not only were the joints weak on elves, but the ends of the arms and legs were more brittle, but better designed for explosive speed. If I can cripple at least one limb rather quickly it should make for a shorter fight.

I exchanged blows with the illusionary monk for almost three minutes before I notice he was favoring his left arm just a bit. I started to concentrate as many blows on it as possible and in another two minutes I was rewarded with the popping sound of a broken bone. Since my opponent was down to only one offensive limb now the rest of the match was less dramatic. It may have taken another five minutes to finish him off, but I feel that it was time well spent. I was able to hone my skills against another good opponent who wasn’t Miss Helen. I mean I rarely if ever was able to land a blow in our “practices” against that woman.

After the defeat of my opponent I was greeted to clapping from those who attended and witnessed the event.

“Congratulations Mark. Monday’s are now your own. You have fulfilled my request for hand to hand combat. However, I still expect to see you on Wednesday’s and Friday’s.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“How is your progress on your dungeon diving challenge Mark?”

“Headmaster I will be challenging my 3rd and final four-star dungeon this weekend. After that I believe I will continue with my training and four-star dungeon diving for at least 6 months before I even think I will be close to ready for a five-star dungeon.”

“You are progressing much faster than many of us expected or hoped Mark. Keep up the good work.”

“Yes sir.”

With this final exchange the group watching my performance slowly broke up. The sad part was this group of teachers and professors and a few older senior students were the only people I really knew at the academy. I had not made any real friends and most of my interactions were with people I could call acquaintances at best. I had gone back and improved my weapons with Tom twice who kept giving me discounts as Miss Helen seemed to stop by and talk to him occasionally. I saw the head master every three months or for a special occasion like today to report in and that was it. I lived off campus and had no real peers at my strength. I had a few servants that kept the embassy clean, but even then they were usually there when I was not and we had little interaction.

I sighed a little and then teleported back into my new sanctuary. Over this last year I had kept feeding my tree of life mana and my little seedling had definitely grown up. I have been slowly turning my tree of life into a last stand bastion. There is no way to enter except through teleportation and no one even knows that I have hollowed out a surprising amount of the tree. After all this use I have brought my plant and elemental shaping skills to a whole new level. I have created semi-permanent magic lamps that only need to be fed mana every 3 or 4 months. I have a cold room from storing meat and even a miniature garden. I feel like some sort of bizarre insect squirrel hybrid sometimes with as much as I have done and stored in this tree.

I believe that if I had too I could survive for at least 6 months and probably closer to a year or more with the supplies that I have stored in the tree. If you add in my inventory I have nearly 18 month’s worth of supplies and I have the ability to teleport out to get more. That was also something I had worked on this last year. If there was a decent sized village or town within half a day of any dungeon I was travelling to I stopped by and set up a teleporting point. I spread all of my supply purchases out amongst all of the different towns and villages so no one would suspect that I was stockpiling. I do not know where this behavior was coming from but I figured a sanctuary full of supplies that no one knew about was always a good thing to have.

My most immediate concern was the upcoming dungeon, but after finishing two of them I was not really worried. What I really wanted to know was how to get to the next level of power? I had read in many different books the levels of known power. First is transcendent, next is hero, and third is demi-god. Nothing else was written or at least it was not written where I had access to it. It only makes sense that there would be a god stage of some sort after demi-god but it was never mentioned in any book. My best guess is that Miss Helen and the headmaster are both either high level hero’s or low level demi-gods in power. Nothing else made sense. Some of the books I read mentioned that only certain individuals could ascend beyond hero status and break into the realm of demi-gods though.

What little information I had been able to collect said some sort of catalyst was need to throw off the last vestiges of mortality. The catalyst was often called a divine spark or just spark. I had no idea what it was or where to look for it. I wanted to be at the peak of my power in the academy before I consulted with Miss Helen or the headmaster. I had run into several cultural landmines over the last year and was able to explain them away with my raised by a hermit story, but I could tell that it was wearing thin. I was afraid that asking about more power and finding a sparks might cross some line. Especially because they may be looking for the same thing. What if they did not want any more competition? I had to be ready just in case. Thus training and more training until I was at least sure I could escape with my life if not beat Miss Helen and the headmaster.

I did not really think that they would attack me over a question, but then again I never expected an all powerful overbeing would personally kill me in my last world either. Better safe than sorry.