Chapter 12: Training

A list appeared in front of his eyes on a blue screen.

[Repair damage: Repair structural integrity of shack from the current at 32% all the back to 100%. Cost 150 coins]

Brick walls: Creates walls made of brick to surround structure. Increases defense and provides immunity from light projectiles. Cost: 500 coins]

[Bedroom: Builds extra room onto house comes complete with bed and bedding. Cost 75 coins for each room.]

[Training room: Comes complete with practice dummies and is upgradeable. Cost 200 coins]

[Tannery: Comes complete with basic equipment necessary for working on leather materials. Cost 200 coins]

[Bathroom: Comes complete with shower powered by mana engine. Engine using water and fire mana to manifest water at various temperatures. Cost: 100]

[Iron door: Comes installed onto the front of the home. Able to be locked from the inside and outside. Cost: 75 Coins]

[Pankration fighting method book: Book detailing the ancient martial art known as Pankration. This is the martial art that was used by the Macedonian army led by the great general, Alexander the Great. Focuses on sword/shield or spear/shield combat. Cost 100 coins]

[Shaolin inner energy control manual: Guide to training ones inner energy known as ki. Cost 250 coins]

[Elemental mana guide book: A book detailing the theory behind manipulating the elements using mana. Cost 250 coins]

[Beginner mage staff: A basic staff to help a mage channel their mana in order to cast spells. Increases mana pool by 5%. Cost: 25 coins]

“Wow, Alice you outdid yourself on this one. Everything I could think of at the current moment you were able to find and it only took you a couple of minutes. You even got something to help Eve out. You truly are a marvel”

“Thank you, Spartan. Shall I make your purchases?”

“Yes.”

Multiple windows appeared confirming my purchases. I said yes to all of them. As soon as I did I got two messages in front of me.

[All purchased items will be in your inventory]

[Upgrades to home will begin in immediately]

Alex felt a slight rumble in the shack and as he looked around the upgrades began. The entire place began improving itself right before his eyes. The cracks in the wall were healing like his wounds when the nanites healed them. The rot on the door was disappearing. The cracked bricks around the fireplace were fixing themselves as well. he couldn’t believe it. It was like magic.

Eve looked at me and said, “What is going on?!”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you but I started making upgrades to the shack. One of which was fixing the damage to this place. There are other additions that should be coming as well.”

“Ok sorry, it startled me I thought we were going through an earthquake or something.”

Alex smiled and walked outside. When he got outside there were several stacks of bricks sitting out in front of the house and much to his surprise there was a trowel with mortar on it floating towards the wall of the house. When he looked down he saw a layer of brick already laid at the bottom of the wall.

So the upgrades aren’t instantaneous. It’s fine as long as they all happen without me having to build them it is still a plus. Hopefully, it doesn't take very long and nothing comes to attack while the upgrades are.

Alex kept walking around the house observing the changes as they occurred. He marveled at was happening. When he got to the backside of the shack, he saw that it had expanded and began widening out. Alex saw pieces of wood being nailed together to build the skeleton of what appeared to be more rooms. Walls were being framed while he watched. It was truly an amazing site to watch as this stuff was being built right before my eyes.

[All upgrades to home now underway. Time until completion 8 hours 31 minutes.]

[******************************WARNING! WARNING!***********************]

[Now that home upgrades have been purchased, shielding on home will disengage when the upgrades are complete. Enemies will be able to attack your home at any time. Good luck and keep surviving!]

“What!!!?!?! There was shielding on this place? How come the rats and that saber tooth tiger were able to come here?”

“Spartan, it makes sense. If you think about it that makes perfect sense.”

“How so?”

“Why do you think no enemy ever came to your home and attacked you inside? The rats and the tiger came because you baited them with meat. Nothing ever came here searching for you even though you had smoke coming from the chimney and blood smell all over you as you returned here.”

“I see your point but I wish I had known that before I purchased the upgrades. I may have held off for a little while.”

“I see but what’s done is done and all you can do is prepare yourself for what is to come. By the way, I have an idea of where to put your ability and skill points.”

“Ok tell me.”

“I would suggest your ability point goes to improving me. By upgrading me I will have more access to my data which will provide you with increased information. From your days as a soldier, you know that intelligence is the greatest advantage in combat. I will also gain increased processing power and efficiency. This will result in increasing the time difference and duration of your hypercognition skill. I would also suggest that you increase your nanite manipulation skill. There is a distinct possibility that the next upgrade will be something you can really use to increase your survivability.”

“Ok. I agree with the first part about upgrading you instead of ki manipulation because I have the book on how to train it now. What do you mean when you said ‘something I can really use’?”

“Your first level let you produce nanites in your body and upgrade your body's organs, tissues, and systems. The second level allowed you more efficiency and allowed you to move nanites outside of your body into inanimate objects like your sword and shield. There is a 59% chance that the third level will allow you to put nanites into living objects potentially enabling you to control them.”

“Are you saying that I could tame one of those rabbits or a snake similar to what Bella was able to by simply using my nanites?”

“Yes and no. You would in essence control them by manipulating their nervous system and forcing them to move the way you want or by causing them tremendous pain when they did not follow your instructions.”

“Not the ideal method but I could see the benefit of having some workers.”

“It would take time for you to build up enough nanites to do that though.”

“Make it so then Alice. Then pull up my status.”

“As you wish Spartan. I suggest you lay down so that I can put you into a stasis like sleep as the upgrade to me will be quite painful.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

Alex laid down on the ground and he felt a wave of coolness flow over his entire body. His eyes became extremely heavy and he started feeling like he was floating on a fluffy cloud. Slowly his consciousness began fading away. Moments later, Alex opened his eyes to find myself in a white space. There was literally nothing in any direction. He was standing on something solid but he couldn’t see it.

“Where am I?”

“You are inside of your mind, Spartan. This is the same place I bought you before. This is a place that we may speak in a physical space”

A woman dressed in a seductive black pencil skirt with a low-cut white blouse and glasses appeared in front of him. Alex looked her up and down. Her figure was out of this world. There was no way a woman could naturally have curves that perfect. Her eyes were green with flecks of brown and she had dark hair that was completely straight going down past her shoulders.

“Alice is that you?”

“Yes, Spartan it is me. Using your memories I have picked this image to be appealing to your eyes. Is my appearance not to your liking?”

“No nothing like that. You look amazing. I’m just a bit confused but I’m not going to complain. Why am I here? What is going on?”

“My upgrade is completed and so is the nanite upgrade. I wanted to tell show you a few things before you returned to being conscious and it will be much easier this way.”

“Is this one of the things you can do now that you have been upgraded?”

“Yes. Now, look at the screen as I tell you what I have planned.”

A tv screen appeared in front of me and behind a leather recliner materialized so that I could take a seat. As Alice spoke images began to appear on the screen.

“I have made some calculations to show what your next move should be. First, you need a stable food supply so you should hunt until you gain 600 coins. This will allow you to purchase some seeds, a greenhouse, and a pen for animals. You can capture two rabbits a male and a female to keep in the pen. Through breeding them and the greenhouse cultivating produce you will have an endless supply of food.”

“Understood, those two objectives shouldn’t be too difficult. What about the nanites? Will I be able to control the rabbits when I put them into the rabbits?"

"Yes, this is one of the benefits of the upgrade of your nanite manipulation skill."

"Since it is possible, I think I should inject them with some of my nanites to make sure that they don’t attack me or try to escape.”

“Good idea. Now the second part of the plan is to increase your overall combat ability through training in pankration and Shaolin inner energy techniques. These two should increase your fighting skill, and coupled with new equipment you should be able to easily deal with the goblins. I suggest you do that after you have read through the books and practiced sufficiently.”

“That is something I planned on doing anyway.”

“Part three of the plan is to explore further away from your home. This will be dangerous but with your increased combat skill it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“I agree. Maybe I will be able to find some more players and increase my team’s fighting strength which will help me survive. I don't know what is out there but with the increase in my combat abilities and equipment, I should be ok.”

“That idea has entered into my calculations however the probability of you finding another person who is willing to be a team member is low. For now, our meeting is over so you should wake up.”

As soon as she said the words the white space became so bright that it blinded me. When my vision returned I was on the floor looking at my status.

Name: Spartan

Level: 6

Class

Physique: 5

Mental Ability: 2

Physical coordination: 3

Reaction Speed: 4

Speed: 2

AP: 0

Abilities

A.I. Companion Tier II

Ki Manipulation Tier I

SP:

Skills

Nanite manipulation Tier III

Alex selected information on my new tier skill and ability.

[A.I. Companion Tier II: Companion’s database is greatly expanded with a plethora of new information. Processing power increases as well as personality development. A.I. will be able to gain and process twice as much information then previous level in the same amount of time. Mental space area created where A.I. Companion can physically interact with host.] [Nanite Manipulation Tier III: Nanites are now 50% more efficient and powerful than originally. Nanites can be used inside and outside the body on living and non-living bodies. Nanite control is more precise now and physical altering and genetic altering is now available.]

“Physical and genetic altering? Do you mean I can alter my body and my genes? Why would I do that?”

“Spartan your thinking is too low level and it's based on the science of your world. Evolution allows animals and humans to become more suited for living in their environment. If we could find a sample of DNA from some powerful creatures, I could analyze it and alter your DNA so that you could be as strong as them. With physical alteration, I could use the nanites to make your skin as hard as a dragon scales. I could make it so you could grow wings like an eagle. Anything you want would be possible as long as we could find something that had the right genetics”

“I do like the idea of the skin as hard as dragon scales or being able to fly. Tomorrow we hunt but now I want to eat. By the way tonight you will be starting those upgrades to my body correct?”

“Yes, currently I will be able to complete two per night. I will show you the list again and then you can choose your preference on where to begin?”

[Heart: More efficient pumping allowing more blood to circulate through the body faster with less stress on the body. Also the heart will be able to have a higher maximum heart rate and lower resting rate.]

[Lungs: Lungs more efficient by increasing surface area. Lung capacity increases allowing for holding breath longer and allowing lungs to filter oxygen from air or water making body able to breathe in water.] [Stomach: Breaks down food faster and destroys any and all impurities and bacteria that may come from anything ingested whether it be liquid or solid.]

[Kidneys: Purify blood of any foreign substance without fail rendering body essentially impervious to poison ingested into the body. Increase capacity allowing for shorter purifying times]

[Epidermis: upgrade gives the skin the ability to mimic the surroundings allowing you to blend in being nearly invisible to the naked eye.]

[Subdermal: Protect body’s internal structures from damage using a layer of nanite created armor between the skin and muscles. Will weaker projectiles and small blade weapons but not blunt weapons or longer slashing weapons.]

“Start with the skin upgrades to the Epidermis and the Subdermal layer.”

“I will begin as soon as you are asleep as it may be a bit painful on the subdermal layer. Spartan the ability to mimic your surroundings is a powerful skill and as such it will require a lot of energy.”

“Thanks for the heads up. I will keep that in mind. Can you do something about giving me some visual information like a heads-up display on how long I can maintain my abilities and skills?”

“That will not be an issue. Would you like them on all the time or only when the skill is active?”

“Ki levels you can keep in the display at all times but other things can be placed as needed.”

“As you wish Spartan.”

All of this occurred before Eve finished cooking the food. When she finished they both talked for a little while as they ate their meal. Alex shared his plans with her about further home upgrades and hunting. She was in agreement but still a bit apprehensive about taking on the goblins. That was to be expected especially as she was kidnapped and raped by them.

“By the way, I have something for you”, he said as he pulled the wand and book out of his inventory. “These are for you.”

“What? What are they?”

“Well, the book is supposed to be about the theories of mana manipulation allowing you to control the elements. The wand is supposed to increase your pool of mana and help you channel it when casting spells.”

“I… I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Take it as a gift for helping me to continue to survive. If you keep helping me I will keep helping you.”

“Deal!”

“Spartan, her facial expressions are showing great admiration and her body is warmer than it was moments ago as well as an increased amount of pheromones being given off indicating sexual arousal.”

“You can tell all of that?”

“Yes, I told you my new upgrade gave me a lot of increases.”

“Well that is impressive but I don’t think I should do anything just yet.”

“Understood, Spartan.”

Eve sat the book down and took the wand from his hand. Once she had it, her body let off a faint bluish-colored glow for a moment.

“Thank you”, she said as she picked up her book and rushed over to the corner.

Alex saw her opening her book so he opened his inventory, pulled out the book on inner energy, and began to follow suit. When he pulled the book out he noticed it was very old. The pages seemed worn and weathered but the words and drawings were in English which he guessed was great. he opened the book and began reading.

The book discussed that ki is an inner energy that resides within the body of every living thing. This energy is able to be harnessed for a variety of different purposes including augmenting strength, speed, and agility, as well as protecting one’s body from damage. There were multiple ways to increase the ki within the body but the first and most important was to remove any impurities from the body. The book was very detailed and relatively easy to read. Alex became enthralled with the material and lost track of time as he read each page.

The first exercise that the book described was how to enter a serene state where the mind was calm and the spirit was a peace. The zen-like state was basically meditation. This was something that he already knew how to do but he read it anyway as maybe there was something that he was missing. As Alex read, he saw that the book discussed relaxing and breathing exercises to help calm the mind and body to enter into a meditative state. Once there, the practitioner should focus his mind on the dantian, or ki center, and try to move the energy from there outward throughout the body. There was a picture showing various channels throughout the body called meridians. They ran along the body connecting acupuncture points. The book went on to say that during meditation one should actively try to push ki around the body along the meridians. As one pushed the internal energy around the ki would act almost like a scrub brush and remove impurities from the body strengthening it and making it healthier.

Alex closed the book and sat down with his legs crossed. He went into his meditative state but this time he was practicing his newly learned breathing technique. He slowly breathed in by expanding and contracting his diaphragm making sure not to place unnecessary tension anywhere in his body. He could feel the difference immediately. His body was more relaxed and he could feel the ki in my body more clearly. It was like someone with vision problems getting glasses. He kept breathing and circulating his ki. The energy moved around his body faster than before. He didn’t notice it but there was some sweat beginning to come off of him and it was full of the impurities that his ki was purging.

Several hours had gone by the time he finished meditating. When he finally stopped, Alex felt a sense of peace and serenity that he had not felt in years.

Reading this book was definitely worth it. Now, I just need to see its impact.

“Alice, what is the time left on the home upgrades?”

“You have 1 hour 23 minutes remaining. Currently, the rooms have been built the only thing still in progress are the brick exterior and the mana engine.”

“Good so the beds are ready?”

“Yes, the bedrooms are complete.”

“Great”, I said as I opened the door to the outside.

Alex walked out and felt the chill of the night air on his skin. He also felt the nasty filth all over his body from my meditation. Alex stripped off his pants and underwear off. Then he pulled out one of the water skins and poured it on his head and down the rest of his body. As the cold water hit him, he felt completely refreshed.

Ah, much better. Even my ribs feel better.

Alex drank some of the water before placing the skin back in his inventory. Next, he did his best impression of a dog and shook himself as best as he could, trying to remove the water from his body. It didn’t go as well as he planned but at least he wasn’t soaked anymore. When Alex turned around to get his clothes he heard a lecherous whistle.

“Not bad, Spartan. Not bad at all. You have a pretty nice ass if I do say so myself”, Eve said as she was standing in the doorway with a large grin on her face.

Alex immediately turned and quickly put his underwear and pants back on.

“How long were you watching?”, Alex said gruffly.

“Sorry, I was just coming out to help you hunt because I thought that is what you might be doing. Then I opened the door and saw it all. I must say that I like what I see. Besides, you saw my breasts the first day you met me and these underwear don’t leave much to the imagination. I’ve been locked up in prison for the last 5 years. I haven’t seen a man other than the guards. I also have felt a man's touch in all that time. Then you come along looking like someone carved you out of stone. You look like you belong on the cover of some damn muscle fitness magazine. You got muscles on top of muscles like some kind of anime character. How could you blame me for looking?”

Alex blushed heavily as he tied the string in his pants.

“I don’t blame you. It was just weird having a woman staring at me like that.”

“Why I don’t bite well not unless you want me to”, she said with a devilish grin.

Alex laughed and said, “So you only do what I want you to do?”

“When it suits me, by the way, what are those extra rooms that are behind the main room?”

“Two bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower, training room, and a tannery to do my leather work in.”

“Really?!”, she screamed in delight as she rushed back into the house.

Alex followed behind her as she rushed into one of the bedrooms and jumped into the bed. She covered herself up in the blanket that was on the bed and squealed in sheer joy. Alex smiled a bit before walking into the other bedroom. It was a simple room. It had what appeared to be a king-size bed with pillars on each corner of the bed. It had a blue comforter on it that looked very warm with two plush-looking white pillows at the head of the bed. On the wall opposite the bed was a large circular mirror.

Alex walked up to it and saw himself for the first time since he had come to this place. His body was just as she described. He would have been able to compete with even anime characters with muscles and definition. He was literally muscular all over but he didn’t look massive like a bodybuilder. His muscles appeared to be very functional. His muscles did, however, show the hidden potential for explosiveness. His skin had darkened a bit which he expected as he was outside all day every day with basically no clothes on. Alex also noticed that his hair had grown out some but not by much. His face was a bit different as well. His eyes had changed significantly. The irises became silver with black pupils. It was a strange yet pretty cool look for him. his beard had begun to grow out as well showing the signs of not shaving for a week. After taking in his new look, he took his pants off and placed them on the floor at the bottom of the bed. Once he was undressed Alex walked over and got in the bed.

“After you fall asleep I will begin with upgrading your skin, Spartan.”

“Understood.”

I drifted off to sleep and Alice began doing her work.