Lunch was uneventful for Kai. He ate alone and no one approached him. Afterwards he returned to the barracks he slept in and went through a series of stretching and cool down exercises.

Congratulations! Flexibility is now Lvl. 4.

Kai thought to himself there was no reason to not get ahead of the curve. Daniel and Alric had only asked him to raise the mundane and crafting skills to certain levels in order to qualify for the scouting mission, they had never said he couldn’t exceed those expectations by increasing his physical skills. He found a stone that he began to target with Mana Bolts as he jumped, sprinted and climbed around the field behind the barracks. He spent over three hours in his exercising and for his time he gained very little.

Congratulations! Flexibility is now Lvl. 5.

Congratulations! Climbing is now Lvl. 5.

Congratulations! Jumping is now Lvl. 8.

Kai didn’t understand why there was so little gain. He hadn’t gotten a single Mana Bolt level and he’d fired off at least a hundred. He was down to only about 25 mana potions left in his ring. There were no gains to Physical Fitness or Sprinting or even Running. He didn’t understand why there was so little improvement, but he did know he was exhausted.

The next morning Kai woke before the dawn. He stretched and went to the open area behind the barracks he slept in and performed his morning stretches and kata to greet the new day. He moved slowly through his forms and realized he was stretching further than he ever had before. Through the whole morning ritual he pushed himself to hold poses longer and reach farther. As he lowered his arms from above his head and bent into a bow towards the sun he breathed out the last of the air in his lungs.

Congratulations! Flexibility is now Lvl. 6.

A smile grew on Kai’s face as he stood up straight and headed to the mess hall for breakfast. After breakfast Kai went straight to Daniel’s office and knocked at the door. He heard a voice say enter and he walked through the door.

Daniel sat behind his desk and Kai went straight in and sat across from him, “Alright. I’ve got the skill levels you wanted and even a few extra. Tell me more about the scout patrol.”

A cough came from behind Kai. He jumped from the chair and tried to spin around and face the potential threat. Unfortunately his leg got caught on the chair and he went down in a jumble. Laughter burst from Daniel and the unknown man that was behind Kai. A hand reached out and Kai gladly took it and was lifted to his feet.

“Thanks.” Kai mumbled.

“No worries. Haven’t gotten a reaction like that in a while,” the man chuckled. “You may want to work on your situational awareness before we head out later. We have an exercise for it. Sit in a dark room and someone hits you with a stick. You try to catch the stick and can only move your hands. I’m Zeke.” The man extended his hand to shake Kai’s.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Kai.” Kai squeezed as hard as he could to show this new guy that he wasn’t to be taken lightly.

“It’s a pleasure.” The man flexed his hand and Kai felt bones grate together and then the pressure released as the man smiled. “I’ll be leading the scout patrol you’re interested in joining.”

“Daniel said I could join if I got my skill levels up. Said joining the patrol would push my combat skills higher and help me out.”

Daniel broke in, “Let’s actually see that skill list to verify your claims. That was a lot of skill levels to gain in a short time, and you say you even exceeded expectations?”

Kai nodded and shared his Skill screen, “I gained the Leatherworking skill and got all the other skills to the required level or higher. Also got a chance to do some exercise and raised a few of the physical skills but it wasn’t a lot of reward for the effort I put in.” Kai scratched his head, “Any ideas on that?”

Zeke answered as he looked at Kai’s skills, “Yes, the reward is based on the risk to a certain degree. Training in controlled environment without outside stimulus only allows so much growth. That’s why going on the patrol will be a big boost for you. The danger of the monsters will cause your skills to rise rather dramatically.” Zeke pointed at a few of the skills in Kai’s list. “Gun Mastery? Haven’t seen that one in a while. A rather high Mana Bolt for a new person, how much Mana do you have?”

Kai proudly answered, “I’m up to 35.5 and regen 17.5 per hour. I’ve been using the Mana potions that Daniel and Alric provided me to really push my Mana Bolt up in levels on the obstacle course and in some sparring matches.”

Zeke frowned and looked Daniel then Kai, “And how many of those Mana potions do you have left?”

“About 25 so I’ll need a refill on those when you can,” Kai answered.

Daniel facepalmed, “We started you with over 200 of those. They were meant to last you far longer than this.”

Kai shrugged, “No one told me not to use them. How else was I supposed to get my Mana Bolt to this kind of level.”

Zeke started laughing, “Wasn’t Alric monitoring his use and activity? This is hilarious. The kid blows through over 200 Mana Potions in what? Five or six days? Glad I’m not the one who has to track the supplies or report this kind of stuff. Alright Kai you’re with me. We’re going to get you in shape before we leave tomorrow morning.”

Kai stared at Zeke, “Haven’t I been getting in shape?”

Zeke laughed and put his hand on Kai’s shoulder as he guided him out of Daniel’s office.

That night in the barracks, Kai went through his notifications before going to sleep. It had been an exhausting day, but rather productive in terms of skills.

Congratulations! Block is now Lvl. 5.

…

Congratulations! Block is now Lvl. 8.

Congratulations! Dodge is now Lvl. 14.

Congratulations! Dodge is now Lvl. 15.

Congratulations! Equip is now Lvl. 9.

Congratulations! Equip is now Lvl. 10.

Congratulations! Fighting Proficiency is now Lvl. 14.

Congratulations! Physical Fitness is now Lvl. 16.

The two skills Kai felt best about were Sword Mastery leveling some more and learning how to truly use his Interpose skill and using it to take hits for his fellow teammates. At first he was able to shift about three or four feet to block a strike to the person next to him, but by the end the skill allowed him to launch himself about seven feet and take a strike.

Congratulations! Sword Mastery is now Lvl. 23.

Congratulations! Interpose is now Lvl. 6.

Kai realised he hadn’t placed any of his PP for the day and dumped the 23 that he had into Pathless bringing it to 27/100 and got 5 stat points for his efforts. He dumped two into Intelligence and Wisdom each and one into Strength. Kai brought up his status before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Kai Jameson

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health(/R per hour): 96 (41)

Mana(/R per hour): 40.5 (20)

Stam(/R per min): 52 (19)

Vitality: 10

Endurance: 10 (+2)

Strength: 7

Agility: 10

Perception: 15

Reaction: 10 (+2)

Resistance: 5

Willpower: 5

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 12

Control: 10 (+1)

Focus: 30

Equipment:

Practice Bokken Lvl. 10: A well crafted bokken with near perfect balance and a high durability. Reaction +2, Control +1

Leather Bracer Lvl ??: Reaction +2, Stamina +15.

Leather Cuirass Lvl ??: End +1, Health +10

Leather Greaves Lvl ??: Agi +2, Stamina +15

Average Wooden Targe Lvl 7: Basic small shield. +5% resistance to Physical Damage. +2 End while Equipped.

Average Sewing Needle Lvl ??: Improve concentration and mana flow while sewing.

Path Points: 0

Paths: Newbie 7/7, Protector 10/10, Pathless I 5/5, Pathless II 5/5, Pathless III 10/10, Pathless IV 10/10, Pathless V 15/15, Pathless VI 15/15, Pathless VII 20/20, Pathless VIII 20/20, Pathless IX 25/25, Pathless X 50/50, Pathless 27/100

Skills: Acid Resistance Lvl. 4, Block Lvl. 8, Climbing Lvl. 5, Cutting Vegetables Lvl. 5, Dodge Lvl. 15, Equip Lvl. 10, Fighting Proficiency Lvl. 14, Flexibility Lvl. 6, Gun Mastery Lvl. 5, Heavy Blow Lvl. 15, Interpose Lvl. 6, Jumping Lvl. 8, Laundering Lvl. 6, Leatherworking Lvl. 5, Mana Bolt Lvl. 26, Mana Imbuing Lvl. 10, Pathfinder Lvl. 2, Physical Fitness Lvl. 16, Poison Resistance Lvl. 3, Running Lvl. 13, Sewing Lvl. 10, Skinning Lvl. 10, Sprinting Lvl. 8, Stealth Lvl. 6, Sword Mastery Lvl. 23, Tracking Lvl. 6