“Ye were running the entire time?!” Baghric asked right as he exited his tent. Jason was standing there in the rising sun sweating and panting. Honestly Jason was used to this state by now because of how much Baghric made him run the first two days.

“Yes… the… entire… time.” Jason managed to pant out as he stood there dying inside. Baghric looked at him and started laughing. Damnable dwarf finds everything funny I swear.

“Well that sure makes today’s first thing easier. Since yer already warmed up let’s get moving.” Baghric stored everything in his pendant and started to jog leaving behind Jason and the hastily made fire pit.

“I… thought… we… were… training today.” Jason said as he slowed and evened out his breathing. Baghric looked back at Jason.

“Well for the first five hours or so of every day we’re going to run, then we’re going to do offensive training, and then we’re doing defensive training.” Baghric started to jog again forcing Jason to sprint and catch up with him. As they were running Jason had to focus on his feet to avoid any roots and small ditches in the way. One time he almost had his head taken off by a tree.

“Just so you know I’m already at fifty stamina and at this rate in five hours I’ll be at… fifteen stamina.” Jason looked at the systems net regeneration screen he had somehow activated. Baghric didn’t even say anything and simply tossed him a heart that he had taken out of thin air. Then leaving Jason a smile Baghric sprinted off into the distance.

“Damnable dwarf.” Jason ate the heart and then started to speed up until he caught the dwarf again. This time he was using up 24 stamina an hour, but with the twenty stamina per hour regeneration he was only going to reach thirty or so stamina in five hours.

It seemed that Baghric’s prayers for the events to be mild were not to be answered as Jason one time tripped over a rock that he could’ve sworn wasn’t there a second before. He hit a tree a bit in front of the rock and an angry swarm of yellow jackets exited and started chasing him. I swear to god! Why is everything so much bigger than on Earth! Those god damn yellow jackets are the size of my head for fucks sake. Jason was almost crying. Why is it that I don’t care about losing my eye, but the idea of being stung by one of things terrifies me. Jason risked a look back and saw that they were only five meters behind him. Turning around and sprinting faster he found that Baghric had sped up and was trying to leave him for the yellow jackets.

DAMNABLE DWARF! Ah It’s most definitely because of their forearm sized stingers. I feel like that’s why I’m afraid. Goddammit all! Like this Jason spent two of the five hours. Eventually the yellow jackets either got bored, were too far from the nest, or thought they had tortured poor Jason enough because they turned around and started flying back home. Around an hour after that Jason and Baghric stopped for the day. The sun high in the sky.

Baghric simply destroyed the trees in the surrounding area and got the tent and a sack out of his pendant. “Alright laddie I’m gonna go get meself some actual meat while ya can dine on these here fine hearts. Also put up te tent.” Jason glared hatefully with his one eye as Baghric left to hunt. Grumbling Jason spent the next half hour wrestling with the tent which refused to listen to its sentient betters and let itself be set up. After fighting maybe the most strenuous battle of his life Jason sat down inside the tent and enjoyed himself a wolf heart. His body didn’t crave them as much anymore but there was still an irresistible attraction to the heart.

I’m finding it harder to get mad at Baghric’s lack of concern for my own safety in his experiments. After all they’ve all turned out so well for me. Plus… these hearts are tasty as fuck. Jason thought as he gnawed on an aorta.

“LADDIE! I’M BACK! GET UP AND GET OUT ‘ERE! WE’RE GONNA PUNCH EACH OTHER!” Jason heard the obnoxious yet surprisingly likable dwarf and sighed. Standing up he finished the aorta and walked out of the tent.

The first thing he saw was that Baghric had some clothes with him. They were fashioned from wolf skin and the tailoring was absolutely horrendous but they were in fact wearable. Baghric threw them at Jason and pointedly looked down at Jason’s body. Jason had at least had the decency to find some scraps and make himself some type of loincloth, but other than that he was completely naked.

Which while that gave him a fine tan and showed off his plethora of scars that he had. One scar along the shoulder blades and upper back from the axe in the caves, three lines diagonal across his chest from the wolf, and a circle on his right arm from where the alpha had bitten off his bicep. The scar had formed around the area that was bitten off and even when Baghric had healed his arm with his magic the scar had stayed even if the entire bicep had regenerated. Jason looked down at the heaps of clothes that Baghric had thrown at him.

“Make these yourself?” Jason lifted up the clothes and inspected each one. They were about his size. Not perfect but then again it was a random healer dwarf that made these not an actual tailor. There was a wolf coat vest with the wolf head as a hood. The vest didn’t connect in the front and there were no sleeves. Very barbarian looking. Love it love it. Really throw them off. I look tough yet I hit like a child. I like the mental games. Then there were some pants made of wolf skin and a pair of sock looking things. Honestly I’m not going to use the shoes. I actually really like my bare feet being out. Maybe when we get to the guild I’ll actually get some shoes. What is the guild’s name actually I don’t think Baghric ever told me?

“Baghric what’s the name of your guild?”

“I’ll tell ye when we get there.” Baghric said as he watched Jason inspect the clothes. Not suspicious at all. In addition to the pants, vest, and socks there was a pair of gloves and a pack that was connected to a belt. Or the makings of a belt. Jason took a few minutes and put on all the clothes. Then put the hood on and inspected everything. The insides of the pelts were simply the dried insides of the skin. They were rough and Jason could feel where the veins used to be and where the skins used to connect to muscle, but they were definitely warmer than being naked and frankly Jason thought it felt nice having clothes on again.

The pants were a bit baggie and so was the vest. The belt with the sack sagged slightly but was tight enough that it was just slightly below the hip level. The hood didn’t cover his face so he could still perfectly see but there were two large canines above his eyes. Well eye and eye socket. The gloves were the most intricate of all the pieces but were still just patchwork things that fit surprisingly well.

“They won’t get ye any stats or defensive properties, but they’ll do. It’s skin from the level fifteen alpha wolf.” Baghric grunted. Just before Baghric was about to say something else Jason interrupted him.

“How do you know the levels of the wolves?” Jason had never had anything like the typical inspection ability that systems usually gave people in rpgs or litrpgs. He couldn’t see the level or the name of any enemies when he looked at them or even when they died. It was just a wolf enemy and stronger wolf enemy.

“Tier one passive of the perception subtrees. Any of them really. Eyesight is te most useful because ye see te level and type of enemy. Hearing ya literally hear someone telling ya te level and type. Aura ya just kinda know. Smell is also an odd one. If ya smell it ya know it. Taste is te same. Touch as well.” Baghric said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Of course I have to use my precious skill points to get a basic inspection ability. Absolutely bullshit but ok. I guess I’m getting that next level. Actually no no. I need to get the tier three luck skill… whatever it is.

“Now get ye arse over ‘ere so we can punch each other silly. Well I’ll punch ya silly and ye’ll hit me like a baby chick.” Baghric laughed and then started to teach Jason how to punch. The proper form and footing. Moving onto the way you had to put your entire body into a punch to make it powerful. After a few minutes of teaching and practicing, Baghric had Jason start punching him.

Jason didn’t need to be told twice and started trying to punch Baghric as hard as he could. Either Bagrich had distributed some points into stamina or Jason was just absurdly weak, probably both, because Baghric was at most grunting as Jason hit him. One thing that surprised Jason a lot was that with each punch Jason threw five stamina went away. When he was simply punching the air only one was disappearing, but apparently punching a person even if they’re not moving is a lot more draining on stamina. Baghric helped him by giving him some type of magic buff that increased his stamina regen but he could still only punch thirty times an hour at full force.

When Jason was obviously getting low on stamina, Baghric handed him a heart. Honestly while these things taste great I think I need some green in my diet at some point. Although then again… meat. More specifically… heart. With the heart Jason could throw fifty or so punches an hour at full power. For the next five hours Jason worked on punching Baghric. After five hours of that type of training Baghric stopped and started doing defensive training.

That was much more painful. Baghric would spend six hours punching Jason. All Jason could do was stand there and take it. The only thing that allowed him to live was that Baghric was constantly healing him and that his natural health regen with the wolf hearts was twenty health per hour. Still every hour if he counted right he would lose about 600 health. That was with every minute Baghric punching him and then healing him. Baghric wasn’t even punching as hard as he could. Just casual punches took ten health from Jason. Goddamn terrifying.

After six hours of grueling pain Jason was allowed to sleep. Jason didn’t let the soreness of his body or the worms in his eye which practically pulsed with pain stop him from immediately collapsing and snoring when Baghric gave the word. What woke him up from his beautiful slumber was Baghric shouting and a glorious blue screen.

Experience Gained:

Lodenstone of Chance: 913

Aura of Misfortune: 555

Unnatural Endurance: 121

Unnatural Speed: 121

Wooden Bones: 1,800

Wooden Fists: 625

LEVEL UP

General Information

Class: Blessed One

Species: Human

Favor: NA

Experience: 1,440/ 4,118

Level: 8

Titles: None

Stats

Fortitude:

10

100 / 100 hp

Vitality:

10

5 hp / hour

Endurance:

10

100 / 100 sp

Vigor:

10

5 sp / hour

Focus:

10

100 / 100 mp

Willpower

10

5 mp / hour

Charisma:

10

10 bf

Luck:

45

90% (165%) | 9% (12%)

Stat Points Available: 5

Skills and Talents

Active:

Offense: None

Defense: None

Utility: None

Passive:

Offense: Wooden Fists [III] (25 / 800)

Defense: Wooden Bones [V] (944 / 2,200)

Utility: Lodenstone of Chance [VI] (143 / 3,200), Well of Fortune [II] (350 / 500), Aura of Misfortune [III] (1,056 / 1,600), Unnatural Endurance [IV] (1,160 / 1,400), Unnatural Speed [IV] (946 / 1,400)

Talents: Touch of a Gambler, Mark of Fortune

Skill Points Available: 1

Before getting up or anything Jason immediately went and used 1,000 experience to unlock the tier three level of the luck subtree. What he saw made his eyes go wide.

“Oh?”

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New Skills

Offense

Melee

Unarmed

Passive

Tier 1

Wooden Fists [Rank I] (0 / 200) Increases fists' damage in unarmed combat by 10% Increases damage by 10% per rank