Reivyn folded his arms as he took a seat on the sidelines of the training grounds. Kefira took a seat next to him, with Serilla still standing behind her. They weren't necessarily going to take a break, but the sparring session between Kayzor and Refix was about to begin. The maid staff from Kefira's household stood a little ways off, also waiting to watch the session. Refix had been relentless in his training of everyone present ever since he had joined, though, to be fair, it was mainly in coming up with interesting ways to deplete their stamina. The actual training methods were mostly tame, with Refix watching over them with a critical eye as they went through their motions, and the sparring sessions were between people of equal Skill Levels. The staff had grown to enjoy the training sessions despite the torture they went through to get exhausted beforehand. "Do you want a friendly, competitive match, or do you want to be destroyed?" Refix addressed Kayzor. Kayzor stood with his spear at the ready, not willing to give his opponent any openings in case he pulled a surprise attack stunt. It wasn't unheard of, even in friendly sparring sessions, and it wasn't frowned upon, either. Training to be prepared for an unexpected attack was part and parcel of combat training, after all. "I want you to give me everything you got, old man," Kayzor replied. Refix quirked an eyebrow at the statement. He was standing with his arms at his side with no weapon in sight. He held his hand out, and a training spear flew from the stand where it had rested through the air into his hand. He deftly caught it and brought it into the ready position. "Hey, now! What was that?" Reivyn called out. "I've never seen you do that before." "Neat trick, huh?" Refix replied with a smirk. "Actually, I just learned how to do it. You're not the only one who's constantly improving." "That's a fun trick, indeed, but it's not very practical," Kefira commented. "When are you going to be without a weapon in the midst of combat?" "You'd be surprised," Reivyn said with a shrug. "What if your weapon breaks? What if you find a weakness in the enemy, but you need a longer-reaching weapon, and there just happens to be a spear lying on the ground? I can think of a lot of instances where it might be useful." "Fair point," Kefira replied. "I'm thinking more along the lines of one-on-one duels, and you're thinking about the battlefield." The two halted their conversation about the merits of Refix's new ability and focused on the sparring session. The wind whipped up between the two, standing and staring at each other before either of them even moved. Kayzor was already panting and had sweat dripping from his brow. He was visibly struggling to maintain his proper stance. Refix didn't have that problem. He had participated with everyone else in making sure that he was just as tired before the training sessions truly began, but this was how he always trained. His body had long since ingrained in itself always to maintain perfect posture at all times, no matter how he felt. Reivyn suspected that he could have a lance through his stomach and daggers in his back and still maintain the perfect fighting stance. Refix had agreed to relegate his Stats to match Kayzor's, but it was immediately obvious that he far surpassed Kayzor in Skill the second he moved. Kayzor took a staggering step back as Refix instantly appeared before him, stabbing forth with his spear. The spear seemed to defy all logic, and without wavering in the slightest, it thrust right through all of Kayzor's attempts to parry it. Kayzor had to abandon his attempt at blocking, and he rolled on his back, springing to his feet in a guard stance once more. Refix didn't relent, and he continued that same thrust without pause, moving his body forward to match Kayzor's retreat. The spear appeared to snake around all of Kayzor's efforts while simultaneously moving in a straight line, and the tip of the blunted training spear halted against Kayzor's throat. The match was over before it had even begun. Kayzor wasn't able to block one move. He stared wide-eyed at Refix over the length of the spear, his own spear forgotten in his hands at this side. "What was that?!" Kayzor shouted. "You said to give you everything I got," Refix replied with a shrug, lowering the spear. "I took that to mean you wanted to be destroyed." "I take it back," Kayzor said. "I want to have at least the chance to put up a fight." "Then you should have said you wanted a friendly, competitive match." "Well, now I know." "Now you know," Refix confirmed. "Also, what was it you called me? 'Old man?' How old are you, Kayzor?" "Huh?" Kayzor was taken aback. "I'm 26." "I'm only ten years older than you," Refix said. Kayzor's body froze, and he stared at Refix in confusion for a few moments. His mind had gone completely blank at the statement. "Wait, you mean to tell me that you're younger than my oldest brother and sister?" "I mean, I'm telling you I'm 36. I don't know how old your siblings are." "Garet is 41, and Faria is 37," Kayzor said. "Then yes, I'm younger than them. How old did you think I was?" Refix asked. "Our parents are in their 70's. I just assumed you were around the same age as them. It gets hard to tell when people's Vitality gets to a certain point." "That's true, but there are ways. Anyway, why call me 'old man' at all? I don't look old." "I was just taunting you," Kayzor replied with a shrug. "I figured it would make you take the sparring session more seriously. I didn't know you were going to obliterate me like that." "You're playing with fire," Refix answered with a laugh. "You didn't tell them?" Reivyn leaned over and whispered to Kefira. "About your parents' age?" Kefira replied. "Why would I?" She tilted her head. "Fair enough." Refix and Kayzor resumed their stances across from each other. They both assumed a ready stance once more. They hadn't particularly spent any of their energy in the short exchange a moment ago, so they were still ready to go. "A friendly, competitive match, this time," Kayzor called out. "Sure," Refix smirked. Once again, a wind whipped up between them. It was decidedly different this time, though. Refix dashed forward at a more "normal" speed. His Stats were equivalent to Kayzor's, so they were much higher than he had displayed with everyone else. He didn't use his near teleportation speed this time, though. Reivyn didn't know if that had been some sort of Skill or if he was just able to utilize his Stats more efficiently, but he was moving at a slower pace now. Their spears flashed through the air. Kayzor was able to deflect the strikes and turn the turning of his spear into counterattacks this time. He was under no illusion that he would be able to defeat Refix anymore, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give his best. Kayzor didn't just use his Spears Skill. He used everything he had available to him. He cycled through blocking, dodging, striking, counterattacking, and using his Class Skills. He wasn't able to gain the initiative even with his Class Skills thrown into the mix, but it did prolong the inevitable. Reivyn paid particular attention when Kayzor initiated his Thousand Lances Skill. He had been trying to pinpoint the mechanism for activating the Flurry of Fists Skill he had witnessed from the Strikers, and Thousand Lances seemed to follow the same concept. Reivyn's body twitched as he envisioned activating the Skill with his own Stamina, and Kefira eyed him suspiciously. Reivyn gave her a reassuring look, and she returned her attention back to the sparring session after a smile to indicate she wasn't worried. Reivyn's body continued to spasm as he thought about the Skills. The sparring session went about the way that Reivyn and everyone else had predicted. Kayzor was constantly on the back foot. He was marshaling all of his Skill, using it to his utmost ability to fend off the relentless attacks that Refix threw at him. It didn't last, though, and Refix began using his transcendent ability. Kayzor stumbled in confusion when a spear thrust blew him back like he had been smacked with a hammer. He briefly glanced between Refix's spear and his own, but he didn't have time to analyze what exactly had happened. Refix was upon him once more. Refix didn't alter all of his strikes. He slashed and twirled his spear about normally before Kayzor once more dodged back in confusion when his Danger Sense warned him that something was wrong. A strand of hair fluttered to the ground, having been slashed when Refix had clearly thrust his spear once more. "What is happening?" Kayzor asked as he recovered his stance. "I don't know what you mean," Refix answered. He stepped forward and performed an overhead swing. Kayzor met the attack with a block from his spear, but as soon as the two spears made contact, Kayzor's body curved in a "C" shape as if he had been slammed in the ribs. He staggered to the side before crumpling to his knees. "I yield. I yield," Kayzor called out. He held his side in obvious discomfort. "Sorry about that," Refix dropped his arm holding the spear, and used his other hand to help Kayzor to his feet. "I didn't mean to hit you so hard. I've gotten used to sparring with Reivyn, and he's able to see through my ability. Truly, sorry." "It's fine," Kayzor wheezed, hunching over with his hand on his ribs. "What were you doing?" "I was using my transcendent ability. I can manipulate the nature of the force of my attacks, even alter the direction at will." "Transcendent ability," Kayzor replied with a deadpan expression. "You've achieved the transcendent level, and you're 36 years old." It was a statement, not a question. "Yeah," Refix answered with a shrug. "I was stuck at Level 100 for years and years. Training Reivyn over the years when he was a child finally pushed me to Level 101." Kayzor forgot about the ache in his ribs as he palmed his face with his hand. His body shook, and it took Reivyn a moment to realize he was laughing. "I know that some of my older family members in the deeper parts of the Tier 5 Region have reached the Transcendent level from my uncle, but they're all over 200 years old. My uncle was the most Skilled Martial Classer I'd ever personally met before, and his primary Skill Level is only about 95 or 96. He's well over 100 years old, too. "How in the world have you managed to reach a Transcendent Skill Level at such a young age?" "I've led an interesting life," Refix answered with a serious expression. "I wouldn't wish the same on anyone else." "An interesting life, you say," Kayzor said. "I haven't had much time to learn about it from Reivyn, but maybe one day you'll share your tale with us." "Sure." Refix shrugged. "We're not hiding anything, we just don't broadcast it everywhere we go." "I think that's enough for me this morning," Kayzor said. "Thank you for the lesson in humility... And the sparring session." "Anytime." Refix chuckled. Kayzor waved to Reivyn and Kefira. He put his training spear back in its place and hobbled out of the training grounds. Refix turned to face the spectators. The maid staff had been frozen with wide eyes ever since Refix had summarily defeated Kayzor in their first "match," and it had only gotten more pronounced during the second match. "What are you all waiting for?" Refix shouted. The maids came back to themselves, looking around at each other. "Let's get to work." Kefira, Serilla, and the maids all lined up to perform their weapons training under Refix's instruction. He stalked back and forth with his teaching rod, though he didn't have to use it nearly as often as he had had to when he first started. Reivyn didn't join them in their line, though. He walked up to Refix. "How come you didn't use that ability where your spear avoided all of Kayzor's attempts to parry it against me?" Reivyn asked. "I did," Refix replied. "It didn't work against you." He shrugged. "You've mentioned a Skill that helps you perceive the changes I make with my transcendent ability. I imagine that same Skill allows you to notice the truth of my regular strikes, too." "Well, how exactly did you do that?" Reivyn continued to ask. "There's no huge secret behind it. You're almost able to do it yourself, and I've seen the beginnings of such. It's all about using your opponent's Perception against them. When your Skill is high enough, you can make them see what you want them to see with your attacks." "I see. Thanks." Reivyn gave a nod and walked away to the other side of the training grounds, away from the line of people Refix was instructing. Refix watched him go, but he didn't say anything or demand that he adhere to the same training regimen as the others. He was just here to assist, and Reivyn clearly had something he wanted to do. Reivyn stood in front of a punching bag that they had installed after they had started training with the Strikers gym. He assumed a boxing stance and performed some exploratory moves. His Stamina coursed through his body, enhancing his strikes as well as stabilizing his body. Not quite like this, more like this, Reivyn corrected himself. The way I've been stabilizing my body would only work if I were practically standing still, but Kayzor didn't have that problem. He was able to freely move about while activating his Thousand Lances Skill. Reivyn continued to experiment, adjusting the way he used his Stamina. He hopped around the punching bag until he started to get a better feel for how the Stamina affected his body, and suddenly, his fists blurred as he struck twice at the same time. New Skill Unlocked! Martial Class Skill: Double Punch (0 ->1) Reivyn nearly stumbled at the successful activation of the Skill. He stood and looked at the Notification Window with some surprise for a moment before his face broke out in a grin. He immediately pulled up his Class Skills and abandoned Charge to replace it with Double Punch. The System clearly labeled Double Punch as a Martial Class Skill, so he suspected he needed to use it in a Martial Class Skill slot. His Charge Skill, as well as Cleave Skill, had long since passed the 100 mark, but there hadn't been a significant change to the Skill like a General Skill would when surpassing 100. He hadn't focused too much of his effort on being able to activate Cleave manually, but since he could do so with Charge, and he had Leveled it up past his initial goal, he decisively switched it out. He would focus on turning it into a General Skill soon with his ability to use it without System assistance. Reivyn performed the new Skill multiple times, noting that the Stamina requirement was considerably less than what he had expended in order to learn the Skill. The Skill that he unlocked wasn't exactly the same as what he had seen with Flurry of Fists and Thousand Lances. Those other Skills were a rain of multiple blows, but his Double Punch Skill performed two attacks simultaneously on the exact same location. The first thing Reivyn focused on with his new training was to punch two different spots at the same time instead of the same spot. He continued to adjust the way his Stamina coursed through his body when using the Skill, but now that he had the System assistance, he only needed to apply slight alterations instead of using it completely manually. It took him thirty minutes and hundreds of Skill activations, but he eventually managed to punch his target on opposite sides at the same time. He continued to perform the maneuver until he was able to freely choose his targets. Skill Altered! Martial Class Skill: Double Punch: The Stamina activation has been permanently altered. Nice! Reivyn lifted his arms in triumph. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he checked his Stamina usage. Stamina: 4,013/15,860 Still good, now it's time for the next step. Reivyn walked over to the arsenal of training weapons and selected several of them. He carried them with him back to the punching bag, setting all but the training sword down on the ground. He held his sword at the ready and focused his intent. He attempted to activate the Double Punch Skill with a sword in his hand, but the first couple of attempts ended up with him lashing out with the pommel of the sword instead of the blade. His body still wanted to perform a punch instead of just an attack. Before he succeed in his strike, he switched his weapon. Reivyn cycled through the various weapons while activating the Skill. Most of the time, he punched while holding the weapon, but if he was using a weapon that was held differently or from further away, nothing happened. When he stood back holding the whip, his Stamina coursed through his body, but he felt strange as it didn't finish the cycle and dissipated into nothing as his body didn't move. He was too far away to strike the target, so the System simply failed to complete the Skill for him. Something similar happened when holding two-handed weapons. His body didn't know which fist he wanted to strike with, so he ended up just standing there doing nothing. Reivyn moved through all of the weapons and returned to his fists. He decided to tackle the problem he noticed from using two-handed weapons, and he activated the Skill in both of his fists at the same time, but through one activation. It took several minutes before his body got used to it, and he struck out with a Double Punch with both fists at the same time. He didn't get another Notification, but he felt the Stamina usage once more adapt to his particular usage. Having succeeded in another small goal, he once more picked up the training sword. He didn't cycle through all of the weapons before succeeding this time. He had just been getting a feel for all of the weapons. He focused his intent on his sword and continued to use the Skill while subtly adjusting the way his Stamina coursed through his body. He started with a thrusting attack, as that was the most like a punch in his mind. Eventually, he was able to move his body in such a way as to utilize the blade of the training sword instead of his fist, and he moved on to the next type of attack. An overhead swing could be seen as a type of haymaker if he thought about it a certain way, and with that mental flip of the switch, he was able to direct the Skill into an overhand swing. He applied the same logic to horizontal slashes, and before long, he was able to activate the Skill freely with a sword. The Skill didn't alter again just yet, and he switched to another weapon. He didn't choose a weapon that had a significant difference in how it operated right away. He switched to a training dagger, and he was able to replicate the feat easily. Next came a hatchet, then a larger axe, followed by a warhammer. It was a bit of a struggle when he moved on to a great sword, but he eventually got that down as well. The spear took some time to figure out, but with the success of all the other weapons, it was eventually conquered, as well. The way that his Stamina was used with the activation of the Skill continued to change slightly with each permutation, moving closer and closer to perfection in what he was trying to accomplish. He grabbed the whip, took several steps back, and activated the Skill. After so much success with the other weapons, the Skill immediately activated, and two lashes appeared on the punching bag from his single attack. Skill Updated! Martial Class Skill: Double Punch -> Double Strike Double Strike (1 ->6) Reivyn didn't stop once he achieved success, and he immediately launched himself into this next experiment. He dropped the whip and dashed to the punching bag. He unleashed a flurry of Skill activations on the target, altering the Stamina usage once more as he used his entire body instead of just his arms. Punches, kicks, knee strikes, and headbutts joined together. Reivyn's Stamina continued to plummet, but he didn't pay it any mind. He felt like he was on the cusp of success, and he couldn't be bothered to hold back now. He didn't care if he received a backlash from Stamina expenditure at this time. He could feel the culmination of his efforts coalescing. Not all of his attacks activated the Skill when he started, but as his Stamina usage continued to shift, a threshold was reached, and he launched an attack that incorporated all of his various types of strikes all at once. The punching bag was malformed as it received 18 attacks all at once. Two headbutts, four elbow strikes, four punches, four knee strikes, and four kicks, all at the same time. Skill Updated! Martial Class Skill: Double Strike -> Multi-Strike Multi-Strike (6 ->9) Reivyn immediately activated the Skill with just one fist, and he struck the target 11 times at once. Elation filled Reivyn, but the Stamina expenditure finally caught up with him, and he collapsed to the ground. He was unable to move on his own, but he felt hands turn him over almost immediately. Refix, Kefira, and Serilla stood over him. He could see the maids waiting in the background as well. Reivyn groaned as his body was flipped over. "Congratulations!" Refix exclaimed with a giant grin on his face. "It seems like you succeeded. The commotion you were making interfered with our training, but it seems like it was worth it." Reivyn attempted to reply, but he was so tired that he couldn't even open his mouth. He pulled up his Stamina to see just how much he had overdone it. Stamina: 77/15,860 Reivyn's eyes would have widened at the numbers on his screen, but he was so exhausted, even that was beyond him. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and darkness descended.