《Step up to conquer the Dungeon》


 Chapter 1 My first Skill

    Just as the stony fist of my training partner was about to collide with my face, I backed away.


    But Stan wasn''t going to give up his advantage against me so easily. He deactivated his skill instantly returning his fist to normal. He used his now once again fleshy hand to grab one of my guarding hands.


    Knowing what would come next I tried to remove my hand from his grip. I manage to free my hand before Stan could turn his into stone once more.


    Seeing the smirk on his face, I knew I messed up. With my defense now open, he hit me straight in the jaw. At least he didn''t use his stone fist skill like last time.


    just as I had managed to increase the distance between us I could hear the teacher calling. "ok. that''s enough for today."


    I was frustrated since Stan has gotten his skill two months ago I hadn''t managed to win a single bound against him, but that would change.


    Today was my birthday and I could finally use Crystals to gain skills.


    I envied Stan a bit his old man got him a rank 3 skill crystal for his birthday.


    So I could only hope my old man would get me a rank 3 as well.


    All the people in my class that got a rank 3 crystal got some awesome skill like Emily she got the astral weapon skill or Thomas who got his Firebolt skill. Thinking about all the rank three skills I read about I saw as my Buddy Hank walked over to me.


    Hanks old man couldn''t effort a rank 3 crystal and only got him a rank 2.


    From this, he got his bow mastery skill, which isn''t bad, but it just isn''t magical. Magic skills only start to appear at rank three and above.


    my thoughts were interrupted by a hand that was moving in front of my eyes. "earth to Morty, are you still with us? Stan dude did you hit him with your skill in the head again?".


    I shook my head to get my thought back under control and said, "No, he didn''t"


    At the same time as me, Stan said," That only happened once."


    Hank smirked at Stan, just as he was about to say something. Mister Zealand''s voice was heard Clearly, "That is it for today, Regis, Hanford you too will return the training gear."


    Both Stan and I groaned at that. But then something happened that I didn''t expect to happen at all.


    "Hurry up and get changed dude," Hank said clearly speaking to me. I looked at him wide-eyed, then he continued, " Today is your big day, so hurry up, before I change my mind." before he could even finish his last word I started to sprint towards the dressingroom. I changed as quickly as I could and then left the School.


    On the way, I passed by the Crystal store my uncle owned and stopped for a moment. Thinking if I should get myself a crystal with my savings. But Dad already told me that he would get me one and had me promise him that the crystal he got me would be the first one I would use and as dad worked as a oathbinder I couldn''t break my promise even if I wanted to so I just hurried home.


    When I opened the door, I could hear hurried footsteps followed by my mom coming out of the living room and tightly wrapping me in her embrace," Happy birthday Mortimer." she said to me once more and then continued with," how was your first day as an adult. Do you still want to become a diver?"


    I rolled my eyes at the last one, "Mom just because I''m an adult now, I wouldn''t change my mind. And we talked about it just this morning. I will use my skills to go dungeon diving. I want excitement and I also want to protect people. So Mom could you please stop asking me if I changed my mind"


    "I know honey but, skill choices are final and I just want to make sure that is what you want for the rest of your life, I don''t want you to regret your choice." I pondered for a moment If I should tell her my real reason I want to become a diver but decided against it. Besides, it isn''t like I will regret getting a skill to shoot fire out of my eyes or creating a whip made out of water. "I will not Mom, by the way, when is dad coming home?"


    She shook her head and then said, "he will be home, as usual, you will have to wait a bit longer, but if you can''t wait any longer you could open my present first."


    She fetched a small box from the living room and then handed it. "Hurry up and open it" she then said to me.


    I opened it and inside was a watch with a small digital display. "Mom, is this a portable AS?" "Yes, it is and it is the newest model at, not that old and clunky one. And I already added a call for aid module." she proudly declared it to me.


    I looked at her and said, "You asked aunt Linda to get me one, didn''t you?" "Yes, you''re right," she said a little disappointed I already figured it out. " So this is from aunt Linda? that isn''t like her" I teased my Mom. "No, it is from me, I paid for it." while she was refuting what I said.


    I took the PAS and put it on my wrist. My mother looked over my shoulder as I turned on the PAS. the display showed calibrating for the shortest of moments before it showed my basic stats.


    Strength 0


    Dexterity 0


    Agility 0


    Reaction 0


    Endurane 0


    Vitality 0


    The Basic Six were shown right away. It didn''t surprise me that my stats were all at 0 as that was normal for a skillless person so I quickly switched the PAS to personal information and it showed all my relevant information.


    ID: (his id number)


    Name: Mortimer Regis


    Age: 16


    Profession: None


    Citizenship: North America


    Arrest warrants: None


    nothing was out of order I checked the other tabs finances, skills, others. Everything was just as it should be.


    Now I just need to wait till dad comes home.


    I was waiting way past 18 o''clock when finally the front door opened and Dad came in. Right away I jumped up and ran over to dad while practically shouting, " where is it?". He just smiled at me and was about to take something from his jacket when mom interjected with "Mortimer you should first let your father come in.". I rolled my eyes and answered her with a simple " Yes mom."


    After that Dad intentionally took his time to enter our home, slowly removing his jacket and shoes and then handed me a small box with a teasing smile and said,


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    "Happy birthday my son, now you''re a grown-up." I didn''t even wait till he finished his sentence to open the box. Inside was a single skill crystal, but not the one I had wanted. the color was wrong. It was a clear blue crystal. Blue was the color of a rank 1 crystal, I had hoped for the red of a rank 3 one, maybe even the orange of a rank 4. I had expected to at least get a rank 2.


    But dad got me a rank 1. We aren''t so poor that we can''t even effort a rank 2. Heck, even I with my savings would manage to buy at least a rank 2 crystal. Tears started to well up in my eyes. I looked at dad and only asked a single question, " why?". "Because you mean so much to me," he answered with an evil grin.


    I couldn''t take it, I pushed dad out of my way and just ran outside.


    I just wanted to get away. I could hear dad say something after I went out the door, but I didn''t want to hear it, I didn''t care.


    He knew how much I wanted to be a dungeon diver and always told me that he would support me, was that all just a ploy.


    I did run for I don''t know how long till I was once again before the crystal store.


    I looked inside and saw that mister Kim was about to close the shop I entered the store and uncle Kim looked at me, " Mortimer? what happened to you? you look awful."."Dad, he betrayed me.".uncle Kim looked at me. "what did my stupid brother do this time?"


    After I told uncle Kim the complete story he just said "show me the crystal" I handed uncle the crystal and he looked at it intensely. "say Mortimer how much do you know about skill crystals?" " I know the color rating." uncle looked at me and then said, "As I thought. Mortimer, your father didn''t betray you. do you see how clear this crystal is." he didn''t betray me? I looked at the crystal and indeed it was almost crystal clear.


    "Yes, but it is still a rank 1 crystal," I said to uncle Kim


    "Mortimer there is more to a crystal than the rank of it, this one may have a low rank but I as an expert can see it with just a glance that this is a crystal with a high number of choices." uncle Kim explained,


    "choices don''t you just get a skill that you need with a crystal?"


    at my answer uncle laughed for a bit and then said," No, not at all, when you use a crystal to gain a skill you will get several choices for witch skill to get but that all depends on the clarity of the crystal. The choices are related to the skills you already have but for the first one, the choices are random. This is why most people agree that the first skill is the most important one. But there are still some discussions about whatever is better more choices or higher rank. But your father and I. We both believe that the first skill sets the path for once live, so we think it is more important that you can choose your path than being forced on one and regretting it. And now I''m drifting back into sales mode. So do you still think your father betrayed you?"


    I had listened to uncle and now I was staring at the crystal dad had given me. I wasn''t as disappointed anymore, I still wanted a magical skill but if what uncle said is true then it is properly better to have more choices then ending up with a bad skill. I lifted my head and cleared my tears away and then asked, "So how many choices does this one give me?"


    "I don''t know for sure but it looks to be around 9 or so, but if you want I could use my tools to look it up." uncle said to me and I just nodded. H then just took the crystal from its box and then walked to the back of his store where I knew that some kind of machine stood. After a short while, I heard a sound of paper ripping and uncle returned to me with the crystal and a small piece of paper and handed both to me.


    I looked at the paper and was shocked at the worth of the crystal.


    Rank 1


    Choices 9


    Grade 0


    Value 16,000$


    I couldn''t believe it this blue crystal is worth as much as a car. I knew dad made good money but that is still way too expensive. if I remember right the cheapest rank 3 crystal goes for only 1000$. this one is 16 times as much worth. but why. I turned back to uncle.


    "why is this crystal worth so much?"


    "Ohh, that is because of supply and demand, crystals with more choices are rarer and so more expensive. When your father and I were still around your age and crystals were becoming a thing we didn''t know as much about them and not a small number had skills they couldn''t use or train then became stuck like your mother. I don''t know what skill she has but I know she can''t even use it"


    I had always wondered why mother didn''t tell me about her skills, but if she can''t use them that makes sense,


    "So, uncle how do I use this crystal?"I asked him.


    Uncle explained to me how to activate the skill crystal and after my 7 tries I finally activated the crystal.


    it was the strangest experience I ever had. Suddenly my head was full of information and I didn''t know hao to comprehend all of it. But I knew


    there were 9 different things in my head.


    As I looked around confused uncle said," you can use your PAS to better understand your choices." while pointing at the watch I got from mom. So I used it as uncle told me to.


    Sewing


    improves your abilities to sew


    attributes dexterity concentration


    peeling


    improves your abilities to peel


    attributes strength dexterity


    fucking


    improves your abilities to fuck


    attributes endurance vitality


    stepping


    improves your abilities to take steps


    attributes agility reaction


    sleeping


    improves your abilities to sleep


    attributes vitality endurance


    coughing


    improves your abilities to cough


    attributes vitality reaction


    brick making


    improves your ability to make bricks


    attributes strength dexterity


    shoveling


    improves your ability to shovel


    attributes strength endurance


    flying


    improves your ability to fly


    attributes agility reaction


    As I saw one choice after the other I was shocked, I just couldn''t believe that some of those choices even existed. There was even a skill for coughing.


    I looked up at uncle and asked him, " wouldn''t my choice be better if I had used a Higher ranking Crystal" uncle just looked at me and shook his head, "No, it is commonly believed that you will get just get choices that are similar to those you could choose"


    "So it is possible that I would just have gotten some kind of magical sewing skill if I had used a rank 3?" I asked uncle skeptically.


    "Yes it could be, but as it can''t be verified. it would also be possible that your choices could be different entirely. Who knows"


    "My choices are all crap, so what should I take?"


    "Oh, then aren''t you glad that you have that many choices. Just pick the one that you think is the best or has the most connection to what you want. Choose the start of your skill Path" uncle teased me.


    I remembered my dad and then just hurridly and full of guilt I stared at my PAS.


    what should I take? There are no fighting skills or other essential skills for exploring a dungeon. Then I need to choose a skill that has the most possibilities to be related to such skill. I don''t think any of them have any chance at all. My face darkened and I was about to give up, but then I decided that If I would pick one then the best one out of the bunch.


    The first one was sewing. As I thought about it I found only one way to make it maybe into a dungeon and that was by an old technique for sewing wounds and then maybe into a healing skill.


    It wasn''t my favorite way but at least I found one way for this skill.


    As I went over the skill I found a way for most of them to connect to a skill category that would be useful. For peeling It could relate to cutting skills, brick making and shoveling could relate to earth magic. Fucking could relate to teambuilding and moral skills, Stepping could relate to movement skill. Sleeping to recovery skills, even coughing I could think of a way for it to relate to Breathweapon like skills. The only one I could see no point in was the flying skill as I couldn''t use it at all.


    Having reduced my options to 8 I hadn''t progressed much so next I removed the skills I just didn''t want at all or would rarely use, that removed coughing sewing and brick making.


    After a moment I also removed peeling I didn''t see myself peeling my monster it was just too gruesome.


    Now with only Fucking stepping sleeping and shoveling left I decided that I wanted a skill I could use Inside a dungeon reducing my options to stepping or shoveling.


    Thinking about what possibilities both skills had I thought that shoveling would most likely become something Construction related while everything I could think about for stepping would be helpful in some way for a dungeon so my choice was made.


    looking around I saw that uncle was entering the room with two cups in hand before he could place even one of them on the table I asked, "Uncle how do I select the skill I want?"


    "Ohh, you already made your choice, selecting a skill. The easiest way is to try and think about everything you know about the skill. Another is to remove the other choices by denying them but most have problems with this way." Uncle explained in his usual tone while putting the cup on the table and taking a sip from one of them.


    I took the other cup and also took a sip before I said, "Ok" and concentrated back on my skills.


    Thinking about the skill wasn''t hard. It was as if I was defining what a step was for me.


    Form me a step was a motion a way to move forward a way for me to reach my goal and


    with that thought, I felt an unnatural heat rising in my body. The heat wasn''t painful no it was more like the heat of a soft embrace not like mom''s bear hugs. It felt just like, I just don''t know how it felt it was just wonderful. When the heat left me I knew I had gained my first skill.


    Wondering if the skill would feel the same when used I wanted to try it out, but as I opened my eyes I saw that uncle was talking to someone. Looking closely it was dad and he didn''t look happy.


    Once Dad saw that I had opened my eyes he turned to me with an angry and hurt expression on his face. Then, he asked with shivering in his voice," Mortimer did you really think I betrayed you? am I that bad of a parent to you? "


    It was then that I realized that it wasn''t anger but the disappointment that he felt.


    Realizing how much I must have hurt him I started with, " No, dad I just, " but before I could finish he spoke his voice still shivering and the corners of his mouth started to twist "You just what.."


    dad looked at me, as I wanted to say something else dad suddenly started laughing.


    The look of disappointment and sadness removed from his face confused I asked, "Dad?"


    he needed a bit to stop his laughing fit then said," I can''t believe you didn''t know about clarity. You that always is talking about how much of a great diver you''re going to be, that is reading up about skills almost all of the time. You know Mortimer, we were worried about you. You stormed out of the house just like that without even putting on your shoes. We thought you had entered the dungeon and I even drew to the closest on. When I got the call from Kim I was just glad you didn''t do anything stupid."


    While talking dad had put both of his hands on my shoulders. I looked at him and asked," Dad did you really forget that I couldn''t enter the dungeon. Isn''t It part of your job to register new divers and reminded them about this?"


    At that uncle, Kim burst out into loud laughter and we soon Joined him.

 Chapter 2 Training my skill

    When I opened the door I could hear hurried footsteps and my mom talking on the phone, "Ohh, they just returned. Thanks for the help miss Heckler. bye"


    After ending the call mom turned to me and then pulled me into one of her bear hugs. While hugging me she said, "we were so worried. Mortimer, why did you run away like that right after getting your crystal?"


    before I could even say a word dad chimed in," it was a misunderstanding, he didn''t know about clarity, so he thought I had given him a crappy crystal and was disappointed with me. But we sorted everything already right son"


    mom removed me from her hug and looked me into the eyes and then asked, " Is that true Mortimer?" I just nodded at me before rubbing my head and saying, "Your still as cute as ever. Then if everything is cleared up, let''s start eating."


    After we had eaten the food mom had prepared for my birthday, dad took another small box from his pocket and pushed it over the table. While doing so he said, "Here this is from your uncle, he wasn''t sure when to give it to you so he told me to do it. Just make sure to thank him, next time you see him."


    I answered him with a quick, " yes, dad" before I excitedly opened the box, inside was a beautiful violet crystal, next to the crystal was a single piece of paper.


    I first took the crystal wanting to activate it right away, but it didn''t work. Confused I looked at dad but he already turned on the TV and was watching a soccer game and I knew that he didn#t like to be interrupted when he watched his games.


    So I took the piece of paper and unfolded it. Written on it was.


    Hey Mortimer


    I know you wanted a magical skill but I find choices more imported so I gift you this crystal for your birthday.


    your uncle Kim


    PS, I know your father is getting you your first one. Just so you know it you have skill slots and to increase your number you need to train the skills you already possess.


    I quickly opened the skill tab on my PAS, instead of my choices from before I now could see a skill list with my only skill and in the top right corner I could see that I had 1 of 1 skill. But that wasn''t all right under the skill numbers I could see that I needed to increase the level of my skill by a total of 1. I selected my stepping skill and found out that it was level 0. I fidgeted a bit with my display options for skills and could now see the level of the skill next to the skill in the main tab.


    I pondered about it for a bit till I thought to myself "screw this, I can just go and look it up on the internet." So I went upstairs into my room and started my computer.


    I didn''t take long for the pc to boot and I quickly opened my profile bookmark on the dungeon diver association website. I was surprised that my skills were already up to date. It showed that I had the stepping skill at level 0. feeling lucky that I wouldn''t need to search for my skill I clicked on the like to the stepping skill.


    On the top of the page was the explanation of what the skill did as far as the scientist of the association knew. I quickly skimmed through it and was surprised, that this skill didn''t only improve the step itself but standing as a hole making it near impossible to drop me to the floor.


    It was also interesting that the person with the highest level in this skill only got it to level 27. I knew that some people had skills closing in on the 40.


    after skimming through the information I opened the subsection about training.


    This section was user-submitted and therefore always to be taken with caution.


    First I looked at the submitted training methods and found way too many, but luckily there were filters and one of those was the association proved filter. With this one, only methods that the association has found to work are shown.


    Now only two training methods remained so I looked at the ratings the first on had allover only 4-star ratings when I looked at the other methods I saw that it had a high number of 5-star ratings but also an incredible number of low ratings. Looking through the ratings I discovered that people with a higher skill level gave a better rating and the ones with low levels mostly said that it was too hard to do and gave up training the skill altogether. But the rating that I found most surprising was from the person with the highest skill level in stepping.


    Next, I looked at the instruction for the training and was surprised at the complexity of it. It explained multiple kinds of steps in great detail. The explanation alone was enough to let me understand that a single step was more than putting your foot on the ground. It was a movement that encompassed the whole body, it even explained supportive movements of the arms to improve the speed of a single step. Luckily for me, the training wasn''t only explained and came with a piece of software that I could download and the best part was that it was free.


    After I had downloaded it and wanted to start the program it asked me how much space I had to train and what level my skill was at. I entered the data and the program started, the first thing it did was call out a step that was explained slowly so I learned many different kinds of basic steps. At first, I had much more time to do the step right but slowly but surely the speed increased, but in between suddenly was once more a single step explained in great detail. But each time the focus was on something else. Soon I realized that with each mistake I made the program assumed that I had more space than I had and I started to bump into my desk or bed. I had only managed to train for half an hour and I already had bumped into my furniture so often that I felt it wouldn''t last much longer so I stopped the program and sat back in front of my computer.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I looked up the time for a skill to level and found out that rank 1 skills mostly needed 1 hour of training to reach the first level. Disheartened I looked at my profile and saw to my surprise that my skill already had reached level 1.


    I went to the training page and started to look through the ratings and comments and found that others had found that the training was highly effective. Next, I looked up the time it would need for a rank one skill to reach level two and set an alarm for when my skill reached level two and then started the program once more, but this time I reduced the space I had and set the level to one for my skill. The program started the same as before but improved faster than before, soon almost all of the order for me to do were reduced to simple word combinations like half step, back cross, side, and other so short commands, but I knew what the program wanted and did as told.


    When suddenly my PAS started to ring it surprised me. My skill had reached level 2 and it had taken only 40 minutes. I looked at my PAS with disbelieving normally the training to reach level 2 would take 90 minutes but with this training method, it took less than half. I knew the first couple of levels were easy to get but that was way to easy. Normally the training to rais from 0 to 2 took around two and a half hours and I just did it in a little less than half of that.


    I opened the page for the training methods and gave it a five-star rating and wrote, training is highly effective, I just trained for 1 hour and 15 minutes and reached level 2 from a starting level of 0. can only recommend this training program.


    Next, I Opened the profile of the author and looked at what else he had published, I was surprised that he had published a great number of skills training like the one for stepping, he had covered a diversity of skills but all of them related to battle or exploring the dungeon. Hoping that my next skill would be battle oriented I bookmarked his profile and then turned the pc off. It was late and I was exhausted. I undressed and entered my bed and I was asleep in an instance.


    When I awoke the next morning I could feel the muscles in my lower body and back more than ever. Muscles I didn''t even know I had hurt from all that training I did. I tried to move my body but soon discovered that it wasn''t as easy as I thought it would. I somehow manage to sit upright but soon discovered that it wasn''t possible to stand just yet. Looking around for something to help me get ready, I saw the small box with the crystal I had gotten from Uncle Kim. I had forgotten about it when I started to train yesterday.


    I looked at my PAS and saw that I now had 2 skill slots and that I only needed to raise a total of to more levels to gain another one. With excitement and pure force of will, I manage to stand up the muscle pain trying its best to force me back down. I managed to move over to my desk and then sat down on the chair. After a minute to recover from the pain, I grabbed the box and took the violet crystal out. It took me a moment to activate the crystal but soon I felt the Information flow into my mind. This time it wasn''t as much as before but I still used the PAS to look at my options


    dancing mastery


    improves all type of dance moves


    attributes agility, endurance


    shield mastery


    Improves the usage of shields


    attributes reaction, endurance


    footwork mastery


    improves you footwork in all situations


    attributes agility, reaction


    when I saw the options I was overjoyed, the shield was counted as a weapon so I could become a diver if I chose it. It wasn''t even a decision for me. So, I remembered back what uncle had told me about skill activation and tried to think about what I know about shields.


    I thought about what a shield is to me, I knew it was a weapon that was mainly used to deflect an attack. Surprisingly that was enough for me to gain the skill.


    Now armed with two skills I wanted to get dressed and go down to eat, but the muscle pain made this simple task into one of the most difficult ones I had ever done.


    When I finally managed to reach the dining table my father spotted me first and asked," Mortimer what happened?"


    I slowly walked to my chair and sat down before I said, "I think it was the training of my skill I did yesterday, my whole body feels as if acid is running through it." Dad laughed at that and then said," Kim did the same you know, and do you know what my father did back then?" I shook my head before dad continued," He drove him to school, Kim cursed the whole day at him that time." while saying this dad smirked at me evilly. Unlike normal dad waited for me to finish eating and then drove me to school. In the car I asked dad," Why are you doing this, Is this some kind of petty revenge for yesterday." Dad shook his head and then asked," Would you have preferred to walk to school?" Suddenly I was pretty glade dad did drive me to school today.


    Even though dad drove me to school I was still only on point for the first lesson, luckily the morning lessons were pretty uninteresting and I wasn''t picked for any kind of work that needed me to walk to the front. At lunch break, Hank and some of my classmates came over.


    "So dude, how was It what did you get?" of course it was hank that was the first to ask.


    "I got a high choice rank 1 Crystal and another rank 2 Crystal. My skills are Stepping and Shield mastery." I answered him. Thomas was the next to talk," So you''re on the Tank route, I heard that is the one with the most casualties, so did you already register in the Association as and diver?" I shook my head," not yet. And I don''t know if.." but I was cut short by Hank "Dude, your father is working for the association. Why didn''t he already register you?" "Because he can''t something about family members can''t register each other," I answered him. "Bullshit, Then when are you going for registration? Some of the dudes and I wanna go diving and we want you to join dude."


    Hank told me excitedly. "I planned to go tomorrow morning, so we could go tomorrow evening." I told him, He smiled brightly at me and then said, "That''s awesome, I will go and tell the others."


    and just like that Hank was gone. "He is as lively as ever," Thomas said next to me.


    "Are you satisfied with your skills?" Thomas asked me out of the blue. "Yes, I am. Why do you ask?" I answered him. "because I know of some who aren''t and I am not sure if I like my skill." he told me. I looked at him, "You have a firebolt skill, what is there not to like about it." He smiled sadly at me and then said," It is harder to train than nonmagical skills and do you know about my second skill?" I shook my head, "It''s another rank 3 that lets me control the temperature of things. The thing is I don''t know how to train them, I think I will get some low ranks crystals next and then I don''t know maybe go the magic fighter route. I''m still not sure how I will go about my diver carrier. What about you?" he told me about his plans.


    I looked at him and then said," I''m not sure which path I will take but I think I have a solid basis right now and that it will work out somehow. Maybe you need some rank 1 to get a foundation but I don''t know about that." He looked at me and then said, "I will think some more about it, maybe. No, Let me think about it a bit more. I think you should get going, you still need to talk to mister Zealand before the training starts if you want to use a shield."


    It took me a bit to get to my feet the pain was still there but it wasn''t as disabling as before, as I left the classroom to look for mister Zealand I looked back at Thomas. He stood there looking as if he was thinking about something important. He looked kinda cool.


    It didn''t take me long to find mister Zealand, as he was in the infirmary talking to the nurse. It didn''t take long for him to spot me and then he said, "Ahh mister Regis, I was expecting you to come, I have already marked you for a shield, so just get yourself one from the equipment shed like the rest. " he then turned back and talked once more to the nurse about something


    I just did what he told me to do and got myself a training shield. With the equipment, the school provided you couldn''t even hurt a fly. It was some kind of foam weapons. I didn''t think this kind of shield would protect me even from a skill like stans. It was a bit disappointing.


    I was the first to reach the battleground, so I started some exercise to loosen up my muscles a bit. They still did hurt but I could already move them. It didn''t take long for others to appear but they started to do a short warmup. One after the other my classmates reached then battleground. When Mister Zealand arrived the lesson started and he made us run ten laps. Then we did some stretches and then came another 20 laps. As we all were used to this we had all managed to finish this warmup without many problems. Even I managed it but my legs still felt pretty heavy after this, but luckily the pain was gone.


    Next was an exercise that we had done before it was one that was also pretty fun us. The goal was to push and shove each other to the ground once you fell you were out. Normally this game was over pretty quick as mister Zealand played too. But today he needed multiple tries to push me down.


    We did this for multiple rounds and with each round, it took just a bit longer till all but mister Zealand were on the ground. Between each round mister Zealand gave advice. He repeatedly told us that if we fought and got down to the ground it was almost certain that we would die. Normally I didn''t think much about it but today I realized the importance of remaining standing and that my skill is a great boon in that regard.


    Like always the last part of the training was a one on one sparring and my partner today was Emily since she had gotten her skill she was almost undefeated.

 Chapter 3 Match Vs Emily

    Emily was an odd case in class even though she didn''t have a weapon skill her magical skill Astral weapon required her to use a weapon. So she was specially allowed to use a weapon in training but because she didn''t need a specific weapon mister Zealand had organized that she would get a different weapon every lesson. Today her weapon was a heavy mace.


    Even though she was the strongest in class, I didn''t like sparring against her so much. I would always lose and she would need a break after each match because of her magic skill. But today was different because my body still arced from yesterday''s training and the pain had started to return.


    When the first round started she immediately used her astral weapon skill and send it my way. I knew that because of the limitation of her mana she could use her skill only for 20 seconds, so I evaded her weapon each time with a different combination of steps. It felt great that I could use what I trained yesterday so soon. It was then that I suddenly felt a soft impact on the back of my head, I stumbled a bit from the unexpected hit, but still managed to remain standing.


    Turning around I could see Emily standing behind me, smiling. "With this, the first round goes to me." She said to me matter of factly then turned around and walked back to her starting position to rest. One of mister Zealands Bodydoubles looked at me and then asked me, "Regis, can you tell me why you lost ?" I didn''t think for long before I answered," I think I was too fixed on evading the astral weapon that I lost sight of Emily sir". "That''s right, you did good in evading her skill, but you still need to be aware of your surroundings, take care to not repeat this." was the response mister Zealand gave to my half-hearted answer. I just nodded at him and then turned back to Emily.


    We rested for a short while and when Emily nodded at me it was time for the second match.


    We both tried to glare at each other and could barely hold back laughing. Because of this, I was surprised when Emily started to sprint in my direction, I had expected her to keep her distance.


    Her skill was more suited for ranged combat and I knew that she usually kept her distance to melee fighters. Something wasn''t right. When I was in reach for her weapon she swung at me, I prepared to block her attack but at the last moment, I could see her sides of her lips trembling. She was suppressing a smile. So I did something more out of reflex than a conscious decision. I used a shifting three quarter sidestep to end up beside her followed by a sliding back cross step to turn towards her. With this simple maneuver, I completely vanished from her vision. My vision had changed as well, now I could see her astral weapon that was hidden from me before. If I hadn''t moved the way I did I would have lost this round too.


    Emily had already started to turn towards me and was again in mid-swing, but that wasn''t all her astral weapon moved to swing at me too. I wanted to move away from both of the attacks, but that felt wrong there was something that wanted me to do something different. So I did just that I took a single step towards her while using my shield to block her astral weapon. Not expecting this she needed to stop mid-swing as I was way to close to her and she hurriedly tried to increase the distance between us. This didn''t work out at all as her balance was completely broken and she fell on her ass. Using this moment I knocked my shield against her head. Of course, I did it gently and then I said, "It looks like the second round is my win."


    She looked at me her eyes a bit teary and asked me," How did you know about my astral weapon? I made sure that you couldn''t see them at all." "Yes I didn''t know about your astral weapon, but when I was about to block your swing your lips twitched a little and that gave it away." after I told her she clicked her tongue. "next time I will get you," she said to me. Mister Zealands Body double just watched our exchange and said nothing.


    After another short break, we started our next match. This one we started again by glaring at each other but this time we didn''t find it as funny as before. We slowly started to shorten the distance between us. When I was inside the reach of her weapon, I saw a small shimmer to my left and at the same time, Emily swung her weapon from my right, trying to corner me with her astral weapon. I knew that if I evaded her astral weapon then I wouldn''t be able to block her attack and if I evaded her attack then her low sweeping astral weapon would knock me from my feet. So I did something, that I would have never thought of if not for yesterday''s training. First I stepped so that I would evade the Astral weapon and then used a high sidestep to step onto her Astral weapon using the power of it to carry me out of range for her attack. It was extremely difficult and I barely remained standing after this maneuver.


    Emily was surprised but she didn''t let that hinder her. She quickly followed me and swung at me once more, while her astral weapon followed after her and had a shorter arc around her body so I couldn''t get close this time. Sadly I still hadn''t regained stable footing and so couldn''t evade but somehow I still managed to block her attack. It was then that the arc of her astral weapon extended and she landed a hit on me. The hit sends me flying, but somehow I manage to still regain my footing and remain standing.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    This round was my loss but before any of us could say anything mister Zealand said, "Farald that was pretty solid use of your skill continue just like that. Regis, What the hell was that. That was stupid and unnecessary. If you had just stepped over her attack, you wouldn''t have broken your posture and would have been in an optimal position to counter." We both answered mister Zealand''s body double and then sat down for a short break.


    In the short break, I was thinking that so far all I did was reacting, this time I want to be on the offensive. So as soon as the next match started I started to run towards Emily. This time Emily tried to keep her distance and harass me with her astral weapon. After I had evaded her weapon for 10 seconds still trying to shorten the distance Emily let her weapon disappear.


    So I started to run towards her while keeping up my guard against her astral weapon. Just before I could reach her astral weapon appeared not even 5 cm before my face. I couldn''t react before I hit it face first.


    When it started to swing at me I used a backstep to escape the attack. But just then realized that Emily had already moved and was right next to me. She had used her astral weapon as a distraction to close the distance without me realizing it. Luckily I saw her before she could hit me. Using a quick sliding step to turn myself I trusted my shield into her weapon. I felt the full force of her blow travel through my body. If I hadn''t managed to get a firm stance this would have blown me away instead


    most of the force was redirected and her weapon was blown upward. She still had the weapon in her grip but this was an opportunity I couldn''t waste so I used my right hand to punch at her. Just as I was about to hit her her astral weapon appeared once more blocking my punch.


    Not wanting to waste my advantage I grabbed her astral weapon and tried to kick her. Just as my foot was about to reach her she took a step back and her astral weapon disappeared from my hand.


    She grinned at me as her astral weapon appeared once more and swung at me I easily evaded it, but I was hit by something in my back. I turned and just saw that another astral weapon disappeared. I had forgotten that she could do that. Emily wasn''t the strongest in our class for nothing she was so strong that she didn''t use all she could most of the time. With her astral weapon skill at level 2, she could summon and control up to two copies of her weapon. But normally she just used one because that was enough. But today I had somehow managed to bring out her second weapon. I was happy so happy about that that I didn''t hear what mister Zealand said.


    After waiting for the next round I was nervous. I knew that now I would face Emily while she didn''t hold back. I slowly closed the distance between the two of us. Emily stood still. I slowly closed the distance but she just stood there. Then without any warning, two astral weapons appeared one to my left and on on my right. Quickly I rammed my shield into the left one and move in that direction to evade the other. Both Weapons disappeared. I looked at Emily she started to walk slowly towards me. I was nerves, my mind was prepared that something did happen at any moment. I felt pressured by her presence alone. I started to sweat and she continued to slowly walk towards me. I just stood there ready for anything that could happen expect what she did next. An astral weapon appeared under her foot and flung her at me and then both of her astral weapons appeared next to me and swung at me, I was so surprised at her action that instead of evading or anything else I threw my shield at her.


    She just recalled one of her astral weapons and let it appear before her to deflect my throw.


    Barly I managed to dodge the other attack. As Emily was still airborne I just threw a punch at her, but she used her astral weapon as a steppingstone to jump over me and evade my attack. Her landing wasn''t graceful at all but she still managed to catch herself before she could fall. An astral weapon appeared between us to buy her time but I myself increased the distance and tried to regain my shield. Her second weapon appeared just as I was about to regain my shield and tried to cut me off from it. I still somehow managed to evade its attack and regain my shield just in time for a second attack.


    The astral weapon disappeared, I looked around for Emily and couldn''t find her. then at the top corner of my vision, I could see the shimmering of her astral weapon and looked upwards. There she was using her astral weapon to fly. The moment our eyes met I could hear her click her tongue. She flew a bit away and then dropped from her weapon.


    Not wanting to lose such an opportunity I started a mad dash for her, it was then that another astral weapon appeared. Stopping dead in my tracks, I was once more forced into a reactive role. If I wanted to win I needed to change something. It was then I remembered that this was a magic skill that needed mana so I just need to make her waste more of it to win.


    I started to rush her once more but this time no astral weapon appeared. Even when I got into melee range she just swung her weapon at me. I quickly parried her attack with my shield, she used the backswing of her weapon to increase the distance between us. But I wouldn''t let her get away that easy. Just as I took a step forward something appeared right under my foot and flung me forward. She used that moment to swing her weapon at me. I reacted as fast as possible and used my shield to block. I managed to block her attack but she had used the momentum of her weapon to shift my position and as I was airborne I somersaulted before I heavily landed on my back.


    Right after I landed Emilys to astral weapons appeared directly above me and I couldn''t move. Before I could free myself she swung her weapon against me and then lightly tapped against me. Just at that moment both of her astral weapons disappeared.


    She smiled at me and reached for my hand to pull me up. I let her pull me up. When we were both standing again Mister Zealand said, " That was an excellent battle. So tell me what can you both do to Improve?" Emily started first," I shouldn''t use my weapon to fly, It reduces my mobility and consumes too much mana, instead I should try to use the catapulting more efficient and train it a bit more." "Yes that is a pretty good analysis and Regis what can you improve." mister Zealand changed the focus to me.


    "I should try to remain calmer because I was so nervous I stupidly threw my shield. Even if it helped me at the moment it left me pretty open." I answered his question. "Good, both of you have made good progress today. Farald you finally started to use your skill for more than attacking continue working on that. Regis your use of skill in battle is still unrefined, but I see potential just continue working on it and you should catch up to the others fast. I think that is enough for both of you for the day. Regis can barely stand and Farald you have overdrawn your mana. You should both go to the Infirmary getting yourself healed up." Concluded Mister Zealand our duel. Now that he pointed it out I realized how wobbly my legs have become and Emily was visible paler than usual. So we both moved towards the infirmary as mister Zealand had suggested.

 Chapter 4 Shopping with Hank

    When I returned from the Infirmary and entered the boy''s locker room, the others from my class were already changing. The first to spot me was, of course, my buddy Hank. Half dressed as he was he walked over to me and said, "Dude, that last match you had was Awsome.". As he talked he raised his hand for a high five. Of course, I didn''t leave him hanging.


    Seeing this Thomas came over as well, "Hey Morty, so how is it? Do you think you want to go down the path of a tank? You did really well against Emily. I saw that you even won one round.". "Is that true dude? You managed to win a round against Emily." Hank asked in a way to loud voice.


    "Yes, but she wasn''t serious and only used one of her astral weapons." I answered him realizing all the other boys were listening in. "that doesn''t matter dude. Your now part of our top tier. Ohh how I wish I could finally manage to win a round against her. You don''t know how jelly I am of you right now dude." Hank said.


    Looking around I could see some of the other boys in class nod at Hanks outburst. "Now that you are a challenge and not only a victim for her to beat up. I won''t be paired with her that often thanks." Thomas said to me while patting me on the shoulder.


    It was then that the door was slammed. Looking at the door I asked, "who was that?". One of our classmates answered," It was stan.". "What is his problem? Dude." Hank asked. Thomas answered," He is jealous I think. He has been trying to get Emily to fight him seriously and Morty just got his skill and managed to get her serious right away."


    I looked at Thomas, pondered a moment and then asked," Then who does she fight seriously?"


    but it was hank who answered, "Dude, I know you are always focused when you fight, but you should watch your classmates more. It is only Nadine and Thomas she fights seriously. Maybe we can add you to that list as well." In the end, he smirked at me. "You forgot Davis" Thomas added.


    "But Davis is a special case, I just hope I can beat him sooner rather than later," I said and tried to look determined. Thomas, Hank and some others burst out laughing when they saw my face. "Dude, you always make such funny faces at the weirdest of moments.


    After we changed clothes, we separated and all went home as hank and I lived close to each other we walked together. "Hey dude, do you want to drop by your uncle''s store? I have finally managed to save up enough for another skill. Wanna go together?" Hank suddenly asked me. I had known that he was saving for a second skill, but was surprised that he already saved up enough to buy one.


    "Yes, how much did you manage to save?" I asked. He posed with his chest out and then said," I have saved enough for my first magic skill." "Ohh" I exclaimed and then continued with," That is going to be interesting let''s hurry."


    We started to sprint towards Uncles store and hurriedly entered it. Uncle was tending to a customer


    So we started to look around the store there were some crystals on the display but there wasn''t that much to look at. Even though we tried not to listen in, we couldn''t help but listen to the conversation the two of them had. Especially when the customer''s voice started to get louder.


    "Please, can''t you raise the price, Even just a hundred are enough. I need this, please. " begged the customer. Uncle Kim looked troubled as he answered," I''m sorry, but I can''t the prices for crystals are regulated by the association. If I disregard those I can close my store right away. So, I can only give you 1000 $ for this crystal." but the man wouldn''t listen and continued to beg, "Please, that isn''t enough, I need just 100 more." It was then that hank walked over to them and boldly as he was asked the customer, "What rank is the crystal?". Confused the customer looked at Hank before he said," Ehh, It is a rank 3 crystal, why do you ask?" Hank looked at the customer and then said," I''m here to buy a rank 3 crystal. What is the level and clarity of the crystal?". The man smiled at Hank understanding that hank wanted to make a private deal and then said to him, "It is a rank 3 level 0 crystal with two choices if you bought this at this store you would pay 2000 $. I will sell it to you for 1100 $ what do you say?" Hank pondered for a moment and then turned to me and asked in a sweet voice," Dude, could you lent me 70 Bucks? I will return them as soon as possible please?"


    I started to get goosebumps from the way hank started to talk, so I just started to operate my PAS and transferred him the 70$. Then looked up at him and said, "done" He stared at me and then said, "Dude that is a PAS, I thought it was just a fancy new watch. That''s so cool." after he had calmed down a but he said," Thanks dude." and then turned back to the customer. "Then we have a deal, Sir," Hank said to the men. He then turned to Kim and said, "Hey dude can we use your AS."


    Uncle Kim forced himself to smile and said, "Yes, I will oversee this transaction. Please remember that personal trades of crystals are limited to five per year." As always uncle Kim did his job professionally.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    After finishing the transaction the customer almost sprinted out of the shop. Hank on the other side was excited as hell. He looked at me and said, "I''m so curious about what skill I will get. Ohh I just can''t wait any longer." and just like that, he used the crystal right in front of me. At this uncle Kim shook his and started to complain to me about Hank, "Hank still hasn''t learned any manners. First, he snatches a customer from me and then he activates his crystal in the middle of my shop. He just doesn''t change. Say, Mortimer, where has he gotten a magic skill, I don''t remember me selling him one? Did he go to another one?"


    I looked at uncle blanky, then asked him," Hank only got his Archery mastery skill, this will be his second one, why did you assume he already had a magic skill?". At my answer uncle just facepalmed. After a moment he regained his usual professionalism and then said, "Mortimer, you know about crystal level right." I nodded at him and then realized what he meant and almost shouted "He bought a level 0." and facepalmed as well.


    "Uncle, is there any way for me to help him?" I asked uncle. He pondered for a moment and then asked me," I assume you will go diving tomorrow or the day after right?". "Yes, we will go tomorrow evening. Why do you know anything?" I asked him.


    Uncle nodded and then said, "Someday ago, I had a talk with Linda. One of her Drugs was given the ok for human testing and she was looking for test personal. The drug she is testing is special. It will increase the mana maximum. Linda is hoping to help Like your Mother with this Drug."


    "So it could help Hank," I asked curiously. "I think, the other way would be for him to learn another magic skill that is already level one. But that will take him much longer and will cost him at last 2000 $ for the crystal." Uncle explained to me.


    I pondered for a moment then said to him," I think we should ask Hank about this." Uncle nodded at me," You are right this is something Hank needs to decide." So we waited that hank would finish his selection. It took him nearly an hour before he reacted to us again. When I started with," He Hank" I was instantly cut off by him," Dude I''m So excited. I will go home first I want to try it out." before I could say even one word Hank had already left the store and was gone. Uncle chuckled behind me and then asked, "I will call Linda. I think Hank will definitely want to try this drug out."


    After Uncle called her, he just told me that she would meet me tomorrow in front of the association building. I talked for a bit more with uncle and then went home.


    Over dinner, I told mom and dad about what happened with hank and that I would meet Linda tomorrow after I registered.


    When I finally got to my room I almost instantly started my PC. I opened the diver association side and looked up the person that made the stepping training method. He had made many more training methods and luckily there was one for shields too. I downloaded it. When I clicked to install the program I was surprised, it told me the program was already installed and that the shield training could be integrated into the training menu. I didn''t hesitate and continued to install the program.


    When I started the software I was surprised the menu changed a bit. I selected solo training, then choose my skill and inserted the levels I had for each of them. It once again asked for space I had to train. Then the training started and I was overwhelmed, instead of one order at a time I know had two almost at all times, It still started slowly and with more details.


    When I finally shook off my surprise I realized that I didn''t have a shield. I stopped the program and went into the garage, there I found a piece of wood and some tape and a bit of cable. With this, I made myself an improvised shield. That should be enough for today''s training.


    With my new shield, I went back to my room and started the training. I won''t lie it was hard. Most of the time I didn''t manage to follow both instructions and made some mistakes. Still, the training managed to push my skill further and increase both of them by a single level. But that wasn''t all I had learned how to do a fading block and how to follow a block with a shield bash. I still don''t know how useful something like that is but better to know those technics than not knowing them.


    As I pondered if I should start the next level of training I remembered the muscle pain form this morning and decided that it would be best for me to go to bed early.


    The next morning I woke up early, It was way earlier than usual when I had school. So I decided that a bit of morning practice wouldn''t hurt and started up the software. In this training session, the focus was more on blocking with supporting steps. It took me a bit to get used to those kinds of steps as they were extremely quick, I soon realized that most of them were much shorter than I had assumed at first and that made the exercise easier than I had believed it to be. Soon the steps got complex and the angle of the block changed more drastically. It was then that the tape I had used to fix the cable to the wood loosened and the wood smacked into one of the walls. Luckily there was no damage to the wall. It didn''t take long for the door to my room to open and mom looking at me half asleep. "Mortimer is everything alright," she asked while suppressing a yawn. "Yes, mom everything is Ok. My training shield just broke." I answered her. She looked at what I had used to train and then said," You should get a proper one soon. I''m going back to bed. Please be a little bit quieter this time. I nodded and she left the room.


    After this Accident, I decided that I should wait until I had a proper shield to train, not this piece of wood that couldn''t handle the rapid movement of the training. So I sat down and started to browse. I looked up what I could about the publisher of my training software. His name was Karl Gothenburg, he was a researcher in the field of skills and specialized on rank 1 and 2 skills. His training methods were known to be hard but efficient. But what I found in the forums was unexpected it was discussed if the actual level of the skill was the same as the training level. Many said that you should only increase the level of difficulty once you got used to the training, not when your skill leveled up.


    I read some more and then decided it was time for a shower. When I finished showering I ate breakfast together with dad. We talked a bit and then both moved to his car. At this, he turned to me and asked, "Did I forget something? Was I supposed to drive you somewhere?". " Dad We talked about this yesterday, I''m going to the association too. " I said to him. "Right, but I thought you would take the bus." dad said to me bluntly. "You''re driving there to work, so why should I take the bus when I can just tag along?" I asked him.


    "Your right, get in." He said to me.


    On the way, Dad explained to me some of the basic rules that everyone that goes diving needs to be aware of. The First thing he explained was about entering and leaving the dungeon. You need to check-in and out every time you enter a dungeon. You also need to say how long you want to dive and how deep you are going. The reason for that is the Rescue team the association has to save young divers. If you are saved by such a team all the loot you get will go to the association to pay the teams.


    Then he talked about Crystal that you can only sell them to registered stores and that you can do private deals only 5 times a year. He also told me that rare crystals are mostly sold that way.


    The next thing he explained was how loot in the dungeon worked. I had known that you could get loot from dungeons, but not how. It was strange, you got the loot when you left the dungeon inside a bag. They had found out that it didn''t matter who killed the monster inside a dungeon instead it mattered more if you were closeby or not. He also told me that most loot could be sold to the association or shops nearby.


    The last thing he told me that I could always ask the personal on side on things I didn''t know and that I should ask them how deep I should go with my level.


    At this, he asked me," What is your current Level Mortimer?" I looked at my PAS and then said to him," my stepping skill is level 3 and my Shield mastery skill is at level 2."


    "Those are your skill level. When we in the association talk about the level of divers we talk about the number of skills a diver can have. With your skills, you should be already level three. I can already tell that you trained quite a bit. Most need longer to get to level three." Dad told me.


    I looked at my PAS and Dad was right I could already have three skills.