Chapter 24- Honed Skills

Following the events of the previous day, Dubs headed back once more to the dining hall. Upon arriving and acquiring some food, Clark approached Dubs.

"Hey, Dubs! It's been a while since we've seen each other." Clark sat down next to Dubs with a tray loaded with all types of meats and desserts.

Dubs looked over and suppressed his other self's desire to take over and speak. "I need to keep things under control in order to form reasonable relations with those surrounding me.", he thought.

Clark began eating and started pointing around with his fork as if trying to tell Dubs something, but he couldn't because his mouth was too full.

After a gulp and a swig of the cheap beer the resistance had access to, Clark began to discuss with Dubs.

"The resistance has been considering what to do with you long term. We plan on letting you stay here for a short amount of time to train, but once you've become trained enough to survive on the outside were going to send you over to Reagan.", he explained.

"She may be a little nuts, similar to yourself, but she has a great amount of advanced technology and knowledge that we couldn't hope to obtain in our small sector here. With that, you can feel free to research magic as you please, and get a better understanding of your own condition."

Clark continued shoving the food down and finished his plate. "Be patient and train yourself up for now. I will let you know when the time comes for you to leave this place."

Dubs agreed and finished up his food before retiring to his room.

"So I will be leaving once my training is finished, eh? We had better try to finish this training as soon as possible then.", Dubs contemplated.

His other self spoke to him. "Hmm... I hope I'll be able to hold out before then without lashing out at someone...". His voice trailed off with a laugh.

Dubs had already considered this, and decided that he would simply rid the earth of either Samuel or Peter should his other self need to release pent up stress.

The ideal scenario, however, would be if Dubs could vent stress through sheer training, and allow his other self to hang on until he left to the surface.

Dubs went to sleep confident that he would be able to continue becoming stronger.

A week passed. Days upon days of training befell on Dubs. He trained in running, weightlifting, and even sword fighting with his other self.

Dubs once again found himself in the resistive training room, squaring off with the shadow figure. They faced each other, both daggers drawn. Like a mirror image, the shadow of Dubs almost perfectly replicated himself.

Their faces wreaked of blood lust and thirst for battle. There was a fire present in their eyes that could not be extinguished with mere words. It was the preceding of an exchange of emotions through blades.

The two figures dashed off from their positions, sprinting towards each other like two cheetahs. Both Dubs and his other self swerved their daggers about themselves and their opponent gracefully, like a well performed dance routine.

Dodging by a hairs length, the two continuously attacked each other. The strikes were quicker than the normal eye could see, and if a normal human were to be subjected to even a single one of these strikes, they would be lying on the floor in a bloody mess before they even knew they were being targeted.

The two focused intensely on the battle. The thrill of battle permeated throughout the air, but the balance was ever delicate. Even a single distraction would lead to defeat.

The two furiously continued their attacks, trying to maneuver themselves in such a way so that they could both dodge the incoming attack and launch an unexpected counter.

The reflexes of both parties would not allow for such a situation, however, as even when Dubs shadow figure had dodged an attack to the gut by molding himself to form a short blob, which dodged underneath the dagger, and then squirmed underneath Dubs' legs and performed a surprise attack from the backside, Dubs then performed a back flip into the air to avoid the situation.

With incredible agility, speed, and power, the two continued their evenly matched exchange for another 20 minutes.

Dubs let out a smirk and while continuously attacking with his right hand, began to control a single magical particle with his right. He kept this out of view of his other self, and guided it underneath the ground to perform a surprise attack.

When his other self had dodged in such a way that he would land in the area where Dubs had hidden the trap, Dubs let the particle emerge, causing his shadow to reform himself to avoid the magic damage. In the reformation, he took the form of a donut, and the particle flew in between the hole.

Dubs took advantage of this molding and attacked the area where the donut was forming. As if perfectly on cue, the shadowy material that his other form used as a body took form at the exact same time that Dubs' dagger was thrusting within that area. Once again the dagger hit the shadowy material with a clang, but Dubs did not lose his composure over the shock.

Instead, Dubs kept his guard up and dodged one final attack from his other self by the skin of his teeth.

The two stopped and stared at each other silently for a moment before they both bursted out in laughter. Anyone looking onto the scene would have seen a schizophrenic madman laughing among himself while focusing on an imaginary figure, but to Dubs this was everyday life.

"AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! What a thrill!! I cannot believe you managed to improve yourself to this level in such a small amount of time, Dubs!", his other voice croaked.

"It is your win for this match. Congratulations, you have finally beaten me on a physical level. All that is left is to hone your magical skills and you will be able to defeat me.", the voice complimented.

Dubs smiled and fell to the ground, exhausted. Even after his rigorous physical training, fighting his other self was something that required complete concentration and perfection in every area. A single mistake would lead to his defeat.

Not only that, but ever since Dubs had improved his fighting ability, his other self would come at him with increasing levels of killing intent. At this point, if his other self had landed an attack, there would be no pulled punches. If the attack happened to be fatal, Dubs would have died on the spot.

This was how it had to be however, in order for Dubs to improve to this level so quickly. If there are no consequences for ones actions, they begin to think that failure is acceptable as an option.

Dubs was well aware that failure was not an option, and that the only way to survive in this cruel world was to produce results.

"You really have become a completely different person. Despite the raging emotions we both were emitting during the fight, you had them fully concealed, so that I couldn't tell the intent of each strike until it was almost completed. I wasn't able to detect any giveaways to your attacks through sound either, as you've mastered the ability to move silently. Along with that, you can now sense my own intentions, and are able to react in time as a result."

Dubs smiled, laying down on the soft mattress material. Closing his eyes, he spread out his arms and relaxed.

"Not only those things, but your physical stats show that you are a no longer weak by any means. Your strength has increased to 12.36, agility has gone up to 10.94, and Perception has increased to 15.52. Your vitality has only increased to around 150 health points, however this still is no small increase. With this amount of exponential growth, you are already stronger than the strongest knight of the empire!", Dubs other self exclaimed.

Dubs was quite shocked by this. "What do you mean?", he demanded. "Surely the strongest warriors of the empire exceed this level. Do you jest?"

Dubs other voice spoke seriously. "No, I am telling you what I have seen. Among all the knights who used you at a training dummy, the strongest among them had around 6 of each statistic- agility, strength, and perception. The ones who were allowed to use you for training were in the upper echelon of all empire warriors, so if there was anyone stronger I would be informed."

What a discovery this was! There were still the surfacers, who surely far exceeded Dubs' current strength, but to think that the empire was this weak!

Dubs other self spoke once more. "Your physical training can be set aside for now. You should still continue to train your body for a couple hours each day to continue your statistical increases, however your focus now should shift over to controlling and mastering different magic types and spells."

Dubs agreed, and headed outside where he caught the other squadmates training on their own.

Enferia rushed up to Dubs cheerfully and asked "Dubs, we have decided to go on a mission together as a band of mercenaries! Would you like to come along?"