Ascending a mountain and being one with the elements
On the planet in the center of the galaxy, a shadow was standing in a garden and he was enjoying the view. As suddenly...
---Notice---
---First Human to earn Special reward appeared---
"Hmmm, a Human? Interesting, and here I thought they are one of the weakest creatures among this galaxy." Soon after saying that he arrived inside a monitor room and watched the record of Lothar absolving the Healer training course. "Hmmm, not bad, Show me his status window."
Lothar
---Race: Human Lvl: 1---
---Title: None---
---Job: None---
---Class: None---
---Status: Cursed---
---HP 1500---
---Mana 50---
---Str: 5---
---Agi: 5---
---Int: 5---
---Vit: 15---
---Skills: Inventory/ Endurance LVL 2---
---Equipment: None---
"Seems like he is very tenacious and a natural talent. He must have lost something in his life to get Endurance Lvl 2 at this young age what kind of hellish training menu did he accomplish for surviving the curse of weakness and still raise his stats?" After that, the shadow looked into Lothar's background and took his time watching his past life.
Meanwhile, Lothar was back in the yellow light and felt as if he was weightless. Originally Lothar wanted to become a Healer because he hoped to find a way to get rid of the curse of weakness. But right now he had a different goal in mind. He thought that maybe the other classes hold the same hidden reward and wanted to obtain this +10 stat points. That would make him at least strong enough to be on par or even more powerful than his classmates.
---Please choose a training course---
---Available courses are---
---Swordsmen training course---
---Scout training course---
---Mage training course---
He then said: "Scout training course." Just like before the yellow light engulfed him and when he was able to open his eyes again he was Standing in front of 2 doors again. And again the stone plates with many people carved into and with only one Person carved into was seen on top of the doors.
---Choose a path---
Lothar entered the door on the left with the plate showing only one person again. As he came through he found himself on a very long road, in the far distance a huge forest could be seen and behind that, there was a mountain. It was the same as in the Healer training course he knew exactly what to do. For completing the course he had to reach the top of the mountain and if his guess is correct he will get a +10 Agi bonus for doing it in under 20 days. He was very confident in doing this course next because he now could increase his speed and recovery due to learning how to circulate the life energy in his body.
He began to run at a very steady and fast pace, he could keep this up for at least 5 hours straight bevor he had to take a rest, all of that due to learning how to recover while running. One part of his mind focused on channeling the life energy in his legs, another part just focused on running. This made him faster than the average person to take this training course. Of course, they were fast because only people with Agi higher than 10 are suited to be Scouts, but they lacked endurance and Vitality which is like stamina. He knew that with his increased Vit he would be able to keep this up longer then normal person even if he was slower then them.
He managed to reach the forest after 5 days of running and he was mentally and physically perfectly fine. He was used to training all day, and the ability to recover made him place another record. A normal person needs at least 12 to 15 days for arriving at the forest and when they arrive they are mentally exhausted and in no state to continue with the next part of the training. So after arriving at the Forrest he slowed down and moved in the shadows of the trees very smooth and steady with his concentration always focused on his surroundings.
The forest is the lethal part of the training course. Traps were laid out everywhere. They were not deadly but could injure you enough to make you rest a few days. But this did not apply for Lothar. Even if he would be hit or stabbed. he could immediately heal his wounds. He proceeded at a steady pace and found most of the traps. He was very knowledgeable in this regard. In the 2 years of his training, one of his main studies was laying and defusing traps. Sometimes there were traps he could not detect and was hit badly. He would just sit in front of the mechanism and study it during the time he needs to heal. With this, he would learn more about traps and eventually escape them the next time.
After another 3 days, he was finally out of the forest and arrived at the foot of the mountain. In this area, a small labyrinth was built. On some of the walls were statues with the same faces that were on the walls in the Healer training course, this faces each had a different movement pattern, some were spinning their heads 360 degrees some looked up and down and some just shook there head from left to right in a 90-degree sector. Lothar knew from the game guide that he had to pass this labyrinth without being seen. If a statue sees you, you will be teleported to the beginning of the labyrinth. This was finally the part of the Scout training course where his newfound powers could not help him.
Lothar is someone with a very good ability to observe and to remember. Since the beginning of his training, he always would train his brain to remember ways, patterns, rhythms, and other things that would help him to survive in a dungeon. He would always prepare himself to the fullest and form a plan in his mind before taking action if possible. Of course, he knew how to act spontaneously but he liked to be prepared for every possibility.
He climbed on a tree in front of the labyrinth and divided his thoughts again. One part scouted for the right path to take, and one part figured out the watch Patterns of the statues and looked out for gaps in their surveillance. "Not bad, this boy is to my liking" The shadow returned from studying Lothar's past to observing him. "He truly understands the meaning of being a Scout." After a few hours of observation and after nightfall, Lothar decided to give it a try. He moved to a laid out plan in his head. He was able to imagine the whole route through the labyrinth and even remember the movement patterns of the statues. Even though his Int was very low he was studying these kinds of things every day so this was nothing for him.
He needed the whole night to make it through the labyrinth, but he made it at his first try. Only 9 days passed and he was already at the last phase of the Scout training course, to climb the mountain and reach the top. The last phase was again a combination of all the other obstacles before. Endurance, Speed, Scouting for traps and enemies. He had to run parts of the way then they were parts where he had to climb and also look out for traps, during all this he had to constantly recover and look out for statues that would send him back to the foot of the mountain. For ascending the mountain it took him 3 days without making any mistake. After arriving at the top he prepared a meal and recovered from all the fatigue he sustained the last couple days.
"This is a promising young boy I hope he will get rid of that curse someday." The Shadow watched Lothar as he was enjoying his meal. "Let's see what he does next, will he become a Scout or choose to do more training courses." Lothar then finished his meal and walked to a stone in front of him. As he touched the stone the system's voice could be heard:
---Congratulations---
---You have finished the Scout training course---
---You have completed the training in under 20 days---
---Special reward +10 Agi---
---Would you like to change your Class to Scout?---
---Yes---
---No---
He was grinning from ear to ear for being right about the special reward and said. "No". Back in the yellow light and in the weightlessness.
---Please choose a training course---
---Available courses are---
---Swordsmen training course---
---Mage training course---
"Mage training course," Lothar said as the yellow light began to intensify again. When he was able to open his eyes again he was standing before 2 doors, on top of the doors stone plates on the left side only one Person carved into it and on the right side many People carved into it.
The meaning of these doors is to choose if you want to concentrate on solo adventuring or in a group. In the Healer course, he chose to focus on self-healing, if he had chosen to walk the other door the Tasks ahead would be to heal others and not himself, to channel the life energy outside of your body and heal group members. If he would have chosen the other door inside the Scout training course he would have to focus on ranged attacks and support skills.
This time he was Standing in front of the doors of the Mage training course. "Strange, I have never seen a Mage that went solo into a dungeon." After thinking for a moment he had an idea. "If my guess is correct, this might be more challenging then I thought, even though this is the simplest of the training courses." He then entered the left door with only one person carved into the stone plate.
It was a square garden again. It looked exactly the same as the Healer training course garden but this time there were no herbs planted in the corners but there was a barrier. Behind the barriers in every corner was a different element, at the corners to the safe zone was an opening where some of the elements leaked out into the safe zone.
Fire | |Water
_______| |_______
_______ Save _______
| |
Air | | Earth
The purpose of this training course is to conect to at least one element and make it touch every wall. The 4 walls have the same faces on them as in the Healer training course but this time each wall will attack with another element when you step out of the safe zone. To connect to an element takes a while so this is the only reason this training course takes most of the applicants 3 to 4 weeks. Some try to lengthen the time so they can conect to the other elements as well.
"I think this is going to be interesting. Let's see if my guess is correct." Lothar focused life energy to every part of his body and buffed his legs. With his healing powers and his now increased Agility, this was nothing for him. He readied himself and began to sprint to the earth wall. Just like in the Healer training course the faces started to attack him, but instead of stones and arrows, he was shot with earth, mud, and rubble at an incredible speed.
But this was nothing for him since he was now 3 times faster than before, his Agi went up from 5 to 15 after all. After some evasive maneuvers, he managed to touch the wall. "Seems like my guess is correct. Since no one was able to evade these attacks before, no one tried to touch it directly and was forced to manipulate the elements to touch it."
Normal people would not want to get burned by fire or sliced by the wind attacks. So they came up with the idea to touch the walls with the elements. A puzzle only intelligent people could come up with. But since the beginning of this training course, he had a feeling that there is more to it. He then walked back to the safe zone and said to himself: "Since I can pass this test any time now I think I can focus on connecting to the element's wholeheartedly and finish the test just before 20 days are over."
He then walked to the corner of the fire element and sat down before the opening. The fire was one of the most difficult elements to control, he thought if he were able to master it first the other elements would follow smoother. Lothar reached out with his hands and tried to feel the fire, the heat that it radiates the liveliness of it, simply everything about it. When he was tired he rested, when he was hungry he ate something. He was simply relaxing as he connected to the flames in front of him. He did this for about 7 days straight.
Suddenly he noticed that he was able to feel foreign energy entering his body through his hands. It was a very familiar feeling, this was the same feeling he got from the poison entering his body when he was in the Healer training course. But this time it was a little bit different the energy this time was not trying to spread out and take over the body, it was trying to destroy everything on the spot. He felt the extreme heat that was burning him on the spot. He then unleashed his life energy and countered the fire energy. After a few moments, he recovered from the shock and some burn marks on his hands.
When he was ready for the next attempt he noticed that he was able to control the flames and make them move, not much but a little bit. "So this is how one manipulates flames. But this energy that entered my body was very powerful. I hope I can control it in the future." Suddenly he came up with another Idea. "I was able to adapt to the poison, what if I can adapt to fire as well." He then headed straight to the corner where the water was leaking. He then did the same as he did with the fire. This time it took him 2 days to feel the changes.
Suddenly another foreign energy entered his body, this time equal to the fire energy this energy did not spread out is was trying to freeze everything on the spot. After neutralizing the energy and healing his hands from the frost brand he put on a smirk and walked to the center of the safe zone. Lothar than placed a torch and a bowl with water in front of him. After lighting the torch and filling the bowl with water he began to absorb the energies again. This time he was trying to absorb both energies at the same time and was hoping that they would cancel each other out.
It worked just like he imagined the energy he absorbed circulated inside his body he was able to feel how the energies came into contact with each other and created some kind of vortex. The next thing he did was absorb less water energy than fire to adapt to the heat. When he could not stand the heat anymore he absorbed more water than fire energy and adapted to the cold. He did this for the next 4 days with plenty of rests in between. During his rests, he sat down before the air corner and the earth corner. Within these 4 days, he was also able to connect to each of these elements and made huge progress in absorbing the fire and water energies.
"Just 7 days left, let's see what kind of changes happened to my body." He stood up and walked to the front of the passage of the firewall. He took a few breaths and then walked inside. Just as he took his first step the faces on the fall began to unleash fire attacks. But just as the flames touched him they just dispersed and did not even graze him. He walked leisurely to the wall and touched it.
"This is a first... Hahaha, this kid is truly amazing. He managed to figure out the true meaning of the solo player Mage. It is not to manipulate the elements it is to resist them. The manipulation then comes on ist own." The shadow watching Lothar was having a good time enjoying the show of Lothar breaking record after record.