Chapter 6 - The next battle

Seth opened his eyes in the dream realm and looked for the message about his upcoming rewards.

Player has gained new stats and has re-entered the dream realm successfully! Choose an entrance reward!

1. Upgrade weapon

2. Upgrade armor

3. Upgrade one combat skill of choosing

Seth looked down at his 'armor'. Leather vest, a tunic, leather boots, and trousers... yeah he grabbed the armor upgrade. He glowed as the reward was selected and soon found the vest was now a leather breastplate, nothing fancy but it covered his shoulders, chest, and ended at his belt. It even wrapped around to protect most of his spine as well. It felt more like a curiass than a breastplate but he would take it. He also saw a pair of finger-less gloves covering his hands now and the leather boots looked more reinforced, like hiker boots versus basic boots for everyday.

Overall it was a world of difference from his starting gear. Next upgrade he was definitely taking the weapon upgrade, his katana was beginning to feel a bit weak in his hands with his new stats. So it would be perfect to upgrade it to keep up with his stats and armor.

He readies himself as his thoughts go to his next bout. He grins as the monster forms. Then he goes a bit pale and says, "Oh... so this is what it meant by master mode eh?"

He sees a trio of Lycans appear this time. All of them with the same wooden shields, clubs, and leather armor as their predecessor, but with more numbers.

Seth looks up at the message as they finish forming, Next battle! Lycan trio! They are here to avenge their comrade! Average stats are 1-2 each.

Seth breathes only a slight sigh of relief, they aren't any stronger but they will still be tough as they now have numbers, more weapons, and possible teamwork helping them. He will need to keep his senses sharp for this one. But he was ready for it!

He gets into combat stance and the Lycans all ready their clubs as the message rings out and the fight begins. The trio of wolves rush him with their clubs raised and their shields in a shield wall formation to prevent him from successfully counter attacking.

Seth waits for them and lets them get to barely 10 ft away. Suddenyl he counter rushes and runs right up to their shields. Then he grabs the top of the middle shield. The Lycan is startled as he then lifts himself up with a jump. He goes up and over the shield to come around with a knee right into the face of the Lycan. The middle one stumbles as its head it rattled from the powerful strike. Seth capitalizes on it as the two other Lycans quickly turn around to help protect their brother, but Seths blade is already stabbed right through the side of the head of the Lycan on the left. His blade shudders from the blow as Seth sees a chip appear on the blade. His stats were too powerful for the blade to withstand since it is just starting gear.

With a click of the tongue Seth quickly withdraws his blade and leaps back as the Lycan on the right slams its club down on the ground while its now dead brother disappears. The rattled brother refocuses and manages to get back into a ready stance. But its ruined as Seth has returned after following up from the missed club strike.

The sword lashes out and cuts right through the throat of middle Lycan. The wolf monster gurgles and dies in its own blood. The last Lycan looks at Seth with a nervous gaze. Seth swings his katana to the side quickly and breathes out a bit as he is sweating. He has been going full speed and full strength since the start of the fight. And while it may seem impressive. Truth be told Seth hadn't moved like this since some parkour and gymnastics training he did in high school for a sports festival.

He was really rusty, and his lack of flexibility was really hurting his joints here as he did all these quickly movements. he may grab any type of pill the rewards give him to help with this. After all based on the cultivation manwhuas he has read they help heal and loosen up the body by getting rid of impurities.

He shakes his head as the last Lycan finally gets over its fears and rushes at him. It roars out a challenge as its rage comes over it. Seth readies his blade as his heart beat speeds up as he goes full bore on this next strike.

The club descends, the sword flies, and the club is cut in two while the katana cracks. Before it breaks off into the skull of the Lycan and Seth puts his full strength into the swing and cuts half way through the Lycans skull.

The wolf slumps to the ground as it too joins its brothers and disappears. Seth looks down at his now broken katana that is barely half its length left. But it served its duty in the fight and allowed Seth to come out as a winner.

He huffs a bit as sweat pours down his body. He then stretches and groans as his body protests more of those movements. He may have raised his stats, but his body was not used to such movements. He'll need to create an obstacle course for military members, or even a parkour gym in the community to help his training. He'll see if the other farmers would join him to help with their joints and to attract new families to the area if they can update the community center with new rooms and gyms during the upcoming fall season. it would make for a great tourist attraction and maybe expand to a strip mall with the local farming families selling produce and cooked goods in the fall and winter.

Well those are thoughts he can go over later, for now he needs to focus on helping with the summer end harvest so they can be well stocked fro fall and winter. But he then looks at his rewards and is well and truly stumped.

PLayer has won tonights challegne! Please choose one reward!

1. Xianxi body tempering pill (level 1)

2. Flame of purification (Level 1)

3. Summoning ticket (level 1)

Seth goes back forth between option 1 and 2. He isn't a gambler so he wasn't going to choose the voucher unless it was better than the rest of the rewards. But he knew he had to figure out whether the pill, or the flame was better. The flame sounded like a skill, but it could also be a one use item like the pill. Thinking hard, Seth decided to go through the rewards one by one. After all he will have plenty of sleeps to go through and figure out which rewards he can choose in the future.

He grabs the pill and sees it looks like a pitch black marble. Though it smells like a mass of bitter herbs. he pops it as the dream realm dissipates.

Seth wakes up with the taste of bitter herbs in his mouth making him groan a bit. Before he notices his body feels strangely more energetic than usual, he also sees his body coated in a weird black tar material that feels like a stickier version of sweat. Knowing this must be what the pill did for him he showers and puts his sheets into the washing machine.

While showering he checks the stats and nearly collapses in surprise at what the fighting and the pill did for him.

Seth Silverfang

STR: 2.57 -> 3.02 -> 3.50

REF: 2.49 -> 2.94 -> 3.30

STA: 2.42 -> 2.87 -> 3.00

END: 2.52 -> 2.97 -> 3.40

MANA: 0.31 -> 0.37 -> 0.40

SKILLS:

Combat:

Katana Mastery: lvl 7 Beginner exp: 72%

gain +7% to damage done with katanas

Support:

Stat growth booster: lvl Max

Double stat growth rate from training

Low Tiered Recovery: lvl Max

Triple recovery rate from injuries and exhaustion

That pill did wonders in helping round out his abilities. And jeez louise he was going to be busy with pushing his new limits in training. Time for him to help out in the loading and carting only going forward. Or heck in the lugging of the trees and rocks they find and pull away due to either expanding the fields, mixing the soil, or even taking care of dead trees. Either way he was going to push his training to be even better than before.

He also has a new problem, he has suddenly gotten much more lean after the fighting and the pill. It is really becoming noticeable now. Before he was fit, but on the lanky side. Now he looks like he goes running every day and does at least some basic weight training. He looks like a potential recruit for a gym instructor with his budding six pack, his slightly muscled arms and legs, and his leaner physique. He would need to try and hide this a bit better in the coming weeks until enough time has passed for him to explain the sudden muscle gains he got over night... literally.

Time for the flannel and tough jeans for helping with the heavy duty chores!