More Improvement... (EDITED)
~ Third person Pov ~
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Yukari stirred, a quiet groan slipping from her lips as her eyes slowly opened. The dim, shifting ceiling above her wasn't one she recognized at first—not plaster or wood, but the soft reflection of passing streetlights against tinted windows. It took her a few seconds to register the low hum beneath her, the subtle vibration of tires on asphalt, the cool breath of the car's air conditioning.
She sat up slightly, the leather seat creaking under her as the last traces of sleep clung to her posture. Her gaze drifted around the familiar interior of the black sedan. Then it hit her.
She was in the car.
"I fell asleep…?" she murmured to herself, brushing her fingers under her eyes in realization.
She leaned forward a little, catching the attention of one of her guards seated up front. He looked back at her through the rearview mirror, sensing her awakening.
"You... Tell me exactly what happened." she asked, her voice low, but still composed.
"You fell asleep at Ayano's residence..." the guard replied, slowly. "He noticed, and helped carry you out to the vehicle. We brought you back home after that, just as you would instruct."
Her expression didn't shift all that much, but a flicker of something unreadable crossed her eyes.
"He... He, carried me?" she repeated. She felt embarrassed at just the thought of it, but kept her composure.
"Yes, ma'am."
She looked away then, gazing out the window at the estate's outer road as trees blurred past in the encroaching night...
"I... I see." she said, quietly.
The guards said nothing more. Professionals to the end, they gave her space as silence stretched inside the car. Yukari on the other hand, started shifting uncomfortably, leaning her head gently against the glass, her reflection barely visible in the dark...
'Just what is happening with me?'
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~ Ayano's Pov ~
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'It's already 10... I'm still high on energy too.'
I yawned, stretching a bit. I'm still a bit spooked on what the system did today. I didn't even expect it either. Plus, It did say that I'd experience something along the lines of, real time growth...
'Status!'
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___________________
Name: Ayano Keiji
Class: The Chosen One
Height: 178 cm | 5'10"
Age: 17
Health: 21000 / 21000 [50000 / 50000]
Energy: 7400 / 7400 [10000 / 10000]
Strength: 513 / 1000
Defense: 513 / 1000
Agility: 514 / 1000
Spirit: 515 / 1000
______________________
...
I instantly shot up off the bed. 'What's this about? Why the heck are my stats suddenly higher? Actually, my class... Did it, change too?' I check my status to see if anything changed, and it did. Not big, but this was monumental to me. My stats before today had never budged an inch.
My two months of training only came after I completed the final quests. So, why change now?
'Think, Ayano... it can't all be a coincidence.'
I re-assessed what I knew so far. Ever since that headache and my power bugged out, were the changes because of the sudden update? Or maybe—no. It just had to be that moment earlier. That glitch/error, or whatever this System decided to call it, must be because of this...
The System said I'd experience some kind of, growth. I still didn't understand it at the time, but... what if this was what it meant? Real-time suggests that it's essentially happening at the moment, so to speak. And growth could just be in accordance to my attributes. Now that I think about it, and I continue thinking along that line, then this entire thing make a whole lot more sense.
'Maybe my changes weren't going to come and the end of a month anymore, and If that's the case, then this is way more convenient already.' Still, it does make some sense as to why they even increased. Lifting all those weights I did earlier might have raised my stats a bit...
Still, it's going to be tedious to get these any higher than they are. I don't even know how I'll go about agility training either. I needed massive weights to feel anything, and even then; I still don't know where my upper limits to generate resistance.
Resistance...
Resistance!
"That's it!" My thinking is so, shallow. Why do I need big weights, when I can just use extreme resistances? I can talk with Yukari tomorrow and see what she can do concerning that.
For the time being, I guess I can do some more training... I wanna test something.
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~ Third person Pov, the next day... ~
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Fwi~
Fwi~
'My, fists... They don't make sounds.' Ayano thought to himself.
He had spent the entire night, and morning training himself. Repeating the same actions for hours on end. His eyes were baggy, showing his exhaustion ever since he started till now His eyes were slightly puffy due to being open for extended periods of the time he'd taken, but, he continued swinging...
Fwi~
His fists moved well past the speed of sound, yet the sound barrier hadn't shattered, not even a slight gust of wind either. He trained with the thought of reducing wasted movement.
Fwi~
Fwi~
Ayano's hands were cutting through the air in perfect arcs—clean, precise, invisible. At least, for now. The lack of sound wasn't from a lack of speed—it was the exact opposite. He was moving so efficiently, with such fluid, economical grace, that there was no resistance. No friction. Not even a motion for the air to push back against. Just near silence...
Then, he finally stopped...
'Status...'
___________________
Strength: 513 / 1000
Defense: 513 / 1000
Agility: 514 / 1000
Spirit: 515 / 1000
____________________
...
Just like he had assumed it. None of his stats have increased despite his body protesting with both pain and struggle, not even a single digit. And that's when he realized the true trade-off with his new passive.
'That just confirms it... I can't do physical growth, and technique growth at the same time... It looks like I trade one for the other.'
He had realized the reason why his stats even increased. It wasn't because of just lifting those weights, it's because of how he had did it. Training mastery focused on either the physical growth of the player, or their technical growth.
Even though he had those two options. He couldn't choose both at once.
He had realized it last night hen he practiced with controlling his speed. Even though he took a few dozen attempts, the effects were obvious over time. Each and every time moment he wanted to improve his technique in running, or his control. The passive would likely trigger, allowing him to continuously improve whatever he was doing at the moment...
He laughed at himself. Despite his disappointment with the revelation. His fists had turned into something terrifying over the course of just one night. He had thought of improving his efficiency, and that fell under the technique aspect of the passive. Because of that, his growth had essentially exploded.
And, it might not just be due to the training mastery either... His martial arts mastery might have super-imposed on his training mastery skill, possibly enhancing an already powerful effect; essentially magnifying each other, almost endlessly.
Training mastery simply made his training vastly more efficient, and equally rewarding as a consequence, at the trade off of focusing on either physical attributes or techniques at a time; likely not limited to just martial arts, but potentially anything he wanted to get better at in general.
'Still, that's a pretty dubious hidden condition.' He laughed. But, he knew it made sense. Growing physically, while also growing in technique at the same time was practically cheating, it was worse since the passives essentially made him a super prodigy because of it.
He then dropped to the grass... Smiling; 'Why should I stop at just this? My martials arts... Couldn't I just improve them further than what they are now?'
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END