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***
"You have both learnt the basics very well this past week," said Sora as he looked at Silica and Princess sitting in front of him.
After Sora had helped out Silica on the first day, she became his disciple and since then, he has been teaching both Silica and Princess the basics.
Since Silica was young, she was able to absorb the knowledge quickly, but how much could be understood was up to her. Princess was a natural talent and she already knew some stuff, so teaching her was easier.
"Now I will be teaching you a breathing technique and a set of movements that accompany the breathing technique and brings upon more benefits," said Sora as he grabbed a thin stick and gestured for the two girls to remain seated.
Sora stood up and used the stick to get the girls to be disciplined.
Ka!
"Keep your back straight."
Ka!
"Don't lose concentration. Lose concentration and you will lose health, you might even die."
Ka!
"Relax your mind, don't try to force it."
Sora stood in front of both Silica and Princess with a stern look on his face. He gazed at both girls before subtly nodding.
"You both have different natures and aptitudes for different things. So I will be teaching you two different breathing techniques," said Sora as he looked at Silica and Princess. "These techniques will allow you to slowly accumulate power and become stronger than the average player at your level. If the breathing technique is practiced to its Peak, you will be able to use the strength of the player with the bonus of 25 levels."
Silica slightly moved out of surprise, she opened her eyes and looked at Sora with shock. Just as she was about to say something, she received a whack to the head from the stick in Sora's hand.
Looking at Silica returning to her meditation state, Sora said, "I know what your thinking, and yes, this is true. These breathing techniques also grant certain skill bonuses. If you have a sword skill, a breathing technique might increase the effects of a skill or even add a special property to them.
If you perform the movement set that goes along with your breathing technique, the 25 bonus in levels will increase to 30 levels.
There are also skills that grant a faster leveling speed, but let me tell you that most of the people that train in this technique won't have any formidable skill nor will they have any strong bonus in strength."
After a moment of silence, Sora walked over in front of Princess and said, "I will teach you first Princess. Since you have a great memory, I will teach you the process once. After I finish talking, open your eyes and look at me perform a set of movements for you to train in."
Once Sora finished talking, he waited for a few seconds before reciting the breathing technique for Princess. How she's supposed to breathe, the way the blood is supposed to circulate, and to use the breathing technique one hour a day.
Using the breathing technique any more than one hour won't accomplish anything. It didn't matter if the breathing technique isn't used for a long time, the bonus effect won't disappear since it's permanent. However, one may experience unexpected benefits if they continue practicing even after reaching the Peak.
Both Princess and Silica instantly understood that there might be something after reaching Peak. Both for different reasons.
Princess believes that the body might be reformed and she will break through the limits of the human body. Silica on the other hand believes it might be a hidden quest that Sora was hinting at.
Once Sora finished talking, he moved on to performing the move set after he finished talking. Sora performed the moves slow and steady as he projected an aura of elegance and charm.
In no time, Sora taught both Princess and Silica appropriate breathing techniques for them.
[Teach the Disciple!]
[Rewards: 150,000 EXP, 15 Mentor Skill levels, 5 One-Handed Sword Skill levels.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
…
[You are now level 18.]
[Impart a technique!]
[Rewards: 5 Player Levels, 15 Mentor Skill levels.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
…
[You are now level 23.]
[Impart a technique!]
[Rewards: 5 Player Levels, 15 Mentor Skill levels.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[You are now level 28.]
[Mentor Skill has reached level 55! Skill slot has been awarded to the diligent Mentor.]
Sora nodded in appreciation at the stuff he had earned this time around. He didn't do anything this whole week and only spent it teaching the two girls the basics and two breathing techniques. The system recognized the value of the breathing techniques, so they granted Sora something more valuable than experience points, levels.
Although five levels didn't look like enough as a reward, if Sora had received this reward when leveling up became harder, this would have been an amazing thing. Even now it was slightly amazing.
In the game, before Sora made changes to the entire game, a Level 20 would be amazing enough to be able to defeat the 15-20th floors. However, now it's just barely enough to defeat the first boss floor.
Sora estimated that each floor would need 15 levels more to just be able to have a fight with the Floor Boss for 2 minutes. The floor bosses are incredibly intelligent and have great instincts, hence having a great strategy, skill, and instinct is required. Levels won't be the only deciding fact in Sword Art Online.
Not only that, after the 30th floor, monsters have their own breathing techniques, skills, and some minor techniques. From the 30th floor onward, the beasts become more skillful and more intelligent.
After the 60th floor, monsters are able to use Ki and Ki techniques. Beyond the 60th floor, the amount of Ki within the monsters increase and the Ki techniques slowly become more deadly.
On the 90th floor, the monsters have a higher quality of Ki, allowing them to use more Ki techniques and perform stronger attacks at less cost of Ki. It's also where monsters become humanoid and they can perform martial arts and martial skills.
Sora rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look.
He looked at Silica and Princess getting familiar with both the Breathing Technique and the set of moves that go along with their Breathing Techniques. Before they can actually begin practicing the Breathing Technique, they need to get familiar with it first.
Whilst they do that, Sora walked over to some training dummies with a wooden One-Handed sword.
Pak!
Pak!
Pak!
Sora used the skills perfectly, combining them in an amazing way. With every move linking perfectly, Sora quickly breezed through all the perfectly executed skills. The first skill he used finally came out of it's cooldown and Sora quickly used it, continuing to perform the series of perfect skills in quick succession.
Since every move of Sora's had been perfect and at 105%, every perfect execution of skill granted Sora Ki and even made it high in quality.
[One-Handed Sword Skill Level Up!]
[One-Handed Sword Skill Level Up!]
[One-Handed Sword Skill Level Up!]
[One-Handed Sword Skill Level Up!]
…
After eight whole days of training the One-Handed Sword Skill, Silica and Princess finally completed learning the Breathing Techniques, officially entering the beginner stage.
In three days, Sora brought his One-Handed Sword Skill up to Level 126. Since he was in a dojo and he is a master, Sora received a 75% bonus of Skill Leveling speed. 50% from performing a skill above 90% precision, and 25% from training in the dojo. Along with Sora's determination, he quickly breezed through many levels.
He also received many new skills as he leveled up, allowing him to extend his move set and receive more experience points in a faster way.
Sora had already been training his skills before today, but he didn't receive much growth compared to this past week.
Silica and Princess also weren't idle in the passing days. Their breathing techniques and movement training only took up 4 hours of their day, the rest of the time was used to level up their skills.
Silica's One-Handed Dagger Skill was raised to Level 30 and Princess' One-Handed Sword Skill was raised to Level 46.
"Okay, we will now be heading out to the plains," said Sora as he grabbed his One-Handed Sword and sheathed it. "I want you both to hunt 30 Frenzy Boars and 10 Dire Wolves."
Princess and Silica both looked at the quest that appeared before their eyes before nodding. They grabbed their weapons and grabbed some food before setting out with Sora.
They had been locked up in the Dojo and hardly stepped out. The only times they received the sunlight was from an area in the middle of Sora's Dojo that acted like a room. There was no roof and there was a tree in there and a small pond with a small flowing river that led back to the pond through a mini waterfall.
In there, the girls would study and try to put into practice the Breathing Techniques.
"The city is bustling," lightly said Sora as he looked at everyone hanging and walking around with armor and weapons on them.
As Sora was walking around, he noticed some little kids ranging from the age of 6 to 12. They were all huddled up together in a shop as a group of players fed them food.
Whilst seeing that scene, Sora smiled and knew what he had to do.
'I should put the plan in motion after I come back with the girls,' thought Sora as he led Princess and Silica out of the beginner city, Dragon.
"There's some Frenzy Boars nearby, let us head over to that group first," said Sora as he pointed to the right, far in the distance.
Silica and Princess had been quiet this entire time. Princess was quiet because that's how she usually is, but Silica was just nervous. Princess noticed Silica shaking a bit and held Silica's hand to comfort the young girl and make her worry less.
"How long will it take us to get there, Master?" Silica looked around and noticed that any new Frenzy Boars were killed quickly by the players nearby, leaving no chance for Silica and Princess to attack.
"Not long. Most players are still afraid of getting out of their comfort zone, so they won't go that far from the city. Since Dragon City is a safe-area, no monsters can go in there and can only watch from afar as the players heal," explained Sora as he stopped Silica and Princess after arriving at a small hill.
"Stop."
Princess and Silica stopped and peaked over the hill, "What's going on-"
Sora smiled and pushed both Princess and Silica down the hill, interrupting Silica.
Both girls rolled down the hill and stopped rolling right before a large group of Frenzy Boars.
The place the girls rolled down to was strangely formed in a way where there was only one exit from the place Princess and Silica had rolled into. Walls and Frenzy Boars surrounded both the girls keeping them from escaping.
"Defeat the Frenzy Boars and escape from that pit," yelled Sora as he casually watched from afar.
He sat down and began practicing a Ki Circulation Technique, Flawless Celestial.
Ki Circulation Techniques are a form of cultivation, but for Ki. It slowly accumulates Ki, increases its quality, changes it's properties, and enhances the body.
Breathing Techniques used by players inside the game are simultaneously being used by their bodies out in the real world. Slowly, every player in the real world are growing growing stronger.
But the changes happening thanks to Sword Art Online, or more precisely Sora, doesn't end there. Once players are able to unlock their Ki, their Masters will notice it and introduce Ki Circulation Techniques and other Ki Techniques.
If they use these Ki Circulation Techniques, their body will try to absorb the Ki in the air and refine the Ki already laying dormant inside the body.
For those proud Martial Artists who have no masters, the only way for them to gain Ki Circulation Techniques is to perform quests, find them in the wild, or buy it from Aincrad's hidden world.
"Your mean Master!"
"I hate Master."
Sora's Ki Circulation stopped and looked down at Silica and Princess with an exasperated look on his face. He knew that if he didn't push them down, they wouldn't want to go down there because of the sheer amount of Frenzy Boars.