Chapter 13 – Problem Solved
Lucas took a morning shower and went to Room No 2 to pick up Fury for breakfast. Fury, Red, and Blue had just woken up and were playing around. Lucas decided to bring the trio together. Once they were out of the playground, they happily followed Lucas upstairs.
"Their moods are better now," said Lucas.
[That is the effect of the playground. Fury will be easier to learn things for training today] said Sery.
They had their breakfast and Lucas led Fury to Room No 3. They entered the dungeon and could see that the trees around them had fruits back. The dungeon was reseted.
"Sery, will the pet foods in the storeroom be fine? They will not get spoiled?" Lucas asked. He had a feeling that they would be fine but it was better if he could confirm it.
[The tube that stored the pet foods is time-proof. They will stay fresh forever as long as they are inside the tube] Sery replied.
Since they would not get spoiled, Lucas decided to continue his harvest that day. Be that as it may, he decided to do that later. Fury's Fur Guard training was his focus at the moment. Lucas opened his system and checked on Fury's stat.
Name: Fury
Species: White Furball
Tier: 1
Stage: 1 – Newborn
Rank: 1
Potential: E
Element
1. Normal (60% talent)
2. Ball (40% talent)
3. Fur (50% talent)
Status
Health: 20 (Max 20)
Energy: 10 (Max 10)
Attack: 5 (Max 5)
Defense: 5 (Max 5)
Speed: 10 (Max 10)
Skills
1. Tackle (Normal) – Rank 1, Level 8 – Attack 12, Speed 5
2. Roll (Ball) – Rank 1, Level 10 – Speed 14[1], Attack 5, Center
3. Fur Guard (Fur) – Rank 1, Level 4 – Defense 4
4. Fur Ball (Fur) – Rank 1, Level 5 – Attack 5
5. Energy Control (Normal) – Rank 1, Level 1 – Control 10%
Fury had stayed in the playground for the whole night and his talent had increased by a lot. That was the benefit of the pet playground.
Fury's normal element talent had increased from 35% to 60%. Since the playground was a normal element playground, the normal talent received the most increased. His ball and fur talent had increased by 10% to 40% and 50% respectively.
Fury's other stats remained the same. There was no change in them. All the changes happened during their training time and Lucas was aware of it.
"Fury, today we will continue training your Fur Guard skill. However, we will change our training today," said Lucas and Fury nodded. He looked eager to train thanks to the pet playground improving his moods.
"I want you to use Energy Control and make your Fur Guard bouncy instead of hardening," said Lucas and he added, "Make sure the fur is stronger too. I don't want them to rip easily when hit," he thought for a bit and added more, "Make the fur stretchy too."
Fury nodded and it started using Energy Control and tried his best in making his fur bouncy and stretchy. On the first try, he failed and ran out of energy. After a rest, Fury tried again and he failed again.
Fury continued doing it until the tenth time, the fur started inhibiting a bouncy and stretchy feeling. "Try to maintain that," said Lucas, and Fury did his best but could only maintain it for five seconds. After another rest, Fury continued his training.
6 seconds, 7 seconds, 8 seconds, 9 seconds. The more Fury tried, the longer he could hold the bouncy and stretchy state. His learning ability increased a lot after he stayed in the pet playground. The increase in talent helped a lot too.
After more than a hundred tries, Fury finally managed to hold the bouncy and stretchy fur state for 20 seconds. It might sound low but Fury did it in less than a day. That was super impressive for a pet with E grade potential.
[Will this improve the Fur Guard? You did not even use the skill while doing this. Fury may end up creating a new skill instead of improving the Fur Guard] Sery said.
"We need to take this slowly. There is no need to rush. We have a lot of time," said Lucas and then, he gave a new order to Fury.
"Ok, Fury. That is good for now. Next, I want you to use Fur Guard and use this state on your Fur Guard," said Lucas.
Fury tried it and failed on the first try. He continued fusing Fur Guard with the bouncy and stretchy state but it proved to be hard. Fury kept trying but he failed many times. He tried it until it was afternoon (dungeon time) before Lucas gave Fury the afternoon rest.
They had their lunch and Fury continued his training. Lucas did not stay idle while Fury was busy training. He did his usual training too. Not only that, but he also went around the area and collected pet foods.
Fury did not follow him. He left him under a tree where it was far away from monsters. Even if there were monsters nearby, it would not be a problem to Fury.
As Lucas was collecting fruits on a tree. Something hit the tree. He looked below and a white dog was growling at him. It wanted to fight.
"Fury had always been the one fighting," said Lucas. "I should try fighting monsters too. The white dog is only a Tier 1 monsters and we are of the same rank. The fighting should not be hard," Lucas decided to try fighting the white dog.
Lucas got up and stood on the tree branch. He looked down at the white dog and took a deep breath. The first time he fought a monster, he was killed. He was a bit nervous but he knew that he had improved a lot from before.
"Body Enhancement," Lucas used the skill on himself and his stats increased by 5%. He felt that his body was stronger but he knew it was only for 20 seconds. Lucas jumped down towards the white dog and threw a punch.
The white dog easily dodged the punch and quickly took a stance and rushed towards Lucas with its mouth opened. The white dog teeth shone lightly. Lucas knew what it was trying to do. He had seen this scene countless times before when Fury was fighting.
Lucas moved to the right side of the white dog, "Fist of The Stone Golem!" Lucas's fist turned as hard as stone and he launched a barrage of punches at the white dog's body.
"Awoo!!!!" The white dog screamed in pain. It used its speed and tried to escape from Lucas but Lucas was faster than the white dog.
"Your speed may have a limit of 14 points but you did not train it enough to reach that limit," said Lucas and he continued using Fist of The Stone Golem on the white dog. With his 10 speed points, he could easily outrun the white dog which had less than 10 points of speed.
A few seconds later, the white dog died. Lucas looked at the white dog and he looked at his hands. The enhancement effect ended and he clenched his fist. "Tier 1 monster is not a problem anymore," Lucas was smiling.
As usual, he dismantled the white dog and sent the materials to the storeroom. "… Should I continue fighting?" Lucas said.
[Do it. Master needs fighting experience too. You cannot fully rely on Fury in the wild. I am not saying that Fury is unreliable but I want master to be prepared] said Sery.
[Many unexpected things happen in a dungeon. It is safe in this dungeon because this dungeon is not the same as the real dungeon but the real dungeon will have a lot of danger] Sery warned him of the danger in the dungeon and encouraged Lucas to keep fighting.
"Let's do it. Fury is busy training his skill and new progress will take a while. I don't want to waste time doing nothing too," said Lucas and he decided to search for more pet foods as well as hunting more monsters.
Lucas continued collecting pet foods and when he met a monster, he would kill the monster. The more he fought, the better he was in executing the right skills at the right moment. Thanks to his comprehension stat, Lucas understood a lot of things faster.
A day later, Fury finally succeeded in fusing the bouncy and stretchy state to Fur Guard. However, he could not hold it that long. He continued training and increased the time more and more. Three days later, Fury could keep that state for almost a minute. A huge improvement after working so hard for four days straight.
Now that the state could be held that long, Lucas decided to try it in a fight. They walked around and found a white slime. "Fury, use what you learn," said Lucas. Fury used Fur Guard and added the bouncy and stretchy state to the skill.
The white slime tackled Fury and when it hit Fury's Fur Guard, the white slime was forced backward by the bounciness of the Fur Guard. Not only the white slime but Fury was pushed away too. Be that as it may, Fury did not suffer any damage thanks to the fur's bounciness.
"!!!" Fury was shocked and amazed that he could do that. All this time, the Fur Guard had been useless but it could now protect his body properly.
[Wow~ The improvement looks great. The gaps in the fur help to enhance the bounciness of the fur. The soft fur also helps a lot in enhancing the stretchy-ness of the fur hence improving the overall bounciness of the skill] Sery was amazed too.
"It works!!" Lucas was happy. He had no idea that it would work especially when it took that long for Fury to fuse the two things. Luckily, he and Fury did not give up.
[Now, all we need is to keep practicing this skill in battles and wait for the system to approve this improvement. Fury needs to stabilize the skill more too. I wonder what effects will be added to the Fur Guard?] said Sery. He was excited too.
Fury continued battling the white slime. Whenever the white slime tackled Fury who was encased with the bouncy Fur Guard, both would be thrown backward and their distance would increase. The white slime would then fall on the ground and suffer minor damage while Fury did not suffer any damage.
Fury seemed to get a lot of fun using the improved Fur Guard. He felt like he was playing inside a ball (he is literally a ball of fur inside another ball of fur). Fury's mood turned better and he kept improving and stabilizing the skill to a point where he could hold on the skill for almost three minutes.
The new improvement seemed to need a lot of time to be approved by the system as after five days of using the skill in battle, Lucas finally got the system notification.
[Fury's Fur Guard improved. Effects added: Repel 10, Bounce 10, Defense +10]
When Lucas read the notification, he was petrified. Sery was shocked too. Two new effects were added to the skill and not only that, the defense stat was increased too.
[… Master, the difficulty of improving this skill must be hard that the skill gets a lot of improvement] said Sery. He did not expect that the Fur Guard would improve that much.
"Maybe the skill is suitable for a furball. When we think about it, the furball is a soft-body monster. Hardening his soft fur might not be the right approach. So, there was no improvement when I asked Fury to harden his fur using his energy," Lucas gave his opinion.
"After I asked Fury to make his fur bouncy and stretchy, we saw the improvement happen. It is slow but the improvement always happened, unlike hardening. Also, I think the element of the skill plays a huge part too," Lucas added.
"We have been approaching this problem in the wrong way."
[Master is right] Sery agreed.
Now that the Fur Guard improvement problem had ended, Lucas was relieved. Not only that, he learned a new thing.
"I will need to consider a lot more things in the future when I want to improve the skills of my pets," said Lucas.
Lucas checked on the improved version of Fur Guard.
Skill: Fur Guard
Element: Fur
Rank: 1
Level: 5
Effect 1: Defense 15
Effect 2: Repel 10
Effect 3: Bounce 10
Based on the stats alone, Lucas could say that the Fur Guard was Fury's best skills. Since Fury had been using the skill a lot, it had leveled up to level 5. Despite the constant usage of the skill for the past few days, the skill had only leveled up once due to the skill used by Fury being different than the original skill.
However, now that the skill had officially been approved by the system, the level up would be faster.
The next skill Lucas wanted Fury to improve was the Fur Ball. Since Lucas had more knowledge of skill training, he already had an idea of what he should do.
Even so, Lucas decided to stop the training for the day. He brought Fury out of the dungeon and put him in the nursing pen for healing. He felt like the combination of nursing pen, pet playground and training had helped a lot in Fury's improvement.