"This isn't cutting it."
After two days of doing nothing but try and level up any of his registered proficiencies in the Naphaela household's backyard, he managed to level up none of them.
"System?" Darren muttered under his breath, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Do you have . . . recommendations?"
▬▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬▬▬
A few things that may help with Proficiencies are the DEX stat and actual application, instead of plain practice.
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"Actual . . . application? As in, use the combat proficiencies in combat?"
"Affirmative."
"But--" Darren tried to say that he most likely wouldn't be able to actually do real combat yet, but he was interrupted by a beep.
▬▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬▬▬
New items in the [Shop] have arrived.
[Open Shop]
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A bit surprised, Darren began walking to a nearby bench under a tree to sit there, before clicking on [Open Shop].
▬▬▬▬Shop Items▬▬▬▬▬
[Coins: 415]
►Training Ticket: Gives the user access to the System's Training Space for 3 days. The timer only applies while inside the training space, and the user can freely exit and enter anytime. Time frozen while inside.
Costs 300 Coins
►Offense Dummy Scroll: Tear to summon a dummy specialized in offense. Has no effect outside the training space.
Costs 50 Coins
►Evasion Dummy Scroll: Tear to summon a dummy specialized in evading. Has no effect outside the training space.
Costs 50 Coins
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"W-Woah." Darren was stunned, positively surprised. But he soon found himself questioning the system, "Why didn't you show this to me right from the start?"
The system didn't respond however, prompting Darren to say, "Hey."
Finally, the system made a response.
▬▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬▬▬
The system is always working on additional features.
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He shrugged and shook his head, before buying a Training Ticket.
"So, these dummies can move . . ?" He asked the system.
"Affirmative."
"I see . . . then . . . would an offense dummy be able to damage me?"
▬▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬▬▬
Offense dummies move to attack the trainee, but dummies do not have a form that can hurt even mossbags.
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". . . I see. Okay." Darren paused, "Then, about the evasion dummy. How much . . . damage can it take?"
▬▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬▬▬
As of now, the user does not have any means to deal any damage to dummies.
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"O-Oh. So even blades won't be able to . . . damage them, huh." Darren smacked his lips, shrugged, and bought the [Offense Dummy Scroll] and the [Evasion Dummy Scroll].
▬▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬▬▬
It is recommended that the user stash the things he plans to use into the inventory before using the Training Ticket.
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"Ah, got it." Darren nodded, before going about for a while to collect pebbles. He also bought some proper food and stashed a couple bottles of water in his inventory.
"Oh, and right. What about time? Does time stop in the real world while I'm in the training area?"
"Affirmative."
"I see." He then decided to bring basic sleeping necessities.
He double checked everything, before opening his inventory and selecting the Training Ticket.
▬▬▬▬Item Details▬▬▬▬▬
►Training Ticket
Sends the user into the System's Training Space for 24 hours. The user can stop at any time.
[Use] [Trash]
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Without hesitation, Darren clicked on [Use]. It caused his consciousness to fade to nothing, before immediately fading back into awareness. Darren was now in a room about the size of a basketball court, with no other features apart from its floor, walls, and ceiling being white.
"Hm, I guess I'll start right away then."
Darren retrieved the only Evasion Dummy Scroll in his inventory, prompting for a rolled scroll to appear in his hands. He was curious about the contents of the scroll, so he unfurled the item to see its contents.
"Lorem Ipsum Dolor . . ."
However, what was written in the scroll was written in the English language, so he couldn't make heads or tails of the text. Instead, he just shrugged and tore the scroll in half, causing it to burst into the air in shimmering fragments.
"Evasion Dummy Scroll Used." An announcement rang in his head, and almost at the same time, a fairly huge puff of smoke caused a strange entity to appear a few meters away from Darren. This entity seemed to have a body made out of interconnected, elongated marshmallows, with an expression of fear drawn on its marshmallow head.
Upon steadying its footing, the marshmallow stepped back in haste away from Darren. Its actions perfectly suited the drawing on its face.
". . . So I just . . ." Darren mumbled, retrieving a rock from the inventory, ". . . attack it?" He then took a step forward and flung the stone at the dummy, causing it to fly towards the dummy's torso.
However, the dummy easily evaded the projectile with a sidestep.
After a few more tries, Darren's shots were nowhere near close to hitting the training dummy, which made him think. 'So if I want to actually get better at aiming, I need to be able to hit this thing.'
Meanwhile, in Darren's mind.
When Darren thought of how hitting the training dummy would help him progress with his aim, Ryn's face contorted into a strange expression. She scratched at her head and fixed her position on the couch. "How can I say 'sort of' but still sound robotic?"
After a quick moment of thought, she realized, "Oh-- I can just send a note directly." She then began to type lightning fast on the hologramic keyboard integrated to her own system and clicked on [Confirm]. It caused an panel to appear before Darren.
▬▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬▬▬
Accuracy and Precision falls under the DEX stat. Like the other stats, where the attribute increase depends on the user's raw attributes, actually practicing to aim will help the user. Investing points on DEX will also do.
This applies to every stat.
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"Ah, then my goal should be: be able to accurately aim before investing on the DEX stat."
In his mind, Ryn was nodding. There was nothing better than to increase the user's raw attributes first, so that each point invested later in the system stats will be well spent. That was another reason why Ryn discouraged Darren from levelling up for a while using the EXP gain penalty.
It would get exponentially harder to train one's own raw stats once Darren is much stronger after all. She needed to do it while Darren was still weak.
In fact, the only reason why Ryn let Darren experience the perks of the system, was to make him realize the legitimacy of it. And now that Darren completely believed in the system, all she had to do was find a way to make him train without investing on system stats. That's not to say that his strength wasn't permanent though.
And so, Ryn grinned as she looked at Darren through a screen, before muttering to herself, "Get stronger quickly, you little f*ck."
♦♦♦
"One last." On a tree branch, Naphaela muttered under her breath as she observed a gigantic spider resting on its web in the middle of two towering trees. Her light plate armor had long lost its shimmer, and her leather underarmor were in tatters. It had been a couple of days since she last took a bath, but that didn't matter much for her.
Such trivial things weren't going to affect her, now that she set her eyes on a goal.
Using her webs to stick herself to the tree, she took a pouch from her waist and an arrow from her quiver, before dipping the arrowhead into the contents of the pouch. She then silently nocked the arrow, its head doused in a purple liquid-- a powerful tranquilizer.
Such wouldn't be enough to paralyze suzh a gigantic spider, but it would give her a huge advantage. That was all Naphaela needed.
After aiming for the gap between the spider's thorax and behind for a while, Naphaela took a deep breath and released the arrow. It wooshed past all the branches and leaves of the forest unhindered, before ending up into the gap between its two main body parts.
The spider suddenly began walking rapidly on its web, making it shake heavily. The towering trees it was attached to began to shake and rustle from the spider's movements, and in turn, scared away all the nearby birds to a squawking mess.
After a few minutes, the spider became a bit less restless and situated itself right at the center of its web. However, it seemed to be different than before. It wouldn't stop running its forelegs along its mouth, and a thick, fibrous mess of spiderweb was oozing out of its butt.
The edges of Naphaela's lips couldn't keep from rising a little. The poison was taking effect.
After latching her bow back into its straps on her back, Naphaela jumped off the branch she was standing on and slid down the tree with the help of her webs, before walking leisurely towards her target.
This was it. After refining this creature's core, she would be able to solidify her powers and finally become a 2nd tier Pupil. After she killed this, she would be able to join a brigade of her choosing. No, each guild would be sending out tempting recruitment offers.
She drew a thin, almost flimsy sword from the scabbard tied to her waist as she walked, admiring the familiar feeling of gripping its hilt tightly. However, it was common knowledge to never let your guard down while outside shelters.