Leonard is still lying in Elena's bed after she healed him and went away for some bloody business, contemplating what he is going to do. He knows he can't go back to the place where his supposed "family" is or figure out where he'll live now. One thing is certain: with his system, he'll be unbeatable one day. Until that day happens, he needs to be careful and grind himself slowly to the top.
"Is it even okay for me to stay in my teacher's room?" Leonard thought, not wanting more headaches if he's known to be inside, with rumors following behind him. He sighed and looked at the clock; it says it's 8 p.m. "I need to move and do anything, as wasted time can be used to grind my skills." Leonard stood and went out of Elena's room. On a piece of paper he found, he wrote that he is going to the training yard. There, he found a wooden sword and started to swing it. Thanks to his [Genius] Trait, his proficiency was increasing even faster. He hoped to reach level 6 in sword fighting soon. Leonard notices that upgrading a skill, even if it's written 25% more damage using swords, isn't just about literal damage. It involves talent, comprehension, and how much damage he can do with it.
1. Increase the talent of the upgraded area.
2. Enhance the comprehension of the specific skill art; upgrading lying, for example, leads to unique ways to make lies and lying more easily.
3. For physical skills like sword art or magic, you gain muscle memory, making it seem like you were always that good in the skills.
4. For mental skills like mathematics, it becomes easier to count faster, with a faster mental speed.
Leonard contemplated these points while swinging his sword again and again but was getting frustrated that in an hour, only 2% of his sword proficiency increased, putting it at 48%. He sighed and thought, "The higher the skill level, the more difficult it will take to upgrade it again." He acknowledged the last point but knew that as long as his proficiency increased, that meant he is on the right path and just has to keep grinding to become stronger.
As he was swinging the wooden sword, Gerald was watching him, contemplating. Even though Gerald wasn't as monstrous as him at his age, the speed of his progress in sword fighting made him very excited. He wanted to nurture a talent like this, knowing that Leonard, being a bastard and not a real noble, must understand that not all nobles are good. Having seen the worst of both the commoner and noble world, Gerald had seen enough and walked to him.
Leonard was swinging until he heard a sound; he was immediately vigilant and looked at the source, finding Gerald walking toward him. Leonard immediately welcomed him, "Hello Gerald, how was your day?" Gerald smiled, but it looked intimidating on his face. "I'm fine, was about to train but saw you and wanted to teach you something." "Teach me something???" Leonard wondered. "Yeah, as I can see, you are very dependent on sword arts, and that's not a good thing. A sword can break, get lost, or fail you. But you can trust your hands not to make you lose. So, I am here to teach you hand-to-hand combat." Leonard nodded, wondering if he could get a skill for it.
As Gerald started demonstrating basic fighting moves, Leonard watched everything. Due to the upgrades to his Intelligence stat, Leonard could remember almost everything. After 2 minutes, he heard a ding.
[Congratulations to the host for getting the skill [Unarmed Fighting]]
Unarmed Fighting lvl [0]
Proficiency: 47%
The art of fighting using your body as a weapon.
Leonard quickly became excited and started training fast, making Gerald look at him in wonder, not knowing why Leonard was really excited. After 10 minutes, Leonard heard another ding.
[Unarmed Fighting lvl [1]]
You became a beginner at unarmed fighting.
5% increase in damage using your body.
Proficiency: 1%
The art of fighting using your body as a weapon.
The moment it upgraded, Leonard's moves became more coordinated and more effective. Some wasted moves were directly erased. Gerald, watching this, narrowed his eyes and contemplated this sight while Leonard was immersed in his training. After upgrading his skill, he started to adjust his body unconsciously due to increased comprehension and talent.
After learning from Gerald for an hour, he upgraded [Unarmed Fighting] to lvl 3, making Gerald question the fairness of gods. It was beyond what a monster could do. Now, Gerald stood 5 meters away from Leonard, who was ready. Leonard asked Gerald for a spar, wanting to know the difference in strength between him and someone of the very few weapon masters of the kingdom.
"Are you ready, Leonard?" Gerald asked, opening and closing his right hand. "Yes, Gerald," said Leonard, holding his hands in front of his face. "Well, here I come." In a moment, Gerald disappeared, making Leonard feel extreme danger. He bent down, looking at the hand that was above his face. "Not bad," said Gerald, as Leonard tried to kick him, but he jumped above it. Leonard stood very fast, trying to attack him, but Gerald merely held his hand like nothing. Then, he tried to kick his face, but Gerald also held it, making it seem like he was holding a child with his hand. "Is the gap between us really this big???" Leonard wondered. This didn't make him despair; in fact, it made him want to train more to reach this kind of strength.
Gerald let him down and looked at him, then smiled. "Leonard, you may be the most talented guy I have ever seen. If anyone told me you have only learned hand-to-hand combat for 2 hours, I would call them a liar. But I have seen everything with my eyes, and you are simply a monster." Leonard nodded humbly, knowing a talent is good if he has time to work harder. He knew his skills would keep upgrading, making him stronger and stronger. But this is for the future; for now, Leonard went to Elena's room, as she gave him access to it until she came back, wondering what would happen to his life now.
...
Name: Leonard
Race: Human
Age: 15
Level: 12
HP: 300 [health increases by 5 every 10 minutes]
MP: 520 [mana increases by 20 every 5 minutes]
STR: 30
AGI: 30
END: 30
INT: 52
WIS: 11
Points: 0
Passives: [Non-upgradable skills]
[Genius]
Skills:
[Sword Fighting] lvl 5
[Eloquence] lvl 4
[Silver Tongue] lvl 4
[Magical Ability] lvl 2
[Basic Mana Manipulation] lvl 3
[Lying] lvl 4
[Acting] lvl 4
[Leadership] lvl 3
[Math] lvl 3
[Manipulation] lvl 4
[Stealth] lvl 1
[Unarmed Fighting] lvl 3