[Quest: Train! (Part 1)
Perform 1000 thrusts (1006/1000)
Perform 1000 slashes (1000/1000) Reward: Spirit circulation skill, 4 stat points]
After completing the quest (which took me 11 hours), I gained my rightful reward. The system opened up again, the third tab revealed itself. It was called 'Skill tree'.
I checked the tab out. It showed the skill I just learned at the bottom of a three-way splitting path.
[Spirit circulation:
Circulate spirit around your body. Can focus spirit on specific parts of the body to strengthen them. Can circulate spirit into items.]
Before I could check out the next skills on the skill tree, I got another quest.
[Quest: Train! (Part 2)
Circulate spirit around your body 10 times (0/10)
Run 50 laps around the room while circulating spirit (0/50) Reward:1 skill point 5 stat points]
'This one seems pretty simple.' Compared to the 2000 spear attacks I had to perform, this one should take more than a couple of hours instead of half a day. I took a better look around the circular room.
The room had a 50-meter diameter. The blue light that came from the skylight, managed to give the entire room an even glow, giving me a view of the smooth stone walls. A familiar line of blue was streaked across the floor, presumably acting as a starting line.
Before i started sprinting, I wanted to try circulating my spirit. As soon as i started thinking about it, the spirit acted accordingly. The spirit felt like a ball of freezing mass of water in my sternum. To circulate it, i just had to think of it moving to wherever i wanted. I started moving it into anywhere i could think of. When the spirit was in my arms, they felt stronger, so I went over to my spear and picked it up without spirit. It felt light for its size, but after swinging it for hours on end, it got heavier. When I moved my spirit into my arms, it was almost as if I was holding nothing. I tried swinging the spear at the dummy's neck.
SWOOSH
The spear made a beautiful arc and cleanly sliced the dummy's head off its shoulders. I stared at my arms like they weren't mine before realizing that I could've finished the first quest in 3 hours if I had this. I sighed and started looking for other things my spirit could do.
In the end, I found out how spirit worked. It improves the function of my target. When I tried to surround my arm with spirit, it improved the muscles in my arm. When I concentrated my spirit on my eyes, my vision improved to the point where I could see the individual hairs on my arm. I could even control it depending on the amount of spirit concentrated. The same went for my hearing and smell. Afterwards, I tried moving my spirit into my stomach. It gave a deep rumble and I realized I made a grave error.
'Where do I use the bathroom?' After the blue light manifested into a toilet, and I took care of my business, I concluded my experiments. I was thinking of using spirit on my heart and brain but decided against it.
'The description said upgrading spirit would naturally increase my brain's capabilities. I'm not doing my heart because a character did the same and lost twenty years of his life.' I saluted the rubber man in my heart before circulating my spirit around my body a few more times. The quest only counted if you went from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. I was already used to the feeling so after a minute, I already circulated my spirit 3 times, completing the quest.
[Quest: Train! (Part 2)
Circulate spirit around your body 10 times (10/10)
Run 50 laps around the room while circulating spirit (0/50) Reward:1 skill point 5 stat points]
'Should I use the stat points?' I deliberated over it for a moment before shaking my head.
'I don't really need to use them for anything right now. When I have more understanding over my shortcomings I'll use them.' I steeled myself and started jogging around the room. The quest didn't set a specific number for circulating my spirit so I just kept it around my legs and lungs, letting me run faster and longer. While I was jogging, the system gave me a notification.
[Through hard work and perseverance, you improved your body without complaint.
+1 Endurance +1 agility]
'Eh?' I slowed down and opened up my profile
[Profile:
Name: Shein Claire
Age: 23
Strength: 13
Agility: 14
Endurance: 13
Spirit: 15
Stat points: 0
Constitution: Pup
Increases strength and speed by 2 points 'Just a pup']
'I didn't think you could improve your stats this way either... Wait, why didn't I get a strength increase after swinging that spear for hours?' I
contemplated it before concluding.
'To get stronger, muscle fibers need to be strained and they'll heal up tougher than before. Since I was circulating my spirit while running, my stamina was increasing and my leg muscles were breaking and healing. It also explains why I haven't been getting any cramps' I felt that it was quite reasonable and started running again, ignoring the sweat rolling off my body.
After about 4 hours, I finished the 50 laps. I could've finished in an hour, considering the spirit I had constantly circulating, but took my time and went at a reasonable pace.
[Quest: Train! (Part 2)
Circulate spirit around your body 10 times (137/10)
Run 50 laps around the room while circulating spirit (50/50) Reward:1 skill point 5 stat points]
After claiming my reward, I went back to the skill tree that I ignored before. With my one skill point, I could buy either of the 'base' skills. They were:
[Ambient spirit:
Spirit is spread out around the body when dormant instead of condensing at the center.]
[Spirit aura:
Spirit will materialize around the user. Can be controlled and condensed around the body.]
'I'm gonna buy both at one point, which one is more important right now.' Spirit aura can be used when I don't have a spear. I'd be able to use it in a lot of situations and it probably looks cool too. Ambient spirit would always give my body a slight boost. The more spirit i get, the more obvious the buffs will be.
'I'll buy ambient spirit first' I decided and purchased the skill. Immediately after, the ball of spirit I had gathered under my sternum moved all over my body. The amount of spirit was pretty small but I could feel my body better.
Waiting for the next quest to come in, I played around with the spirit spread around my frame. Another effect of ambient spirit was the faster response. It wasn't very slow before taking about 4 seconds to go from my 'core' to my desired body part. But since spirit is spread around my entire body, the response time improved by a second or so.
[Ping!]