Shin walked toward the academy while the sun had yet to appear beyond the horizon. On his way, he contacted a moving company to pack up his bedroom and move his stuff into his new apartment.
He entered the darkened school. Not a soul was present on the campus grounds. He made his way through the halls toward the gymnasium with the Dive Pods available.
The young man opened his pod and entered it. He pulled the metal frame over his body and pressed the button, closing himself inside. After a few moments, Eva's voice echoed throughout the pod.
"Greetings, Master Shin. Our systems reflect it is currently 05:12 and the United Federations Grand Academy does not open until 07:45."
"I know. Disregard the time and initialize the link process." Shin retorted.
After a few moments of silence, a soft ding rang throughout the pod as the machine began attaching itself to Shin's suit, and the familiar sensations washed over his body as he connected to the private server.
The young man opened his eyes, fluttering them as he sat up before looking around the tiny, empty room assigned to him within Academia City.
He shot to his feet and departed the dormitories, walking through the streets of the academy and heading to the proving grounds. It was still the early morning hours, and the sun had yet to rise.
There was no time distortion or compression between Savage Gods Online and Earth, creating a one-to-one time ratio. The young man smiled and waved to a patrolling guard as he approached his destination.
He opened the gate, entering the side entrance directly into the open dirt field for students within the training hall. Training dummies were scattered across the field, evenly distributed.
[Greatsword Training (1/4) -90/100]
He glanced at the tracker as he approached one of the wooden crosses with bags of hay strapped to it, adorning a full plate chest guard and helmet.
He smirked at the training dummy, gripping the hilt of his massive blade over his shoulder and pulling it in front of him. He firmly held the sword with both hands, raising it above his head and swinging it downward, and the tracker increased to ninety-one.
He took a deep breath, exhaling sharply with each slash of his sword, maintaining his focus and ensuring his attacks were steady and consistent, not expending unnecessary energy.
*Ding!*
[Greatsword Training (1/4) complete!]
[Reward: Strength +1 ~> Martial Power +1]
[Greatsword Training (2/4) - 0/1,000]
Shin's eyes widened in shock as he saw the next tier of the training, his jaw dropping in response. He contemplated continuing through the second tier but dismissed it.
"Armory!" Shin called out as his eyes began to emit a faint golden light, and four versions of himself appeared wearing different armor sets.
Two were wearing the same armor as his current greatsword loadout, but one had a quiver and bow strapped to his back, and the other had a mace on his waist and a shield on his back.
The third wore grey robes and a staff in his hand. The last one had green robes with a large grimoire hanging from his belt and held an orb in his left hand.
He labeled each of the armor sets: Fighter, Tank, Archer, Mage, and Buffer. He deactivated his ability and opened his inventory, returning his greatsword to it and pulling out a pair of daggers.
The tracker in the corner of his vision changed as he closed his inventory and spun the two knives in the palm of his hands.
[Dagger Training (1/4) - 0/100]
For the next two and a half hours, Shin made his way through every one of the forty weapons he purchased, completing the first of the four weapon training exercises.
Holding the twin chakrams in his hands, a notification appeared.
[Weapons Training (1/4) completed!]
[Weaponsmaster Trait unlocked!]
Shin navigated through the system and accessed the Skills window. Only one icon appeared and had a vertical sword with a spear diagonally to the right and a bow diagonally to the left.
He selected the icon, and the description of the Trait appeared.
[Weaponsmaster]
[Rank: F]
[Increases damage dealt by weapons by 1%]
Skills are separated into three categories: Martial Artes, Spiritual Artes, and Traits. Martial and Spiritual Artes require an activation method to use, while Traits are always active or activated under certain conditions.
Martial and Spiritual Artes grow through repeated usage, requiring increasingly more uses to reach the next tier. They begin at Rank F and can rise to E, D, and C. The following tier is B-, to B, to B+, and then A-, A, A+, S, S+, SS, SS+, and lastly SSS reflecting mastery.
Traits operate differently. They are not required to begin at the bottom rank; only certain traits can grow, although their means of increasing through the ranks vary from skill to skill.
After completing the first tier of the training exercises, Shin worked backward through his weapons, hitting the dummy two hundred and fifty times and making his way back to his greatsword.
Half an hour before students started arriving, he stopped, returning his greatsword to his back and sitting down on a bench in the courtyard, accessing his status window.
[Name: Shin]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Rookie]
[Level: 1]
[Guild: None]
[Familiar: None]
[Sprite: None]
[Companion: None]
[Martial Power: 40]
[Spiritual Power: 15]
[Regal Power: 10]
[Divine Power: 15]
Thirty of the weapons increased either Strength, Endurance, or Agility, which, due to God's Quill, combined to skyrocket his Martial Power. Five increased his Intelligence or Wisdom, which was merged into Spiritual Power, and five increased Charisma, which was applied toward Divine Power.
'That's better.' The young man thought, dismissing the window as he stood, slipping into the crowd of students as he walked through the halls toward the Fighter's classroom.
He entered the room and saw James standing in a large dojo with his arms crossed over his chest, scowling as everyone gathered before him.
"Good morning everyone!" The instructor called out loudly, "I hope everyone got enough rest last night as today will be a long a grueling day for each and every one of you!"