"Ok, first things first. I need you to tell me that you have unlocked the perception stat?" Ithil pleaded.
"Yeah, why?" I stretched.
"That's a relief. You see your awareness of your surroundings is shit." She deadpanned.
"Huh!?" I froze.
"I mean you didn't even notice when i came up to you that time." She pointed out.
"I was not paying attention and-" I tried to explain myself.
"That's wrong. No matter where you are you need to be wary of your surroundings. We are going to be training your perception stat because of that." She sighed disappointed.
"Fine. What do i have to do?" I relented, accepting that I wasn't as strong as i'd call myself.
"Normally, i'd blindfold you and attack you, but instead of me attacking you it all be monsters. Don't worry i'll be here to protect you from danger." She explained handing me a black cloth.
I resigned myself to my fate and decided to accept everything she threw at me. I put it on and allowed her to lead me to a populated area of the forest. I could hear the growls of the monsters as they watched me from afar. I sighed before relaxing my body and focusing on my surroundings. My vision was cut of but I decided to rely on my other senses. I wasn't as prepared as i thought tho. I noticed when they came at me but my body was too slow to react. 'I was hit consecutively causing scars and wounds to litter my body in a few minutes time.
"Is this all you can do? How weak can you possibly be ?" I heard Ithil taunt me from afar.
I grunted in refusal and put myself into overdrive, since when i notice the attacks it's already too late. I'll just predict it faster and better. I was able to dodge a few attacks, but when I dodged one another one came almost immediately.I decided to try to push them back in an attempt to give myself a little breathing space. I stopped moving and calmed down. I entered a trance like state putting all my senses into overdrive. I heard the monsters heading towards me noting the ones that sounded closer and the ones that sounded far away. I noticed that the winds flow changed when they charged at me and deflected all their attacks. I forced myself to remain in this state to grasp it better. I don't recall how long i stayed there observing everything. It became like a pattern to me, but suddenly i felt something heading towards me. I immediately deflected it, ensuring i didn't loose focus from evading the monsters.
"Hey Hekkai. Kill them it's time to move to the next stage." Ithil instructed.
I nodded and immediately stopped landing easy blows on them but going for a more lethal approach. In under 10 minutes all the monsters attacking me were reduced to limbs,flesh and bones. I noticed a presence behind me and turned immediately alert and ready to fight.
"I'm happy you've already grasped this much. It takes most people days or weeks to achieve a quarter of what you achieved." Ithil praised.
"How long did it take you" I inquired.
"Oh of course. The others and I are special cases. Like you it took about a day." Ithil chuckled.
"I'm not even surprised." I smile wryly.
"Anyways, check your system messages for any change in status" She got back to topic.
I nodded and opened my stats narrowing it down to only new inclusions.
[Name: Hakai
Race:Demon(Oni)
LvL:25
Perception:12---23
Skills:
Full Focus:LvL 2---4]
"Oh, quite an impressive change." She acknowledged.
"Are we still continuing this?" I asked.
"Of course. Take these and prepare for battle" She joked handing me ear plugs.
My hearing and vision had been restricted making it once again difficult. I could no longer hear their movements, i only had the smell and wind to rely on. There were times that i was too slow or too fast to react causing injuries to appear. It was better than the first time and because I already had some experience i adapted quickly. I started adapting my body, making the hairs on my body alert waiting for any change in the environment. Like before i entered a state of awareness deflecting all the attacks and getting used to the feeling.
"Kill them." I heard Ithil command.
I did it swiftly as she asked and immediately turned in her direction after noticing a body heat?
"Quite impressive you adapted faster. I'm guessing you have started sensing body heat right?" Ithil approached.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Well this as much as we can do with our little time. The feeling you had before try to include it in your day to day activities. As long as I'm around you i'll attack you" She warned.
"This game has some real nice qualities. I mean look at how fast i'm developing." I took off the cloth and the earbuds, adjusting to my environment once again.
"That's where you are wrong. It isn't a matter of game technology it also lies in your own skill. Not everyone can achieve what you did in such little time. I don't even think they'll achieve it at all. The game is honestly extremely fair.You need to believe in yourself more. Ah...I'm getting a bit carried away." She ranted.
"I didn't know that" I sighed.
"Most people don't. They believe that the people succeeding are a bunch of rich people who paid money for benefits." She said.
"Anyways, let's continue your training. The next part is gonna be very easy" She changed the subject.
"Ah really. Thanks" I smiled in relief.
"Oh not for you, for me. You're gonna be in hell" She laughed maniacally.
"Oh fuck no." I cried shivering in fear.