~ Male Dorm Building, Yoel's Room ~
"I think this will do." Yoel spoke as his gaze drifted to the hologram floating above the cube.
He had picked out a way to train his body while picking a somewhat durable weapon for future trials.
He had no way of learning what the trials would be, so he just stuck to a refinement technique that would be versatile and provide him with sufficient utility.
[Silhouette Arts]
[Cost: 60,000 DP]
[A body refinement technique that trains your body to be flexible and adaptable. Your primary focus relies on stealth and deception, hiding your true intentions to the opponent, till the last moment, so they may be most deadly.]
The body refinement technique itself had now materialized into a book in his hands. It carried an ominous feel to it- as if its pages had been dancing with the light and shadow of the room.
He felt as if he had picked a great refinement technique, purely because of its adaptability. It was the best trait a human could have, after all.
He had picked up a few other useful techniques, but he wouldn't be using them any time soon, not in the dorm building and not before the trials, at least.
Right now, Yoel's body had been too skinny.. too unrefined. He only hardly had around a month to properly get used to this place, along with being able to learn all that he had purchased in that short amount of time, it sounded impossible.
His spirits were down, naturally, but he decided he would give it a try, failing at this point wouldn't be a surprise, would it? After all, where else would he go if not here?
His last chance at life was here.
Yoel asked for further details from the cube about his body refinement technique, such as its training regime and the most suited weapons for it.
Once he had his answers, Yoel was determined to if not pass, at least try hard enough to become a nuisance for the others.
He put on the worn-out jacket he came here with, placed the cube in his pockets, and headed out.
His destination? The training facilities. Otherwise named, the "center of learning".
Here most if not all of the students and examinees utilized the facilities to the fullest.
He wanted to get familiar with a few weapons there, and perhaps try to learn something from what he had siphoned from the mysterious cube.
The cube had told him that once he had a taste of any technique, it would be hard to break away from it, and even harder to learn a different one.
However, Yoel was confident in his choice. He believed that this style would aid him in victory.
The ability to remain adaptable to any situation sounded powerful and frightening.
A forever adapting enemy.. it's not something one would want to face.
On top of that, most of his attacks would go unseen until the last moment, making this refinement technique a true treasure.
For a moment, Yoel wondered if others had found out about this refinement technique, but then, he thought of something else. Something he hadn't considered before.
He had made.. a rookie mistake. Picking a technique before even learning what his ability was?
Honestly, after understanding that fact, he was ashamed.
There was a certain limit to how ignorant he could be, and the limit has been surpassed with this.
After a long debate, he took out the cube and asked,
"..Are refunds available?"
The cube activated, shining with the familiar blue light.
[Depending on the item that you will be attempting to refund, yes.]
It spoke with a mechanical voice, once again. Yoel nodded to himself and then called for the shop hologram.
Once it appeared, he scrolled through the familiar list of fighting styles, and then found the one he had purchased.
However, when he clicked on the refund button, the mechanical voice spoke.
[Unable to refund the item.]
Yoel looked at the hologram, then the cube. He tapped the refund button again.
[Unable to refund the item.]
..Then again.
[Unable to refund the item.]
..Again.
[Unable to refund item..]
Yoel looked at the hologram in disbelief. Why was this damn refinement technique non-refundable?
Technology be damned.
Will I have to stick to this technique until the end of time? Surely.. there must be a way to get rid of it.
After messing around with the controls of the peculiar device, Yoel gave up.
He let out a defeated sigh and continued towards the training facilities.
Whatever. It's better than nothing and it doesn't sound too bad. Maybe instead of completely abolishing the idea of using the technique, perhaps I could mix it with something else..
As he wandered about, he finally reached the building with all the necessary facilities for his growth.
He entered a training room specifically made for training the body and looked around.
The room was quite spacious, although a bit empty. There was a lot of equipment, ranging from dumbbells to even a weird weapon-like rope with a rock attached to its end.
These people don't beat around the bush.. if you have potential, you're bound to harness it here.
There were a few others in the training facility at the time, along with some of the teenagers Yoel had seen in his group.
That guy.. wasn't he the one that got a 50% on his awakening chance? Mm. I guess he's hard at work. He doesn't want to waste this chance he's been given.
Loki was lifting dumbbells that looked like they were double his weight, and almost larger than him in size. Yoel could see the strain his muscles were going through and he couldn't help but shudder.
He had short black hair, which paired nicely with his large body structure, and black eyes that Yoel had to pay close attention to; they had been leaning towards the brown side, but still relatively black.
It looks like there's a lot of monsters in this place. I can't get by just by doing something mediocre.
At that moment, he felt another presence enter the room, this time.. the person that entered carried with her an elegant demeanor and possessed a graceful posture that pridefully portrayed itself in the way she walked.
If anything, it was the opposite of what he had just seen Loki do.
Yoel couldn't help but turn around.
What he saw, left him quite puzzled.
A beautiful lady was in the spot Yoel's eyes were fixed on, preparing for a workout. Her blonde hair was left free to sway around in the air.
Her blue eyes only served to accentuate her figure, almost as if she had hidden a vast ocean behind them.
She was in casual gym clothes, but even then...
She had an alluring look to her, a mature kind of one, even though Yoel had estimated that her age was around the same as him.
She moved over to where the weapon stash was and picked up a standard-issue rapier. She seemed to be experienced with it already, as her swings looked like a professional's.
What Yoel didn't notice, however, were the faint traces of Avon extending out of the rapier after every stab and slash.
After observing her training session for a few minutes, he slightly began to recognize the patterns of her attacks.
It looked as if her technique was slightly similar to his. There wasn't any striking resemblance, but the nimble maneuvers she pulled off constantly reminded him of the videos he had seen about his technique.
Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts, which were currently captivated by the beautiful woman practicing her art.
Allowing a slight blush to reach his cheeks, he decided to concentrate on himself and moved over to the weapon stash.
He picked out two weapons, in particular, a spear and a dagger.
His technique was unique, and it required both weapons to properly work. But in most cases, the dagger was used as a last resort due to how easy it was to knock away a spear from someone's hands.
Mmm. They do say the spear is the king of weapons, after all. As long as one could keep it in under control with a tight grip.
He walked over to an unoccupied spot and began to study the fundamentals of the technique.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, trying to achieve whatever concentration he could've, in this loud place.
He believed that if he wanted to learn something properly and within the time frame of a month, he needed to break down the fundamentals into simple pieces.
If he can deduce the fundamentals, he was peering into the very essence of the technique.
With a sigh, he walked up to a wooden training dummy and began swinging his spear.
At first, the swings were slow and crude, leaving no dents whatsoever in the wooden dummy.
No matter how much Yoel slashed and stabbed, it did not matter. The training dummy remained in pristine condition as if Yoel's attacks had never even reached it.
At the same time Yoel was performing these monotonous actions, the gears in his brain were turning at a pace they had never gone before.
Slowly, albeit very slightly.. the slow and crude swings became just a bit faster and more precise. Although there were still no dents in the dummy, the knockback it was receiving increased slightly, to the point the naked eye could see it.
As more and more pieces clicked within his mind, Yoel was satisfied.
He had been going at it for almost an hour now, and his body was already about to give out to the exhaustion.
He had only trained with the spear for now, but all that was needed. He was supposed to absorb this damned style in a month when it takes years to master such techniques.
Yoel wasn't even aiming to fully master the technique, all he wanted to do was gain just a little bit of understanding about how it works, so he could at least defend himself in the trials.
Not to mention, there were many more things to go over other than the technique.
It looks like I won't have time to rest for a long while now..