Matt was standing in his apartment staring in awe at the popup that had just appeared.
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[New Skill]
Self Defense [LV.1]
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'New skill!? I can get skills naturally?!'
This realization really shocked him. He had assumed the system would only boost stats and give him preset skills, but he hadn't even considered the idea that it could make skills based on what he learned and experienced. When he thought about everything he knew about this system though, it started to make sense.
'I really should be testing out the system or asking [help] more. But to be honest, she would probably give basic answers.'
[Help] was currently just level 1, so he guessed that she might be more useful later. Every system skill he seemed to get usually started out basically useless and improved when it leveled up.
Matt wasn't exactly sure what that would mean in [Help]'s case, since she was a talking apparently conscious being. At least he assumed she was.
He hoped it wouldn't just erase her or anything. As much as she got on his nerves, he wouldn't wish that on anyone. He also had to admit he had grown used to her, and she had helped him out a lot.
Seeing that the skill was in his system menu as well, he decided to test it out. But, he quickly realized nothing happened when he activated it in his mind.
'Is it a passive skill?'
Based on his guess, he tried to imitate what he learned from the video again, and the results were incredible. His body moved efficiently and performed the actions with ease. It almost looked like he had been practicing these moves for at least a month.
'Instant muscle memory?'
He realized he didn't know any more about self-defense besides what the video taught him. It seemed to be only his execution of the moves that was improved. He figured it would've been too cheaty if it filled his head with new knowledge of self-defense.
'So, I can improve my proficiency, but still need to learn it. Good to know.'
He instantly knew what he wanted to do next. He searched online for videos about boxing. He opened the first one, which went over basic form, footwork, and a few simple punches.
The video went over the different types of punches like jabs, hooks, uppercuts, etc. In the second half of the video, they went into strategy and where you should hit to optimize damage. The video ended, and Matt was confused.
'Where's the notification?'
He realized he hadn't gotten a skill for watching the video. But he quickly understood what had happened, and what the difference was from last time.
'I need to actually act it out.'
Now knowing what he needed to do, he imitated what he had learned about boxing. After a few minutes of practicing the moves, he heard the sound he was expecting.
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[New Skill]
Boxing [LV.1]
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Now that he had gotten a skill for it, his footwork and technique felt a lot better. Again, it was like he had practiced for at least a few weeks to a month. His punches felt like they had a tiny bit more force behind them too.
'This feels like a glitch in a game.'
He now only feared the public release of the system more. It wasn't gonna be good with people just spam learning skills. It only motivated him to train harder from now on.
He pulled up another video, this time karate. He decided he would start with the most popular skills and go down the line. An hour passed, and so far he had gotten skills for karate, kung fu, wrestling, judo, and kickboxing. But he noticed something interesting about the name his kung fu skill had.
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[New Skill]
Kung Fu (Unspecialized) [LV.1]
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After searching for an answer online, he realized kung fu was an umbrella term for a large amount of different martial arts. So he imagined it mentioning unspecialized meant he had learned something that was more general in concept.
He imagined himself fighting a nonexistent opponent and tried mixing and matching a few of the moves he had learned from each skill.
He pretended to sidestep an incoming punch, deflecting their hand and putting them in a wrestling choke hold before using a technique he learned from judo to throw them to the ground. All of these actions in one swift movement.
'I feel like a badass! I can't wait to actually try these moves out!'
But then he remembered, this was the real world. There weren't just people he could fight unless he wanted to go straight to prison. The energy left him as he realized he probably wouldn't actually be able to use what he learned, besides the rare instance of him being attacked.
He wondered if maybe it would apply more after the system launched, but he also realized he wished the world would just stay peaceful. As cool as it would be to fight people every day like one of those action movies or anime, he knew it probably wouldn't be a pleasant reality to live in.
'Also, if they have a gun, I'm pretty sure none of these skills would do anything.'
He wondered how much con and health he would need to get shot and be fine. He imagined he would need a lot, but it actually seemed like a feasible goal, unlike before the system.
After collecting a few skills, he was starting to get a little tired. Matt decided it would be best to get some sleep and try out his plan tomorrow to get the rest of his rent money. Then he could finally get the first mystery reward he was offered.
Now he knew how good they could be, he wasn't planning on just sitting around and missing it. The mind palace skill he got from the last reward was great, but it wasn't very combat-focused. He hoped the next reward would have something cool like throwing fireballs or using darkness magic or something.
With the thoughts of what powers he might get in the future, he drifted off to sleep.