Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 34

I met her eyes, and she spun away, acting as if she wasn't just staring daggers into my back. I narrowed my eyes and stared at her as I thought about it. I felt that she was taking her job a bit too seriously, and I should work on that and see if she will tone it down a bit.

I tore my gaze from her and looked back at my teacher, and relaxed a bit to allow him to better position me. I did my best to memorize how I was standing and attempted to throw another punch once more. This time it felt a little smoother.

Aaron walked around me with a watchful eye and demonstrated the punch once more. I watched as his back leg shifted and his hips and chest swung forward, and his arm shot out. I got back into position, mimicked his movements, and found that they were much easier to perform.

Congratulations! You have unlocked Basic Hand to Hand combat proficiency I. However, please be aware that this does not increase damage done with hand-to-hand combat and only quantifies experience and determines future class evolutions.

+100 essence

Oh! I did something! A quiet snicker escaped from my lips, and a slight twinge of pride blossomed in my chest. I know it wasn't much, but I was just happy that I was making progress, no matter how small it may be. "Alright, Aaron! Let's keep it going!"

Over a few hours, I've learned various punches and kicks, and with each successful move, Aaron only grew harsher in my training. Eventually, my muscles changed from a pleasant burn to a raging fire. My lungs desperately tried to quench the heat that was ravaging my chest. I had no idea that just running through basic stances and movements was this intensive.

"Okay, okay, that's enough for now, Aaron! I need to catch my breath." I dropped to my back as I swallowed large gulps of air and stared into the sky. The weather cleared up mostly, and a few stray clouds floated lazily past. My eyes wandered down to the notifications that built up over a few hours.

+1 dexterity

+1 endurance

+1 Strength

Congratulations, you have unlocked Basic Hand to Hand Combat Proficiency II

I gulped down more air, reflecting a bit on what I learned. I can understand that I won't be a master overnight, but I had a feeling that my proficiency score won't be going up this fast for much longer. But I read that it affects my future class milestones, so I want to drag it up as high as possible before I get to that point, along with what other proficiencies I can get.

I lay there for a moment before my muscles twitched and spasmed, causing me to lament my choices of not working out as much as I should have. But that also begged the question, what would my class evolution be? Currently, I am just a Soul Catalyzer, and I only have a soul transforming skill and a ranged attack. So I would have to be very careful in the coming time with my choices to find a powerful enough class to fit my needs. I will also have to supplement my training with exercises at this rate, so I'm not relegated to being a mess afterward.

I laid there for a few moments longer as my body pulsated with the pain of working out. Finally, I took another breath and forced myself to stand up. As much as I wanted just to lay there, I didn't have enough time on my hands to mess around. I brought my map up and looked at the locations I specified for resource drops.

Near the destroyed fountain, a growing pile of plants looked to be shredded down, which was lovely. I could produce clothing now for everyone. Well, almost everyone. I had to keep the aesthetic I had going on. I stored all the plant fibers, which tallied up to well over a few thousand units. I went ahead and looked across the domain to see how everyone else was looking.