Chương 4: Training Missions

Strength training with Gunther had lasted most of the day. After eating a large dinner, Ray made his way back to his room. The System chose that moment to alert him about the progress of his latest mission. [Mission: Complete] [Data Upload Commencing] It felt as though a veil had been lifted from his eyes. All the lessons and pointers Gunther had drilled into him suddenly clicked into place. His understanding of the Strength attribute felt almost second nature now. As if he had always known.

Ray could barely handle the surge of information combined with the sorry state his body was in. Making his way to the bed, he collapsed onto the soft mattress and admired the high-quality pillows. Sleep came quickly. - Arriving at the training complex the next morning felt very different from his first visit. Thankful for a dreamless night's sleep and more than happy to ignore his own mental turmoil, Ray entered the large training room.

Expecting to arrive alone, he was surprised to find Clive already waiting for him. Ray immediately used the System to identify him. [Soldier, Stage: 3] The words were red like before, albeit not as fluorescent as when he had identified Gunther. The white-haired man stood in front of one of the monitors, deep in thought. He began speaking without turning around.

"How was it with Gunther yesterday?" he asked. Ray scratched the back of his head and narrowed his eyes as he thought.

"It was... rough." His tone did little to hide his exhaustion. Ray definitely understood the purpose of the training now, especially after all the information the System had dumped into his head. Surprisingly, the sensation wasn't entirely unfamiliar after his recent life-hopping experiences. If anything, his mind felt even sharper than it had the previous day. Clive gave him a knowing look.

"The System's gonna keep dumping tons of information on ya," he said.

"Most people struggle with it the first few times. Some handle it better than others. The training missions are a newer way to ease the process. Normally, everything you'd learn over the next couple days would've been shoved into your head the moment you woke up." Clive stood and stretched. The black armor he wore rustled softly as he moved. His footsteps barely made a sound against the floor. Walking over to Ray, he placed a hand on the young man's shoulder.

His eyes briefly pulsed with the green glow of the System before he let out a long sigh.

"You look fine, though. No bags under your eyes, and you seem to have recovered most of your stamina." He patted Ray's shoulder.

"Let's get to work." Clive's explanation of Agility mirrored much of what Gunther had taught him about Strength. However, the Soldier went into far greater detail regarding body control. Agility specialists tended to be stealthy fighters, relying on precision, speed, and lethal strikes to eliminate opponents. Afflictions were among their most common tools, and more often than not, a prolonged fight against one would prove fatal. Every attribute naturally increased whenever someone advanced in Stage or Phase.

However, true specialization required focused training. If someone wanted Strength, they needed to do calisthenics, run long distances, and constantly push their body to its limits. Agility was different. Surprisingly, activities like yoga and parkour were among the most effective ways to develop it. Clive spent the next hour instructing Ray in various poses designed to improve balance, flexibility, and bodily control.

Most of the session consisted of Ray struggling to maintain his balance while Clive remained perfectly still, like a statue. Afterward, Clive used the System to create an obstacle course. Walls, ramps, platforms, and long tunnels appeared throughout the room. A System message immediately caught Ray's attention. [Light Mana, Rank: 5 (Time)] Ray wasn't sure how Time Mana was creating physical projections, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Clive immediately sent him through dozens of different routes.

Each course forced him to move differently from the last. Off the wall. Under the arch. Through the tunnel. Around the bend. Ray flowed through the obstacles with surprising grace. Even Clive seemed impressed.

"Good shit, kid," he said after Ray completed another route.

"I'm honestly surprised." He crossed his arms and shook his head.

"The System says you've got Stage 0 Agility, but I'd be willing to bet you've got a natural talent for it." Clive then launched into a lengthy explanation about why Agility would be the perfect specialization for him. The man made several convincing arguments. Still, Ray couldn't shake the feeling that Agility wasn't the attribute he should focus on. Not yet, anyway. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He wanted to learn more about the remaining attributes before making a decision. Once again, the entire day was consumed by training. By the time evening arrived, Clive had seemingly run out of ways to push Ray any further.

"You seriously should consider Agility," Clive said as they prepared to leave the complex.

"You've got way too much talent for it." He snorted.

"And Gunther was probably just gloating when he said you had talent for Strength." Ray immediately perked up. Gunther had said he was talented?

'I felt like I barely kept up,' Ray thought.

'Did I actually impress him? I figured he was just trying to motivate me with that speech about being better than the adults.' Clive seemed to read the thoughts written across his face.

"Gunther said you're the most promising person he's ever trained," he said.

"He usually works with people who receive the System after they've already gone through military training." He shrugged.

"I'd say that means you stood out quite a bit." A surge of pride filled Ray's chest. Hearing praise from two people as strong and experienced as Gunther and Clive felt surprisingly rewarding. He had spent most of his life expecting people to notice whatever he did wrong. Having two actual Soldiers point out something he did well felt strange enough that he almost wanted to argue with them. Instead, he held on to their words and tried not to make it weird. After saying their goodbyes, Ray returned to his room.

Unlike the previous day, the training had barely left him exhausted. Instead, his thoughts remained fixed on the words of his instructors. After washing up and eating a meal delivered by a stone-faced staff member, Ray settled into his bed. Just as he was getting comfortable, another System message appeared. [Mission: Complete] [Data Upload Commencing] This time, the flood of information felt almost soothing. Like slipping into warm water. Before he realized it, sleep claimed him.

- With what felt like almost routine at this point, Ray had met the new day and found himself back in the training facility. He woke with distant memories of nightmares but shoved them into the place he had been keeping the rest of his thoughts in lately. The constant ride of the last few days had kept him from dwelling on his own psyche. It was obvious he had some things to work through, but he had never been good at that before the System; what made anyone think he could handle it better now?

Just as the dam holding it all back nearly broke, a second person arrived in the large room. A woman that Ray could only describe as absolutely stunning walked through the doorway, and time seemed to freeze. No, the room actually began to freeze. Ray felt a chill run down his spine as a System message popped up. [Detecting large amounts of Water Mana, Rank 3 (Ice)] Ray could see his breath as he took shallow attempts at filling his lungs.

'What the actual fuck?' he thought. Before his mind could form another thought, the woman seemed to take a deep breath, and the room instantly warmed back up. Her icy-blue hair bounced with each step she took, and her green eyes had a hint of amusement in them. She carried an obvious air of authority, and the training gear she wore left nothing to the imagination.

"Ray Foley?" the woman asked, her voice full of mirth.

"Yes?" Ray said, his tone not hiding his fear. The woman's face broke out in a child-like smile, and she stepped right up to him, barely a meter away.

"I'm Rize," she said.

"I'm here to teach you about Intelligence!"

"Don't be fooled, I'm sure Clive and ol' spike boy made a good case for the importance of the other attributes, and I agree they are important. But… Intelligence is the most important attribute and why I, the strongest rising Soldier, am as powerful as I am!" Ray took this time to identify Rize, and what he saw only added validity to her claims. [Soldier, Stage: 5 Phase: 5] This was the first time Ray had seen the Phase listed, and his knowledge of it appeared in his mind.

'There's 5 Phases per Stage,' he thought.

'That means this lady is right at the edge of the 6th Stage.' Rize seemed to notice Ray's shocked look and let out a playful giggle before continuing.

"Intelligence is all about Mana usage," she said.

"Your Mana pool increases as your Stage does, but your ability to use that Mana is all based on the Intelligence attribute." Rize proceeded to go into more depth about Intelligence, and Ray was beginning to understand how it worked. The Mana percentage the System showed was only the amount of Mana currently in his core. In order to use the Mana, one must draw on it from the core and direct it out of the body through the Mana Ways. This was known as Mana manipulation.

Depending on what element you used and how you want the Mana to behave, one must direct it accordingly. One must also absorb the correct Essence type. Want to use Fire Mana and shoot fireballs? Absorb a Fire Essence. Essences are made of Elemental Mana and through the System provide things called Abilities. An Ability can be anything from the aforementioned fireballs to buffs and afflictions. Absorbing each Essence grants 1 Ability and it's completely random. Some say it's personality-based.

Others believe you can manifest the type of Ability an Essence will give you. The only true way of determining what Ability you'll get is based on the rarity of the Essence. Higher rarity usually meant better Abilities.

"The bottom line is, you have to absorb Essence to use Mana for anything more than strengthening your body or Mana pool," Rize explained.

"Once you get the Soldier title, you'll be granted something by the System called Battle Aura. This is separate from Abilities and is all about your Mana control. While Intelligence can make your Abilities more potent, Battle Aura is more of a feeling thing. You felt mine when I came in, remember? The whole, 'room dropping to below freezing' thing?" Ray nodded as he remembered the unforgettable entrance. Rize further explained that one could create their own ways of using Mana called Techniques, or Tech for short.

Tech was a complex subject, and he wouldn't have to worry about it until he got a full set of Abilities. Turns out, the best way to train Intelligence was meditation. Not just any meditation, though. Ray finally found out what the tanks in the room were for. In order to train, Ray would be suspended in a vat of Nul Mana, and he would have to run through meditative exercises. Watching the clear liquid fill the tank was less nerve-wracking this time, but he was uncomfortable all the same.

Once he was fully submerged, Ray was surprised to find he could breathe the liquid in like air. A second surprise came in the form of a System message. [Communication link established with User: Rize Pendragon] Following the message was the sound of static, and Ray could hear the girlish giggle of his Intelligence tutor.

"Hey, Ray," she said, with a slight robotic tinge in her voice.

"This is how we communicate with the System from a distance. Normally, you would have to accept the link, but since you are currently assigned to a mission, the System automatically initiated it." Rize went on to instruct Ray on the different forms of meditation. Turns out, meditation was a deep and profound practice, and if he ever wanted to specialize in Intelligence, he would have to master it. - The rest of the day was a blur as Ray found himself in a dream-like state.

Rize raved about his natural gift for his 'inner self' or something like that, but Ray barely understood what she meant. The meditation was amazing since his brain was almost void of thought during the process. Nul Mana was a natural stimulant, and Ray left the training complex feeling light and comfortable. His mind that had been going at a breakneck pace for days now finally seemed to slow down, only to be bombarded with information as a System message popped up. [Mission: Complete] [Data upload commencing]