The ground was still slightly damp from last night's heavy downpour. The early morning air was slightly warm, and beads of sweat started to appear on Sami's face.
'I just have to keep moving and ignore the looks.' At the moment, he was running around the training ground, ignoring the looks being sent his way.
Lyra was busy with her training, trying to balance on the needle; by the sounds of her cussing, it wasn't going well.
'Honestly, I feel her pain; it's hard trying to regulate how much energy is needed to stay in place."
Starting a new lap, Sami saw Anna, her face red, looking at both of them. "Aww, come on, guys; stop ignoring me!" she whined.
Sami and Lyra both continued to pretend she didn't, still upset with her most recent actions. After their brutal training session, she left them both lying on the ground.
A heavy downpour that night left them spending most of the time lying down… In a puddle. The cold from the rain and the mud of the ground made for a horrible time.
Luckily, Onyx had strong healing magic, or they would have been very sick for a while. It didn't stop both of them from being pissed off.
"Stop ignoring me, pleassssee! It was an honest mistake!
He just toned her words out, using her voice like background noise. Honestly, he doesn't care that she beat him badly, a lesson well received on picking fights with people stronger than him.
The issue is that she left Lyra and him on the ground for hours! In the rain. Suffice to say, he is a little upset and would rather ignore her than say something unsavory.
"Lyra, my precious student, please say something!" Anna cried, appearing in front of Lyra, her legs.
Lyra clenched her fist before taking a deep breath. She calmly stepped out of Anna's grip. "Can you go fuck off and leave me alone? Please and thank you."
"B-but you'll still be mad at me.
"ENOUGH!" She angrily rushed forward and brought her fist down. The attack forced Anna's head downward, her skull bouncing off the ground.
BANG!
Anna began rolling on the ground, holding her head in pain. "Owie, that hurt," she whimpered.
Lyra blew the smoke off her fist before going back to ignoring her and turning around, trying to calm down her breathing.
Sami just shook his head and went back to focusing on his run. After another hour had passed, he started doing laps in the pond.
Today was about building his endurance through activities like running, swimming, push-ups, and sit-ups.
"Though I can't help but like days like today," he admitted to himself.
Sami was floating in the water on his back, taking a break from the constant training.
"Hey Oracle, how high do levels go?"
[Max level is 20, with the average human usually reaching level 5, though some humans can break through to level 10, though rare]
"Interesting, I assume I'm not limited like the others?"
[Exactly, essentially I act as your grimoire.]
[Grimoires are magical books that pass down special skills to people]
Sami let out a small hum but didn't reply; instead, he looked at his status. With fifteen skill points, he has been thinking about leveling up some of his skills.
◆-◆
Name: Sami | Level: 1 | SP: 15
Race: Human | Age: 16 | Sex: Male
────────────────────
Title: Novice Monster SlayerHorned Will
Class: Summoner | Summons: 2
────────────────────
Stats: VIT: D28 | END: C40 | MAG: A85
STR : D30 | AGI: C41| LUC: D25
────────────────────
Skills:
Aegis| Binding Chains | Manifest Armament
Phantom Veil | Sparkle
Traits:
Mana Mastery | Pain Tolerance | Shadow Imprint
Unarmed Combat
◆-◆
Once he considered using the skill points, a plus sign appeared next to his skills. He used six skill points, spreading them throughout his skills.
[Sp: 15 → 9]
"I see, so one skill point equals a letter grade; I'll need three skill points to make it to the next letter," Sami muttered.
Honestly, he should've asked Oracle before just using the skill points randomly.
[Skills Ranked Up]
[Aegis: D → C- ]
[System Note → Can Now Absorb or Reflect Attacks]
[Binding Chains: D → C-]
[System Note → Can Now Drain Enemies' Mana]
[Phantom Veil: F+ → D]
[System Note → 5 → 8 seconds of use]
"Fuck yes!" Sami cheered as he saw the notifications; a big grin broke on his face.
"Alrighty, kids, gather 'round," Anna commanded. Her voice echoed across the clearing.
"And there goes my good mood , " he muttered as he made his way towards the shore.
Sami quickly exited the pond, a frown on his face as he made his way towards the tents.
Lyra huffed, wanting to ignore Anna, but ultimately made her way. She grumbled to herself the entire time.
Sami was standing impatiently in front of Anna, tapping his feet, waiting for her to say something.
He raised an eyebrow at seeing Anna taking small glances at him with a blush on her face. "Huh, she's being weird. I assume she's still just mad at Anna."
Onyx quickly climbed up Sami's back(much to his dismay, her small claws hurt), taking her usual spot on his shoulder.
It feels like it's been forever since he's been able to spend time with her, besides when it's time to eat or sleep.
He took the time to gently pet the top of her, enjoying the soft hum coming from her.
Anna was bouncing on her feet in front of them, her eyes staring at Sami, well, his shoulder, where Onyx was sitting.
"Can you get on with why you wanted us?" Lyra demanded, glaring at Anna. "We are burning time we can use for training, instead of sitting around!"
Sami nodded in agreement.
Anna whined, stomping her foot on the ground. "If you can't be nice, then I won't tell you guys the important news."
She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out childishly.
Everyone just stared at her in confusion.
"There's no way she is being serious," Sami thought to himself, controlling the urge to want to attack her.
Anna refused to budge, ignoring the annoyed looks on their faces.
Finally, having had enough, Sami stood up. "Yeah, I'm going to go back to train, I don't have time for this."
He turned his back and walked towards one of the training dummies.
"Agreed," Lyra stated, following behind.
"Wait, wait, I'll tell you!" Anna shouted in desperation
Sami slowly turned to look at her once again.
Lyra was shifting, being impatient.
Anna cleared her thoughts, the sounds of drums behind her. She began to wave her hands erratically; she changed her voice to make what she said sound more dramatic.
"I know you've been wondering, Anna, the great, wonderful teacher, what great news do you have for us? Will I, Anna the Great, beseech you with the next step of both of your guys' training?" She paused, looking at everyone, but her face dropped in disappointment when everyone looked back at her, bored.
Anna threw her hands up in frustration. "Ugh, fine, you guys are no fun. The tower that has been in the training ground is now active."
Lyra perked her head up, for once, finally interested in the conversation.
"Right, can someone explain to me what a tower is?" Sami asked, feeling awkward that he didn't know.
"A tower is similar to a dungeon where you have to conquer multiple floors, though they're much rarer compared to dungeons," Onyx answered.
Anna nodded in agreement. "That's precisely what the bunny said, although a friend of mine, not my subordinate, created this dungeon."
Lyra narrowed her eyes. "You were going to say slave, weren't you?"
"Psssh, no slaves are totally illegal in this part of the kingdom, haha."
"Yeah, teacher, after knowing you for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if you captured a dungeon maker."
"A dungeon maker is a type of fairy or demon that can make dungeons which are specially designed to be wiped out," Lyra explained as soon as Sami opened his mouth.
"Thank you!"
Lyra just shrugged in response, her cheeks turning a small shade of red.
Anna clapped her hands together, getting everyone's attention. "The tower will have ten floors, with each floor offering different obstacles. There is also a boss monster at every three levels, with a last monster on the tenth floor."
She stopped talking, waiting for any more questions. When none came, she continued."
"The dungeon will be hard and test both of you guys in different ways. I made sure to add a safety feature: when you are close to death or out of energy, it will automatically eject you from the tower."
Sami started vibrating with excitement, legit hopping from foot to foot. "When can we start?"
Anna cracked a smile, "Whenever both you and Lyra feel you're ready."
"We're ready, "they both said at the same time, excited.
[New Quest: Anna's Challenge → Complete 10 Floors of the Training Tower]
[Rewards: - One Skill Point per floor defeated; more rewards based on choices made.]