A New Direction

~An alley, New York, Earth~

Late in the afternoon, a few days after the dungeon incident.

In the darkness of the shadows cast by the towering concrete jungle of the city, a vague silhouette can be seen moving at a superhuman speed, yet their steps silent as they casually seemed to jog through the alleyway.

Arriving at a dead end of the alley the thugs Adam had fought, who seemed to have left it, had been using, the figure, vaguely feminine gracefully stopped at the spot where the entrance to the dungeon was previously. Looking around, her blue eyes seemed to shine, the upper part of her face that wasn't covered by the half mask she wore expressionless and cool.

With a nice fitting catsuit that seemed to be made of animal leathers that had been dyed black and a jacket with multiple pockets in them on her body, a utility belt strapped to her waist, her hands covered with what appeared to be modified motorcycle gloves with no finger covering and metal on the knuckles, and dark combat boots which seemed to fade in and out of the shadows, the figure seemed to be a nimble, close range fighter.

Standing still, a weak presence of sharpness seemed to emanate from her as she closed her eyes, appearing to be contemplating something. Suddenly, a flash of murderous intent appeared in her eyes and then was quickly gone, as a knife with a fatally deadly double edge appeared in her hand and seemed to disappear again, a low whistling sound of the wind being cut at a high speed sounding out.

With a boom and a flash of blue light, the knife was sent flying back, followed quickly by a flowing stream of blue fire which somehow seemed to be condensed and not dispersing as it streaked towards the female.

With an annoyed expression on her face, the female figure jumped back from the attack right as it about to hit her with a sense of practiced ease. Landing on her feet, she studied the opponent hidden in the shadows closely as her hands slipped into her pockets, guarding against any sudden movements.

Not seeing any abnormal movements, she took her hands out of her pockets while holding two dense balls of metal in each hand. 8 more balls floated up from her pockets, spreading out and gravitating around her. Then, flowing like mercury, the balls began to shift and change shape, condensing and sharpening into deadly knives floating around and two short swords in each hand.

Her expression appearing to become colder and sharper, the presence of sharpness around her seemed to grow thicker and thicker, and then exploded as a wave of faint green-colored aura rushed out of her body, causing the air to scream again, this time even louder as wind started picking up, flowing around the area and causing her hair to flow with it.

Drawn towards the blades in her hands, the aura surrounding her moved towards them and coated the weapons, giving the already dangerous looking weapon an even sharper look, a look fatal danger.

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Seeing this change in her, the hidden foe seemed to stare in disbelief, before snapping out of it and going on guard as well, a thick shield of blazing blue fire appearing in front of them.

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Seeing this , the female figure decided to go on the offensive, a strategy for victory already being formed in her mind, when suddenly a voice spoke out of the blue.

"That's enough."

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The voice of an aged elder spoke these words. Turning slightly to the left towards the direction of the voice, the female figure saw a new figure approaching from behind her opponent in the shadows. Stepping into the light,the figure was revealed to be a middle-aged Asian man in blue traditional Chinese robes, with a Tai Chi sword sheathed in his hand, sporting quite the annoyed expression. His surroundings seemed to distort continuously, as waves of heat emanating from him.

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'He's strong' the female figure thought. Cautiously backing off from the new possible threat, she spoke.

"Pardon the intrusion into this fight, but I thought it quite cumbersome to watch a pointless battle unfold over a misunderstanding."

With an extremely intimidating air about him, he leisurely strolled towards her as he said with an arrogant smirk on his face, his expression saying he would brook no argument.

" Why were you stalking me then?" She said with suspicion, her guard still up.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, this is merely a coincidence.This is the territory of the Soul Flame Clan. My disciple and I came here to investigate after there was report of a dungeon being cleared in this area, thus disappearing. However,no one from our clan claimed the credit of subjugating it, thus we believe there might be a rogue awakened involved."

The middle-aged man stated, as he came to stand a few meters away from the female figure; a trivial distance for powerful awakened such as them, but done nevertheless as a formality to show respect.

"So then, what is your reason for being here, Madam Winter?"

Looking toward the mysterious lady, who had now been identified, the man asked with a serious tone.

Relaxing her guard and putting her weapons away, Madam Winter looked at the man square in the face, her expression frosty and unreadable again, as she answered with a tone that was cold enough to live up to her name.

"That's none of your business, but I just happened to be in the vicinity when I heard about the situation. There have been reports of a rogue awakened haphazardly clearing dungeons without permission from the Guild, so I thought about checking it out when I heard of this new incident. The Guild has issued a quest to capture the culprit and bring them in for questioning."

Taking one last look at the man and the figure behind him, which seemed to be a young adult male with a pale, icy blue left eye, Madam Winter turned around and started walking back into the darkness, saying over her shoulder as she went deeper and deeper into the shadows which her skin blended in so well with.

" Since this is your territory, I'll leave the task of capturing to you. I'm on a break right now, and I don't care what you do.Just make sure you don't cause a disturbance or trouble me."

Pausing for a second, she added

"Or else."

A flood of sharpness, killing and blood-lust seemed to gush out of Madam Winter and flood over, engulfing the middle-aged man and the teenager. Raising a shout, thee middle-aged man released his aura, a beautiful albeit deadly blue flame which spread out and covered both his and his disciple, who seemed positively petrified by this attack.

Shaking his head at this disciples weak willpower and also grimacing at what was probably the Madam's way of punishing him, he said to his frozen in shock disciple.

" Do not mess with that woman. She... is very dangerous."

Saying this with narrowed eyes,he looked at the location where Madam Winter was previously, noting that she had completely vanished with no clues, he then went to bring the disciple out his mind trap, all the time trying to forget the brief moment of fear he'd experienced as the wave him, his fear of death so powerful he'd involuntarily shook for a bit.

Convinced to not mess with her himself, he left the alley way with his disciple in tow, a strange expression on his face, and a sword in his right hand.

"Madam Winter huh?" he whispered under his breath as he left, a late afternoon sun casting a warm orange glow over the horizon, Illuminating the deserted alley for a brief moment.

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~Adam's House.~

"998,999,1000,1001....."

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[STR +1 for exercising]

"Well that took a while."

Getting up from the ground and taking a break, a tired but satisfied Adam said.

After the dungeon incident and his return home, the euphoria of coming home was short lived as he was subsequently questioned intensely by his mother, who had almost gotten a heart attack after seeing the bloodstains on his clothes. Not wanting to scare her even more and not knowing the consequences of revealing the existence of awakened, he decided to tell her half of the story.

So he told her he was accosted and chased by some thugs, and had to hide out for a while.

After making sure that he was ok, she then apologized to him. Feeling like it was her fault, she told him it was fine for him to stay inside if he wanted.

Looking at her eyes that were still slightly reddish from crying, Adam felt a pang of guilt, and once again vowed to protect her and his sisters. Telling her he was fine and didn't blame her, he then asked her for a pair of dumbbells so he could train in the house to get in shape, so he wouldn't be pushed around again. Agreeing with him, Hannah even offered to pay for a gym membership for him, but he decided to wait and get some experience at home first before stepping in a gym.

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And so, after a few days of consistent push-ups,squats,sit-ups and other exercises, he had gained

+8 STR

+6 VIT

+5 AGI

+3 DEX

The AGI was gained by sprinting around the house, much to the amusement of his mother and sister; And the DEX was gained by making use of his [Split Mind] skill to perform multiple tasks.

Finally having gained over 20 stats in each, he'd unlocked the first perk for both of them.

[For having AGI over 20, you have gained the Perk [Fleet-foot]]

[For having DEX over 20, you have gained the Perk [Acrobat]]

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[Fleet-foot]

Naturally gifted at running away from any and all forms of conflict, these talented ones are best known for their ability to quickly exit the scene at any sign of trouble

-Grants +25 AGI

-Grants +10 DEX

-Grants skill [Dash Step]

[Dash Step](Active)[Lv.1 Exp. 0/10]

Basic movement skill, allows the user to cover short distances by increasing acceleration.

- Grants 50% boost to speed for 1 second.(+1% per level)

- Cost: 25 SP

[Acrobat]

Masters of bodily control, these skilled individuals have the ability to expertly control each part of their body perfectly, and have incredible balance and stability.

-Grants +25 DEX

-Grants +10 LUK

-Grants skill [Limber]

[Limber](Active)[Lv.1 Exp. 0/10]

A skill greatly utilized as a basic combat technique by thieves and assassins, it allows the user to perform sudden attacks from unexpected places.

- Grants 50% increase in attack speed(+1% per level)

-Cost 25 SP

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He had also borrowed a few textbooks from the family library, mainly medical books which used to belong to his older sister Elizabeth. Taking his time to go through various books over and over again, he gained

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+4 INT and +2 WIS.

He had also gained the Skill [Anatomy:Human] from constant reading of

those huge books.

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[Anatomy:Human](Passive)[Lv.1 Exp. 0/10]

A skill held by those that have extensively studied the human body in all it's entirety. It can be used as both a tool for life or death, depending on who wields it.

- Grants the ability to analyze the structure, capabilities and possible weaknesses of the target.

- Higher skill levels increase accuracy of analysis.

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With the addition of these new skills and stats, Adam could now be said to have reached a new level of strength.

"Ok, I think I'll raise my STR to 35, AGI to 25 and VIT to 30 before I start going to the gym. That way I don't lose out on any possible growth that I could've achieved." He said while looking at his status.

"But man, raising stats is getting hard already. I think the threshold I can reach in all physical and mental stats is around 50 before I have to start focusing on just leveling up to increase them. Any more than that, and I'll be wasting time since I can just use stats points to increase them, time I could be using to increase my skill levels.I should probably also try and get some more stat enhancing skills." He reasoned.

"Well,I'm done with working out for now. Time for magic and martial arts practice, then."

After resting for a while to recover SP, he got up from the floor and sat down in the half-lotus position, his arms palm up and resting on his bent knees. Breathing in and out for a while, he then began to release little wisps of aquamarine colored gas from his fingers and palms, an intense look of focus on his face. Slowly, the gas seemed to twist, little by little, winding around itself in a slow whirlpool, growing thicker and more condensed as time passed. After a while the gas stopped appearing from his hands, and the whirlpool quickly began to collapse, then dissipated.

Breathing in and out slowly again, he got up from the ground and headed towards his computer.Navigating to his internet browser, he clicked on a paused video he'd been watching the night before. Playing the video, he went stand in an area of the room that he'd cleared out, and then assumed the same stance that the person in the video was demonstrating. Copying the guys movements, he slowly learnt the basics of martial arts.

After the dungeon incident, Adam had learnt to not put trust in any weapon apart from his fists. Deciding to train them to be deadly should he be found wanting for a weapon, he made sure to find time every day to get some [Unarmed Fighting Technique] experience and possibly learn some skills, the latter of which wasn't working out so well.

After trying unsuccessfully to mimic Bruce Lee's famous one inch punch technique for hours, Adam came to the conclusion that it wasn't possible to be copied, or at least not yet possible. It seems that specialized skills like killing techniques of various martial arts needed a base or foundation; the user of the technique must be extremely familiar with the principles of the technique before being able to actually use it. After these have been learned, then the user can now increase their proficiency with the killing technique.

After coming to this conclusion, Adam therefore decided to start from the basics of the basics.Scouring the internet for all the useful information he could find, he slowly started the forms and stances of different martial arts, major and minor. Seeing the experience he was gaining for [Unarmed Fighting Technique] going up faster and faster, he knew he was on the right track.

After the video of the man demonstrating the martial arts stances ended, Adam then took some time to understand them well, repeating the stances and attacks over and over. trying his best to ingrain them into his mind. He added to this training by cycling through [Aura Strike], [Strongarm], and finally [Sneak] and [Sneak Attack] together, raising their proficiency and getting used to using them along with his fighting techniques.[Split Mind] was coming in quite useful in this situation, and it was even gaining proficiency as well. Effectively, this was hitting three birds with one stone.

After tiring himself out doing this, and running out of SP, he'd sit on the ground again, breathe for a while, then practice magic skills again. On and on this cycle went, as it slowly became an almost robotic repetition. Suddenly, a wave of nostalgia seemed to wash over Adam, as he fondly( and also with dread) remembered the days of a certain game that involved him dying much more than actually playing the game. He'd once trained for hours just learning to dodge random mob attacks and mastering how to avoid getting hit before finally attempting to challenge the bosses,whom he'd then die to anyways.But throughout all the deaths and frustration, he'd learnt a very valuable lesson.

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Git Gud

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These two simple words became a mantra that kept him going in the game, and now, he would use it in real life. He would constantly refine and improve his techniques and abilities, till he was a force to be reckoned with.He would git so gud that his enemies would be the ones facing the Nameless ****. Any threats that endangered his family would be dealt with as quickly as possible, with no suspense. That was the power that he wanted, and the power that he would seize with the power of The Gamer.

Done with his latest magic skill training, Adam got up and prepared to go over his martial arts, when..

"Kweeeekuuu,come downstairs, you have some visitors" His mum's voice called from the hall.

"Yeesss maa" Adam answered

'Great, must be maa's old friends again. ~sigh~... let's get this over with then I guess.'

Thinking this, Adam stopped his training, wore some clean(ish) clothes, then stepped out of his room, a decently friendly expression on his face as he slowly descended the stairs.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he saw two figures standing next to his mother, talking casually.

Recognizing them, he involuntarily said.

"What are you guys doing here?"