Heavy Armor & Heavy Weapons / Unarmed & Unarmored
This morning, Nox would be training with Gareth instead of Finn and the subject was fighting heavy armor, using a shield and heavy weapons. Unlike with Finn, it would all be done in the same session rather than a single subject per day which Nox didn't really mind.
Gareth was more hardcore than Finn and didn't give as much advice but due to both his high learning rate as a high human and his skill Polymath, Nox could still keep up and make progress on his skills. It was all a new experience since until now, he was more focused on technique and speed rather than weight and defense.
After his usual stop at the Hostess of Fertility, Nox was once more in the dungeon. As per usual, he checked the floors for Jack Birds as he went by but alas, even his Mind Pulse was helpless. When he reached the path to the sixth floor he stopped and checked the magic in his spell slots.
'Item Box, Arcane Missile Storm, Invictus, Mind Pulse, alright all set.' He thought to himself as he advanced.
He was wearing a full plate harness and carrying a long, wide and thick . . . Greatsword and a tower shield, a heavy and clunky combination but he would make it work.
After a while, Nox was quite surprised. Although his speed left much to be desired due to the heavy armor and weapons. He didn't need nearly as much care when facing monsters since despite taking a few hits, even without using invictus he remained unharmed due to his shield armor and natural defence provided by his Mind Veins.
As such, Nox was steamrolling through the floors, utterly annihilating any unfortunate monster that crossed his path. Having too much of an easy time for his tastes, he decided to go deeper into the dungeon than he had ever before.
The eighth and ninth floors didn't have new monsters but a different environment and goblins and kobolds a lot stronger than those of the earlier floors. While there were a lot of hallways and a couple of rooms before, now the hallways were quite a bit shorter and the rooms larger and more frequent. The height of the ceiling also more than doubled. These things meant more space for large numbers of enemies.
However, It still wasn't enough to give Nox that hard a challenge due to his tough protection but hitting the monsters became harder due to their faster speed and his slower weapons so he had sparingly used a weak Invictus to boost his speed and attack range or fired his magic every once in a while to make things go smoother and faster.
After the day was done, his routine didn't change at all. Tease Eina, freshen up in familia's home, dinner at the Hostess of Fertility while flirting with the waitresses, update his status after he returned home, study magic with Riveria and Lefiya and meditate the night away, working on his magic and such.
As for his status, it obviously showed a greater increase when it came to endurance and strength while the others took a bit more of a backseat.
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Name: Nox Lyros
Race: High Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Abilities:
STR: F-337 -> D-484
END: H-189 -> F-306
DEX: E-408 -> E-417
AGI: E-491 -> E-499
MAG: D-586 -> C-613
. . .
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Now, since he wasn't needing healing or defensive magic at all for now, Nox decided to start his project of converting Lefiya's Elf Ring from a spell that allows the user to perform any known elf magic to one that allowed him to use any spell recorded in his Arcana skill.
The whole night quietly passed and Nox thought about his endeavour and what he learned.
'So basically, this project can be divided into two parts. The first is the easy one which is connecting it to my Arcana skill. Since it governs all of my magic it was a fairly easy thing to do all things considered. The problem was the second part. I can't seem to make it work for non elvish magic. Which is a big problem since that means I can't use it with my own spells . . .'
'It still allows me to use any elf magic in my Arcana so I don't need to know their chants but . . . Well, no use crying over it! I'll get right back on it next night! For now, time to train with Tiona.'
A couple of minutes later, Nox was doubting his life choices. Tiona might be quite easy going but her training was anything but! In fact, it almost made Nox question whether he had offended the amazoness at some point.
What he forgot however, was that Tiona was born, raised and trained in Telskyura, a place notorious for its violent and bloodthirsty culture. It was no wonder that Tiona's training was so damn spartan! He couldn't complain about its effectiveness though, under the pain and pressure, Nox's skills in unarmed and unarmored combat were visibly improving.
The problem was that Tiona could see this and getting excited, pressed him even harder which in turn caused hiss ability to continue rising thus creating an endless cycle of pain and despair from which Nox could not escape.
After they were done, Nox was barely conscious so Tiona dragged him to have breakfast in the meal hall of the Twilight Manor. Usually, he ate something on the way to the dungeon but since he needed extra time to recover, he thought it was fine.
In the meal hall he sat with Tiona and was later joined by Tione, Ais and Lefiya.
"So Tiona, how was the newbie in training?" Asked Tione.
"Awesome! You should have seen how fast he improved! I loved training him! I can barely hold my excitement in anticipation of next time!"
"Eh~?" Said Tione in a teasing tone. "I might have to watch you two next time then!" She added.
Nox was slightly dreading the "next time" Tiona was so excited about but tried not to show it but then Lefiya changed the subject.
"Nox-san! Have you already started adapting some of the magic you learned for yourself?" She asked.
During their study sessions with Riveria, Lefiya had come to know about his Arcana so she was quite excited to see what Nox would do with the magic he learned.
"Yes actually! In fact, most of the stuff I did so far by referencing your spells! You're really good! All your magic is very useful and combine that with your good looks and nice figure and you have a very nice package!" Said Nox, perhaps still a little dazed by the training.
This caused to make Lefiya go into a full blush and quiet down as the amazonees sisters teased her he also greeted Ais and they both shared their plans for today and Nox even managed to invite her for dinner. There was a really nice restaurant he was thinking about trying and this was a great opportunity to do it.
Still, he had things to do first so after going through is usual routine, he was back in the dungeon. If he previously thought that people who focused on using knives and daggers like Bell were stupid, now he thought that people who only kick and punch are even stupider.
Nox found himself having to depend on his Invictus magic more often than not to properly face the monsters in the dungeon but thanks to it, he became fairly used to the spell which was equally as important if not more. Today he also went no further than the ninth floor. He decided to do it after he went a full round of training with everyone of his trainers before going further than he did now.
As it got closer to night time, Nox decide to call it a day a bit early to ready himself for the dinner date with Ais. He had already told the girls from the Hostess of Fertility he would not be going there tonight this morning.
But, as he was going up through the floors, his Mind Pulse being used intermittently, Nox detected a familiar bird monster as a smile crept up onto his face. A few moments and some magic later, Nox Had another Jack Bird's Golden Egg on his person and his mood was great.
'About to go on a date with one of the most beautiful and talented girls in the city even if she is still a bit young and I just got another million valis in my pocket. Life is good!' He thought as he freshened up for his date after greeting Eina and returning home.
He updated his stats with Loki.
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Name: Nox Lyros
Race: High Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Abilities:
STR: D-484 -> C-593
END: F-306 -> F-338
DEX: E-417 -> E-446
AGI: E-499 -> C-600
MAG: C-613 -> B-747
. . .
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And two hours later, Nox and Ais were walking side by side in a comfortable silence, across the streets of Orario, heading to the restaurant the boy had been eyeing.
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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novel Kage of Kages, do check it out!
I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.