Start of school
"Let me take a look.", with that, she opened the honor shop, that Ivan had shared with her before. Besides the things that were available before, now in the 'Skills' section, there was a new skill listed at the top.
<< Qi Exchange (Grade F)
This skill enables the user and another person to exchange special type Qi on an equal basis, to use it to improve themselves. The Qi types have to be different.
Vital Qi: Strengthens the body
Spiritual Qi: Strengthens the mind
Others: Currently locked
To exchange Qi it is required to have a close connection. This connection is dependent on the strength of the weaker party's Qi.
Below Earth Realm: Sexual Intercourse
Earth Realm: Skin to Skin contact
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Remark: To exchange Qi is an intimate action, that requires trust from both sides as well as a high enough amount of control over one's Qi. Both can be circumvented by using natural actions. During intercourse, a connection between both partners is naturally established, which can then be used to exchange Qi. The stronger the Qi, the weaker the required natural connection.
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When Ivan read the description of the skill he couldn't help but curse the System. Just as he had feared, once again the System had pushed him into a weird direction. At least this time it had provided an explanation.
"This sounds logical.", Lara too had read the description. "But I really wonder what kind of effects other types of Qi would have."
He couldn't answer her question since he had only heard of Spiritual and Vital Qi. He then checked the price of the skill which was 20 Honor Points and as such, was affordable.
"So should I buy it now?"
"Yes, the earlier the better. It doesn't seem like there is a way around using it. And after that save the honor points for some 'Strengthening Pills (F)'."
The 'Strengthening Pill (F)' was the pill that would increase a random unlocked stat by 1-3 forever and had a price of 19 honor, but he wasn't sure why she would want him to save for some of them.
"Why that? Are they important?"
"Of course they are.", she looks at him in exasperation, "If it wasn't for this skill, we could have only paid these concubines some money, but with the additional requirements, we will have to offer more. And the only thing we have are these pills."
"Are they really worth that much?", Ivan asked in an unbelieving tone. After all, it was only an increase of 1-3 and although it was permanent, there shouldn't be much difference to these pills made by Pill Refiners.
"Of course they are. After all, they can be used for a breakthrough. I'm sure you know that ever 200 level there is a threshold that one has to cross. For those with high-grade training skills, these thresholds aren't really a problem but don't forget that most people only have access to the public training skills, which are only of grade E or F. And for 400 it a skill of grade D is needed. But while it isn't possible to change one's training skill, if one can find a way to pass the threshold then the skill will evolve together with the body enabling one to continue training until one reaches the next threshold."
"Wait! One can't change one's training skill?"
"Yes. You didn't know?" He nodded. It seemed like this was the type of common knowledge, nobody had told him and was too basic to be mentioned in the books he had read.
"But you surely are training in one right? If not you couldn't have reached level 250 already."
Ivan then explained to her about his training skill and how he had gotten it. After he finished his explanation, he saw Lara staring at him incredulously.
She sighed and then said, "You are really unbelievable. Do you know that? Why the hell do all your important skills and such involving woman?"
He helplessly shrugged his shoulders, "How am I supposed to know?"
"Whatever. Since you are injured you will have to rest for the next week and the week after school will once again start. Ask that Irena to come over here so that we can meet."
"Sure, I will ask her."
"Then rest well. I'll take care of collecting some concubines for you, so you won't end up like this again in two weeks."
After that, she leaves the room. Since Ivan was still feeling exhausted it didn't take long for him to fall asleep again.
The week of recuperation soon passed. Even though he had already felt fit after a few days, the doctor Mia and Lara had forbidden him from doing anything strenuous. As such he could only spend the days at home, either playing with Jane or reading books. This time he didn't just focus on books concerning skills or pill refining, but also some books that could teach him common sense. There were even some novels mixed in, which although only to be taken with care, still told him a lot about the world.
Today it was the start of the new school term and as such he had to get up early in the morning. Since he hadn't had the opportunity yet to get a driving license, which was necessary to be able to drive a car, he could only either take a taxi or ask Lara to drive him. Today Lara had offered to drive him since she had a meeting that was on the other side of the city, so she had to drive through anyway.
After alighting from the car, he waved goodbye to Jane who too had come with them and then proceeded towards the school entrance.
He had barely entered the classroom, when an excited voice greeted him, "Hey Ivan, you are here." Unsurprisingly it was Greg who had greeted him in such a loud voice, that everyone else, who had already arrived, turned to look at him.
"Damn, you are loud as always.", he jokingly scolded his friend.
"Haha, that's just the way I am." Greg then came over to give him a hug and he reciprocated. He hadn't realized it, but he had missed this guy. With him, the atmosphere would always be lively.
"So how was your break? I went to a popular tourist attraction with my family.", even though he started off with asking Ivan about how his break was, he soo drifted off into telling everything that happened on his vocation, to the last detail.
Not having the heart to interrupt him, he could only listen, while being a bit envious of this guy laid back attitude. During his monologue, Serge too had arrived and as usual, had just sat down next to them with only a nod as a greeting.
Greg hadn't quite finished telling his story when the teacher Miss. Mertinez entered the room.
"I hope everyone had a good break.", she greeted the students with a cheerful smile. It seemed like her break must have good, for her to smile like this.
"This term we will start with your practical combat experience.", she then announced creating some clamor in the classroom. Ivan had studied the school curriculum, so he wasn't surprised by her announcement, but it seemed like others hadn't, judging by their surprised exclamations.
"The practical combat sessions will be done in the training dungeon allocated to the school and they will be in groups."
It was easy to get solo combat practice, as one could just pay a small fee to enter one of the training dungeons, open to the public, but to gain experience in group combat was much harder, since no group would like to take someone with them, that had no experience and that they didn't know well. As such, each school would have group combat experience sessions. According to the explanations of the teacher, each of them would be paired up with three fighters, and a priest. One of the fighters would be specialized in tanking, which was a heartless job, from what he had heard. One would receive the most attacks from the enemies and at the same time had to be able to get them to focus on oneself. Since the enemies wouldn't be stupid, it was essential to taunt them well enough, making it necessary to have a lot of knowledge about them. Another fighter would be a damage dealer, someone who is mainly focused on dealing as much damage as possible to the enemy while relying on the tank and his own speed and agility, to escape the enemies attacks.
The final fighter was an archer, who would mainly focus on long-range attacks while staying away from the enemy.
Since the school had no courses for priests, they had formed a collaboration with a nearby temple, which would supply the priests.
The groups would be formed by the teachers and had to work together for the rest of their school life. This forced them to learn, how to work together with someone, independently of whether they like them or not. Only in extreme cases would such a group be changed.