His four companions beat up Emeros, and he stumbled face flat on the floor.
"Master! Are you alright?!" Serena rushed over.
The rest also followed as they saw their master stumble down.
The group quickly flipped him over and was even more horrified at what they saw.
Emeros was wearing a strange smile, and saliva was dripping off of his mouth.
"Good night, big sis..." Emeros gave a strange smile as he glanced upwards at the ceiling.
"Master?!" The group began to shake him to wake him up.
But at that moment, Emeros's dumb expression was all to hide his plan. He gazed to the ceiling of the cave and finally saw 'it.'
Everyone kept shaking Emeros, and his eyes started to focus.
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
Emeros quickly took advantage of their concern and revenge-smacked his allies with quick strikes.
The four were hit in the face and stumbled backward.
"Lesson 1! Do not be overconfident! An enemy struck down may not be defeated! Always double tap!" Emeros stood and lost all the embarrassing moments it once had.
Emeros then observed his team's stats as he pretended to pace around, carefully observing everyone.
"As you can see, my speed is very, very fast! I allowed you to hit me!" Emeros exuded the mannerisms of a superior expert giving strict training to his pupils who were still on the ground from the sudden strikes.
Emeros then observed his team's stats as he pretended to pace around, carefully observing everyone.
Emeros's eyes faintly glowed as he watched the stats of everyone. His powers of Wisdom were updating the stats that he knew.
---
Serena
Next level: 1399/2188
Level 4 -> 6
Strength: 14 -> 23
Magic: 4 -> 6
Dexterity: 21 -> 33
Vitality: 15 -> 24
Intelligence: 35
Hit Points: 340
Force: 0 -> 3
---
Wesret
Level 4 -> 6
Next level: 1384/2173
Strength: 13 -> 20
Magic: 2 -> 3
Dexterity: 20 -> 30
Vitality: 10 -> 17
Intelligence: 49
Hit Points: 200 -> 270
Force: 2 -> 4
---
Philip
Level 4 -> 6
Next level: 1388/2178
Strength: 11 -> 17
Magic: 3 -> 4
Dexterity: 22 -> 33
Vitality: 12 -> 18
Intelligence: 39
Hit Points: 220 -> 280
Force: 2 -> 4
---
Don
Level 4 -> 6
Next level: 1345/2163
Strength: 10 -> 16
Magic: 5 -> 7
Dexterity: 19 -> 28
Vitality: 10 -> 16
Intelligence: 54
Hit Points: 200 -> 260
Force: 1 -> 2
---
Emeros kept nodding and nodding as if giving strict observations on them, but then he turned his attention to the last stats he managed to gather through his Gauge technique. His use of Gauge on his allies was all part of the cover-up to hide the fact that he has already used guage on 'him.'
Emeros was horrified at what to do and began to think about what he could do.
"Stand up! Now! I can see that you are all too slow for my little trick. So now, we will do a rotation. I will face two of you, and the other two will fight each other. The rules are you are not allowed to block. This is a practice of dexterity, so I want you to evade each other or me. The one that scores the first hit wins." Emeros gave the rules and pointed at Wesret and Don, who had the lower Dexterity stats among the team.
Emeros raised his stick as he faced the two. Emeros needed to practice his use of Pronto as well.
The two had slightly angered expressions for how Emeros did them dirty on the last attack.
"Let's go! Keep moving at your fastest pace! Otherwise... you'll get hit!"
And so, the training sessions for increasing dexterity began. Emeros focused on controlling his [Pronto] and conserving mana when he used it. He would only activate it at a split second to quickly evade and ensure attacks. His dexterity was at 37 points and was only four points faster than Serena and Philip, who had the fastest Dexterity stat.
Against Don and Wesret, Emeros did well.
The two were defeated within a minute, and Emeros didn't use [Pronto].
But against Serena and Philip, he used up all his mana and got struck and beaten by the surprisingly coordinated combo of the two.
SMASH!
Emeros was knocked down.
At first, the two were unsure if this was another trick made by Emeros, who was playing possum again.
The two approached, and suddenly, they saw Emeros make an unconscious jolt.
And like good students, Serena and Philip double-tapped him in fear.
SMASH! SMASH!
Emeros was unconscious for a full minute.
The moment Emeros opened his eyes, he sat up on the cave wall. He almost jumped out of his body in surprise but suddenly slumped down again.
"Master! I'm sorry! We-"
"N-no! That was good!" Emeros forced a smile as he held on the back of his head.
There was blood.
"Ma-Master!" Serena saw her hit was too strong and that Emeros was bleeding from the back.
"I'm alright... I'm... alright." Emeros chuckled with a slightly nervous tone.
"Let's continue with the next training... It's training my master taught me to increase dexterity. Juggling!"
"Juggling?" Wesret echoed.
"We have a great advantage now! We can improve our dexterity. We tried to combat it, but we had a hard time adjusting to it. So we'll do juggling. Now... erm... sorry, can you sit next to me while I draw how you guys will do this juggling thing? And hand me that parchment of papers." Emeros laughed.
The group worriedly sat beside Emeros and gave Emeros the paper and the pen.
Emeros began to draw on the parchment and was using his blood.
"Alright. So we juggle weapons like this... and this..."
The group had strange expressions as they glanced at the parchments.
"So my master was struck with a strange curse. His perception was slow. It was a spell called [De-Spacito]. But he managed to overcome it in his youth by training like this. Right now, your suddenly, someone who hasn't seen the person for a long time arrives, they see the profound changes in the person. Your sudden level-ups are a precious example. To make an analogy, it's like being with someone every day that you don't notice that the person has been gradually gaining or losing weight. And Then suddenly, someone who hasn't seen the person for a long time arrives, they see the profound changes in the person. Your dexterity is like that..."
Serena's eyes were glued on the parchment as Emeros kept writing.
Everyone else also had the same expression.
"Erm... So you mean, because we leveled up several times, we would actually see the difference in Dexterity."
"Right! Your body automatically adjusts to perceive things faster. But it can be honed to another level. It's scarce to level up multiple times within a short while. One or two is possible, but leveling up from one to six is pretty uncommon unless someone comes from an affluent background. My master used a simple trick to train. Juggling! I want you all to juggle like this and keep your eyes on the weapon. Concentrate! I will try to disrupt your focus. For now, clear out the room. Move everything to the side and leave a wide space for you to practice juggling."
The group began to lift the numerous pieces of furniture and even removed the plants and weeds that started sprouting, as well as the plants that grew.
Emeros tried to stand up but sighed and sat down again.
"I can't move. Ugh. Philip! Get me that formation plate. I will study the Dark Dependent method of raising Serena to the next level. After all, you vampires are very picky!" Emeros decided.
Philip gave Emeros the formation plate and moved to his position to juggle.
Everyone started to juggle and had serious expressions as they watched their weapon fly high up in the air.
"Ahhh!" Don shouted as the sword fell, leaving a small cut on his arm.
"Be careful!" Emeros warned.
"Grab a healing potion and keep it near you," Emeros ordered, and the group went ahead and followed.
They continued to juggle, and Wesret was the first to notice it.
"It's... amazing! I can actually feel the improvement in my perception!" Wesret praised.
TAK!
A small stone was hurled at him, and he panicked as the sword fell.
"Focus! Harness that dexterity to react accordingly!" Emeros called out as he finished working on the Formation Plate.
"Serena, you lucky girl. With this Dark Dependent Formula, we could make you rise in level far quicker!" Emeros laughed. But then Emeros suddenly started coughing, and blood came out.
"Master!"
"Relax! It's not the injury. This one is from that time..." Emeros took off his clothes, and behind him was the Vow mark left.
"Master... What's that mark?" Philip asked.
"The Vow mark of my slavery. As you know, I broke free through a Vow Breaker spell that my former master placed. But... these vows are quite resilient!" Emeros sighed.
Emeros used a mirror to observe his back and tried to draw it on another formation plate.
The rest continued to juggle, and soon, everyone was too tired to continue.
"Wow! My dexterity has increased!" Don was amazed.
"Let's continue training in Dexterity tomorrow. Now that you have noticed the changes, you can train in it. Tomorrow, we'll redo our fighting training again!" Emeros spoke.
The group moved to the side and found a place where they could fall asleep.
The group drifted and drifted, and soon, everyone had fallen asleep.
Emeros was knocked out due to his wounds and had already shown signs of groggy. But now that everyone was asleep, 'he' acted.
From the dark stalactite of the upper ceiling of a cave, a strange wooden figure emerged. It looked like creeping branches, and finally, its figure, a wooden creature with a grotesque humanoid form, began to descend. Its main body had five hands and looked like a tree branching out. At the top of this creature was a small ugly head.
Its descent was slow and careful that it didn't make any sound.
But as it moved down, it did not notice that everyone was wide awake and was ready to attack.
Since Emeros had observed the corpse and studied the books, it knew that they fell right for a trap!
Emeros allowed himself to be hit by his allies the first time, so he had an excuse to look at the ceiling without drawing attention. He even made an idiotic expression to hide that he used Gauge on this beast. Emeros then initiated a plan to draw the creature out. He used the training to deceive the creature and make the creature think that everyone would be too tired!
Everyone had covered their faces and pretended to hide their faces in the darkness, but everyone's eyes were wide open.
They were all waiting for Emeros to give the signal.
Emeros tried to relax his body. He was the most agitated. Even when he wrote about the creature to his friends, he did not tell them that this creature would most likely be at a Captain's Level!