Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Dummy

I woke up drenched in a cold sweat, with my panties not wet as I feared and luckily still surrounded by a barrier protecting me from the orange mist waiting for me behind it. Now that the poison has spread throughout the room, it was no longer as thick as when I had released it. But I was under no illusions that the air behind the barrier was safe to breathe.

The speed with which the poison worked, how quickly it destroyed my nervous system, startled me and frightened me to death. Of course, not literally, but the fact was that I died.

To my delight, I was right, and [Never-Dying] brought me back to life. However, it was an enigma to me that the barrier remained active even though I lost consciousness and subsequently died. Of course, I hoped that would be the case, but it was an uncertain bet bordering on gambling with life. Reason told me I have to provide it with mana continuously for the barrier to remain active. How could I do that when I was dead?

Undoubtedly, thanks to the active barrier, I was alive without having to wait until someone came to find out what actually happened to me. Explaining why I did not attend the scheduled training would be difficult, not to mention how embarrassing. Just as it would be hard to explain the second alternative, and that was if I ran out of the room and died in the hallway. It will sound weird because it's weird, but I knew I was going to die. It would be even harder to explain later why I was alive when I died of poisoning.

Even though I was glad that the barrier remained active after my death, it confused me. I thought [Tail of Poison Empress] wasn't active when I was dead. That was why [Never-Dying] could revive me. Which I now realized [Never-Dying] was also active after my death. Was it because it was a passive skill?

On the other hand, [Master's Shield] was an active skill, but it also remained active. But how could one skill be active and the other not? The problem was that these were just my assumptions. I couldn't be sure what my body was doing when I died. I was dead, for fuck's sake!

With the barrier still surrounding me, I left the room full of poisonous gas, making further training impossible.

"Ha..." I took a breath of fresh air as I lifted the barrier surrounding me.

I turned my head toward the end of the hallway, where the creaking of a chair caught my eye.

"Are you done?" The fat clerk asked me.

I straightened up. "Yes."

He frowned. "Any damage?"

"The air is contaminated with deadly poison," I said.

The man suddenly woke up from his lethargy, got up from his chair, and rushed toward me.

"Did you say there's poison gas left behind?" He asked.

I didn't like how close he was, but I nodded. "That's right. Deadly poison."

"All poisons are deadly. It depends on what they can kill. Removing it will cost you ten silvers," said the fat clerk, reaching out for money.

It shocked me because I asked the receptionist about this very situation. She told me I wouldn't have to pay anything for it.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I was told City Hall didn't require payment for this!"

"I don't know who told you, but it's ten silvers in my book," he insisted.

"I was told by the receptionist at the main hall," I explained.

It upset the man. "I don't care who told you. The poison will have to be removed. It's not free."

The fat man was so close that I could feel his rotten breath. Suddenly I missed the smell of apples, which made me consider sniffing my tail just to overpower the smell. Of course, I didn't do it. Instead, I forced myself to stay calm.

"I asked the receptionist exactly about a situation like this. She told me, if I don't cause physical damage in the room, then I don't have to pay anything," I insisted.

"Which receptionist told you that?" The clerk asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know her name."

I felt embarrassed now. I had spoken to a young woman behind the counter several times and never asked her name. I immediately made a mental note to correct this fault at the earliest opportunity.

"Hmm…" the man snorted. "Woman?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Tss...it must have been Enola," the man snorted and continued. "She always pokes her nose where she doesn't have to."

I smirked. "If you insist on me paying, we can go ask her. I would like to know how it is with payment to avoid similar mistakes in the future."

"Fine ... since you're here for the first time, I'll let it be. You can go!" the man growled, trying to sound generous, but his expression and red face spoke of something else. However, he returned to his chair, from which he frowned at me.

I was angry too. How could he dare want money from me that did not belong to him? It wasn't the clerk's behavior I was expecting after my experience with the receptionist. A young girl whose name was most likely Enola was polite to me. Although I tried to stay calm, I was not, and my body itself expressed my emotions. My wings fluttered with rage, and my tail was raised in anger, touching my back.

[Mage: lvl 27]

What? I almost shouted out loud, shocked. Why did someone like him work here? The only reasonable explanation I could come up with was that he was someone's protective son, someone with power. The fat man was a very low-level mage. I could guess that when he chose this class, he imagined how famous he would be. He dreamed of a simple life full of money and women.

However, I didn't care how he ended up here, but I wouldn't say I liked that he was trying to rob people in this place.

I sighed and checked the time. The local time was something I was still getting used to. By that, I don't mean something like jet lag. I got used to it after a few days. After all, I had been on Eleaden for more than a year. I was talking about the length of the day.

The system in my head not only showed me my stats but also had a useful clock function. Unfortunately, the calendar was missing. I never found it in my mind, hoping it was a mistake on my part or that there was an add-on somewhere in the system that I could install. Without a calendar, I couldn't tell exactly how many days and months I had spent in the cellar.

I couldn't mark the days spent in the basement on the wall because I was forbidden to do so. During my captivity, I cursed this clock most of the time. I didn't need to know how long I had suffered, but now that I had my freedom back, it was helpful.

Time on Eleaden differed from time on Earth. Here the day had 26 hours, each hour 66 minutes and a minute 66 seconds. The day here was definitely longer. I was sure of that. Though I didn't dare tell how much longer it was. Yes, I could count it, but how could I be sure the second here was as long as the second on Earth?

Even if I knew exactly how to measure it, it would be useless to me. I didn't have the equipment to do that. Why do that at all? Was it important?

Not from my point of view.

It was a much bigger problem for me to get used to the new numbers of hours and minutes. You have no idea how hard it was to instill in your head that noon is not at 12 o'clock, but at 13. Getting something out of my head that I learned and lived with for 29 years was extremely difficult.

For example, when Enola told me that my hour-long training would be from eleven, my brain told me it would be time for lunch after it was over. Mistake, I'll still have an hour until noon. Anyway, I now had over twenty minutes before the start of my scheduled training.

I returned to the main hall, where I leaned my back against the wall at the Training Hall's entrance.

I used the remaining time to read the system notifications I received during my deep sleep. I was curious about how many times I died.

"Hmm…" I shook my head.

Since when has dying been something so trivial to me? But I put the thought aside.

To my surprise, after reading the system's notifications, I found out that my heart stopped beating only twice. Of course, the low number did not disappoint me, although I expected more after a full dose of my poison. Unquestionably, [Never-Dying] was stronger now than last night. Still, this skill, to my knowledge, did not suppress the poison in my body, only cured its consequences, my damaged organs, and the nervous system. From what I've experienced in the Training Room, I'd dare say it was a poison that attacked the nervous system just as [Nerve Poison] did.

However, my medical education was limited to first aid, so I couldn't tell exactly what the poison was destroying in my body. Even the [Spatial Domain] couldn't help me with this. Thanks to this skill, I could feel and see everything around me in the smallest detail, but as far as my guts were concerned, the only thing I felt right now was the need to pee.

Anyway, I gained some experience in the Training Room.

(ding) Master's Shield reaches lvl 3

Nothing hit my shield, nothing attacked it, but I gained two levels by experimenting and testing its limits. It made me happy.

(ding) Tail of Poison Empress reaches lvl 5

Since I basically activated this skill for the first time, level five was something I couldn't be unhappy about.

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(ding) Never-Dying reaches lvl 12

Never-Dying: lvl 12

Passive II

Dying is not safe for health. Although you died several times, always coming back to life. Regeneration of your body is exceptional, and even death does not mean the end of the road for you. As long as the brain is not damaged, you can find a new way to die later.

II - To avoid further death, the regeneration of your body is further enhanced by 50% and the constitution by 10%

I liked the bonuses very much, but I couldn't estimate how strong my regeneration would be with them. I haven't tried to cut myself deliberately yet, just so I can watch how fast my wound heals. Ten percent in the constitution was a beautiful bonus that I would welcome for all attributes.

It drove my constitution to 69 points, which was the most of my attributes. Strength, my second strongest stat, had only 35 points. Constitution was almost double that. But it was hard to say how I did compare to the others. How many constitution points did other seekers have at my level? I had no idea what role I could play in a team of seekers. Maybe just a meat shield?

I added it to the list of questions for my trainer.

But it surprised me at how quickly I got level twelve on [Never-Dying]. Of course, I knew that these were the first levels, and their gain was not so difficult. Still, I wondered what I could accomplish if I hadn't been locked in a cellar for months. Would the level of all my skills be higher than a hundred, just like [Indomitable Will]? That'd be amazing.

Instead, I had skills that I could not practice, or I was forbidden to train them. Thinking about that bastard Dungreen, my heart rate rose.

I took a deep breath, trying to push the thoughts of him out of my head. Instead, I started thinking about what kind of trainer was waiting for me. I couldn't help but be nervous. What if he was a tall, handsome man with big muscles and only wearing pants? I don't know if I could concentrate if he looked like Thor.

"Ahh. I miss the movies," I growled.

I was a movie fan. Not having access to them was very depressing. I longed for my dose and often wondered if the movies I was looking forward to came out. Were they good? Were they flop? I wouldn't mind. I just wanted to see a movie.

My dream of movies that I will certainly not see in the near future was interrupted by an official's arrival. I failed to notice the fact that I was no longer the only one waiting in front of the entrance. Regretting that I didn't go to the bathroom when I could, I handed the card to the man, which led me and the others to the individual halls.

My wings trembled with nervousness as I entered. My trainer was standing in the middle of a hall resembling a large dojo. More precisely, my trainer was a woman. When I saw her, I realized that the receptionist was talking about a woman. For some embarrassing reason, I dreamed of a handsome man. It was probably a lack of se… emm.

I looked at the woman.

Warrior: lvl ??

Well, that was definitely someone I didn't want to upset. But she had a figure like Thor. Almost. She was tall, muscular, but not like a bodybuilder. Her chest was hidden under leather armor, so I couldn't guess her size. She wasn't a beautiful woman, but she wasn't ugly either. Her crew-cut blond hair, short on the sides with a little length on top, suited her.

The woman was stretching when I reached her clearing my throat. "Emm… Hello, I'm Korra Grey."

"What are you?" She said as she looked at me.

"I…."

"Sorry, Nila Tenderfire. You can call me Fire or ma'am," she told me, shaking my hand.

I squeezed her offered hand. "Yes, ma'am."

It was inappropriate for me to address her by a nickname when I just met her.

"So, Grey. You want to find out which weapon is best for you?" She asked.

I nodded. "Exactly, ma'am."

"Hmm, I like you," she smiled, her arms crossed over her chest. "Do you have any experience?"

"No," I shook my head. "A bit of self-defense, that's all."

"Do you have claws?" She asked.

This question startled me. "No. Why?"

"Strange," the woman muttered before answering. "Most Terrans and Half-Terrans have them. I can tell you from personal experience that such claws are dangerous weapons. What about the wings? Can you fly?"

"No, ma'am," I said.

"Hmm… well, there are training weapons on that rack. Choose one and attack that dummy over there," Tenderfire pointed to the weapons rack and the training dummy in the hall.

I looked at the training dummy and then at her. "How do I attack it?"

"As best you can with a given weapon. I need to see what's in you; see how you move," she explained.

"Ah," I nodded, still not understanding what Tenderfire expected of me.

I reached the weapon holder and chose the most basic weapon, a one-handed sword. With it in hand, I stood in front of the dummy and looked at my trainer. She just prompted me to attack. After a moment's hesitation and thinking about how to attack, I simply slashed my sword across the training dummy's chest.

"Faster," Tenderfire said.

I slashed the dummy again, this time with more force.

"Put your back into it," the trainer growled.

I put more strength into the next blow. This time when I hit the dummy, I felt numbness in my palm. But before I could recover, another order came from Tenderfire. "Again!"

I exchanged a few more strikes with the defenseless dummy before Tenderfire told me to try another weapon. This time I reached for mace. However, its control was not as easy as I expected. Gradually, I tried other weapons. Among them, a dagger, a two-handed greatsword and a two-handed battle axe, a war hammer, a spear, and various types of bows. I didn't even know the right name for some weapons. I even used a shield as a weapon. I mean a real shield.

The last weapon I found on the holder was a trident. I felt pretty embarrassed about holding it. I was not an Aquaman, nor did I have any aquatic animal mutation. I would drown in water just like an ordinary person. My trident attack was no better than a spear attack.

"Enough! Put it back in the rack," Tenderfire said.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead before placing the trident back in place. This was the last one, so I couldn't wait for Tenderfire to tell me what weapon was most suitable for me. Personally, an ordinary sword fell best in my hand, but they also had a katana-like weapon. I've always liked them, but this was the first time I held one in my hands.

"All right, attack the dummy with your bare hands now," Tenderfire said as I returned to her.

She startled me, but as always, I listened to her. I stood in front of the dummy again, trying to ignore the pain in my knuckles. I bombarded the doll with blows until Tenderfire stopped me.

"All right, Grey. It's as I thought," Tenderfire told me, nodding to herself.

"What?" I asked.

"You never held a weapon in your hand," the trainer said.

"I could have told you that myself," I said, trying not to get upset.

Tenderfire grinned. "Yes, but even though people say that everyone had a weapon in their hands at some point in their lives. A sword, a knife, or just an ordinary stick with which they fenced as a child. But you didn't. You showed the most experience with holding a weapon when you held a dagger, but I assume you held a kitchen knife in your hand."

"Yes, but…" I wanted to object, but Tenderfire raised her hand to stop me.

"However, that does not mean that it is most suitable for you. With enough training, you can learn to fight with any weapon. I would recommend a two-hand battle axe or a two-hand greatsword."

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