[Solo-Thread] A Month Since It Started

[CorenKeitaro]

A month.
That's how long it's been since I did a backflip and leveled up my Gymnastics Skill, and I'll be damned if that month hasn't been interesting.
In the first 10 days, I managed to level-up an unbelievable 17 times, made $3000 in cold hard cash, and crippled myself in one-on-one combat with a LVL74 with the Title 'Man of Steel', who is now totally cool with me training in his home. I also figured out that sleeping for a full 8 hours heals all negative status effects, including my inability to regenerate MP from Burning Soul Overdrive... But it wouldn't work unless I got my full 8 hours.
It was around 11 days after I found out about this power that I made my Summoning Contract with the Fire Elemental Familiar Salamander and subsequently nearly fell down a flight of stairs trying to get to bed.
Let's start this little recap from the 12th day.

---

Day Twelve:
"Alright, today's the day I move on from the Slimes. I'll come back eventually to get all of those rings, but now is not that time."
I was standing in the courtyard of the Kensington Family Manor, getting ready to form an ID. I was leaning towards Zombies, of course. I'd made sure to wait for nightfall, seeing as I couldn't seem to make the IDs during the day.
"Oh? So you're gonna train now?"
I looked over my shoulder to see Hillary. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and loose-fitting T-shirt this time, which looked oddly like...
"...You look dressed for training," I replied. "I'm loading up an Illusion Barrier filled with some random mooks. I'll be refining a few Skills, strengthening a few others, and mostly being boring."
"Given the last few days? I think boring would be nice," she deadpanned, glaring.
"You just aren't gonna let that go, are you?"
"A maid found a three-inch long splinter of bone embedded in the ceiling after the fight."
"...That's a no, then."
I sighed.
"Alright, but my... Ability, is definitely an odd one. If you're joining, we should Party up."
She looked confused.
"Party up? What, like a game or something?"
I grinned.
"Right on the money... Though I haven't actually seen if I can invite people yet."
I shrugged.
"Invite to Party - Hillary Kensington."
After a second, I heard it.
[BEEP]
Only, this time it didn't appear in front of me.
"EE!"
For a moment, her squeal hit a pitch that made me regret turning Voices up to 100% nearly a fortnight ago.
"W-What the-"
"I'm a Gamer," I responded smoothly. "And that's your Party Invite. You coming?"
Her initial shock gave way to curiosity after a few more seconds, when she slowly reached out and touched the Y button.
In the upper-right corner of my HUD, her name, Level, HP, and MP all appeared.
She was a bit weaker than me, but her Level read 18. Wasn't she 17 just yesterday?
Eh, whatever.
"Alright, you ready?"
She nodded hesitantly.
I raised my hand over my head.
"ID Create - Assorted Undead!"
The world shimmered and glossed over for a moment, before changing into some town streets filled with LVL14 Ghosts and LVL12 Zombies.
"Alright. Let's start!"
I slapped my hands together, gathering energy into them as I slammed them into the ground.
"Summon Familiar - Salamander, Materialize!"
Flames roared around me for a moment as Salamander appeared beside me.
"Sal, take the Ghosts. I've got the Zed."
I looked over my shoulder.
"Hillary, you-"
Both of those words were out of my mouth before I realized she was already on the move.
Unarmed, she ran straight for a Zombie.
I frowned, knowing how little of a Level difference there was.
I started Prana Stream, as my Breathing Purification Technique was now being kept on constantly, and aimed Prana Bolt.
Hillary managed to land three good, solid strikes to the Zed's jaw, solar plexus and trachea, which would have incapacitated any human target.
It was blasted six feet back when my Prana Bolt hit it just before biting down on Hillary's arm.
It didn't die immediately, but it took a hefty amount of damage.
"They're Undead," I called out. "Don't use stunning blows like that. Strike to kill; they're just purple-colored husks."
With that, I turned back to hunt myself as I ran towards a nice group of Zed.
Let's see... I was regenerating 50 MP a minute. Materializing Sal burns 50 a minute. Prana Streams burns 7 a minute.
I can last a little over an hour and a quarter before running out, it looks like.
Good.
I took stance as I closed in on the group, raising my hands near my face.
Left jab, Left jab, right hook; right jab, left elbow, spinning kick.
A Zombie skidded backwards, turning to black smoke as he rolled.
Turning to the next one, I repeated the process.
Every few seconds, my eyes would flick over to the corner of my HUD, where I checked Sal's and Hillary's HP.
It was around my thirtieth kill that I saw Hillary take damage, at which point I mule-kicked a Zed back six feet and did a quick hand-spring to get away.
Sure enough, Hillary was pinned down by three Zombies and a pair of Ghosts.
"Sal!"
I heard a *fwoosh* sound as Sal's wings extended.
She flew right over me as I started running.
A quick Prana Bolt smashed through the skull of one Zombie, and a gout of flame burned through a Ghost.
Hillary used the distraction admirably as she moved forward and let out a loud 'Kiyai!' and palm-thrusted a Zombie so hard his skull came off, a crimson Critical appearing momentarily in front of her.
Sal slammed into the other Ghost, stunning it as it was forced apart like mist, before being lit up in flame while Sal's tail slammed the last Zombie to me.
A quick double-palm thrust to the upper spine took out the shuffling Undead with a loud cracking sound as the spine was broken, resulting in a Critical.
"You alright?"
Hillary nodded. "I didn't expect so many to attack at once."
"Undead are attracted by sound," I said, going by my countless hours in zombie games. "You let out a ear-splitting shout with every strike. With these guys, skip the Kiyai and go straight for the kill."
I paused.
"Oh, and if you break the spine, it counts as a guaranteed Crit."
She nodded, standing up.
"Alright," she said, shifting her weight a bit. "Don't suppose you have a weapon to spare?"
"You use a bo staff?"
She grimaced.
"That's, like... You smack things with it, right?"
"...Oh dear God."
"I'm kidding," she said, smiling. "I can use a staff well enough."
I nodded.
"Inventory."
I pulled out the staff and tossed it to her.
"Don't break it," I warned her. "I borrowed it."
She looked it over with a frown.
"It's kinda cheap, and the wood's flimsy. I'm surprised it hasn't broken already."
I scoffed.
"I'm just that damn good."
She shrugged, looking ahead.
"The Ghosts are non-corporeal," I heard Salamander hiss. "Elemental attacks hurt them, but physical won't. It's annoying."
I chuckled.
"Sal says to avoid the Ghosts unless you have an Elemental attack," I told Hillary.
Who was, of course, taking her first close look at Sal, seeing as the Undead were far enough away that we didn't trigger their AI.
Or... Whatever it is that makes them work.
"Oh, wow... A Red Dragon Familiar?" she said in wonder. "I heard that the Elemental summoned changes based on who's summoning, so you must be strong to summon a Dragon. Most people summon Fire Sprites."
Salamander puffed out smoke from her nose, her version of a scoff.
"Feh, as if my Contract-Bearer could summon something so weak as a Sprite."
I laughed, shaking my head a bit.
"Anyway, let's get back to hunting. These things won't re-kill themselves, after all."
And with that, I took off running as Sal pulled away from Hillary's petting and flew over my head, spitting out flames at any Ghost that came near me as I tore apart the Zombies by hand.
Hillary ran close to me, landing Criticals every other hit, as she spun around them and struck at the back of their neck, before taking them out with a palm-thrust to the middle back to break the spine again.
Meanwhile, I just out-boxed the living corpses and landed a few uppercuts.
All in all, everything was pretty good. I had to turn off Prana Stream and make Salamander go to Spirit Form while fighting a few times, but the first hour was rather calm.
At least, for me. I was used to training my body until collapsing, while Hillary had to take three breaks in the hour we trained.
I'd just taken a few minutes of my own as a break when I saw Hillary land another Critical and trigger exactly what I'd been wondering where was.
"UUUUUGGGGHHHHWHAAAAAAAA!"
I glanced at my HP and MP, the former full and the latter most of the way there, as Hillary screamed and started running.
She ran right behind me and hid at my back.
"Don't feel bad," I told her. "My first boss, I screamed way louder."
With that, I looked at the Mob-Boss.
"Observe."

Legion Zombie - LVL34
HP - 15200, MP - 1200
Assembly of zombies full of resentment.
When a large number of zombies feel
threatened due to mass hunting, they
merge into a Legion Zombie.
It has no magical abilities, but it has
immense strength and stamina. It has
no magical abilities, though.

I sighed in relief.
That wasn't too-
"WREEEEEEE!!"
...Wut.
Looking behind it, I saw a massive white Ghost rise up from the ground.
"Observe!"

Phantom Collective - LVL 38
HP - 13200, MP - 6400
Assembly of Ghosts full of resentment.
When a large number of Ghosts feel
threatened due to mass hunting, they
merge into a Phantom Collective.
It has no physical abilities, but it has
incredible magical attacks. Watch out
for its Elemental strikes.

"D-Do you always fight two?" Hillary asked, looking understandably frightened.
"...Yes?"
"LIAR!"
I sighed, raising my hand.
It's been a while since I used Prana Grinder...
Alright, about 500 MP, multiplied by 13 and 10% of INT equals...
9400 DMG. A fair bit less than I would do at full.
I sighed, raising my hand and gathering the energy.
"PRANA GRINDER!"
It took a few seconds to pour out the energy, but after a moment, the power came howling out of my arm.
A random thought came to me.
"FIRE!"
As I launched the Prana Grinder, the heart of the orb started glowing vermilion.
On impact, it drove straight into the Legion Zombie, pushing it into the Phantom Collective and damaging them both.
Then, it exploded.
The explosion was huge, and it took out a huge chunk of the landscape around them as well. If they hadn't been pushed back, we'd have caught more than just an uncomfortable heat wave.
"...Wut."
"Ah, I love the smell of barbecued zombie in the- OH COME ON!"
Near the center of the crater was the damaged bodies of the Phantom and Legion Zombie... Only they were somehow merging.
"Are you serious?" I groaned. "I should've seen this coming; two Bosses turn into one after losing... Damnit!"
I watched as the Phantom Collective slid into the Legion Zombie, only for them both to start glowing vibrantly as the body began to change.
The Legion Zombie's body slowly changed colors from purple to an icy blue as another set of arms tore out of its side.
Its eyes began to glow a vicious red as it stood up, howling an unholy scream to the sky.
"Observe."

Shattered Soul of Sorrow and Hate - LVL68
HP - 43500, MP - 21750
The unholy cross of a Legion Zombie and a
Phantom Collective. When both creatures are
slain, the souls charged with resentment and
pain are drawn to one another, forming an
even stronger being.
Its physical abilities are incredible, and its
magical ones as well. Its Life Drain ability
on its own is enough to make most Gamers
scream.

"...Do you feel the sudden urge to curl into a ball and start crying?"
Hillary nodded dumbly.
"Good. Just checking." I was quiet for a moment. "So, uh... You remember that thing I did to your dad? The one that, uh..."
"...Oh, no way."
"...Yeah."
I sighed, getting into stance.
"If my Soul is as Fire, then let me burn brightly! Burning Soul Overdrive, ACTIVATE!"
I felt my energy pulse out dramatically as I raised my hand.
"PRANA GRINDER!"
Now, Prana Grinder takes in MP at a rate of 200 MP a second.
Burning Soul Overdrive lasts ten seconds, with infinite MP.
Now, with only my Overdrive and MP count taken into account that would be about 98000 DMG, more than double this abomination's health.
"Feel fear, Shattered Soul," I cried out, "As you face the greatest Cheat Character, WHO EVER LIVED!"
At ten seconds, I fired.
The ground was shredded wherever the titanic orb of energy neared, the walls of buildings and the sidewalks were sent flying if they were far away enough not to disintegrate, and the Shattered Soul of Sorrow and Hate was just stupid enough to try and punch it.
There was no detonation. In fact, that attack didn't even stop when it hit. One moment, there was a Boss-Mob, and in the next, there just wasn't.
The Prana Grinder flew off into the distance, where it was forcibly dispelled after reaching distance from me of 250 meters.
We were quiet for a second.
"...Uh... So I think I'm done training for the day," I said calmly.
"..."
Hillary was silent.
"...It is an honor to work with you, Contract Bearer."
[BEEP]
Congratulations! You defeated the Legion Zombie! You gained the Title 'Zombie Slayer'!
Congratulations! You defeated the Phantom Collective! You gained the Title 'Ghost Hunter'!
Congratulations! You defeated the Shattered Soul of Sorrow and Hate! You gained the Title 'Soul Eater'!
Congratulations! You dealt more 300000 DMG in a single attack! You gained the Title 'Overking of Overkill'!
I paused at that last one.
...Wait.
Prana Grinder is an advanced form of Prana Bolt.
Prana Bolt is tripled with Prana Stream.
I had Breathing Purification Technique active.
"...Oh God, I am so broken."
And yet, the Prompts kept coming.
Prana Stream Leveled Up! LVL24 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Prana Grinder Leveled Up! LVL3 >>> LVL17
Martial Arts Mastery Leveled Up! LVL23 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Breathing Purification Technique Leveled Up! LVL3 >>> LVL17
Self-Reinforcement Leveled Up! LVL2 >>> LVL16
Basic Summoning Leveled Up! LVL1 >>> LVL29
Elemental Affinity Fire Grew! 10 >>> 39
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
You Leveled Up!
I was quiet. Very, very quiet.
"I..."
I slowly looked at Hillary as she spoke.
"I... Just reached LVL 29."
"I'm 33. I, uh... Don't think we were supposed to do that."
She was silent for a moment.
"...No," she finally said. "I don't think we were."

---

It was around half an hour later that we were broken out of our incredible stupor and I walked over to get the loot.
They were sorted cleanly into three piles when I got into the crate; one for each boss, I guess.
The Legion Zombie dropped a Life Drain Skill Book, 9 Lowest Grade Recovery Potions, and about $500. He also dropped what looked to be his femur. I'll Observe that in a second.
The Phantom Collective dropped a Soul Drain Skill Book, 9 Lowest Grade Soul Potions, and about $800. He dropped what had to be the biggest Soul Stone I'd ever seen, as it was easily the size of a basketball along with a blue glow-y necklace thing.
The Shattered Soul of Sorrow and Hate dropped an Undead Summoning Skill Book, a large glowing orb of concentrated light, a small ring that was made of bone, and $3000.
"Observe, Observe, Observe, Observe, Observe, Observe, Observe, Observe," I repeated, pointing at each item as their descriptions appeared.

Life Drain Skill Book:

Soul Drain Skill Book:

Undead Summoning Skill Book:

Bone of Legion:

Large Soul Stone:

Spirit Pendant:

Bone Ring of Sorrow and Hate:

Cleansed Soul:

I relayed all of the information to Hillary as she came forward, which shocked her.
"But... Illusion Barriers are Illusions. They're not real; this is making something out of nothing!"
"Denial of Nothingness," I replied. "Nothing, as a state of being, can not exist. Therefore, even the absence of something is something, and that something may become something else. That's the only explanation I've got."
"B-But... AGH."
She dropped onto the ground, holding her knees.
"...So, how about you take all the potions, half the money, and the Large Soul Stone? I'll take the Bone of Legion, the Pendant, the Ring, and the books. Oh, and you should take the Cleansed Soul."
Hillary look up, seeming disgruntled.
"That's hardly fair... Those healing potions are worth at least 1K each, and the soul-restoring ones? I've never seen one go for under 20K, if they are even being sold. That gives me... Around $270,000 in potions, along with a Soul Stone large enough that you could kill someone with it. And that Soul would go for more money than I think exists."
"And I'm taking all of the enchanted items."
"Yeah; you'll see those things go for 100K a piece, which makes up for all of the potions with change. The books would go for, let's say 20K. That has me take less by 'round 50K, with only the potions. The Soul stone would be worth those enchanted items combined on its own, as you could use something like that to make enchanted items. Take the Soul, I'll take the Stone and the potions... Along with the other half of the money they dropped."
"...You took to that very quickly."
"I'm in shock, not bad at maths. Besides that, who did all of the fighting again?"
"Touche."
Picking up my share of the loot, I stuffed the Bone into my Inventory with the books, slid on the Ring, donned the Pendant, and took special care putting away the Cleansed Soul.
I helped Hillary pick up her share of the loot before raising my hand above my head and saying "ID Escape."
That was the 12th Day. I slept until the afternoon of the 13th.

---

The next eventful day was the 17th Day, when I decided to grind up some more on the Legion Zombie and Phantom Collective. I did not fight the Shattered Soul, though.
The Legion Zombie I fought four times, for a total of $2000, 20 Healing Pots, and another copy of Life Drain. The normal zombies dropped their teeth and ribs like nothing else, and being the true adventurer I was, I hoarded them relentlessly.
I took on the Phantom Collective only 3 times, seeing as I could only fight the Ghosts with Elemental or prana attacks. I got $2400, 15 Soul Pots, but no copy of Soul Drain. The normal ghosts dropped pieces of cloth imbued with soul energy, but those were only good for making enchanted cloth armor for a mage, which would be good if I knew any magical clothiers.
I did this on the 19th and 21st days too, taking a day to train up my Skills in between.
On the 23rd, I'd done enough in those places that I decided to try my luck in soloing the Shattered Soul, which wouldn't be too different from last time really.
I got another 9 of each Pot, $4300, but no Bone or Pendant. I did get a Cleansed Soul and a copy of each Skill Book, but nothing else. The ghosts and zombies dropped their usual stuff.
Of course, my near-constant grinding of my ID Skills got me something I didn't expect on the 25th day; Time-Warping Instant Dungeon.
I was very, very giddy at that point and spent a lot of time training.
Interestingly enough, Hillary avoided training with me whenever possible, but she stayed in my party even out of combat. I spent most of my days at the Kensington's nowadays, while coming back home to help around the house, do homework, and rest.
But now, I could do my schoolwork in 1/8th of the time with ID, and train 8 times as long.
Not only that, but I figured out the secret of the Slime Summoning Skill Book. You need 10 Slime Affinity to learn it, and it was the same with the Undead Summoning Skill Book.
But with the Bone Ring on, I immediately got a buff to the Affinity.
So, I just donned my Slime Rings and learned it.
Thus far, I'd picked up Life Drain, Soul Drain, and Undead and Slime Summoning Skills.
It was during the 25th day that I trained up as many of my Skill as much as I could, spending a full 24 hours in there (3 outside) before returning home.
Plus, making an ID with Time-Warping to sleep in? I spent eight hours sleeping in the ID, taking up an hour outside. That meant countless hours of training.
My skills were evolving at an unbelievable pace, and if I had to guess, for every 24 hours outside, I was spending 160 (20 hours) inside.
That was the last five days, leading to a complete month since I learned about my powers.
I had learned a lot of things, and was learning a lot more.
And yet... Somehow, I could tell it wasn't enough.

---

I was sitting at my computer a little bit before dinner at home, browsing the Abyss Auction again, my hand ever-ready for hitting the kill switch.
The amount of money I had was really kind of scary at times, but I always found a reason to burn it.
"Let's see... I'll take the Magic Arrow, I'll see if I can pair it with my Prana Bolt and what happens if I do. There's a book on meditation; enhanced MP recovery? Good for training."
I was clicking a few random Skill books and buying them, feeling uncomfortable with the amount of money I was earning.
I lost track a while ago on how many times I'd killed the Shattered Soul. Something about Time-Warp messed with my cognition; left me confused on the time outside of your bubble.
On the upside, though, I was only rarely late for things.
I'd spent a few nights at the Kensington's thus far, but I rarely spent that time sleeping.
"...Am I burning myself out...?"
I sighed, pushing away from my computer.
I'd practically devoted the last month to training... And thanks to Time-Warp, it was closer to two months for me.
Constant practice, constant training...
Salamander approved of being active so much, but did limit my summoning of her to a maximum of 12 hours for every period of 24 that I experienced.
I looked at the computer.
...How annoying. At least in real games, there was a limit; I had to stop for dinner, or for sleep, or something like that.
I exhaled through my nose, disrupting my Breathing Technique.
"I need a change of venue," I muttered.
Moving back towards my computer, I finished up my order and nuked the Box, as per usual.
Rebooting, I went and opened the window before sitting back down.
"But... Where...?"
"Are you-"
"Coren, yes."
The box dropped into my lap. I opened it up and looked inside, seeing the books I ordered.
I closed the window, shifting back to the proper breathing pattern for the Technique.
"I'm sure I'll figure it out. After all... I seem to have all the time in the world."

---

Solo-Thread Gains (4279 Words)
Gained Skill - Life Drain (500 Words)
Gained Skill - Soul Drain (1000 Words)
Gained Skill - Slime Summoning (2000 Words)
Gained Skill - Undead Summoning (3000 Words)
Skill Level Ups
Observe LVL9 >>> LVL14
Power Strike LVL23 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
ID Create/Escape LVL6 >>> LVL13
Gymnastics Mastery LVL24 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Martial Arts Mastery LVL23 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Prana Stream LVL24 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Prana Bolt LVL15 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Blunt Weapon Mastery LVL17 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Prana Grinder LVL3 >>> LVL18
First and Final Strike LVL3 >>> LVL12
Mana Breath LVL1 >>> LVL16
Breathing Purification Technique LVL3 >>> LVL25 - LVLMAX
Self-Reinforcement LVL2 >>> LVL19
Basic Summoning Skill LVL1 >>> LVL47
Slime Summoning Skill LVL1 >>> LVL42
Undead Summoning Skill LVL1 >>> LVL42
Life Drain LVL1 >>> LVL8
Soul Drain LVL1 >>> LVL23
Status Increase - Fire Elemental Affinity - 39
Status Gained - Slime Elemental Affinity - 30
Status Gained - Undead Elemental Affinity - 20
Level Increase LVL20 >>> LVL48
Gained 140 Stat Points
+4 STR (two months training)
+4 VIT (two months training)
+4 AGI (two months training)
+2 INT (textbook memorization)
+1 WIS (applied thinking)
+2 LUCK (reached LVL30,40)
Gained Titles
Apprentice Zombie Hunter (Kill 50 Zombies)
True Zombie Hunter (Kill 500 Zombies)
Apprentice Ghost Buster (Kill 50 Ghosts)
True Ghost Buster (Kill 500 Ghosts)
Zombie Slayer (Kill Legion Zombie)
I Hate Zombies (Kill 10 Legion Zombies)
Ghost Hunter (Kill Phantom Collective)
I Ain't 'Fraid of no Ghost (Kill 10 Phantom Collectives)
Soul Eater (Kill Shattered Soul)
Lord of the Dark Soul (Kill 10 Shattered Souls)
Overking of Overkill (Deal 300000 or more DMG)
Amateur Martial Arts (LVL10 in Martial Arts Mastery)
Professional Gymnast (LVLMAX in Gymnastics Mastery)
Professional Martial Artist (LVLMAX in Martial Arts Mastery)
Improvised Armory (LVLMAX in Blunt Weapon Mastery)
Enemy Drops
612 Zombie Teeth
406 Zombie Ribs
512 Enchanted Cloth
353 L. Rec. Pot.
348 L. Soul. Pot.
7 Spirit Pendants
6 Bones of Legion
12 Bone Rings of Sorrow and Hate
27 Large Soul Stones
27 Cleansed Souls
34 Life Drain Skill Books
37 Soul Drain Skill Books
23 Undead Summoning Skill Books
$167300
Abyss Auction Orders:
Magic Arrow for Beginners (Magic Arrow) -$1200
Goblin's Guide to Meditation (Ki Restoration Meditation Technique) -$1300
Water Elemental Summoning (Status: Water Elemental Affinity, Familiar: Undine) -$1000
Earth Elemental Summoning (Status: Earth Elemental Affinity, Familiar: Gnome) -$1000
Wind Elemental Summoning (Status: Wind Elemental Affinity, Familiar: Sylph) -$1000
Lightning Elemental Summoning (Status: Wind Elemental Affinity, Familar: Raiden) -$1000
Exploding Flames, a How-To (Exploding Flames) -$1400
Hurling Lightning, a How-To (Lightning Arrow) -$1600
Spellbook of Bronze Skin (Bronze Skin) -$1700
Spellbook of Troll's Regeneration (Troll's Restoration Power) -$1700
Spellbook of Giant's Strength (Strength of a Giant) -$1700
Basic Barriers and Defense (Magic Barrier) -$2100
Total: -$167000