Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 173: A New Type of Training

The three of us returned to the palace for the night, with Bella and Diane quickly making their way to their rooms to sleep. As for myself, I didn’t plan to sleep just yet. Rather, I wanted to properly review the gains I had from this recent war.

First of all, several of my skills had evolved, with some even reaching the grandmaster level like my intent skills, aside from Dark Intent-X. Because of this, I had unlocked the Simulation Training skill that Kelly had told me about.

Opening the skill, I entered a meditative stance on my bed, much like the ones I had seen repeatedly from her. When the skill activated, a system prompt appeared in the center of my vision.

Simulation Training is now active. Please select a creature to train against.

Below that message was a list of monsters, all of which I recognized from past encounters. There were different types of dragons, some named and some not, as well as other monsters that I had fought over the last several months. However, although I searched through the list a few times, dragons like Motan weren’t listed, despite the fact that I had certainly fought against him.

Maybe it is limited to monsters that I have defeated? I thought to myself, believing that would explain the situation. Since this was just an experiment, I selected one of the Black Flame Monks that we had fought in the arena dungeon.

Immediately, my perception seemed to split in two. One part of me perceived the world around my body, still sitting on the bed within my room. However, the other part now stood within an empty, black void with criss-crossing green lines. A hundred meters or so away from me, a humanoid wrapped in black flames appeared.

Training has begun. Due to skill level, only 5% of skill experience will be retained.

My brow twitched when I saw that message, but I still felt that it was worth it. I had difficulty training my attack skills like Assassinate, which still lingered at the intermediate level despite being one of my very first skills. For buff or manipulation skills, I could just maintain them to train, but the same was not true for attacks. Thus, even with only a fraction of the experience, this was still extremely beneficial. Not to mention that the percentage would increase as I continued training.

Immediately, I entered stealth, circling around the monk while creating a spear of ki in my hands. I could feel a faint disconnect between my simulated form and my real one, as my simulation’s status was not reflected in the real world.

Within the simulation, I launched a series of rapid strikes from behind the monk, who quickly spotted me. Because I was training my skills, I was avoiding dealing a lethal blow, drawing out the encounter while launching all of the skills that I had been unable to train until now.

Thankfully, my body seemed to rest fairly well in this meditative state, even if half of my awareness was busy training. Each time I killed the monk, a new one spawned in, and the battle began anew.

However, as the night progressed, I started to realize the downside of this training. Because I was only able to create a simulation of creatures that I had previously defeated, I was almost guaranteed to only face beings weaker than myself, which made it hard to create a real challenge. This must be why Kelly still never finished evolving her recovery skill, since her simulated foes weren’t able to force her to use it.

Of course, there were ways for me to get around this drawback, to a certain degree. If I were to disable my buff skills, I could fight as a true level one Fallen. In doing so, though, I would be restricted to fighting low-level enemies, or else my raw stats would not allow me to land a single blow on my opponent.

By the time the sun rose, I was still adjusting to the new training method. My eyes snapped open as sunlight poured into my room. Now that I had experienced the simulated training, I was only more and more curious. What sort of evolutions could I expect out of this? Could new elements be added to the simulation, or would it expand upon the enemies that I could fight against?

Either way, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Matters such as the energetic halfling that I could sense running towards my door. “Drake, are you awake?” Diane called out, giving only a light knock on the door.

“I am,” I answered with a low groan, standing up and giving a light stretch. Although meditation was no real substitute for sleep, it was better than nothing. “Did you find the player nation that you want to visit?”

The door opened, and Diane stepped inside, nodding her head. “That’s right. I’ve got a few friends that took the same rogue path as myself. However, we didn’t end up in the same part of the world when we made our characters, so I didn’t even consider playing with them from the start. Travel back then was way too long.”

“Anyways, they told me about a region that we should check out, near a newly established player nation. However, it’s not in Oblivara,” Diane explained, barely containing her excitement. “It’s in Umbrahallow.”

I arched my brow at that, unsure what Umbrahallow was. It wasn’t one of the worlds that we had passed through before, but I could assume that it had a similar shadow theme to Oblivara. “What’s it like?”

“The region, or--right, Umbrahallow. Well, there are three realms that specialize in darkness. Thankfully, our local rift connects to all three. Anyways, the first is Oblivara, which we’ve passed through before. This is your typical world of eternal night, where not a single star exists in the sky.”

“Next is Noxveil. In Noxveil, the world is composed of a series of shadowy caves, with monsters lurking around every corner. This one is regarded as ‘hell mode’ by players, because the caves are basically a maze. Even if you have a method of transportation, you won’t know where to go.”

“Finally, there is Umbrahallow. Umbrahallow is a realm locked in eternal twilight, where light and dark skills can both be found in abundance. There are even ‘holy shadow’ skills, from what I’ve heard. Moreover, the NPCs of Umbrahallow are divided into the followers of light and darkness, with both sides locked in an eternal war.”

“The region I want to go to is near a new nation called Everdusk. My friends found a strange dungeon formation. A large number of dungeons popped up in a small area, each with wildly different difficulty levels. Among them, there is one that players are calling the Ancient War Reenactment.”

“This dungeon resets once every week, on Mondays. If we hurry, we’ll be able to get there before the reset.”

I nodded my head, listening to her explanation patiently. “What’s so special about this dungeon that you want to rush there?”

“There are a few special rules for this dungeon,” she smiled happily, as if waiting for that question. “First, anyone who enters has to choose which side they wish to join, either Light or Dark. After making your choice, you can’t leave the dungeon until the next reset. Well, there are certain ways to get out with special skills, but you can’t leave conventionally.”

“Once the sides have been picked, you will be assigned a post based on your abilities and your ‘affinity’ with the side you chose, which seems to be related to your existing skills. You earn War Credits in the dungeon by fulfilling your role and fighting the enemies, and you can spend those credits to get special skills, equipment, or even traits unique to Umbrahallow.”

“I assume that there is some specific skill or something that you are aiming for?” I questioned, which earned a nod from Diane.

“When I looked up the rewards listed, I spotted a trait called Shadow Blessed. It’s a six-star trait that increases the power of all darkness-related skills. There is also a skill called Shadow Puppet, which I want to look into.”

I let out a small sigh, already walking for the door. “Go get Bella. I’ll get the car ready.”

“...About that.” Diane chuckled awkwardly. “Remember how I said that I spawned in a different part of the world from these friends? If we want to get to the dungeon today, let alone before the noon reset, the car won’t be fast enough.”

My brow twitched, but I nodded my agreement. “Dragon mode it is. Still, get Bella. We can eat once we make it to the dungeon. I assume you’ve already plotted a course for us.”

“We should be able to get there through Verdantia with just a small wait,” she said, even as she bolted out of the room and down the hall.

A one-week dungeon, huh? I thought to myself as I walked out of the palace, waiting for the other two. Since we were in such a rush, I couldn’t exactly expect them to meet me at the city gates. 

Once Bella and Diane emerged, I placed my hands on the duo, and quickly sent us out of the city with a few well-placed Glancing Steps. Afterwards, I transformed into my draconic form, allowing them both to climb on, and vanished into the horizon.

At the very least, I’ll be getting some training with Glancing Steps-X. I chuckled under my breath at that thought as the world flickered around us with every flap of my wings. Soon, we were through the portal, arriving in what I could only assume was Verdantia.

The world was shrouded in trees that seemed to rise up forever. Rather than a sky, there was an all-consuming canopy. Instead of a sun or stars, there were glowing fruits hanging from the trees, offering the same level of illumination as if it were the middle of the day.

“We just need to wait here for twenty minutes, and the rift will open up to Umbrahallow,” Diane explained from atop my back. “Once we get there, you’ll need to fly east as fast as you can. I’ll try to keep track of our location to let you know when to change course.”

Bella gave a bitter chuckle, leaning down to hug my back. “This is about to become a bumpy ride, isn’t it?”

“Sorry, Bella,” I called back to her, twisting my neck to look at the two of them. “Try to hold on tight. The last thing we need is either of you falling off while we’re teleporting over the ocean…”

Bella shuddered at that mental image, nodding her head. “Got it. I do not want to turn into a redheaded snack for whatever monsters live in that realm.”

We continued to banter for a few more minutes, resting on an invisible platform high above the ground. The rift shifted, taking on the familiar blue of Thalassia, and then a few minutes later turned a swirling mix of white and black. Diane lightly patted my neck, and I took a deep breath. With a powerful lunge, I flew into the rift.

On the other side of the rift, the sky was a burnt orange mixed with dark shadows. Swirling, black and white clouds seemed to mingle through the sky. With Diane’s help, I aimed myself due east, and set off as fast as I could. The coastline where the rift appeared vanished behind us in a moment, and I kept my eyes trained ahead, even as the sky cast a golden glow on the water below.