Soul of the Warrior

The rest of the week was a mix between being just as awful as Teilon feared and not being quite so bad as Refix reassured the group.

Just like when they all worked to unlock the Breath Control Skill, it wasn’t so bad at the beginning. Refix’s training plan simply had them holding their breath the same way they had while underwater after expelling their lungs while they did their normal training. The suffering came once they approached their typical physical exhaustion.

It took longer for the side effects of drowning/suffocation to kick in, and as Reivyn worked to exhaust himself, he could feel each time the Skill increased in potency. At first, the Skill Leveled up quickly, and the gains were distinct with each Level Up.

An unexpected benefit was that their Stamina efficiency improved alongside their Skill Level. It seemed to have an active and passive effect. When they actively held their breath, the Skill increased the time they could hold it. Alongside the active usage, it seemed to improve their bodies’ usage of their Stamina Points.

It didn’t really have an effect on extending how long it took them to reach the point of tiredness they trained at because they simultaneously increased their Stamina usage through training the Skill.

Holding one’s breath while running around and carrying heavy loads was a new experience for Reivyn and the others. The beginning was easy, but as they got close and closer to their goal, the pain in their lungs became significant. Refix had created the rule that they would train their Breath Control Skill until the end of their training session with no breaks, so there was no relief upon transitioning to working on forms and sparring.

Reivyn gained seven Levels in his Skill the first day. He had reached Level three in the Skill while waiting for everyone to unlock it the previous day, so he ended the first day of training already at Skill Level 10. It was one of the fastest leveling Skills he had, but it was also one of the most intensive training styles he had done.

Training a Skill under stress was guaranteed to increase the Leveling speed, and the very nature of the Skill meant it was stressful if they weren’t doing it while simply sitting or resting.

The leveling rate declined over the next few days of the week, but it was still quick. Even Teilon and Kimberly, objectively the two with the lowest natural talent of the group, reached Level 15 by the third day.

Reivyn introduced his training regimen on the fourth day, one day before the Dungeon reset. He wasn’t worried that the group wouldn’t figure out the trick to using their Stamina as an alternate oxygen resource before tackling the Dungeon again. They would have the opportunity to run the Dungeon a third time before the teleport circle connected with their local group, so they still had a whole other week to work on it. There was no reason not to go ahead and get started, though, as they had surpassed the minimum threshold they had set for themselves with the Breath Control Skill.

“There’s really no easy shortcut for figuring out how to manually control your Stamina,” Reivyn addressed the Party. “Personally, I had the advantage of already manually activating one of my Class Skills previously. I kind of did things backward in that respect.

“That being said, the method to get control of your Stamina is repetition of a familiar active Skill and contemplation. Select one of your Class Skills your most familiar with, and just use it over and over again. Pay attention to how your muscles work. Pay attention to the feeling of energy coursing through your body as it activates.

“It might take a hundred repetitions to pick the thread, but this is just as much mental work as it is physical. Take some time to meditate on it every now and then. You don’t have to go so far as figuring out how to manually activate the Skill, yet, though. You just need to be able to track how your Stamina is used.

“Once you get a feel for it, you can switch to a different Skill and compare and contrast how the Stamina courses through your body. This is how I was able to figure it out. Isolate the Stamina usage and you’ll be able to grasp control of the energy.”

“Question,” Teilon raised his hand. Reivyn indicated for him to ask his question. “Do we need to continue with the Breath Control training while doing so?”

Reivyn looked to his father for his opinion.

“It’s up to you,” Refix shrugged.

“I think we can skip training the Breath Control Skill training,” Reivyn started. Teilon whooped for joy and threw his hands in the air. “You didn’t let me finish,” Reivyn smirked. Teilon put his hands down and narrowed his eyes at Reivyn. “We can skip the Skill training at first. Once you move on to the second active Skill to compare and contrast, you should continue with the training.

“You never know. It might accelerate your ability to grasp your Stamina.”

“It could also slow us down,” Teilon rebutted.

“That’s true,” Reivyn nodded his head. “But you’re also gaining valuable Skill Levels. Every increase in the Skill increases the efficiency of your Stamina usage, so there’s no reason to not do so.”

“Fine,” Teilon sighed.

Reivyn had tested it already with a Breath Control Skill of Level 20. Before he unlocked the Skill, approximately 5% of his Stamina pool functioned as a full breath. With his Skill at Level 20, he could tell that it had marginally improved. He guessed that it was closer to 4.9% of his Stamina pool for the same effect.

That didn’t seem like too big of an improvement at first, but the increase in efficiency was exponential compared to the Skill Level. The benefits were barely noticeable at the lower Levels, but it became more noticeable the higher the Level. It was a lot like his Divine Sense Skill. He could feel his Skill improving more between each Skill Up.

He also hadn’t even reached the first threshold at Level 25, yet.

By the time I reach the Master Level with the Skill, it might only cost around 1% or so of my Stamina Pool, Reivyn thought. There are many different ways a Transcendent ability for the Skill could go, but I’m also guessing that Stamina efficiency is probably one of them. It will probably be specific to breathing and holding one’s breath, though. The Skill name is Breath Control.

The Party members took Reivyn’s training suggestion and got to work. Kefira walked up to him with a sheepish expression on her face.

“What about me?” She asked. “I don’t have any active Skills that use Stamina. All of mine use Mana.”

“I’ve thought about this,” Reivyn nodded his head. “It’s just going to be a bit harder for you. You’ll have to use a General Skill to figure it out, but you also have your Mana control to compare it to.

“Mana and Stamina are two completely different things, but at the same time, they’re fundamentally the same: they’re both a form of internal energy. The benefit you gain from your Mana control should offset the handicap of not having an active Skill.”

“Ok, but what Skill should I use?”

“You once mentioned that you have Sure Step, right?” Reivyn asked. Kefira nodded her head. “Then, if I were you, I would simply use Running and Sure Step. I would alternate between walking on solid ground, running on solid ground, walking on loose sand, and running on loose sand.

“Try to pay attention to how your Stamina affects you in each situation. It’s not the same as how Mana works, but it should be similar enough for you to grasp it in time. Once you can see the flow of your Stamina, you should be able to gain control of that flow.”

“Alright, thanks,” Kefira smiled. She brushed a strand of hair behind her air absently. “I’ll get started right away.”

Kefira took off jogging to the edge of the beach where the sand turned into solid ground. The others performed their Skills as if they were training their combat forms, but they spent more time in careful consideration between uses. Reivyn nodded his head at their dedication.

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Reivyn had already figured out how to completely control his own Stamina, so he didn’t need to participate. Instead, he chose to continue working on his Breath Control Skill. The unexpected benefits of the Skill were actually way better than the ability to hold his breath longer, the original reason for unlocking the Skill.

With his ability to burn his Stamina to regain a full breath made the Breath Control Skill redundant on its face. Decreasing the Stamina percentage to gain a full breath, however, was a potential huge improvement. If he could reduce it to 1% like he hoped one day, it would increase the number of times he could use it as an oxygen resource from about twenty times to almost a hundred.

That was only theoretical, of course. There was no way he would actually take his Stamina all the way to 0%. Bottoming out on Stamina while underwater would guarantee drowning, after all. He wouldn’t be able to get another breath after, and he wouldn’t be able to move to swim to safety. He didn’t plan on ever putting himself in such a dangerous situation, though.

We never know what’s going to happen in the future, though, he thought. It’s better to be able to use the ability with less burden on my Stamina exactly for the unexpected situations.

While the others continuously activated their Skills, Reivyn got to work with his routine training while using the Breath Control Skill. The others hadn’t worked themselves to exhaustion ahead of time for this training. It wouldn’t make sense to significantly reduce their Stamina points when the entire idea was to figure out how those points worked exactly.

—

The Party worked on their training until around noon. Just like the other days, they restricted their intense training for the morning only. Even though they hadn’t burned through their Stamina before starting their training, everyone was still sweaty and tired by the end of it.

“It’s a different kind of exhaustion,” Teilon said, bending over and gasping for air. “It’s localized in the muscles used for the Skill, and it’s sharper, less dull. That’s the only way I know to describe it. The rest of my body feels fine, for the most part, though there’s still the background exhaustion affecting everything. It’s just not as all-encompassing.”

Reivyn nodded his head at his friend’s explanation. He had never actually used a Skill over and over to achieve the same results as physical exertion, so he had to take Teilon at his word. The others seemed to agree with him, too.

The Party dispersed to do their own thing for the rest of the day. They all chose to rest, though, as the Dungeon resetting meant they were headed back in for another round of training.

The Party had a new goal for running the Dungeon this time. They actively worked on their Breath Control Skill while fighting on the upper floors, but they didn’t try for the Hard Mode this time. Nobody had fully grasped control of their Stamina to use it to refuel their breath, anyway.

They blew through the top three floors at a much faster pace than previously, though. They had to stop for air less frequently, and they had their prior delve’s experience to guide their hunting.

Teilon wasn’t the one to lead the Party through the labyrinth on the third floor this time. Kefira stepped up and used her Space Affinity to map out a path to guide them through the maze. It was marginally quicker than Teilon’s guidance, which actually spoke more to Teilon’s ability to navigate the maze than it did Kefira’s.

The Party quickly dispatched the Sahuagins of the third floor and entered the rest area between floors.

“Alright, it’s time for the real objective,” Reivyn said. “I’m going to hang back as the rest of you descend to the fourth floor. I still don’t know how I got trapped by the waiting sirens, but it shouldn’t affect our plan. You all will go down, trigger the illusion ambush, and I’ll give you a few moments to fight it off before I disrupt them.

“Once everyone breaks free from the illusions, we’ll retreat back to here to reset the encounter. I’ll try hard not to kill any of the sirens, too.”

The Party exited the rest area and descended to the fourth floor. Refix was still with them, so they were expecting another group to ambush them like last time. Reivyn paid particular attention to his surroundings with his Psionic Skill to verify if that’s what had gotten him trapped last time. There hadn’t been too much experimentation with the Skill since unlocking it, though, so it was still at Level 1.

Sure enough, he noticed the unique frequency of the mental energy starting right at the entrance to the fourth floor. Reivyn nodded to the others, and they went ahead.

Reivyn watched his Party members move onto the fourth floor. Everything seemed fine at first. They slowly descended into the affected waters like nothing was out of the ordinary, but that didn’t last. They started moving slower and slower. If he didn’t know any better, he would assume they were just being overly cautious, but they eventually came to a complete stop.

The Party had moved out of visual range, but they were still well within his Divine Sense. He saw the sirens approach and surround them. It was the same as last time. Most of them hovered around them in a sphere, and an individual detached from the group to slowly approach one of the Party members one by one.

Each person was affected by the illusions at a different rate. The sirens seemed to be able to gauge how affected each Party member was. They approached at different speeds, the one moving toward Refix moving the slowest.

Reivyn knew that none of them had the Mental Fortitude Skill, and they had all acknowledged that they didn’t have any other kind of mental resistance Skill, either. Even so, it wasn’t just their Levels that determined how quickly they succumbed to the illusions.

Kefira was the next slowest to be fully immersed in her illusion. Xudrid was only slightly behind Kefira, and the two of them were much better off than the last four Party members. There was a clear divide between them and the others.

It makes sense, Reivyn thought. Kefira is a Caster, and Xudrid has said he’s basically the equivalent of a Cultivator Caster. Their Mental Stats are going to be higher than the others’. I’m surprised Vyria’s Soul Strength doesn’t seem to be a factor, though. I’m guessing the siren’s illusions have nothing to do with Soul Strenght, then.

Reivyn didn’t know all the intricacies of Soul Strength. He had assumed it would have an effect on mental powers somehow, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The only thing he knew about Soul Strength was that it directly affected how quickly one was able to unlock and Level Up Skills.

It seemed logical to assume the soul would affect the mind more than the body, but that was apparently a logical fallacy.

I should have realized considering the entire issue with Kefira’s body being too weak to house her powerful soul. It isn’t just an abstract thing that affects one’s mind. It directly affects the body, too.

Thinking about it deeper, that makes sense, too. Most of my Skills are physical in nature, and my Soul Strength still accelerates my Skill Leveling Speed. If it just affected mental aspects, one would see a clear distinction in Skill growth.

There’s still a particular bend to one’s talent, obviously, but it’s not exclusive to mental Skills.

Reivyn allowed his Party members to be trapped by the sirens. He stood by and gave them as much time as possible to fight off the illusions on their own. The point of letting them go through this was to unlock Mental Fortitude, or at least some type of mental resistance Skill. Mental Fortitude, besides Iron Will, was just the one Reivyn knew about.

Reivyn didn’t know how bad the draining affect was from the Siren’s, but he did have access to his Party members’ diagnostics through the System. It didn’t tell him their Health values, or anything, but it did provide clues.

The System notified him that they were all in “Good Health,” so he wasn’t worried. If there were any changes, he would immediately swoop in and interfere. As it was, he still waited to give them time to work through the problem on their own.

After several minutes, Reivyn finally saw signs that his friends were stirring out of their stupor. Refix was the first to shake free from the grasp of the sirens’ songs. He slowly became aware of his surroundings, but he was expecting what he saw. He simply shook the one siren feeding on his Health pool free from his body and took up a defensive stance.

Contrary to expectations, the sirens didn’t immediately descend into chaos and launch an attack on Refix or the group. Refix could have forced the issue by engaging, but the sirens seemed perfectly happy to wait for the others as long as Refix allowed them.

As anticipated, Kefira and Xudrid were the next to recover. Refix helped them separate themselves from the sirens wrapped around their bodies, and the three continued to wait for their other companions. Xudrid seemed like he was torn between intervening immediately for Vyria and waiting to allow her to work toward her Mental Resistance Skill. Logic won out in the end, and he waited.

As soon as the other four began to stir, Reivyn finally wrapped himself in a cocoon of Psionic-enhanced Mental Fortitude. He descended into the waters still being influenced by the sirens, but he was able to rebuff their attempts to pull him into an illusion. He swam directly to the closest group of sirens waiting nearby, but he didn’t engage them in combat.

He simply swam into the group, attracting their attention, and kept going. The sirens seemed offended that he wasn’t put under their spell at all, and they chased after him. Teilon, Kimberly, Serilla, and Vyria all eventually shook free from their personal illusions by the time Reivyn had picked up half of the nearby sirens.

Refix quickly organized the rest of the Party after dispelling the leaching sirens, and the Party swam back up to the third floor transition area. Reivyn kept some of his awareness on the others, and once they fled to unaffected waters, Reivyn turned and followed.

Despite being designed for moving about in the water, Reivyn was able to keep ahead of the chasing sirens. When he wasn’t flailing his arms about in panic, the combination of his Stats and Swimming Skill allowed him to move through the water quite rapidly. He wasn’t as dextrous as the aquatic monsters, but his top speed could easily match theirs.

The mental tendrils of the sirens didn’t extend beyond the absolute entrance to the fourth floor. .The System heavily influenced how things worked inside the Dungeons, and this was key to their strategy in training their Mental Resistance Skill.

Reivyn met back up with the Party members in the waiting area. He noticed the sirens disperse shortly after entering the tunnel leading to the third floor, seemingly forgetting about the Party’s presence entirely. He stepped into the air and surveyed the others.

Nobody seemed too negatively affected by the ordeal. They each confirmed they had only lost a couple percentage points of their Health, but some simple rest and grabbing a bite to eat for lunch would solve that issue.

“Alright, it seems to be going just as planned,” Reivyn said with a smile. “So after a short break, let’s do it again.”

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