I spent the rest of the day in the library, going through the five books that Karlson brought me while listening to his explanations, and answering some of his own questions. For instance, he asked what my construction skill was, interested in studying it for himself. This wasn't exactly a major combat skill, so I saw no harm in telling him the skills that I combined to make it work. Who knew if this knowledge would be able to inspire some other discovery from him later on?

Either way, by the time I left the library, Diane was already getting ready to log off for the night. I considered going out of the city to train again, but quickly shook my head to dismiss the notion. Maybe it was thanks to me keeping Fortitude of Nature active constantly, but I hadn't felt that tired despite not getting any sleep the prior night. Despite this, I knew that both my body and mind would ultimately require rest.

The next day, Diane and I shared a brief conversation about our expectations, before heading off to meet our trainers. So far, I knew that there were at least two skills that I wanted to learn from Jana, which were Perception and the Internal Strike that she used against me previously. After seeing her demonstrate the effectiveness of both skills in practical combat, I knew that I wanted them for myself.

However, I did not go to Jana's dojo to meet her. Instead, I went out to the same location that we had trained the day before. The reason behind this was rather simple. Karlson's presence reminded me that there were still quite a few players in Evergreen, many of whom remained here for the preferential treatment that they received.

All it would take is one player identifying me at the dojo to ruin everything. And given the city's propensity for hiring beautiful mentors, there were likely many players that liked to hang out at the major learning centers.

Once I reached the rubble where I had previously demolished the tiny hut, I crafted myself a chair out of woven grass, and sat down to begin tinkering with my Architect skill. I wanted to make a number of different blueprints that I could activate, depending on the circumstances of the environment. In addition, I wanted to take advantage of the knowledge I gained in the library, adding in features like a functioning bathroom, drainage on the roof in case of rain, and windows with shutters of various materials.

While I was working, I heard Jana call out for me. "Yo, kid!" She shouted, walking over with a grin. "I was waiting for you at the dojo. When you didn't show, I thought I'd find you out here."

"Sorry. I'm not a big fan of crowds." I explained. This was the excuse that I prepared if my refusal to attend at the dojo came up. After all, I had already established that my 'Player' was fairly antisocial, and only traveled with his sister. For someone like this, it seemed like it would make perfect sense to not want to be around large crowds.

Jana nodded her head, as if having expected such an answer. "Figured as much. So, I brought your training materials with me." She said, pulling what looked like a large aquarium out of her inventory.

"What… is that?" I asked in confusion, and she grinned broadly.

"This is your training material for Internal Strike. Or rather, its basic version, Shallow Palm." As she spoke, she cast a magic skill to fill the glass tank with water, and then put a small balloon filled with water in the center. "In order for you to learn Shallow Palm, I want you to pop the water balloon without breaking the glass. Also, you can't use any of your projection skills to cheat."

My eyes went wide at her explanation. "Then… how am I supposed to do that without the skill to begin with?" Weren't they supposed to give me easy quests, designed to help me quickly grow in strength and also appealing to my desires as a player?

Despite my misconceptions, Jana kept that same grin as always. "Shallow Palm was one of the original Martial skills, developed without any enchantments or monster drops. Its foundation is purely through the manipulation of the body. Whenever I teach a skill like this, I always make sure to teach it from the ground up when possible."

"Of course, I won't be able to do the same for Perception, since you already had the skill once and fused it away. That one I'll need to do the boring way. But this… this will give you a proper understanding of your skill and how to use it, rather than just issuing a command and firing blind."

I gave a slow nod, but was still visibly concerned. "Isn't it likely that I'll break the glass before I finish my training?"

"Yup! That's why I brought fifty of them." She said with a confident grin. "Training ends today either when you learn Shallow Palm or destroy all fifty water tanks."

As she said that, a quest window appeared in front of me. Sure enough, the contents matched what she said. However, the reward was not simply the basic skill, Shallow Palm. There was a note that the skill would immediately start at level ten. That wasn't too much, since I could reach that level of training in a few hours, or maybe a couple days at most. However, it showed that even the system thought that this was too much for just a basic skill.

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"Can you give me a demonstration?" I asked, moving to a good vantage point to watch. "That way, I have at least some idea of the structure required to pull this off."

Jana gave a firm nod, moving to stand next to the glass tank. She pressed her palm lightly on the surface of the glass, and took a deep breath. Then, she twisted her hand and pressed forward with her palm. I watched as the glass flexed inwards just slightly, the water in the tank trembling. However, the transmitted force must have been enough, as the water balloon inside the tank ruptured.

"Did you catch that?" She asked, clenching and unclenching her fist before replacing the water balloon. "I didn't use any skills just now, just pure body control. That is the essence of Shallow Palm."

I nodded my head slightly, still surprised by her performance. At the very least, I knew that it was possible now. In addition, I knew that it would even be possible for me to learn the skill on my own if we did need to leave in an emergency.

So, I stepped up to the tank, taking a deep breath. I placed my palm on the glass, mirroring her previous stance. However, when I gave the same, light thrust, the balloon showed no reaction, only swaying slightly in the water. Jana didn't say anything, so I tried again. This time, I used too much force, and the glass wall of the tank shattered, spilling the water all over my lower body.

Again, Jana didn't comment. She merely collected the broken shards to stow in her inventory, then replaced the tank and waited for me to make another attempt. So, I did. Again, and again. Each time, I either caused nothing to happen, or broke the tank entirely. There was no middle ground. No matter how delicately I tried to control the force of my thrust, I couldn't find any point between when it broke and when it simply didn't react.

It wasn't until I broke the tenth tank that Jana finally offered a word of advice. "You're treating it as if these tanks all have consistent construction, down to the smallest levels. There will always be imperfections. Identify those imperfections, and locate the best part to strike where you can breach its defense without breaking it."

I grunted slightly, accepting her words even if I didn't know how to act on them. I rubbed my hand over the surface of the glass, trying to feel for any of the imperfections that she was talking about. However, to me, it simply felt smooth. Were the imperfections inside the glass itself, rather than on the surface? I couldn't see any cracks, at the very least.

Still, I took my time to study the tank to the best of my ability before trying again, my palm on the center of the tank's wall. Yet, once again, the tank broke as soon as I thrust forward. And again, Jana said nothing, allowing me to repeat the process over and over.

Every tenth tank that was broken, she offered another piece of advice. For instance, telling me how Shallow Palm was the origin of later projection abilities. Or that I had to understand the material that I wanted to push through.

In the end, I went through all fifty tanks, breaking each one. Despite essentially failing the training, Jana didn't seem disappointed. She had the same smile on her face as she collected the pieces of the final tank. "That's all for today. I'll see you here again on Monday." She said, surprising me.

"Monday? Not tomorrow?" I asked, but she shook her head.

"We always give players the weekend off from official lessons. Instead, we organize hunting parties so that they can gain experience and practice any skills they learned over the week. Weekends are also the most common days for players to log on wanting to relax, so we decided that it's best to let them have their weekend to themselves." She said, shrugging it off.

"As for the training, don't sweat it. Almost nobody breaks the balloon on their first day. And most of the ones that do cheat. If anything, I'm proud of you for sticking to your guns and not taking the easy way out! So yeah, I'll see you Monday to continue this." She finished, before going back to the city.

After checking with Diane, it seemed that she was still in the middle of her own training, so I simply returned to my inn room. Once there, I resumed my earlier work of crafting blueprints to pass the time.

Eventually, when Diane returned from her own training, we began to make our plans for the weekend. This would be our best chance to go hunting with Bella, and also ask her about her secret. Both Diane and I took the night to make any preparations we could, just in case we would need to flee the city after confronting her.

The next day, the two of us awoke early. Diane chose to eat breakfast downstairs in the inn, while I minimized my contact with other players as much as possible, simply eating a conjured loaf of bread. While she was down there, Diane had said that she would invite Bella to go hunting with the two of us a bit further away from the city.

Diane kept me up to date with their conversation as it was happening, making sure I was ready. At first, Bella seemed nervous about going too far from the city, but Diane assured her that we would be fine. Even with Bella's negative trait, Diane and I were more than strong enough to ensure that we could all escape from whatever monster showed up, even if we couldn't beat it.

Eventually, Bella agreed, saying that she would let her player know about the arrangement. With that, I started getting ready myself, pulling my backpack over my shoulders. I didn't leave my room up until the other two were ready to leave. Bella was wearing a full helmet that obscured her face, and a mix of heavy and medium armor that I was sure made it awkward to fire a bow.

Regardless, she nodded at me as I descended the stairs, and the three of us left the city, continuing north. "How far out of the city did you want to go?" Bella asked, turning her head to look at the other groups of players. Most of them were either working in large teams, or were cooperating with the city's guard to hunt.

"Hmm…" Diana thought about it for a moment. "Bro, can I borrow the bike, and have you run alongside it for a couple minutes?" She asked, avoiding using my name in earshot of other players.

I nodded my head calmly, pulling the bike from my inventory and setting it on the ground for her. Bella nearly jumped out of her skin at the vehicle, letting out a yelp of astonishment. Even with her helmet on, it was clear that she was just as surprised by the bike as I had been the first time Diane showed it to me.

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