CHAPTER 39: ADVANCEMENT.

           “Hey, remember our duel tomorrow. I hope you don’t cower in fear when the time comes”. Chloe said with a yawn as she stretched, exposing her perky cleavages before climbing her bed to retire for the night.

           Morales was careful not to show any obvious reactions to the sight. “Don’t worry, I won’t forfeit the duel”.

           “When the time comes…, it’ll be hard to know who’ll decide to forfeit”. He grinned.

           “Goodnight”. Chloe waved at the others before closing her eyes to sleep.

           Dave and Rose practically spent the whole day couped inside the room. Due to the loose manner in which the dojo treats students, they could go without training for a whole day without any significant adverse effects.

           As soon as the others closed their eyes, Morales went to the open cultivation space that was at the corner of the room.

           After sitting down cross-legged, he closed his eyes to concentrate before starting his cultivation. He did this for 30 minutes before opening his eyes again after he confirmed that the others were asleep already.

           He finally willed the system to display his current attributes.

           -------------------------------------------------

           Current attributes:

           STR 80, DEX 45, END 30, INT 25, CHA 19, LUCK 2

           Free attribute points: 29

           ---------------------------------------

           He did not waste time, he ordered for all his 29 free attributes to be distributed. He allocated 21 for his strength attribute, before allocating the remaining 8 to his endurance attribute.

           ----------------------------------------------------

           Success! Your main attribute, strength, has been raised to above 100 points.

           [Lv. 25 Novice Pugilist Advancement Mission Complete.]

           You have reached the limit of the first Pugilist class tier; you may now choose any one of the following advancement routes:

           Warlord, E- Dominator, Cell Liberator.

           ------------------------------------------------------

           In Space World, the Pugilist class had 3 advancement routes, and choosing one was an irreversible decision.

           During Morales’s previous life, though his main account class was not a Pugilist, he still had a lot of experience through his side accounts about most of the nuisances of the Pugilist class.

           And as a player who mained as a mechanical Pugilist, he had a lot of experience about how normal Pugilists fought.

           The warlord advancement route, like the name depicted, was the most popular development route among the players. Morales also used it for his side account, and it was the coolest development route.

           Anything warlord-related was guaranteed to be tyrannical, and this was no exception.

           For Pugilist class holders, their training mainly focused on their body, their cells, and their energy. The 3 development routes were also divided using this as the focus.

           The warlord development route focused on the body.

           For most Pugilists, their body was their everything, their body was their life, and the warlord route brought this to an extreme.

           Pugilists who choose this route were usually the most aggressive and had the most explosive strength. All their active skill were mainly towards attacking, you rarely see a warlord Pugilist with more than a dozen defensive skills.

           A perfect example of a warlord Pugilist was the Storm warlord, whose weapon Morales drew from the system lottery draw.

           At his peak, the storm warlord was like a mobile war fortress. His offensive power was off the charts. In battle, the power released by his body was more powerful than battleships and planet obliteration weapons.

           The next advancement route, which was the E- Dominator actually meant Energy Dominator.

           Like the name depicted, the E- Dominator route fell into the energy category.           Every Pugilist fight mostly with their body, but E- Dominator Pugilists tend to rely more on their energy than the brute power of their bodies.

           In a more basic tense, E- Dominator Pugilists were the ones more inclined to long-ranged attacks.

           Instead of closing in every time for close-ranged battles which was the widely acknowledged forte of Pugilists, they tend to fight by releasing condensed Pugilist energy attacks at their opponents from afar.

           Among the 3 Pugilist development routes, they were the most balanced, and they had the most tricks during battles. In that sense, they were more like mechanical Pugilists but with much less power.

           For the last development route, the Cell Liberator route fell into the cell category.

           In summary, these were the turtle shell Pugilists.

           Pugilists like the late protector Davis that Morales killed a few weeks ago had the most tendency of choosing this route, this way their bulwark defense potential could be maximized.

           In Space World, it was widely known that if you encounter a Cell Liberator who had more energy reserves than you, it was advisable to run immediately as these guys were practically undying cockroaches.

           Unlike the previous 2 development routes, Cell Liberators mostly focused on defense and hence was less popular among supers.

           Despite its lesser popularity, the strength of this route could not be underestimated.

           Most of their skills were focused on defense, resistance, and regeneration. Fighting an enemy that keeps on regenerating health in battle, such an enemy could only be referred to as disgusting.

           All the 3 development routes had advantages that would make it a hard choice, but Morales already made up his mind before coming here.

           With his knowledge of the game and as a mechanical Pugilist in his previous life, he was more inclined to choose the warlord route. He knew a lot of ways to make up for the disadvantages that followed it.

           This was the true route of a Pugilist, the body.

           ---------------------------------------------------------------------

           Congratulations! You have decided on a development route and have succeeded in class advancement.

           Warning: This is an irreversible choice.

           You are now a Warlord [Lv. 1]

           STR +40, DEX +3, END +5, INT +1

           You have gained 3 free attribute points.

           You have gained 1 talent point.

           You have completed the first advancement.

           Endurance stat-boost has increased:

           1 Endurance = 15 Max HP

           1 Endurance = 20 Stamina

           --------------------------------------------------------------

           Morales shuddered a bit as cool energy flowed through his body, he felt like his body was soaked into a hot pool in cold weather. The temperature contrast made his body feel complicated.

           He felt itchy all over, he felt like ants were crawling around his body.

           “Damn…! It was not like this in the game”. He gritted his teeth hard as a dense gas unknowingly leaked from his butt, diffusing the atmosphere immediately.

           As soon as he released the gas, he surprisingly felt free all of a sudden.

           His system interface lit up again at this moment.

           ---------------------------------------------------------------------

           You have gained Energy Affinity: Golden!

           You have learned Energy Training Technique!

           Your skill- [Pugilist- Novice] has changed to Intermediate Pugilist energy Affinity!

           You have acquired a new skill:

           [Basic Cell Control!]

           Your genes have been stimulated: After ravaging through your bloodline, a random innate skill has been learned.

           [NEW! Clifford Decree!]

           -------------------------------------------------

           This time around, Morales almost screamed out loud as the itching feeling immediately turned into a painful one. He felt like he was in a butchering table, and dozens of barbarians were hammering at his head.

           Sweat escaped out of his pores like waterfalls as they evaporated the next moment. He felt hot all over.

           This continued for about 10 seconds before it ended, but to Morales, he felt like he just lived a lifetime through that pain.

           Gritting his teeth while cursing softly, he finally observed his body.

           He noticed that his eyesight was clearer, but the one thing that attracted his attention was the dark golden energy that was revolving around his body.

           He had seen something like this before, it was just like the watery blue energy that revolved around Chloe whenever she cultivated. This was the sign that he was finally a grade E superhuman.

           “Haha…, muahahahahahaha!” He threw his head back and laughed to his heart’s content.

           He finally opened his system character information screen.

           --------------------------------------------------------------

           Name: Morales Clifford

           Race: Human/Space Neonate

           Model: NPC [Lauch countdown: 364 days, 5 hours & 24 minutes.]

           Level: 26

           Experience: 835,430

           Main Class: Lv. 10 Novice Pugilist/ Lv. 1 Warlord [0/50,000]

           Health: 1630/1630

           Stamina: 1910/1910

           Attributes: STR 101, DEX 48, END 43, INT 26, CHA 19, LUCK 2

           Free attribute points: 3

           Energy: 160 [Lvl. 3]

           [NEW!] Energy Type: Golden- Gives a bonus to energy Affinity.

Lvl. 1 [10]- [STR +2, DEX +1, END +1, MAX STAMINA +15]

           Lvl. 2 [50]- [STR +3, DEX +2, END +3, MAX STAMINA +50]

           Lvl. 3 [100] …

           Grade: E Superhuman.

           [You now have the strength that can help you get a foothold in the current Beiger planet. Continue trying harder and all your goals will be fulfilled.]

           …

           Passive Abilities:

- Low-level overwhelming charisma: +10% to charisma and all charisma-related abilities.         

- The descendant of Clifford: +2% increase to all pugilist abilities. This ability can be increased by accomplishing specific tasks.

           Skills:

-        Intermediate Pugilist Energy Affinity Lv. 1

-        Basic Energy Control Lv. 10

-        Basic Body Control Lv. 10

-        Basic Cell Control Lv. 1

[NEW!] Clifford Decree:

Cost: 5% Energy, 50 Stamina.

Cooldown: 1 day.

For 10 seconds: +50% more damage inflicted on opponent and +50% movement speed.             

5% chance to activate the decree ability: Deals 500% more damage in a single blow. 0.5% chance to decree instantaneous death on opponent.

[Remark: I am the ruling Pugilist! At my decree, bodies fall!]

…

Other Abilities:

Basic Combat: Lv. 10 [+10% melee damage]

Basic Shooting: Lv. 10 [+12% accuracy]

Melee Specialist: Lv. 10 [+7% melee damage, +5% attack speed, +6% critical hit rate.]

Flicker- Lv. 10:

Cost: 10 Energy, 25 Stamina.

Cooldown: 1 min

For 20 seconds, enables instantaneous movement within a 10-meter radius. Grants 20% attack speed and reaction speed for the duration of the skill.

10% chance to activate flicker- it enables the user’s movements to become like the wind, with an 8% chance to confuse opponents.

[Reinforced Diamond Bones.]

…

Class Talents:

-Body: [13 talents not learnt]

-Energy: [8 talents not learnt]

-Cells: [12 talents not learnt]

Renown: Border town dojo celebrity.

Legend: 0

Equipment: Storm Sword.

-----------------------------------------