Proficiency and Mastery

Du Pont's condition was really a bit rough.

Since buying the course last night, he had been fighting that unreasonable mirror image all night. At most, he only lasted 45 seconds. In the end, he didn't even know when he fell asleep. This morning, he ate a random bite of food and came to the classroom, only to fall asleep from exhaustion.

"It seems that student Du Pont is very interested in the combat class." The instructor on the stage turned around and casually said, "But don't worry, if you encounter hooligans and ruffians during your business trips in the future, it will be easier to deal with them with Magic Missile. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can just call the guards. It's the most foolish thing to fight those guys with weapons. After all, if you like melee combat so much, why not become a warrior? The tuition fees are much lower than a mage's."

Hearing the instructor's words, the apprentices in the room burst into laughter. Du Pont rubbed his eyes and didn't bother to pay attention to this group of ignorant classmates, too lazy to argue.

Friendship between classmates can be precious, but most of it isn't worth a penny. In at most two years, everyone will be eating a farewell dinner, and socializing with these vulgar people is a waste of time.

But he needed to be more energetic and take a nap at noon. Sleeping in the spell class wasn't comfortable, and he would miss valuable experience.

Affected by his condition, Du Pont gained a total of 40 experience points in these two classes. Fortunately, he took a nap at noon and finally felt more energetic. After the afternoon's make-up class, he gained a total of 100 experience points today.

After copying two scrolls, Du Pont entered meditation again, to face that god-like mirror image.

Gaining proficiency wasn't difficult. After last night's practice, he had already reached the proficiency level with daggers, staffs, wooden sticks, and spears. The remaining weapons, such as the mace and lance, as well as ranged weapons, still needed practice.

He only needed to attack the mirror image five times without taking damage, but that was all he could do. To defeat the opponent wasn't just a matter of basic attributes; the difference in physical fitness and skills was too great.

If he could defeat the mirror image with a single weapon, he would gain weapon mastery, but Du Pont tried several times and fell far short. He decided to focus his energy on proficiency instead.

Being able to handle a weapon without hurting himself was the real deal.

However, he encountered considerable difficulties in the military weapons category.

There were many types of military weapons, and each one—knives, guns, swords, halberds, axes, daggers, hammers, and flails—was more difficult to master than the last. The requirement for two-handed weapons was to hit the enemy five times without being attacked, which would leave him completely disoriented.

This task seemed simple, but in reality, the mirror image had mastered almost all weapons. Not only was he behind in experience, but he was also constantly being beaten. The ways he experienced death that day were enough to fill a book called "100 Ways to Die."

Fortunately, he improved rapidly between life and death. His light armor proficiency was completed through dodging and parrying, and he also understood the method to pass the shield training.

That was to only defend and not attack, using the shield as much as possible to block the opponent's shield strikes, then using his weapon to parry the opponent's weapon, and coordinating with his footwork to achieve offense-defense transitions. This way, he would definitely succeed after trying a few more times.

However, Du Pont didn't do that. Instead, he abandoned the shield and began to switch weapon training.

Although he was constantly being beaten in the mirror image battle, each defeat allowed him to see new techniques, especially the opponent's footwork.

This was something that wasn't really explained in combat class, but it was the most important technique Du Pont discovered after being slashed all night.

Especially with polearms, it was almost effortless to complete the proficiency task with short spears and spears, as long as he learned to move forward or backward according to the opponent's rhythm.

In comparison, the two-handed sword was much more difficult, and he couldn't find the knack for great axes and great hammers at all. His strength and agility couldn't handle these weapons. Once his offensive couldn't suppress the opponent, there would be huge flaws, and he would be directly assassinated by the mirror image stepping forward.

"He's crippled, I'm dead. These two-handed heavy weapons are too stupid." Du Pont was a little clueless. "Is it like this in actual combat too?"

[Two-handed heavy weapons are generally used by combat-oriented classes with higher strength. Correspondingly, agility also requires a certain foundation. If the user's own conditions are not met, it is recommended to train with simple/elven weapons as a foundation.]

It's not like I want to learn how to die. Isn't this a basic requirement for barbarians and warriors?

Du Pont put down the military weapons and chose simple weapons instead.

Since his attributes weren't good enough, stubbornly grinding was too much of a waste of time. If it didn't work, he would save up some money and spend 100 gold to buy it.

"Purchase athletics and nature knowledge."

As soon as he finished speaking, an exaggerated 1000-meter obstacle course appeared in front of Du Pont. He had only seen many of the things inside in the training ground during military training, such as trenches, low walls, ladders, and platforms.

[Please pass all obstacles in 6 minutes]

Just as Du Pont's scalp was tingling, many more flowers, plants, and trees appeared around the obstacle course.

[Become familiar with 100 common plants in Faerûn and 30 animals, and remember their main attributes]

This seems simpler than running laps?

[You have 23 days left until your loan repayment deadline]

[You have gained proficiency in simple weapons, light armor, and shields. Athletics and nature knowledge have been acquired.]

[To obtain a barbarian multiclass, you are still missing one specialization: military weapon proficiency]

[Current experience value 2766/2000]

[Your malnutrition has changed from moderate to mild, Constitution -1, your current Constitution is 15 points]

"You haven't been here for several days. I thought you weren't planning to come practice anymore." Judy watched Du Pont kill three domestic animals neatly. "What, slacking off?"

"The course load has been too heavy these past few days, and I've been secretly training, which has led to not enough sleep. You could say I'm physically and mentally exhausted. Yesterday was the first good night's sleep I've had in a while." Having gained another 30 experience points, Du Pont was in a good mood. "I'll be back tomorrow. I'm going to cook some braised food to eat, but I won't have time, so please save me a pig's trotter and some intestines for lunch."

"No problem." Judy said, pointing to the butcher in the slaughterhouse, "Has Boulderstone not returned yet?"

"Who knows?" Du Pont shrugged. "Maybe there's something in the forest behind the mountain that he cares about a lot."

Judy looked thoughtful upon hearing this. Du Pont went to process the offal. After a while, the Halfling said, "Lavoisier was quite satisfied with the pig's trotters last time. There are 12 stored in the cold storage. Let's make them all this time."

"Okay, but he still doesn't eat anything else?"

"It's best to leave him a portion of the best parts. As for whether he eats it or not, that's his business. As a chef, you must never make too much of one dish, otherwise it's easy to get tired of it. The parts used in this dish are destined to be difficult to become the main course of a ritual, but it's still good as a small side dish in private." Saying this, he was a little curious, "Do you have any other new dishes? As long as they're novel and not bad, that's fine. I have to assign him a new set of recipes every month and can't repeat them for three months. It's so troublesome."

"Wait until Saturday, then I'll have more time." Du Pont said, pointing to the pig's head, "And you can also send it by parts. Give him pig ears today, pig tongue tomorrow. Eat hot braised today, cold salad tomorrow. Aren't these all new dishes?"

". You always have so many tricks."

The two laughed heartily as they spoke, and Du Pont's figure was also noticed by some acquaintances.

"Conner, isn't that the kid who plays with mud? How did he get hooked up with the chef here?"