Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

The first three Gates were: Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing and Gate of Limit. The Gate of Opening allowed one to enhance their senses dramatically, the Gate of Healing was the one Adam really wanted because it allowed one to enhance their recovery speed and lessen the stamina used in every move, and the Gate of Limit was especially powerful because it allowed the user to use 100% in their every move, without negative side effects.

And that's why Jude had felt he was strange, that his case was impossible. The danger he emitted felt like it came from an expert above the Gate of Healing, but he hadn't even opened the Gate of Opening.

He had stimulated the Gate of Opening around other players as not to raise too many questions, but he didn't feel the need to do it around NPCs, and even now he didn't feel like it.

Anyway, the reason he had been training for the past four months was to open the Gates, and regain his power. Now that he had discovered the Gates could be used in the game, he knew he needed to master them as soon as possible if he wanted to be ahead of others.

His biggest advantage was that even though he was unable to open the Gates because of his different and weakened body, his still knew what guide lines one needed to open them, and he had the experience using them so as soon as he opened a Gate he would become much stronger.

As for how to open them, he had already been training one the ways to open the first three for the past four months. The Gate of Opening was the simplest to open, one only needed a life and death situation to lit up a spark, the spark of enlightenment. For example Jude, she had been on the verge of opening the Gate, but never found the opportunity to lit the spark. Adam's strength had allowed her to break through.

For the Gate of Healing, one needed to have opened the Gate of Opening and stimulate as much as possible their body. Adam was already doing a good job at that as he had recovered from death and a skinny body, he knew that once he opened the Gate of Opening the Gate of Healing would soon follow. However this Gate didn't grant much fighting power, it enhanced one's durability and regeneration only. In a 1vs1, an expert who opened the Gate of Healing wouldn't necessarily win against one who opened the Gate of Opening, and most of the time the victory would come from a battle of attrition.

The Gate of Limit of harder to open though, one needed to first have opened the previous Gates to open this one. They then need to push their body to its utter limits and let the Gate of Healing's healing factor restore the body. This would slowly strengthen the muscles, tendons and bones and allow them to support more stress, as well as slowly enhance the healing factor. Once they become strong enough, the Gate will naturally open.

The reason for that was a bit more scientific. Most of the time people say that an average human can only use 20% of their strength, which wasn't technically false, but many misunderstood what that really meant. Using 100% strength didn't mean using all the muscles in the body to make an action, this was impossible.

If all the muscles are used then they will all be stiff, and movement will become impossible, so it wouldn't result in additional strength. There was a strict amount of muscles needed to be used when executing a move to enhance it to its maximum, but this wasn't hard, one needed to have mastered this to open the Gate of Opening.

Instead of using 20% of their muscles, people actually 'gather' 20% of their muscles' fibers, as using any more would snap their muscles, tear their tendons and break their bones. Athletes and martial artists would train to push that limit up, but they would only be able to use more than 20% of their fibers for a few seconds, and that's because they rely on external nourishment.

For example Adam had trained to the limit the day before, and then entered the cabin where his body was getting healed by the cabin. This, however, didn't help him much for the Gate of Limit, he estimated that his muscles could only use 25% even though he trained for 4 months.

That's because one needs to use natural healing to enhance their muscles and healing factor, using external sources impeded natural healing and stagnated the progress. That's why, only when one gets the healing factor from opening the Gate of Healing can one start training for opening the Gate of Limit.

The rewards from opening this Gate though were incredible, it not only allowed one to strike five times 'stronger', but it also allowed one to perform moves normally impossible for the human body. Many of the martial arts Adam had learned were actually only usable once he opened the Gate of Limit, and so for him opening it would mean a much bigger power up than the opening of the previous two.

Once he successfully opened those three Gates once again, he would turn his attention toward the following ones, but that wouldn't be for a while.

Back to the real world, or rather the virtual world, Adam looked at Jude who was preparing herself for the fight, and couldn't help but wonder about the future assassins that would be sent after him. Jude herself was Level 20, but still Iron Rank, so the following ones would probably be Bronze Rank, he doubted assassins of similar skill would level up past Level 20 and waste their strength.

Although he heard Bronze Ranks were significantly stronger than Iron Ranks, he still was confidant he would be able to fight them. However he wondered what skill level they would have.

Would they be at the verge of opening the Gate of Opening, or would they have opened it? If they haven't opened it then it would be manageable, but if they do then their martial prowess wouldn't be far from his, and their attributes could very well match his. Fighting Bronze Ranks who opened the Gate of Opening was still manageable, but if they also opened the Gate of Healing then they would certainly be able to tire him to death.

Adam shook his head, it was an SS Quest, of course it would be difficult, if any casual player could finish it then what would be the point?

Adam crossed his arms and asked "Do you want to fight bare handed or with weapons?"

Jude's eyes traveled to the greatsword resting on Adam's back, she could only see the hilt above his shoulder and the tip below his hip, but she still gulped in fear remembering how it had crashed into her body.

So she shook her head and said "Barehanded, please." Adam smirked, leaving his sword unsheathed would halve his attack power, but it didn't matter, they were here to spar, not to kill each other.

So Adam raised his fists and said "You are an assassin, attack first." Jude nodded and charged toward Adam. The footwork she used was special, and she looked like she was fading between illusory and physical form. This kind of footwork looked impressive for anyone who never opened their Gates, such as the group of adventurers who sat near them and opened their mouth wide in surprise.

However, anyone who opened their Gate of Opening had such good senses that this technique could be easily seen through. Although Adam hadn't opened his, he still had a great deal of experience, and thus knew how to deal with it.

As she approached him Adam suddenly moved his head to the side, seemingly for nothing, then elbowed the area just above his shoulder. An arm appeared there, and its palm was where Adam's head was. The audience cheered in awe, in their eyes Adam had dodged an invisible strike.

Jude tried to step back once she missed but because Adam striked her directly after she could dodge the elbow strike and felt all sensations leave her arm. Adam then striked her jaw with a palm, making her step back with some blood trickling down her mouth.

However, she had an excited face as she exclaimed "AGAIN!"

Adam rolled his eyes, but he did so to hide the small smile that appeared on his lips. She reminded Adam of himself back in Old Adam's life.