All Jobs and Classes! I Just Wanted One Skill, Not Them All!

Pugilist Lv 100

(+2 STR, +2 VIT / level)

Skills:

[Hard Fists Lv 100]

[Iron Guard Lv 100]

[Quick Fists Lv 100]

[Straight Cannon Lv 100]

[Quick Kicks Lv 100]

[Bone Breaker Lv 100]

[Bodyslam Lv 50]

[Headbutt Lv 40]

[Shatter Palm Lv 50]

[Pressure Jab Lv 50] (A high-speed focused strike that targets pressure points, temporarily reducing enemy Strength and Dexterity. Cost: 50 stamina)

[Low Sweep Lv 40] (A fast sweeping kick aimed at the legs and ankles, reducing enemy balance and potentially knocking them down. Cost: 40 stamina)

[Rising Knee Lv 40] (A brutal upward knee strike designed to crush the stomach, chest, or jaw. Deals increased damage against staggered enemies. Cost: 45 stamina)

[Counter Cross Lv 40] (A sharp counterpunch activated after successfully blocking or deflecting an attack. Gains increased speed and impact when used reactively. Cost: 55 stamina)

[Guard Crush Lv 40] (A heavy close-range blow meant to break through blocks and defensive stances, dealing extra stamina damage to guarded targets. Cost: 60 stamina)

[Elbow Spike Lv 40] (A compact elbow strike for close-quarters combat, especially useful against armored enemies or inside an opponent’s guard. Cost: 35 stamina)

[Shoulder Ram Lv 40] (A driving shoulder impact that smashes into the enemy’s center of mass, disrupting footing and opening them for follow-up attacks. Cost: 50 stamina)

[Rib Crusher Lv 40] (A vicious body blow aimed at the ribs and side, reducing enemy breathing efficiency and slightly lowering endurance for a short time. Cost: 55 stamina)

[Hammer Heel Lv 40] (A downward heel kick that delivers crushing force to the shoulder, collarbone, knee, or head depending on angle. Cost: 60 stamina)

[Close Pursuit Lv 40] (Improves footwork and short-burst movement when staying inside an enemy’s range, making it easier to keep pressure on retreating targets. Passive)

[Pain Tolerance Lv 30] (Reduces the effect of pain on movement and attack efficiency, allowing the user to keep fighting cleanly while injured. Passive)

[Pugislit’s Focus Lv 40] (Doubles the parameters effects of the class and improves all of its skills according to the level of this skill.)

Ludger looked over the status screen and felt satisfied. Not happy in some childish, excited way. Satisfied.

The kind that came from seeing clear proof that a miserable stretch of effort had actually paid off. A full week inside the Frost Labyrinth, fighting frozen skeleton riders until even his bones felt tired, had not been wasted. The Pugilist class had climbed properly, the skill list had expanded, and the foundation he wanted was finally taking real shape instead of remaining a vague intention in his head.

Of course, there was still a downside. He knew perfectly well that reaching this point was not the same as truly mastering the class. To do that, he would need at least twice the effort. Probably more.

Getting the class to a high level was one thing. Grinding every skill inside it until they stopped being rough tools and became extensions of his body was something else entirely. And beyond that came full class mastery, which always demanded more than numbers. Repetition. understanding. refinement. using the right techniques in the right conditions often enough that the System itself stopped treating them like learned tricks and started treating them like part of who he was.

That would take time. A lot of it. Still, even with that in mind, Ludger was certain of one thing. With this much progress already done, he had become strong enough that he would not need to keep showing too many of his trump cards.

That alone made the whole week worth it.

His fists were sharper now. His body tougher. His basic close-combat toolkit had grown broad enough that he could handle more human opponents without immediately leaning on the stranger, more dangerous parts of himself. That mattered. A lot. Especially after the fight with Hans had made it painfully clear how troublesome a skilled human could be when Ludger was trying to hide half of what he could really do.

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Now, at least, the visible part of him had become far more dangerous. Good. That was exactly what he wanted. The less often he needed to reveal things, the better.

Let other people think Ludger was simply an absurdly talented brawler, geomancer, or guild brat with too much stamina and a bad attitude. Let them build their confidence around the version of him they could understand.

Then, if they were still stupid enough to push further, they could learn the rest the hard way. Ludger hadn’t checked his progress while he was inside the labyrinth.

At some point during that week, exhaustion had gone far enough that he had more or less stopped thinking beyond what was necessary to keep fighting, moving, and not dying in a frozen hole full of skeleton riders. There had been no room left for neat evaluation, no patience for opening status screens and admiring numbers while his body begged him to either keep punching or finally collapse.

Now, though, with a bed under him and a little distance from the grind, the results were easier to appreciate. He could use his body like a weapon now. Not in the vague sense. Properly.

The skills he had gained and pushed forward were starting to fit together into something real. Fists, elbows, knees, shoulders, kicks, ramming impact, pressure point strikes, guard breaking, body control. It was no longer just “hit harder and move faster.” The class had started giving him a whole language of violence built directly into his own frame.

Still, it was a little strange. The class was called Pugilist. But he clearly used more than just punches.

Ludger stared at the status screen for a moment longer, considering that with mild confusion. The System had odd naming habits sometimes. Or perhaps people who named such classes were simply idiots. Either explanation felt plausible.

While he was still thinking about it, there was a knock on his door.

“Ludger?” Elaine’s voice came through it. “Are you awake?”

“Yes,” he answered.

A second later, the door opened and Elaine stepped inside.

She looked at him carefully the moment she entered, eyes moving over his face, posture, and the general state of him in the bed. Concern was there, but not the louder kind. More the quiet, watchful version that had likely been waiting for him to wake up before deciding how much to press.

“Are you all right now?” she asked. “You looked like a mess before.”

Ludger considered that. That was fair.

He had probably looked somewhere between overworked corpse and recently discarded battlefield equipment when he came back from the labyrinth.

“I’ll be fine,” he said.

Then, after a short pause, he added, “After a nice bath.”

Elaine’s expression softened a little at that. Elaine nodded toward him.

“Then you should bathe soon,” she said. “There’s someone waiting for you outside.”

Ludger frowned.

“Who?”

Elaine hesitated for a moment. Just long enough to make the answer feel immediately suspicious.

Then she said, “Eclaire.”

Ludger’s frown deepened at once. He moved immediately, jumping out of bed without another word and heading for the door with the clear intention of finding out what Eclaire wanted right now.

He made it about halfway. Elaine caught him by the collar. Then, with the absolute efficiency of a mother who had long since stopped negotiating with nonsense, she dragged him backward and tossed him straight into the bathroom. Ludger gave her a flat look.

“Bath first,” she said.

He considered resisting for about half a second. Then didn’t. Mostly because she had a point.

The north was cold, and Ludger didn’t sweat all that much compared to normal people. Usually that worked in his favor. But a full week inside the Frost Labyrinth still left its mark. Not in the simple sense of dirt alone, but in the way places of death always did. Frost, old blood, monster remains, decaying bone dust, stagnant cold air, and the constant smell of things dying over and over in the same frozen corridors.

That sort of scent clung. He had started to smell a little. Not horribly. But enough. And it was mainly thanks to the smell of death and blood down there, not sweat. Which somehow made it worse.

Elaine crossed her arms and looked at him with the patient severity only a mother could manage.

“Having my good looks isn’t enough,” she said. “You still need to look presentable.”

Ludger gave her a flat stare from the bathroom doorway.

Elaine ignored it and added, “And you should also clean all the ink the twins put on your face.”

That made him pause.

“They did what?”

She nodded once, entirely too calm about it.

“You looked like someone had drawn northerner symbols on you.”

Ludger stood there for a second, then let out a quiet sigh and headed fully toward the bath. There was no point arguing.

Not when Eclaire was waiting. And definitely not when there was a chance he currently looked like some half-dead frontier shaman dragged out of a frost pit and marked for sacrifice.

So he washed. And while he did, his mind kept circling the same question. What did Eclaire want with him? That alone was enough to make the situation irritating. Until now, she had avoided him.

Not openly, not rudely, but clearly enough that Ludger had noticed. Which made sense. She was the illegitimate daughter of the late Emperor, and for someone in that position, hiding quietly in Lionsguard while avoiding all unnecessary attention was the smartest option available. The fewer people looked too closely at her, the safer she remained. The fewer political ripples she caused, the less likely anyone powerful would decide she had become inconvenient.

That was how she had been living. Carefully. Quietly. Intentionally small. So for her to show up now, waiting for him, meant something had changed. And none of the likely options were good.

Maybe she needed something. Maybe she had learned something. Maybe someone had approached her. Maybe the wrong people had started moving near her shadow. Maybe her past had finally remembered she still existed.

Ludger rinsed ink from his face and frowned slightly.

The problem was that Eclaire didn’t seem like the type to seek him out for trivial reasons. She had every incentive not to involve herself with the sort of trouble that followed him around. If she had chosen to do it anyway, then either the matter was important enough to outweigh her caution… or bad enough that caution no longer worked.

That made her more suspicious by showing up now, not less.

Because people who spent their lives hiding only broke cover when remaining hidden stopped feeling safe. And if that was the case, then whatever she wanted might drag another ugly thread into the growing knot of things already sitting on Ludger’s desk.

Which was exactly what he did not need. Unfortunately, it also made him want to know immediately.