Chapter 390

[Monk's Focus]: Through practicing esoteric disciplines and honing your martial arts, you have learned to harness the extraordinary energy within yourself.

Current Focus Points: 2. When you finish a rest, you regain all expended Focus Points.

You can expend Focus Points to enhance or activate certain Monk features.

[Flurry of Blows]: You can expend 1 Focus Point to make two Unarmed Strikes in rapid succession.

[Patient Defense]: You can expend 1 Focus Point to swiftly Disengage and Dodge.

[Step of the Wind]: You can expend 1 Focus Point to greatly increase your movement speed for several seconds. Your jump distance is also doubled.

[Unarmored Movement]: While you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield, your speed increases. The higher your Monk level, the greater the increase to your movement speed.

[Uncanny Metabolism]: Regulate your breathing and circulate your inner energy through a complete cycle, regaining all expended Focus Points.

At the same time, you regain Hit Points equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die (1d6) + your Monk level.

...

For his new feat, he chose an Ability Score Improvement, raising his Constitution to 18. With the Carved Dragon-Scale Amulet, that brought it to 19.

Anser sat cross-legged on the bed, sensing the lively energy brimming with vitality inside his body. A faint smile tugged at his lips.

This was Focus. It could also be called inner energy or true power.

Magic Power came from the outside world, psionic power was born from the will, while Focus was the crystallization of tempering both body and mind—the purest and most fundamental power of life itself.

Monks accumulated and channeled this power to produce all manner of extraordinary and even supernatural effects.

Focus was the core of a Monk, while martial arts were the combat techniques used to bring that Focus to bear. Only by combining the martial and the internal could one truly be a Monk.

'Now that's an immediate improvement.'

Anser stood up and stretched his limbs, feeling that both his movements and reactions had become significantly faster.

Monks didn't prize brute strength. Their defense primarily relied on evasion, but it wasn't all about reaction speed. Foresight and redirecting force were far more important.

That complemented Anser's defensive style perfectly.

With Unarmored Defense, his Armor Class had reached 43. Terrifyingly high.

When danger came, he relied on foresight first, dodging second, redirecting force third, and simply tanking it as a last resort!

Unarmored Movement was also powerful. It provided a modest increase to his speed—including his walking, swimming, and flying speeds—by roughly one-third of an ordinary person's speed.

Combined with Step of the Wind, his mobility skyrocketed.

Even inside an antimagic aura, those professionals wouldn't be able to escape his pursuit.

Focus enhanced the body in far too many ways.

Still unsatisfied, he brought up his Character Sheet, repeatedly selected his class options, and continued raising his Monk level.

But when it came time to choose a subclass, he found himself stumped. Monks simply had too many paths.

Way of Mercy, Way of Shadow, Way of the Four Elements, Way of the Open Hand, Way of the Long Death, Way of the Drunken Master, Way of the Kensei, Way of the Sun Soul, Way of the Astral Self, Way of the Ascendant Dragon, Way of the Cobalt Soul, Way of the Living Weapon, and Way of the Street Fighter.

A Monk's ultimate goal was unity between self and the world, and these branches were simply different paths toward that goal.

The Way of Mercy could bring people back from the brink of death, the Way of Shadow vanished into darkness, Four Elements Monks attuned themselves to the elements, and Open Hand Monks mastered penetrating force.

These four paths had the most practitioners and the most widespread traditions.

The other paths weren't bad either.

The Way of the Kensei immersed itself in martial arts involving weapons. Its so-called "Bow Saints" in particular were even more ridiculous than Rangers.

The Way of the Ascendant Dragon was said to have been passed down by Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon God, allowing mortals to rival ancient dragons with their own bodies.

The Way of the Astral Self could summon an astral self. That was obviously just a martial soul's true form...

'I don't think I need any of this flashy stuff. I'm not lacking in ways to protect myself. The greatest value Monk offers me is Focus,' Anser analyzed.

His time and energy were limited. It was better not to spread himself too thin.

'Way of the Open Hand, then.'

It was the most orthodox Monk tradition, and many powerful Legendary Monks had emerged from it.

After he clicked confirm, the experience in his experience pool began draining away like running water.

[Level Up: Monk Level 4!]

[You gain new class features: Deflect Attacks and Slow Fall.]

[You gain a Way of the Open Hand feature: Open Hand Technique.]

[You gain a new Feat.]

[Deflect Attacks]: When an attack dealing Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage hits you, you can use your reaction to deflect it, reducing the damage you take from that attack. The reduction is approximately 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Monk level.

Current damage reduction: 10–19.

If the attack fails to deal any damage to you, you can expend Focus to redirect part of the attack's damage.

The target takes 2d6 + your Dexterity modifier damage of the same type as the original attack.

[Slow Fall]: When you would take falling damage, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by an amount equal to five times your Monk level.

[Open Hand Technique]: Whenever you hit a creature with your Flurry of Blows, you can also apply one of the following techniques:

Addle: For the next several seconds, the target can't make Opportunity Attacks.

Push: The target must succeed on a Strength Saving Throw or be pushed 15 feet (4.5 meters) away from you.

Topple: The target must succeed on a Dexterity Saving Throw or fall Prone.

...

As usual, he chose an Ability Score Improvement for his new feat, raising his Constitution to 20.

The attribute bonus from the Carved Dragon-Scale Amulet ceased to have any effect, since it could only increase Constitution up to the mortal limit.

Anser sat cross-legged on the floor and circulated his inner energy through a complete cycle. His presence grew calm and weighty as a strange air gathered around him.

He looked like a martial artist concentrating his entire intent into his fists.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and casually ran through a set of punches.

His body followed his intent, moving freely wherever instinct took it. There was no fixed form to his movements, yet they were agile and natural, fluid and graceful.

He imagined himself facing a powerful enemy and closed his eyes, relying on his uncanny foresight and practiced martial arts to fight his imaginary opponent. His movements grew faster and faster.

At one point, he abruptly transformed into his half-dragon form. His fists became dragon claws, and both his presence and fighting style changed in an instant. He drove straight in and traded force for force, refusing to dodge unless absolutely necessary, radiating overwhelming pressure.

Just watching his movements and momentum gave off a suffocating sense that he was relentlessly forcing his opponent toward death.

After moving around for a while, he abruptly came to a stop and returned to human form.

'This level of bodily control is incredible.' Anser loved the feeling.

This was what a true Monk should be like.

Many Monk traditions weren't recognized by mainstream Monks, who regarded them as shortcuts and unorthodox paths.

Once something went wrong with one's state of mind, one's training might cease to be pure, making it even harder to perceive one's true self.

'I'm different!' he argued to himself.

The experiences granted to him by the die were simply too real. Every bit of training followed the optimal path, without deviations or mistakes.

That didn't make his martial arts rigid. It was just like writing: no matter how many books you read, once you'd digested and absorbed them, whatever you eventually wrote would still have your own style.

He brought up his Character Sheet. All six of his Ability Scores had reached 20 or higher, lined up neatly in a very satisfying sight.

Aside from Dexterity and Constitution, all his other Ability Scores had entered the extraordinary realm.

Unfortunately, there was no class whose primary Ability Score was Constitution, so he couldn't multiclass into any more classes.

Oath of the Elements Paladin, Chronurgy Wizard, Psi Warrior, Wildfire Druid, and Open Hand Monk—his current five multiclasses were already plenty.

He still had a little over ten thousand experience points left, but he didn't intend to continue.

Raising his Sorcerer level and improving Wish were more important.

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