During the travel, the caravan was attacked by beasts multiple times along the way. Initially, Moon didn't bother to deal with them. The caravan's hired awakeners handled the threats efficiently enough, and Moon saw no reason to waste his energy on creatures that posed no real challenge.

But things became incredibly boring and unproductive rather quickly.

Sitting in the carriage for most of the journey offered nothing but monotony. The scenery changed slowly, the conversations with other passengers were superficial at best, and Moon found himself growing restless with the lack of progress.

So he decided to copy one of the guard's classes.

The guards were composed of mages who handled ranged threats, warriors who fought at close range to protect the wagons, and a single healer who was there for emergencies and barely used their abilities during encounters.

Moon observed them carefully during several skirmishes, assessing their capabilities, their levels, and the potential value of copying their classes. They were all average awakeners with decently high levels, but nothing unique or exceptional about their abilities.

After consideration, Moon chose to copy one of the warrior's classes. A man named Torrin served as the primary tank, absorbing hits while others dealt damage.

Moon activated his class slot skill and copied it.

[Class Slot {1/1}]

[Class: Armoured Tank]

[Level: 1]

[Skills: Bronze Skin]

[Duration: 24 hours]

The tank class wasn't anything special. Unlike Selene's Elemental Mage class, which had provided two skills, with one being a rare skill, this one only offered a single class skill. The quality disparity reflected the difference between a rare class and a common tank class.

Still, something was better than nothing.

Moon examined the skill.

[Bronze Skin]

[Rank: Common]

[Proficiency: 0%]

[Details: Hardens the user's skin. Internal organs gain double their normal durability and resistance to impact damage.]

It was a decent skill to have, even if unimpressive compared to his current skills. Moon knew it would become significantly stronger upon evolution, but reaching that point required raising proficiency to one hundred percent first, which wasn't exactly quick nor easy, given his past experience.

He spent time during the journey experimenting with the skill, activating and deactivating it, feeling how it altered his body. There was no visible change to his skin, but he could feel the muscle fibres become more compact.

But as expected, raising proficiency for the new skill proved challenging to figure out initially.

The answer came to him after observation and testing: he needed to get hit by monsters. The more he was struck, the more powerful those attacks were, the higher his proficiency would climb. The skill learned through experience, through stress-testing its limits.

As a mage who specialized in ranged combat and keeping enemies at distance, deliberately engaging in close combat was uncomfortable. Everything about his fighting style worked against the requirement.

But Moon understood that to survive and evolve as a hunter in this world, he needed to step outside his comfort zone. Not just for the proficiency gain, but for his own development.

Relying solely on one combat style created exploitable weaknesses. The encounter with the Winter Beast had proven that when his magic was restricted, he'd struggled more than necessary. Furthermore, staying with only one combat style went completely against the flexibility that his class gave him.

The ability to master skills outside his own class was something only he was able to do. By relying on one combat style, he was shooting himself in the foot.

Diversification was survival.

So during the next beast attack, a pack of level twelve gray wolves that ambushed the caravan on day two, Moon didn't stay in the wagon.

He jumped down, activated Bronze Skin, and deliberately positioned himself in front of one of the charging wolves instead of blasting it from range.

The guards were shocked by Moon's sudden action, shouting for him to move out of the way. But it was too late.

The creature's claws raked across his forearm. Pain flared, but the damage was significantly reduced.

[Bronze Skin proficiency increased to 2%]

After dealing with the wolves, Moon apologised to the guards and the caravan master for scaring them. He told them he got bored and decided to join in on the fight.

Having seen his power, the caravan master and guards didn't take it to heart and simply told Moon to inform them before doing so. They didn't stop him.

Moon continued the pattern throughout the remaining journey. When beasts attacked, he engaged them in close combat while maintaining Bronze Skin, allowing hits to land that he could have easily avoided, blocking with his arms and torso instead of dodging.

Garen, the caravan master, approached him after one particularly brutal encounter where Moon had taken multiple hits from a level fourteen boar as if it were nothing but a pet.

"You alright, kid? You're fighting strangely. Nothing like the mage, the lieutenant said you are."

Moon nodded, wiping blood from a shallow cut on his cheek. "I am training. Trying something new."

Garen studied him for a long moment, then shrugged. "You are strong. But just don't bite more than you can chew. Don't get yourself killed on my watch. The Lieutenant would have my head."

By the end of the fourth day, as Ironpeak Base came into view in the distance, Moon checked his progress.

[Bronze Skin proficiency increased to 57%]

Fifty seven percent in four days. Not terrible for a skill he'd only just acquired. Although proficiency grew harder to acquire as the number increased, Moon knew that now that he was in the Ironpeak base, he would be able to train his new skill much better.

Moon had also just copied Torrin's class again, so he had close to 24 hours to learn the skill.

More importantly, Moon had gained practical experience fighting at close range. His body had learned to read incoming attacks differently, to position for blocks rather than evasion, to use his staff as both a channeling tool and a physical weapon.

The discomfort had been worth it.

And when Bronze Skin eventually evolved, it would be even more valuable.

Moon prepared to disembark as the caravan rolled through Ironpeak's gates.

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