Sorry for being late, this is yesterday's chapter, today's is going to be released soon after this one together with the bonus weekly chapter from reaching 100 power stones.
Thank you all for reading!
(PS: I'm late because I was playing games XD)
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"Urg... My eyes..."
Under the golden light coming out of the broken window of his room, Dale logged back into the game.
/Chirp!/
/Chirp!/
"... I'm back." Dale said as he got up from his bed
Under the faint sound of birds chirping, he smiled.
"Even in this desolate place, birds chirp in the morning, and the breeze is quite nice."
Dale stretched his body slightly, a habit he created during his one year of heavy training.
He stopped after a while and opened the game menu and checked the time.
'6:23 Am? Good enough.'
He walked to the window and looked at the village, and as expected, he didn't see any of the villagers.
"They do wake up early…"
Descending down the stairs, Dale was met with unusual silence, but he immediately noticed a plate of food with a letter on one of the tables.
Opening, he realized it was a brief note from Illia, the inn owner, saying she didn't wake him up for several reasons, but she made this food to thank him for yesterday.
"She… Is truly nice."
'There was no need to go this far.'
[Toast with ham and eggs
Upon eating, it grants a +20% to Stamina regeneration for the next 4 hours.
Description: Contains a lot of protein!
]
"It even gives me a buff? How considerate… And interesting."
'Is this the effects of a high Reputation? Perhaps I should try and invest more time in researching how this works.'
'Food is considerably easier to make than potions, but of course, this is only an impression, making food with special effects may be relatively hard.'
[Resko: 71 (Honored Guest)]
Upon checking his reputation, the result of one day of hard work, Dale smiled and ate his toast.
He had places to be, and things to do, he had no time to doze off and enjoy this small plate of food.
Not when there were tens of thousands of players right on his ass.
He checked it a bit before coming here, and the highest Leveled player after him was already Level 11, a mad lad that focused entirely on Level up speed.
But he is irregular, and on the other hand, he is only the highest Level player publicly. There may be others in between this Level and Dale's.
However, that is unlikely.
'As I had predicted before, I said it would take around a week or two for the Normal players to reach Level 10, and that the elite players would be even faster.'
'But I am sure it will take over a week for the Elite players to reach Level 20 in the least, the problem is the Unique, lucky, and the exceptional players who can somehow Level up faster than these big guilds.'
'Of course, they may be a combination of all of the above and have the support of a big Guild, those are destined to excel at this game.'
'I don't really have the intention of competing for power in this game, I only want to find the truth about this world while getting as strong as possible.'
'And for that, I need to keep my leveling speed so that I can enjoy these privileges... I need to be faster…'
/Clack!/
Dale closed the door behind him, and beelined towards the training grounds next to the Mercenary Guild…
…
/2 minutes later…/
Dale arrived at the training grounds, and it took no time at all for him to find his target.
It was an old man swinging a spear on a training dummy next to a massive metal spear.
"..."
'Did he train every day? From morning to dawn?'
He was surprised, but Dale tried to not show it as he approached the old man.
"... You're here, earlier than I expected." Said Testros as he stopped swinging his spear, resting it on his shoulder as he turned around camly
"We have a lot to do, right? Time isn't on our side." Replied Dale with a light yawn
"Indeed, we have no time to waste... Shall we start then?" He asked as he looked at Dale
"Of course. Just tell me what to do."
Testros turned around and pointed at a small warehouse next to the training grounds.
"Go pick up a weapon and come back here…"
But Dale just took out his black Iron spear from his inventory, surprising Testros.
"Hum… That works as well. But I am surprised, I did not expect you to have such an item…"
Dale frowned at his reaction, asking:
"Item?"
Is he talking about my spear?
"Don't act dumb with me kid, I'm talking about the place you used to store the spear. I may be an old man in the countryside, but I know some things, and I am good enough to recognize a Compressed pocket when I see one."
"..."
'Compressed pocket?...'
Testros seemed to think for a little while before he said:
"This spear in your hands is good enough, let's start right here."
"... You aren't going to ask about it?"
"No, I will be clear, but I don't care much about your past, although I will hear you out if you wish, after all, you did hear about my past, so it would only be fair for me to listen to yours."
He got in a stance and pointed his spear towards Dale, prompting him to do the same.
"Once this coin falls on the ground we'll start, is that okay for you?" He said as he took a coin from his pocket
"No need to hold back."
Testros didn't smile, and instead, his eyes sharpened, he was incredibly focused…
/CLINK!/
/FWOOSH!/
The coin fell on the ground, and Testros immediately dashed, leaving an afterimage behind him.
His speed was such that it seemed as if he had disappeared from Dale's vision!
"!"
Where...
/Clang!/
In the blink of an eye, Dale moved his spear sideways and blocked to block Testros' swing, but he was sent back flying.
After a few meters flying, he fell to the ground and rolled slightly before raising his head, only to see the tip of a spear in front of his eyes.
"Hum, this is enough for now."
Feeling depressed, Dale raised his head, saying:
"How pathetic…"
"No no, don't undervalue yourself kid."
"To be honest, that was better than I expected and more than enough for me to understand what you are."
As they walked back to the center of the arena, Testros said:
"Your body is strong, more than strong enough, it shows your efforts... But I can also tell that your combat proficiency is bad… In fact, your body is out of sync with you."
"I can easily say, you must've spent most of your life training your body and didn't really fight much, right?"
"Y-Yeah…" Replied Dale awkwardly
'To be honest, it's just that my strength rose too fast within a year and I can't properly control it yet…'
'My combat training was almost all done through Vr, and even after many years gaming, that doesn't really surmount to much.'
'But he isn't wrong to assume I have low combat experience, I fought a lot in the simulations of VR, but they were always… 'Down to Earth', and not fit for the SuperHuman body I have.'
Hearing his reaction, Testros said as he turned around:
"Since your body surpasses the minimum by miles, we can go straight to the next phase, but before that, we need to give 'Texture' to your muscles."
"Texture?"
"Yes, there is no meaning in having a lot of strength that can't be controlled."
"A master can use minimum strength to cause great effects, while in your case, you waste a lot of strength in pretty much every action."
"Not only that, your muscles aren't designed for spearmanship yet, they lack those reflexes a warrior needs… In essence, they lack 'Texture'."
"So from now on, I will teach you how to give Texture to these muscles and increase your combat experience."
"And when we reach a decent point, we can finally advance to the next stage where I teach you some proper techniques, like what I used just now to approach you in an instant."
"Ok!" Dale said in an excited tone
Testros looked at him with a small smile before he said:
"Normally, it would be here that I would ask you to perform an Oath, but unfortunately, this Oath holds no meaning anymore as the Corps has already fallen."
"Nevertheless, I fled from the Corps when I was but a foot soldier, so what I know is nothing but the simplest techniques I've been training and refining for decades."
"But even so, I ask of you, not as a member of the Southern Corps, but as Testros Palinar, the current and last Commander of the Corps. Treat our techniques and legacy with care." He said as he bowed slightly
"What?! Why are you bowing to me when you'll be teaching me?!" Said Dale in confusion
"Old ma… Commander, I never had any thoughts of treating your techniques and knowledge like that, so raise your head, and let's train!"
Hearing his words, Testros smile grew wider before he recovered his serious persona.
"That's some good spirit Soldier!"
"We'll start with some light training… See that Dummy? Stab at it 50 times."
This surprised Dale.
"Ok…"
"I'm not done yet! Also, when I talk, you are to remain silent until I give you the permission to speak, are we clear soldier?!"
"Roger!"
'I can't help but feel as if I am doing some lame roleplay...'
'And dammit! Say that from the start… The sneaky old man waited for me to commit this mistake before reprimanding me…'
"I want you to perform 50 Forward Thrusts, 30 Horizontal, Diagonal and Vertical Slashes, followed by 25 Backtracking slashes… With the flag holder."
"?!"
Dale almost opened his mouth but he remained silent.
'With the freaking flagholder? Are you fucking with me?! That shit is super heavy! And even though my stats greatly increased, it sure still weights a fuck ton!'
"What's with that expression? Do you have anything to say?" He asked as he looked at Dale with a sly smile
"N-No Sir!"
"Good! I will be here observing your training, and I will not accept any mistakes out of the form I'm about to show you, so watch closely since I am not going to repeat myself."
Tetros grabbed his spear and got in position.
"One step after the other, if you are left-handed it's the same, and make sure you raise your arms like this…"
He explained the form step by step and grabbed his spear, and suddenly, his body exploded with strength as he pierced forward, striking the poor dummy in the head.
"This is it for the basic execution of a Forward Thrust, no technique per se, just a simple movement... Now, I'll show you the Slashes…"
"..."
'This is going to be Hell…'
Testros continued to show all of the movements to Dale and once he was done, he said:
"You are free to leave once you finish all of these, but until you finish them all, you'll be stuck here with me!"
"Each time you drop your spear, I will reset the counter for the current exercise you are performing and I will deduct from the counter each time you commit a major infraction."
"..."
[Ding]
[Complementary quest Activated, Training part 1 (Repeatable)
Complete the training 0/1
>Forward Thrusts 0/50
>Horizontal Slash 0/30
>Vertical Slash 0/30
>Diagonal Slash 0/30
>Backtracking Slash 0/25
]
Dale read the quest information and almost let out a sigh when…
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! GO FOR IT SOLDIER WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"
In a hurry, he grabbed the flag holder and got into a stance…
He immediately noticed its massive weight, but it was bearable, he could do it!
It felt a bit awkward on his hand since it looked more like a spear a giant would use, it felt a size or two too big for his hands.
So he focused and stepped forward…
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Notes