Outside the inn, the ground was covered in white powder. Snow piled up on the roofs of buildings and crowded the streets. Some people shoveled the snow away from their houses or store fronts to allow traffic while others huddled up in their homes staying cozy by the fire.
Smoke billowed out of practically every building including the inn.
Down in the training room, Alex was doing some flying pushups. Sweat dripped off him as he used his muscles like springs to quickly bring himself back off the ground. He moved fast and flew high but always landed gracefully.
His hair was tied back in a small man bun and he had grown a bit of a beard. He stopped his push-ups and breathed out. He stood up and looked around the room. It was the same as it had always been, but there was wear and tear on a lot more of the basic weapons in the room.
That was because it had been over 2 months since his first "date" with Alicia. Over the course of those two months, a lot had happened. He learned many things related to fighting and regained most if not all of his basic weapon mastery back.
He could now use most weapons with good efficiency to defend himself when needed. He also got much more used to the spars with Alan who had never changed. He was just as distant as when they started but he was much closer to Alicia.
When the first week was over, he had taken over her cleaning duties and began doing them at night after his spars, however, Alicia offered to still help him if she had the time. They had become great friends and learned even more about each other's bodies.
He learned she was definitely a hardcore sub, and liked being tied up or restrained. When he asked why she liked that, she couldn't give an answer. She just thought it was hot. She also said that she trusted Alex enough that he wouldn't harm her to the point that pain overwhelmed her pleasure.
And because they had sex regularly at least once a week, Alicia had gained enough stats to evolve! She was now much stronger and prettier than before. The essence that she absorbed helped to remove blemishes and "perfect" her body more. Her 1st Ring was thinner than the thinnest that Alan had but that was normal considering she wasn't an adventurer.
It could already be considered a miracle that she evolved at all!
This also meant that they could have longer sessions. She originally could only go like 4 hours max before being completely exhausted even when Alex was doing all the moving but now she could probably last almost 10 hours if they had the time.
There was also no signs of pregnancy which was a great relief considering on one of their nights out, Alicia prevented him from pulling out leading to a huge creampie that made her belly bulge a little. It scared Alex to death, but it seemed none of his mini soldiers made it through the frontlines.
For his training, he had also begun learning about survival, not just with weapons, but focused on camping and learning about the topography of the Ether forest and a few other places on top of his normal training. Alan emphasized how important it was to know where he was going, and what he would encounter before going in.
The forest was home to monsters and they wouldn't hesitate to attack on sight. He also learned basic first aid, how to apply treatment to different kinds of wounds and how to diagnose certain poisons before treating.
He really hated the first aid training because Alan would coat his metal sword in some unknown substance before cutting Alex with it. He would then tell him to identify what it was and treat it. With barely any knowledge of poisons and first aid, there were many times were Sharla had to come and give him a heal spell to save him from the brink of death.
It was torture feeling his insides slowly deteriorate and the feeling of helplessness continuously assaulted him during those times. Alan told him to remember that feeling, so he wouldn't go through it again, and he could maybe save a life if needed.
The training was long and hard but Alex became more mature by the end of it. Right now he might still be cursing Alan, but in the future, he knew he would be kissing his feet for all the knowledge he gave him.
He always looked forward to the little break time he would get on Sundays usually since he not only got to rest his wound-ridden body but also got to go on dates with Alicia. He had also met the bitch known as Sarah more but the woman in question didn't do any of the so called "revenge" she promised she would do.
He wasn't sure if she was just bluffing or waiting for him to put his guard down, but he was glad he didn't have to deal with more issues. The crazy rumors were enough.
When it came to his weapon mastery, he had found out that when it came to the different categories of weapons he was not very proficient in swords. He was fine with this but it was unfortunate, survival-wise since the sword was one of the easiest and most common kinds of weapon out there.
What surprised him the most was that he was actually most proficient in chain weapons! This surprised both him and Alan since the chain weapon used less of his monstrous strength and agility than a melee weapon.
Although he still could use other weapons just fine, he was able to relearn most of everything related to chain weapons within two days! The next quickest weapon were knuckle weapons, like brass knuckles, bracers, gauntlets, and claw weapons but it still took him about 4 days.
He was glad he only had to relearn this stuff and not from scratch or he might have been in his 30s or older by the time he got to where he was. Alan still had him use swords most of the time which he didn't mind as it wasn't a bad idea to be good at one, but he planned to find some sort of chain weapon later on that he could call his own.
He had only been borrowing the weapons in Alan's basement and had also graduated to real weapons instead of the wooden ones. This actually started with the chain weapons he learned since it would be pretty difficult to make a wooden chain weapon... it wouldn't be very effective.
He had also become less of a punching bag for everyone over the last month. Although most people still didn't like him, not as many were bothering to glare at him and curse him. They pretty much just ignored him and went about their normal days.
Rumors were rumors in the end and Alex had put in effort like Alicia said to make others see him as more than some sleaze bag. He had become more liked among the workers especially since Alan, Sharla, Emma, and Alicia all seemed to be fond of him.
Fond was relative since the Setter family could care less about him, but they knew he was a hard worker behind the scenes. As for Alicia, that was a given.
Speaking of Alicia, he had also finally met Kaya, her roommate. She had hidden in the girls' room during the 2nd week since his transmigration and waited for Alex to walk her back. She was also warry of Alex just like Sarah, but unlike that crazy woman, she got to know him and not judge a book by its cover.
They could be considered friends but it was still a bit awkward between them if it was just the two of them. Alicia was definitely the glue that held them together.
Although Alex wasn't aware of it, what helped Kaya get more comfortable with the idea of Alicia being around Alex was that he was definitely her type. When she saw him for the first time, she was immediately attracted but it only caused her to see him as a good person in the beginning.
If her roommate wasn't in a relationship with him, she might have to shoot her shot.
Maybe if Alicia was okay with it, she could get it on with him, but that was a very awkward conversation that could ruin their friendship so she was hesitant.
Either way, she was fine being on the sidelines. She wasn't going to let a guy get in the way of her friendship with Alicia.
During these two months, Alex had also finally met his manager, Marie. Their first interaction was awful, to say the least. She immediately criticized him for many things including being late on multiple occasions and affecting the work of other employees.
He knew she was referring to him and Alicia and she clearly didn't approve of him or their relationship. Although the two of them were just sex friends, to everyone else they acted like a couple.
Marie also tried to, on many occasions, twist the truth of certain incidents to make him out to be the bad guy. He knew he wasn't the best employee, but she was actively trying to make his life hell.
It was obnoxious because Alan or Sharla would tell him one thing about his work for the next day, only for Marie to seek him and order him to do something else... away from Alicia and it always ended up being some of the worst jobs.
He still never found out who spread those rumors, but she quickly became his first suspect. He didn't know what he did to offend her, but he always kept an eye out for her. She was even worse than Sarah which made him unconsciously nicer to her.
He brought this up to Alan who only shrugged and said she was always a bit of a bitch like that. He also said not to mention that he said that about her so Alex went to Sharla, who only spoke good things about her.
He quickly figured out that Sharla and her were best friends since childhood and Alan was a bit scared of her. It was kind of funny since he was a 6th Ring with vast combat experience but he wasn't going to laugh in front of him.
Even Emma said that her God-Aunt Marie was a nice person but knew how to defend herself and attack others only with words. She was a quick-witted woman who used her intelligence to intimidate people. She was definitely the brains of the inn operations and used the office the most.
No one who where she went when she wasn't in the office and she hardly ever showed herself in front of others. She apparently lived outside of the Inn which was odd since most people who worked there lived on-site and nobody knew what she did in her free time.
He also found out that she was actually a 3rd Ring! She wasn't a melee-focused one but a magic-focused one like Sharla. He wasn't sure what kind of magic she knew, but all of the things he learned about her screamed danger.
She had too many secrets and knew too many things about Alex and that was a dangerous enemy to have. He was just glad that he would be leaving soon for the Ether forest. It was currently Saturday and Alan said this evening's test would be the final one.
He would then get the entire Sunday off before leaving early on Monday with the other miners and lumbermen when they went to work. He had gotten friendly with a few of them when he helped temporarily serve food and drinks if it got really busy.
He may not have an exotic bar dance like Alan, but he was at least able to make drinks efficiently and strike up a conversation as he worked, unlike the owner.
He continued to get prepared for the final test when he remembered he hadn't checked his stats in a long time, he kind of forgot about it since it wasn't really helpful to him other than to give some explanations for his skills.
He thought about the system and it popped up in front of him.
"This is interesting." Alex smiled at the translucent green screen in front of him.