Chapter 26

Thank goodness for HP regen .

Crimson had been bruised, repeatedly, by Mars during the basic training. Every time he was even slightly off on a stance the offending body part, was hit with the butt of a wooden spear. It was brutal, but the results spoke for themselves:

Skill: Level Up [Balance V]

Skill: Acquired [Sword Mastery I]

Skill: Level Up [Sword Mastery II]

Skill: Level Up [Sword Mastery III]

Skill: Level Up [Sword Mastery IV]

Skill: Level Up [Focused Mind III]

[Focused Mind] leveled up because Crimson had to ignore the pain caused by the bruises by Mars and [Balance] leveled up because every hit almost knocked him off his feet; he had fallen the first few times he got hit by Mars.

Most people would resent or hate Mars because of it all, but Crimson was grateful: he wan’t being babied and wasn’t treated like he was made out of glass, and he was able to grow quickly.

Lena had told him that with a teacher his ability to learn runes would have been much faster, the same was apparently true with most other skills. Having a teacher was a huge benefit.

The training period itself had taken five hours with almost nothing in the way of breaks. Mars would teach Crimson something then they would spar until he could show Mars that he could properly use it in a fight. From there it was back into drills. During one of the breaks he’d asked Mars why he, a spearman, was teaching Crimson how to use a sword.

“Because my [Sword Mastery] is at level XXX(30) more than enough to teach a trainee like you the basics.”

“XXX? That seems high sir.”

“Not at all! With mastery skills it is easy to get to level L (50) for anybody willing to put in the time and effort. Just like the first five levels of any skill are the easiest to level up. After that first bunch the requirements to level up become exponential every 10 levels instead of linear.”

“*Pant* Linear? Exponential?”

“Yeah, for [Mastery] skills the difficulty of leveling the skill only increases by small increments from the previous level, all except every ten levels. So, from levels I-IX (1-9) there are only small increases in the difficulty of leveling but there is a jump from IX to X. If you were only to look at the requirements for leveling every 10 levels it would be a linear increase. So you follow this pattern until level L (50). Once you look at the difficulty from then on it’s an exponential growth in difficulty; doubling each time.”

“Then…*pant*…what is your [Spear Mastery] at sir?”

“Save your questions for your next break recruit, we’ve gone over your two minute allotment. I’m taking that out of your next break.”

It went like that for a while with Crimson getting tenderized like a piece of meat by Mars; finally, it ended at 1700.

“That’s enough recruit. You’ve made good progress for today.”

“Y…es…si…r.”

Crimson was about to pass out from the day’s exercise; his head was foggy and the world kept spinning, the only reason he hadn’t puked was sheer force of will. His Stamina was in the single digits and there was a [Suspended] tag on it. I finally understand why the other DGs were so nervous to see Mars…oh, is that a white light?

“Hey recruit? Man up.”

He finally got some of his breath back and slowly sat up, “Yes, sir.”

I still feel like dying.

“Also, I’m supposed to give you this.”

Mars hand Crimson a book he pulled out of thin air. It was a massive thing and it looked similar to the one he had been studying recently, but it was definitely a different one: it was twice as thick.

“Thank you sir.”

“This is a reward from her highness, Princess Rhinese al voth Alda. Appreciate it recruit. You did the Princess, and the royal family, a huge service yesterday.”

Crimson bowed to Mars. “It was only luck that I was able to do anything. I don’t truly deserve a reward, but since the Princess has seen fit to bestow me with one I happily accept it.”

Mars shot him a grin that was all teeth, “Good answer recruit, keep practicing that flowery language and work hard. If you do, you’ll survive just fine here.”

He then dismissed Crimson and walked off, in the direction of his office, while Crimson picked up the book and slowly began lugging it after him: wishing his legs would work right.

He got a few looks of pity from the other DGs as he passed by them, on his way back to his bed.

- - - -

Crimson lay on his side, on his bed as he looked at the book; if he had more energy he would sit up. Lena sat on his pillow, behind his head.

The book was indeed twice as thick as the one he had been studying. The first half wasn’t the usual list of lesser runes he was used to, but a full text explaining how the runes were to be read, and how to string them together to form meanings.

The ones that looked like a Celtic knot were, amusingly, fake. All they did was distribute the flow of mana in an artificial way: they weren’t actually runes. According to the book it was the sign of a lesser [Runecrafter] because they couldn’t naturally utilize the magic veins in the material. They were actually called ‘magic circuits.’

He didn’t really have the chance to read the book closely as Lena suddenly cleared her throat in an adorable way. It almost sounded like a growl?

“MASTER!”

“What?!”

“You are too easily distracted!”

“Hah?”

“Weren’t we going to look at your affinities tab? And why did you tell Mars that you want to get the ‘best Swordsman Class’ you can? You know as well as I that there isn’t really any best!”

“Calm down Lena, calm down!”

“No! I will not calm down! Anyone else in your position would investigate EVERYTHING about their Status the SECOND they got it! But not you master! You just ignored the rest of it FOR NO REASON and I’m SICK of IT.”

Lena was probably trying to be scary, but…she still just looked so cute it should be illegal. A white tiger cub is not intimidating, at all.

“I just thought that those other tabs weren’t important…”

“Weren’t important? In a fantasy world where you didn’t know ANY of the rules? Master…I want to call you stupid…I really do. Let’s move on. Open up your Status master.”

Crimson felt wounded, like someone had shot him in the heart with a bullet made of pure misery; he quietly opened up his Status as per Lena’s instructions.

Name: Crimson Hokori

Titles: Delving Guard, Lena’s Master, Blessed Luck

Class: WorldWanderer

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Health Points (HP): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Magic Points (MP): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Stamina (STA): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGI): 10

Constitution (CON): 10

Vitality (VIT): 10

Intelligence (INT): 10

Wisdom (WIS): 10

Perception (PER): 10

Willpower (WIL): 10

Charisma (CHA): 10

Luck (LUC): 90

“This is your Status master. It shows your Titles, Classes, Alignment, HP, MP, Stamina, and your Status points. You’ve already seen this one a few times but it bears repeating to pound it into your not stupid, but pridefully shortsighted, skull.”

He nodded slowly it was best to just listen and learn: no need to anger Lena while she’s in, what appears to be, ‘Drill Sergeant’ mode instead of her usual ‘Professor Lena’ mode.

“Now, open your Skill tab master.”

[Lena IV]

[Balance V]

[Running IV]

[Fall Damage Reduction II]

[Runic Language I]

[Flexibility III]

[Focused Mind III]

[Sword Mastery IV]

“These are your skills. They range from level I to X (1 to 10). Mastery skills range from I to C (1 to 100), though you are most familiar with them because you’ve been leveling them, THIS ENTIRE TIME! Leveling skills is a good thing master, but you shouldn’t let them take away from everything else. Open up your equipment tab master.”

Processing…

‘Equipment’ is now available

Scanning Current Equipment…

Scan Complete

Head: [Empty]

Neck: [Empty]

Body: [Delving Guard Standard Issue Uniform] 18/20

Arms: [Empty]

Hands: [Delving Guard Standard Issue Gloves] 16/20

Legs: [Delving Guard Standard Issue Leggings] 17/20

Feet: [Delving Guard Standard Issue Boots] 25/30

Accessory Slot 1: [Empty]

Accessory Slot 2: [Empty]

Left Hand Weapon: [Empty]

Right Hand Weapon: [Empty]

Extra Weaponry: [Empty]

“The slots are for stuff you currently have equipped. The numbers next to them is their durability. You can select them to learn more about what you’re wearing.”

“Lena, could you please calm down now?”

“No, open your inventory tab master.”

“.…Okay.”

Setting up inventory…

Set up complete

Slot 1: [Empty]

Slot 2: [Empty]

Slot 3: [Empty]

Slot 4: [Empty]

Slot 5: [Empty]

Slot 6: [Empty]

Slot 7: [Empty]

Slot 8: [Empty]

Slot 9: [Empty]

Slot 10: [Empty]

“This is your inventory screen. You start out with a max of 10 slots, but you can expand it in several methods. Some Classes give extra slots when you level up, you can get extra slots via equipped items, and you can get ritual drops from monsters. Get it?”

“Y-“

“Good. Open your Affinities tab.”

Scanning Affinities…

Adapting to body…

Scan complete

Affinities now available

During the scan for affinities Crimson could feel the MP sliding through his body. It itched.

>>Affinities

>Elemental:

Advanced Affinity for [Fire]

Basic Affinity for [Water]

Advanced Affinity for [Earth]

Simple Affinity for [Wind]

Extreme Affinity for [Lightning]

Acute Affinity for [Metal]

Advanced Affinity for[Magma]

Basic Affinity for [Ice]

>Dynamic:

Acute Affinity for [Purity]

Simple Affinity for [Holy]

Advanced Affinity for [Profane]

Insane Affinity for [Mana]

Advanced Affinity for [Life]

Advanced Affinity for [Death]

>>Antitheses

>Elemental:

[N/A]

>Dynamic:

Dislike of [Void]

Hatred for [Corruption]

“I’m surprised master. I didn’t expect you to have any Antitheses…and I thought you’d have a higher affinity for [Death]…you did die after all.”

Lena calmed down a little as she read his affinity screen.

“And you have a really high affinity for [Mana]…that’s very surprising.”

“You aren’t surprised by how high my lightning affinity is?”

“No master, considering how hyper you always are it’s not surprising.”

“I’m motivated, not hyper!”

“Anyway, you can skip the [Friends] and [Guild] tabs for now.”

“I though you just-“

“Most of the features in the [Friends] tab only works in dungeons, and you aren’t registered in the guild so you can’t even open that tab yet.”

“Oh.”

“Now master. Time for you to answer my question from earlier. Why did you tell Mars you wanted to get the ‘Best Swordsman Class you can?’”

“Well, his definition of best and mine are two separate things. When we talked about Classes two days ago my [System Insight X] skill activated and I learned some things about how Class evolution works. I personally just want the standard Swordsman Class because I know a bit about evolution. It’s all about building a proper foundation.

“If I got a Variant Class I would be forced to fight like that all the time, which might not be a problem if I guess right, but it would always limit me. If I choose something that focuses on the foundations like the standard Class does, I can grow however I want. I wouldn’t be locked into a Class I find later on that I don’t want.”

Lena nodded.

“At least you understand that much master. Now go to sleep! You’ve got another long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

“I missed dinner.”

“I know. Go to sleep anyway.”

"Ehhh?"