– Adventurer Life Day 68 (Fri) – Afternoon – Olbia City – Adventurer Guild – Training Grounds
Looking at me, Phillips slowly brings his stick close to me.
I dodged myself from it, and the stick stopped its momentum once it passes.
“Alright! Another try!”
“Roger!”
… What am I doing right now?
It’s training for me to dodge some of Philips’ spear attacks.
Just like before, Phillips would slowly bring out his spear to hit me, to which I would then slowly dodge it.
… And with just that, I practice repeatedly.
“Keep those movements in your head. Next is training in detecting movements. Take a look at my whole body and figure out what I will do next. Don’t just look at one part!”
“Got it!”
Phillips’ training was a lot more reserved than I expected.
I thought I was going to be put into some sort of spartan style of training… No offense Philips.
By the way, the place we’ve been doing this at was the place called the training grounds within the guild.
There’s others who would also use it too… though I’ve been hearing there would be frequent grudge and betting matches that appear here every now and then.
… Even so, there are also some archery targets and some straw dummies in the area, so it’s not like it’s a completely empty space.
There are four separate spaces here.
Some adventurers are training from one space, while there are some who are just drinking and chatting in the other for some reason.
We’ve also had some adventurers coming to our space wanting a spar.
… It seems like Phillips was their target.
“Now then, I will start attacking from different angles. Dodge well.”
“Understood!”
Even though Phillips says he will attack, he’s only using a blunted stick, and have been thrusting it at me slow enough that I could sometimes see his arm shaking slightly.
The stick was something we rented from the guild, in order for me to train in my ability to avoid strikes aimed at me.
It’s been a while since I moved my body like this… I’m starting to get tired already.
However, I still seem to have yet to forget my basic footwork back when I was a guard… which should be about 2 months ago.
Phillips has the philosophy of ‘practice without concentration is meaningless’, and so with a couple of breaks in between, we’ll be having some practice with avoiding various kinds of thrust attacks.
“… Alright. Let’s take a break from here.”
When noticing my concentration dropping, Phillips would tell me to take a break.
During that time, I try to adjust my breathing while thinking of some ways to avoid those attacks better.
“Mm… How do I say this… it’s a little off.”
“Eh!? Me?… am I that bad?”
“No… it’s that movement? The footwork is really basic, but for some reason it’s unusually fast. From an outside perspective it’s a little jarring.”
Being told that upfront gave me a bit of a blow…
But, I can somewhat understand that.
I agree completely about how my movements are a little amateurish.
From seeing Phillips’ sophisticated fighting movements, it’s clear that the way I move my body around is much inferior.
“However, it’s still surprising you’re able to dodge… that’s something worthy of praise.”
“… Even though each attack after the second one slows down? If they all had been the same speed, then I wouldn’t be able to.”
“So you noticed… Even so, though you might be able to know what is going on, your body still needs to adapt to it.”
“Is that the point of this training?”
“No, no. It’s just that using many different techniques at the same time right away will only bring confusion. It’s only the first day of training after all, and you should still be able to avoid some of them even as of right now.”
“Is that so?”
Well, if that’s what the pro says…
Once I got my breathing back in order, we started again with the spear dodging.
“However, you’re dodging pretty well with that movement. Is this from the Divine Protection?”
“… I wouldn’t really say that… it’s a bit different.”
There was the stats mechanic back in the game.
It’s the parameters that gives certain ability for each player, such as strength, defence, intelligence, etc
These numbers go up as the level goes up, and the rate of each of them was determined by what Divine Protection you have.
With three different kinds of Divine Protection equipped, my stats might get a little out of place, but it should rise pretty high because of that.
And the stat that seemed to be growing the most between the each of them, seems to be the Sense stat.
Necromancer, Alchemist, Sculptor, all three of these blessings seemed to have a high affinity with it… though that’s just a speculation.
The next most likely to grow would also be the Dexterity and Intelligence stats.
Speaking of Sense, it’s the stat that improves the ability to perceive things, and is the main contributing factor when it comes to a player’s ability to dodge.
… That probably is the case for here huh.
In this world however, simply having the stats to back me up wouldn’t get me very far, and I will need some training to make good use of them, just like what I am trying doing right now.
So, if I have to give Phillips a proper answer to his question, it would be because of my Levelling Up.
“That’s a mysterious concept for me, who had only been training in order to strengthen my body.”
That was his impression after I spent about 5 minutes explaining to him what stats are.
I’m not sure if having this will allow me to skip some of the body training Phillips mentioned, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try those just in case.
“Now then, let’s take a break and move on to the next stage. My lord, take two of your skeletons out.”
“?”
I’m getting a bad feeling about this…
“This is hard. Like, really hard…”
“You’re free to complain however much you like. However, don’t let that ruin your concentration!”
“Gyaah!”
This time, I’m joined up with two additional skeletons against Philips.
My weapon is a hammer made from cloth and rope, which was created specifically for training…
The striking portion was made completely by hand, so I had a hard time trying to shape it, but I was able to at least make it seem like a hammer after numerous attempts.
Thinking things through a bit more, I figured having a long-reaching hammer would be much easier for me to use compared to a dagger, so I’ll be using this as my main weapon.
The daggers will act as my secondary, when I need it to use it for a really close finishing blow.
Of course, the skeletons’ clubs are also wrapped up in cloth.
Also, I’m not whining because the attacks hurt or anything… It’s just that my head is getting really tired from having to concentrate for so long, too much.
In the first place, visual sharing itself is very tiring.
Even now, the limit to it is still 2 skeletons, any more and I would get a serious headache and some motion sickness after a short while, and my eyes would even feel like they’re burning.
That’s why when hunting, two skeletons is really the most I could do.
So far, I still feel like I’m improving in the growth of these sorts of skills despite what I said.
In other words, the more I use it, the better I get at it. Also, it doesn’t seem like it uses up any mana either.
And so in theory, I should be able to train with Phillips like this indefinitely.
Somehow, I feel like there’s some sort of circuit forcibly being connected in my head… it feels like it’s disturbing my senses.
“Boy! Do your best!”
There’s an increasing number of surrounding adventurers watching here.
There’s a couple of them cheering me on… but that’s only ruining my concentration.
“Thank you… Benedetta.”
“Are you okay?”
Benedetta’s worry was from seeing me holding my head as I took a rest.
She passed me a mana potion which somewhat eased it…
Before this, that simulation battle I had been doing with the 2 skeletons by my side had been repeated three times. About 7-8 minutes each and a 5 minute break in between.
It shouldn’t be much, but it was already enough to get me dead tired.
“Seems like you’ve pushed yourself a bit there. How’s your body doing?”
“No, it’s not that bad… I should still be okay. Thanks to drinking this, my head’s gotten a little lighter. Still though, if I’m still getting headaches from only this much, then I still have much to train for.”
I’m a little hesitant in saying ‘Mana Potion’ so casually outside.
There’s no telling how some certain people would react when hearing it.
Standing nearby, Philips brought something up.
“Which is more efficient, us hunting by ourselves, or along with the skeletons?”
“Hmm. We’ve just started, but the problem of being unable to carry the monster materials back with you is already a huge problem. But, if we’re going to include the skeletons, then there might be a need to have some practice group battles then. They have to take their surroundings into consideration after all. Though, what do you think Phillips?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while as well, but for now, let’s just have our group continue to hunt alone while the skeletons practice.”
“Alright. Then I’ll leave that to you.”
For the time being, we had the training end here, and the discussion with Phillips also ends.
I am a little tired, but there was that promise I had to finish, so this time I’ll be having a mock battle with Benedetta.
By the way, it’s reasonable for me to think the skill gap between me and Benedetta is far apart.
Putting talent aside, she’s been training on strengthening herself this whole time.
She had received a fair amount of sword training since young.
Of course, she seemed to be in more favour to horse riding and bow training, but by now, she should have reached her original ability back before she was nerfed down from her Divine Protection.
On the other hand, my past training only consists of friendly sparring with my colleagues back in my guard days.
Though I did find it helpful, it’s a far cry compared to Benedetta’s personal training.
“Well then, go easy on me.”
“Here I go!”
With the both of us from either end of the training ring, Benedetta rushed straight to me.
(… Eh?… I’m surprisingly still able to hold my ground?)
When the battle began, I was able to concentrate Benedetta’s attacks, and am able to avoid them all, though just barely.
Even so, I’m still unable to fight back…
It’s not like I tried, but every swing from my hammer always seem to be lightly parried away with her round shield.
All that ever did was give myself some breathing time for only a second.
And so, after about 15 minutes of sparring, I felt my concentration begin to cut off…
“No more… I give up.”
Like that, today’s training was over.
“How was I? I was pretty hard to hit huh?”
“Indeed, that was weird. It’s like I couldn’t predict where you were going next… Your pattern was way too strange, and by the time I start my attack, the timing would suddenly go completely off.”
So I was strange huh…
“Somehow, it seems like my speed really doesn’t match the way I move around. If so, then wouldn’t some physical exercise be a better option to do first?”
“Well, hold on a bit. Considering there are always some around to defend for you, there shouldn’t be any problem for you to make the first strike. I think doing some training that focuses on that would be good, but what do you think my Lord?”
“I see! Even those harpy monsters had the same sort of tactic. I think that would be good.”
“That’s good.”
Seems like a new training method has been decided.
Other adventurers who had been watching had been calling out to us for a spar once my fight with Benedetta had ended.
Of course, when I mean by ‘us’, I actually meant just Phillips and Benedetta.
“Hey, huge mister. Have a spar with me too.”
“Excuse me… do you mind if were to train with you?”
When I was leaving the training space, the both of them had been immediately called out by the other adventurers. Males and females alike.
No ones calling out to me though…
It’s probably because of my strange way of moving around do others feel like it would be too strange to fight me.
A more orthodox practice opponent would’ve been preferred for them.
Ah well, not my problem!
I’m just going to the warehouse with Centurion now… It’s not like this is getting to me!
What Centurion had been doing inside the warehouse was the work regarding the slime cloth.
At that, he had made 3 different types of materials ranging from their flexibility.
That said, we actually easily found some black slugs from a nearby pond, which was an indispensable ingredient when it comes to the production of these.
However, Centurion was making an unusual expression…
“What’s the matter?”
“Aah. Master. You were here?”
Seems like he just noticed me.
When he turned to me, he pointed to the slime prototypes by the shelf.
“There’s a BIT of a PROBLEM, and I’m a little WORRIED. Take a LOOK.”
“… ? Wasn’t this done well? The hard version seems to be alright… what’s the problem?”
Taking a look at the slime cloth on the shelf, it looks like to be a finished product I would actually use myself.
The color is also clear and transparent… the texture is smooth, and the strength of it feels appropriate.
“At the BOTTOM shelf. It’s MADE from the BLACK one.”
“… Hm?”
When looking at the bottom section of the shelf, there was a lump of black slime cloth.
This one was made from the black slime from before, and so its appearance was completely black in color and opaque.
(Still though, it still seems to function just as well as any other… so what’s the problem with it? The transparency?)
Wondering what was up, I took the material to feel with my hands.
“Ah!?”
“… You SEE it RIGHT? I CAN’T really USE something like THAT.”
Taking hold of the black lump, I was able to notice the feeling of it in an instant… or rather, it’s a texture I’m all too familiar with.
Like the rest, it feels smooth on the surface, but although it is hard, it’s still plenty flexible, and it immediately returns back to its original shape once the force is removed.
(Isn’t this thing… rubber?)
At that thought, I used Modelling onto it.
Because it is an elastic material, it was slightly ineffective, but I was able to turn it into a smooth sphere.
“Actually… this can be used… And a really important one at that.”
“… Is that so?”
It doesn’t seem like Centurion is able to imagine useful materials outside of stiff ones.
However, there are certainly some applications rubber can be used for…
“Could you keep this black slime stored here for a while?”
“UNDERSTOOD. Is there SOMETHING you have in MIND for it?”
When he asked that, I started thinking about what to use this material for.
– Adventurer Life Day 68 (Fri) – Afternoon – Olbia City – Adventurer Guild – Training Grounds
Looking at me, Phillips slowly brings his stick close to me.
I dodged myself from it, and the stick stopped its momentum once it passes.
“Alright! Another try!”
“Roger!”
… What am I doing right now?
It’s training for me to dodge some of Philips’ spear attacks.
Just like before, Phillips would slowly bring out his spear to hit me, to which I would then slowly dodge it.
… And with just that, I practice repeatedly.
“Keep those movements in your head. Next is training in detecting movements. Take a look at my whole body and figure out what I will do next. Don’t just look at one part!”
“Got it!”
Phillips’ training was a lot more reserved than I expected.
I thought I was going to be put into some sort of spartan style of training… No offense Philips.
By the way, the place we’ve been doing this at was the place called the training grounds within the guild.
There’s others who would also use it too… though I’ve been hearing there would be frequent grudge and betting matches that appear here every now and then.
… Even so, there are also some archery targets and some straw dummies in the area, so it’s not like it’s a completely empty space.
There are four separate spaces here.
Some adventurers are training from one space, while there are some who are just drinking and chatting in the other for some reason.
We’ve also had some adventurers coming to our space wanting a spar.
… It seems like Phillips was their target.
“Now then, I will start attacking from different angles. Dodge well.”
“Understood!”
Even though Phillips says he will attack, he’s only using a blunted stick, and have been thrusting it at me slow enough that I could sometimes see his arm shaking slightly.
The stick was something we rented from the guild, in order for me to train in my ability to avoid strikes aimed at me.
It’s been a while since I moved my body like this… I’m starting to get tired already.
However, I still seem to have yet to forget my basic footwork back when I was a guard… which should be about 2 months ago.
Phillips has the philosophy of ‘practice without concentration is meaningless’, and so with a couple of breaks in between, we’ll be having some practice with avoiding various kinds of thrust attacks.
“… Alright. Let’s take a break from here.”
When noticing my concentration dropping, Phillips would tell me to take a break.
During that time, I try to adjust my breathing while thinking of some ways to avoid those attacks better.
“Mm… How do I say this… it’s a little off.”
“Eh!? Me?… am I that bad?”
“No… it’s that movement? The footwork is really basic, but for some reason it’s unusually fast. From an outside perspective it’s a little jarring.”
Being told that upfront gave me a bit of a blow…
But, I can somewhat understand that.
I agree completely about how my movements are a little amateurish.
From seeing Phillips’ sophisticated fighting movements, it’s clear that the way I move my body around is much inferior.
“However, it’s still surprising you’re able to dodge… that’s something worthy of praise.”
“… Even though each attack after the second one slows down? If they all had been the same speed, then I wouldn’t be able to.”
“So you noticed… Even so, though you might be able to know what is going on, your body still needs to adapt to it.”
“Is that the point of this training?”
“No, no. It’s just that using many different techniques at the same time right away will only bring confusion. It’s only the first day of training after all, and you should still be able to avoid some of them even as of right now.”
“Is that so?”
Well, if that’s what the pro says…
Once I got my breathing back in order, we started again with the spear dodging.
“However, you’re dodging pretty well with that movement. Is this from the Divine Protection?”
“… I wouldn’t really say that… it’s a bit different.”
There was the stats mechanic back in the game.
It’s the parameters that gives certain ability for each player, such as strength, defence, intelligence, etc
These numbers go up as the level goes up, and the rate of each of them was determined by what Divine Protection you have.
With three different kinds of Divine Protection equipped, my stats might get a little out of place, but it should rise pretty high because of that.
And the stat that seemed to be growing the most between the each of them, seems to be the Sense stat.
Necromancer, Alchemist, Sculptor, all three of these blessings seemed to have a high affinity with it… though that’s just a speculation.
The next most likely to grow would also be the Dexterity and Intelligence stats.
Speaking of Sense, it’s the stat that improves the ability to perceive things, and is the main contributing factor when it comes to a player’s ability to dodge.
… That probably is the case for here huh.
In this world however, simply having the stats to back me up wouldn’t get me very far, and I will need some training to make good use of them, just like what I am trying doing right now.
So, if I have to give Phillips a proper answer to his question, it would be because of my Levelling Up.
“That’s a mysterious concept for me, who had only been training in order to strengthen my body.”
That was his impression after I spent about 5 minutes explaining to him what stats are.
I’m not sure if having this will allow me to skip some of the body training Phillips mentioned, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try those just in case.
“Now then, let’s take a break and move on to the next stage. My lord, take two of your skeletons out.”
“?”
I’m getting a bad feeling about this…
“This is hard. Like, really hard…”
“You’re free to complain however much you like. However, don’t let that ruin your concentration!”
“Gyaah!”
This time, I’m joined up with two additional skeletons against Philips.
My weapon is a hammer made from cloth and rope, which was created specifically for training…
The striking portion was made completely by hand, so I had a hard time trying to shape it, but I was able to at least make it seem like a hammer after numerous attempts.
Thinking things through a bit more, I figured having a long-reaching hammer would be much easier for me to use compared to a dagger, so I’ll be using this as my main weapon.
The daggers will act as my secondary, when I need it to use it for a really close finishing blow.
Of course, the skeletons’ clubs are also wrapped up in cloth.
Also, I’m not whining because the attacks hurt or anything… It’s just that my head is getting really tired from having to concentrate for so long, too much.
In the first place, visual sharing itself is very tiring.
Even now, the limit to it is still 2 skeletons, any more and I would get a serious headache and some motion sickness after a short while, and my eyes would even feel like they’re burning.
That’s why when hunting, two skeletons is really the most I could do.
So far, I still feel like I’m improving in the growth of these sorts of skills despite what I said.
In other words, the more I use it, the better I get at it. Also, it doesn’t seem like it uses up any mana either.
And so in theory, I should be able to train with Phillips like this indefinitely.
Somehow, I feel like there’s some sort of circuit forcibly being connected in my head… it feels like it’s disturbing my senses.
“Boy! Do your best!”
There’s an increasing number of surrounding adventurers watching here.
There’s a couple of them cheering me on… but that’s only ruining my concentration.
“Thank you… Benedetta.”
“Are you okay?”
Benedetta’s worry was from seeing me holding my head as I took a rest.
She passed me a mana potion which somewhat eased it…
Before this, that simulation battle I had been doing with the 2 skeletons by my side had been repeated three times. About 7-8 minutes each and a 5 minute break in between.
It shouldn’t be much, but it was already enough to get me dead tired.
“Seems like you’ve pushed yourself a bit there. How’s your body doing?”
“No, it’s not that bad… I should still be okay. Thanks to drinking this, my head’s gotten a little lighter. Still though, if I’m still getting headaches from only this much, then I still have much to train for.”
I’m a little hesitant in saying ‘Mana Potion’ so casually outside.
There’s no telling how some certain people would react when hearing it.
Standing nearby, Philips brought something up.
“Which is more efficient, us hunting by ourselves, or along with the skeletons?”
“Hmm. We’ve just started, but the problem of being unable to carry the monster materials back with you is already a huge problem. But, if we’re going to include the skeletons, then there might be a need to have some practice group battles then. They have to take their surroundings into consideration after all. Though, what do you think Phillips?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while as well, but for now, let’s just have our group continue to hunt alone while the skeletons practice.”
“Alright. Then I’ll leave that to you.”
For the time being, we had the training end here, and the discussion with Phillips also ends.
I am a little tired, but there was that promise I had to finish, so this time I’ll be having a mock battle with Benedetta.
By the way, it’s reasonable for me to think the skill gap between me and Benedetta is far apart.
Putting talent aside, she’s been training on strengthening herself this whole time.
She had received a fair amount of sword training since young.
Of course, she seemed to be in more favour to horse riding and bow training, but by now, she should have reached her original ability back before she was nerfed down from her Divine Protection.
On the other hand, my past training only consists of friendly sparring with my colleagues back in my guard days.
Though I did find it helpful, it’s a far cry compared to Benedetta’s personal training.
“Well then, go easy on me.”
“Here I go!”
With the both of us from either end of the training ring, Benedetta rushed straight to me.
(… Eh?… I’m surprisingly still able to hold my ground?)
When the battle began, I was able to concentrate Benedetta’s attacks, and am able to avoid them all, though just barely.
Even so, I’m still unable to fight back…
It’s not like I tried, but every swing from my hammer always seem to be lightly parried away with her round shield.
All that ever did was give myself some breathing time for only a second.
And so, after about 15 minutes of sparring, I felt my concentration begin to cut off…
“No more… I give up.”
Like that, today’s training was over.
“How was I? I was pretty hard to hit huh?”
“Indeed, that was weird. It’s like I couldn’t predict where you were going next… Your pattern was way too strange, and by the time I start my attack, the timing would suddenly go completely off.”
So I was strange huh…
“Somehow, it seems like my speed really doesn’t match the way I move around. If so, then wouldn’t some physical exercise be a better option to do first?”
“Well, hold on a bit. Considering there are always some around to defend for you, there shouldn’t be any problem for you to make the first strike. I think doing some training that focuses on that would be good, but what do you think my Lord?”
“I see! Even those harpy monsters had the same sort of tactic. I think that would be good.”
“That’s good.”
Seems like a new training method has been decided.
Other adventurers who had been watching had been calling out to us for a spar once my fight with Benedetta had ended.
Of course, when I mean by ‘us’, I actually meant just Phillips and Benedetta.
“Hey, huge mister. Have a spar with me too.”
“Excuse me… do you mind if were to train with you?”
When I was leaving the training space, the both of them had been immediately called out by the other adventurers. Males and females alike.
No ones calling out to me though…
It’s probably because of my strange way of moving around do others feel like it would be too strange to fight me.
A more orthodox practice opponent would’ve been preferred for them.
Ah well, not my problem!
I’m just going to the warehouse with Centurion now… It’s not like this is getting to me!
What Centurion had been doing inside the warehouse was the work regarding the slime cloth.
At that, he had made 3 different types of materials ranging from their flexibility.
That said, we actually easily found some black slugs from a nearby pond, which was an indispensable ingredient when it comes to the production of these.
However, Centurion was making an unusual expression…
“What’s the matter?”
“Aah. Master. You were here?”
Seems like he just noticed me.
When he turned to me, he pointed to the slime prototypes by the shelf.
“There’s a BIT of a PROBLEM, and I’m a little WORRIED. Take a LOOK.”
“… ? Wasn’t this done well? The hard version seems to be alright… what’s the problem?”
Taking a look at the slime cloth on the shelf, it looks like to be a finished product I would actually use myself.
The color is also clear and transparent… the texture is smooth, and the strength of it feels appropriate.
“At the BOTTOM shelf. It’s MADE from the BLACK one.”
“… Hm?”
When looking at the bottom section of the shelf, there was a lump of black slime cloth.
This one was made from the black slime from before, and so its appearance was completely black in color and opaque.
(Still though, it still seems to function just as well as any other… so what’s the problem with it? The transparency?)
Wondering what was up, I took the material to feel with my hands.
“Ah!?”
“… You SEE it RIGHT? I CAN’T really USE something like THAT.”
Taking hold of the black lump, I was able to notice the feeling of it in an instant… or rather, it’s a texture I’m all too familiar with.
Like the rest, it feels smooth on the surface, but although it is hard, it’s still plenty flexible, and it immediately returns back to its original shape once the force is removed.
(Isn’t this thing… rubber?)
At that thought, I used Modelling onto it.
Because it is an elastic material, it was slightly ineffective, but I was able to turn it into a smooth sphere.
“Actually… this can be used… And a really important one at that.”
“… Is that so?”
It doesn’t seem like Centurion is able to imagine useful materials outside of stiff ones.
However, there are certainly some applications rubber can be used for…
“Could you keep this black slime stored here for a while?”
“UNDERSTOOD. Is there SOMETHING you have in MIND for it?”
When he asked that, I started thinking about what to use this material for.
