“Yes, Sir” Weed said shortly. He was still upset that he had made a laughing stock of himself on the first day.
“You shall find sword training absolutely necessary when you come to confront monsters. Do you need my guidance? I tell you, take any unattended scarecrow and strike him in any way you want. A wooden sword is placed in front of a scarecrow, and it is all yours.”
“Thank you, sir. That’s enough. I don’t need any more guidance.”
“Godspeed”
Weed clutched the wooden sword and walked to a scarecrow standing alone in the most remote comer. Then, he began beating it, once, twice, thrice. His hands were gradually getting accustomed to the weight of the wooden sword and the sense of hitting the scarecrow.
In Royal Road, a new avatar’s level is locked for the first four weeks, for he is forbidden to travel beyond the city’s gate and to hunt monsters in the field.
It is most common to carry out as many quests as possible, thus building up favorable public service points, earning money and forming your own web of personal contacts.
Nonetheless, Weed silently carried on striking the scarecrow with the wooden sword.
There are about a thousand scarecrows in the Training Hall of the Citadel of Serabourg, and an unlimited supply of wooden swords on the walls, which could come in handy. The Hall is usually frequented by users who crave to test their skills.
At this moment, however, everyone’s eyes were fixed on somewhere in particular.
“This guy’s definitely got iron guts.”
“He’s freaking tough.”
“Can’t believe any sane man’s going so far”
Weed was soaked in sweat.
The white shirt and pants issued to him in the beginning had absorbed sweat and stuck fast to his body. He still dealt one blow after another to the scarecrow without a minute’s break.
After six hours of striking the scarecrow, Weed heard good news. He felt as if the muscles in his hand clutching the wooden sword were getting lighter.“Stats window,” Weed mumbled while striking the scarecrow.
Weed’s avatar was so feeble that there was nothing remarkable.Five hours later—
The two stats rose almost at the same lime.
“Whew.”
Weed finally put down the wooden sword and look a short break. Without eating or drinking, he had been hitting the scarecrow for nearly eight straight hours.
He was physically fatigued, and worse, his throat was burning with thirst, his stomach empty and hollow.
“Inventory window”
Given the preset keyword, the semitransparent images of all the belongings in Weed’s inventory floated in front of his eyes. Inside his inventory were a canteen and ten pieces of rye bread. That was all.
In Royal Road, you have to get hold of what you need on your own. Other users make money by carrying out easy quests for the four weeks, but Weed could not spare even a minute.
He took out a piece of rye bread and the canteen, and nibbled a mouthful of bread. As he ate food, it appeased his hunger and the satisfaction factor rose.
“I’m supposed to have a meal every five hours. I’d better eat more often if I exercise intensely, but I don’t need to raise the satisfaction factor to the full. All I need to do is just stay away from death.”
Once Weed finished the meal swiftly, he took the wooden sword in his grip and stood in front of the scarecrow.
“He’s at it again.”
“He’s nuts.”
“I think he holds a grudge against it or something.”
“I don’t think he’ll stop until he breaks that scarecrow into pieces.”
Was it an illusion that the scarecrow looked like it shivered at that very moment? Weed’s wooden sword struck every inch of the scarecrow. The same type of questions arose among all the spectators.
“Why the heck is that guy striking the scarecrow?”
“I don’t think it will help at all—if he wants to raise the expertise rating for a skill, it’s much better to go out to the field and use it on a rabbit than the scarecrow here.”
“Look at what he’s doing. He’s not using any skill. To me, it looks more like he’s beating up the scarecrow on impulse.”
“Maybe he’s bringing up his stats,” a knight in dazzling armor commented, immediately attracted the attention of everyone else on the scene.
“Can you improve your stats by just hitting the scarecrow?” a dark-skinned ranger asked.
“Huh? Ah, yes, that’s right,” the knight said.
“Then, why don’t you just keep hitting a scarecrow instead of sweating hard to raise your level?” the ranger asked again.
The knight named Pluto had a considerably high level, so he has learned a wealth of information from reliable sources. He was also the only man who correctly guessed the motive of Weed’s actions.
If an avatar uses up his stamina, his vitality and stamina will develop as a consequence, and if a wizard casts a great many spells, his wisdom and intelligence will rise.
But such an increase is trivial compared to stat bonus points accompanied by a level up.
Half a day of hitting a scarecrow without a rest might yield one or two stats. Considering that the number of stat bonus points as reward for a level up is five, what Weed was doing looked idiotic.
“It really is silly.”
A sorceress shook her head when she heard Pluto’s explanation. But he thought otherwise.
“It works,” Pluto said.
“Excuse me?”
“You can earn only small amount of experience points if you kill a weaker monster than your current level. You know that, right?”
“Of course”
“In other words, the higher your level is, the harder it is to gain a level. But if you improve your strength by undergoing such a drill in the initial phase, you can hunt monsters easier later on. It will take effect throughout the game.”
“You know this method, so I guess you went through the same training? No, wouldn’t everyone do the same if they knew about it?”
“Not really. Even if people knew, no one would do it. Back to the point, is there anyone who wants to keep hitting that scarecrow for ten hours to improve their strength by one point?”
“…”
“There are limits to how far you can increase your stats by working on a scarecrow that’s known as the weakest opponent. In the case of strength, I estimate it’s forty or so. Is there anyone who wants to keep hitting the scarecrow for at least a month to raise forty points in strength? I would get sick and tired of it, and give it up in days.”
The crowd watching Weed nodded in unison.
You’d rather look for a cool weapon than to strike a scarecrow ceaselessly for a full month in order to bring up your strength by forty points. An item that keeps up strength by forty points is unique, yet far from rare.
“This works only for newbies who can’t go beyond the walls. It was once popular to beat a scarecrow like this, but it was quickly abandoned because, when you weigh against it what you can get in the long run, it’s way too boring, and painstaking.”
Weed overheard the heated discussion that those around him were having. He wished he could have trained somewhere else, but so long as he wasn’t allowed to leave the Citadel, he could not avoid attracting unfavorable attention in the Hall.
What makes you call this boring and painstaking? Weed swung the wooden sword at full strength.
If you work hard, your avatar gets stronger step by step. When your avatar evolves, it can defeat stronger monsters and make more money. For Weed, this was the ultimate entertainment in his lifetime.