"Huff... Huff..."
The sky was fiery orange. The day was slowly wrapping up. The warm glow of the sunset flooded the horizon.
There were many sailboats heading back to the shore, manned by players, as the gentle waves lapped against the hulls.
It was getting so late that none of the players wanted to stay out on the sea because even though it was peaceful, there were many dangers lurking in the depths of the sea.
Especially at night.
"Huff!"
Fang Raon kept swinging the heavy wooden greatsword under the scorching evening sun.
He had already taken off his shirt, and the sweat dripped down his body. It was clear that he hadn’t exercised much by the lack of muscle definition in his arms and chest.
Yet, whatever muscles he had bulged in exhaustion as it took all of his strength to swing the heavy greatsword.
"Again..."
Rock said while smoking a pipe over on the beach chair. He was just enjoying the beach and the weather.
"Argh!"
Fang Raon swung the greatsword.
This time around, he didn’t hear a word, "Again," and thus, he pulled the greatsword further back and rolled on the sand.
"Huff... Wheeze... Ahh!"
He barely managed to lift the greatsword again and swung it again. It was another perfect swing!
[+1 Hard Slash Mastery]
[Hard Slash: 100% Mastery]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Hard Slash Lv. 1 → Lv. 2]
[Attack: 15 → 20]
[Speed: 3 → 5]
"I-It leveled up!"
Fang Raon shouted happily.
"...Is that so?"
Rock crossed his legs and looked uninterested and just took another puff of the pipe and saw that Fang Raon had stopped moving.
"What are you standing there for? Keep going!"
"Ah..."
Fang Raon pulled the greatsword back, rolled down on the sand, stood up, and swung again, his arms burning.
The swing again was perfect!
’I am starting to get the hang of it!’
Fang Raon pulled the greatsword back, rolled on the sand, stood up, and swung again, but something felt amiss.
"Again!"
Rock shouted.
’Or not...’
Fang Raon lampooned.
It took him three more swings until he got it correct, then rolled on the sand, and swung the greatsword yet again.
He kept doing the same for another hour.
"...Argh..."
Fang Raon dropped the greatsword on the sand, his hands bloody and completely peeled off. It hurt just to touch the sword hilt.
"Pick it up!"
Rock shouted.
Fang Raon crouched, grabbed the greatsword, and tried lifting it, but it felt like he was trying to lift the legendary sword Excalibur.
It wasn’t moving at all!
"AHHHHH!"
He screamed, feeling the searing pain shoot through his arm, and at that moment, some of the ligaments in his arm snapped.
Snap!
[-21 HP]
[HP: 31/130]
"That didn’t sound good."
Rock walked over and saw Fang Raon’s arms dangling uselessly at his side. His health had also dropped to the red zone.
Fang Raon tried to drink a health potion a couple hours ago to recover some of his energy, but Rock stopped him from doing so.
"Cheating!" he called it.
"Drink this."
Rock helped him to drink down a health potion, and his health slowly began to replenish, and his ligaments recovered as well.
"Huff..."
Fang Raon breathed out in relief.
"What do your stats look like right now?"
Rock asked.
"...Let’s see."
Fang Raon checked them quickly.
***
[Name: Fang Raon]
[Class: Warrior]
[Level: 1]
[Next Level: 67%]
[Coins: 714]
[Health: 130/130]
[Stamina: 6]
[Attack: 9 + 2]
[Defense: 5 + 5]
[Speed: 4]
[Vitality: 8 + 5]
[Mana: 0]
***
"It looks like my Attack increased by one, and the same with my Stamina. And my Dodge Roll skill is at... 67% mastery."
Fang Raon said with an exhausted voice.
"I am also 67% done with the first level..."
He added.
"...Not horrible. You would’ve leveled up your Dodge Roll if you didn’t spend half a day learning how to do Hard Slash once!
"Tch, tch!"
Rock clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"...Yeah, my bad."
Fang Raon said.
He just took the criticism on the chin, as he knew it was well-deserved.
"The training is not over yet, kid. Get up!"
Rock shouted.
"...We are not done yet?"
Fang Raon’s face turned pale, and he looked like he had just lost his soul.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Rock laughed loudly.
It frightened the nearby players.
"...You are definitely a sadist... piece of shit..."
Fang Raon said, but remembered to say the last words under his breath so the old man wouldn’t be able to hear.
"I was very disappointed at your pace yesterday, so try doing the lap around the beach faster this time around. Three hours is still the goal, so let’s go!"
Rock clapped his hands loudly.
"...We are doing that again?"
Fang Raon asked with a frightened gaze.
Yesterday, it took him six hours, and he was half-dead at the end of it, and now he had been training all day.
He wasn’t sure that he would be able to survive it this time around!
"Yes, are you deaf? Let’s go. We don’t have time to waste. I want to return before my daughter returns, so hurry up!"
Rock screamed.
It felt like his entire body refused to move. This was torture. It should be a bannable offense to be forced to endure such a thing!
’Isn’t this in a way a form of torture? I think Rock should be banned for a month... yes... that would be nice...’
Fang Raon gritted his teeth.
He took the first step, the second step, and the third step, and then kicked off into a slow jog. It took everything not to collapse right then and there.
...
8:35 P.M.
"...Ah!"
Fang Raon collapsed in front of the Rock’s villa with a dead look in his eyes, and he was even too tired to celebrate the end of the training.
"...Mom, what is he doing?"
"He is weird!"
Rock’s grandchildren giggled and made fun of the extremely tired Fang Raon, and their mother just smiled with pity.
"It took four hours this time around. Pretty shit, but I will give credit where it is due. At least you improved."
Rock tapped Fang Raon in the stomach with the cane and then said.
"See you tomorrow morning, alright?"
"..."
Fang Raon didn’t respond and looked at the notification in front of him.
[Speed: 4 → 5]
[Stamina: 6 → 7]
It, at least, made him slightly happy to see improvements like this, but he was so exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep.
Thus, he pulled out the interface and logged out.
With him gone from the beach, Rissa looked at her father, who rested on the terrace bench with a smile on his face.
"You are smiling. I guess you are happy that he made it through the first day."
Rissa said with a smile.
"...The kid is pretty shit with average talent. I’ve taught more talented people. It took him three hours to learn how to do Hard Slash.
"...But he made it through. I’ve had many students who just walked away after I mentioned the running part."
Rock said with a grin.