Chapter 2: 2

Chapter 2

The First Training Session

　I get home from work and log in to GAO. Yesterday was a mistake. I had so many things I wanted to do. But… no, maybe it was a success, considering the very reason I started playing this game.

　At any rate, I bought the tiokuri chicken I ate yesterday, and walked around the city while eating. The people who I presumed to be players had gotten used to it by now, and they were walking and running without any concern for the townscape. Maybe I will become just like them in the future, but for now, I want to see, hear, and feel the streets of this other world. But in the end, I want to be ready to go out into the field, so I decide to head to the arena for now.

　The arena, as the name suggests, is a place where fights are hosted for spectacle. Naturally, players can also use it. I found out that you can fight warriors belonging to the arena, as well as fierce beasts and demons. If you win, you get a reward. You can also gamble as a spectator and bet on who will win.

　But this time, I have no use for the arena itself. My focus is next to the arena.

　Surrounded by a wooden fence, there were many people who looked like players. At the entrance, on a board overhead, there is a picture of a shield with a sword and a staff crossed over it, along with the words, “Independent Traning Grounds”.

　This is the place to test your combat skills. It is also a place to test the effectiveness of magic and armor. Because monsters spring up in the field, this is an ideal area to do so.

　It is especially meant for beginners, and it is recommended that they learn combat here to some extent before going outside.

　Incidentally, training here also brings in experience. However, it would be more efficient to fight out in the fields, so no one will be endlessly improving their skills here. Not to mention, this place charges a fee.

　I registered at a place that looked like an office near the entrance, and paid 100 Pedia.

“If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“For the time being, I want to practice hand-to-hand combat and magic, is it okay if we do it in the same place?”

　”Starting from the front, the areas are roughly divided into: melee combat, ranged and projectile weaponry, and magic, so please use their respective locations.”

　After thanking the girl with the short-cut blond hair who gave us detailed instructions, I first went to the melee combat area. A wooden stake about 2 meters high and 50 centimeters thick is stuck in the ground, and players use it to practice their weapons.

“They’re using wooden training weapons and blade-drawn weapons, huh. It looks like metal weapons are left intact.”

　Does that mean that target stakes are not free either? There are people that were replacing battered stakes.

I decide to hold back on this visit and simply test my skills. I walk into an empty spot and stand in front of a stake. Yes, it reminds me of something nostalgic. It reminds me of the straw post in my grandfather’s garden in the countryside.

　I made a fist and lightly hit the stake. I felt a solid response. I continued with another shot, but this time I really hit the stake. But my fist was in pain.

I thought to myself, “That’s… well, it’s only natural, isn’t it?”

　It was a naked fist. There is no protection, and it is not well-trained. The pain, however, is slight, and less intense than in real life. In fact, it was much less painful than punching a wall in real life. Or is it thanks to the [Hand-to-hand] skill?

　This time, I struck the stake with an open palm. Full force with no restraint. The pain in my hand was comparatively less than when I hit it with a closed fist.

　I wondered if I would be able to smash rocks with my fists as I get higher in level. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could do that, and continued to strike, mainly with palm strikes. Sometimes I also use kicks.

　In fact, weapons can be used without [Skills]. However, there is not much advantage because there is no damage increase nor attacking skills. This is the same with fighting skills; even without skills, punches and kicks can be used if you don’t mind the damage. It is the same as a person who has not learned martial arts being able to use his hands and feet in a fight.

“Hand-to-hand, huh? That’s unusual.”

　As I continued staking, I heard such a voice. I stopped and looked at their direction, and there stood a person. He was a middle-aged man wearing only a leather breastplate, looking at me with his arms crossed.

“Unusual?”

　I asked, resting my hand. The man nodded.

“Most of them use weapons,” he said. “There are still a few who use [Footwork], but these days there are less than ten who use manual techniques.”

　I see. Even though it is a game, there must be some reluctance to use bare hands when facing a monster. There is a difference in reach, and it some of them might have contact poison. Hand-to-hand combat is probably not as popular as it is now, considering that if you hit them, there is a firm rebound in your fist.

　Oh, and come to think of it, I wouldn’t want to punch an undead type, or a zombie type for that matter, if they existed. ……

“…… unfortunate, isn’t it, fisticuffs?”

“There are pros and cons to everything. Unlike weapons, you don’t have to worry about durability.”

　The man looks at my hand.

　Weapons, armor, and tools in this world have a durability value. When they exceed their limit, they break and become useless. To prevent this, it is necessary to restore the durability value of the equipment, which can be done by the NPC blacksmith or by a player with blacksmithing skills. Naturally, there will be a cost. If it is top-tier, it will be that much more expensive.

　On the other hand, hands and feet may be injured, but once they are healed, that’s it. Depending on the method, it may not cost any money, so this may be an advantage. Not a big one, though.

“Still, there are equipment for protecting your fists. Not many stores carry them, but you could try to find some.”

“Thank you. Who are you, by the way?”

　When I thanked him for his advice and asked, the man uncrossed his arms and pointed to the left breast of his chest armor with his right thumb. There it was, the crest of a sword and staff crossed in front of a shield. It was the same as the one on the sign at the entrance to this training ground.

“I am Perkins (パーキンス paakinsu). I am one of the instructors at this training center. If you need anything, feel free to call on me. I’ll teach you as much as I know.”

　Ah, an NPC who gives you a tutorial of sorts.

“Thank you very much. By the way, is it correct that you are a magic instructor?”

　I knew the gist of hand-to-hand fighting, so now I decided to try training in magic.

“Ah. I’m not a magician myself, but I can use it. I am not a magician myself, but I can give advice to users without any problem. The magic training area is over in that direction.”

　After Mr. Perkins said that, I decided to follow him.

“I hadn’t heard your name, by the way.”

“My name is Fist (フィスト fisuto), Sir.”

　Since I was in a position to ask for instruction, I decided to take that sort of attitude. I might have gotten carried away.

　Mr. Perkins, on the other hand, did not particularly blame me for that, and continued with more words.

“What magic do you know now?”

“I have learned spirit magic.”

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“A spirit user, then? Then I ask you, what is the weakness of spirit magic?”

“Yes, it cannot be used in places where there are no spirits.”

　In this game, spirit magic is exercised by borrowing the power of spirits. In other words, if there is no spirit, magic cannot be used.

　For example, in this training ground, the ground is soil, so there are spirits of soil. It is not covered by walls or a roof, so there are spirits of wind. There is a fire spirit because used stakes are burned. There is a water spirit because there is something like a pond nearby.

　So the magic of the four basic spirits can be used without any problem. Perhaps for training purposes, they have prepared all the spirit magic for use.

“Correct. Spirit magic cannot be used in places where there are no spirits. If you can get a spirit stone, you don’t have to worry about that, but there is a limit.”

　It is a name often heard in fantasy, but of course its role differs from title to title. The spirit stone in this world, If I might guess, is an item that plays a role in the exercise of spirit magic.

“It is a stone that can temporarily store a spirit. It is said to be a rare and precious item, but if you are lucky, you may have a chance to obtain one. Let me show you.”

　Mr. Perkins stopped. A wide space spread out in front of us. There are the same wooden stakes standing here and there.

“First, try to cast a spell on those stakes.”

　Doing as I was told, I targeted the indicated stake and called upon the spirit of the wind to help me. There is no fixed chanting for spirit magic. When you master [Spirit Magic], the language skill [Spirit Language] is added, and you use it to ask the spirits to do what you want. It is said that if one becomes proficient, even keywords can be used to invoke the magic.

　The wind was covered with a thin greenish light and headed straight for the stake, hitting it. The stake is ripped as if it was cut by a sword. The Windcutter (ウインドカッター windokattaa) spell, a basic magic that can be used at the first level of spirit magic, succeeded without incident.

“The same is true of all spirit magic, but the higher the level, the more advanced the magic can be. Windcutter could be made to release multiple blades instead of a single shot, or increase the sharpness of the blade. It all depends on your imagination.”

“Imagination, is it?”

“I feel like I was told something strange.” Isn’t it a mistake to learn more advanced magic as the level rises? Thinking so, I asked,

“What are you talking about? The effect of spirit magic depends on the blessings of the spirit. The key to proficiency is how to get the spirit to exert the desired effect.”

　And so on. In other words, the effect of magic depends on your own ideas and the power of the spirit to actually reproduce them.

“Hence, even if there were a spirit user of the same power as you are now, the number of available magics would not necessarily be the same.”

…This is another… what a conundrum! In other words, you can create as much magic as you like, depending on your ideas. To be precise, it means that the number of things a genie can do will increase.

　But this is also an interesting element. If you are so inclined, you can use countless kinds of magic even at one level. Of course, it would be difficult to have a good effect at a low level, but it’s an interesting element. I wonder how the system works.

How about this, ……?

　I call out to the spirits of the wind and tell them my image. Now, let’s see if it works…

“Sir, could you throw a stone at me?

“A stone?　Fine.”

　The dubious look that came to his face for a moment was soon replaced by a happy one, and Perkins-san picked up a pebble at his feet and lightly threw it toward us.

　As if the stone had hit an invisible wall, it fell to the ground without hitting me.

　Success. A protective wall of wind. That was the magic I had just tried.

　But the next moment, the stone hit me. The effect of the wall of wind was still in effect.

“It’s still not strong enough.”

　So said Perkins-san, playing with a stone in the palm of his hand. He threw another stone, this time not lightly, but hard. The wall of wind could not stop it.

“But the idea is good. Yes, think first of what you can do, as you are doing now. That will help you.”

“Yes, thank you, Instructor-dono.” (-dono is an honorific of respect)

　I have to admit that this advice was helpful. If I had remained ignorant of it, I would have continued to use Windcutter and other early magic. And even though the power increased, I might not have been able to use other magic and might have had a very limited use for it.

“If I could have helped you grow, then teaching you was worthwhile. Young people these days don’t listen to others, they just do what they want and get it done. In fact, few ask us for advice.”

　It is true that tutorials can be tedious and annoying in computer games, but in a game like this, the first thing to do is to get information.

　Beta testers understand this well enough, and if they have gathered information beforehand, they will know of this. For those who jumped into this world without knowing those things, I think this place has plenty of value.

“What a waste of time and money.”

　I said honestly. And this is not limited to this training ground. Yesterday, while walking around eating, I made small talk with NPCs, but it was by no means uniform, and was full of various topics. It seemed that there was useful and advantageous information lying everywhere that would be useful in advancing in the game from now on. There was no way not to take advantage of it.

　Suddenly, I noticed a message floating in the air.

[Do you want to register a new spirit magic (wind)?]

　When I selected “yes,” the screen changed to a screen for entering a magic name. I see, this is how you add more magic. Or rather, it is treated as a reminder. I name it “Wind Guard” (ウインドガード windogaado) and complete the registration.

“Then, Instructor-dono, I will study magic a little more.”

“Umu. Feel free to rely on me if you need anything. Let’s help as much as possible.”

“Of course, thank you.”

“I look forward to your future endeavors.”

　With a dignified and admiring salute, Perkins-san left. I guess he went looking for someone else who needed advice.

“Now, let’s do this.”

　How far can I go with what I have now? I must examine what will be possible in the future. Let’s mobilize all the knowledge I’ve accumulated in TRPGs up to now and see if I can reproduce it in this game. Oh, I’d like to practice some more [Hand-to-hand] as well.

　

　The day was to be spent solely on training.

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