Vulcan sat and stared mindlessly at the streams of water gus.h.i.+ng out of the water fountain.
Beloong city’s central plaza was ama.s.sed with people preparing for a hunt besides Vulcan.
“We are looking for two skilled ones for the western gate side orc colony hunt! We only take Second-rate or higher! People from Powel are also welcomed!.”
“We are looking for a martial artist that will go kick some Lamb-head b.a.s.t.a.r.ds’ a.s.ses. Murim only!”
“We are looking for a First-rate, close-combat mage that can continuously hunt mid-level boss orcs! Also looking for a Third-rate martial artist as a backup!”
TLN:In U.S, we don’t use the term second-rate/third-rate, etc. very often so this sounds strange to see in a sentence, but in Korea, “third-rate” is used often as derogatory term to rate things or someone’s skill. The author is literally using these to brand skill levels in this fictional universe.
It was funny to watch tough looking grown-up men yelling as if they were trying to form an RPG game party, but Vulcan’s face was having a hard time easing up.
“231, 339, 317, 289……”
Those were the levels of the people gathered in the plaza.
It was hard to find anyone with a level below 200, and occasionally there were some with a level far above 400. Even those equipped with shoddy armor or ones that looked ill had levels easily exceeding 100, hence it could be a.s.sumed there wasn’t anyone lower than Vulcan.
‘Ah right, there was that mister with the tiger coat.”
Still, that didn’t make Vulcan feel any better.
A muscular man approached Vulcan who was sitting mindlessly. The man started talking to him with a bit of an arrogant tone.
“Have you thought about joining a hunting party that hunts mid-level boss orcs? By the looks of it, you are not a Second-rate yet. It will be a more profitable business for you to do our ch.o.r.es instead of hunting alone.”
Vulcan answered with an expressionless face.
“It’s only been three days since I got here.”
The man looked displeased as he turned away.
Vulcan could hear him complaining
"What in the world is a baby chick doing sitting tight in the plaza..."
It wasn’t infuriating to hear. As he is now, even Vulcan knew his place at the moment was like that.
Vulcan picked up the small booklet and stood up from the spot. It was time to go meet the pub owner.
“Are you certain of your decision?”
“Yes, I can start right away even today.”
“You’ve made a wise decision. It is difficult to accept based on your previous achievements and accomplishments from your past dimension, but it will help you a lot to getting adjusted in Asgard.”
The pub owner Filder said with a big smile on his face, indicating he was glad to hear it from bottom of his heart.
TLN:In conversations, Vulcan calls him in honorary term, so Mr. Filder is used. In descriptions, author just uses the name, so that’s why I don’t use “Mr.” in descriptions.
Three days ago, Filder suggested to Vulcan about doing ‘basic training’ to survive in Asgard, or as the people from Murim would call it, ‘Heaven of Heavens.’
The idea was that Filder and a few others have the know-hows on how to settle in Asgard, hence Vulcan is set to gain so much more instead of working hard by himself.
Vulcan, who rarely remembers ever receiving favors without strings attached, asked like this:
“Why are you taking on tasks that are only bothersome and has no reward?”
“Those that arrived at Asgard for the first time are no different from a newborn baby. It is only right to be generous towards someone who is weaker, so please you do not need to feel like a being in debt.”
Filder was someone that would spit out cruel words with a smile on his face, just as Vulcan felt for a bit during the conversation with the man in the tiger coat. Filder said there was no need to respond right away and handed Vulcan a small booklet.
“Mr. Vulcan, this is data that will help you understand the environment you are in now. Please take a look.”
The booklet had basic information about Asgard and summaries of the nearby monsters’ types, threat levels, etc. It was quite useful.
To make up for lacking information, Vulcan scanned people while staying in heavily populated places like the trade district and plaza. It was to a.s.sess the average strength of the Beloong city residents.
And then Vulcan came to a conclusion.
At his current skill level, he could never survive in Asgard.
‘With my current skill level…… I can’t even be a Third-rate.’
According to the small booklet, the standard for Third-rate treatment began at level 100, so level 99 was below the qualification.
Since it was going to be hard facing a monster from even the easiest hunting ground in this place, there was only one way left—accepting Filder’s proposal.
“Actually I was a little worried. I make the same proposal to everyone visiting the Beloong city, but most of them get angry saying they cannot stand the patronizing tone. I can understand that… but things did not end well for most of those people.”
Filder continued after making a bitter face.
“It is a little late today, so the training will begin starting tomorrow. The 2nd and 3rd floor have many empty rooms, so please rest there and we can go to the training grounds tomorrow morning. Ah, it is ok; you can stay in this place from now on. There are plenty of rooms after all.”
“Yes, then please excuse me for being in your debt a little.”
Vulcan immediately laid on the bed without even taking off his equipment. He could feel the softness of the bed. Vulcan thought about what Filder said a moment ago.
‘It is common for people to refuse?’
Filder said most of the people coming to Asgard, or Heaven of Heavens, were displeased with his proposal. People that were used to being hailed as iron-blooded warlord in an empire, or those that were called by cool nicknames such as king of heavenly sword, master fist of Murim, etc., those that lived their lives always receiving preferential treatment by countless people.
‘Is it because of pride?’
It looked like they must have been thinking that being an underling to someone was unacceptable.
However, to Vulcan, it was irrelevant.
‘A high level user said he would give a newbie information and is boosting* me to become stronger!’
TLN*: Author simply used‘Jjull’ for this. ‘Jjull’ is an online game slang meaning an arrangement where a very high level user helps a low level user do well in game (helps a person slay monsters to level up, explain how to do things in game, etc.). TLDR; Author means getting "power leveled".
It was an opportunity too good to refuse because of petty pride. Instead, it was a fortune sent from heaven that one should be thankful for.
Vulcan thought to himself that he must firmly put his heart into this and start over. Follow the instructions and train steadily, and when he is up to about level 500, then he can go back to his home world, so try hard.
“…… but when will I get to f.u.c.king level 500.”
Vulcan couldn’t fall asleep easily due to all the worries about the future.
The cold air was a specialty of an early morning, but it brought about rather refres.h.i.+ng feelings instead of chilly. Filder and Vulcan walked side by side and shared stores about Asgard.
“Beloong city is frequently visited by people that wors.h.i.+ps a G.o.d of war called ‘Powel’ and black-haired people that call their world ‘Murim.’ The next most frequent visitors are the players.”
“Ah, so then that’s why……,”
“Yes. Mr. Vulcan, you did not know about Powel, and you were not wearing clothes specific to people from Murim, so I guessed you must be a player.”
In middle of listening, Vulcan asked out of the blue.
“By the way, are there other starter cities aside from Beloong city?”
Filder responded with an expression on his face as if why such an obvious thing is being asked.
“Of course. Beloong city has no more than twenty thousand residents. People claiming to be the united empire’s number one knight or its heavenly horseman from over ten thousand dimensions are flooding out, so there couldn’t be just twenty thousand.”
“Then, how many more cities like this……”
“There are nine more of similar size.”
“No way……”
Two hundred thousand of fiends with an average level of 200 that could annihilate a continent while smiling.
It gave Vulcan the creeps.
“Haha, I was surprised when I heard it for the first time. It even made me think about things like ‘I thought I was the best, but I am nothing after all.’ Asgard is full of fiend-like b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”
Vulcan stared at Filder with a cringe.
Hearing Filder, someone who is estimated to be over level 500, saying such rubbish made a feeling of defeat rush into Vulcan like an ocean wave.
‘Just what is he saying in front of an ultra low-level.’
Fiend-of-fiend, fiend-captain-like man saying such rubbish spoiled Vulcan’s mood somehow.
While talking about various things about Beloong city, they arrived at the front of the east gate.
They went past the guard, who was being as lazy as always, and exited the castle gate. There, a giant shadow greeted the two. Broad shouldered and lush tiger leather clothing, carrying a sword of immense size.
It was DokGo Hoo, the ruler of Nokrim.
‘What, why is he here?’