Translator: Eisen Editor: Weasalopes
I recall Rig and summon Zangetsu.
I"m going to need her to increase my movement speed.
Naturally, Lambda is running with his own legs.
Of course, since he"s no match for Zangetsu or Volff on long distances, his speed seems rather moderate.
But it"s still quite impressive.
We"re heading towards the Spirit Shrine.
Of course, we"ll encounter monsters in the way there.
Black Bears and Snow Apes.
As an example, I battled a Snow Ape while Lambda watched.
As expected, they"re remarkably stronger than Orcs.
It was also difficult to do my explanations while fighting.
I"ll just give some advice after I finish the fight.
It"s basically no better than trying to use a rear naked choke on an Orc.
「I don"t think that there are any PKs that are tougher than these Snow Apes at this point」
「Certainly.」
「Well, Snow Apes don"t use magic, but since they are physically similar to humans, they might be good for practicing.」
「Practicing, huh?」
「Yeah. We can also sell any items we get, and leveling up would be nice as well.」
「I see.」
So, next.
Let"s have Lambda practice by fighting with a Snow Ape.
But, you see.
We haven"t encountered a single Snow Ape for a while.
Only a Black Bear.
We took it down together with Lambda before continuing ahead.
Well, I got some fur as well as a bear palm.
I"m happy for those, but that"s not what we came here for.
This won"t do.
Lambda isn"t fighting any Snow Apes.
Let"s use Call Monster to call a nearby Snow Ape to us.
「Call Monster!」
This spell"s effect now also tells me the location of nearby monsters.
Hey, what"s this?
There are Snow Apes in the area.
Just a little more than the number of Black Bears around.
d.a.m.n it!
Come here and attack us like you"re supposed to!
For now, two of them showed up some time away from each other.
The first to appear is for Lambda.
I"ll take care of the other one.
「Let"s go, then!」
「Let"s go!」
Lambda is fighting the Snow Ape with his bare hands.
I"m also fighting my Snow Ape as I watch him fight.
Coaching from start to end is a must when it comes to teaching.
I wasn"t worried or anything.
「It turned out to be an instant kill…」
「Do you understand what you did wrong?」
「Yes. I"m putting in too much power.」
「If you know, then tune yourself. Also, make sure to check the monsters" HP bars.」
「Got it.」
I seem to be in a small predicament.
Should I praise you?
Should I scold you?
Both seem okay, but still…
The fact that you"re so strong makes it a problem.
There are times when you can"t acquire skill because of that.
It"s an extravagant problem which I never thought I would actually have to face.
「Can you manage your stats?」
「Huh?」
「Can you lower your STR, AGI, and DEX? Instkilling hardly counts as practicing.」
「I can, but…」
I know what"s troubling him.
In Lambda"s case, he needs his speed in order to perform a rear naked choke.
Snow Apes, however, are dreadful foes.
If he lowers his AGI, he might not be able to use that technique.
「Punches and kicks too. I"ll restrict myself to only those abilities now.」
「Are you sure?」
「Certainly there is no surpa.s.sing yourself when you"re overwhelmed by your stats, but I won"t stop there.」
Right.
What he wants is Player Skills.
He must know what he"s lacking.
「If you fight the Snow Apes, you will master yourself. First of all, you should try to grow.」
「Yes!」
All right.
Next.
I"ll add some more Snow Apes by using Call Monster.
One for Lambda, and two for us.
Let"s a.s.sign one of them to Volff and the guys.
We went on practicing while aiming for the Earth Spirit Shrine.
I was careless and I got damaged while fighting some of the Snow Apes.
I could take them down, of course, but I had to use some spells.
This won"t do.
I"m being the teacher here, and yet I"m getting a little sloppy.
I need to think about this.
《[Punch] Level Up!》
《[Block] Level Up!》
《[Earth Magic] Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Earth Magic】spell【Stone Wall】!》
《You have acquired the【Earth Magic】spell【Gravel Blast】!》
《Summon Monster 『Zangetsu』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
And yet, there was only so much to gain from this.
Well done.
Her AGI has increased automatically upon leveling up.
I selected STR as her second stat increase.
Monster Summon Zangetsu Horse Lv5→Lv6（↑1）
DEX 7
AGI 23（↑1）
INT 7
STR 23（↑1）
VIT 23
SPI 7
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Stampede Kick
Yeah.
Beautiful.
And I"ve learned two more spells.
A barrier spell and an AOE attack, just like their Wind and Water variants.
Well, I"m glad that I"ve got more options now.
Once again, we head towards the Earth Spirit Shrine.
This is a huge Map, but we"ll get there soon.
We battled Snow Apes, including ones called with Call Monster, until we reached the shrine.
Black Bears came second.
We obtained Snow Ape bones and hide, and palms and pelt from the Bears.
These are plenty of spoils.
And Lambda"s progress is also crucial.
He"s having trouble dealing with the Apes with only punches and kicks.
But that"s fine.
You can"t wish for improvement without some struggling.
I have a good feeling about his rear naked chokes, too.
These Apes are formidable enemies, so they can"t be damaged without having a firm level of skill.
They take longer to defeat this way, and we receive more damage as well, but this might be the way to get some improvement done.
It"s much better than fighting those mild Orcs.
The Earth Spirit Shrine"s aspect has completely changed.
It must have been revamped during maintenance.
The inside and the outside are beautiful.
The usual Knocker and Gnome are not there.
But it"s clear that they too have been removed at that time.
What"s more, there were some previous visitors inside the shrine.
Probably a party that reached this place?
There seems to be around ten people there.
This is a place for about two parties.
They seem to be resting in a tent that has been set up in a corner of the s.p.a.cious hall.
And they start logging out one right after the other.
Some of them notice us and start looking this way.
Some of them are eating Portable Food.
I tried to pay as little attention to them as possible.
「It"s too early to have lunch.」
「Yes. But it"s better to log out for the time being. By the way, is this time okay?」
「The game time today is just about 2PM.」
「That"s why it"s inconvenient to go looking for PKs, right?」
「If you prefer to train today, that"s no problem.」
Tomorrow I have to go back to Legias to receive my requested item.
I only need to use Return Home to go back, but it"s inconvenient to match my times with Lambda"s.
It would be better for Lambda to do some independent training as he hunts by himself.
「Please log out for a moment. Once you"re back, let"s do some training and have our meal.」
「All right. I"ll be back in ten minutes.」
While Lambda is setting his tent, I"ll make some changes to my lineup.
I"ll return Zangetsu and summon Jericho.
I"ve used Call Monster several times in a row now, but my MP bar is not that low to prevent me from using spells.
I still have some left.
Besides, the effect of my silver necklace slightly reduces MP consumption.
I should be able to spend it heartily.
But I shouldn"t overdo it.
The amount of people in this place has visibly decreased.
It seems that the six remaining people have joined together as a party, and will continue adventuring.
Now it seems they"re leaving the Earth Spirit Shrine.
Please do your best.
Well then, I have some time to kill.
I"ll restock on arrows by using the Obsidian Stone to create arrowheads, and then the arrows themselves.
When I ran out of Obsidian, Lambda came back.
All right.
Let"s do this.
「Well then, let"s continue yesterday"s training. Let"s do some mock battles.」
「Training, right?」
Yeah.
It"s up to Lambda as to whether this will be a good training session.
I hold a short wooden knife and a short sword on each hand.
「What I"m about to teach you is fundamental, but it"s not easy to learn.」
「Okay.」
「I can"t say I"m that serious about this myself, though. At least that"s what I think.」
We started our training in the Earth Spirit Shrine.
I"m only going to teach the basics.
It would be better to remember how to use a sword.
Though what I"ve decided to teach now is fencing, based on the premise of using a j.a.panese sword.
I could only give Lambda a short sword for him to use.
So we"ll cover stances first.
What"s the basic stance when fighting with a short sword?
It"s half body.
If you"re holding your weapon with your right hand, you should put your right foot forward.}
There are several reasons for this.
It"s easy to adjust the interval between back and forth movements.
You can get close to your opponent with some wit and footwork, even if they are trying to fall back.
Be it against a short sword or a knife, the fact that the timing is so tight naturally becomes a disadvantage.
When it comes to making the best use of this, it"s reasonable to first step out from your opponent"s attacks and then make an attack of your own.
It"s easy to make the best use of this stance"s advantages while capitalizing on those weaknesses.
From the opponent"s perspective, their range of available attacks becomes limited.
This is simply huge.
It"s difficult for them to perform a thrust and follow it with another attack.
Just taking that into account, this stance is also strong when it comes to defense.
Its effectiveness is nothing to scoff at.
But before that, there are other bigger reasons.
There are many occasions in which you can hurt yourself with your own weapon.
This is very important.
Of course, this basic stance has its own weaknesses.
Since half of your body is out there with your right foot forward, being targeted there is easy.
One should also be careful of the opponent"s attempts to stomp your right leg with their own.
After stances, we covered katas. 1
We took turns to practice attacking and receiving against each other.
There"s a meaning behind katas.
A kata is an essence that excludes many elements.
One cannot neglect that.
On the other hand, we"re not practice-swinging.
I don"t mean to say that it"s pointless to practice your swings with a sword, but it"s better to actually fight monsters instead.
There"s no training that beats actual combat.
There is no such thing as waiting to master a technique before dealing with actual battles, regardless of what martial art you are practicing.
It would take too much time to wait until becoming a master before throwing yourself into battle.
As if, it"s impossible.
After repeatedly practicing katas, we decide to spar.
Lambda is using a short sword.
I"m with the knife.
It looks a lot like fencing, but we"re adding a few other elements along with the short swords.
Kicks come flying.
There are also throws.
And even joint locks.
Originally, these martial arts had the premise of taking down a leader.
They were devised to bring down an armored samurai to the ground in order to decapitate them.
Naturally, they would be effective with monsters as well.
And the same can be said for PKs.
This way of fighting cannot be dealt with without good Player Skills.
「I"m definitely no match for you.」
「Oh, I won"t stand a chance against you once we"re at the same level.」
In Lambda"s case, his movements are good, probably because he"s played soccer.
He"s also quick at shifting his own body weight.
However, his skills with weapons are not yet worthy of praise.
Well, he"s just learned katas, so it can"t be helped.
「You don"t have to hold your weapon so tightly. Just when you"re about to strike」
「Got it!」
Well, this is hard to learn, even if I explain it with words.
I don"t think you"ll understand if you don"t actually strike something.
But let me show you the basics.
Holding the sword is easy.
Usually, the little finger is what puts in the most amount of strength.
The most effort is put when you"re about to strike, and when you"re defending.
With this, if you remember how to turn your wrists, you"ll improve quickly.
But still…
If I just explained it with words, it"s simple.
But how can we practice this perfectly?
Even if I weren"t too thorough with it.
No matter the swordsmanship style, each has their own secrets when it comes to the basics.
Martial arts are deep.
Too deep.
We stopped training just before noon and had lunch.
So it"s noon now.
There"s been no notification from the GMs.
They said that there would be an event starting at noon today.
These GMs don"t want to release all of the information at once.
Not even in small pieces.
Is that stance going strong even here?
「Well then, shall we go outside and find some Snow Apes?」
「Oh, yeah!」
「You"ll use a short sword. You are to finish them with a rear naked choke.」
「Understood.」
Let"s have him use a short sword for now and do some fighting.
I think something will come out of this.
Then, when we were about to leave the shrine.
Something was happening about the center of the room we were in.
One by one, players started to appear.
What?
「We"ve died and resp.a.w.ned, huh?」
「Isn"t that the party that left a while ago?」
What"s with that?
They left not so long ago, and here they are all resp.a.w.ning after dying.
What happened?
If you look at their formation and equipment, they should be beaten by the likes of Black Bears and Snow Apes that easily.
Their faces were completely pale, too.
The sixth party member resp.a.w.ns after some time.
It"s total annihilation.
「What happened?」
I thought I might come across as rude, but I still tried talking to one of them.
I needed to get information.
「It was a monster. We came across five Snow Apes.」
「Even though we"ve encountered only one on our way here!」
「That was unlucky.」
A tank, a magic user and an archer all replied.
The other three are another tank, a Dwarf warrior, and an Elf archer.
Their balance is good.
What"s more, even with five Snow Apes against them all, I don"t think they should have been defeated.
One of those Apes must have been of a higher level.
「Was one of them wielding an axe, by any chance?」
「One of them, was it not?」
「Oh, right.」
「We couldn"t use【Identify】on time to check its level, though.」
「Are you a Summoner? Still, be careful! I think their numbers have become quite troublesome.」
I received this advice from a female tank.
I"m sure that there"s a beautiful face behind that helmet.
She has a nice voice.
「Take care.」
I say my goodbyes and I take my leave.
And then we exit the shrine.
Did you encounter the five Snow Apes at the time the event started?
Something must be happening.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv10
Job Summoner Lv10
Bonus Points Remaining 8
Skill Sets
Staff Lv8 Punch Lv6（↑1）Kick Lv6 Joint Lock Lv5 Throw Lv5 Evade Lv6 Block Lv6（↑1）Summon Magic Lv10 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv3
Light Magic Lv5 Wind Magic Lv6 Earth Magic Lv6（↑1）Water Magic Lv5
Fire Magic Lv5 Dark Magic Lv5 Ice Magic Lv3 Lightning Magic Lv3
Tree Magic Lv3 Dust Magic Lv3 Lava Magic Lv3 Steam Magic Lv3
Alchemy Lv5 Pharmacy Lv5 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv4
Synergy Lv8 Appraise Lv7 Identify Lv7 Discern Lv3 Cold Resistance Lv3
Grab Lv6 Horsemanship Lv6 Precise Manipulation Lv8 Jump Lv3
Heat Resistant Lv4 Climb Lv4 Dual Wield Lv5 Disa.s.sembly Lv3
Physical Reinforcement Lv3 Mental Reinforcement Lv4 Speedcasting Lv5
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod x 1 Kaya Wood Tonfa x 2 Enraged Pickaxe + x 2 Silver Necklace + Snow Leopard Push Dagger x 1 Gale Tiger Push Dagger x 2
Wild Horse Leather Armor + Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots +
Snow Ape Leather Helmet Rampage Belt + Rucksack Item Box x 2
Items:
Survival Knife, Woodworking Tools
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Monster Summons:
Volff Grey Wolf Lv1
Zangetsu Horse Lv5→Lv6（↑1）
DEX 7
AGI 23（↑1）
INT 7
STR 23（↑1）
VIT 23
SPI 7
Skills
Trample Dash Endurance Run Wild Gallop Stampede Kick
Helix Hawk Lv5
Obsidian Owl Lv5
Jean Bat Lv5
Jericho Wood Golem Lv4
Goki Demon Lv4
Senki Beast Ape Lv5
Rig Slime Lv4
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv3
Companions:
Lambda (Real name: Omega)
TL Note: A kata is a ch.o.r.eographed pattern of movements to be practiced in order to perfect said movements for real combat. ↩