As I stared at the fleeting figure of the eccentric adventurer, I heard Tia’s voice call out to me. “Sir Vincent.”

“Vincent is fine. No need to be so formal; it’s jarring for me.” I turned toward her.

She cleared her throat and made a smile. “Then, Vincent… the instructor is waiting for you on the practice ground.”

“Got it.” I was so used to her politeness that I copied her way of speaking. “Umm… where’s the practice ground again?

“Ah, yes, a moment.” Tia made a few steps toward the reception area and yelled, “Elie, please cover for me!” before telling me to follow her. “I will lead you to the training field.”

I nodded, following her through the long corridor located at the back of the hall we were previously in. At the end of the corridor was a door that led to an expansive ground filled with practice equipment: a shooting area, an area packed with wooden dummies, an obstacle area, an area stuffed with numerous big rocks, and even an arena — a man was punching the air with sharp knuckles there.

The man seemed to have noticed we were coming, so he stopped with his practice and walked down the arena. “Are you the new recruit that’s going to take the acceleration test?”

“Yup.”

He neared me and held out a hand. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am the instructor of the Adventurer’s Guild, Bernard.”

The instructor was a middle-aged man with red scratch marks on his right eye, a short grayish-white beard but without a mustache, and a muscled-up body. His face looked sharp, like that of a professional boxer, though he wore a simple leather tunic, pants, and boots.

I accepted the handshake. His hand was so massive! Maybe because he used those metal knuckles…

“I see that you’re not much of a fighter.” He let out my hand while sizing me up.

Is he the one that I’ll be facing in this test? Better check his stats then. I activated my [Developer Interface] on him.

Name: Bernard

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Age: 55 years old

Height: 182 cm

Occupation: Adventurer’s Guild’s instructor, ex-adventurer, ex-liberator

Title: Flaming Knuckler

Vocation: [Flaming Hands]

Stats:

STR: D+ (58) AGI: D (53) VIT: D (46) MAG: E (30) SPR: D (54)

Accumulation Points: 55 [D]

“Flaming Knuckler…?” What kind of title is that? Still, he was way stronger than me, stronger than Cornelia even.

“Boy, you know me?”

Shoot! “Uh… s-something like that…”

He laughed wholeheartedly, holding his stomach. “Who would have thought that the achievement of liberating a dungeon with my party still resounds to this day!”

So liberators are adventurers that managed to conquer dungeons, huh? And even if it’s a party that takes down the dungeon, all the members become liberators as well… But what’s the number limit, then? I didn’t stay in my thoughts and began brainstorming the plan to take him down.

“Alright, enough idle chatter. Come here for a moment.” Bernard walked to the weapon racks at the side, saying, “You can choose a weapon from here; you’re only allowed to use wooden weapons.”

Since I wasn’t too keen to show my ace — my sword — I accepted his proposal, taking a short sword from the rack while putting my backpack and sword down nearby. I wasn’t familiar with other types of weapons; I was interested in using a bow though.

“Is that your weapon? A common, solid choice for a newbie,” he praised.

“Yes. Um, am I allowed to use magic?”

He grinned with confidence. “By all means, don’t hold back! Feel free to use magic or any Vocation you have. I’ll receive all of them with open arms.”

Smiling inwardly, I imbued the wooden sword with [Programming], multiplying its impact force twice its normal. I didn’t go “overboard” in consideration of limiting what I would show and the weak material of the sword.

“Alright! I’m all pumped up!” Stepping onto the arena, I cracked my fingers, ready to take this challenge head-on. My first battle!

“I like your confidence! Don’t lose too early, boy. I won’t use any magic or my Vocation, but it will be a grave mistake to underestimate me.” Bernard took off his metal knuckles and also cracked his fingers and neck. “Miss Tia, please be the referee for this bout. The condition of winning is to whoever gets the first strike on the enemy.”

“Very well.” Tia agreed and stood at the edge of the arena.

“Though I’m a far cry from my peak, I still got some vitality in me, be careful.” He pumped his fists, seeming ready to pounce at me. “Rest easy, I’m good at pulling my punches.”

“Please go easy on me.” I smiled wryly, now a bit nervous.

Tia, standing as the referee, stated, “Are you both ready?”

We both nodded simultaneously, taking a fighting stance. He lowered his waist a little, putting both of his fists in front of his face, whereas I clenched my sword hard and put it at a middle-high position to the enemy — him.

“Then we will proceed with combat forms. Both parties, at the ready.” Tia eyed us both, finding that we were already in battle position, she swung her arm downward as if announcing the start of the duel. “Begin!”

Bernard took the first move and rushed at me at an incredible speed, and then jabbed his fist at my face. In response, I quickly backed off and evaded his first sudden strike. My set helped me in evading his attack that otherwise would be impossible. But in return, my back hurt!

“Heh! Not bad!” He smirked, launching a set of relentless attacks, in which every time, I was barely able to dodge or parry by a hair’s breadth. If not for the condition placed inside the sword, parrying his attack would’ve thrown my sword into the air.

Despite the additional thrust given by the set, I was pushed back two meters after blocking the last strike he delivered. My arms trembling… I figured that I would be toast if I received that punch directly. Truly, someone with a D evaluation was beyond “human” in every sense.

“You’re not going to pass if you’re just dodging, y’know!” He went for another attack. “Gimme your best shot!”

“Dammit! {Stone Shards}!” Stone after stone the size of a fist appeared around me, making up a dozen or so, and shot at him ceaselessly, but it was futile as he dodged each and every one of them.

“Shortened casting? How rare! But this is the end!” As though a ghost, Bernard darted at me at a faster speed than before and was about to grab me—

At short notice, the ground below his feet caved in and he fell down the hole.

“The end? But not for me!” I swung my sword as hard as I could at his body that was falling into the hole. All this time, I had been silently casting {Earth Shaper} at the ground and lured him to my trap.

Unlike [Programming], which required me to have contact with the thing I wanted to program, {Earth Shaper} was more versatile in terms of range. Through my feet, I could channel my magical power to cast the spell in a range of ten meters or so.

But to my surprise, even while astonishment colored his face, he was nevertheless able to block the sword strike and use that momentum to push his body out of the hole. Indeed, he was a veteran through and through. Still, I wouldn’t let this chance go to waste! Therefore, I cast another {Stone Shards} — a self-modified Low-tier Geo spell — at him.

Since he was still rather high in the air, and in spite of his attempt to punch the incoming stones, some still struck him. Yet Bernard almost didn’t seem hurt at all, and when he landed, he launched at me like a hungry tiger he was, his presence expanding as he shortened the distance between us in an almost instantaneous manner with his deadly fists.

I winced, closing my eyes at the impending danger and thrusting my sword forward.

“That’s enough. The bout goes to Vincent!” announced Tia.

I unsealed my eyes and saw a fist about to hit me in the face but stopped at the last moment. And my sword thrust was hitting air, far from him.

“Hahaha! Never close your eyes in a duel! I said that I’m good at “pulling” punches!” Yeah, right… “But hey, you have great moves, just that you’re too focused on your sword, but otherwise, it was such a brilliant tactic to lure me with your magic. I accept this loss.”

“Does that mean I passed, Instructor Bernard?” I heard that Tia announced me as the winner, but…

“You jest? If you don’t pass, then no one else will. Then what’s the point of this test?” He guffawed at my silly question.

“That’s great!”

My victory was basically achieved by many factors: For starters, he didn’t even use his Vocation and magic — this duel was rigged to my advantage. In addition to that, although I was a total amateur in the way of the sword, the Lavish Set gave me movement support in times of need. And him holding back for the most part act as the final nail in the coffin.

“Thanks for the match.”

“Hahaha! Next time, I won’t lose. Just be prepared.” He put his hand on my shoulder, with a face that was telling me “He will accomplish greatness” or whatever.

Next time? Please, anything but that… I might look fine on the outside, but my body was aching in pain. Even now, I was barely able to keep myself from collapsing like a brittle stone concrete.

Overall, this battle made me realize that I lacked a finishing move because my set couldn’t support me in making bursting movements. Sooner or later, I should work something out for that.

All wrapped up, Tia and I went back inside the guild’s reception area. I was told to wait for a bit for my card to be processed, but it didn’t take more than half an hour before being called back to Tia’s reception desk.

“First off, congratulations on passing the test. And here’s your guild card.” She handed me a white, thin card made out of marble but didn’t let go of the card and instead told me with a stern face, “By joining the Adventurer’s Guild, you must follow the rules imposed by us: don’t kill other adventurers deliberately; don’t rob someone else of their possessions; and most of all, remember to keep your safety above all else! Do you understand?”

“Uh-huh…” Can’t promise with those rules, but I will try to only kill adventurers that invade my dungeon when necessary.

Hearing my affirmation, her face loosened up and a smile reformed. “Good. And if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to tell me any time.”

“I will.” I inspected the guild card that was now entrusted to my hand. There were carvings of my basic information on the card along with a small hole at the middle edge of the shorter side that could be inserted with a chain or strap to be made as a necklace or something.

“Also, um… this may be a bit late…” Tia bowed a little and greeted, “Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild. I am Tia, a senior front desk receptionist. May the light of liberation shine upon your adventure, adventurer.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“It is my pleasure.” She conducted herself impeccably all this time, making her showcase the charm of a mature lady. Even when I secretly checked her status screen, she was only a year older than me.

Speaking of which…

“Tia, right? This has been on my mind for a while… Are you by any chance related to Tina?”

She raised her eyes. “Y-You know my little sister?”

“Yeah, well, I stayed at your family’s inn last night. The place is definitely top-notch, and Tina, she was such a big helper.”

“Glad to hear that.” She seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “So, are you going to start doing a quest right away?”

Right. Previously, I’d already inspected the quest billboard in search of suitable quests as well as to form a plan for my future accomplishments. My aim currently was to gather as much information as possible regarding dungeons and to increase my adventurer rank — it’d certainly have many uses in the future.

“Sure. I want to take this quest.”