Chapter 07: The Time Has Come To See The World!

Since I finished the quest early, Popo could now go back to his house first and handed over the ingredients to his missus. And he would return later with some food for Elly too. In the meantime, I was supposed to train her.

“So, Elly. What do you want to become?” I asked before I decided to start her training. But her answer disappointed me somehow. “You decide, Ghost. I don’t mind either way.”

Too wishy-washy for my taste. But then, which women weren’t like that? Since I knew pretty much what I wanted to be, I picked up a sword, a couple of daggers and a shield, all made from wood and gave it to her.

“Equip the dagger on each hand first.” She nodded and immediately the weapon flashed on her hand.

“Good!” I equipped myself with a couple of daggers too. Each of us would stand in front of training dummy and I instructed Elly of what she needed to do. For her wishy-washy attitude, she seemed to catch on really quick.

“So, I’ll teach you two basic ways of holding a dagger; a reserve hold and a forward hold. Hold it like how I do and then I need you to swing it this way, alright. A dagger has the shortest range after all.”

And it was not just that. Not only it had a short range, a dagger had one of the lowest attack physical ratings of any weapon. The only weapon lower than a dagger in term of physical attack rating was a magic wand, but it was a non-issue since a wand would increase the user’s magic attack rating instead. However, what made dagger as a weapon deadly was because of its versatility, attack speed and the precise strike. And a dagger on each hand would increase the effectiveness even more. Though it had its pros and cons, for now, a dagger was the simplest weapon to teach.

She listened carefully to my instruction. Even when I told her that she needed to practice the same movement non-stop for the next 2 hours, she did not even complain to me once. I could do with this attitude for an ally. She was focused, diligent and surprisingly a fast learner who happened to be obedient too. I could not have asked for a better ally. She might be weak, but then again, she had me to do the rest.

I continued on practising non-stop for the next few hours. By that time, Popo had returned with the lunch, and as the two of the NPCs had their lunch, I continued to train.

“Look at your trainer, po. He sure works hard.”

“I could see that. And he seems to be kind too.”

“What do you mean by that, po?”

“He could leave me alone in the back alley when he caught me or had the guards threw me in jail. Or even worse, stripped me naked and abuse me instead. Men are vile creatures, Instructor Popo.”

“Not all men, po. Maybe the one you had met previously, but I’m sure Ghost is not like that.”

“I-I think so too. If I was not too hungry and weak, I might not readily have accepted his help, but then again, everything happened for a reason.”

The two of them chit-chatted while watching me training as if I was sort of exhibit. Surely they were talking about me and I could catch a little of their conversation but I could not care about that. My stats had risen up after all the effort I had put in.

Your Strength went up +1 point! (+ 1 STR)

Your Agility went up + 1 point! (+1 AGI)

Your Dexterity went up +1 point! (+1 DEX)

Oh wow. Three stats increased at the same time. I was questioning whether my training has reached the peaked when suddenly, I received a stat increase message. Seemed like training with weapons increased my stats a little faster than being bare-handed. But training bare-handed was important too as I could feel the extent of my training and surrounding. Besides, I just used only a week of game time to actually practice bare-handed. I still have 7 weeks to go.

*****

3 weeks of gameplay passed by.

During that time, I had increased by Strength by a further 15 points, Agility by 20 points, Dexterity by 15 points, Charisma by 3 points and Luck by 3 points. The Charisma increased was because of Elly as she too raised her stats by quite a bit and increased her Affinity towards me.

And I had gained myself 4 new skills too. 1 Active Skill and 3 Passives Skills. Since both active and passive skills were capped at 100 in total, I had no problem accepting these skills as it were.

PASSIVE SKILL: BLADE MASTERY Level 1

Descriptions: +10 STR, +10 DEX, + 10 AGI when using bladed weapons. Increase damage done by 15% when using any bladed weapon.

PASSIVE SKILL: CLOSE COMBAT MASTERY Level 1

Description: Equipping all melee weapon or going barehanded grant the user 15% increase in damage, 10% increase in HP, 5% increase Stamina. Permanently increase STR, DEX and AGI by +2

PASSIVE SKILL: UNYIELDING Level 1.

Descriptions: Stamina consumption decreased slowly when in combat. The current speed of stamina consumption rate 90%

ACTIVE SKILL: MAD RUSH Level 1

Descriptions: For a brief time, increase all your damage output by 30% for 1 minute. After that, -50% defence rating for 30 seconds.

Cooldown: 3 minutes.

I was jubilant with my progress. It was worth something to celebrate about. In fact, I did just that by telling Popo and Elly. They too were happy to see my progress. As Popo would always say, nothing beats having to see one student growing so much under his watch. Yeah, under his watch alright for he was just watching me – and most of the time, doing nothing. Whatever, you lazy rabbit.

Elly had now moved to her third weapon training, which was using the combination of sword and shield. I had taught her to use her shield not just a mean to defend but also as a blunt weapon. Done right, it could be very well damn effective, especially using a small rounded shield. Bashing an enemy to its head with a shield once we side-stepped it would definitely leave a major sore. A big shield would be too clunky for that, but a small rounded shield was perfect.

However, she was still wearing the same outfit as I first saw her. Heck, even me too. 4 weeks of gameplay and I had yet to even had a proper clothing. Just a pair of beginner’s outfit.

“Elly, come here for a while.”

I stopped her in the middle of her training. As she wiped her sweat away, she came to me with a smile on her face despite having trained non-stop for 4 hours. Her complexion changed for the better now. She did not look hungry anymore. Popo had been feeding her and in return, she would take care of the Practice Hall when he decided to play truant; which happened more often than not. The idea of her being a bunny girl went up in smoke the moment she saw the costume. Hell wrath no fury like a woman scorned. In the end, she ended up wearing the same old clothes much to Popo’s initial dismay.

‘What is it, Ghost?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking. I have 4 more weeks to go before I could go outside the city-gates and explore the world and it quite saddened me to see us like this.” I pointed to our clothes.

“But aren’t we poor? You don’t have money. And it’s the same as me.” Her words stung me right off the bat. Yeah, I knew our conditions better than anyone here. “Shush. Don’t state the obvious, Elly. It hurts, you know. Besides, can’t we do anything else to earn money?”

“Well, other than killing monsters, looting items and then selling them, completing quests and missions… I don’t know much else.” Elly was basically repeating what I already knew.

“What are you two talking about, po?” Suddenly, Popo came out from nowhere and interrupted us. I thought he went out as usual especially during this time of the day.

“Ghost just said that we looked poor and behave like one, too”

“Oi, I did not say that!” Elly just laughed at me as I tried to shut her mouth. But she was nimble enough to avoid me.

“I agree, po! You two reeks of salted vegetables that it stinks my whole place.” Popo scrunched his nose and his whiskers moved wildly.

“Oh, shut up you lazy rabbit!” I retorted back at him almost immediately. This was our usual ‘friendly’ banter.

“I’m not lazy and I’m not a rabbit, po! I’m a Bunnian. Rabbit is that stupid creature which happened to look like us and get killed by noobs like you!”

Whatever, you lazy rabbit. You looked like one and behaved like one too for me to think otherwise. No one day that would pass without him or me having to insult each other. In fact, I gave him the middle name ‘Lazy Rabbit’ and he called me ‘Salted Vege’. To others, we might behave like we were looking for a fight, but Popo and I knew better. And the end of the day, we would often laugh it off while calling each other names.

“I’m distributing flyers, you know!” The lazy rabbit did some work? My ears must be bleeding hearing that.

“Hmm, what flyers?” Elly came forward, pushing me aside.

“Nothing a low-level newbie like you need to know. But, I have something else for you if you want to make a little money.”

“Tell us, Instructor Popo.” Elly immediately went over and caressed Popo’s long ears like usual. They had been like this since the beginning. I was not wrong to think that their relationship was closer than I was to any of them.

“Well, my farmer friend seems to be having a little trouble with growing his crops. Too many rodents, he said.”

“Ahh… but I can’t get out of the city, just yet.” I commented, thus interrupting him. Looking at me annoyed, he let out a sigh.

“Then you have to wait until then to meet him, po! If you want, I can tell you about it once you had completed your training. Anyhow, Elly could still do the work for me and earn you two a little money.”

“Hmmphh… I won’t give him any.” Elly playfully pouted at me. I knew she was not serious when she said that but I was not going to borrow money from women. Mrs Green was an exception and that was the first and last time I asked her anyway.

But a quest involving rodent? Somehow, it sounded lame to me though. Not sure whether I wanted to take it or not once I could travel out of the city. Besides, I still needed to complete my training before I really set out into this world. I could do what other players do when they first started later on. Since I was midway through my training, might as well go all out. I have 3 more weapons left to train myself in; the bow, staff and wand.

Elly was instructed by Popo to follow him and earn us some money. She was obliged to his request seeing how much of a poor state we were in. As both of them left, the Practice Hall was quiet once again. Most players didn’t really come here, after all. I had been here for a month and saw nothing more than a few groups of passersby who just checked out on the place. No one here wanted to get close to a madman training like hell and a woman dressed in dirty rag who trained alongside him.

And perhaps that might worry Popo too. Ahh well, I could not be bothered about it. It was his place after all, not mine. He handled his own affairs and leave mine alone. But then again, it was quite sad to see this marvellous place being empty like this.

*****

4 weeks had passed. Finally, the day had arrived; the day that I could move out from the city and actually play this game for real. 18 hours a day for 2 weeks of real time just training in this amazing but desolate Practice Hall was taking a toll on my sanity. Though it could not have rivalled the intensity of my previous experiences nonetheless, facing the lifeless training dummies were getting on my nerve a little. And that included Popo who was always missing, leaving me and Elly alone here. I didn’t mind it if it was not for other players who came here by mistake and treat me as if I was the NPC of this place.

“Po, are you really leaving? I would be lonely, you know.” I was surprised by what he said. A few days back, he could not be any gladder to see the back of me. What with the change of attitude? Was he what I call… a tsun-something?

“I have to do what I must do, Popo. Besides, I still have to be around the city since I’m just level 1.”

‘Well, you are right, po. But I’ll still miss you.” He slumped his shoulder and gave me that wide, cute, and irresistible stare. I hated when he did that. I have a certain weak spot for plushy and furry things. “Aww man. Don’t give me that eyes, Popo. Please not.”

“If you say so, po. But the world outside is dangerous. This place is safer.”

“Because the world is dangerous that I’m planning to conquer it. Besides, I have Elly here with me.” I looked at Elly who was keeping quiet all the time, munching her lunch which was provided by Popo as usual.

“I like Instructor Popo’s food. If I can, I want to stay here too. But, Ghost still is weak and need my help too.”

Heh. Talk the one who begged me for food. Did you forget how you ended up here in the first place? Elly just looked at me and she gave out her grin. Well, for an NPC, she was beautiful. Her long blonde hair and her beautiful sculptured figure would turn any eyes on her. I could not help but to sneak a peek here and there when she was assuming nice but questionable fighting pose. And of course, I had no choice but to touch and corrected her mistakes. But she could do first without talking while eating her foods.

“Well, if you insist, po. But before you go, I want to give you something. As my thanks.”

Huh? A gift as thanks? What for? I should be the one thanking Popo, not the other way around. He sure was nonchalant in his duties but he was still here for me all these while accompanying me in my dreaded 2 months of game-time training.

Suddenly, the system message just popped-up from my screen.

Practice Hall Special Quest Completed!

Congratulations on completing the dreaded and boring Practice Hall quest. Instructor Popo is delighted that you had spent the whole 2 months here learning and perfecting the art of fighting, forgoing the pleasures of the world.

He was so impressed by your hard work and diligence and decided to give you your just reward. A man of your dedication must not go empty-handed, Popo said.

Rewards:

+ 1 Popo’s Iron Sword

+ Popo’s Special Armour Set (comes with full set of premium clothing with Popo’s trademark on it.)

+ 200 EXPs

+ 50 silver

+ 3 Fame.

+ 4 ranks of Affinity with Popo.

Gained Title: Popo’s Student (+ 1 STR, + 1 DEX, + 150 HP)

Wow, what a pleasant surprise.

Once I completed accepting the reward, my level increase to Level 2 immediately. I was rewarded with additional 5 stat points to be allocated as how I see fit. I opened up my status screen to my progress so far.

STATUS PAGE

Character Name

Ghost

Alignment

Unknown

Level

2

Fame (Recognition Points)

3

Class

NA

Title

Popo’s Student

Clan

NA

STATUS INFORMATION SCREEN

HP

250 (+150)

STR

65 (+1)

MP

120

DEX

65 (+1)

ATTACK POWER

50

AGI

72

MAGIC POWER

50

INT

10

DEFENCE RATING

25

WIS

10

STAMINA

100

LUCK

16

COMMAND POINTS

0

CHA

13

MAGIC AND ELEMENTAL RATINGS (%)

FIRE

WATER

WIND

EARTH

HOLY

DARK

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Satisfied with my progress, I did not need to spend the 5 stats points from leveling up bonus. I also decided to disable the display of my title for public view. Popo’s Student for a title sound kind of lame though I used it for the stat boost.

Looking at my stats alone, I did not blame others who think I might be in mid-level 30s or something. If I were to tell them that I was just at level 2, they would not only have laughed at me but ignored me altogether. Since bots and spammers were nonexistent in NPO, no one would have bothered reporting me. But all these did not come easy for me. I had paid my dues and now reaping the rewards. I then checked my new items.

Popo’s Iron Sword.

Requirements: Level 1.

Durability 100/100

Descriptions:

Just a gift to remind you of me, po.

+ 10 STR, + 5 DEX, + 5 AGI when equipped.

+ 15% Damage when equipped.

+ 30% Bonus Damage versus wild animals.

Equipment Status: Bound

Popo’s Special Armour Set

Requirements: Level 1.

Durability 255/255

Descriptions:

It’s comfortable and keeps you warm at night, po.

+ 20 STR, + 15 DEX, + 15 AGI when equipped.

+ 50 Defense Rating

When you equipped this armour set, you cannot wear any other armour until you unequipped it first.

Equipment Status: Bound

For a starter equipment, this was fucking awesome. I could not believe my own eyes. I was sure those higher levels would not bat an eyelid over this, but for me, this was a godsend. Since it was bound to me, only I could have equipped all these items.

I thanked Popo nonstop. He just beamed with happiness when I mentioned how thankful I am and I’ll not forget him. What was left now was to look for Elly’s equipment before we set on our journey. But before I could think any further, Popo suddenly asked me.

“Po, do you still remember about the quest I had told you about?”

Oh, that quest. The one with the farmer having trouble with rodent’s infestation? I just nodded at Popo as he explained to me.

“I need you to help my friend if you are alright with it.”

Well, since Popo had done so much for me, it was my turn to reply in kind. I answered yes to which he again was all happy and jolly.

You had accepted the Quest: Get me my stuff, po!(2)

Get me my stuff, po!(2)

I’m sad…

When I went to the market to buy some rainbow carrots, it was out of stock. The merchant said that the farmer that had been growing the vegetables had some trouble and had since stopped supplying us with the delicious carrots. And the farmer happened to be a friend of mine too.

Please help me, po…

Quest Rank: F

Completion Requirements:

Talk to the farmer, Bill. His farm is just outside the city.

Quest Reward:

None.

“Thank you, po. I really mean it.”

“It’s alright, Popo. I want to do this to thank you too. But I’ll get on to it once I get something for Elly.”

“It’s alright. But don’t take too long or else I’m going to miss eating my rainbow carrots.”

“Haha. Silly rabbit. You won’t. I would be back in the jiffy before you know it.” I laughed at him much to his annoyance. I won’t get tired of seeing him trying to get angry with that rabbit look of his.

“Again, I’m a Bunnian. Not a rabbit.”

Yeah, yeah.

We bid our goodbye to Popo for now. To help us in our journey, Popo gave us a further 20 smoked meats and a dozen of bread loaves. It was all he could do for us, he said. Well, he did more than he could and I really appreciated it.

Before both Elly and I could make into the city gate for the first time, I decided to take a little detour. I needed to equip her first. So we headed for the Adventurer Market Street for that very purpose.