‘This old man is really fast. Is that even a jog? Or am I too slow?’

I was panting as I checked my stats.

Zeroth Race Aphu Job (Class) None Hobby None Stats HP 500/500 MP 440/440 STR 10 VIT 10 DEX 5 AGI 10 INT 15 WIS 20

‘As expected from my 10 AGI. I’m indeed slow...’

I saw the old man raised his thumb and smiled, then he went inside training ground. It was located in eastern side of town. Its size probably equivalent to a football stadium. I saw some plots with different facilities. Swordmanship, archery, martial arts, mystic and support, mixed class, formation training, etc.

Almost all facilities were packed with players. They were here to do tutorial quest and learning their basic skills. Technically, the quest was just a guide about the gameplay and learning different playstyles by roles.

Warrior and Mystic, for example, took a formation where Warrior as front liner while Mystic in the rear. The reason was probably to adapt the player inside Virtual Reality, because they did not play in front of monitor.

So they needed to get used in real-time battle. Nonetheless, I skipped and tried to do my own playstyle.

There were three plots with scarecrows that caught my eyes. Despite they looked like dolls for training, they were alive. Some used physical attack, some used magic. Their attack was really weak but they were still good for training.

No one thought they were useful. And it was wasting time to deal with them. They even dropped only a few copper coins. Most players would prefer doing tutorial quests for better rewards instead of killing those scarecrows. However, I had a different opinion.

‘This is just the beginning.’

I nodded as I looked around. It seemed NPC wasn't stationed in these sections. No players could be seen either. It was a perfect place for me.

A sign was placed for each plot. 'Stage' was written on the first sign. Second one was 'Party'. I would like to try those two later. For now, I was standing in front of the 'Solo' one. Before I jumped inside, I checked my basic skills.

Wisdom Level 1 Passive: Increase maximum MP and Magical Defense

Effect: +10% Curiosity Level 1 Passive: Lower Fatigue reduction

Effect: -1% Day Dreamer Level 1 Passive: Trigger negative mental state resistance in combat

Chance: 1% Low Appetite Level 1 Passive: Lower Hunger reduction

Effect: -1% Beautiful Mind Level 1 Passive: Increase potential and talent

Effect: +1%

Yeah, those were pretty bad skills. Despite all effects were in percentage, they weren't really useful for early game. And I did not even have an Active Skill. I could understand 【Curiosity】 and 【Low Appetite】, but 【Beautiful Mind】was a strange skill.

‘It increases potential and talent? What are those?’

Considering most MMORPG players’ mindset, those skills might be the reason why everyone talked bad about this race on forum. However, I still believed this race had some advantages. Especially 【Wisdom】 and 【Day Dreamer】.

I just needed to learn new useful skills or pick a right job and hobby, then I would be safe. But today, practice with those scarecrows would be my first activity.

I hit Mystic Scarecrow with my wooden sword. I attacked slowly without canceling its casting, waiting until it released its magic and I would attack again. I did it intentionally of course. It wasn't because of my low DEX. So when they hit me with their magic, I could level up my 【Wisdom】 and 【Day Dreamer】.

It felt like a small static when I got hit by their magic. Physical attack, on the other hand, felt exactly the same as I got hit by a wooden stick in real life. Thankfully, it was weak. I couldn't imagine if I got hit by the strong one. It was probably the same for magic.

'Incinerated by fire, sliced by wind, frozen by ice, or even pierced by earth spike.'

Well, what could I say? I had a great mind for imagining things. I kept day dreaming as I got hit multiple times by Scarecrow's hand, which was pretty much a wooden stick.

・・・

Training ground had been becoming my home for three days. I trained day and night. I only stopped when I needed to recover my fatigue and hunger. Hence, I leveled up some of my skills; 【Wisdom】 Lv. 5 (Effect: +15%), 【Day Dreamer】 Lv. 5 (Chance: 5%).

I also managed to learn 【Sword Mastery】, passive skill which increased my STR when I was using swords, and I leveled it up to level 3 (Effect: +3 STR).

Although I felt stronger, my base stats wasn’t raised even one point. I checked my stats multiple times when I took a rest, but nothing changed. Perhaps, stats could only be raised by skills. But that would be weird.

‘Well, it’s not like I blame the game. Let’s search for information later.’

I walked to the gate, but then I saw a man was walking towards me. He smiled and stopped in front of me.

“I saw you. Training hard all by yourself, huh?”

“…”

It was the man I met, the training ground’s owner. I greeted him with a bow.

“Hahaha… I really like your spirit, kid! Here take this!”

He gave me 5 gold coins!

“Now I acknowledge you. You actually have potential like that man. No one's training with those scarecrows, you know. But If you can keep going- Oh my, I almost forgot. I need to go home now. Keep up the good work, kid! Hahaha.......”

"...???"

He tapped my shoulder then left with a smile. I saw his back as I was dumbfounded.

‘What was that? A quest?’

I didn’t remember I accepted one. Perhaps, it was a compensation for killing those scarecrows in training ground. There was no information about this on the forum.

There were some who killed these mobs when the beta test was opened, but no one said they encountered any event. Because of that everyone seemed to ignore it and do the tutorial quest instead.

‘A new event after the release?’

Yeah, that was the only thing that made sense. But I still felt something really odd. He was acting strange somehow. I shook my head.

'I'm just tired. I almost trained for 12 hours nonstop in real life. I really need a good sleep, I guess."

I might be overthinking it. Well, I planned to find a place to rest for a while then going to an inn. So I walked outside the training ground. When I was right in front of the gate, a window popped out.

Training Result STR +3 DEX +2 AGI +3 WIS +5

'Ah! Indeed… Just as I thought.’

My question about stats growth was answered. There’s no way stats wasn’t raised when one trained hard day and night.

I moved my feet to the street with a satisfied smile.

・・・

I listened to people who were talking while I was walking. I listened to every conversation by NPCs and players until I stopped inside a small bar. Some were talking about their life. Some were talking about equipment and hunting grounds. And some were talking about what kind of job they should pick.

‘Job, huh? I haven’t decided what kind of character I want to be’

I got some coins from the mobs’ drop and training ground’s owner. I thought about buying new gears and then grinding afterwards. Picking a job could wait.

I ordered a drink and sat down on a vacant seat in front of bartender. While I was waiting for my order, I tried to listen to everyone in the bar again. Suddenly a blue window appeared.

Skill Acquired You have learned Eavesdropping!

‘There is this kind of skill!?’