“Good morning Lexus-san!”

“Ah, you’re here Godou.”

Replying to Godou’s call was Lexus who was standing next to the open entrance of a large white building. This said building was the church.

Standing next to him as a dark haired teenage boy wearing an open collared red and tan robe with a white toga wrapped over and around his torso. A golden pendant hung from his neck. In terms of age this person was probably the same age as Godou? No, perhaps he was older by a few years?

After logging out briefly to get some respite from the Royal Road, Godou had logged back in andby following the directions he received from Mark, he had arrived to find Lexus waiting for him. The time acceleration in virtual reality was useful in this aspect, it was currently 8:42 AM in-game.

“It seems you’re early, oh well that means you guys can start earlier,” Lexus began, talking to both Godou and the dark haired boy, “Okay, first of all let me explain what you two will be doing. You two are the latest batch of unofficial trainees stationed at this church... Well technically, Ferrex is already... well never mind. Before we go on any further, let’s have some introductions why don’t we?”

With that, Lexus lightly pushed the dark haired boy, who seemed indifferent, forward.

Smiling apologetically, the boy said, “My name is Ferrex Dakef, nice to meet you. Just call me Ferrex.”

“I am Godou, please take care of me.” Godou responded in kind. Although he initially appeared cold, Ferrex did not seem like a bad person.

“Now that you two have been introduced, let me tell you what’s going to happen. Due to various recommendations in high places, this church will be responsible for taking you two through the basic training and the basic education.”

Lexus continued with his explanation rushing slightly as he did so. Godou was starting to feel curious on what the basic training and education was, Amakasu had mentioned them in his explanation but he hadn’t gone in detail.

“However, since we're a bit rushed for time we’re going to have to do things a bit differently… Anyways, since you guys are unofficial trainees, you will also have to work shifts in the church as well. After all, the church can’t suddenly start giving free training to everyone. So any questions?”

“What do you mean we’re short on time? Doesn’t have anything to do with that?” Ferrex asked, his expression became blank. A perfect pokerface.

That? What was that?

“I’m just doing what the higher ups tell me to so I’m not sure of the reason myself, personally, I think you’re looking into this too deeply. Given all your talent, it seems more probable that we (the church) are hoping that you that you would align yourself with us in the future rather than against us.”

“I am thankful for all the church of Freya has done for me but I don’t think I am ready to enter the arms of another order just yet”

Ferrex replied with the same blank expression.

Unable to follow the conversation, Godou shrugged. Godou was curious about it but decided against prying any further. However, not knowing anything just increased the air of mystery surrounding Ferrex and the church of Freya.

Instead, he asked, “What type of work will we be doing?”

“Oh don’t worry it will just be menial tasks like unpacking boxes or helping out with the other workers in the church. After all, you two will also have to be giving it your all in training,” Lexus answered seemingly glad for the change in topic, “Well, any more questions?

“Nope.”

“That’s all.”

“Okay then, follow me!”

Lexus entered the church. Following him, Godou noted that the church was more spacious then it appeared on the outside. The 4m high ceiling amplified this effect. Near the walls were a series of statues, many of them depicting a beautiful woman who he assumed was a major figure in the religion. Light shone brightly through the many coloured glass sheeted windows.

At the back of the room was what appeared to be an altar and in front of that were rows of seats, starting a few metres away from the altar and ending at about halfway across the room. The rows were divided in the middle to allow people to walk directly to the altar. The floors were tiled so that the path to the altar had a different colour than the rest of the floor.

“I know it’s a bit overwhelming but you’re going to be left behind at this rate” Ferrex muttered behind him.

“What- Oh right, thanks” belatedly, Godou realised that Lexus was now heading towards a flight of stairs to the left of the altar.

Hurrying, they followed Lexus up the flight of stairs to another fairly large room full of shelves and tables. The floor was carpet this time. On each of the shelves were books. Seeing them, Godou felt a sense of nostalgia was he remembered the bookstore his grandmother used to run. Were these books related to the basic education in some way? Godou suspected he knew what the education was now.

“Now, this is here we will begin” Lexus proclaimed, turning round to look at them. “Well, let me be frank with you, gaining knowledge is part of the basic education and reading books is the easiest way to do this. You don’t have to read all of them but the more you know the better for you in the future.”

(So it was just reading books. Oh well, it’s not like I can do anything else in the first 4 weeks.)

“I’m sorry to say that not many people have the tenaciousness to complete the basic training in this world. This applies for foreigners like you Godou especially. The troubling thing is that even less people have the curiosity to find and obtain all the knowledge required for the basic education. ”

This basic training must be rigorous. Godou understood the difference between talent and hard work during the time that he was still playing baseball. However, he also knew that the abilities of the talented but could be matched through the stubbornness of never giving up on working hard.

“This might be fine in the other kingdoms, however, Kallamore is different. This is an unforgiving place for the inexperienced.”

Thus, Godou vowed to complete the basic training no matter what in order to strengthen his body for whatever powerful enemies he had a nagging suspicion he would have to face.

“Consequently, the basic education we can provide is more organised here than in most other places. The deadline to finish this 3 weeks and I’ll come back for you then. Oh an about the work, someone will come and call you when after lunch and Godou, if you have any questions, I’m sure Ferrex can help answer them. Now I have to settle that matter with this and that…”

Muttering, Lexus turned and walked quickly out the door. He seemed like someone who was always legitimately busy. Willing to do so much for his kingdom and faith. So unlike another civil worker Godou knew well.

“All the books you need to read are in this shelf” said Ferrex as he walked up to one of the shelves casually. He scanned the shelf, took a book off it and then moved to a corner of the room, sitting one of the seats at a table to read.

Mimicking him, Godou took a book from the shelf and sat on the opposite side of the table. He opened the book and quickly found himself engrossed in it. The book happened to be the first of a series of biographies of someone who apparently became a famous emperor.

Upon finishing the book a few hours later, the following message appeared to Godou.

Wisdom has increased by 1 point

Ignoring it, he went back to the same shelf and was in the process of looking for the next book in the series when a clerk called both Godou and Ferrex out for lunch.

Remembering that he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, Godou eagerly followed the clerk to the kitchen. Although he didn't show it on his face, Ferrex seemed to be in a similar situation since he dropped the book he was reading almost immediately to come down.

After a simple lunch of sandwiches made by the kitchen staff, the two of them were directed to go to the front altar room and help the priests bless travellers coming into the church.

By now, there was a long queue of people coming into through the entrance. This contrasted greatly with how empty Godou had seen the church in the morning. Going to the priest in charge, Godou and Ferrex were told:

“Providing Blessings to travellers is one service the church does. Since you two have been sent to help us, we’ll need you to carry over one of those barrels of holy water in the storeroom whenever we run out”

That begin said, each of the barrels of holy water were quite large and heavy to carry, requiring the maximum effort of both Godou and Ferrex to carry. However that also meant that they only need to carry a barrel every now and then.

Casting blessings seem like a long and arduous task with each blessing taking a few minutes to be completed. Godou watched the process from one of the seats, feeling bored now that his initial interest had subsided.

Next to him, Ferrex watched the process, also seemingly bored. To make conversation Godou asked:

“Do blessing always take this long to perform?”

“It depends on the caster but generally yes. But then again, the 3 minutes spent performing a blessing can mean the difference between life and death for adventurers fighting in the wilderness.”

Ferrex replied. Compared to how silent he had been so far, Godou felt it was a bit surprising how talkative Ferrex had become.

“So how did you get come to be here?”

“I got recommended by a barman who just happened to be a friend of Lexus”

“That seems strange, only people really high up can recommend you to be a unofficially trained by a church. I wonder who that barman is.”

“Really? I didn’t know that, I guess I’ll ask him the next time I see him. Speaking of which how did you get here?”

“Oh, some things happened to me in the past and the church of Freya has been taking care of me since the past 4 years.”

“Wouldn’t have made more sense if they made you an official trainee then?”

“Well there’s not really much difference between what they’re giving just and they’re doing with their official members though. Technically, I'm not a trainee though.”

“Hey, we need another barrel of holy water over here, we’re almost run out”

One of the priests called out from the altar. Continuing their conversation as they went, Ferrex and Godou carried the barrel over and made their way back to their seats. Gradually, the topic of their conversations became more and more trivial until the priest dismissed them and they were able to go back to the upstairs library.

This patterned continued for three weeks, with Godou logging on to read books, occasionally being called to perform jobs. During this time Godou and Ferrex became well acquainted with each other.

During the second week, it had come to Godou's attention that Ferrex has already long finished reading all the books on the basic education shelf and had was reading from the other shelves. It seemed that he was looking for specific books the read from and when Godou asked him about it, Ferrex had simply said:

“Although I'm a priest, I've never actually had any formal training so I’m looking for books about basic holy magic.”

“Why don’t we team up then when all this is over? I don’t know where I’m going to go but I’m the type of person who finds it reassuring to have someone I trust watch my back.”

“Sure, I’m fine with that, I wasn’t sure what I would do after this anyway. But let me say, I won’t follow someone who still hasn’t completed their basic education yet”

“Just you wait, I’ll finish these in no time then!”

His competitive spirit aroused, Godou embraced himself in trying to complete the basic education as soon as possible. However, compared to the beginning, the interval between stat increases kept getting longer the more knowledge he accumulated and at times, the reading became tedious. Having Ferrex nearby him during all that time, quietly flipping away the pages of some book Godou couldn't understand, bolstered Godou's spirits and allowed him to continue on.

Reflecting on this, Godou did not have many male friends which he could joke around easily with. Lately, whenever he was at school or fighting a battle of some sort he had was always accompanied by close friends of the opposite sex. Although, he did not dislike interacting with them, there were some things that he could only do with male friends.

Thus as time flew by, eventually, Godou finished reading the last page of the last book from the shelf, a series of messages appearing in front of him.

Wisdom increased by 1 point

Intelligence increase by 1 point

Perseverance has increased by 1 point

+ 20 FAME

+100 MP

During this time he had gained a total of 40 stat points in intelligence, wisdom and Perseverance and gained a substantial amount of knowledge on the history of Versailles and the various races that lived in it.

It seemed like he had finished slightly ahead of the deadline Lexus had set him. Then again, Ferrex had finished long before him so Godou did not feel it was that great of an achievement.

Bored, Godou strode up to one of the other shelves and randomly picked another book and returned to his position to read.

It turned out to be an encyclopedia of the various classes and roles of the people in churches. It provided basic information on paladins, who were basically warriors with minor healing abilities and priests who could heal, buff and debuff but generally were weak when it comes to dealing damage. Saints were one of the last class advancements for priest and usually held high positions in churches. Likewise Saint Knights were one of the last class advancements for paladins.

However, only a select few had ever managed to reach the requirements of becoming one thus, although it varied from order to order, the number of Saints/Saint knights a religious order had numbered less that 20.

Speaking of which, Ferrex also wanted to become a priest, was he aiming to become a saint in the future. Interested, Godou decided to ask him about it.

Upon hearing the question, Ferrex froze as if he was struggling with something before he resumed his normal pokerface and giving his reply.

“I would like to repay the order of Freya for all they have done for me but I don’t think I would be worthy of such a position after all I’ve done, for now anyway. I may change my mind in the future but inherently, I feel that some part of me refuses to join the church of Freya... Anyway, Saints and Saint Knights are all around the lv 800 range so that's all in the distant future.”

“Sorry for asking.”

Godou seemed to have unintentionally hit Ferrex’s sore point so he hurriedly tried to change the subject.

“That aside, what are these divine gem things? They keep popping up in this book but there’s no explanation for them”

“Well strictly. knowledge on divine gems is not something that many people outside religious orders know of. Divine gems are objects said to house the powers of the gods. As a result, all holy spells become strengthened in the presence of a divine gem. Most of the ancient churches would have a divine gem embedded in them to strengthen the power of the blessings the church can provide. However, similar effects can be obtained now with the increase masterpiece sculptures and buildings.”

“If those gems are so powerful then how come they aren’t carried and taken to be used against monster raids and large scale battles? I’m just assuming that there would be more public knowledge of them if they were.”

“Well the thing is divine gems aren’t exactly small and they can also be very unstable and can cause more harm than good in such a chaotic battlefield. Plus, they're kind of rare...”

“Wow, I thought I had enough knowledge after reading all those books but there stills seems to be so much that I don’t know as well.”

“Well, the world is a vast place.”

“Yeah”

That aside, who exactly are you Ferrex? And how do you know so much about divine gems if you’re not part of the order of Freya? With great effort, Godou reigned in his curiosity and when back to reading. If Ferrex didn’t want to tell him then he wouldn’t pry any further…

The next day, Lexus came by carrying a pile of books to check on their progress.

“Ah good, looks like both of you finished the basic education right on time. Well, it was a given the Ferrex would finish since you’ve done part of it already before you began, but I was a bit afraid that Godou wouldn’t finish in time.”

So that was why Ferrex finished early. Speaking of which, Godou had not gained anymore points in wisdom or intelligence from reading books since he had received +20 fame and +100 mana message.

“Anyway, congratulations both of you and now it have to give you your reward.”

Saying that, Lexus placed the pile of books on the table.

His growing interest ignited, Godou stared that the books wondering what would come next.

“These books each contain a different skill. They are presented to all the people who have completed the basic education. Be careful which one you choose because once you learn one of the skills, you will be unable to learn the others.”

Godou looked at the titles of the books. They were old and barely legible. Unable to decide which book to pick, Godou randomly chose a book and opened it.

He caught a glimpse of the first page before the page of the books started to flip by themselves as at an alarming rate. The sounds of more pages flipping told Godou that the same thing was happening to Ferrex. As this was happening, a rapid series of images flashed in front of Godou’s eyes until finally, the last page of the book turned over and –

Ding!

You have learnt Mana Weapon Creation

Mana Weapon Creation – Beginner level 1

Visualise and create weapons out of pure mana.

Cost: 20 mana per second

Due to the completion of the Basic Education, the following information is available:

This is the basic form of high level elemental weapon magic originating from the recordings of ancient texts. The finer elements of this skill have been lost in time.

These weapons will drain mana out of you when they are active. Weapons will be destroyed if their mana supply disappears. The power of the weapon is dependent on its size and mana density.

Due to an enchantment on the skill book used, the skill book will not be destroyed after use. However, you are unable to learn any other skills from the same series.

After reading the skill description, Godou closed the message window and looked at Lexus expectantly.

“Well, now that you’ve both got your new skill, it’s time to begin the basic training. Follow me.”

Saying that, Lexus left the room and started walking briskly down the stairs. Following him, Godou realised that they were now beneath the church. Strangely, during the three weeks he had spend in the church, Godou had never noticed the church having a basement.

Stopping in front of white door, Lexus turned around to speak to them.

“Okay, behind this door is where you will be conducting your basic training for the next few days.”

“I thought the fastest time anybody’s ever finished it was 4 weeks, how are we meant to finish it in a few days?”

Ferrex asked cautiously, glaring at Lexus with suspicion. Meanwhile, Godou looked at Lexus with an uneasily feeling developing in his chest. The way Lexus had said it, it was startling similar to the way–

“It’s been a bit of a tough decision but the higher ups want to give you a mission right after Godou’s initial city restriction is over so we’re going to have to pull out all the stops. Be grateful, you two will be using a method of training that was only used to speed train new recruits in the last Kallamore–Haven War.”

Having said that, Lexus opened the door and shoved both of them inside the room.

Ding!

You are the first player to discover the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

A mysterious training room that has not been used since the last Kallamore–Haven War. The trainees from this room were able to become stronger after a short period of time. However, many of them also suffered from increased stress and developed a phobia of machines.

+100 fame

Due to the completion of the Basic Education, the following information is available:

The presence of a divine gem allows time flows more slowly in this room than compared to outside. The people in this room will not feel hungry, sleepy nor will they be are able to collapse from fatigue or die. Allegedly, this divine gem was discovered by the church of Freya years ago from the ruins of a collapsed tower believed to have been known as Kami's Lookout during the Age of Gods. The cause of the tower's collapse are unknown however some historians wildly speculate that the tower might have been destroyed due to the actions of the faith-hating Divine Overlord known as the Sword Saint.

A frightening message popped up in front of Godou. Looking into the room, he saw a series of wood scarecrows aligned in rows. Attached to the scarecrows were ominous looking machines with thin metal arms. Hanging on the walls were wooden swords.

“Uhm what exactly do we do in the basic training? And what do those machines do?”

Godou cautiously raised the questions he had in his mind. His battle instincts, honed from real life combat, were telling him to run like the wind away from the church.

“The basic training just involves hitting these scarecrows for a period of time to improve your physical stats. Now as for the machines, Ferrex grab a sword and come over here!”

With the expression of a man facing his death sentence, Ferrex did as he was told and walked to Lexus who was now standing next to one of the scarecrows. Wordlessly, Lexus made Ferrex hold the sword with both hands and strapped him to the machine so that the metal arms were connected to Ferrex’s.

“Now try hitting the scarecrow”

“What the hell, it’s heavy”

HIT

“Yep that’s the point of the machine. It increases the amount of force you have to use to move your arms to increase the effectiveness of the training. But that’s not all it does. If you don’t hit the scarecrow again within 5 seconds then a rebound spell on the scarecrow activates causing you to suffer the damage you did with you latest attack”

“Wait what? Gahhh”

“See I told you.:) now I think this answers your questions Godou so it’s time to strap you to one of these as well.”

Lexus’s merciless words entered Godou’s ears just as he was about to quietly exit the room. Then after a short scuffle between the level 2 classless player and unknown level NPC scouter(???), Godou also found himself hitting the scarecrow with all his might.

“By the way don’t drop your sword. Even I don’t know what will happen if you do. Well I’ll come back in a few days”

“Wait, You devil!!!”

“Are you serious!?”

Leaving those words behind, Lexus made his way out of the room conveniently ignoring the screams of his trainees.

***

The Cavern Pass was a rugged tunnel like place close to the Senbain mountains. It was a place where very few people bothered to hunt. The monsters were a pain to kill due to their high defences and did not offer any valuable drops for the typical fighter.

There was however, one type of drop which was known to drop from almost every single monster in it.

Magical Reagents!

Of course this was useless to the non-magic classes and the magic classes with combat abilities were too squishy to fight the mobs, even in a party.

However, it was for that reason that Satoshi now stood before the pass entrance.

“After hearing all there’s no way I can resist the temptation of conquering this place. Plus, that guy has a habit of popping up in strange places... maybe I'll finally be able to find him again!”

Fighting in a party was fine an all but after fighting too long in one you tend to be too dependent on other people.

People say that they like to play melee classes because they like to go toe to toe with their opponents. But in reality, all they can do in a large party is soak up hits like idiots and rely on their equipment to save them instead of their actual skills.

Likewise, mages and support classes are said to be useless without tanks to act as meat shields. Capable of dealing large amounts of damage in exchange for lower survivability, they are the squishies, crucial for fast hunting.

The balance between the two creates an efficient party.

There are exceptions to these stereotypes, of course, but if the hunting was going on too easily, where was the fun in that? Without any real sense of danger, the whole trip just becomes another grinding session. Spicing things up by doing it yourself was overall safer and more efficient than going with others. The thrill of accomplishment present when you successfully solo a dungeon full of dangerous mobs with the mage or even a healer class was something only experienced by the few people willing to immerse themselves into danger and rely on their wits and instincts to survive.

All in all, Satoshi concluded, hunting in parties made things too easy and if you hunt in a party for too long then you become weak. Adapting wise words of 8man, "the opportunistic wolves hunt in packs while the solitary bear hunts alone…".

Though, truth to be told, Satoshi was not in a very good mood currently and brooding about class dynamics had brought up unpleasant memories of dying in a dungeon he could have soloed because some idiot party member had somehow attracted the agro of every mob in the dungeon. It had been over a year since he had been able to hunt with anyone other than randoms... Before he knew it, Satoshi's view on parties had become quite warped.

Due to spending over a year in a fruitless search with no results, his mood had also become quite foul. Thus, Satoshi had come to the dungeon to vent his frustrations. Of course, when venting there was no point in rampaging in noob fields so Satoshi had made sure to pick a dungeon which nobody wanted to enter, thus he had arrived here.

However, sensing the approach of other players nearby, Satoshi could not help but sigh. Was the information he had collected wrong?

Glancing behind him, Satoshi evaluated the party that had just arrived him.

It seemed to be comprised of 4 physical-type damagers (3 of them being of the meat shield variety the other one seemed to a fragile speedster) and 2 magic type squishies who were both female (1 of them most likely a priest). In terms of levels they all seemed to be in the 120s.

“Hi are you challenging this dungeon as well? Are you by yourself?” Their leader(?) asked Satoshi.

“Yes. Are you?” Ordinarily this would be a passible party …

“Yup we’ve heard rumours about this place and have decided to challenge it for ourselves! So how about it want to join us?” Their spokesperson puffed out his chest proudly.

You have received a party invitation

But already, Satoshi could see the sad fate of the party so he decided to give them some words of wisdom.

“No thanks, oh and some words of advice… you’re all too weak, go home.”

You have declined the party invitation

“You…”

One of the other meat shields started towards Satoshi angrily. Satoshi eyed him, wondering whether or not they would attack him. Satoshi knew he probably had a contemptuous smile on his face right now, normally Satoshi would not have done such a thing however currently he was filled to the brim with frustration and didn't care.

Part of him even wished that they would attack... There were only six players and they were all low level. If they wanted a fight then he could just add them to his venting list. Satoshi was confident he could handle them even without using his trump card. Rather, the only opponents he wanted to avoid fighting without proper support were opponents on the same tier as Saints or Saint Knights but even then he should be able to escape with his life? It was a 50/50 chance probably.

Just as the meatshield was about to make a move their leader stopped him.

“Wait, I’m sure he has his reasons saying that. You’ve probably experienced hell yourself in there haven’t you?”

“No this is my first time coming here”

Predicting where the conversation was going to go, Satoshi unconsciously began to formulate a report.

Aim: To assess the abilities of the mobs in Cavern Pass and investigate the effects different types of attacks will have on them.

“Really? Then why did you say we were weak? No offense, but you don’t seem that high level either. I can’t see any weapons on you either. What’s your class?”

“I’m a level 121 alchemist”

Secondary Aim: To investigate how long a typical party will hold out for against these types of mobs.

“What?! Why where you were you acting so tough for then?”, the party was now staring at him in disbelief, “Come on, don’t be like that, we still have room for a few more people”.

You have received a party request

“Fine” Satoshi sighed somewhat disappointed, the persistent ones were the most troublesome. Nevertheless, it was a win-win situation for him either way.

If acting like an asshole didn’t scare them away. This could mean one of two things. The group was trying to PK him and take his stuff which was unlikely now they knew he was an alchemist or that prickling their sense of pride has earned him a free seat to observe how the mobs fight.

You have joined the party

Hypothesis: Mobs will possess extremely high physical damage resistance, high offense abilities but low mobility. Once a mob has selected a target, it will be extremely hard for it for other people to agro it.

“Okay, I’m glad we could come to an agreement”, the leader said.

“Oh you can just stand at the back of the party and watch exactly how weak we really are.”

The angry meatshield spoke up as the party started to move into the dungeon.

“I may accidentally let one the monsters slip in your direction because of how weak I am.”

“… I would advised you not to do that…” Satoshi replied coolly, deciding to maintain his façade, electricity seeming to spark in the space between the two of them, “I won’t save you even if you were about to die.”

Secondary hypothesis: The group will last approximately 2 hours before being slaughtered.

Method: Still improvising.

Experiment start!

----------------------

I have come back...

I have been influenced by various things...

I have no imagination when it comes to naming...

Also if anybody thinks Godou is starting to sound out of character then tell me... though I might just say that he is slowly becoming a different person whenever he climbs into the capsule (much like John Pluto Smith)

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