Chapter 3

From left to right.

Here’s an important point.

You can’t hit the scarecrow’s forearm, and you can’t touch its head.

You must only strike the shoulder, that specific area.

Only then can you receive perfect hit application and deal more damage.

Thwack.

It wasn’t difficult.

However, if you don’t know this fact, you’ll inevitably hit the forearm or the head above the shoulder a few times.

Then it will take a long time and eventually hold you back.

Again!

The wooden sword tapped the shoulder.

A dull sound and a strange sense of incongruity flowing through the wrist.

The tingling sensation that should have come with pain was now rising without the pain.

Of course, it’s not that I can’t feel pain at all.

If I were to receive an impact that would cause serious injury in reality, here it would feel like a light tap.

So I could give it my all.

Good!

The sound of striking echoes in succession.

Three times, four times, and five times.

After filling it up to 10 times, the shoulder area of the scarecrow began to break.

“Haaap!”

Fortunately, it was completely destroyed with this attack.

[You have broken the scarecrow (1/3)]

How much time has passed?

It was 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

It was a close call, so I quickly took my place in front of another scarecrow and swung my sword down again.

I broke the second scarecrow in a similar amount of time.

And the last scarecrow.

“Hoo.”

It took about 8 minutes.

I hurried to the instructor outside the training hall.

“I broke them.”

The instructor’s eyes widened slightly.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Shall we check?”

The instructor went into the training hall and confirmed the three broken scarecrows with his own eyes.

Only then did he nod and acknowledge that I had perfectly completed the quest.

[You have cleared the quest.]

[You gain experience.]

[Your level has increased.]

My level became 2.

I want to check my status window, but I have to hold back for now.

Because I had to receive the second linked quest from the instructor in front of me.

“Satisfactory. Then shall we try the next training?”

“Yes.”

“You’re confident. Good, this time, break three scarecrows using only vertical downward strikes.”

This time again, a quest popped up.

[The First Test of the Training Hall]

[Break the scarecrows with only vertical downward strikes (0/3)]

[Time Limit: 10 minutes]

[If successful: Experience. Linked to the third test]

[If failed: Retry. Cannot be linked]

[Do you accept the quest?]

“I understand.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it this time as well.”

I went back to the center of the training hall.

Vertical downward strike.

This time, I have to hit only the top of the scarecrow’s head.

Only then can I inflict additional damage and break it quickly.

Then suddenly, the surroundings became noisy.

Swish.

I turned my head to check.

It’s users.

When I first logged into the game, most users focused on hunting.

But over the course of 3 months, information gradually spread, and the training hall became somewhat known.

For the first quest of the training hall, leveling up is faster than any hunting.

So, level 1 users who are just starting come here.

“Hey, we’re just clearing the first one and leaving, right?”

“Yeah, we have to. From the second one onwards, it barely gives any experience.”

Moreover, clearing from the third one onwards is not easy.

You could say the difficulty increases little by little.

Such linked quests continue, so only a very few users can endure to the end.

“Excuse me.”

“Hehe, it’s a stranger.”

“Don’t you have anything to ask for?”

“Ask?”

The user nodded with a bothered expression.

“Would you like to try some training?”

“Training is good.”

“That’s fortunate. Try to defeat the scarecrow with only diagonal strikes. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

The users who received the quest began to hit the scarecrows.

Perhaps because they didn’t have information, the areas they were hitting were definitely random.

Still, the first quest was easy, so everyone was able to clear it smoothly.

“I’m done.”

“Oh, really. Good job. Would you like to continue with the next training?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“I understand. Then take care.”

The users left, but Muhyuk remained in place, continuing the linked quests.

After the vertical downward strike, it was the horizontal strike.

After succeeding in the horizontal strike quest, I had to break the scarecrow with a stab, and then I had to break it again using only upward strikes.

After that, diagonal strike, vertical downward strike, horizontal strike, stab, and upward strike quests came in succession again.

Muhyuk, who repeated that a total of ten times, went back to the instructor.

“I broke the scarecrows.”

“You’re really amazing, you are.”

“Thank you.”

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing more to train.”

“Is it over?”

“That’s right. Among the strangers, you are the 11th to pass my test. I’ll give you a special gift.”

I finally cleared it.

But I couldn’t be happy.

“The 11th?”

“That’s right.”

As many as 11 people.

That’s the number in this small place.

If you include all the training halls on the entire continent, there might be hundreds of people.

Perhaps they are occupying the top Ranker positions.

“Anyway, good job.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I belatedly came to my senses and checked the messages.

[You have completed the training hall quest.]

[As a reward, ‘Strength (2)’ increases.]

[As a reward, ‘Agility (2)’ increases.]

[As a reward, ‘Stamina (2)’ increases.]

[You have acquired a ‘Training Hall Box’.]

This is it.

An increase in Strength, Agility, and Stamina stats!

When you level up, you are given 1 bonus point.

But the training hall quest increased a total of six important stats just by clearing it.

As the game progresses, this difference will accumulate and create a gap with other users.

It’s not over.

Another linked quest remains.

The instructor continued to speak.

“But you know.”

“Yes.”

“Do you perhaps have more time?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’d like you to help my friend.”

[The Stranger’s Adventure]

[Help Hansen, the butcher.]

[If successful: Experience, Gold, Linked Quest]

[If failed: None]

[Do you accept the quest?]

“Can you do it?”

It’s a quest for a title that I must obtain.

Of course, it was an acceptance.

One piece of information about Necromancers.

Summons grow differently depending on the owner’s stats.

This information was revealed about a year after Illusion opened.

Before that, all Necromancers only invested in Knowledge and Wisdom.

Summons were also naturally affected by those stats, so only Knowledge and Wisdom increased.

Of course, this information didn’t make Necromancers stronger.

As they invested in Strength, Agility, and Stamina, their Knowledge and Wisdom decreased, which greatly reduced the time they could maintain their summons.

As a result, many users gave up on Necromancers again.

Of course, Muhyuk doesn’t care.

He’s confident he can cover it sufficiently.

First, the status.

My current level and stats appeared before my eyes.

[Basic Information]

Name: Muhyuk

Level: 6

Class: None

Fame: 0

[Title]

-None.

[Basic Stats]

Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Stamina: 5

Knowledge: 3 Wisdom: 3

Bonus Points: 5

[Special Stats]

Endurance: 3 Concentration: 3

Flexibility: 3 Luck: 3

Bonus Points: 5

The basic value given is 3.

But by clearing the training hall quest, Strength, Agility, and Stamina increased by 2, becoming 5.

I haven’t used any of the bonus points here.

Only 1 point is given per level, so I have to decide carefully.

Of course, it’s meaningless to Muhyuk, who has already planned everything.

There’s nothing I want in the special stats, so I’ll save them.

I distributed the basic stats first.

Strength 3, Agility 1, Stamina 1.

Thanks to that, Strength became 8, and Stamina and Agility became 6.

By raising Strength by 3, damage increased by 9, and attack speed and movement speed also increased.

Having high strength means the muscles are developed, and that directly affects speed.

Fast with weak strength?

That’s nonsense.

You can only generate speed if you have enough muscle.

Why are the muscles of sprinters so big and strong?

Because they exert all their power in a short time.

Then naturally, the muscles have no choice but to develop, and that manifests as explosive speed and strength.

In other games, Agility increases movement speed or attack speed, but in reality, it’s like this Illusion, where movement speed and attack speed increase as strength increases.

Then what is Agility? In Illusion, Agility is related to reaction speed.

Reacting faster.

Being able to see and react faster than others is what Agility is.

Here, by raising Stamina by 1, HP increased by 50, and defense increased by 6.

Looking at the stats alone, it’s at a level that doesn’t fall behind even when compared to a level 11 melee user.

Good.

But this is just the beginning.

What if I even acquire the title?

The gap with the leading Ranker will be reduced by another step.

Ah, right.

I remembered the box I got from clearing the training hall quest.

I took it out of my inventory and checked it.

[Training Hall Box]

Contains items for beginners.

I opened it immediately.

[You have acquired ‘Shining Iron Sword’.]

[You have acquired ‘Solid Wooden Shield’.]

[You have acquired ’10 Gold’.]

A sword and shield, and initial funds.

It will be very useful.

Shall we go?

To the butcher shop? No.

I left the east gate and advanced to the hunting grounds.

[Shining Iron Sword (Bound)]

Attack Power 7

Agility +1

Durability 30/30

[Solid Wooden Shield (Bound)]

Defense 5

Impact Absorption 45%

Stamina +1

Durability 50/50

Usually, early items don’t have stats attached.

Stats are something you can only increase by one when you level up.

There’s no way early items would have such high value.

But users who graduate from the training hall are given such items.

As bound items, of course.

And their usefulness goes without saying.

Yelp!

A stray dog turned gray and disappeared.

[You gain experience.]

[Your level has increased.]

The stray dog’s level is 5.

It’s not enough to hunt.

With Muhyuk’s current abilities, he can somehow hunt even wolves boasting level 10.

So why is he hunting stray dogs?

Oh, there it is!

It was to acquire the stray dog’s meat.

Nine now.

I just need to collect one more.

I went around again, looking for stray dogs.

A stray dog with the characteristic of wandering alone appeared from the forest, prowling around.

Muhyuk smiled faintly and approached it, and the stray dog, sensing his presence, entered a state of alert.

Grrr…

Even so, when Muhyuk didn’t stop, it barked loudly.

Woof woof!

Soon, it kicked off the ground.

Muhyuk watched the approaching dog and raised his wooden shield.

Thud!

The claws and the wooden shield collided.

The impact wasn’t great.

He immediately lowered the wooden shield slightly to grasp the dog’s position.

Then he thrust the iron sword held in his right hand.

Thwack.

A strange sensation rose through his fingertips.

Yelp!

He ignored it and swung his sword again.

The stray dog, with its neck cut off, scattered silver powder and disappeared, turning gray.

Muhyuk’s expression was slightly hardened as he watched the scene.

Tch, I can’t get used to it.

Silver powder instead of blood.

Gray smoke replacing the corpse.

Thanks to that, I was able to kill living things without much revulsion, but I still had difficulty adapting to the strange sensation felt at the moment of attack.

“Anyway, it’s over.”

He picked up the fallen stray dog meat and put it in his inventory.

He checked one last time.

Rabbit’s hide.

Goose egg.

Deer antler.

And stray dog meat.

After that, he headed to the east gate.

As he went inside and got closer to the plaza, there were more users.

The items they were wearing were also quite impressive.

They are the ones who are three months ahead.

Muhyuk glanced at them and then turned his head forward again, heading to his first destination.