13 Training (1/2)
”Treasures?” Shesmu asked, his faked surprised expression veiling his inner thoughts.
For how long will I need to keep feigning ignorance? Please, someone, get me out!
”Yes, treasures. These can have any number of items, from weapons to armors to anything else. If we get to open some of these, we can swap out these trash pieces of equipment for something better earlier than everyone else. Plus, we don't even need to grind out monsters and waste time. Of course, we need to be lucky enough to find them.”
As DepressedRyan was explaining, Leo shimmed in.
”Well, these treasures are cool and all. But in the end, they're just an addition, we can't just waste time looking for them hoping for a stroke of luck. In the end, they're not as consistent as fighting Bosses.”
”Oh Bosses, I forgot to talk about those. Yeah, there are Bosses in the forest. The guard was being scared and all, and he told me to take caution as there are strong monsters in the forest. But how can we be scared of fighting them? Fighting strong monsters and Bosses, that's a man's biggest romance!”
At DepressedRyan's declaration, Leo couldn't help but nod approvingly.
Seeing the two being so excited, Shesmu smiled and thought.
Well, at the very least they're not chickening out from the challenge. That's a great start.
After the trio had their fair share of excitement, Shesmu brought the group down to earth and asked.
”It's cool that there are bosses and treasures, but you talked before about some kind of strategy. What strategy can you even make without knowing what we're going against?”
At Shesmu's question, Leo and his friend fidgeted nervously, before DepressedRyan finally answered.
”Well, it's not really about strategy more than just knowing each other. We all know our skills, but none of us know each other's fighting style. I thought that if we're given this opportunity to stay in this place where we have infinite energy regen, we could test out each other's skill level.” He then continued with a smaller voice, ”I wonder if that will be fine with you?”
”Yeah, no problem.”
Shesmu played with Leo for 8 years, so he knew his fighting style like the back of his hand. However, that was future Leo. Shesmu has no idea about his skills when he just started playing the game.
At Shesmu's response, both DepressedRyan's and Leo's face brightened up. Leo then exclaimed,
”Good, so let start right now!”
Seeing Leo being so excited, DepressedRyan calmed him down with a few words.
”It's good that you're eager to start, but before that, claim your chest. Or, how do you plan to use your skill without a weapon?”
The trio then used their beginner's chest and equipped the set. In a flash, their attire changed. The swords they were holding were an exact copy of the one used in the tutorial. They also wore plain iron shoulder pads, a chest plate, leather pants, and a pair of shoes.
”Okay, Leo. You have no problem in using your three skills, right?”
”Ehh, to a certain extent. We do still fail to activate them sometimes.” Leo answered, fidgeting in place. He was obviously feeling guilty about his incompetence.
At Leo's answer, Shesmu just smiled gently. Since he already started practicing animation cancels, Shesmu forgot for a second how hard it was to activate the skill in the first place. One needed to free his mind and only think the name of the skill for it to activate, this was pretty hard for someone who just started playing. He remembered that when he first started playing the game in his past life, he was also in a similar situation. At the time, it took him 3 hours before he was able to use his skills freely.
”It's not a big problem, so don't worry, we will fix that in a second.” Shesmu then took a deep breath before assuming a more serious tone. ”First of all, let's start with the basics. When you try to use a skill, I noticed that my mind becomes unusually clear. I deduced that this is the system helping you maintaining a clear state of mind that is necessary for the skill to activate. I want you to just let the system do its thing, and focus on maintaining that thought until the skill activates. I know that this is hard, but it's the only way to do it, so try your hardest.”
At Shesmu's explanation, both Leo and DepressedRyan turned serious and nodded.
”Okay, let's do this.” Saying so, Leo raised his sword in a fighting position, executing Empowered Slash.
Seeing his friend being so eager, DepressedRyan followed suit.
As the duo entered their own world, Shesmu also went back a few steps to have enough space for his training.
This escaped my attention before, but it seems that I did at least retain the ability to instantly use my skills. If I didn't even have that, then…
Thinking about the possibility, Shesmu shook his head.