11 Training

They had gotten a lot of supplies, gold and weaponry by looting the town. They brought it back to their outpost before the night would fall and monsters would be omnipresent again. Although Butch and Cara were probably strong enough to kill them, it would still be quite a hassle.

As they arrived, they all headed towards their cabins to try and get some night rest. Not many of them were going to close an eye tonight though.

Although they had gotten a lot of loot, the atmosphere was more than grim in the camp. The images they saw today had scarred them for life. This was something they'd have nightmares of for years to come.

For now, Steve had to share a cabin with another agent. He would get his own treehouse in a couple of days though.

"Rough day eh..." he said, "name's Tom, I arrived here 2 weeks ago."

"Steve. Guess I really got lucky joining yesterday..." Steve answered.

"Just try and get some night rest, that arm wound looks nasty! Better let it rest for a little bit," he said.

"Right... night Tom."

"Goodnight, Steve," he said.

---

The next morning, Steve got up and tried to get something to eat. He had gotten quite hungry. After all, he hadn't eaten last night. He didn't really have an appetite after seeing those scenes yesterday.

Most of the camp's infrastructure was on the ground level. They could safely stay there during the day and was way easier to build than something like a city in the trees.

"Ah, Steve! You arrived! Try to recuperate that arm quickly, so that you can join us for training next week!" Olivia said.

"Not next week, I'll join you right now," Steve said.

"Don't! You need to let your wounds heal properly!" she said in a serious way.

"It's just one arm. I can still use the other one, or use my legs to run around... I'm in very bad shape, I want to train already." he said with a determined face.

He meant it. He really wanted to grow stronger, not only to be able to survive on his own... but also to protect others.

Olivia was amazed by his resolution. It looked like he was serious about training. She was glad they didn't get a lazy Earthling.

"Fine, but keep it minimal. Only train for 3 hours at max, don't overexert yourself, " she said before whispering something in his ear, "Use the other hours to try and discover your Earthling ability."

Steve obviously already knew what his ability was, he had gotten a system that gave him experience when killing monsters. He still thought it was a wise idea to hide that for now though, it was safer if no one knew. He could just say his ability was to get strong quickly by training. After all, if he spent his attribute points, he would really get stronger.

"You're right," he said with a stern expression, "I should try and find my ability."

'After all, I still need to discover how my system works exactly. When I crafted a sharp stick earlier, it showed me the stats. When I made a dagger, it didn't. I still need to find the limitations. I should try crafting stuff first,' he thought, unaware that a mage had helped him merge the dagger.

"I do have another question though, how did you guys not get discovered by other people living in Acrine? You're in the middle of a forest, someone was bound to find this someday, no?" he asked.

"You're living in a world of magic now silly, ever heard of formations? There are formations that cause things to turn invisible when you're outside of it. The formation's master can choose who sees and who doesn't see the camp. It'd take a real expert to find us! " she told him.

'Oh right, like those two boys, Dave & Frank, that I had met earlier. They had a formation their master had given them too. I wonder what happened to those guys...' he thought as he started feeling sad again.

"Ofcourse it's magic..." he said while feeling stupid for asking.

After having their breakfast, they went to train. Butch led a team of agents, helping them train with weapons. He also gave them exercises like a fitness coaches would have done back on Earth.

Steve would be running for 2 hours a day right now, with some pauses in between. After all, he didn't have the constitution to run 2 hours straight at the moment.

The other hour, he would spend practicing his weapon skills. He decided to use a sword for now.

After his first day of practice, he had already gotten 2 notifications on his Retina.

[Ding! Sword-mastery 1/100]

[Ding! Sword-mastery 2/100]

In the afternoon, he would 'try' to find his Earthling ability. He started by trying alchemy, he had always been interested in this profession.

First, he went around the forest to find some common herbs.

[Ding! Obtained Wild Clary!]

He remembered that was the herb needed for the mission in the Adventurer's Guild. It must be useful for something!

[Ding! Obtained Silk Hyssop!]

[Ding! Obtained Cliff Mint!]

...

[Ding! Novice Herbalism 1/100]

'After an hour, I have only gained 1 experience point? This is even grindier than a Korean MMORPG... stupid System!' he thought.

...

After spending an hour or two in the forest, he had filled his basket full of herbs. He would try and mix them together, hoping to create some potions, medicinal paste or pills...

He made a fire by using the lighter he still had from Earth. When Butch saw this, he turned livid.

"Fool, do you want to show everyone you're from Earth? Just throw all that crap away! We have firestones for this, you know!" he angrily whispered in Steve's ear.

'Right, I need to pay more attention to my old habits....' Steve told himself.

He poured water in a cauldron which was used for alchemy. He put some herbs in it, and didn't really know what to do next. The MC's in the novels he read were always able to control the fire, allowing them to manipulate the herbs inside. He could only wait until it cooked out for now...

[Crafted Failed Product...]

...

[Ding! Failure +1]

"..."

'This fucking system... it's laughing with me again...' Steve sobbed.

'Maybe I should just try and read some books about alchemy first...'

Steve went and asked Care if they had some books about alchemy in the camp, but she quickly told him they had close to no books. If he wanted some, he would have to go to Acrine and get them.

Steve decided he'd make a trip to Acrine the next day... Not only to read about the various professions Elea had, but also to read up on the history and politics of Elea.

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