Chapter 4_ The Real Start (2)

Days, weeks, and even a month had already passed since Lexus' carriage had left the Lubana Kingdom to return to the Eternal Kingdom. The reason was because the distance between the two kingdoms was very far, and a month wasn't enough time for a carriage to cover that distance.

Meanwhile, the carriage escorted by a squad of knights, passed several villages and towns. The thing Lexus paid most attention to during his travels was the training his NPC self never took seriously. It was uncertain how much benefit he could gain from cramming his training sessions while traveling. But he worked hard since he was told he had potential at the academy previously. More than anything else though….

「 Lexus, you're doing better than most trained knights but your feet and body are moving in different directions. 」

"Huh!?"

Lexus' movements went into disarray, as the wooden sword in his hand fell.

「 You're still much better than the first time. Your aptitude for swordsmanship is good. 」

This was the biggest reason why Lexus was training. He had Madra's ego to teach him and establish his foundations from the basics of swordsmanship every time the carriage took a stop.

"Wow! I've never seen anyone with such a talent in my whole life."

The knights who was on guard looked at Lexus who was training all by himself with excitement and envy.

[The level of Basic Sword Mastery has reached level 10.]

[Congratulations! You have reached the max level of your 'Basic Sword Mastery' skill.]

[Your understanding of sword has reached a new level.]

[The level of Basic Sword Mastery has risen.]

[All stats related to your skill increase.]

[Strength increased by 10.]

[Stamina increased by 10.]

[Agility...]

[New skills are being searched for considering your stats.]

[The superior skill, 'Intermediate Sword Mastery' has been opened.]

While everyone was amazed on how fast he had grown in just that short amount of time, Lexus wondered.

'Should I try to get Pagma's Rare Book?'

Thinking about the book— a very important item in the novel which started everything, Lexus was eager to lay his hands on it.

As a fan of the novel, Lexus was well-aware of the greatness of that book. It was on par with the Undefeated King's old sheath, which could lead anyone to obtain a legendary production class item. However, if one knew how it worked, they could become an unrivaled being, surpassing its already astronomical value.

'If I get my hands on it, all I had to do was postpone the nerf and avoid producing 5 legendary items at the early stage so I can basically farm my stats.'

Lexus thought with thrill and excitement.

'If only the protagonist wasn't able to produce 5 legendary items at that time, he could have become more stronger and broken compared to his level in that moment.'

Being aware of the situation, Lexus knew exactly what he had to do if ever he could get his hands on that book. While he was excited, imagining that he might gain two legendary classes, system messages woke him from his daze.

[Your understanding of sword has reached a new level.]

[The level of Intermediate Sword Mastery has risen.]

[All stats related to your skill increase.]

[Strength increased by 10.]

[Stamina increased by 10.]

[Agility increased by 10.]

Then, his wooden sword halted and he ceased all movements. Taking a breath, Lexus closed his eyes and concluded what he had noticed this past days of his training.

In the novel, players gain 10 fixed stat points every time they gain a level, while NPCs randomly acquired a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 20 stat points.

Simi-named NPCs level up with at least 16 stat points. Semi-named NPCs are NPCs who are aiming to surpass their limits. There is an inevitable difference to Named NPCs as Semi-named NPCs are limited in growth and tends to lean towards one side in their stats.

Named NPCs on the other hand, there's no limit to their stats, so they can grow infinitely like a user. Named NPCs have infinite growth potential and overall stats. The growth of named NPCs is comparable to high-ranking users.

If a Named NPC and a user have the same level and stats, the Named NPC would have the advantage. There is the named NPC compensation effect. Named NPCs have a profound effect on the worldview and story of the game so they have all their abilities (attack, defense, magic power, health, mana, skill cooldown, etc) set higher than a user. This is a type of protection system applied as a fixed effect, regardless of stats.

However, there was a privilege that only named NPCs enjoys that players didn't, which Lexus had recently discovered. Every time a skill level increases, the named NPC's stats related to the skill will also increase.

Now, Lexus understands why it was repeatedly mentioned that NPCs were more special than most players. It was because of this. If an NPC is talented to the point that he could increase the levels of his skills rapidly, along with leveling, they had faster growth than players.

Though he didn't have the ability to respawn after death which the players had and he had no intention to test it, Lexus was thankful that he was apparently a Named NPC and a Super named NPC at that.

There is a high grade of named NPCs called Super Named NPCs. This includes exceptionally powerful NPCs, such as legends. Super NPCs are incredibly intelligent and possess overwhelming combat ability. NPCs with very important roles and influences on the world are likely to be of this grade. Those who have the potential to become that great can also be within this grade.

Lexus felt glad upon seeing himself become an NPC. He then opened up his status window to see the slight changes.

[Status Window]

「Name: Lexus

Level: 1

Class: Undefeated King's Successor

Titles: One Who Became a Legend, Peerless Talent.

[Peerless Talent]

* A genius that overwhelms even geniuses. Level and abilities will rise 60% faster than normal. In addition, you can acquire skills in a wide range of fields.

Health: 1,920

Mana: 20

Strength: 120 Stamina: 120

Agility: 120 Intelligence: 10

Charm: 10 Dignity: 10 Insight: 10

Composure: 10 Indomitable: 10

Super Sensitivity: 10

Skills: Great Sage (A), Undefeated King's Swordsmanship (SSS).

Passive Skills: Intermediate Sword Mastery (D).

The secret third son of King Wiesbaden and the Successor of Madra. A son of a royalty and the one who follows a legend's path so your potential is outstanding.」

Everything in Satisfy has stats. A stat is the quality of a power while the amount of the stat is the quantity of the power. For living beings, in general, stats can be divided into those that can be increased by free points and those that cannot be increased by free points.

In stats that can be increased by free points, points can be invested with every level increase. Non-free-points-increasable stats are divided into stats, which may or may not benefit from all stats increases, for example by titles.

[Strength]

For classes that focused on attack power like swordsman, warrior, and etc...

(There is no actual description available.)

0.1 attack power, 3* health points and the weight limit increased by 20 for every points of strength.

[Stamina]

(There is no actual description available.)

0.1 defense and 13* health points for every points of stamina.

[Intelligence]

(There is no actual description available.)

0.5 magic power and 2 mana for every point of intelligence.

[Agility]

For classes that focused on mobility and swiftness like assassins, rogues, and etc...

(There is no actual description available.)

For agility related classes only. Every point in agility also increases attack damage by 0.1.

0.1 critical strike chance, 0.5 movement speed, 0.5 evasion rate and 0.01 attack speed for every 100 points of agility.

"Amazing!"

Lexus couldn't help but form a smile seeing the changes in his status window. Excluding him about having a legendary combat class, his stats was something that a level 1 player could not have.

He also smiled as he looked at the new title in the status window. It was the title he had earned for reaching the Intermediate Sword Mastery in just a single month through pure training, without any experience points or skill involved.

60% growth enhancement? It was very useful for him who want to grow stronger than anyone else in this world. Also, as someone who had a legendary class, this title effect was greatly beneficial to him.

For the sake of balance, the experience bar is 1.5 times larger than that of a normal classes with an uncommon class. In other words, when a normal classes goes up, one had to work harder to raise the level of uncommon classes than normal classes.

Also, rare is twice as much than uncommon, epic are tripled than rare, unique are quadrupled than epic. The rating of legendary is five times harder to raise than unique.

Then, this means that legendary classes are five times better in performance than unique classes, which were many times better than general classes, but require 180 times the experience points to level up compared to normal classes.

'With this, leveling is not much of a problem.'

Levels did not mean everything. Leveling only meant a slight increase in stats. He needed to raise his skill masteries or skill levels and other stats, otherwise, he would end up dead later for being underskilled.

Lexus knew about this, so he wasn't in a rush to increase his levels at all. As he smiled happily, he noticed a small but a clear change that had occurred to his body. A cool, luminous, wondrous, and strong energy. When his heart beat, that energy also beat along with his heart as if it were originally meant to be there.

He didn't even have to ponder it. This was mana. A new energy that was new to him, coming from the 21st century of Earth. The energy that Lexus would have to adapt to in the future.

'Well, I'll probably be able to do it.'

He was different to the others. He had a cheat skill, Great Sage to help him with this matter. Now, excited with his growth, Lexus went to the knight who was leading the escort group or incharge of the protection.

He was going to tell them to change their destination to Pagma's Rare Book in Patrian. This was the first step of his plan to receive the benefits of that book and further strengthen his foundation.

Lexus believed that, in order to build a tall tower or skyscraper, one must first establish a solid and sturdy foundation. With eyes full of pure determination, he looked at the blueprints.

'Now I'm reborn as an aspiring legend in the novel I liked, I'll go on an aggressive offensive and maybe I'll even obtain everything.'

As Lexus organized his plans step by step in his head, system messages appeared.

[Your first determination as a legend has been made.]

[The skill, 'Plunderer' have been obtained.]

•~×~•

Lexus was efficient with the time remaining until he could reach Patrian, training daily without pause whenever they stopped. As a result, he progressed from being an average sword user and almost reached the level of an advanced sword user or a Sword Expert.

The sword was the most common weapon and the one most developed. It boasted speed in one-handed variations or strength in two-handed variations. However, its weakness lay in the short range and the extensive knowledge required for effective counter-sword techniques.

But, was that a problem for Lexus when he had Madra who had created a swordsmanship that negated that weakness – to guide him? Of course not!

When he swung his wooden sword for the first time, Lexus felt a rush of knowledge enter his mind as he gave his consent to the prompt. With the knowledge from the Great Sage that was obtained by scanning Madra's ego, he's no longer a clueless rich boy who had never even swung a sword before, but now has the experience of a talented swordsman who had received basic training, but just like he forgot it all due to amnesia.

He found it enjoyable swinging the sword and didn't look at the time; the result was visible. Moreover, he grew faster because he was low-levelled.