Chapter 4: Preperations Complete

I began difficulty 2 of the defensive training two hours ago.

During the training, I used my Haste skill repeatedly to increase its proficiency, as the 10% speed buff was not very helpful yet.

After two more hours, Haste finally reached F+ Rank, improving the effect to a 15% speed buff for 35 seconds with a 12 Mana cost.

Despite my higher stats compared to a typical Level 1 user, evading attacks at this difficulty was still challenging.

I must have made around 20 attempts by now, getting a good sense of my opponent's movements and attacks, but it was not enough to avoid their strikes completely.

With determination, I kept practising my footwork and using Haste for another 7 hours until it ranked up to E- Rank.

My current Mana capacity restricted it from ranking up further, but the skill now provided a 20% speed buff lasting 45 seconds for 15 Mana with a 30-minute cooldown.

Finally, I was able to survive one hour at difficulty 2, and my efforts were rewarded with an additional agility point.

Thanks to the stamina potions, I trained more efficiently, and the same applied to the final training session scheduled for tomorrow.

The following day, I began difficulty 2 of the offensive training program and focused on defeating the holograms within each hour.

My goal was to reach 6 opponents in an hour, just like in difficulty 1.

Following my plan, I spent hours after hours within difficulty 2 of the offensive training program, eventually managing to defeat 4 Holograms.

Hours passed, and by 21:00, I could only manage to barely defeat 5 opponents.

I decided to aim for lethal spots to stab, which improved my eyesight and reflexes.

During one attempt, a prompt appeared before my eyes, indicating that I had successfully awakened the passive skill "Sixth Sense (Rank F)."

But I had yet to fully understand its effects.

Soon, I realized the significant impact of the skill—it allowed me to accurately predict some of my opponent's movements, enabling me to deal more precise strikes.

It was only a minor effect, but it gave me the edge to finally defeat my 6th opponent.

During the intense fighting, my Dagger Mastery ranked up to E- as well, now providing a 10% damage and 5% accuracy buff while using a dagger.

The game also informed me about skill creation.

As I had surpassed F Rank in my weapon mastery, I could potentially develop skills based on my combat style with the dagger.

However, being only at E- Rank, I could expect only simple stabbing or striking techniques for now.

I was excited to learn my first offensive attack skill, so I spent the remaining time training at difficulty 3 of the offensive training.

Late at night, I finally succeeded and obtained the offensive skill "Immo(bile) Strike (Rank E)."

This skill allowed me to execute a quick strike against vital parts of one or multiple limbs to immobilize a target for a short time.

The success rate depended on my character's control, accuracy, and agility.

Against faster opponents, the skill might be less effective, but against slow and tanky foes, it could be a lethal threat.

The skill required 5 Mana to use, and I needed to carefully choose when and which skill to use, considering my current Mana capacity of 16.

With only around 5 hours left, contrary to my original plan, I decided to spend the time training my intelligence.

I managed to raise my intelligence by 2 points within these 5 hours, solving riddles and other challenges laid out in the facility.

As a result, my Mana increased from 16 to 24.

Now, my week inside the training grounds was over, and I was very satisfied with my results.

The game even rewarded me with an additional Title, "Overcomer of Hardships" which decreased stamina consumption in critical situations by 50% for 30 seconds.

It might come in handy when needing to escape from a dangerous situation.

It was now 10:00 on Wednesday, 13th August, and I felt really tired after putting so much energy into the game.

I yawned and thought, "Time to get some deserved rest after putting so much work into the game."

A few minutes later, I fell asleep.

During the night, I woke up due to going to sleep early that day and decided to take a short walk outside to get some fresh air.

In the nearby park, I noticed a young woman with shiny red hair collapsed on the ground off the path.

Concerned, I attempted to wake her up but to no avail.

I quickly called an ambulance, and after explaining the situation, they arrived promptly.

They transferred her into the ambulance carefully.

I opted not to accompany the woman to the hospital, as noisy and crowded places stressed me out.

On my way back home, I couldn't help but be intrigued by her beauty with her red hair and kind-looking face filled with freckles.

I decided not to get involved further, believing she was out of my league, and returned home.

Davos was not aware at the time that he is quite a handsome-looking young man, due to his low self-esteem and never having tried to talk to a girl before.

After my night stroll, I prepared breakfast for myself as the sun was rising.

I then thought about my next steps in the game.

Meanwhile, a few hours later at the Seoul Hospital, the young woman woke up.

A nurse approached the girl and asked, "Oh, you finally woke up! How are you feeling now?"

Still a bit confused, the girl looked at the nurse with her bright blue eyes and responded, "Oh, uhm, I think I'm fine. What exactly happened and where am I right now, or rather, how did I end up here?"

The nurse smiled and explained what happened during the night, "A sweet young man found you lying unconscious on the ground in the nearby park and called us as he couldn't wake you up by himself. Afterwards, we brought you here to the Seoul Hospital to keep an eye on your condition, but it seems like you are not suffering from any health problems. Do you remember why you were losing consciousness back then?"

The girl took a moment to think before responding, "First of all, please feel free to call me Cho-Hee. My name is Cho-Hee Ha. Unfortunately, I don't fully remember why I should have fallen unconscious in the middle of a park, but it might have been due to exhaustion. You see, I am playing this popular game called Clash of Blades a lot nowadays, and tend to take it a bit too far, up to a point where my body can't handle it, resulting in me being overly exhausted sometimes."

The nurse nodded, finding the explanation plausible, and said, "Well then, Cho-Hee, since there seems to be no problem with your health, you are free to leave the hospital after we finish some paperwork. Please give us your contact details, in case something else happens. Also, you might want to pay more attention to your gaming habits to avoid ending up in this state again."

The nurse placed Cho-Hee's clothes on her bed and left the room.

Cho-Hee quickly got dressed and before leaving the hospital, she approached the nurse again, "I completely forgot to ask you, who was the young man who saved me? I would like to thank him myself."

The nurse looked at her and shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I don't know who he is. I only heard from my colleagues that he had around shoulder-length brown hair and is around 1.80m tall. He didn't want to come to the hospital at the time, so we don't have any personal details. But it's likely he lives somewhere nearby since he seemed to have taken a stroll at night. Who knows, maybe you will cross paths with him again if fate wants that to happen."

She smiled as she spoke and then bid farewell to Cho-Hee to return to her work.

Cho-Hee thanked her with a short bow and left the hospital to go home.

She kept thinking about the mysterious saviour and was sad that she didn't get the chance to thank him personally.

Meanwhile, Davos spent the next few days catching up on his work, refraining from playing Clash of Blades on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Unfortunately, he missed some announcements regarding an upcoming update for the game that might have a significant impact once it is released.

Devilish Shadow

Titles:

Happy Helper

Hard Worker, Overcomer of Hardships

Lv. 1

Hp 42/42

Stat Overview:

Strength: 9 Atk=21

Vitality: 7 Hp=42

Endurance: 7 Def=23

Agility: 11+1 Spd=24

Intelligence: 6 Mana=24

Stamina: 28

Skills:

Active:

Haste(E-)

Immo Strike(E)

Passive:

Dagger Mastery (E-)

Sixth Sense (F)

Exp: 0/25

Equipment:

Beginner Dagger (Atk+3, Agi+1)

Adventurers Jacket (Def+1)

Adventurers Cap(Def'+1)

Accessories:

—

BC: 25

Sidenote:

Immobile Strike will be called Immo Strike, as it's easier to call out during combat situations. Players can freely change the name used for skill usage to a certain extent as long as it remains distinguishable from others