Sore

As Edgar held the grip of the axe, he suddenly felt the weight of what he was attempting to carry. While it was not impossible to lift with both of his hands if he put effort into it, it was still a ridiculously heavy axe. Edgar's respect for old man Myran raised a couple of notches as he realised that his tall stature and heavy build were not for show.

He started to truly understand the difficulty of the quest in front of him. As he thought to himself, he heard Myran's chuckle from behind him and Edgar stared him down. Although they didn't share many words last night, their relationship had grown much closer. At least, enough to joke around like this. Myran seemed to realise Edgar's struggle and laughed inside. Myran wasn't worried though, he had enough firewood to last him a week. If Edgar truly didn't produce anything in this next week, he'd have to do it himself. At that point, Edgar's quest would truly fail.

Although there was no penalty for failure, Edgar could imagine the consequences. He would lose the opportunity to grow closer and learn from Myran.

He set down a piece of firewood and raised the axe with all his might and aimed at the center of the wood. As the axe was coming down, however, Edgar lost control of it and he missed the piece of wood. The miss threw him off balance and the weight of the axe propelled him forward. He lost his footing and landed on his face against the stump. Edgar could hear a slight chuckle from behind him.

Edgar ignored Myran's mocking as he attempted to analyse what he did wrong. Although the weight of the axe was not comfortable yet for him, he didn't expect it to throw him off balance so much. He slowly got up and did a couple of practice swings. He started to get a feel for the axe and its weight. All the while, Myran was watching Edgar's progress.

It seemed like Myran had not much to do, and enjoyed watching the young man try his best. It was honest work, and he liked the honesty which Edgar was showing. The young man by the name of Arthur was slowly entering his life and for the first time in nearly a decade, he didn't mind. Myran thought about it but realsed that it wasn't such a strange thing.

In fact, the young man in front of him reminded him of his younger days. He would struggle and work hard in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people. Myran's eyes turned serious as he remembered his days at the capital. The air around him stilled, and Edgar could feel a coldness in his back.

The aura lasted only a moment, but the notifications in front of Edgar revealed the awe-inspiring power of the man behind him.

[Weakened]

[The aura of a higher leveled power has affected you]

[All stats cut by half until the duration ends]

Edgar shuddered at his first thoughts of Myran as an old man. Edgar would have to act slightly more respectful from now on. Although it distracted him, Edgar regained concentration quite quickly. Since Myran didn't mention it, Edgar decided he shouldn't perturb him, lest he go all out on him.

Edgar shifted his focus back on his body position and movement. He attempted to fix his mistakes of the previous swing. This time, he hit the firewood, but it was slightly off-center and the wood didn't split. Edgar repeated these actions on and on. He would swing, analyse, and attempt to realise his mistakes. With the training he did in the forest, controlling his body and analysing it became easier. He was starting to realise just how effective raising stats could be.

Edgar continued this until he finally got a perfect hit onto the firewood. It split perfectly in the center, and both pieces flew off to the side. Myran walked up, picked the wood from the floor, and inspected it.

"Not bad, Arthur. It only took you 53 swings," Myran said as he acknowledged the recently cut wood.

[Firewood completed: 1/200]

Edgar didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At least he was getting the hang of it. His stance started getting more well-aligned and he was pushing his body to the limit. As he kept swinging, the frequency of acceptable firewood started increasing. From 1 in 50 to 1 in 20 to 1 in 10. If he kept going at this pace, he would reach two hundred in a couple more hours. However, Edgar found himself unable to wield the axe any longer. On his last swing, the axe fell out of his hands and landed on his feet. His hands were red and his muscles were sore. Although it didn't feel as painful as in reality, he still felt the pain acutely.

The axe hit his feet and took away some of his HP. He checked his status and saw the cause of his inability to continue.

[Arhur]

[HP 95/100]

[Fatigued: Extreme Muscle Pain]

…

He sat down and rubbed his feet in the backyard and checked his amount of completed firewood. He only managed to make 64 acceptable pieces of wood. Edgar cleaned up the area and presented the pieces of firewood to Myran. Edgar didn't know that he technically had a week. He thought he had failed the quest. However, he was not disheartened. Instead, he felt that he had tried his all and believed Myran would give him some slack.

Myran accepted the pieces of firewood and said, "Come again tomorrow, and do it again"

Edgar was relieved that there were no penalties, and he checked his quest log again.

[Firewood completed: 0/200]

He had to start all over tomorrow. He was more confident this time. He would try his best again.

It was getting quite late in the real word, and Edgar decided to log off as he said goodbye to Myran. Edgar sat up from his bed and took his helmet off, laughing at how 'sore' he was feeling inside the game. He marveled at Atlas' companies technology in mimicking even the smallest details.

Although his body felt refreshed, Edgar's mind felt tired. He had pushed his in-game character to the limit, and while he was technically in a state similar to sleep, the mind was still quite active. He decided to have a rest and close his eyes, as he envisioned his future in Atlas Life.