Chapter 9

The blue skies stretched high above with the sun shining down below. White clouds momentarily passed through the bright skies, accompanied by a refreshing breeze which swept on the earth's surface.

On the Training Grounds, multiple players and NPCs were training their own skills by targeting the provided practice dummies.

A crowd of players stayed by the fence of the training ground as they watched the players and NPCs who were training diligently.

As crowded as the Training Ground was, there was a particular pair of players who caught everyone's attention.

It was a tall and lean man wearing a black cloth to hide half of his face while the other was a blonde little petite girl who seem to be no more than 6 or 7 years old.

The man stood behind the little girl as the latter strikes the training dummy with a long wooden spear.

Her form was perfect as she completed several set of moves where the spearhead smoothly flowed in the air, delivering devastating attacks on the target.

It fascinated the surrounding spectators to see a little girl handling a spear three times her size to be able to perfectly execute such beautiful and nimble movements.

The man suddenly spoke. "Form B"

Immediately, the little girl jumps about ten to fifteen steps away from the dummy. At the same, before she jumped away, a spell circle appeared on her palm releasing a small fireball towards the target a few seconds later.

Boom!

As she landed from the distance, a sizzling noise could be heard as a terrifying scorch mark was left on the chest of the practice dummy.

"Woah.." The crowd applauded in amazement but to their surprise, the little girl wasn't finished yet.

As soon as she landed, She dashed forward with a thrusting motion of her spear, making it seem as if her feet smoothly slided on the ground.

Chuck!

The spearshead stabbed through the practice dummy's chest as the little girl instantly arrived in front of it.

She smoothly withdrew the spear and repeated the same tactic earlier as casting a magic while taking a distance.

She repeated this practice for at least an hour until the man finally stopped her.

"Hey that girl... what is her class? I kinda wanna do the thing she's doing."

"I know right? If people could do that then it's kinda broken!"

"Yeah or maybe she's using a skill."

The latter thought so as well as he said, "Wanna go to them and ask?"

"Yeah sure. They seem done anyway."

The group of players spoke among themselves while the others planned on approaching the unique pair.

The pair on the other hand...

"You've done very well, Lily. Considering that it has only been four days since you began training." Jhin complimented Lily who was looking at him in expectation.

The little girl smiled brightly as soon as she heard Jhin's evaluation.

"It's all because of Mister's guidance!"

Jhin shook his head. "Give yourself some credit. You trained diligently and this is the result. Which is why, well done."

Hearing Jhin compliment her again made Lily feel like she's the happiest girl in the world. It felt like all her nonstop trainng was worth it.

"Meow."

Lily turns to the cat who meowed beside her and picks him up. "Yes Boots! We did it!"

She began spinning around in happiness which made the cat in her arms feel dizzy.

"Meow!!"

The cat cried as it was being spun around in the air.

Jhin let her enjoy her celebration for a while before saying, "Now that you understand the basics, it's time for actual training experience."

Lily's face grew serious as she gently put Boots down. Turning to meet Jhin's gaze, She answered with a determined attitude, "Yes Mister, Lily is prepared!"

Jhin nodded in approval. "Very well, let's go."

As they walked out of the training grounds, Jhin was reviewing the battle style he taught Lily.

[Sorcerers] are most profecient in magic and usually, they would use weapons such as orbs, wands, or staffs.

This way, they can channel mana faster as well as add additional boosts to their magic skills and for this reason is why they mostly stay in the backlines while caster their skills towards the enemy from a safe distance.

Jhin however, taught Lily to be different and become a close combatant with spearmanship.

If one thought about it, then wouldn't it have been better to have her take the [Warrior] class if she was going to be in the front lines anyway?

After all, warriors have skills that boost their physical strength as well as the power to raise their defenses in order to become a bruiser and tankier.

They also have skills involving "Aura" which allows them to release ranged attacks made of sharp wind and unique energy.

Which is why, it was unnatural for Jhin to have Lily take the mage class while have her take up the spear.

She will not only lose the cool down reduction and mana regeneration effects provided by sorcerer weapons but also, her spells will be weaker than normal sorcerers as she cannot channel much mana from her weapon.

Jhin also wasn't the first one to think of playing the sorceress class in this way. Many of the new players tried to make this unique and unconventional play style work however the disadvantages made them weaker than main class players.

If so, Then why did Jhin do this?

Rest assured, Jhin didn't intentionally do this to harm Lily but instead, he was doing this to raise the most powerful sorcerer combatant in the world.

As for the results, only the future could tell.

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Two days has passed since the official launch of the Ascended Order and because of the time difference, this means that six days has passed inside the game.

Jhin spent four days ingraining all the basics of spearmanship to Lily. While the little girl had a normal level of comprehension, her diligence made up for it as she cut down on her sleep and meal time in order to perfect the forms and techniques that Jhin taught her.

They mostly spent long hours inside the Training Grounds which garnered the attention of players.

Some even recorded them and posted them on the forums. Fortunately, it did not receive much views because there had been a large release of posts with better and helpful information about the game.

Jhin and Lily headed towards the blacksmith where players are able to buy equipment.

In the world of Ascended Order, there are seven grades of equipment; Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic.

The border icons of these items varied as well which were; White, Green, Blue, Violet, Orange, Red, and Pink respectively.

In the early stages of the game, players could get equipment from either buying from the blacksmith or getting it as a monster drop.

The blacksmith store has a standard equipment that had up to Rare-grade equipment while monster mobs, as players would call it, would drop equipment as well.

Monster mobs are monsters that could be found from all over the world of Ascended Order. These mobs have the following percentage of loot drops; 10% Equipment, 20% Coins, 30% Monster materials, and 40% no loot.

At the same time, the equipment dropped has its own percentage chance of grades as well.

Normal-grade has 80%, Uncommon-grade 16%, and lastly, Rare-grade 4%.

As for Unique-grade and above, they can be obtained by crafting from rare materials or drops from dungeon bosses.

Jhin bought an entire set of rare-grade equipment for Lily and himself from the blacksmith.

Jhin's equipment(s):

[Rookie Adventurer's Mask (Rare)

Equipment Type: Headgear

Level Requirement: 1

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 VIT, +6 INT ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Vest (Rare)

Equipment Type: Upperbody

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 VIT ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Greaves (Rare)

Equipment Type: Lowerbody

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 VIT, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Grips (Rare)

Equipment Type: Gloves

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Walker (Rare)

Equipment Type: Footwear

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Daggers (Rare)

Equipment Type: Main Weapon

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+8 STR ]

Jhin now wore a proper mask that covers his nose and mouth and wore light armor with chain mail underneath his brown leather vest.

He had black fit trousers and brown leather boots. His overall appearance was one that resembled an assassin.

Lily's equipment(s):

[Rookie Adventurer's Bonnet (Rare)

Equipment Type: Headgear

Level Requirement: 1

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 VIT, +6 INT ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Chemise (Rare)

Equipment Type: Upperbody

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 VIT ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Knee Socks (Rare)

Equipment Type: Lowerbody

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 VIT, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Gloves (Rare)

Equipment Type: Subweapon

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Solleret (Rare)

Equipment Type: Footwear

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+6 STR, +6 AGI ]

[Rookie Adventurer's Spear (Rare)

Equipment Type: Main Weapon

-Crafted by Blacksmith Norlin from Beginner Village.

+8 STR ]

[Lily's Family Heirloom (Unique)

Equipment Type: Necklace

-This is an ancient heirloom that has been passed down Lily's family for generations.

Effects: Revives the target upon activation. (Can be used on oneself)

-Condition: Target must not be dead for more than three hours otherwise, the revival will fail.

Cooldown: 3 Months ]

Lily also wore light armor, wearing only a chest plate and pauldrons that had the same colour scheme as Jhin's. Underneath, she wore a tight fit black sleeves that hid all her skin.

She wore gauntlets and flexible steel-plated shoes. Coupled along with her small petite physique, adorable baby face, and blonde ponytail, she looked like a miniature version of a valkyrie from the norse mythology.

Since their equipment was bought from the blacksmith, the statuses of their equipment were all fixed. Meaning that Jhin's equipment had the same stats description as Lily's.

Now that Jhin was satisfied with their equipment, he decided to check their character information before heading outside.

[ Name: Hoarder Level: 1 (EXP: 32%)

Title: Adventurer's Will

Class: Rogue

HP: 600/600

MP: 440

Status: Healthy

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Strength: 58>70

Agility: 49>59

Intelligence: 37>44

Vitality: 50>60

-

Available Attribute Points: 0

Available Skill Points: 7

-

Active Skill(s):

-Oblivion Smite: Available

-Shinpo: Available

Passive Skill(s):

-Decay: Available ]

[ Name: Lily Level: 1 (EXP: 0%)

Title: None

Class: Sorcerer

HP: 220/220

MP: 110/110

Status: Healthy

-

Strength: 30

Agility: 21

Intelligence: 11

Vitality: 22

-

Available Attribute Points: 0

Available Skill Points: 0

-

Active Skill(s):

-Fire Ball: Available

Passive Skill(s):

N/A ]

[Fire Ball (Active Skill)

Level: 1 (SP: 4/10)

➥Release a ball of flames that could deal 30-70 magic damage.

Mana cost: 40 MP

Cooldown: 1 Minute ]

Jhin made a slight chuckle after seeing his and Lily's statuses that were several times stronger than those who were in the same level.

He was looking forward to start grinding for experience points.

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On the outskirts of the Beginner Village, Jhin and Lily encountered many players who were either travelling or camping at monster spawn locations.

According to the information they gathered, the only monsters that gave exp points and monster drops were [Slimes], [Brown Boars], [Horned Rabbits], and [Man-Eating Frogs].

These monsters frequented the outskirts of the Beginner Village and were the ones that were usually hunted by players.

The monsters appeared the same way as they did in reality, except for the Man-Eating Frogs since they sized to about 3 meters high.

It was a level 5 monster and because of its high hp bar and defense, Players considered it a mini-boss of sorts.

Jhin and Lily continued to trek through a large forest in the north. Within the view, a wide mountain ranges could be seen from the afar.

Jhin made an approximate estimation that one would need four or more days on foot in order to reach the base of that mountain.

Fortunately, that wasn't their destination. In addition to that, it was dangerous to stray too far from Beginner Village and dive in too deep into the dense forest situated around the outskirts of the village. This is because the further you stray from the village, the higher the level of the monsters became.

More ferocious and hostile monsters laid in the forest outside the outskirts of the Beginner Village.

Concurrently, there was a man-made path through the forest, to which many players didn't hesitate to thread upon. They figured that this path was the one that would lead to the next town.

However, they would end up dying by the high-level monsters they encountered while travelling on that path.

And so, majority of the players were stuck inside the Beginner village and around the forest.

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"RIBBIT."

Jhin and Lily stopped as soon as they heard a loud monster noise near them. Based on its sound, they already knew that it was a Man-Eating Frog.

The two scanned their surroundings but they couldn't find the large figure of the monster from anywhere. While the trees and plants made slight obstruction to their vision, they should still be able to see a considerable distance around them.

A few seconds of silence had passed and Lily couldn't help but ask Jhin.

"Mister, wh-"

"Enemy."

Jhin abruptly pushed Lily away which terribly surprised the little girl.

Bam!

She was able to regain her composure after seeing a large pink muscle struck the place where she was before.

Without a doubt, she would have been struck by it without being able to defend herself if not for Jhin's help.

She tightened her hold on her spear and prepared herself in a stance.

Lily didn't realize is that her arms were trembling and her form was imperfect. Despite how she acted, her body showed clear signs of nervousness

The pink membrane retracted itself back within the woods.

Soon, the Man-Eating Frog revealed itself and its large body and apprarance easily overwhelmed the little girl.

It eazily reached over three meters high, its body was larger than an elephant's. Its skin was darkish green, with large warts growing on its back.

Its belly was yellowish white whereas its arms were even larger than Lily herself.

With two large bulging orange eyes and an incredibly large mouth, the monster stared at Lily who was only five to seven steps away.

She was in total daze after seeing it for the first time. Jhin had already told ehr its details and how to defeat it but, all of those disappeared in her mind as soon as she saw the actual thing.

Not only that, but this monster was right in front of her! Staring at her like she was its next meal.

She wanted to move only to find out her legs were stuck to the ground.

However, it wasn't because an attack was laid on her nor was she caught in a trap.

Not at all. Instead, she was simply frozen from fear.

After she realized this, she wanted to hit herself for showing such display of incompetence to her benefactor.

The Man-Eating Frog opened its large maw and Lily's entire body trembled.

Smash!

[-90]

The Man-Eating Frog was launched away by Jhin's kick. It crash past several trees, leaving a trail of destruction before finally stopping.

"Lily."

Lily's dazed mind snapped out of it once she heard Jhin's voice.

Seeing his cold unfeeling gaze, Lily felt an even greater amount of fear and nervousness. Lily knew that underneath Jhin's mask was a disappointed face.

She held her head low and bit her lips in frustration. She was very angry with herself.

She wanted to explain but what else was there to explain? She didn't want to make an excuse as well because it would feel disrespectful to Jhin who was watching over her.

And then, the thoughts of being abandoned entered her mind.

'What if... what if mister throws me away?'

Greater than her frustration and anger, was her fear of being abandoned. That thought alone made her so weak that her legs almost gave up on her.

Before she knew it, tears was already streaming down her face.

"S-sorry...sniff ...Lily is really sorry.. sniff..sniff.."

She wanted stop herself from crying but... the tears kept continuously flowing. Just like how a child acted when she or he did something wrong, they cried even before they could get reprimanded.

But then, a warm and comforting hand stroke her head.

"sniff... huh...?" She slowly looked upwards and saw Jhin's calm gaze.

"You'll do better next time..." Jhin said while continuing to caress her head to calm her down.

Hearing Jhin's unexpecting kind and comforting words, Lily began to feel a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest.

Soon, that feeling washed away all the negative feelings she felt.

At first, she was glad that Jhin wasn't going to throw her away but after realizing that he was expecting something from her, she began to feel determined.

She was determined to meet and even surpass her benefactor's expectations.

Rustle... rustle...

Jhin's gaze moved then moved towards the large Man-Eating Frog which recovered from its crash.

Leaves rustled and woods crackled as the large frog stood on its feet once more.

"RIBBIT."

Its loud croak could almost echo throughout the forest.

Jhin stopped stroking Lily's head and prepared himself as he held an iron dagger on his right hand. Similarly, Lily prepared herself by standing in a stance while briefly rubbing away the tears on her cheeks.

Jhin spoke without looking away from the monster.

"Lily..."

"Yes, Mister?"

"That's not a monster... it's a huge training dummy."

Lily grimaced after realizing that Jhin said those words because he noticed her slightly trembling hands.

As determined as she was, that didn't erase the fear that she felt. How could she? She was literally faceling a huge monster that was several larger than her size.

Any other child of her age would have run away by now.

But then, Lily glanced at Jhin's reliable profile beside her and a smile subconsciously appeared on her face. His presence gave her a sense of security and comfort.

'That's right... what was Lily even worried about?'

Turning her gaze back towards the large monster, Lily thought to herself, 'Lily should only believe in mister's words.'

'If mister says Lily can take that monster on, then she definitely can!'