Second World

The monsters inside were indeed as mentioned, all of them were basic monsters with levels between 20 to 25. All of the monsters were the same type, Lesser Earth Elemental. They resembled the Small Rock Golem which Jack had fought before in his hunting quest. However, unlike the Small Rock Golem, these Lesser Earth Elementals werenʼt impervious to physical attacks. Their outer skin was more similar to dirt than rock, hence it was not too difficult to break through their defenses with physical weapons.

Their movements were rather slow, and they could only execute melee attacks, making them an excellent target for accumulating experience points.

Jack scored more than just experience points. He also got loots from these Lesser Earth Elementals which the cadets were ignoring, mostly coins and materials. There were also trophy items called Elemental Powder, he should be able to exchange them for a fair amount of coin in the Hunters Association. He happily stored all the loots.

He also received souls from each of the Lesser Earth Elemental slain. The higher their level, the more souls they gave.

Unlike yesterday, Jack didnʼt just stay passive and let the cadets do all the work. He would still get the same amount of experience even if he just stayed at the back, but he would not get any proficiency points if he didnʼt use his skills. So he put all his skills into use against the Lesser Earth Elementals, even when a normal hit was already sufficient. His addiction to increase his skillsʼ grade from the Training Ground had followed him here. The proficiency gained however was at a normal pace.

The monsters were mowed down expeditiously with Jackʼs help. As they ventured deeper, Jack also noticed that at several intervals, there was some kind of large glowing rune carved on the cave walls.

His interest was piqued. He asked Peniel in his mind, ʼWhat are those runes on the wall that I keep on seeing?ʼ

”That was part of a rune diagram,” she replied.

ʼRune diagram? Like the one we saw on the walls of Duke Alfredoʼs estate when we were investigating the missing painting quest?ʼ

”Yeah, this is another one of those.”

ʼWhatʼs the one in this cave for?ʼ

”I havenʼt seen all parts of the diagram to be sure, but it was most likely got to do with how this cave was made into a training place for the cadets. It controls the growth of the monsters to a certain grade and range of levels. It also increases the spawning rate of new monsters after the previous ones were vanquished.”

Ah, no wonder there seemed to be no end to these Lesser Earth Elementals, Jack thought.

”I will not be surprised if the diagram can also be used in case of an emergency, to render all the monsters here to become stagnant.”

ʼI would have appreciated that effect yesterday when we met the Ice Troll Sentinel,ʼ Jack commented.

”If there is a rune diagram there, there wonʼt be an Ice Troll Sentinel to start with,” Peniel remarked.

They spent almost five hours inside the training cave. All the cadets managed to level up to 21. Jackʼs Warrior class stayed at level 20. As he had only leveled up yesterday, added that he needed a larger amount of exp compared to a normal person in order to level up. His Mage class, on the other hand, managed to level up. He was already close to level up his Mage class yesterday. Todayʼs training trip had managed to push him to level 19.

He had gained 59 silver coins from this training trip, a few materials and ingredients, 124 Elemental Powders, and he reaped 776 souls, bringing his collection of souls to 1447. He spent 1000 souls again, he chose to level up the Heightened State skill, bringing it to level 3. Each level up allowed the skill to last 10 seconds longer. He could now be in Heightened State for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This should increase his efficiency when he went back to Commander Quintusʼ residence and used the Training Ground.

One of his skills, Swing, had also increased its grade to the first star. Each star of this Swing skill increased the swing speed and its area of damage. He should be able to hit more targets with this increase.

After coming out from the training cave, they made a report to Bailey. The lieutenant dismissed them after reviewing their growth. Jack and Lindsey took a carriage to go back to commander Quintusʼ residence while the others went their separate ways.

Jack asked Lindsey for a detour to a shop that sold general goods. He went inside the shop and purchased basic energy potions to replenish his stock. He still had a decent amount in his bag but he thought he might as well stock up more. He was afraid he might have developed a habit of not reserving stamina or MP from the Training Ground practice.

After arriving back at the residence, Jack went directly to the Training Ground and continued his skill practice. He practiced till night again. He had to again be forced to leave the ground for dinner and be threatened to stop using the facility. The difference was the commander let him used it till midnight this time.

When Jack got back to his room to rest. He was glad about his progress. He had three skills upgraded during this phase of practice. Sword of Light and Dragonʼs Eye both reached their first star, while Power Strike had managed to achieve its second star.

Each star of the Sword of Light reduced its cooldown by 6 seconds. Not a big difference for its current 3 minutes cooldown, but if he could complete all ten stars, the cooldown would only be two-thirds of the original.

For Dragonʼs Eye which could not be leveled up, proficiency was the only way to strengthen this skill. Each of its stars bestowed its passive skill of distant seeing by another 5%, while its active skill duration was increased by 2 seconds. If he completed all ten stars, the Dragonʼs Eye active skill would last for half a minute. That was a very long time when he was in that slow-motion perception.

The next morning he woke up early so he still got the chance to use the Training Ground while waiting for Marquess Fernando to pick him up for the auction. The marquess arrived around 9 AM. Jack left the Training Ground reluctantly when commander Quintus came to inform him that the marquess had arrived. Unfortunately, he didnʼt manage to further upgrade another of his skills during this morningʼs practice.

”Now that Prince Alonzo had given you his protection, the magistrate should not be able to cause too much trouble for you within the capital. But you should still be careful when you went out to the wilderness. It would be easier for the magistrate to arrange for an incident when you are out there, and harder for the prince to investigate,” the commander warned him.

”Well, if I am killed, I will just come back to life in the capital, right? I can just inform the prince if the magistrate indeed makes his move against me out there.”

”I would advise you to try not getting killed. As I understand, you outworlders will lose everything and start from the beginning again if you die in the wilderness, am I correct? The prince might still try to investigate as he had given his promise, but the difference between if he investigates to gain favor from a powerful asset against if he investigates for a level 1 who is restarting his journey, there will be a big difference.”

”You are saying that I will lose my value if I restart from the beginning?” Jack asked.

”Would you think otherwise?” Commander Quintus returned his question.

That was not so strange actually, Jack thought. That was also how it worked in his real world. People were always valued based on their worth. If you didnʼt worth a dime, there wonʼt be anyone that would bother to invest in you. Only by proving your worth, that you could make something out of yourself in the world. The core belief between this game world and his original world remained the same.

He was not going to tell the commander that he had Immortal Soul inherent skill which would protect him even if he died in the wilderness. He preferred fewer people know about it, the better. After all, the skill had a weakness of 24 hours cooldown. If his enemies knew about them, they might figure out a way to exploit this weakness.

”And since you are no longer in danger in the capital,” the commander continued as they came out into the living hall, where marquess Fernando was seen lounging on one of the sofas. ”There is no need for you to hide in my residence anymore.”

😉