“Geomchi2 did you find that player?” Geomchi3 (Ma Sangbeom) asked curiously over the whisper.
“No, it looks like she has moved her food stall or logged out.” Geomchi2 said regretfully.
“You sure it was Cha Eunhee?” Geomchi4 (Choi Jong) asked. “Could just be your daughter…”
“My daughter doesn’t know how to cook anything….” Geomchi2 (Chung Il) said hesitatingly.
“…”
“I guess, it was someone who looked just like her?” Geomchi2 asked the other for reassurance.
“Yes, that must be it! You know how they say in this world for each person their exist two other people who look just like them even though they are not related by blood…” Geomchi4 chirped away happily.
“Yes, even I have heard of that saying!” Geomchi3 backed Geomchi4.
“…”
“Were any of you able to find a sword training hall?” Geomchi2 asked the others.
“No…nothing here in fire kingdom…all they have is fire magic…” Geomchi 3 said.
“Nothing here in water in either…though we found out that there are professional schools to learn the way of the way of the sword in this kingdom…very few take up the way of the sword…” Geomchi4 reported in.
“I see, I can say the same here…” Geomchi5 said. “We too have searched the entire city of Lavias and have found no training hall. We have heard rumors of sword schools but only restricted to members…”
“I do not understand…how can Lee Hyun make no training halls?” Geomchi2 asked furiously.
“I do not know either brother…” Geomchi4 said as he helped an NPC push boxes into a warehouse.
“For now we are all doing quests and levelling up before we exit the city.” Geomchi3 said, “It will help us when we kill the monsters.”
“But that is not truly the way of the sword is it now?” Geomchi2 asked.
“…but even if I buy a sword where do I find practicing grounds?” Geomchi3 asked angrily, he did not like being questioned how he trained his students.
“…”
“We have yet to bring the other disciples to this game…if we are not adept with the sword here then we will lose our rights are as masters, teachers and seniors.” Geomchi2 spoke. “Even though we are masters of the sword in this world if we don’t train our senses to attune to this world, we will only make a mockery of ourselves in front of our students.”
“…”
“Remember when master, Ahn Hyundo, died?” Geomchi2 asked. “The humiliation was unbearable and are master did not rest till he did not exact revenge. However, I am not sure if we can compare to our masters resolve. If we were to lose are lives here easily, it will leave a bad impression on the young ones.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Geomchi4 asked bored of being lectured by the eldest of the lot.
Geomchi2 then narrated his experience how he was able to secure sword practice. After listening to his experience, the other Geomchi’s were very much impressed with Geomchi2’s luck and journey so far.
“As expected of our brother!” Geomchi3 said with pride when he heard that Geomchi2 gained a disciple in this world through display of his sheer skills.
“But this disciple Krug, is he not an NPC?” Geomchi5 asked.
“…yes…which is why I am most worried about him, as his master I cannot lay about thinking about the next day but his entire future…” Geomchi2 said. His voice conveyed his worry. “I was hoping that by practicing we would become stronger…but it seems no matter how long we hit the practice targets, we are unable to increase our stats.”
“Ah!” Geomchi5 exclaimed. “I overheard this, you will not gain any stats in this game till you reach level one.”
“What!” The other three were taken by surprise.
“Did you not already know brother, Ma Sangbeom?” Geomchi5 asked as Ma Sangbeom had been doing quests.
“I never realized that you won’t be able to gain any stats. Since we couldn’t find the training hall, all of us here just began questing and gaining levels…” Geomchi3 explained.
“I see so before we rush into sword training it is important to make sure all students are level one.” Geomchi2 said as he brooded on the matter. “This explains why we haven’t been able to gain any stats…”
“Then let us resume where we left off.” Geomchi3 suggested. “We will find ways to practice the sword in our respective continents.”
“And I will see the results of our training after we all reach level one.” Geomchi2 said.
“Then it is decided I guess more or less…” Geomchi5 said sheepishly, “We bring remainder students to train here tomorrow?”
“Yeah…”
With that the Geomchi’s resumed their attention to their respective tasks at hand.
Geomchi 5 (Roi Lee) called the other Wind Geomchis to for a meeting.
“I have some bad news…” He began, “after discussing with the others, we have realized that there are no Training Halls here…”
The practioners were disappointed, some of them had played Royal Road and the Training Hall was their favourite memory of it…
Seeing his disappointed disciple’s faces, Geomchi5 quickly added, “However…Geomchi2 has been able to still persevere and they have been able to continue practicing the way of the sword. They may have no roof over their heads and they may sweat it out under the sun but they have been able to find a place to practice the sword. We too must find our own way to practice the sword.”
“But master where do we find good practicing grounds?” WiGeomchi7 asked. “We have bought good swords with the money we got from the quest…but in this city I do not know where we can practice…”
“…”
“Master, maybe because we are looking for practicing area in the middle of the city, it is surely the reason we haven’t found place to practice.” WiGeomchi 9 said. “If we are to move out of this city maybe then we can find better a better area…”
“Oh, so we could do that…”
The rest of the Geomchis were smiling, but Wind Geomchi4 shook his head.
“We can’t leave the city for three weeks so it looks like we’re going to have to find a place within the city...”
“…”
“Then how about towards the outskirts?” Geomchi5 said. “It looked less crowded than here…”
“Yes, I noticed too!” Wind Geomchi 10 said excitedly. “But which gate do we take?”
“Like the rising sun, let us begun our journey from the east?” Geomchi5 joked.
His disciple’s eyes sparkled. The Geomchi’s quickly began making their way through the market square towards the eastern exit and towards the Eastern Gate. They passed through expensive residential houses and small slum like dwellings…crossing paved roads to muddy paths…till they began seeing the farmlands of Lavias. Originally, there were plenty of lush fields and the inner city was much smaller. However, with rising number of players and increasing game population, development was quite haphazard in the city. Lavias unlike other cities in other kingdom’s was quite a small starter city. Even the smallest percentage of increase in population was pushing the limit the city to accommodate. The result being… the farms nearest to the city were being closed down and changed into dwelling units. The rich began living in the center of the city and the poor towards the outskirts…
After what seemed like a few hours walk or so, the Geomchi’s finally began seeing open spaces…there were lush green farms on both their sides. Geomchi5 could sense his disciples’ excitement. This all was working out excellent….now that they found open places they only required some practicing targets…
“Master, look what I found!” Wind Geomchi 6 said as he pointed in the direction of what appeared to be an abandoned dilapidated ranch of sorts…
“Yes we can use that!” Geomchi5 said excitedly. “I do not think anyone lives in this anymore. You two go and see the house and see if there is anyone living there and the others ask around to see if we can practice here…I don’t want to encroach upon someone else’s property.”
The eleven Geomchi’s stepped in and began exploring. Wind Geomchis’ 3 and 11 explored the house, however they found it completely empty. There were no signs of this house being inhabited. It wore signs of being previously occupied…but now it appeared to have fallen to ruins. There were signs of vandalism and a few broken windows here and there but nothing out of the ordinary….and more importantly nothing that they could use. Nonetheless, if this house was truly abandoned it would be of great comfort to occupy during the three weeks they planned to stay in the city.
Wind Geomchis 6 to 8, began checking out the barn. Although it was closed tight, with a little bit of struggle they opened the barn doors and to their surprise they found a single wagon standing there. Unlike the exterior of the house and barn, the wagon appeared to be extremely well maintained. As the Geomchi’s peered into the wagon, they found tons and tons of low level weapons lying inside. Their eyes grew bright in excitement. They quickly told Geomchi5 what they found.
“Good!” He praised them, “This will serve as good material to practice with when we are allowed to go outside hunting. Now the other newcomers won’t have to worry about buying a new sword.”
The other wind geomchi’s began reporting back in.
“Master, we found some loose boards in the house which we can use…”
“Excellent! We can use these to practice on…along with the dried hay they found in the barn house…”
Geomchi5 and the others quickly tied the hay around the wooden planks and set them into the ground. After a little more effort they had twenty such practicing targets…
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“For today this much will do…, we can cut the trees for the others tomorrow. Then let us begin practicing some sword strikes…” Geomchi5 said.
Just as they were about to begin, another ground of wind geomchi’s returned.
“Master, we talked to the neighbours and they confirmed this house belonged to an old couple but it seems like they left this place. It has not been occupied in the last eighteen months.”
“Then I guess it settles it. We will occupy this place until the couple returns. This will be an excellent place to begin practice.” Geomchi5 said excitedly.
“…” However, the group that brought the news of the couple had something more to say.
“Master, some of the neighbours also said this place is haunted…”
“…”
“They say at night you can find strange balls of light floating wandering through the air in this ranch and many people here at night to see it.”
“A little bit of light at night will be helpful..” Geomchi5 chirped back. He wasn’t afraid of any ghost in a game.
“And master…some say that monsters roam in these ranches…there is howling often heard here… and those who get to close to the house at night have said that they could hear some monster growling at them as a warning…”
“Wonderful!” Geomchi5 said, “Having monsters come to us is the best thing possible. Otherwise we have to wait 3 weeks before we can fight monsters!”
“Master…and they say sometimes…this place grows so dark at night…as if someone hid it behind a veil of darkness…the neighbors complain of the chills reaching their bones and the hair standing on their back like a cat in fear…master this place may not be such a good idea…”
“We will continue swinging our swords. Only concentrate on swinging the sword! There is no need to listen to such gibberish stories”
“Yes Master! We will focus on the sword.” The practioners chirped back.
“Oh, Master how admirable.”
The Wind Geomchis applauded.
Then the eleven of them began to beat the scarecrow. Even though they were tired, it gave them more willpower.
Geomchi5 smiled seeing his students working so hard. They were probably tired and some of them were scared by ghost stories, nonetheless for his sake they put everything aside and practiced the way of the sword.
A few neighbours who were passing by were glad to see such enthusiasm from the practitioners. The house which had long been abandoned by every living soul finally sounded noisy and busy. The eerie feeling it kept giving away was receding slowly.
The Geomchi’s continued practicing strikes and ignored all players who stared at them. The scene of seeing Geomchi’s reminded many players of Royal Road and they wondered if this was the dawn of a new cult or something. Some of them also thought that they looked a lot like the Geomchi’s whom they had read about…little did they know that the Geomchi’s had returned.
As night crawled on they continued striking their targets. Since they had been questing earlier during the day, we were able to earn enough copper to buy bread to last them a week.
Even though it was late into the night and the practioners had been swinging the sword for several hours, they continued to endure the harsh training. Since the VR world moved three times faster than the real world, it meant they could practice three times more. The opportunity was to be taken seriously! Moreso, since the practioners were competing with other fellow Geomchi’s across the kingdom.
“Is anyone tired?” Geomchi5 teased his disciples.
“We live only for the sword!” His disciple replied back in chorus.
Suddenly, Geomchi5 stopped. His sharp sense could tell something had changed…He raised his hand up and motioning his disciples to stop.
“Who is there?” He shouted out in a stern voice. He didn’t like that they were being watched so secretly.
“Master what is wrong..” A disciple began…however Geomchi5 motioned him to be silent.
Only the soft gentle breeze blowing through the ranch could be heard.
“Come out! I know you are there!” Geomchi5 shouted again. Others might think he was a senile old man, but Geomchi5 could tell apart even the smallest changes in the environment.
After a few seconds, something moved in the distance…the Geomchi’s gripped their sword tightly, they knew well about the ghost stories…
A hooded figure began approaching them.
The ground became cold and the leaves around the mysterious being began to grey and wilt. Even though it was dark, Geomchi5’s sharp senses could tell what was happening. Geomchi5 knew this was a monster that they had to deal with swiftly.
The hooded figure stood no more than a few feet away from the Geomchis and stared at them silently. The Geomchi’s stared back and they could only see darkness. There was no face beneath that hood, only complete darkness. They could feel chills throughout their body…the disciples were scared. Even though this was a game, they could clearly sense the difference between of power between them. The being in front of them was a monster. A monster so vicious, it could eat them up alive without a care in the world.
Geomchi5 could sense his student’s hesitation and fear. Without giving it further thought, he leaped in front and swung his sword down. He knew he could do no damage given his low level but at least he could give his students some courage.
The being caught the sword in mid air with his bare hands…Geomchi5 was in shock. The attack by no means was sloppy, even if his agility was low; Geomchi5’s movements were perfect from the point of view of a swordsman. This creature was so vile that by just touching his sword it began corroding away…Geomchi5 retracted his sword and swung again. The hooded creature quickly pulled out a black sword and defended the slash.
The wind geomchi’s who were scared quickly got their attack together. They certainly weren’t going to let their master handle this by himself. They too quickly joined the action. But now matter what type of combination of attack they tried, they could not best the monster. It would dodge attacks from the back as if it had eyes behind its hood.
Its movements were so spectacular that Geomchi5 began wondering whether this creature was really serious about killing them. He could tell that they were being toyed with. Geomchi5 grew frustrated, this match reminded him a lot of Lee Hyun in the dojang. When they crossed swords, this was the exact same feeling. Lee Hyun would dodge all his attacks so effortlessly, it frustrated him. This monster was no less. However, Geomchi5 could tell all though this monster was good it was a lot like Lee Hyun in his early days, rough and relying greatly on pure raw power.
The thought did cross Geomchi5’s mind whether this was Lee Hyun. However this was something he would only be able to confirm when he was back in the real world.
‘If that is all you can do…then let us see if you can handle this.’ Geomchi5 said as he began with more complex movements. His sword was no longer following a regular attack pattern. He could parry his weapon either direction and sometimes would change hands, surprising the monster with his reach. Given that his disciples were coordinating with him on the attacks, they were really able to pressure the monster into a corner…and then Geomchi5 finally succeeded!
He finally managed to pierce the monster with his sword…however it could be said that Geomchi5 opened pandora’s box with that single strike. The starry sky and moonlight faded into the darkness and the Geomchi’s could no longer see or hear anything. The disciples stood motionless hoping to detect some sounds but before they heard wind gromchi 6 scream in agony. One by one, each disciple fell. Geomchi5’s was boiling in anger, hearing his student’s scream. Since they had maintained a high level of tolerance to pain in the VR gear’s option setting, they felt the sword strike almost like a real one.
Geomchi heard a faint sound of someone approaching him, he raised his sword to defend and sparks flew everywhere. For a fraction of moment, he could see the monster attacking him. Its clothes were covered in crimson blood of the disciples. Before Geomchi5 could do anything else, he was killed.
The starry sky and moonlight sky revealed themselves once again. There lay eleven slain bodies of the Geomchi’s in a pool of their own blood and a hooded figure peering down on them. The small scar that the creature received quickly healed itself…the monster touched the place of the wound before disappearing into the night.
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Authors Note:
1. Happy Reading!
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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