-The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?

Masaru was familiar with how the creation process works, seeing preview trailers as well as beta videos.

"Yes."

— Select the name of your avatar.

"Masaru."

Masaru wasn't one to hide his name, even with his current lifestyle. He was determined to be a champion with his name for everyone to see.

— Select your gender from male, female or neutral.

"Male."

— Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.

"Human."

While he thought the other choices were interesting, Masaru went with the basics.

- You may alter your appearance.

Masaru took some time with this choice. While he looked older than he really is, he also wanted to feel the time he had when he was youthful and energetic.

Brooding over this choice, he eventually decided to keep his real appearance as it was, even with the look of an old man.

— Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road­.

— Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

Masaru quickly scanned the map. Choosing the most appealing city, City of Warriors, Fuitheim in the Alderous Kingdom, he moved on.

— Welcome to Royal Road.

Skipping the tutorial, Masaru stepped into a new world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Masaru walked around the city, getting a feel for movement and such. His hands clenched and unclenched; his legs took some fake kicks.

He breathed in and spoke to himself. “Time to train! It’s been a long time since I actually practiced. "

When he read up on the game, Masaru found out about how stats can be leveled up through work. Getting an idea, Masaru decided to make weights out of leftover iron with leather straps.

He found iron around the local blacksmith shop, and was also able to find leather straps near the merchants who set up shop. Repeating the movement he used to do when on his journey, he tied the leather around the iron and another piece of leather underneath, tucked into the main loop.

Ttiring!

Training Weights 25 lbs

Durability: 30/30

Weights created by a determined warrior.

Helps strength and agility training

Equip:

1.25x training speeds

Starting off with a run around the city, he was burdened with the weight. After running around the city, he gained one point of stats.

Agility rises by 1. (+1 AGI)

Upon gaining the agility, he began to run around the city over and over again.

4 HOURS LATER

He found, quite quickly, that he could not run forever . The stamina stat prevented him from doing so. However, using breaks and eating, he was able to gain 1 more point of strength and agility as well as the Sprint skill. Near the end, the runs started to be easier and easier as the weights became lighter.

“There must be a more efficient way to gain strength in these four weeks.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He saw a training hall on his way around. Thinking it may be interesting, he set off, being able to find heavier weights on his way. After creating the new weights, he activated sprint and sped towards the hall.

When he entered he found a man surrounded by scarecrows.There seemed to be a lack of visitors, as nobody else was around

“Hello, adventurer, I presume you have arrived at the Versailles continent very recently,”

"Yes, instructor."

“The art of fighting is crucial in order to survive against the monsters outside of these walls. If wish to train, then strike the scarecrow for as long as you want.”

Masaru did what the instructor said and started to strike the scarecrow. To practice, he ran through normal katas from all the martial arts he had learnt, such as aikido, kung fu, taekwondo, jujitsu and karate.

6 HOURS LATER

Masaru fought hard, practicing his skills. Eventually he gained a point of Vitality as well as Strength.

Satisfied, Masaru logged out of the capsule and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Masaru went back into Royal Road, his first order of business was to upgrade his weights. Increasing them to a hundred pounds each, he ran around the city using sprint again and headed towards the Training Hall.

"Ho there, fellow player!"

Masaru turned around, surprised. Fuitheim, despite seeming to be a good starting destination, had no guilds other than the warrior's and had little other things to offer as clearly stated in its description, meaning new players would have nothing to do in there beginner month.. Not only that, but it was surrounded by very dangerous dungeons and monsters. The lowest level monsters were level 25! Masaru joined the city only due to counting on training as well as a lack of people to hunt.

"I'm surprised. I didn't expect anyone else to be here in this trap of a city."

Masaru said nothing, inspecting the person in front of him. He seemed to be a young man in his early 20s. His hair was a shiny white in a way that seemed natural, with grayish blue eyes. On his back was a lute, appearing to be entirely hand carved. His voice was of a Scottish descent.

"Not the talkative type, are you?"

Masaru finally spoke up.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jack. What's yours?"

"Masaru."

"You Japanese? You seem to be pretty old, and judging from those blistered hands, either you are a monk or just playing one. One of them old martial arts men, are ya?"

"..."

"Oh, come on now. Don't shove that pole up your arse so far."

"..."

"I know a way to make you talk. Let me play a song for you."

Without hesitation, he drew the lute of his back and began to play. Masaru could not recognize the tune, for Jack had only just started it, and by such he was making it up as he gone. The notes were confusing at best, nothing really flowed, and overall it was strange and bizarre. And yet, it was good. Somehow, through the chaos and cacophony, the song was enchantingly good.

To Masaru, it reminded him of another time, of a person just like Jack, who played music and transformed it into an art, and made everything sound good with his magic touch nobody could copy, that made all decent players charlatans and masters beginners.

And for the first time in a decade or so, Masaru smiled.