Derek spent his first night in this new world at the locale inn of Holton, one of the smallest village according to the map. After he woke up, Derek spent some of his morning speaking with Alys, the lady who first greeted him when he entered the inn. Through his discussion, he learned that she was a real person a not an NPC. In fact, no one in this village was an NPC, they were all real people who were transported to this world a year ago.
‘A year ago!? It can’t be, I just woke up yesterday. Did I forget more than just how I got here? No, there’s no way I would still be level one if I got here a year ago.’
Derek didn’t want to appear to be new to this world as it may be suspicious to those who’ve lived here for a full year already. He decided to spend some of his day to ask around the other villagers to see if everyone would have the same story. He found that everyone in this village did appear in this world a year ago by asking people what they used to do in the “real world”. He also learned that there are very few people in this world that are NPCs, they mostly exist around big towns. The reason for that is that NPCs were around the multiple different places where people appeared in this world and often times those places are where the first towns were established. People usually appeared in groups at various different locations in this world and the NPCs were there to help guide those people. Meaning that a newer village like Holton, wouldn’t have NPCs.
‘Well, seeing as many villagers encouraged me to go see their local blacksmith it must mean that people with jobs gain experience over time like most combatant. It wouldn’t hurt to go see his shop, but first I need to train a little. I can’t be level one forever.’
Derek then decided to use the training tab in the menu. When he pressed on it, he was given two options for training. The first option was combat training where the user fight monsters that they have already encountered to gain experience, the monsters are at reduced strength and they give a reduced amount of experience. Seeing as he hadn’t encountered any monsters yet, Derek couldn’t use this option, His other option was exercise training, the user has to do multiple exercises to complete a training program and gain experience once completed.
‘I guess I’ll have to go with the exercise option. I’m not a big fan of exercising but it’s too dangerous to go adventuring while being level one. It’s even worst now that I know people have been here for a year, the monsters might be stronger to adapt to the rising strength of other adventurers. At least this “Vulcanus Vessel” skill might help me catch up, it is very worrying that through my investigation no one else seemed to be aware of such a skill. I originally thought it was a skill for beginners that helps them level up for a little while to adapt to this world but it doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m going to have to figure this out eventually but for now I should train.’
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Derek chose the exercise option and a menu opened.
[Exercise Option]
[Difficulty Selection]
[Easy: 1km Run. 10 Push-ups. 10 Sit-ups. 10 Squats.]
[Moderate: 5km Run. 50 Push-ups. 50 Sit-ups. 50 Squats.]
[Tough: 10km Run. 100 Push-ups. 100 Sit-ups. 100 Squats.]
[Option Locked]
‘In my current shape I have to go for the first one, I guess. The higher-level difficulty workouts give so much more experience though. I wonder if working out will increase my physical shape or if increasing my strength will. Only one way to find out. I do wonder what the locked option is though, oh well.’
Derek chose the easy difficulty and got to work. He started by doing half the push-ups, half the sit-ups and half of the squats. He wasn’t the most muscular person but even him could do those exercises without too much of a problem. His run didn’t go as well, he ran out of breath more than once seeing as he hadn’t participated in any sports for a few years, but he still completed it. Doing the rest of the exercises were slightly more difficult, but he managed to complete it. And at that very moment where he completed the last squat, Derek heard a noise that would become music to his ears.
[Level Up!]
‘My first level-up! If I keep doing these workouts, I could maybe become much stronger without even facing a single monster.’
Derek quickly looked at his stamina bar and it was considerably lower than at the start of his workout.
‘I guess I can’t really do these consecutively at my current physical ability.’
Derek then opened his attribute menu.
[Derek Vega]
[Novice]
[Level 2] [5 Points Available]
[Strength: 8 +
Dexterity: 9 +
Endurance: 9 +
Intelligence: 19 +
Mind: 18 +]
‘What if I increased my physical attributes to make the workout easier. I could theoretically workout more and do the harder difficulty ones, making leveling way easier.’
Derek put two points into his strength attribute and felt stronger than before. He also put 1 point into dexterity to make it to an even 10. Then, he did the same with his endurance stat but when he increased it, he also spotted in the corner of his eye that his stamina bar increased.
‘That makes sense, the more I increase my endurance the bigger my stamina bar becomes, allowing me to do more exercise trainings. I can only assume that the more I increase my strength the easier the exercises will be and the more I increase my dexterity the faster I’ll be making my run easier.’
He put his last point into endurance, once again making his stamina bar bigger and started another training exercise. After finishing the second workout, his experience bar filled up halfway. He still had enough stamina for another workout, so he started another one and finished it in his room at the inn.
[Level Up!]
[Derek Vega]
[Novice]
[Level 3]
[Strength: 11
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 15
Intelligence: 19
Mind: 18]