Haroon Volume 3 Chapter 8

《Training》

 The members of the Gusts of Wind gathered around Haroon's room as soon as the sun rose, being curious of Viscount Paros' summon of him.

 "First things first. Teeno has joined our guild. His experience and vast knowledge of scouting will be a great help to us."

 "I'm glad if it is Teeno."

 "Same."

 It was surprising news to them, but no one opposed. It proved that Teeno had gained the trust of the members along the trip.

 "But there is one thing I gotta tell you. Be careful when you are dealing with him. Especially you, Serinn! If you look down on him or treat him badly one way or another, I will not let it slip unnoticed."

 "Hmph! At least I was excited for a second. Alright, Boss."

 Serinn was going to make use of Teeno's meek, submissive mind. She got disappointed for a second, but made an obedient answer. She was going to do it anyways, and Haroon expected her to, but he thought it was better for Teeno to make his choice.

 Haroon sent Philip to Teeno's room so he could join the meeting. Although it was a meeting that welcomed the new member, it didn't become a formal conversation because of the party they had last night. Thanks to that, it wasn't hard for Teeno to get along with the members.

 "Yesterday, Viscount Paros made another request."

 Haroon talked about the request without hiding anything. The members' faces became serious when listening. They desperately looked for someone to talk to first, and naturally, they looked at Philip, as he was the one who talked the most with their boss.

 "So what's your view on this, Boss?" Philip asked, out of pressure.

 There was slight sense of anxiety in his voice. There was something he was afraid of.

 "Let's accept his request. I was planning to go to County of Jorlen anyways, and Huk'ran Mountains happens to be on the way. Hall may be a cold, quiet person, but what can you say about that. We're heading their anyways, and what's wrong about earning some money along the way?"

 "It's not about who our V.I.P. is, Boss! The Huk'ran Mountains are dangerous! It's a forbidden place full of mo-monsters that came out of h.e.l.l!" Gitan shouted, protesting.

 Serinn and Ritrina seemed unsettled as well. Haroon expected it to be somewhat dangerous, since Devron and Viscount Paros has mentioned it a few times, but he didn't expected it to be so dangerous, that it would scare his members. But Haroon needed to head there.

 'The trace of the Legendary Throwing Knife Master is known to remain somewhere on the mountain. I was gonna go alone anyways.'

 But that wasn't what he told his members.

 "Our skill is nowhere near 'pro'. If we were to become popular as mercenaries and gain fame and fortune, we need to train harder, and learn to use mana in a short time. If I am right, the strong monsters of Huk'ran mountains would be the perfect training opponents for us."

 Then the members thought about it for a second, only to shook their heads.

 Some were born as a son or daughter of great mercenaries, and they all decided to walk the path their parents walked on. Of course, they wanted to be great mercenaries with all their hearts. They just didn't like how they had to fight the monsters that were talked of as legends.

 Of course, it wasn't easy for the others to risk their life like Haroon could.

 "That's true, but……."

 Serinn tried to oppose, but Haroon happened to speak at the same time, accidentally cutting off her words in the middle of her sentence.

 "Don't you remember how weak I was? I was able to get strong in a short time only because I risked my life for training. You might not know, but I could have died back in the camp a few times. Of course, we could get to some point by slaying monsters and brigands. That's what people do, usually. But we are still young! We can always challenge ourselves. When are we going to overcome the others if we train with the same pace as the others?"

 It was true. To them, Haroon was like a monster. They didn't remember how he looked when they first met, but they've seen how fast he was able to get strong. They compared themselves to an egg, and Haroon to a bird.

 The hatred and jealousy they had towards Haroon came from the envy of his growth. They used to think they were great, who tried their best when training their bodies and skills even at a very young age, under the education of great parents. But Haroon overcame them in just three months. And now he was telling them it was possible because he was risking his life.

 "But are you really sure about this?" Philip asked.

 "Hahaha, don't you know me?"

 Philip nodded upon hearing that. He knew Haroon didn't have lots of words, but his will and fighting spirit was next to none. Philip knew very well how Haroon strives, once the goal is set.

 Teeno was the first one to speak up.

 "Alright. I'm going with you. It isn't like I have a family to return to, nor anyone who's awaiting me, so I want to travel places where no one would even dare to. I have nothing to lose, and I see nothing wrong with satisfying my curiosity by doing it."

 "Teeno."

 "I'm impressed by your bravery, Boss. I recall myself back in my young age when I used to be a pathfinders for the mercenaries or esquires. I really loved doing that. Finding the path that no one knows, always facing new dangers… Nothing can be compared to the thrill of that. Just like in the old 'ime, I can feel my heart pounding hard, awaiting for the thrill. Now I'm ashamed of myself that I've been excusing myself for being weak and old."

 Teeno made a happy smile. Although it was full of wrinkles and sunburn, yet his eyes were just like a youth's.

 "Alright, Boss. Let's do this!" Philip shouted, biting his lips.

 Philip was the most talented one among the party. At first, he was cooperating only because of the strange sickness he got. But then, he realized he had something to learn from Haroon. More than that, the oldest member of The Gusts of Wind had shown his bravery, and that motivated him.

 "I don't want to be behind someone, never again. If I train like you do, Boss, I wouldn't be losing so easily as the last time," said Philip.

 "Then I'd join as well. And not because of the sickness I've got. It's because I think it'd be fun if I'm with you, Boss. I've seen lots of mercenaries, but you ARE different. Well, yeah, I'm a bit afraid of dying but I hate living a boring life. I'm kind of excited when thinking of going to that kind of dangerous places. I think I peed a little bit just by thinking of it," said Ritrina.

 Serinn and Gitan looked at her with a strange look, and said at the same time.

 "You are mad!"

 "I am! But this is more thrilling, isn't it? It'd be much better than dealing with weak Goblins or bandits! Just imagine it! Fighting freaking giant monsters!"

 Serinn and Gitan shook their heads, but they seemed rather relaxed.

 "Then I'll join as well. I'm disappointed that I had to take a job that my beauty and refinement doesn't deserve, but what can I say when my fighting skills haven't been so useful? But let me show you my true skills this time!"

 Serinn stopped there, but Haroon knew there were something more than that. Her eyes were burning with revenge, with determination to show that she doesn't deserve to do all the s.h.i.tty labour. But Haroon didn't care.

 'Yeah, do prove yourself, or not. It's not like I'll live with you.'

 For the Quad w.a.n.kers, Haroon's carefree, relaxed att.i.tude toward them came as a weird sense of relaxation. His firm, solid att.i.tude was somewhat trustworthy.

 "D-d.a.m.n! Then I'll go with you as well."

 "Yeah, you are so brave that you can't sleep alone, after all. What a bear you are," Serinn whined.

 "Hah! I'm not like the old Gitan! I even learned shield skills!" Gitan answered.

 Gitan's voice had some glimpse of confidence. His eyes were still shaking from fear, though.

 "Well, then let's repair our gear and purchase the things we need. Viscount Paros has permitted us to use his own blacksmith workshop for a discounted price."

 The party headed to the workshop right away. As it produces weapons and armor for the entire viscounty, skilled blacksmiths were working in shifts.

 The party was able to find good weapons, not from the properly displayed items. Gitan was able to find a big shield among the dumpsters that the blacksmiths were about to re-smelt.

 The shield was big enough for Gitan to hide his body, and it was bent outward from the center, making it easier for the user to parry the weapons. Because it was made with steel, it was as heavy as a man, but Gitan could still use it with one hand.

 "Hahaha, I love it!"

 It was simple, and it had no decoration nor any symbols on it, but it still looked good on Gitan.

 A small, round shield was given to Serinn, which could be equipped on her wrist. She needed one as she was the weakest one of the party. Haroon purchased five short knives for skinning and cooking.

 Haroon, Philip, Ritrina and Teeno didn't need to buy a new weapon. They could, but it wouldn't come cheap.

 "Well, those definitely aren't our best weapons……" said the workshop manager.

 The workshop manager seemed disappointed that the party chose low-quality weapons.

 "Well, how much is it?"

 "I see you've chose some items from the dumpster, and as there was a word from his Honor, Viscount Paros, We'll only receive 50 gold."

 Just as the Viscount told him, the manager only asked for the material fee.

 "Ah, and please take a look at our weapons as well."

 Haroon untied his sword from his belt and handed it to the manager. The others did the same thing. The manager inspected their weapons.

 "They aren't too damaged. Since you are our special guests, we'll repair and sharpen these for free."

 That made the members smile. Buying new gear is expensive, but managing it costs a lot as well. But that only lasted for a moment for Gitan and Serinn.

 "Gitan and Serinn, I'll be deducting the costs of your shields from you wage."

The news surprised them.

 "Boss!"

 "What kind of nonsense is that?" Gitan and Serinn spoke at the same time.

 "What, do I have to buy you the gear that'll save your own life?"

 That silenced them. Buying gear and weapons were each member's own responsibility. That was the mercenaries' rule, so they had nothing to say.

 They had another thing to get done before they departed for the quest. They were told that they still had 3 days to prepare as Hall had something else to do, so they had enough time to do what Haroon thought of last night.

 On the next day, Haroon called the members to his room after having breakfast.

 "Teeno, is it true that there's a Hall of Warriors in this castle?"

 "Yes. Actually, there are three of them."

 Similar to the idea of Tower to Magicians, Warriors had their own organizations called The Hall of Warriors. To preserve these halls from the ravages of time, they were build on top of families who inherited their skills and pa.s.sed them on to their descendants. Causing each group to be specialized in one way or another.

 This feature wasn't known to the users yet. The Hall of Warriors taught skill instead of pressing skill books. In order to learn a skill or two from them, the trainee needed to fulfill physical requirements and talents. The reason that it wasn't known to the users yet was because of this – that there were no users that fulfilled these two requirements yet.

 The Hall of Warriors had a lot of talented commoners as members, and their skill was quite different from the Knights, who had self-calling high-level swordsmanship.

 The reason that the Royal Knightages were not able to chase the party was because of these Halls of Warriors. Most of the knights that Viscount Paros owned were from these Halls of Warriors. At least that's what Devron told him.

 "Is it true that you can learn skills from there?"

 "Yes, as long as you are eligible and able to pay the fee for it."

 "And how about the level of skills?"

 "If you aren't registering as a member, they usually only teach the lowest one. But since it's their tradition to teach only those who are eligible, even their lowest skill is quite good. It's rare, but they sometimes teach their advanced skills too, as long as the student is qualified."

 "Sounds good."

 "But why do you bring that up……?"

 Teeno's question was exactly what the Quad w.a.n.kers wanted to ask.

 "Philip's Smashing Blow skill is almost complete, and I think it is time for him to learn an advanced one. The others have only mastered basic skills, but I think it'll be good enough to be recognized by the Hall of Warriors. I hope this will be a good chance for all of you. You included, Teeno."

 "B-Boss!"

 Teeno's eyes widened. They had no idea that Haroon had been thinking of this. He has never seen nor heard of any mercenary guild leader who gives that much attention to each member's skills.

 "Boss, You're not joking, right?" Said Philip, deeply moved.

 "We all need to prepare. There is only one way to ride and overcome the impending wave of chaos – getting strong."

 Gitan, Serinn, and Ritrina didn't fully understand what he just said, but were excited anyways.

 "Then let's head there first. The qualified ones will be getting an easy chance, and the others will have to find their own ways."

 "B-but learning a skill would cost few dozens of gold…" Teeno said with concern.

 "I've got you guys covered. Don't worry about the money. We might get a little short on the supplies, but we can always harvest herbs and hunt monsters, so that shouldn't be a problem."

 "I, I can't appreciate you more, Boss!" Said Teeno.

 "Thank you, Boss. I never thought you would be caring for us that much. Even if I don't get a chance to learn a skill, I won't forget your kindness."

 "Well, don't jinx it and let's head to the Hall of Warriors to test our luck and skill."

[The members are thanking you with all their heart.]

[You have gained 150 leadership points, and every member has gained 300 loyalty.]

 Haroon was once again surprised by the level of detail the developers of Beyond has achieved.

 The unexpected gift made Teeno's mind even lighter, causing him to move faster, and thanks to that, it didn't take long for them to arrive to one of the three Hall of Warrior.

 The first one they visited had a giant shield nicely painted on the gate. The party found the painting quite odd. It wasn't an ordinary shield, but it had blades sticking out from the shield, creating a scary theme.

 "We've came to test our qualities," Teeno shouted at the gate.

 The gate was already opened, and the party could see an empty training hall and a simple but long wooden building at the end of it. Someone came out from the building.

 "He looks like an ogre."

 Like how Serinn whispered, the man had a giant body that was similar to an ogre. Oddly, he was quite fast, probably because of his wide stride. When he came near to them, they could see that he was wearing unusual armor.

 There were blades attached to the armor. It seemed more like they made blades from by sharpening the armor. The blades were formed on shoulders, elbows, b.u.t.tock, back and chest. It looked ridiculous, but soon they realized it'll be ridiculously effective in close-range combat.

 Without a word, he looked over each member with an intense gaze, as if he was scanning their bodies. With a carefree and emotionless face his gaze was quite horrifying. Even Serinn and Ritrina had to avoid his eyes.

 His eyes stopped on Gitan, who was hiding behind Haroon and Philip.

 "We can get you in. Hey, you! Pay 50 gold."

 He was pointing at Gitan. Gitan was knocking his knees already.

 "We were lucky. We had a qualifying one."

 Haroon handed the man 50 gold without any hesitation.

 "Follow me. The training will take a week."

 The man didn't even check if Gitan was following him, and headed inside.

 "B-Boss, I'm scared."

 And everyone in party could tell, even if he didn't mention it.

 "Train hard. Who knows? Maybe you would be able to slain an orc with a single blow after training."

 "R-Really?"

 What a kid.

 "You can do it. Just see how big you are. So train hard, and come back to the Viscount's mansion after a week."

 Gitan was still shaking, but he clenched his fists hard enough to make his hands pale. Though he may be a cowardly one, it didn't mean he was not ready to be a proper warrior. But seeing him walking into the Hall of Warriors was just like a pig going into the butcher's house.

 "I wonder what he'll learn," Serinn said to Philip.

 "I have no idea."

 "I'd say shield techniques."

 As soon as Philip spoke, Teeno answered his question.

 "People say you can tell from the symbol on the gate."

 "Hmm."

 That actually explained a lot for them.

 "Well then, let's check out the next one," Teeno suggested.

 Because Teeno knew the layout of Viscounty castle so well, it didn't take long for them to check all three Hall of Warriors. Philip got into the one which had the symbol of a slim, sharp sword. Teeno and Ritrina were able to get into the one with the symbol of a sword that was flying.

 Serinn got upset that she never got accepted by any Hall of Warriors. In fact, both Halls of Warriors found Haroon qualifying. He simply refused. Serinn was the only one who was not chosen.

 "Don't think about it. There were only three of them here anyways. We can always check the next city."

 Haroon tried to cheer her up. After going through pain and happiness together, he couldn't dislike her anymore. But that didn't help her. On the way back to the guesthouse of Viscount Paros, Serinn sobbed over and over in sorrow, so Haroon had to help her walk. When they got to the guesthouse, Haroon sent her to her room and came out to the outer castle. There was one more thing he needed to take care of. He was going to exchange gold before the exchange rate dropped even lower.

 The total money he earned after starting Beyond was 656 gold and 10 silver. He has spent 50 gold on Hector, 50 gold on purchasing weapons, and 150 gold on the Halls of Warriors. So he had 406 gold in inventory.

 If Bell's prediction is right, then after about a month in real time, the exchange rate would stabilize at around $20~$30 per gold. In worst case scenario, it'll drop to $10 per gold. It was always better to exchange it to cash as soon as possible.

 Most of it was from the Quad w.a.n.kers, but they were rich anyways. And now he was trying to pay it back, so he wasn't feeling guilty about it anymore.

 Haroon visited a bank, and only changed 400 gold.

 'd.a.m.n! I should have come earlier!"

 The exchange rate had already dropped to about $60 per gold. It meant the trading system was now being vitalized as the number of users and their levels rises.

 'Still, that's $24000,' Haroon thought.

 An average civilian in district F would have to work for 10 years to earn that much money. He earned it just in two months. 'This is too much for me' he thought, but he didn't even know where to spend that much money. But knowing how expensive the herbs – especially the wild ginseng – were, he realized that it wasn't enough.

 'I might get another chance to earn this much money if I train hard. I am satisfied by being able to play games for 2 months without having any job,' he added.

 While heading back to the guest house, Haroon turned around and left the castle. He didn't care to hear Serinn cry for several days. He thought it'd be much better to spend time on training instead.

The old sun was setting for the fifth day after the members began training.

 For the last few days, Haroon had been training his Messenger Walking skill on the plain field near the riverside, which was full of thick, tall gra.s.s. He couldn't care any more about his training as he knew the effects of it. He was mentally exhausted, but he couldn't stop observing how the mana capacity increased continually.

 Thanks to his efforts of walking non-stop, he's gained 3 stats for sustenance, and 3 stats for focus. He even gained 2 stats for Extrasensory Perception as he had to focus on the breathing and movement of muscles.

 That wasn't the end.

 As he was solely focusing on training the skill, he was able to level up the Messenger Walking skill in a short time. When the darkness was gently covering the tall gra.s.s, he was able to hear a UI sound, alerting the level up.

[You have leveled up the Messenger Walking skill]

[You have unlocked a skill – 'Messenger Running']

Messenger Running

Messenger Running is a skill that utilizes the mana that is being absorbed through your feet. On the absorbing stage, you can now choose to absorb or spurt mana back, shooting your body forward at full speed. Mana will not be acc.u.mulated during the running stage.

 It was surprising to hear the news from the UI sound. The system of Beyond didn't tell users if they have leveled up their skills. He never heard from the UI sound that he had leveled up Sense Sword nor the other two throwing knife skills. This only meant Messenger Skills are exceptional.

 'Messenger Running? So the Messenger Walking skill does have other skills related to it as it levels up, just like Bell guessed. I can't believe how a skill can be evolved to different skills.'

 When he first learned the skill from Devron, he was fascinated by the fact that he could acc.u.mulate mana just by walking, as he was always short of mana because of how much mana Brat has to consume. Moreover, Haroon was able to move twice as fast when he uses Messenger Walking, and his mana capacity was increasing slightly so he couldn't afford to spend less time on training the skill.

 'So Bell's guess was right.'

 Haroon was surprised by Bell's ability once again.

 Bell was mainly doing 3 things while Haroon was living his life in Beyond.

 The first was learning about the world. What she told him was that she connects to the Whole Global Committee(WGC)'s electronic library online and absorbed knowledge from it. Just by hearing the name of it, Haroon expected it to have an exceptional security system, and wondered how she managed to get into it. But he realized, that wasn't his business after all.

 The second was making a physical copy of herself. Not cyborgs where parts or the whole body is made out of mechanical parts, but a biological body that can still connect to the capsule, which is her main body. That seemed impossible in common sense, but he had already seen a physical sh.e.l.l of Bell that wasn't any hologram of some sort.

 The third was searching for intel on Beyond and predicting where it is heading. This task was crucial for Haroon. The quality and amount of it could not be compared to the intelligence she was gaining due to limited sources, and she had to wait until Haroon logs out. So her current goal was to be able to transfer data via brainwave.

 So she must have managed to figure out the skill system, based on the facts that users has been posting on the internet.

 – "The details are too specific, even considering that it is a pa.s.sive skill. It is too ma.s.sive to be a simple pa.s.sive."

 That's what she told him a few days ago when she heard Haroon bragging about the new skill he learned, when he was still out of the game because of the game penalty.

 "Is that so? Well, yeah, I still don't understand why it needs a description of every movement in great detail, but isn't it amazing that you can acc.u.mulate mana just by walking?"

 – "I don't think it is that simple, Oppa," said Bell, tilting her head.

 "How can you tell?"

 – "The other skills I've a.n.a.lyzed on the internet didn't have great details with this much volume. The pa.s.sive skills that need to be trained physically, filtered to advanced levels, have a volume of description which is less than one third of what you've just told me."

 Haroon told her his opinion, partially agreeing to Bell's a.n.a.lysis.

 "Wouldn't that be simply because the skill needs delicate movements? Probably because it is related to the breathing."

 – "Yes it could be. But it is my perspective, the skill seems to be made out of several, even more detailed skills. Of course, it might be hard to guess what those exactly are, but it is my guess that they will be revealed as you understand the skill more."

 "Haha, that'll be awesome. I hope that you are right."

 And she was right.

 'Messenger Running, huh……'

 Haroon thought about it, but could not think of anything else than that it has evolved from walking to running.

 'Let's think about it after casting it.'

 If one cannot picture something mentally, one should experience it with the body first.

 Haroon started walking slowly by matching the breathe and the movement. He could feel light amounts of mana being gathered around the sole of his feet.

 'Let's run!'

 As the image of running at full speed came across his head, Haroon kicked the ground with his toes. The body leaned towards the ground with great angle. It was quite an unstable pose which looked like he would fall over at any second. He was leaping about 2 meters, but the height of his jump wasn't so high.

 As the heel touches the ground, he gently tilted his foot so the sole would fully contact with the ground, and quickly kicked off the ground with his toes again. Just as he did a moment ago, he was leaping another 2 meters.

 It was the very next moment that he realized the distance he just covered by two steps, causing him to lose the balance of movement and breathing.

 "What the h.e.l.l was that?"

 It was simply unbelievable. He couldn't believe that he moved 2 meters per step. Yet, he felt his body being so light, that it felt more like hovering rather than running.

 'The mana did burst out of my feet.'

 At the moment when his feet made full contact with the ground, the mana was gathered at his feet. But when he kicked off the ground with his toes, the mana boosted him forward, making a whirl-like movement and bursting out of his feet. But there was something odd about it. If he supposed that the amount of mana he gathered is 1 unit the amount of mana that boosted him was more than 5 units. But it didn't feel like he has used the mana that he acc.u.mulated.

 At first, he thought he wasn't understanding the flow of mana – where he acc.u.mulates mana and how to effectively use it – in his body, but it simply didn't feel like he has used his mana.

 'Could it be related to the whirl-like movement it made?'

 Maybe. The feeling he had with Mana was quite similar to flow of air. Then it explained how the whirl-like movement could release more energy.

 'That's simply amazing. I could run like the wind!'

 Haroon suppressed his excited mind and calmed down, trying to match the breathing and movement. After a few failed attempts, he was able to focus once again.

 Because of the 3 stats of focus he newly gained from the training he had done for the last few days, he was able to look around while still casting the messenger walking, and running.

 Although it might be an odd pose, Haroon's running stance was quite similar to a horse's running. Well, it couldn't be compared to a horse, as he wasn't losing any stamina while running. He was gaining momentum from mana, not from his muscle power.

 A man running on the darkened gra.s.s field was a mysterious view, more like an arcane scene. Sadly, there was no one to witness it.

Translated by Channy_
Edited by Tom and Kmatt

Footnotes:

Editor's notes:

Channy_: Finally done!

Kmatt: Now he can run away from his problems XD

Tom: Been shoveling snow like crazy. It's only like, one meter high, though.