25 The First Practical Lesson II

The sword style was very versatile and could be mixed with other skills such as [Charged Attack] and [Aim Assisting].

So did the performance of it.

It looked really fluid and swift.

"Now I finally recognize the fundamental difference between a slash and a stab."

With slashing, swordsmen can turn it into a continuous motion. 

Even if that slash hit or not, the swordsman can still use that momentum of the cut to swing it into a parry or another attack really fast.

Moreover, its attack covers a wider area, making opponents have to protect their body more.

However, that's not the case with a stab. Swordsmen must retract the sword down to use it again. 

And this requires more energy and is far slower, leaving the swordsmen much more vulnerable because they cannot parry back as quickly.

But at the cost of that, a stab is much deadlier than a slash in terms of internal damage.

With [Stab] and [Slash] alone, I could make a lot of special techniques already.

'I wonder if there are other fundamental techniques like [Stab] and [Slash].'

Thanks to my [Super Memory], I can have an insight into fighting with a sword.

'This is much more difficult than a normal game.'

'I have to learn how to fight!'

Huff.

'If I had a teacher, it would be much easier.'

'Because after all, I only have overall knowledge about the game, not the technique.'

After making some adjustments to my ultimate plan, I finally ran to the next goblins' barrack.

Sigh.

I remember back in the game, there were numerous ways to defeat an opponent.

Like interactive objects such as explosive barrels or poison gas.

I remembered a few lineups (also known as a particular positioning setup to guarantee that my skill lands in a certain way).

"Hmm. Where is it?"

"Aha!"

"I need to sit at this place and... what's the next step?"

Hmm.

"Recall."

A lot of old memories went back to my head with the cost of my mana and mental exhaustion.

"So I need to aim at this particular leaf here..."

"After that, I need to shoot the bow with 10 seconds charge."

Huff.

My muscles are trembling because of overworking.

"Calm down, myself."

Phew.

I breathed in and out slowly, then I released the arrow calmly.

Twang.

The arrow flew up really high and then, when it reached the maximum height, it began arching down.

After two seconds, a loud explosion echoed in that faraway barrack to my place along with an enormous wind.

[You killed 17 Child Goblins (Lv.1)!]

[You killed 1 Adult Goblin (Lv.1)!]

[You gained 76 Exp. Points]

[125/125 Exp Points]

[You have leveled up!]

[Received an Ability Point!]

But I think I should save some mana for the boss, so I switched to using swords to regain some mana to deal with the boss.

Indeed, I shouldn't have used it in the first place.

However, I was out of the main cameras, so no one could see it. 

Except for the possibility that the other two members were following me.

However, I can confidently say that I knew them so well that I even knew they wouldn't spy on me.

* *

After having found the third and also considered the last goblin barrack in this simulated world.

I killed the last remaining adult goblin.

[You killed 1 Adult Goblin (Lv.1)!]

[You gained 8 Exp. Points]

'That's all of it, right?'

"System, let me check my level."

[You are currently level 5!]

[Progress to the next level: 196/216 Exp Points]

'Progress from here is gonna be slower and slower until it takes a month or two to level up.'

'Right now, I have 5 Ability Points and 2 Main Stat Points.'

'I will save Ability Point for next time. Now, what should I allocate those 2 points into...'

Putting a [Stat Point] in the game will not make your progress slower by any means.

'On the contrary, it will help me progress faster. As I am stronger now, I could put more time into practicing more heavily instead of doing basic things.'

'It's more like my stat plus two extra rather than it adds two points to my original stat.'

"Should I go to their place now-"

[Death Sense] suddenly activated out of nowhere.

An enormous murderous intent appeared behind me.

I turned back and saw a gigantic club coming toward my body. I didn't even have a chance to look at the owner of that huge attack.

The strike was so impactful that I rolled on the ground until I hit a tree.

'Damnit! I forgot this lesson was supposed to test our capability in teamwork.'

In a normal Temple, there were definitely many more unexpected elements.

Taking just now as an example, I almost died because I didn't realize there was a monster behind me.

But this is just a simulation.

Therefore, luckily, my body didn't have any bruises, but my virtual health point dropped to about one tenth.

I stood up and accelerated forward.

'An elite goblin!'

I took out my sword instinctively.

The goblin saw me and began throwing another huge attack on me.

'I need to parry it!'

I focused all my mana at that moment on my sword.

'Eintausend Sword Style!'

'Stab.'

"Zwei!"

Two short white beams appeared and hit directly at the huge wooden club.

["Critical Hit" has happened.]

[Due to the talent "Weakness Detection", "Critical Damage" increased by a half.]

The club instantly flew away while rotating crazily.

Instead of parrying, I had successfully disarmed the monster.

'It seemed panicking.' 

'I might try my new skill as well.'

* *

I was currently following those girls.

'Seems like they are doing pretty good.'

All the monsters in that rock tunnel were lying on the ground.

'I might have to speed up a bit more.'

I ran faster without looking back.

After a while, I received a new notification from the system.

[4km run (3.9/4).]

Huff.

Huff.

[4km run (4/4).]

[You have finished Secret Side Quest: Muscle Number One (4/?).]

[Acquired "Main Stats' Growth Boosting Potion (D)"x5]

"Fi.. Finally..."

"I need to catch my breath."

Huff.

BOOM.

"Sounds like I'm close to them."

I walked into the cave's entrance and immediately got into an archery stance.

Katia and Esther were fighting the final boss.

They would have had an easier time countering the monsters if their cooperation ability had been better.

When the two girls' fight was almost over, Katia finished the boss off with [Blade of the Reaper].

However, when they were happy because the battle was finally over, the boss suddenly moved again.

This was the moment I was waiting for!

'Last resort - the last phase.'

The boss summoned a lot of undead goblins, and after that shot two iron arrows straight into Katia and Esther's faces.

Both of them couldn't react in time.

The arrow just flew straight to their face before they could do anything.

I immediately activated the [Time Bullet] to slow down the time by 5 times.

After that, I activated [Aim Assisting] combined with infusing mana into the arrow's head to make it a little harder than normal.

I aimed at the planned path of those arrows.

Preparations were complete. I deactivated [Time Bullet] to save mana for later use and shot the bow unhesitatingly.

The arrow flew away quickly.

Thwang.

The arrow was right in front of those two's eyeballs when my arrow hit them straight and stuck deep into the stone wall next to them. 

And then there was a deafening explosion that collapsed the entire cave, and broken pieces of rock flew everywhere.

When those two had not yet recovered, I shouted out as loudly as I could.

"Hey, wakey wakey!"

The two quickly regained consciousness and fought back against the revived goblins.

And I turned to look at the real boss escaping from its body.

It's like a parasite that took the host's body.

The two of them also saw it but couldn't do anything because they were too far away from it and couldn't repel the horde of undead goblins as fast as they could.

Those monsters were way stronger than usual due to the boss's last resort.

I immediately ran to the boss's dead body.

My hands began to hold out my bow and arrows.

I gained momentum and jumped out at the same time as I stretched out the arrow with all my might.

The parasite who was trying to escape from there was quite surprised, but before it could even escape...

'Time Bullet!'