Volume 50 Chapter 7.1: part1

V50C7P1 Advanced Training Hall

After successfully winning Emperor Geihar over to his side, Weed climbed on the back of a Baraag with his companions.

"I wish you a safe trip, then."

"Thanks, master!"

He and his companions had decided to take a look around the Versailles Continent, riding on the flying Baraags. With Time Sculpting skill, he could always come back to a past event in history, but it was all the more reason why this trip was so important.

'Not everything was recorded in history books. And quite a lot of information was misrepresented, too.'

It was necessary to take a good look at the continent in the past, in order to ensure that he would be able to use Time Sculpting properly when he might need it next time.

As they flew across the sky on the backs of Baraags, they landed whenever they spotted a city on the ground.

"By Gods... you lot must be insane, flying around on those dangerous creatures."

"This is a problem that has the pride of humanity at stake! Before we knew it, those monsters had taken over our lands!"

"I don't mean to question the Emperor's accomplishments. But what about the portion that should rightfully be given to us humans? Why do we have to share our food with them?"

"That's right. It's us who did all the work to farm those crops."

In cities and villages alike, humans abhorred the Baraags, and their opinions of sculptural lifeforms in general were extremely negative.

'This is just as l expected.'

When Weed told Emperor Geihar about this, he made an announcement to his sculptural children, after having a drink.

"If our empire falls, don't waste your strength and life for the sake of humans. You should all find a way to survive by yourselves."

Besides the Baraags, all the Crocos and Boroks were crying mournfully, tears running down their faces.

"And if, some day in the distant future, a new kingdom for your kinds rises once again as my pupil says... please, lend your strength just one more time to help everyone live in harmony..."

At this point, if Weed played his cards right, he might be able to accept the Arpen Empire's sculptural creatures as new residents for his kingdom. Of course, there wouldn't be many sculptural creatures that would survive for such a long time after the fall of the Empire and remember the will of the emperor. Even so, if some of the remaining sculptural creatures were to make their appearance in the Garnav Plain, each and every one of them would be a precious citizen of the Arpen Kingdom.

'Just like Yellowy, Gold man or Wy-3.'

Weed intended to equally exploit all those new subjects without any discrimination.

"I have a rather big favor to ask of you; would you care to do it for me? I will, of course, reward you handsomely."

*Ding!*

< A Silver Coin Dropped in a Corner of the Village.

Zephyrus the stableman has lost his silver coin while he was drunk. He says he might have dropped it last night near the sewer, but he isn't quite sure. With a bit of luck and some thorough searching, one may be able to find it.

Difficulty Level: F

Rewards: 2 horseshoes [1] >

An F-class quest that he hadn't encountered in a long time!

'For such a simple quest like this, it's not likely to be continued in another linked quest.'

Receiving such low-level quests that did not even require any affinity level would be due to the fact that his high fame was not currently taken into account. Weed's fame points were over 340,000 at the moment, but such was the effect of Time Sculpting.

'It looks like my fame points are not reflected as normal when I've travelled back to the past.'

If it had been in the Versailles Continent of the present time, any crying child in the Central Continent, not to mention the North, would immediately recognize Weed's face and stop their weeping. Weed had been taking part of all kinds of quests, hunting expeditions and artistic activities, so he had never had to worry about insufficient fame points before. But all of those events and accomplishments were to take place in the future, which meant that no one in this past time knew about them.

"This task is a bit too dangerous to entrust to a stranger."

"Who? Weed? A sculptor? I don't want to meet some complete stranger. You buy me a drink first for a night, and maybe I'll spare some time to talk."

"What are you talking about? Just buzz off!"

Weed found himself being rejected by the townspeople in the streets again and again. On the other hand, Zephyr and Python were doing a much smoother job talking to them.

"Your clothes look very fine. Would you be a nobleman, perhaps?"

"Hmm. That doesn't look like any ordinary sword. I have a request related to getting rid of some demonic creatures; would you be up for the challenge? Of course, for a skilled warrior like you wielding such a fine sword, it shouldn't be too difficult to deal with them."

The residents responded to their attires or weapons; using high-quality equipment was one of the ways to meet the prerequisite of a high difficulty level quest when one did not have enough fame points. For characters with high Charm stats such as Hwaryeong and Bellot, it was possible to obtain new quests that could be cleared together with other companions any time.

'Let's just enjoy the easy life for now. Other adventurers or people with different professions might be able to take historical quests later, but it will be a long time before they can.'

Weed decided to take it easy, and continued travelling around the Continent with his companions on the backs of the Baraags.

- Kuuuaargh... I'm so tired...

"Fly faster. Wy-3 never took a rest even when he was flying overnight. Without sleep."

- Who is this Wy-3 that has suffered so much serving you?

"He's one of my proudest subordinates. I'd love to tell you how much Wy-3 likes me."

- I just can't believe that.

"Everyone thinks just as normally as you at first. But one eventually learns to appreciate the precious rare holidays in the constant stream of hard work."

As Weed could not visit every single city and village, he instead took a general look at them from the sky. He checked the terrains, structures of the cities and buildings of the Arpen Empire in this past time.

You have taken some time to admire the architectural style of the buildings of the Arpen Empire during the Classical Era. As a sculptor, after having studied new types and styles of buildings, you can now build structures with the style of the Classical Era in the villages, castles or areas owned by you.

You can now construct new special types of buildings.

< Arpen Public Security Office

Construction cost: minimum 150,000 Gold

This building can be constructed to maintain public order and peace. It is managed by soldiers and local militia. The crime rate of the area will decrease. In the event of a monster invasion, this building can be used to hold them off for a short time. >

< Arpen-style Water Mill

Construction cost: minimum 40,000 Gold

A water mill is needed in a village in order to provide a playground for fairies. Sometimes, village children can join in and play with them as well. The building will increase the output of the region's grain production as well as the local happiness level. It will also lead to improved affinity with fairies. >

< Arpen Salt Field

Construction cost: minimum 4,000 Gold

Gone are the days when you had to rely on the power of sunlight to evaporate the sea water to obtain salt! Paranchas, the race of fire, are going to take care of all the work. Whenever they take a nap, all the water evaporates from the place they laid on, producing high-quality sea salt. >

< Restaurant with Music

Construction cost: minimum 1,000 Gold

The residents of the Arpen love music, a joyous life with happiness and comfort. They consider it one of the greatest pleasures of life to have some delicious food while listening to wonderful music. This building will increase the happiness level of the residents and the degree of artistic progress. >

< Dwarf Workshop

Construction cost: minimum 6,000 Gold

This is a place for dwarves to gather and craft things. More than 10 dwarves can assemble and manufacture everything that's needed. The working speed will increase if there is a beer brewery nearby.>

< A Garden of Blooming Flowers

Construction cost: minimum 20,000 Gold

This is a garden full of beautiful flowers. Taking a rest in this garden even just for a short while will rapidly recover life force and relieve stress. The visitors will be bestowed with special fortune. >

< A Nest of Baraags

A habitat for the creatures with flying ability. It is built by collecting solid branches and feathers, and offers protection from wind. It increases the incubation speed for the Avian eggs and quickens the early stage of growth of the hatchlings. >

As the king, Weed could bring some positive influence to his kingdom just by appreciating these structures.

'It wouldn't be a bad idea to take a look at all the buildings from each historical era, if I ever get a chance to do that.'

Many users would be delighted if buildings of such a variety could be constructed in the Arpen Kingdom. However, if they were to lose in the coming battle in the Garnav Plain, their entire kingdom would fall to ruin in but a moment.

"Hmm. I'm not sure if it is wise for us to continue taking a tour like this. Don't you think we should go back?" his companions asked, beginning to feel anxious. There were only three days left before the start of the war against the Haven Empire.

Weed smiled slightly.

"No need to hurry."

"But... wouldn't it be too late even if we leave right now? We might not have made enough preparations even if we had started earlier, and now..."

"Huhuhu. The Hermes Guild is probably feeling pretty uneasy right now. This is my tactic to cause confusion, by keeping the enemy in the dark as to what plans I have and what steps I'm going to take, to the last possible minute."

He had guessed that the Garnav Plain would be teeming with spies, including Hermes Guild members with their identities concealed. If Weed showed up on the battlefield early, the Hermes Guild, having monitored the situation in the plain closely, would be able to come up with countermeasures. But since they had no way to know what on earth he was up to in the current state, it would make them even more anxious.

Seasoned Crab tilted his head curiously.

"But you have been with us this whole time; have you been preparing something in secret?"

Without hesitation, Weed answered, "Nope. Nothing."

"...What?"

"Still, things look pretty legit, right? It LOOKS like there's something, although actually there's not. Besides, the hero always arrives in the most dramatic moment, right?"

"..."

***

Python, while he was visiting one of the cities of the Arpen Empire named Taho which he had happened to come across, got some unexpected information from a townsperson.

"Are you a warrior? You look pretty strong, judging by the greatsword you are carrying."

"This is indeed quite a fine sword, I must say. Hehe."

"Only strong people can wield a greatsword. Did you already pass the test of the advanced training hall in this region as well?"

Perhaps because of the fact that the Arpen Empire was established by the sculptural creatures uniting the continent, the humans had a cultural tendency to worship strong warriors.

"An advanced training hall?"

"Anyone who wields a sword or builds up their body wishes to visit this place; you haven't heard of it?"

Python, of course, knew about those places well. Even Weed's eyes opened wide at the mention of the word 'advanced training hall'. He felt as if some unexpected money was falling from the sky.

'There's an advanced training center here.'

For the users of Royal Road, going through a training center was an essential condition in order to rise to the position of top rankers. The beginner training hall in Serabourg City of the Rosenheim Kingdom... It was where Weed had found a valuable friend in Doruk the Instructor while beating up a dummy, thereby obtaining a quest to become a moonlight sculptor. Of course, he had refused it without a second thought at first, thinking it wouldn't make much money. In the flying city of Lavia, he received much rewards in stats and learned the skill 'Lion's Roar' as he was mastering the basic training hall.

'The Charisma stat and Lion's Roar have come in handy so many times.'

Lion's Roar was a useful skill for controlling the troops in a large-scale battle. Since Weed did not possess a wide range of military commanding skills like knights, the many battles he had gone through would have been a lot more difficult without this skill.

An intermediate training hall could only be cleared by those who had conquered at least the first three floors of the Tower of Heroes. After breaking through each stage, on the fifth and final floor, he was deployed to Phalranka Battle in the Sachsen Plain. In this most fierce field of war, he fought as a skeleton knight protecting Princess Remi. While the troops from seven different kingdoms were engaged in a heated fight, he was eventually killed when a stone thrown by a Cyclops hit him.

'I haven't been able to visit advanced training halls, since they are all within the territory of the Haven Empire.'

Weed had always wanted to go take a look at advanced training halls, but had not had an opportunity to do so until now, as they only existed in several regions in the Central Continent, including the Kallamore Region, or the Castle of Aren, the capital city of the Haven Empire.

It was said that one such training hall once existed in the North a long time ago, but the remaining records simply said that its location was lost to the world when the Niflheim Empire fell. The advanced training halls in the Central Continent had been managed by prestigious guilds that controlled each region from early on, and presently the admission to those halls was possible only with the permission of the Hermes Guild. Weed had thought of sneaking into them, but soon dropped the idea due to the risk of being subjected to the focus fire from the Hermes Guild users when caught.

Python was the first one to grin.

"There's an advanced training center here; we must go and see right now!"

He also hadn't been able to go further than clearing an intermediate training hall, the total number of which was said to be 12 in the whole Continent.

Naturally, Weed agreed with him.

"Let's go."

***

The Hermes Guild had once released a video of advanced training halls to the public in the past. The video scored more than six hundred million views in the Hall of Fame.

- Bard Ray's Advanced Training Hall Walkthrough!

The video started with Bard Ray and other 30 members of the Hermes Guild accepting the challenge of the training hall.

"We shall all walk upon the Path of Struggle."

"A Black Knight, searching for glory. We welcome your challenge."

The advanced training hall for the warrior classes contained the Path of Struggle made by the Order of Batalli, God of Fighting.

A path where strong warriors and demonic creatures are awaiting the challengers! To complete it successfully, one had to fight their way through to the exit in a straight line; there was no other way.

'Bard Ray had cleared it in 9 hours and 45 minutes.'

All the divine magic was blocked in the advanced training center. It was also impossible to use spirit magic, spells or curses, anything other than the combat skills that directly used one's physical strength.

'And one cannot even have any water or food until they pass through the path.'

Those with low stamina or patience would succumb to the exhaustion and could not proceed further. The only keys to success in this challenge were one's strength and vigor. The Path of Struggle shown in the video was swarming with monsters.

- Wow. Look at the difficulty level. This is crazy.

- Does this normally have so many monsters? They're just flooding in!

- It's absolutely insane in those advanced training halls. They just keep coming without any break. You have to fight endlessly in order to move forward.

- Whoa... it must be really hard.

- Is this difficulty level even beatable?

Bard Ray and the other Hermes Guild members fought on, taking turns to have a break. There had been stories claiming that, through the summoning by Batalli the God of Fighting, the power of the demonic creatures that appear on the Path of Struggle were adjusted to the strength and capacity of the users.

The level of the monsters Bard Ray and the Hermes Guild members dealt with during their trial was shocking to the eyes of common users. Those with levels 300s or 400s were only for starters, and there were even monsters in level 500 or higher appearing every so often; this later made a huge issue after many broadcasting stations showed the live coverage of their ordeal.

(Continued on next part...)

[Notes from the translator] [1] I was very confused at first because the word the author used here was 2 'horse's hoof', which did not make any sense to me. I'm guessing this was a mistake, as the Korean words for 'horseshoes' and 'horse's hoof' are quite similar.