WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 39: Second Skill (3)

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It was only the outskirts, but after three months in this life, Gerik had finally reached the Demonwild Forest. A strange sense of accomplishment welled up inside him.

'I need to get used to the Demonwild Forest gradually.'

His previous experiences had taught him firsthand what kind of disaster greed and reckless choices could bring.

Gerik had no intention of overreaching in the Demonwild Forest, which was dozens of times more dangerous than the Sewer.

Besides, he had not yet been able to properly practice the Charge skill he had recently acquired because of the people around him.

So, Gerik planned to explore the outskirts of the Demonwild Forest as practice and test his new skill on weaker monsters.

'Still... this counts as heavily logged?'

The trees were still so densely packed that barely any light reached the ground. If this was considered heavily logged, Gerik could not begin to imagine what the heart of the forest was like.

Clicking his tongue at the forest's density, Gerik began searching for Goblins according to the habits he had learned from a book Ruben had given him recently.

Kik!! Kyaak!!

Before long, the familiar cries of monsters reached Gerik's ears. Having found what he was looking for, he drew his longsword and headed toward the sound.

"Kik?! Kikik!!"

Gerik soon spotted eight Goblins. One of them noticed his sudden appearance and let out a harsh cry, drawing its companions' attention.

"Kyaak!! Kyaaa!!"

The Goblins quickly drew their weapons and formed a circle around him. In the past, Gerik would have been breathing heavily from tension, but perhaps because of all his experience, he simply watched them with a blank expression and took his stance.

'Charge!'

To break out of the encirclement, Gerik used Charge on the Goblin farthest to the left.

For the first time in his life, he felt immense power fill his lower body, giving his legs tremendous strength.

Boom!

As Gerik kicked off the ground, the impact and noise made it seem as though the earth itself had split apart.

At the same time, his body shot forward at a speed unimaginable for someone wearing such heavy armor.

Thud!!

When Gerik collided with the Goblin, a sound like a car hitting a person echoed through the forest.

Unlike Gerik, who was completely unharmed, the Goblin was sent flying by the immense impact. It crashed into a tree and died instantly.

'I need to practice until I get used to this.'

Gerik realized that Charge's speed had made him misjudge the distance.

Not wanting to repeat the same mistake, he tried again, holding back a little more this time as he lunged at a Goblin on the other side.

"Kieek?!"

The Goblin let out a terrified scream as the human before it suddenly leaped about five meters and appeared right in front of its eyes.

"Did I hold back too much this time?"

Gerik saw that he had landed short of where he wanted and realized he had held back too much. But only for a moment.

Raising his longsword, Gerik swung at the Goblin with cold eyes.

'Slash!'

His sword moved so quickly that the insignificant Goblin could not even react, sending its head flying.

Having killed two Goblins in an instant, Gerik turned and swept his chilly gaze across the remaining creatures.

Whizz!! Tick!!

As he considered which one to hunt next, something flew past the side of his helmet.

Frowning at the unexpected ambush, Gerik looked behind him and spotted a Goblin hiding in the brush, aiming at him with a crude shortbow.

'I let my guard down...!!'

If he had not bought high-grade equipment from Grimdal, that moment of carelessness might have injured him.

The projectile had only grazed the side of his helmet this time, but if he let his guard down like that again and suffered a serious head injury that knocked him unconscious, he might not even get the chance to use Skyler's Quintet and cast recovery magic. Gerik once again felt the bitter cost of carelessness and reflected on it.

"You little bastard...!!"

Humiliation and anger turned into overwhelming murderous intent toward the Goblin that had ambushed him. With a shout, Gerik raised his sword and used Charge.

'Got it...!!'

On his third attempt, Gerik succeeded in landing roughly where he wanted, though not at the exact spot.

As planned, he used the momentum created by Charge to unleash Slash on the Goblin before him.

Shhk...!!

With both acceleration and the weight of his armor and body behind it, the sound that rang out was far more vicious than any Slash he had used before. Even Gerik was startled by it.

Perhaps because of that, he failed to use Slash with his usual perfect form. Not only did he swing through empty air, but he even lost his balance and staggered slightly.

"Ki... Kik?!"

The Goblin had been unable to react to Gerik's terrifying charge, but when Gerik absurdly missed with a strange flailing motion, it froze in confusion. Out of habit, it drew the shortsword at its waist and swung at Gerik's torso.

Clang!

But its crude shortsword could not even leave a scratch on Gerik's armor.

Gerik felt ashamed that he had allowed a Goblin to attack him again. His face reddened as he used Slash.

Shhk!!

Gerik's sword scattered a silver flash through the air and sent the Goblin's head flying.

Through that whole exchange, he also realized that, aside from his face, no Goblin attack could penetrate his armor.

"Since things have come to this, I'll use you as practice targets."

As the human growled and muttered viciously while staring at them, the Goblins clearly realized that he was not prey, but a terrifying predator. They began crying out in fear.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The frightened Goblins turned and began fleeing in every direction. Gerik spoke in a flat voice, then used Charge again to chase them down one by one.

Shhk!!

As he killed the fifth Goblin, Gerik finally succeeded in using Charge at exactly the right moment.

He leaped into the perfect position for Slash, then swung his sword with proper acceleration and weight behind it, taking the creature's head.

"Finally got it."

Thanks to that perfect Charge, the acceleration and destructive force added to his sword delivered an unimaginable impact to his enemy. For the first time, Gerik had fully handled that power and claimed a Goblin's head with it, and a thrill ran through him.

'Charge has increased the number of tactical options I have in combat.'

He could rapidly leap up to ten meters and deliver a devastating blow to an enemy. If necessary, he could even use the skill to escape. Gerik became certain that choosing Charge over Strength Enhancement had not been a mistake.

'And... I wasn't sure when I used Slash, but after trying Charge today, I can be certain. Skills are abilities activated by consuming stamina.'

Ever since learning Slash, Gerik had completely avoided ordinary sword strikes, whether in training or real combat, and swung his sword using Slash alone.

Without a proper teacher, Slash was more than a simple means of attack. The more he used it, the more his body learned how to swing a sword correctly, and his bad habits disappeared one by one.

It was far more efficient to hone Slash than to awkwardly train ordinary swordsmanship alone, and the same held true in actual combat.

There was no reason to mix in clumsy sword strikes when he could use Slash.

That was also the problem. Since he had only used Slash, Gerik had not been able to clearly distinguish between the skill's inherent stamina consumption and the fatigue from simply swinging a sword.

He could use Slash up to ten times in a row without difficulty, and he had not been sure whether the fatigue that followed came from the skill itself or from swinging his sword.

Slash was not a skill that consumed an extreme amount of stamina, which made it even harder to tell. But after using Charge today, Gerik could finally be certain. Skills were activated by consuming stamina.

Unlike Charge, which caused obvious strain on his lower body after just one use, Slash clearly consumed stamina too, but it built up much more gradually. That gradual buildup was why he had not noticed until now.

'And it seems the amount of stamina consumed and the penalty differ depending on the skill.'

Unlike Slash, which simply consumed stamina, Charge seemed to cause a large drain of stamina and overload his lower body after use.

Still, that overload did not seem to interfere much with everyday physical activity, including combat. It appeared to be closer to a kind of mystical penalty that only temporarily restricted reuse of the skill.

'Something like a cooldown, I guess.'

It was a strange phenomenon that was difficult to understand through common sense, but Gerik had played games in his previous life and possessed relevant knowledge. Because of that, he accepted the effects of Charge's penalty without much confusion.

'Since I was able to increase the number of times I could use Slash through steady stamina training, wouldn't the same apply to Charge?'

Based on his earlier experience with Slash, Gerik was sure that physical and stamina training would let him offset Charge's penalty to some extent as well.

'I shouldn't skimp on food.'

Gerik had not exercised obsessively in his previous life, but he had received personal training and kept up with weightlifting for a while. He understood the importance of exercise and diet well enough.

So he decided to invest generously in proper nutrition and training, drawing out as much potential as possible from his body, which was still growing.

* * *

"Are you taking on Goblin Extermination again today...?"

Gerik had been going to the outskirts of the Demonwild Forest to repeat Goblin Extermination nearly every day for a full week. The receptionist asked in a faintly weary tone.

"Yes. There isn't a better mission for gradually learning the terrain of the Demonwild Forest while working alone."

"Hmm..."

"Why? Isn't that fine...?"

Through his military experience in his previous life, Gerik knew well how dangerous unfamiliar terrain could be.

So, rather than recklessly pushing through missions, he told the receptionist that he wanted to explore gradually and become familiar with the area.

"It's a good idea, but..."

The receptionist told the puzzled Gerik that, since he would soon enter the early stages of Wood Plate Grade 2, she recommended he start taking on higher-level missions.

"I'm... already Grade 2?"

Gerik asked in surprise at how quickly his grade had risen.

The receptionist explained that the merit points from the Rat Man outbreak and the evil altar subjugation two weeks ago had been reflected in full this time.

"To advance to Copper Plate, you need to reach Wood Plate Grade 1 and clear ten higher-level Wood Plate missions. But you've already cleared two Rat Man-related missions, Mr. Gerik, so you only have eight left."

As before, the receptionist recommended that he keep clearing Wood Plate Grade 1 through 3 missions while aiming for A to C-grade evaluations.

Since Gerik had already built up quite a few merit points, she said it would be best to complete higher-grade missions in advance so he would not waste time later.

"And... if you keep putting off advancement even though you've already built up enough accomplishments, the Guild won't think highly of you, Mr. Gerik."

"What? Why is that?"

Caught off guard, Gerik looked flustered as he asked her.

"To be honest, Wood Plate adventurers are not very useful to the kingdom or the Guild.

"The Guild pays mission fees and assigns them work, but they do not produce frontier development results worthy of that investment. You could say they're like dead weight."

The receptionist continued her explanation calmly.

"But Copper Plate adventurers are different. They can handle real threats in dangerous regions like the Demonwild Forest and directly contribute to frontier development."

"Ah..."

Footnotes:

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