"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Swish! Swish!
Clang! Clang!
The sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air mingled with the repeated clashes against the Holographic Puppet and its wooden sword.
Lucius moved spectacularly around it, striking it repeatedly from different angles. Even though he was moving a lot, he wasn't actually performing many different moves.
The grumpy old man from the inn and old Garen turned out to be more helpful than Lucius had thought. Both taught him a footwork technique for sword fighting that required as little momentum as possible. Thanks to that, he was able to conserve energy and avoid getting injured during battle.
His sword struck with precision, and he managed to knock the Holographic Puppet down for the tenth time in a row. He took a deep breath and laughed.
The puppet deactivated automatically, and he looked behind him.
"It seems I'm ready now." For the first time in a long while, he felt fulfilled.
Behind him, the two grumpy old men were standing there watching him.
"Tsk. I must admit, only geniuses are capable of learning so much in such a short time," said the grumpy old man from the inn.
Old Garen agreed wholeheartedly.
Achieving such spectacular sword mastery and such polished movements in 14 days is no easy feat. It would take many local geniuses months. But he had managed it in just two weeks.
'It's not that surprising, though,' Lucius told himself. 'Even though I didn't use swords in my other life, Seraphina was a powerful swordswoman. I have a clear grasp of the concepts.' Though he couldn't say that out loud.
"Tomorrow's the day, kid," Garen said as he picked up the puppet and looked at him. "Are you nervous?"
"Over something so small?" Lucius laughed, finding it amusing. "Something as small as getting into the academy doesn't make me nervous. To be honest, I'm more curious to try out my magic."
"Tsk. You talk as if getting into the academy were worthless," Garen complained.
Lucius shrugged. Although it meant a lot to him right now, it wasn't exactly indispensable. There were other paths. It's just that they'd take longer—it wouldn't make much sense for someone who wants to enjoy the academy's resources and a satisfying rise in the rankings.
"Will you come with me tomorrow, old Garen? It's a good spot to find scrap."
Garen stared at him. 'There's always good stuff in the Obsidian Wastes. I might find new disassembly tools,' he told himself, but after thinking about it for a moment, he shook his head.
"No. I don't plan on getting that close to those arrogant old men. They're pretty annoying; I don't even know how you put up with them." He replied before walking back inside the inn.
Lucius laughed, completely agreeing with him. "I can only put up with them because I have no choice. If I punch them in the nose, I'll probably died." Lucius followed him inside, and they both laughed.
The grumpy old man at the inn went to prepare dinner, Lucius to take a bath, and old Garen to check his tools.
After a while, Lucius came downstairs and sat at the table to wait for his meal.
During that time, he just stared blankly at The Wall and his own profile. The system's announcement from two weeks ago, mentioning his historic milestone, was the only post made from his account.
It had 300,000 likes and over 3 million comments.
Scrolling down on his smartphone, he could see that most of the comments were discussions among other people that had nothing to do with the official announcement.
Despite that, this announcement was seen throughout New Asturias and nearby cities, bringing him a massive number of followers. Before, he didn't have any. Not even his family followed him. Now he has the staggering number of 50,000!
He had private messages from various organizations interested in him… Or more precisely, in the information he could provide them about the Asturians.
'None of them are offering money for that information. What a waste.' Lucius shook his head, returned to the home screen, and looked at his follower count.
'What were the requirements for getting paid based on the number of followers?' he wondered, and tapped the question mark next to his total count.
This opened a new system window.
There were only three requirements.
-Gain 50,000 followers.
-Reach #5,000,000 in your Local Ranking.
-Join an organization registered in the Ranking System to receive a bonus.
This would allow him to receive monthly payments from the system. In his past life, he hadn't found it worthwhile. The payment granted by the system is minimal compared to payments from Guilds or hunts. But in this life, he would have to rely on it for a long time.
With 50,000 followers, the payment is 50 Credits per month, roughly the same as killing a weak E-Rank beast.
'I just have to get into the Academy and reach that ranking. Not bad.' Lucius knew he would soon surpass that ranking. At his current level, using that symbiosis, he should be able to achieve it in a single battle.
As he looked over his system, the grumpy old innkeeper arrived and set the plates of hot food in front of him.
"What about old Garen?" Lucius asked, and began to eat.
"Who knows. He hasn't come out since he locked himself away to look at those tools. Try to leave him some food," the grumpy old innkeeper reminded him.
"Alright." After a simple reply, he began to eat, his mind racing with thoughts.
He was interested in that old Garen, hoping to have him along as a traveling companion. He learns too quickly. In these past 14 days, he's managed to fix several tools on his own without needing supervision.
Even though they're simple tools, he couldn't fix them before he met him. So he's improved a lot in just two weeks. It would be a good idea to teach him how to repair the mana tools he'll constantly be using on his journey.
'Though I'll have to teach him a lot. It would be great to find someone who can make them too, since we can't spend our whole lives collecting scrap. You can't get good tools there.'
Lucius ate his fill and then left the rest covered with a lid for when old Garen came out.
Without giving it much thought, he went up to his room and fell asleep.
Tomorrow will be a great day.