It hadn't been even half a minute since I was, I was brought into the combat training camp. I should say, a big macho man kidnapped me instead. It's not like I didn't try my best to break free, his strength was too much for a beautiful and delicate girl like me.

I tried to explain, even yelled at him. Without responses, he ignored me with a happy face.

The struggle was meaningless, so I stopped. I was carried over his shoulder as if a hunted dead animal.

[You received a quest.]

___

Combat Training! (Tutorial Quest)

Difficulty: F

 

Clear conditions:

• Complete physical training. (0/1)
• Complete weapon training. (0/1)
• Be able to utilize Qi.

 

Minimum rewards:

• 50 exp

 

Failure:

• -

 

Instructor Dorian was overjoyed that the outlander was interested in combat training. He saw you stare at the training field passionately with eyes full of determination. He hoped the outlander would become a great warrior one day.

___

This game liked to force players. I only took a look and he misunderstood!? This wasn't the first time I hated my eyes. People often said my sharp gaze was unfriendly and intense, so they misunderstood.

Full of determination my ass.

From what I saw, 20 exp would make me level 2. That meant the reward shouldn't get me to level 5.

Well, It wasn't going to take a long time, right?

I changed into a training cloth that Dorian gave. It was a plain tunic and shorts.

"Alright, missy. Do you see your friends are running over there? Join them! 50 laps warm-up!"

"Hah... 50?"

I thought I didn't hear it wrong. The field size was similar to the standard 400 meters running track and you told me to run 50 laps? I looked at other players who were running like slow zombies. It seemed I would be joining the horde.

"What are you waiting for! Fun and joyous training await!"

Dorian hit my back.

 

Pandora

HP: 6/7

 

-1 HP. I was choked by the impact. Dorian, please look at how frail and fragile my body was.

 

***

First lap.

I was jogging at a steady pace.

Other players' expressions were the same, dead and tried, from running endlessly. I wondered when I would become like them.

...

3rd lap.

I was able to keep my pace.

Someone tried to escape, but Dorian forcefully dragged them back. Judging from his condition, I guessed he ate lots of punches. People who were slacking off also got tossed around like a ball by Dorian.

My only choice was to keep running.

....

8th lap.

My breath was unstable. From running, now I was walking; zombified.

Why did the game have to make player stamina this realistic!? There were dozens of corpses laying on the ground. Look! 

Not literal corpses, they collapsed from exhaustion.

...

16th lap.

The number of corpses increased, and I still survived. My perception of time didn't work. I didn't know how much time passed. My vision was blurry as if it was a nightmare.

This was torturing. 

...

Whatever which lap was.

The border between life and death became visible. Had I walked across the River Styx? Had I?

...

[You lost consciousness due to fatigue.]

 

***

I woke up the next morning and found myself in a room. Someone carried me here.

I couldn't get up from the bed. The pain was eating my whole lower body because of the excessive use of muscles. Working out wasn't really my thing. Maybe the game created this character based on HRVR's scanned result.

This was probably an accommodation they prepared for players. It wasn't half bad.

The room has one bed, one closet, and a window. It was made by some kind of outdated concrete composition. Considering the fact that this place was a training camp, not a settlement, it was good enough as a shelter.

Apart from a game design perspective, this was too generous. They trained a player for free, and also gave out weapons. Why was the Alfedel Kingdom doing this for free? What would be the benefit? Was it some kind of influence they would gain over players?

An AI should be capable of planning this.

What about the game name, Gaia? Was this game based on Greek mythology? From the kingdom name, it didn't resemble anything Greek.

Filling my brain with useless thoughts was a waste of time. The more I thought, the more questions came up.  The developer might want players to get accustomed to the game.

The scent of rice porridge stimulated my hunger. I wasn't a morning person, but I thought it was time to get up and do something.

“Hah...”

I sighed before gathering all my strength to lift myself up.

My body was sticky. Yesterday I was running with all those sweats. Before eating, getting myself clean should be the first priority. There were spare training clothes placing in the room, so I picked one of them and headed out to find a bathroom.

The building's architecture looked like a one-floor cheap resort.

Bathroom wasn’t hard to find. It was located at the end of the porch.

The temperature was similar to morning in the spring in a country that was located on 30 degrees north latitude, breezy, not cold. If it were too cold, I would be shivering without a water heater.

As I entered, the first thing I saw was wooden tubs. 

This would be an interesting experience...

 

***

I tossed the used clothes into a basket. 

There was no sign of people, despite how long I took to take a bath and struggled with the wooden tub. It was either people didn't like taking a bath or they were still asleep.

After I came out of the bathroom, There were only 3 people sitting in front of the lodging. One was the instructor and the other two were twins. They were fraternal twins, one was a boy and another was a girl. Both of them had white hair and bright blue eyes. It looked like they were younger than me.

"Ugh... those outlanders always find a way to escape. I personally cook this rice porridge for them and yet..." Dorian was dispirited. He seemed like a big guy with a soft heart.

He said they escaped... I wanted to escape too. I assumed that those players fled last night. If only I had more time to learn more about the game, I would do the same. My first day of running endlessly showed little to no sign of progress. How long would I reach level 5?

"Oh! You're here. The breakfast is over there. Eat as many as you want!" The instructor looked delighted from my arrival. The pot and bowls were placed where his finger pointed.

I smiled and nodded before getting myself a bowl of porridge.

There was only one seat left which meant I had to sit next to Dorian. It felt cramped because of his huge body.

"Missy, your body is weak, but I admire your determination. This is the first time I saw someone like you." Dorian complimented me sincerely. The other two didn't speak anything, so I had to answer his compliment to keep the conversation going.

"Thank you." It was awkward. I didn't know what else to reply.

"What's your name, missy? I'm ex-adventurer Dorian Brand." He offered me a handshake. It would be rude if I refused.

"I'm Pandora. Nice to meet you."

 

[Your affinity with Dorian increased slightly]

 

Jesus, I didn't want him to like me. 

"Alright. I'll take the remains to squires” Dorian stood up. “These two are Al and Elle. They've been here for a week, so you better get to know each other."

After that, Dorian left me with the twins. 

"Don't you want to leave too?" The boy asked in a monotone.

Assuming that the boy's name was Al and the girl's name was Elle, their age should be around 16-18.

"First time playing."

"It's too late to escape. Next shift, new squires will arrive next 3 months." He implied that the next chance to escape would be 3 months from now on. It felt like I missed a flight to the Maldives.

"Nee nee Al~ Judging from her physique she shouldn't have HP more than 8.— Will she survive?" Now, the girl joined the conversation.

"Strange right? Most Asian women with this height are athletes." 

"Yea~"

Whoa... If you wanted to talk behind someone's back, you shouldn't let me hear it. It was amazing how these rascals spoke like that with their emotionless faces. 

Somehow my hands couldn't resist the urge to pinch their cheeks.

"Ouch~" Elle was pretending.

"Look, sis. Violence."

"It hurts. I wanna cry."

Of course, those were sarcasm. Made me wonder how their parents raised the twins. I think their parents realized that there was no use teaching them manners.

Something trivial like this wasn't worth getting angry about. As an adult, keeping calm was the best way to deal with children.

"You guys didn't want to leave too?"

If they knew they should leave, why bothered staying. Were there benefits from training here?

"Grandpa told us to, right Al?”

"Strong body is easier to cultivate."

Did he mean cultivation related to agriculture? Also, was their grandfather playing the game too? I guessed this family was some sort of farming maniac.

"By the way, how much HP did you have at level 1." I asked. They mentioned that I was weak, so there should be a difference.

"We both started with 17." The boy answered.

"Ugh..." 

Yep, I was weak.

"Weaker than a puddle~" Elle added like she could read what was on my mind. 

"Hey, kids. I know that I'm not good at physical labor. I didn't choose to do combat training... I was forced. "

"There's no difference in magic training. Big sis would be forced to increase stamina and empty mana every day." Al started calling me big sis. We weren't that close, but at least it was considered an honorific in Asian customs.

"We have advice for big sis~"

"If big sis can utilize qi"

"Everything will be easier~" 

The way they spoke was like a twins thing. There was a saying that twins had some kind of telepathy. 

I had no idea about qi because I didn't read martial arts novels. I simply nodded as an answer.

…I should check my status to see how weak I was.

'Status'

 

Pandora

HP: 7/7

 

STR: 3

DEX: 16

AGI: 4

VIT: 3

CON: 3

 

Aaaa... all low as hell, except dexterity. If dexterity was 16, it meant everything else was fucked.

For now, the system only showed 5 statuses. The rests were hidden. I could unlock them from achievements or clear certain conditions. Well, that was what I read on the internet.

"Elle, I think big sis is looking at her status and crying over them." 

"Yeah, her eyes are getting watery."

Both of them didn't stop 

"Tsk." 

Before I could punish these cheeky bastards, the instructor came back. Another torturing session would begin.

 

***

"—"

I didn't know that a game could make me mentally exhausted. It surprised me that spending time all night zoning out alone wasn't the worst experience.

Luckily, all the orders today were drone delivery.

The workout routine was— 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and 10km. I wouldn't be surprised if someone went bald from training stress. I did the routine for 3 days then rested the day after.

Everyone else in the group chat would make fun of me for months if they knew.

"—pai"

What was the noise?

"Canary-senpai!" The voice burst into my ears. Yes, it was Kiyomi.

"H-hey, Kiyomi." 

"Are you feeling well, senpai? Did you catch a cold?"

"I'm fine. Got lots of things on my mind." 

"How's your first time playing? You're lucky that you logged in when new soldiers came."

I thought she meant about camp escaping, better changed the topic.

"It was great. Even pa- everything was realistic. Would be fun to play with friends."

I was about to say pain.

"Huuu~ I wanna play with you, but our time..." Kiyomi made a sad face. Maybe she didn’t have a friend to play with her.

"I should get a new job."

"Oh yeah! Senpai can earn some cash from GGQ too!" Suddenly, Kiyomi burst with excitement. 

I kind of forgot that I recently got the game.

"You mean going pro?"

"No no, selling game items and streaming."

"Sounds good, but I'm still new to the game. It's gonna take a while."

"I think senpai can do it!" Again, Kiyomi's positive vibe was refreshing that my mental exhaustion was healed.

"Haha, Why so sure?"

"It's Kiyomi's hunch~ I have to fix some drones, so see ya!" She smiled and left before I could say anything back.

From there on, I went straight home.

 

***

Got back into the game and met my nemesis. My nemesis's name is muscle pain. 

I was lying on the bed, watching bright sunshine and birds flying. People would think this was a lovely day. However, for me who preferred working at night, staying in sunlight was tiring.

Getting up from bed in this condition was worse than waking up in the morning in real life. My arms and legs felt like noodles.

Who would want to endure harsh training? I didn't. I tried to sneak away on the second night, but those squires caught. At least they believed me that I was looking for a restroom.

Speaking of a restroom, a player had to use them. What a pain.

It was a real-life simulator with fantasy elements.

Stopping at the door, I gathered all my courage to start the hellish training day before stepping outside.

Nothing new— Al, Elle, and the instructor were eating breakfast. This was the scenery I was looking forward to.

Of course, it was a lie.

It was always a god fucking damn rice porridge. Who would be looking forward to eating the same shit every morning? I would go insane if lunch and dinner didn't change.

As usual, I grabbed a bowl of porridge and joined them. 

They all focused on eating. Did I have to be the one who started the conversation?

"Instructor~, when will I be able to do actual training?" Pleading with a sweet angelic voice had a high chance of success. With 40% of my acting skill, Dorian shouldn't be able to resist.

"Warrior must have both a strong body and mind. I don't think your body is ready." The big guy replied.

"In other words, big sis has to be level 2." Al said.

Half a week, my exp gain wasn't enough to get me to the next level. Why was it so hard to gain exp? A game should be easy and fun for everyone, right?