I came home after work and logged onto GAO. No, yesterday was a mistake. I had a lot of things I wanted to do. No, maybe it was a success, considering the reason I started this game.

At any rate, I bought only the Tiokris chicken I ate yesterday and walked around town while eating. The people who seem to be players have gotten used to the town, and they are walking and running without any concern for the cityscape. Maybe I will be like them in the future, but for now, I want to see, hear, and feel the streets of this other world. But I want to be ready to go out into the field, so I decided to head to the arena for now.

The arena, as the name implies, is a place where fights are made into spectacles. Naturally, players can also use it. I found out that you can fight with warriors belonging to the arena, or with fierce beasts and demons. If you win, you get a reward. They can also gamble as spectators and bet on who will win.

But this time, I have no use for the arena itself. My purpose is next to the arena.

Surrounded by a wooden fence, many people appeared to be players. At the entrance, a board overhead showed a picture of a shield with a sword and staff crossed over it and the words 『Voluntary Training Site.』

This is the place to test your combat skills. It is also a place to test the effectiveness of magic and armor. Because of the dangers in the fields where monsters spring up, this is the place to practice your fighting skills.

It is especially meant for beginners, and it is said that it is recommended to get some grasp of how to fight here before going out.

Incidentally, training here also earns experience. However, it is more efficient to fight in the field, so no one will train their skills here endlessly. There is a fee to use this place.

I checked in at what looked like an office near the entrance and paid 100 pedia.

「If you have questions about anything, please ask.」

「For now, I want to practice fighting and magic in the same place. Is that okay?」

「The areas are roughly divided into, from the front, melee combat, ranged and projectile weapons, and magic, so please use each of those areas.」

After thanking the girl with the short-cut blonde hair for her careful instructions, I first went to the melee combat area. A wooden stake about 2 meters high and 50 centimeters thick was stuck in the ground, and players wielded weapons on it.

「You’re using wooden or blade-drawn weapons for training. It looks like the metal striking weapons are intact.」

Does this mean that target stakes are not free, too? Some people are working on replacing the battered stakes.

I’ll try my skills in moderation to see the tour. I enter the vacant spot and stand in front of the pile. Yes, this is nostalgic somehow. It reminds me of the rolled straw in my grandfather’s garden in the countryside.

First, I made a fist and hit the stake lightly, because I had to take a shot. I felt a solid response. I continued with another shot, but this time, I hit the stake. But my fist was in pain.

「It’s ......, well, it’s not surprising.」

It’s a bare fist. It has no protection, nor is it well-trained. The pain, however, is slight, and the pain is less intense than in real life. It was much less painful than realistic wall panning. Or is it thanks to the 【Hand-To-Hand】 skill?

This time, I drove the stake with a palm strike. Full force with no restraint. The pain in the hand was less than with the fist.

I wonder if I will smash rocks with my fists when I get to a higher level. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could do that, and continued to strike mainly with palm strikes. Sometimes with a kick as well.

Weapons can be used with no skill. However, there is not much advantage because there is no correction for hit and damage by skill. This is the same with fighting skills; even without skills, punches and kicks can be used if you don’t mind the compensation. It is the same as someone who has not learned martial arts can use their hands and feet in a fight.

「Hand-to-hand. That’s rare.」

As I continued to pile on, I heard such a voice. I stopped and looked that way, and there was a man. He was middle-aged, equipped only with a leather breastplate, and was looking at me with his arms crossed.

「Is that unusual?」

I rest my hand and ask. Yes, the man nodded.

「Most of you use weapons,」 he said. 「There are still a few footworkers, but there are less than a dozen handworkers these days.」

I see. Even though it is a game, there must be some resistance to using bare hands when facing a monster. There is a difference in reach, and it is not surprising that some of them have contact poison. Fighting is probably not as popular as it is now, considering that if you hit someone, there is a solid rebound in your fist.

Yeah, come to think of it, I wouldn’t want to punch an undead type — or a zombie type — if they existed. ......

「...... unfortunate, isn’t it, fighting?」

「There are pros and cons to everything. Well, unlike weapons, you don’t have to worry about durability.」

Then the man looks at my hand.

Weapons, armor, and tools in this world have durability values. When they exceed the limit, they break and become useless. To prevent this, it is necessary to restore the durability value of the armor, which can be done by an NPC blacksmith or by a player with blacksmithing skills. Naturally, there will be a cost. The more powerful the armor, the more expensive it will be.

Hands and feet, on the other hand, may be injured, but only if they are treated. Depending on the method, it may not cost any money, so this may be an advantage. It is not a big one.

「Still, there are armors available to protect the fist. There aren’t many stores that carry them, but you could try to find some.」

「Thank you very much. Who are you, by the way?」

When I thanked him for his advice and asked him about it, he uncrossed his arms and pointed to the left breast of his chest armor with his right thumb. There it was, a crest with a sword and staff crossed in front of a shield. It was the same as the one on the sign at the entrance to this training center.

「My name is Perkins. I am one of the instructors at this training center. If you need anything, feel free to call me. I’ll teach you as much as I know.」

Ah, an NPC who can give you a tutorial of sorts.

「Thank you very much. By the way, is it correct that you are also the instructor of magic?」

Now that I had a general idea about fighting, I decided to train in magic.

「Oh. I can't use it myself, but I can advise the users with no problem. I'm supposed to use that place for magic training.」

After saying this, Mr. Perkins walked off, and I followed him.

「Come to think of it, I never heard your name.」

「My name is Phisto, Sir.」

Since I was in a position to ask for instruction, I adopted that attitude. It may be a bad joke.

Mr. Perkins, on the other hand, did not blame me for that, and continued with more words,「Now then, Phisto.」

「What magic do you know now?」

「I have mastered spirit magic.」

「A spirit user. Then I ask you, what is the weakness of spirit magic?」

「Yes, it cannot be exercised in the absence of spirits.」

The spirit magic in this game is exercised with the help of spirits. Without spirits, magic cannot be used.

　For example, in this training ground, the ground is soil, so there is an earth spirit. It is not covered by walls or a roof, so there are spirits of wind. There is a fire spirit because used piles are burned. There is a water spirit because there is something like a pond.

So the magic of the four basic spirits can be used with no problem. Perhaps for training, they have prepared all the spirit magic for use.

「Yes,」 he said. 「 Spirit magic cannot be used in places where there are no spirits. If you can get a spirit stone, you don't have to worry about that, but there is a limit.」

「A spirit stone, is it?」

　It is a name often heard in fantasy, but of course, its role differs from title to title. A spirit stone in this world would be an item that plays a role in the exercise of spirit magic, as the flow of the game suggests.

「It is a stone that can temporarily store a spirit. It is said to be a rare and precious item, but if you are lucky, you may get a chance to obtain it. Now, here it is.」

Mr. Perkins stopped. A wide space spread out before him. The same wooden stakes stood in various places.

「First, try to cast a spell on those stakes.」

As I was told, I targeted the indicated stake and appealed to the spirit of the wind. Spirit magic has no fixed chants. When you master 【spirit magic】, the language skill 【Spirit Language】is added, and you use it to ask the spirits to do what you want. It is said that if one becomes proficient, even keyword-like words can invoke magic.

　The wind was a pale greenish light and headed straight for the pile, hitting it. The part is ripped as if it was slashed by a sword. The Windcutter spell, basic magic that can be used at the first level of spirit magic, succeeded without incident.

「The same is true of all spirit magic, but the higher the level, the more advanced it can be used. If the current Windcutter can release multiple blades instead of a single shot, it will be possible to use it as a blade with even greater sharpness. It all depends on your imagination.」

「Imagination, sir?」

I feel like I’ve been told something strange. I wonder if it is a mistake to think that as one’s level increases, one learns more advanced magic. When I asked him about it, he replied,

「What are you talking about? The effects of spirit magic are only possible with the blessings of spirits. The key to mastery is how to get the spirit to produce the effect you want.」

And so on. Does this mean that the effectiveness of magic depends on one's ideas and the power of the spirit that reproduces them in practice?

「Hence, even if there were a spirit user of the same power as you are now, the number of usable spells would not be necessarily the same.」

...... This is also ...... what a conundrum. You can create as much magic as you want, depending on your ideas. Or, more precisely, more things a spirit can do.

But this is also an interesting element. If you are so inclined, you can use countless kinds of magic, even at level one. Of course, it will not be very effective at a low level, but it is an interesting element. I mean, what kind of system is this?

「How about this, ......?」

I call out to the wind spirit and tell it my image. Now, let's see if it works. ......

「Sir, would you mind throwing a rock lightly this way?」

「A rock?　Very well.」

The dubious expression that came to mind for a moment was quickly replaced by one of amusement, and Mr. Perkins picked up a Rock at his feet and lightly released it toward me.

The Rock hit the ground without hitting me as if it had hit an invisible wall.

Success. A wall of wind protection. That was the magic I had just tried.

But the next moment, the Rock hit my body. The effect of the wall of wind was still in effect.

「It's still not strong enough.」

Saying this, Mr. Perkins is playing with the rock in the palm of his hand. He threw another rock, this time not lightly, but hard. The wall of wind could not hold it back.

「But the idea is sound. Yes, think first of what you can do, as you are doing now. That will help you.」

「Yes, thank you, Sir.」

This advice was honestly helpful. If I had not known this, I would have continued to use Windcutter and other early magic for a long time. And even with the increased power, I would have been unable to use other types of magic and would have had very limited access to them.

「If I could have helped you grow, then it would have been worthwhile to teach you. Young people these days don't listen to others, they just do what they want and get it done. Very few ask us for advice, in fact.」

Tutorials can be tedious and annoying, as is usual in computer games, but in a game like this, it is essential to get the information first.

Beta testers understand this well enough, and if they have gathered information in advance, they will know what to expect. For those who jumped into this world without knowing that, I think the existence of this place is well worth it.

「What a waste of time.」

I gave my honest opinion. And this is not limited to this training ground. I made small talk with NPCs yesterday while I was out eating, and it was by no means uniform, but full of a wide variety of topics. It seemed that there was useful and advantageous information lying everywhere that would be useful in the future as we move forward in the game. There was no way to not take advantage of that.

Suddenly, I noticed a message floating around.

『Do you want to register a new spirit magic (wind)』

　Selecting yes changes the screen to a screen for entering magic names. I see, this is how you can add more magic. Rather, it is treated as a memorandum. I named it "Windguard" and completed the registration.

「Well then, Sir, I'll do a little more research on magic.」

「Mm-hmm. If you need anything, ask me without hesitation. I will help you as much as I can.」

「Yes, thank you very much.」

「I look forward to your future endeavors.」

　With a dignified and admiringly splendid salute, Mr. Perkins left. I guess he went looking for someone else who needed advice.

「Well, let's do it.」

How far can I go on my own now? I must examine what will be possible in the future. Let’s mobilize all the knowledge I’ve accumulated in TRPGs up to now and see if I can reproduce it in this game system. Oh, I’d like to do some more work on 【Hand-To-Hand】

This day was to be spent training only.