"Come on! Is that all you can do?!"
I grit my teeth as I continue swimming forward. This is another training program Raja created for me. I need to swim and reach the Dahak while wearing some special choker and bracelet that make it harder to move my arms and legs.
And I need to swim while the water wheel makes it harder for me. Today is the most grueling training season Raja put me into. From running around Dahak with the same resistance equipment attached to me to fighting both her and Kisara at the same time.
After swimming for a full ten minutes, I arrived on the Dahak.
"Twelve minutes! Not bad! However, it was not good enough. We will increase the intensity tomorrow. For now, you have…. Eight hours before our next training. I have some meetings with important people in twenty minutes."
"Of course."
When Raja gets back to her office and leaves me alone on the edge of Dahak, I open the map. There are two dungeons I can choose for my free time.
|Sea Serpent Nest| |Recommended level: Level 61|
|Sea Dweller| |Recommended Level: Level 71|
Yeah. The lowest dungeon is at level sixty. I open my status and see my level.
|Name: Jacob Shiff|
|Race: Human|
|Level: 52|
|HP: 3770/3770|
|MP: 4020/4020|
|STR: 331|
|VIT: 377|
|DEX: 341|
|INT: 342|
|WIS: 402|
|SP: 250|
Yup. I'm nine levels too low for this dungeon, and that is if I encounter the lowest-level monster. So there is a chance I will counter a level sixty-seven monster when I get there. However, I cannot go to the other dungeons other than these two.
The other dungeon is a couple of dozen kilometers away from Dahak, and I did not have time to see if they are a lower-level dungeon or even a higher-level dungeon than the one near Dahak.
You know what? Fuck it. I will do it. I walk toward the northern part of Dahak and jump out of Dahak. The reason? This dungeon is underwater, and I need to reach the bottom of the edge of the river.
After a minute of swimming, I arrive in front of a small hole where a notification appears in front of me.
|Do you want to enter the dungeon?| |Y/N|
I quickly press the yes button, and suddenly I can see that I'm inside a cave. The cave itself is massive, around forty meters in width and twenty meters in height. I take out my sword and walk deeper into the cave.
After walking for a few minutes, I noticed movement behind the stone to my right. A few seconds later, a massive deep blue snake appeared in front of me with its mouth wide open.
"Ice Spike!"
As the snake gets impaled to the wall, I jump at it with my sword in hand and coat it with lightning. Then, I thrust my sword at the snake's head and heard it screaming in pain. However, it was not enough.
"Twinkling Stars!"
A bombardment of energy is the one killing the snake. This is the strategy I have for clearing this dungeon. First, pin them down and then bombard them with spell after a spell or destroy their brain using my sword and lightning combo.
After I see the snake disappear, I continue my journey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|Raja - Admiral of the Royal Navy|
"Haaaaa…. I really hate talking to a noble. They keep demanding something and not asking for anything! As if the world is theirs to take! Gah!"
"Thank you for your hard work, maam."
"Ah, some food, good."
I take a bite of the sandwich, and a little bit of my stress melts away. Kisara is a god sent for me. She is a competent woman, tough, and cooks some delicious food. I don't know how that man managed to marry her and have a daughter.
If not because of their happy married life, I thought that man was using some sort of sorcery to make Kisara marry him.
I shake my head and say.
"So, how is Jacob doing?"
"The last person who saw him told me that he went to the northern part of Dahak and started to dive down the river."
"Dive down the river? What is he thinking? Is there something more?"
"Aye. He is wearing his battle armor."
Wearing battle armor, aye? Does he want to hunt some monster? That is true; there are a lot of monsters in the northern part of Dahak. However, because of a certain Rune, there will be no monster attacking Dahak and Raftfleet unless it is a rather powerful monster which there is none in this part of the river.
"Heh. Even though I told him to rest, he instead went on a hunt, huh? He really wants to help them by winning these Sacred Games, huh?"
I couldn't help but laugh at his determination. I thought that this world was already depleted of some genuinely good people, but here we are. He went through grueling training just to win the Sacred Games, where he could help people in Lordlake.
Hah. That brat is just like him. An adventure that roams the world to help the people in need. However, I will not let him end up just like him. I will not let the world lose another bright jewel just like him once again.
"Kisara. Prepare the training room to the maximum. I will train him personally. I have some stress to release."
".... That is not the only reason, right? You have that kind of expression, that melancholy expression you have every once in a while."
Ah, Kisara. Sometimes you are too sharp for your own good.
"It was nothing. I just want to make sure this rough diamond shines even brighter than any other diamond."
Yes. I will ensure he survives this cruel world and is not killed by this cruel world just like him—the man who managed to steal my heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I return to Dahak, I can see Raja and Kisara waiting for me. However, what gets my attention is Raja, who is grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, Well, Well. It looks like you like training so much that you did not rest even when I told you to rest, huh?"
Uh-oh.
"Well, let's increase your training, shall we?"
Balls.
