“What the hell is going on?” Lotus stomped inside the room with the stacks of papers still in her hand. She saw Ox lying on the ground with a seemingly broken hand and several chore boys crowding around him.

Then, there was Liam, looking blankly at the air in front of him— he didn’t seem to care about the crying boy next to him.

“Liam attacked Ox!” Ox’s friends shouted and pointed at Liam with accusing looks.

“W-W-Wait, that’s not tr—” Before Peter could oppose them, one of the chore boys covered his mouth with a chilly look on his face. He mouthed that if he told anyone about it, he would suffer.

Peter gulped down his fears and sat down on the bed with his head lowered. He clenched his fist and felt angry, but he wanted to get along with everyone, not be bullied.

Lotus crossed her arms and looked at everyone. There were slight nods from chore boys, while many just stood on the sides, not planning to take any sides.

“Liam.” She turned to look at the day-dreaming man, who finally woke up from his stupor after getting called out.

“Yes?” After checking the stats, I turned around to look at the angry-looking Lotus. Why was she angry, and why did it look like she was angry at me?

“Marine Captain Leeway asked for chore boys for his new trip for the sea…” Her words were already clear as the sky, but still, she finished them, “That can be your punishment. You have to do three chore boys job there.”

“What, why?”

Why the hell was I punished?

Lotus pointed at crying Ox, “Why? Look at him!”

“And?” I looked at her strangely, “He broke his hand, not me.”

“True Marine would accept his wrongdoings and apologize. Go now, Leeway is waiting.” She shook her head with disappointment clearly visible.

I looked at every chore boy and saw many hostile looks. Ox’s friends showed their tongue at me, taunting me for some reason. Peter was quiet, and the rest chore boys averted their gazes.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Fine.”

This place was dull, after all. Even though I hate cleaning, I might be able to fight against Pirates and increase my XP.

There was also the fact that growing stronger inside the game would make my real-life body stronger. The fastest way seemed to increase the level, even though it seemed quite hard.

After reading the forums, I know that not even one player had reached level 2. The monsters were quite scarce, and they didn’t give a lot of XP.

They have also figured out that they can increase their stats by exercising and training their physiques.

I don’t know how strong I am compared to other players. But I should be average, I think.

I headed out of the door and left the building with no intention of returning. After roaming the streets for some time, I arrived in the harbor with multiple ships ready to depart.

One of them seemed familiar, and the number in the hull was the same as in Leeway’s ship. I headed there and soon arrived at the desk.

My chore boy uniform attracted a few eye pairs. The crew seemed familiar with the previous one, and many recognized me.

“Yo, how was Garp?” The Marine, who witnessed my deed of killing the pirate, came from the indoors and asked with a grin.

I remember him being called Link. His rank was Lieutenant Junior Grade, one of the highest-ranked officers on Leeway’s ship.

“Painful.” Since I seemed to be on good terms with him, I acted more casual.

“Heh.” Link grinned. Then, he heard footsteps coming from indoors and saluted with almost instinct.

Every marine onboard saluted while facing the door. From there, Leeway appeared with a marine jacket fluttering behind him. He discussed something with Link before turning in my direction.

“Oh, Lotus sent only you?” Leeway saw Liam nodding and returned the nod, “Alright. At least she didn’t send those two— who knows, they might pass out again.”

The nearby marines laughed at the snarky comment.

Leeway patted my shoulder and grinned, “Since you are the only one, a lot of cleaning ahead.”

“Ugh,” I grunted with displeasure and was led inside the ship with floor scrubbing brush and bucket full of water waiting for me.

Soon, the ship departed and left the New Marineford through the gates. The ships’ sails were unfolded, and the speed increased.

After several hours of cleaning, I was finally released from my duties. This time, the cleaning was a breeze, with no difficulties. The training seemed to have been helping because I was almost thrice as fast as before.

The marines seemed impressed as they gave a quick pat on the shoulder. Surprisingly, since the last time the crew had some casualties, Leeway couldn’t find good marines to fill those spots, there were few cabins free.

I received one cabin usually used by a Marine above Ensign rank.

I, of course, accepted the cabin with grace and humility. After stepping inside the cabin, it was very cramped, with a tiny bed and few shelves with a window that allowed me to see the wavy sea.

After I got seated in the bed, I pulled out several papers from the inventory. It belonged to a book called “Soru.” I have tried to learn it without rest, but the percentage was a mere 2%!

I have grown to learn that it was an incredibly valuable skill. The technique would allow the user to travel at high speeds, way above what humans should be capable of doing.

After hearing about such an amazing technique, of course, I would want to learn it. But, it was as difficult to understand as it sounded.

Of course, a powerful technique such as this would take a long time to learn.

But, what made me depressed was that after finally reaching 100%, it would only be level 1.

I don’t know how strong level 1 was, and I didn’t know what the max was, but it made me slightly depressed.

At this rate, it would take me over a year to learn Soru, and who knows, level 1 might only allow me to move slightly faster than humans. That wasn’t worth spending over a year. Still, I held tightly to the string of hope and continued learning.