Chapter 56: Morning after

Waking up Eldrian looked around the small room he was in. It was bare and he was lying on the ground, standing up he shook himself to get rid of the dirt which was clinging to him.

After which he clambered out of his room and went to the main communal area of the tent. Looking around he saw that no one was here either, turning to look at where the soldier had slept he saw that not many have risen yet. He was able to easily look over to them since the entire front area of the communal area was open, making it feel more open and larger than it really was.

'Normally they are all early risers.' Eldrian mumbled as he left the tent. Thinking about it for a bit he realized that they all are likely extremely tired.

'Wonder if I should agree to the data sharing?' Eldrian asked himself next, walking to an open spot a bit further away from any sleeping people. While walking over he had stated things about the reply he had received, not knowing what to do.

Putting it aside for the moment, he decided to start practicing. Being busy helped him put things off, while also strangely helping him think it through subconsciously.

Arriving at the spot he started to practice taking out his weapon, not wanting to again struggle with this task when he needed his weapon. He continued to practice this until he managed to take his spear out under a second.

After this he started trying to bring this into his training, taking out his spear and then attacking or moving immediately after.

After the first attack, he quickly felt that something was wrong. His entire attack seemed to be much sloppier than he was used to. He also felt tired after such a simple attack.

Stopping to try and focus on himself he quickly felt that the tiredness he was feeling felt different. Concentrating on this feeling he quickly became lost, not knowing what felt different, but that there was certainly something that had changed. This change was so small that he couldn't even explain it to someone if he wanted to.

It was like when someone looked over your shoulder while you were reading. Somehow you know someone is there, the entire thing giving you this weird feeling. He felt this weird feeling, seemingly telling him that everything felt just a bit more real.

Curious about this weird feeling and why he struggled in using his spear Eldrian called up his statistic menu. Not just a part of it, but rather the entire menu. Wanting to look over everything and see what else was different.

The interface had seemingly gone through another revamp. Having the classification tabs being in bold while also having added dividers between the different parts of his information.

[Haru's Statistics:]

[Level 1 (752/2000), Tier 0]

[Avatar Affinity: 96.21%] [From 95.67%]

'So my affinity has indeed changed, and it changed a lot too. I remember it was just over 95 last time I looked.' Eldrian thought to himself, this having been the first thing that caught his eye. Since the reply he got from the devs had mentioned he should look at it.

'What does that mean exactly?' Eldrian asked himself and took a few seconds to guess, only to give up after a while. He felt like this was likely the cause of the difference he was feeling, but it was so small that he couldn't really tell.

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 73.5/105]

[Agility: 80.5/115]

[Constitution: 73.5/105]

[Intelligence: 77/110]

[Spirit: 73.5/105]

'My attributes are still weakened, but it seems like they are recovering quickly.' He mumbled, finding what the expected to the be the cause. Having competently forgotten about the introduction about stats he had gotten way back when he first learned to hold a weapon.

[Stats:]

[HP: 51.5/51.5/73.5]

[Mana: 51.5/51.5/73.5]

[Stamina: 32.5/56.5/80.5] [regen 1 per 3 seconds]

[Armor: 0]

[Magic Armor: 0]

[Physical Resistance: 0%]

[Magical Resistance: 0%]

'What is going on here?' Eldrian asked himself, finding the double limit indication on his stats to be very confusing. He left this thought in the back of his mind, moving on to his first problem.

'Seems like one attack had used over 20 stamina. Is this because I don't fulfill the attribute requirements?' He asked himself, looking over the rest of his statistics.

[Buffs/Debuffs:]

[Total Fatigue: Level 4]

'It already decreased from 5, that was quick.' Eldrian felt glad that this debuff would be gone in seemingly only 4 more days. Feeling that it was not too bad a weakness if that was the case. While the cooldown was certainly long, he felt there should also be ways to increase the speed. Like with normal Fatigue which just resting would help cure it.

[Apparel: Full set of normal clothes currently worn.[Damaged]]

'I know its damages, it didn't have to tell me. Or does this mean I am getting another debuff?' Eldrian asked himself, feeling like the information must have a reason for being there.

[Weapons: Grace]

-

[Failed polearm, Grace.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 22 [Physical attack damage [23.1]]

[Attack speed – 1.03 [Attacks/s :1.185]]

[Durability – 756/1220]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 103, Agility – 94, Weight – 1.4kg]

'This must be the reason. I remember having read something about a penalty when under the requirements. But what was it again?' Eldrian asked himself, trying to remember what he saw when he first inspected a training weapon.

Giving himself a minute, he still failed to recall what it was exactly. Therefore he moved on, trying to find a way with which he could practice while not ruining himself. Finding it absurd that he could only do two attacks.

His rhythm was completely ruined at the start. Taking him a long time to get used to the slower attacks he was doing, while also becoming tired so quickly. In the end, he managed to find a few things he could do, which felt like something he could train. Since it wouldn't be completely useless.

This was a simple act of taking out his spear and then immediately attacking or defending with it. He practiced a few crucial moves in this way, feeling that being able to smoothly do these actions might help him someday. He could also transfer it to other weapons if he wanted to.

Having made a milestone in this area he took a small break, looking over the resting soldiers. Only to see that most of them seemed to be awake now. He also saw that the townspeople had brought them something to eat. Curious and a bit hungry Eldrian made his way over.

Eldrian quietly joined the queue which had formed outside the inn, waiting for his turn for food. It smelled quite nice, but certainly not the best. But even so, Eldrian felt his mouth start watering, making him realize that he was quite hungry.

'That is quite weird.' Eldrian realized for the first time. Normally he wasn't hungry so soon after logging in. When he ate in the mornings it was more because he wanted to try things, but this time he was really hungry.

'Why did I always miss this part? He asked himself as he got some food. It was a simple breakfast, a fresh bread loaf with some stew. Taking the bowl and bread Eldrian moved off to the side to enjoy it. The fresh aroma making him even hungrier.

Finding a tree he moved to leaned against it while sitting, careful to not spill his stew. Sitting against the tree he enjoyed the flavor and looked at the NPCs who were also enjoying the food, mostly in silence.

'This would be so nice.' He mumbled, thinking that living such a simple life could be really relaxing. Making him realize that while technology is awesome, many small things seemed to get lost.

'Definitely have to visit Jen tomorrow. I can't break our promise.' Eldrian told himself, enjoying the food and thinking about what his sister might make. He wanted to have a nice homemade meal, not going out. His sister hadn't replied to his text, but he was certain she wouldn't decline his asking.

After finishing his meal Eldrian brought his bowl to the inn again, giving it to one of the people who were helping serving food. This person placed it onto a pile, which was soon after taken to the back.

'Kinda wanted seconds' Eldrian mumbled as he watched his bowl be taken away, 'I won't be greedy.'

Feeling refreshed Eldrian moved back to his spot to train some more. Trying some flashy moves he often saw in games or movies. Quickly realizing that they were hard to pull off, especially in his condition. Even when he succeeded they generally weren't as good as a simple thrust to the chest.

While practicing he started daydreaming. Thinking back onto what he had gone through in such a short time. He also started wondering how Vivian was doing now, he hadn't seen her yet.

...

A few hours later he heard some people shouting, turning to look he saw that all the soldiers were grouping up. Stopping his training he stored his spear and made his way over.

Reaching the soldiers he quickly learned that they were preparing to clean up the battlefield. From the shouts and conversations, he heard while walking past he learned that they were going to harvest the beasts and gather the weapons they had left behind.

'Loot time!' Eldrian almost screamed after realizing what this meant.