Chapter 2
The tutorial zone where users gather after completing character creation.
There, a woman dressed in a navy-blue uniform approached Dojin, who had just opened his eyes.
“Welcome to Rostania. This is the ‘Gate’, designed to help heroes who have crossed the boundary adapt quickly to Rostania. And I’m Instructor Rami, here to assist you in completing the tutorial and becoming a full-fledged adventurer.”
With a rigid and disciplined demeanor, like that of a military officer, Rami bowed her head and pointed to one side.
“Without further ado, I’ll explain the training process. Over there, you’ll receive your training weapon. Choose the weapon you want, then head to the training ground as instructed. Your first training and ‘quest’ is to defeat three training dummies there.”
As Rami finished speaking, a quest window popped up in front of Dojin.
『Quest』
『Let’s defeat the dummies!
Grade: Tutorial
A beginner’s opponent was always the training dummy. But it’s probably best not to let your guard down.
Objective: Defeat 3 training dummies in the Gate’s training ground
Reward: EXP, 3 Beginner Healing Potions, Beginner Weapon』
Seeing Dojin’s focus fixed in midair, Rami continued speaking.
“What you see now is a ‘quest’. It’s a mission given to those who can hear the world’s whispers. By completing it and contributing to the world, you can earn fitting rewards.”
“Do you have any other questions?” Dojin answered briefly.
“No, that’s enough.”
Why would he have any questions?
Any knowledge or information obtainable here was useless to Dojin. What he cared about now was executing the growth plan he had laid out in his head, quickly. To do that, he had to finish the tutorial as soon as possible.
So, without hesitation, Dojin headed in the direction Rami had pointed.
“Weapons are distributed in the order of arrival! No pushing! Hey there, if you cause a commotion at the Gate, you may be penalized! Please unhand each other’s collars!”
But the place was already crowded with users who had started the tutorial earlier.
They were grabbing each other’s collars and fighting, arguing over whether someone had cut in line or not, while NPCs dressed like Rami struggled to control the chaos with exhausted faces. It made him think a store selling limited edition tablets at a 99% discount would probably be more orderly than this.
“It wasn’t this bad back in my day…”
Faced with the dizzying chaos, Dojin instinctively took a step back.
Judging by the mess, it’d take at least 30 minutes just to get his hands on a training weapon.
‘What do I do?’
Wanting to finish the tutorial even a little bit faster, Dojin pondered.
Isn’t there a better way?
‘The tutorial order was definitely…’
Receive a training weapon, defeat the dummy. Return the used training weapon to the instructor, and receive the quest reward. After that, listen to various additional explanations and go to the instructor in charge of the final trial, the Forest of Ordeals.
‘The weapon I get now is something I’ll have to return anyway, right?’
In other words, the training weapon is a means, not the goal. The goal is to defeat the dummies and complete the quest. If he could handle the training dummies barehanded, there was no need to waste time suffering in that chaos.
Having come to a conclusion, Dojin changed direction. Toward the portal leading to the training ground where the dummies were located.
At that moment—
“Without further ado, I’ll explain the training process. If you go to the soldiers over there, you’ll receive a training weapon…”
While repeating the same line to another trainee, Rami spotted Dojin.
Her eyes widened, she couldn’t help it. It was hard not to be shocked when a lunatic was running, no, walking, barehanded into the training ground where the dummies were stationed.
‘H-He’s crazy!’
Being a highly responsible instructor, Rami reflexively ran over and grabbed Dojin.
“What are you doing?! Trying to enter the training ground without receiving a weapon! I’ll have you know that even if they’re called dummies, they’re still magical constructs, essentially golems!”
Though Rami was scolding him, Dojin only looked annoyed.
“Is it absolutely necessary to receive a weapon to enter?”
“Of course it is!”
Rami shouted, dumbfounded.
“Then why did you stop me? I can’t go in anyway.”
“That’s not what I meant! Haa… If you go in barehanded, you’re in real danger. The dummies in the training ground are not to be taken lightly.”
“So I can go in. Then I’ll just go ahead. You said it yourself, right? Try out different weapons during the class selection.”
She had indeed said that. But how did that connect to going in barehanded?
However—
“I’m planning to be a martial artist or a fighter.”
Dojin made the connection anyway.
“A ma… martial artist…?”
“Yes.”
“What are you talking about! Even martial artists here use weapons. Go get in line and ask for knuckles!”
Rami pointed fiercely toward the chaos Dojin had escaped. She jabbed so forcefully that a breeze brushed past Dojin’s face.
It showed just how frustrated she was. But sadly, regardless of whether Rami’s lifespan was shortening from stress, Dojin had no intention of wasting precious time in that mayhem.
“Actually, I can’t hold weapons. It’s due to my religious beliefs.”
“…!”
Rami’s mouth gaped at the sheer absurdity of it.
“Surely Rostania isn’t a place that persecutes people’s religious beliefs, is it?”
Taking advantage of Rami’s flustered state, Dojin delivered a finishing blow and nodded solemnly.
“I know it’s not. That’s why I’ll be going now.”
Rami’s brain briefly short-circuited at the nonsense, and by the time she reached out to stop him, she slowly lowered her hand.
‘Someone like that… might be better off learning the hard way.’
If he had to go through something rough, better here than later—it would help him too.
That’s what Rami thought.
If he broke a bone or two, she’d drag him back to the weapon station.
* * *
The inside of the training ground was no less chaotic. Numerous users were scattered about, swinging the weapons they had chosen.
Their opponents were animated training dummies.
“Hyaah!”
A man with a sloppy stance swung his sword. Losing his balance, he got smacked by the dummy’s shield and fainted on the spot.
“Kyah!”
A small woman, swinging a double-bladed axe too heavy for her frame, toppled over. The dummy seized the moment and whacked her on the back of the head with a wooden sword.
The woman slowly dissolved into light and exited the training ground.
“Argh! What kind of dummy is this?! Agh!”
Equipped with wooden swords and shields, the dummies were mercilessly beating up the fresh newbies entering the training ground.
Dojin watched the scene with satisfaction.
‘Dummies are kinda tough for newbies. I think I had to retry three times on my first go?’
As shown, the tutorial training dummies weren’t your average dummies. Though called “dummies,” they were all essentially wooden golems. Their strength and agility were on par with a level 1 player, but they handled swords and shields better. Being golems, they were also extra durable.
To players used to VR games with hitbox corrections and damage bonuses for flailing swords around, they were far from an easy opponent. But that only applied to ‘newbies’ who were playing LOST for the first time.
‘Even though I was a mage, I wasn’t weak enough to lose to these things.’
In his past life, Dojin had been a mage. A warped one, forced to go all-in on offensive power and destruction. Because of that, he had to live with countless penalties and was even called a “glass cannon.” Still, despite such terrible conditions, Dojin made quite a name for himself, in PVE and PVP alike.
One of the reasons was—
‘I was the fastest among all magic users.’
He had developed close-combat ability without any skill boosts. In short, he had overcome his weaknesses not with the game system, but with raw physical ability and control.
Dojin took a breath and approached the nearest dummy. The dummy’s eyes glowed red as it raised its wooden sword and shield. The sword, smeared with the blood of the last user it smacked, just looking at it was terrifying.
“What’s that guy doing? Is he crazy?”
“Why is he going in unarmed?”
“Is he a nutjob?”
The nearby users whispered as they saw Dojin approach the dummy barehanded.
But he didn’t care, whether they mocked him or stared in hopes of seeing him get beat up, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the quest monster in front of him, not the fools struggling with the training dummy.
Creak!
As the distance narrowed, an unpleasant sound came from the dummy’s joints.
Its right arm and knee.
Dojin reacted immediately.
“Hup!”
He twisted his body, dodging the dummy’s straightforward attack. At the same time, he closed the gap even more. The dummy retaliated with a shield bash.
As if waiting for that, Dojin grabbed the shield and yanked it forward. Having poured strength into the bash, the dummy lost balance and fell forward.
Thud!
The dummy collapsed with a loud crash, and Dojin leapt on top of it.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The dummy struggled to escape, but the cheap wooden golem had clear limits to its range of movement, then came the relentless beating.
Dojin efficiently pinned its struggling limbs and delivered a one-sided assault. His unarmed attacks lacked power, but that wasn’t a problem. He could supplement the damage using the environment.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Grabbing the dummy’s head with both hands, he slammed it repeatedly into the ground. With rhythmic thuds, the wooden puppet’s face collided with the floor.
Creak! Creak!
The dummy’s limbs spasmed, and ominous noises leaked from inside.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
With each impact, the red glow in its eyes dimmed.
Drip!
A thick, dark liquid of unknown nature oozed from its eyes. Everyone watching from the beginning had the same thought.
‘He’s completely insane.’
‘Don’t make eye contact.’
‘He didn’t hear what I said earlier… right?’
In their minds, any mockery toward Dojin had already vanished without a trace.