Chapter 3.2  : Game Start

ChubbyCheeks

Chirp chirp!

Before Minhyuk could open his eyes, he could already hear the sound of the birds chirping. It sounded oddly realistic as if real birds were really near him.

As he slowly opened his eyes, a man wearing leather armor and adorning a sword on his waist came into his view.

"Welcome. Your game will start here in Ardo. I am Valen, your basic training instructor."

Athenae was an exceptionally large game and accompanying such a large game was a tremendous amount of beginners. Minhyuk was just one among the many beginners that appeared in Athenae's novice zone.

'An NPC?'

Compared to Versal, this NPC looks very realistic. Hmm. This is quite impressive.

The NPC gave Minhyuk, who was standing in front of him in a daze, a wooden sword. This wooden sword was one of the basic weapons that the game would provide beginner users.

"Your basic training quest will begin right now."

Ding!

A window popped out in front of Minhyuk along with the chime of the notification.

[Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times]

Rank: Tutorial

Limit: None

Rewards: +1 Bonus point, 10x Hard Bread, 10x Bottled Water

Penalty for Failure: None

Description: You have just started playing Athenae. Learn how to attack by hitting the scarecrow fifty times.

"You can open the Quest Window just by thinking or saying quest."

Valen, the NPC standing in front of Minhyuk, explained the basic rules of the game. However, even though he was talking in front of him, the only thing that caught Minhyuk's attention was not his words.

And that was…

'B-bread…?'

Yes, bread. Flour. The enemy of everyone who's dieting. And yet… it was still considered to be one of the most delicious foods in the world.

Grooowl!

His stomach grumbled loudly. It seemed like even though all he did was stand in a daze in front of the NPC his stomach was still protesting in hunger. He assumed that if he did not eat anything right now then he would probably start feeling sick any time soon.

"Heh… Uhmm, can't you give me that 10 loaves of hard bread in advance?"

"No."

Valen refused him right off the bat. He was as strict as a soldier could be.

Minhyuk suddenly felt a bit sullen when he heard his hard refusal but he still grabbed the wooden sword that was given to him tightly. It looked like he had made his decision.

'I… I want to eat that bread!'

Try eating 5000 cherry tomatoes everyday and you'll probably want to eat that bread too.

Minhyuk quickly approached the area where the scarecrows were located. Before he started his quest, he did some light exercise first to get a feel of his movements and how his body would move.

'M… My body feels as light as a feather!'

To him right now, he felt like he had just let go of the hundreds of kilograms of weight that he had been carrying all those years.

He quickly tightened his hold on his wooden sword as he struck the scarecrow with great strength.

Slash!

His strikes were clean and precise with no movements left wasted. Swinging this wooden sword was no different from all of the other exercises that he had tried and done. After all he had tried all of the exercise that he could just so he could lose a bit of weight.

As he moved his body, he could feel that the feel of his body in the game was entirely different than in reality. In this place, he could easily move without being breathless. His speed was even fast and light! For Minhyuk who had been weighed down, both literally and figuratively, by his weight, this was already counted as a source of joy.

"M… my body is as light as a feather!"

Minhyuk kept on slashing and striking at the scarecrow as he shouted happily.

Slash!

Slash!

His movements had also started to become more swift and controlled as he gained familiarity with his body.

Slash!

Slash!As time went by, he started to get more used to his body.

"T… too fast!"

"Did he do kendo [1] outside?"

The other beginners that were in his vicinity were amazed at his speed. Other users had already collapsed after doing just 30 strikes. Some were even gasping for air as sweat dripped down from their bodies. However, Minhyuk was still swinging his sword continuously.

Slash!

Slash!

He was used to a high intensity of exercise. After all, he was required to work out for four hours every single day. He would even work out so hard that he wanted to puke after his exercise had finished. So for him, swinging this sword for 50 times was just a piece of cake.

Slash!

Slash!

He only stopped his movements after finishing all of the required 50 strikes in the quest.

[Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times - Completed]

[+1 Bonus Point acquired]

[Additional Rewards can be received from Instructor Valen]

Then, he saw Instructor Valen quietly approaching him.

"Good job. Your movements were neat and precise, I can't wait to see what you would become in the future. You have probably been notified about the bonus point too."

Minhyuk nodded his head.

"You can see your stats window just by thinking about it or saying it and you can place your bonus points wherever you want to place them. If you increase your strength, your physical attack will increase by +3, the weight you can carry as well as your HP will increase… mumble mumble… "

All in all, what Valen told him was that if he increased his strength then his physical attack would increase by +3 which in turn would increase his HP by +1. On the other hand, if he increased his agility then his physical defense would increase by +3 which would result in an increase in his attack speed and movement speed by +1.cIncreasing his stamina would also increase HP by +10 while increasing his wisdom would increase his MP by +10. And if he increased his intelligence then his magical attack would increase by +3. These were the 5 basic stats.

However, all of this information was something that he already knew. This just to show that he had researched a lot of basic information before deciding to log in the game.

"Stats Window."

As if on cue, ahologram popped out in front of him.

(Minhyuk)

Level: 1

Class: None

HP: 55 MP: 50

STR: 5 AGI: 5 STM: 5

WIS: 5 INT: 5

Fullness: 70%

Bonus Point: +1

According to Changwook-hyung, it will be more useful if I increase my STR first.

Minhyuk quickly dragged the bonus point that he had received to his STR. His interest was suddenly dragged back to Valen when he saw him pull out a heavy bag. When the bag opened, h3 saw ten loaces of dry hard bread along with ten bottles of water.

"Good job. Similarly, you can put these in your inventory by thinking or saying 'Keep'."

Minhyuk nodded furiously as he smiled brightly at the thought of tasting the bread.

"I've never seen a guy who's so happy with receiving these rewards."

Valen let out a small smile when he saw his delighted expression. He looked like he had received the greatest gift in the world with how wide he was smiling.

Just as he was going to reach out for his rewards, Minhyuk suddenly heard other people talking.

"Ew, what kind of bread is this?!"

One of the male users who had received the same reward had his face crumpled in disgust. He spat out the hard bread that he chewed and groaned in disgust. This was a user who had received the same heavy bag before Minhyuk.

"A roasted rock would taste better than this."

The user grumbled on and on. As if he wouldn't be able to remove the taste of the hard bread if he did not criticize it loudly.

"Tch. They don't even know how to appreciate these small things."

Valen clicked his tongue in annoyance.

If you wanted to eat something nice then go ahead and become strong.

This was this game's common sense.

Isn't hard bread enough for novices?Then…

"Oh."

He heard someone exclaiming beside him.

"Hmm?"

Valen turned beside him and saw Minhyuk sniffing the bread as if it was a rare delicacy that needed its scent to be savored in such a way.

'How long has it been? This is the smell of flour, so fragrant!'

Is it rice bread? Or beer bread? Or maybe it's brown rice bread? The bread that's good for your body? It's done!

Minhyuk firmly believed that any flour-based bread was the best bread in the world!

When he finished savoring the smell of the bread, he slowly tore a piece and placed it in his mouth.

Crunch!

It's true. The bread is hard and cold.

He felt like he was chewing on the crusty shell of a baguette. However, once the bread rolled around in his mouth, it slowly softened. He chewed on it carefully and savored its taste as best as he could before swallowing the piece. He was so moved by its taste that he ended up gobbling the piece up quickly.

"D-delicious…"

It's really delicious.

The only reason why Minhyuk was only allowed to eat vegetables was because they all wanted him to stay away from instant and salty food. Maintaining his distance from such food would let him stay healthy and not gain much weight. This was also the reason why he had not tasted any bread for nearly two years.

He found the taste of the bread so delicious that he couldn't stop himself from gorging and wolfing down everything.

"Is… Is it really that delicious?"

"Yes, it's delicious. It's truly mouthwatering!"

Minhyuk nodded his head furiously. He wanted to show him how happy he was with its taste. His tears even welled up with how happy he was.

Valen unconsciously smiled at him.

'The people who enter these days only know how to complain about these rewards.'

Maybe this boy is special.

"If you continue to strike for another 50 times, you'll receive 10 additional loaves of hard bread and 10 bottles of water. It's just that there will be no more additional bonus points. However, you can also choose to exit this zone and start your proper hunting tutorial."

Minhyuk was so moved when he heard the instructor say 'I will give you more bread' that he couldn't help but look at Valen with watery eyes.

"Are you really just going to give me bread for nothing?"

"It's not for nothing, you have to strike the scarecrow for another 50 times."

Does that mean that I can continue to get ten loaves of hard bread and ten bottles of water just for 50 strikes?

In a way, the game was giving him an infinite amount of rewards for free. However, no user would definitely try and do this. If you were a player, then you would definitely not waste your time on striking scarecrows continuously just to get tasteless bread and water. Instead, they would definitely choose to go out and have fun with hunting.

Minhyuk continued to eat after deciding that he would continue striking the scarecrow. Just when he was savoring his fifth hard bread...

[Your fullness has reached 100%]

[Fullness will not increase with intake of more food.]

***

Footnotes

[1] Kendo: A traditional japanese martial art descended from swordsmanship, they use bamboo swords and protective armor Back

Food Discussion Corner.

[Bread] You will find that there are a lot of different types of bread. It is entirely dependent on their main ingredient. Rice bread uses rice flour, beer bread adds bear or alcoholic beverages, brown rice bread uses brown rice flour.

Game Attributes (Definition and Abbreviation)

HP (Health Point) : amount of health of the player

MP (Mana Point) : amount of magic power of the player

Attack (ATK) : physical attack, causes damage to opponent

Defense (DEF) : physical defense, reduces the atk damage suffered by the player

Intelligence (INT) : highly related to logic and reasoning

Stamina (STM) : how long a player can last

Strength (STR) : physical power and carrying capacity, reduces opponent DEF points

Agility (AGI) : nimbleness and reflexes

Speed (SPD) : how fast a player is

Wisdom (WIS) : related to self-awareness, perception and insight

TL’s corner!

I will refer to their abbr. for the following chapters if they will be included. Also, lmao at flour based bread is the best. Aren't all bread flour-based???? Kek.

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