Chapter 12: Promotion and the Road Ahead

Chapter 12: Promotion and the Road Ahead

For two days in a row, Alisar left his room at the inn only for breakfast and dinner. He skipped lunch—he simply couldn’t afford it. With the money he had left, he bought ten loaves of bread and ate them throughout the day to stave off his hunger as best he could.

Still, during those two days, he learned quite a bit about his rare skill—the Training Room.

From the beginning, he had come up with an ambitious plan. If time truly passed hundreds of times faster inside the Training Room than in the real world, then he could practically live there: bring food and water, train, rest, and use every minute efficiently. One day outside could mean hundreds of days inside. In theory, he could periodically return, sell a couple of potions, restock supplies, and go back in.

But in practice, things turned out to be much more complicated.

On the very first day, exhausted after many hours of training, he decided to test whether it was possible to sleep inside the skill. He brought his mattress, pillow, and blanket from the inn room into the Training Room, set up a place to sleep in the corner, and lay down to rest. But as soon as he dozed off, the next thing he remembered was waking up in his bed at the inn.

Apparently, as soon as he fell asleep inside the Training Room, the system automatically kicked him back into the real world—specifically, to the same room from where he had activated the skill. He now knew for sure: using the room for full-time living was a failed idea. It was a place for training, not for life.

From that moment on, he returned to his inn room whenever he needed to rest, eat, or sleep. Sleeping inside the Training Room was simply impossible.

And that wasn’t the only disappointment.

He had also brought the remaining loaves of bread into the Training Room, planning to eat them over the course of the “internal” days. But when he activated the skill again the next morning and returned to the room, the bread was completely covered in mold. It stank and crumbled in his hands, as if it had been sitting in a damp place for months. Perhaps that’s exactly what had happened, considering how much faster time passed inside. He concluded that food couldn’t be stored in the Training Room—unless it was preserved or dried goods.

So that’s how he lived for those two days. Or rather, from his perspective, five or six days had passed. He spent nearly all his time inside the Training Room, only returning to the inn room to catch his breath, eat something, and get some sleep. The schedule was exhausting—but effective.

Despite all his efforts, progress was slow.

He only managed to advance the Training Room skill by five levels. After level 20, progression slowed down significantly: each new level required more time, more effort, and more concentration. This wasn’t his personal level—it was the level of the skill itself. And the higher the skill rose, the slower it developed. But the rewards grew accordingly: the training yielded far more experience points, especially when he pushed himself to the limit.

As for the food at the inn—breakfast and dinner were quite decent. But even that wasn’t enough. If he had been living a normal lifestyle, the meal plan would have been sufficient. But after hundreds of hours of intense training inside the skill, his body demanded more. He was almost always hungry.

Stockpiling food inside the Training Room seemed to be impossible. If left there, it would spoil quickly. This meant he could only bring food and water with him for short-term use—just enough to stay fresh—and if anything was left over, he had to take it back out. Leaving provisions behind in the Training Room was absolutely out of the question.

Fortunately, the stench from the rotting bread hadn’t been too strong. Still… why had it smelled so bad? Normally, bread just went stale, maybe got a bit moldy—but it never reeked like that. Perhaps something had been added to the dough. Some kind of local additive or fermentation agent? Who knew? In any case, the smell quickly disappeared once he had removed the remains of the spoiled bread.

On the nightstand near his bed, there were about twenty health potions. To be precise—twenty-one. Small vials, each holding no more than thirty milliliters, were lined up neatly. Alisar carefully packed them into his nearly empty coin pouch—a small leather bag that, somehow, managed to hold them all. Thankfully, the vials were small and didn’t take up much space.

He looked at his status window.

Name: Alisar
Level: 43
Rank: 3
HP: 3410 + 1800
MP: 4080 + 3060
Strength: 131 + 60
Defense: 104 + 60
Speed: 106 + 60
Intellect: 144 + 102
Magic Power: 127 + 102
Magic Defense: 137 + 102
Free Attribute Points: 0
Skills: —
Special Skills:
— Training Room (Level 25)
— Alchemy (Rank 1)
Experience Points: 1,015,000 points

Level forty-three. Twelve levels in two days.
“Not bad,” Alisar thought with a faint smile.

He left the inn and headed straight to the adventurers' guild, which was located nearby. As he opened the door, a regular mechanical doorbell rang — just like last time.

This time, the guild wasn't empty. Inside were three teenagers and the old man behind the registration counter. All four glanced at the newcomer for a moment but quickly lost interest and resumed their conversation. Not wanting to interrupt, Alisar quietly walked to the side and sat down at an empty table. He noted that the interior hadn’t changed much — it seemed to be the same guild he had seen the day before.

The three teenagers looked to be around fifteen years old. They wore light armor — each of them slightly different in style and condition, likely used and old. Swords hung at their waists or strapped to their backs. Judging by the tone of their voices, they were clearly displeased.

“But the quest wasn’t how you described it!” one of them complained.
“We wasted a bunch of time on it, and now you’re saying we don’t get paid?” another added.

It seemed they were arguing with the old man, trying to demand payment for a failed job. But instead of sympathy, they were met with a sharp, irritated voice:

“Enough complaining!” the old man barked, loud enough that even Alisar flinched slightly.

The teens, however, didn’t seem particularly shaken. Their faces remained sullen, but it looked like they were used to this.

“It was just a simple quest,” the old man continued. “Not monsters, not bandits, not traps. Just rabbits. Rabbits, damn it! Eating up the village gardens! And you couldn't even handle that? And now you’re complaining?”

The teens went quiet, lowering their gazes guiltily.

“If you can’t even complete something that simple, how the hell do you expect to become real adventurers?” the old man raised his voice. “And why the hell should I pay you for a failed quest?”

He slammed his fist on the counter, and silence fell over the room.

“You get penalized for failed quests, that’s all! Now get back out there! Don’t come back until the job’s done!”

The old man fell silent, glaring at them as if daring them to say one more word. The teenagers got up without another sound and walked toward the exit, heads lowered.

Alisar watched the scene with interest, quietly agreeing with the old man’s words.

“What do you want?” the old man said loudly, turning toward Alisar.

Alisar quickly stood up and walked over to the counter. Carefully, he took potion after potion out of his pouch and placed them on the counter—one by one, all twenty-one health potions.

“I’d like to sell these,” he said.

The old man glanced at the potions and nodded.

“Health potions. First rank, right?”
“Yes,” Alisar confirmed.
“All right,” the old man replied.

He moved the potions under the counter, then took out two coin pouches. From one, he poured out sixteen silver coins, and from the other—eighty copper coins. He counted everything carefully, not rushing, then set the coins aside.

“Here’s your payment. Sixteen silver and eighty copper coins.”

Alisar quickly took the money, mixed the silver and copper together, and tucked them into his pouch—his coin pouch now, one could say.

“Thanks,” he said briefly, nodding slightly, and turned to leave.

“Hey, wait!” the old man suddenly called out.

Alisar stopped in his tracks and turned around, slightly tense.

“Yes?” he replied cautiously.

The old man nodded, as if something had just occurred to him.

“With these twenty-one potions and the three you sold two days ago, you’ve earned 240 guild points. That means your rank goes up.”

He held out his hand.

“Give me your guild badge. I’ll update it.”

Alisar, slightly relieved, quickly removed the badge from his chest and handed it to the old man.

“Wait here a bit,” the old man said, then disappeared into the back room through the door behind the counter.

Calm down... There's no way he could’ve known...
The “Alchemy” skill is way too rare. And “Appraisal” too. Extremely rare. It's unlikely anyone here has it...

Alisar looked away and took a deep breath, trying to calm the slight tension in his chest. He was probably just overthinking things.

Soon, the old man returned, holding Alisar’s updated guild badge.

“Congratulations on your rank promotion,” he said.
“Thank you,” Alisar replied briefly.

He looked at the badge. It looked nearly identical to his previous one — bearing the guild’s emblem: a crossed sword and spear with a defeated lizard beneath them — but now, instead of rank G, it displayed the letter F. Alisar quickly put it back around his neck.

He was about to leave when the old man stopped him again.

“Hold on. I didn’t explain this last time, but if you want to rise to E-rank, you’ll have to go to the city,” the old man said. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to advance so quickly… but at this rate, you’ll reach E-rank soon.”

He paused, then continued:

“To be promoted to E-rank, you’ll need to earn a thousand guild points. But that alone isn’t enough. In the city, they’ll test you — your personal combat rank has to be at least Rank 1. And here, in this village guild, we don’t have the equipment to measure that. We’re too small. Just a rural guild. Mostly, new adventurers register here — locals, or those from nearby villages. We’re here so they don’t have to travel all the way to the city. It’s a long and dangerous road. This is safer.”

He gave a small chuckle.

“Many give up before even reaching F-rank. Less than thirty percent make it to E-rank. Only those head to the city. The rest abandon the idea of being adventurers altogether. Even though it’s the dream of nearly every kid.”

The old man looked at Alisar for a moment and smiled faintly.

“And here, in a place like this, you can register, take on a few jobs, and get a taste of what being an adventurer is really like,” he said with a short laugh. “As for you… I think you’ll reach E-rank soon enough. That’s why I wanted to warn you ahead of time.”

He nodded.
“Well then. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Alisar replied.

He turned and walked out of the guild.

After leaving the guild, Alisar headed straight to the general store nearby — the same one he had visited two days earlier. He stepped inside and first bought a large backpack, big enough to carry supplies for an extended trip.

Then, he carefully selected provisions: dried meat, preserved fruits, and long-lasting bread — though the bread was very hard, it was still nourishing and stored well. Thankfully, the shop had a good variety of foods that could last for weeks.

He packed everything neatly into his new bag. Once it was full, the total weight came to about thirty kilograms. He slung it over his back. While that wasn’t a particularly heavy load for him anymore — not physically — the backpack still felt enormous.

In addition to food, he also bought a small one-person tent and a couple of water containers. The tent didn’t take up much space and was tied to the top of the bag, while the containers were fastened to the outside so they wouldn’t get in the way.

He spent nearly fifteen silver coins on everything.

All right. I’m ready, he thought as he left the store.
So… where should I go now? — he asked himself, only now realizing he hadn’t made a clear plan for the coming days.

The forest? No… That could be dangerous. Better to go back — back to the place where I stayed with those two girls. Yeah, I can live there… a week, maybe two. And use everything to the fullest. My skill — at full capacity. I’ll raise my level as high as I can.

He glanced briefly toward the village, then turned away.

Staying here isn’t a good idea. What if someone does have the Appraisal skill? Better not take the risk.

Alisar turned and set off — heading back in the direction he had come from two days ago, toward the clearing near the forest, where his journey in this world had truly begun.

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Combat Ranks and Attribute Growth

Combat Rank Levels Attribute Gain per Level Free Attribute Points per Level

0 1–10 +1 to all +1
1 11–20 +2 to all +2
2 21–40 +4 to all +6
3 41–70 +8 to all +24
4 71–115 +16 to all +120
5 116–175 +32 to all +720
6 176–265 +64 to all +5040
7 266–385 +128 to all +40320

> Basic attributes: Strength, Defense, Speed, Intellect, Magic Power, Magic Defense.

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HP and MP Formulas

HP increases by +10 for every point of:
— Strength
— Defense
— Speed

MP increases by +10 for every point of:
— Intellect
— Magic Power
— Magic Defense