Chapter 10: Punishment

Chapter 10: Punishment

[Quest
No. 22 completed]

[Received +2,000,000 experience points]

[Status]

[Name: Alisar
[Level: 37
EXP: 385,610/910,000
Rank: 2]

HP: 4,130 (+240)
MP: 5,500 (+400)

Strength: 149 (+8)
Defense: 135 (+8)
Speed: 129 (+8)
Intelligence: 138 (+8)
Magic Power: 133 (+8)
Magic Defense: 279 (+8) (+16)

**Free Attribute Points: 0 (+16) (-16)

Skills: —

Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 2)
• Alchemy (Rank 1)]

I had just finished another quest in the training room. Though, to be honest, it didn’t quite happen on purpose.

No… more like it wasn’t an accident, but a side effect.

Right after dinner I headed to the general store to spend the remaining 74 copper coins on dry rations. Luckily, the shop hadn’t closed yet, even though it had been dark outside for a while. The owner was just hauling the last crates and baskets in from the street back into the building, so I made it in time.

I didn’t buy dried meat—it turned out to be too expensive. Instead, I stocked up on more dried fruit and hard bread. That should last me a few days. With that supply I returned to the Adventurers’ Guild and went into my room. I activated the “Training Room” skill.

The plan was as simple as it gets: wait.

Wait for what? For my mana to recover.

As soon as my mana pool recovered, I created a health potion. And then—again and again. Over this night I planned to make as many potions as possible, so that in the morning I could sell them together with the remaining magic stones from monsters. With the money I earned I’d be able to stock up on food for the long term and get out of here. Yes, staying here for long definitely wasn’t in my plans.

Sure, selling too many health potions at once could be risky. But after thinking it over, I decided it was worth it. Better that than eating that awful “food” the old man at the Adventurers’ Guild cooks every day.

I thought it would be easy—just sit around, wait for mana to recover, and make potions from time to time. Turns out doing nothing for that long is hard in its own way. At first it felt like I was simply relaxing… then that feeling turned into something like boredom, a restless languor. You could even say it was exhausting in its own way.

If I had a smartphone and the internet—I could watch movies, shows, fun clips… Really, killing time would have been no problem at all. Alas, I have neither smartphone nor internet here. And in this world, even if a phone somehow appeared, there definitely wouldn’t be internet.

At least a book… In time I realized that even the dullest book or a dry scientific article, if it were at hand, would have been a real salvation from boredom. But in this big stone room there is nothing.

Well, unless you count the bed—the very one I moved from my room at the Adventurers’ Guild.

Out of boredom I kept opening my status window over and over, rereading the information as if hoping to find something new in it. And, strangely enough, there really was some use in that.

I suddenly noticed that I’d never bothered to read the description of the “Training Room” skill carefully after it ranked up to second rank. I had simply assumed the change boiled down to the room getting bigger and the quest list updating.

But I was wrong. There were other changes—much more important ones. The description now clearly stated that time in the training room flows 240 times faster than in the outside world.

Before, that number had been 120. And now—240.

That’s a colossal advantage. One hour outside equals ten days in here.

Though, if you think about it, such an accelerated flow of time might not only be an advantage, but a real drawback.

If the difference in time between the training room and the outside world weren’t so huge, I could use this skill not only to do quests and level up. The training room could be a true safe zone for me.

Imagine: I’m on a long journey—in a forest, a dungeon, or even a city. At night I just teleport into the training room, rest, sleep, and thus save money on inns. The perfect hideout.

But now that’s impossible. If monsters are chasing me, sure, I could hide in here. But even if I spend twelve hours inside, only three minutes will pass outside. In that time my pursuers aren’t likely to vanish anywhere.

And as for a normal night’s sleep—that’s a problem too. If I want to sleep eight hours, only two minutes will pass outside. To sit out a ten-hour night, I’d have to spend a hundred days in here. A hundred days! That’s just unreal.

So it turns out I’ll have to sleep outside anyway, in the real world. If I’m going to make full use of the training room, I’ll have to account for its quirks. For example, I should always keep a reserve of water and long-lasting food in here. Regular food will spoil too fast—time here runs 240 times faster.

At first, when I came into the training room, I just decided to sleep a little. When I woke up, my mana had already fully recovered. I crafted a health potion… and then just sat down and started waiting.

But time… When you do nothing, it drags unbearably slowly. There was absolutely nothing to do. Out of boredom I started eating dried fruit. Fortunately, this time there was even more of it than last time. Back then I had spent 2 silver and 10 copper—most of it on clothes and a bag. And this time I bought only dried fruit and bread, without the dried meat that was too expensive. So I ended up with even more food than before.

But I didn’t realize how carried away I’d gotten. My hand reached for the food on its own, and I ate without thinking. When I finally came to my senses—half the supply had vanished. What the hell… By my calculations, not a full day had passed, and I managed to eat about three days’ worth of food.

So as not to idle away any further, I started doing quests. When I got tired, I didn’t drink a potion—I just rested: sat, lay down, recovered my strength naturally. That took another roughly two days.

In the end, even though there was more food this time than last, it only lasted three days. On the other hand, the potions went exactly to plan: I managed to create thirty-one health potions. I think that’s plenty.

After that I simply returned to my room at the Adventurers’ Guild and slept there.

--

In the morning, when I woke up, the room was already filled with soft light. But I didn’t hurry to get up. I lay there staring at the ceiling, hoping for a little miracle—that breakfast might already be over and I wouldn’t have to eat it. No need to return any money; I’d just say it was bad luck and thank them. Ask for a little bread and water—that would be my perfect breakfast. And if there wasn’t any bread, water alone would be enough.

I deliberately waited a good while before going out. When I headed to the registration hall and the dining room, no one was there anymore. I got lucky—breakfast time was over. Excellent. Now was the perfect time to sell the potions I’d prepared and leave.

In one hand I held two little food bags. Of course, there were no rations inside. One bag contained all the magic stones from rabbit-monsters that I had left. And the second—health potions. Thirty-six in total. Yes, right before going out I’d created five more potions, stopping when my mana dropped below one thousand.

Right now the main thing was to earn as much money as possible in a single go. The bigger the take, the longer I can act without having to sell health potions again and draw extra attention.

I pressed the bell on the registration counter and waited. Ten seconds… twenty… no one. The old man still didn’t come out. I was about to press the bell again, but I remembered yesterday and decided to wait a bit.

After about half a minute, footsteps came from the door behind the registration counter. The door opened, and the old man appeared.

“Oh, you finally woke up, newbie,” he said.

“Yeah,” I answered with a slight smile. “I was pretty tired yesterday, so today I overslept. Shame I missed breakfast,” I added, trying to sound as natural as possible.

“Don’t you worry, I saved breakfast for you. I can’t just leave you without food,” the old man said, looking at me with a slight smirk. “Besides, you already paid for breakfast yesterday, so I set it aside especially for you.”

“A… I see…” I squeezed out, trying not to give myself away.

“So you can wait a couple of minutes. They’ll bring your breakfast in a moment. Wait over there,” he said, pointing to the chairs by the wall where we’d dined yesterday.

“No, no, no!” burst out of me instinctively.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” the old man squinted. “You don’t want breakfast?” His voice grew a little louder. “Or did you not like my food?”

“N-no! I meant… first I wanted…” I stumbled, then quickly set the two bags on the registration counter. “I wanted to sell these.”

“Ahh, why didn’t you say so,” the old man smirked. “I was about to think you didn’t like the food I’d prepared.”

He opened the first bag, then the second, and began carefully counting the contents. It took a bit—especially with the rabbit-monster magic stones.

“Let’s see…” he muttered, taking out handful after handful. “Here we’ve got… two hundred thirty-nine zero-rank magic stones… and thirty-six first-rank health potions…

“So for all that you get… thirty-one silver and nineteen copper coins. Wait here,” the old man said and quickly took both bags. Without losing a second, he headed for the back door.

Damn… he really is good at math. He calculated everything in his head on the spot.

But I’m not a fool either—I’d estimated roughly what I could get even before coming here. And oddly enough, the numbers matched exactly what the old man named: thirty-one silver and nineteen copper.

A couple of minutes later the old man returned. He set two empty bags on the counter and neatly laid out the money.

“You can count it,” the old man said.

I took the coins and did a quick tally in my head. Yes, the amount this time was much larger than yesterday—31 silver and 19 copper coins. Not bad at all. I carefully counted it again—everything checked out.

I put the silver coins in one pocket, the copper in another. I took the empty bags as well. Even if they’d originally been for food, I’d paid 2 copper coins for each, so throwing them away would be stupid. Next time I go to the general store, I plan to use them again to buy more food.

“And now you can wait over there. Your breakfast will be brought soon,” the old man said.

Damn, I swore inwardly. I’d been hoping he’d forget about that breakfast in the meantime…

“Okay,” I said out loud and headed for the table.

I waited a couple of minutes sitting on a chair, and soon the old man called me:

“You can pick up your breakfast.”

I went up to the window… and froze. Breakfast was the very same soup, a glass of water, and bread. I’d thought breakfast would at least be different from dinner in something… But no. It looked almost the same.

Wait… is it just me, or is the soup bowl twice as big as yesterday evening? I stared at the bowl with a faint sense of horror. The old man noticed my look and smiled with satisfaction:

“Oh, I see you noticed? Since all the lodgers already had breakfast and went about their business, I decided to give you all the soup that was left. You’re only just having breakfast anyway. You’ll need strength for the day. So you’re lucky—you got a double portion,” the old man said, beaming with pleased smile.

I just stared at the bowl of soup as if they’d set not breakfast but a death sentence in front of me.

“Oh, and don’t worry, I won’t charge you extra for the double portion,” the old man added with that same satisfied smile and went about his business.

I picked up the tray of food and sighed heavily.

“So the second portion is free?.. I’d pay myself not to have to eat this again,” I thought in despair, gazing at the steaming soup.

Giving a double portion to latecomers—yes, a very effective way to deal with people like me who decided to “accidentally” skip breakfast. No one wants a double portion of this… food. Which is why, besides me, there weren’t any latecomers here at all.

Resigned, I headed to the table where I’d sat yesterday and slowly began to eat, dipping a piece of bread into the soup.

Damn it! How much worse can this get?

I ate slowly, like a condemned man. At some point a thought crossed my mind—what if I just poured this soup out somewhere and said I’d already eaten?

But when I turned toward the window, I saw the old man. He was sitting there, watching me closely. As soon as our eyes met, he… smiled.

Damn! He’s keeping an eye on me!

It was the longest breakfast of my life. Maybe I ate for over an hour… or even two or three. Though, most likely, it only seemed that way. In moments like this time stretches—every minute lasts ten times longer.

At last I gathered all my courage, took the bowl in both hands, and downed all the remaining soup in one go.

The bread was already gone.

Damn… I almost threw up. I barely held down the urge to retch.

“All… finally,” I exhaled, feeling a shiver run through my body.

Without losing a second, I grabbed the tray with the empty dishes and brought it back to the window. The old man wasn’t there anymore—I hadn’t even noticed when he left.

I hurried into the yard to the well and gulped down cold water greedily. This time I couldn’t drain a whole bucket like before—my stomach was full to the brim. But still… I managed.

My feelings were mixed:

Bad—because the vile taste still lingered in my mouth.

Good—because now I would never have to eat that again.

Today I’m leaving this place. I have enough money now.

--

As planned, I headed to the general store and stocked up on long-lasting food—about a month’s worth. Dried fruit, bread, jerky… Surprisingly, all that food cost me only 8 silver coins. I bought extra jerky.

Then I bought a sword for 12 silver coins. Yes, it wasn’t new—there were traces of many battles on the blade—but its condition was quite decent. The grip sat well in my hand, and the edge, though a bit dulled, was sturdy enough. I think this sword will be more than enough for now.

I also bought a tent for 11 silver coins. Maybe it’s not strictly necessary, since I plan to spend most of my time in the training room, but it certainly won’t hurt—especially if I have to sleep somewhere on the road or under the open sky.

After all my purchases I had only 19 copper coins left. Well, fine. Where I’m going, I probably won’t need money.

Where am I going? I mulled that over for a long time. Into the forest? No. There are monsters there, and I’d probably just die. Besides, I can’t navigate forests. Even if I survive somehow, there’s a high chance I’ll get lost and die of hunger… or become dinner for predators.

Another village? Theoretically possible. But… no. I want to be alone. Away from people. Away from this guild, those disgusting breakfasts, and prying eyes.

Yes. I want to have no problems at all in the near future.

The only decent place I knew was the ravine.

Yes, it had seemed dangerous before because of the rabbit-monsters, but now I don’t think they’re a serious threat to me anymore. I can handle a couple dozen just fine.

Besides, most likely Rem and Sherial have already culled most of those rabbits and maybe even found a dungeon there. So there shouldn’t be any big problems with monsters. And if a few stragglers remain—I’ll deal with them easily.

Yes, it’s decided.

As soon as I left the general store with a huge bag on my back and a sword at my belt, I headed toward the ravine. Only yesterday I’d come from there… at least for everyone else—yesterday. For me, many more days had passed.

It was only early noon now. I think by the time I get there, I’ll still have a few hours left before nightfall.