Chapter 50. Rank 6 — Part Four

Two hundred gold coins… That means there’s nearly two million gold sitting in the corner of my room like it’s trash.

Damn, I can’t believe it. Maybe she’s wrong?

—Are you sure it’s worth two hundred gold coins?—I asked, pointing at the Source Mushroom in Sherial’s hand.

—Yes. I’m one hundred percent sure,—Sherial replied.

—So you’re ready to spend two hundred gold to buy one of those mushrooms?—I asked.

—Me? No way,—Sherial shook her head. —For that kind of money, it’s not adventurers who buy them—it’s aristocrats. For them, it’s one of their favorite goods, and it’s extremely rare.

—Since they’re so rare, if you find a buyer directly and sell without intermediaries—straight to aristocrats,—she continued, —I think you could get more than five hundred gold coins for a single one.

—Are they insane?—I said. —Why do they spend that much money on these things? I get that they’re useful, but not that useful. And as far as I know, this is only a rank-one Source Mushroom. How can it possibly be worth more than five hundred gold?—I asked.

—I understand why you’re confused, but aristocrats have a completely different relationship with money,—Sherial said calmly. —Now I’ll explain why they spend sums like that.

—First, they buy up experience potions from the Adventurers’ Guild almost completely—for their children. The same applies to Source Mushrooms, except they’re a much rarer commodity.

—Second,—she continued, —old aristocrats or wealthy merchants often buy them near the end of their lives, spending enormous money on it.

—I get why they want to make their children stronger,—I said, still not fully understanding. —But why do old people need them? They’re not going to the battlefield or fighting monsters.

—Old people buy them because they want to live longer,—Sherial said.

—Longer? What do you mean?—I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.

—Looks like you really don’t know a lot,—she continued calmly. —The higher a person’s attributes, the longer they live. Most often, it shows through level. Up to level forty, it’s almost unnoticeable.

—But if someone reaches level seventy, they can already live twenty to thirty years longer than ordinary people. At level one hundred fifteen—one hundred to one hundred fifty years longer. And if someone manages to reach level one hundred seventy-five or higher, their life can extend by four hundred to five hundred years.

—But it’s not only about the level itself,—she added. —It all comes down to attributes. The higher the level, the higher the attributes. And a Source Mushroom affects them directly, so even a single mushroom can extend an old person’s life by at least a few days.

A long life. If I think about it, I’m already level one hundred sixty. If I advance a bit more, I could live an additional four hundred to five hundred years. That thought made me pause.

Still, it isn’t that important right now.

Yeah, the longer someone lives, the more they fear death. And at the end of life, anyone will pay any price for the chance to live just a little longer.

Now I understood a bit more, but still…

—Wouldn’t it be easier to just hunt monsters or go into dungeons?—I said. —They’re aristocrats. They have a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be simpler to hire guards or adventurers and go hunting themselves? I think it would be much cheaper and far more effective. They’d get a lot more.

Sherial shook her head.

—You’re right, but…—she began. —Aristocrats won’t risk their lives. And especially not the lives of their children.

—Besides,—she continued, —most of them are almost useless in real combat. Of course, there are exceptions. Some aristocrats become adventurers and level up on their own. Or the other way around—high-level adventurers who later receive a noble title.

—But that’s rare,—she added. —Most will never risk themselves or their loved ones. Under any circumstances.

—If they don’t want to risk their lives, wouldn’t it be easier to just commission adventurers through the Guild?—I said, thinking. —Let adventurers capture monsters in dungeons and bring them to the aristocrats, and the aristocrats can safely kill the monsters and gain levels.

—That won’t produce any results,—Sherial said simply. —To put it plainly, for the System to give you experience points, the monster has to be capable of killing you. Bound monsters or monsters in cages don’t give a single point of experience when you kill them. The System just doesn’t count those kills.

—But sometimes there are still rich idiots who pay enormous money to have monsters delivered to them. They kill them in complete safety, hoping to get experience… and of course, they get nothing. They just throw their money away,—she continued.

I thought that was a workable strategy, but apparently you can’t trick the System that way. For rich people who don’t want to risk their lives, the only option is to spend money. In a way, that’s even fair.

Though… I’m not the one who should be judging. I train in complete safety and still get experience points. Yeah… I shouldn’t criticize aristocrats.

—Hey, are you two busy?—Rem walked up and addressed us.

—No, nothing important,—Sherial replied. —I was just telling Alisar some things every adventurer should know.

—Then if you’re not busy, I’d like to talk to Alisar,—Rem said.

—Alright,—Sherial nodded. —Talk as much as you want. I’ll cook us some food in the meantime.

With that, she walked away. Though honestly, she’d still be able to hear everything we said.

I looked at Rem. From the serious expression on her face, it was clear this conversation would be important. Very serious.

Since she still didn’t start speaking and just stared at me in silence, I finally dared to speak.

—What did you want to talk about?

I don’t know why, but suddenly I felt uneasy. I was a little nervous.

Did I do something wrong?

Maybe.

A sword appeared in her hand. In shape it resembled a training wooden one—no edge, plain, no decorations.

—Take it,—she said and held it out to me.

I took the sword. Cold. Heavy. It was metal.

A second one appeared in her hand, exactly the same.

—Train with me a little,—Rem said.

—Alright,—I answered.

I didn’t understand why it came to this. I thought she wanted to talk about something serious, not just practice with swords.

She stepped back a couple paces.

—Attack me,—Rem said.

Fine. Looks like today I’m destined to embarrass myself in front of these girls because I’m bad with a sword. No choice. I’ll try to screw up as little as possible.

I took the stance I knew and attacked.

She blocked easily. No counterattack.

I kept striking—one after another. She deflected them calmly, like she was playing with a child.

Damn it. The gap between us is too big. In level and in sword skill.

After a few dozen strikes, I stepped back.

—Can you be more serious?—Rem said.

—Attack me with all your strength.

Damn it. I was already using almost all my strength.

Alright. I’ll put everything into a single strike.

I lunged forward and swung at her sword with all my might.

Her blade only shifted back slightly.

But my sword was ripped out of my hands. My arm went numb, like I’d hit a concrete wall with an iron bat.

The numbness faded quickly. I walked to where the training sword had fallen, picked it up, and returned to my previous spot. Quickly. I got back into stance, ready to continue.

She just stared at me in silence.

I didn’t understand—should I attack or wait for her to make the first move?

I was about to attack again when she suddenly said:

—Why are you so weak?

Damn…

I definitely didn’t expect that.

Is she trying to humiliate me?

—I’ve never learned swordsmanship from anyone. All I can do is swing a sword,—I said honestly.

—I’m not talking about technique,—Rem cut in. —Why are you physically this weak?

I froze for a second.

Is she serious right now? Is this an insult… or a question?

—Well… I’m much lower level than you,—I said. —Even if I’m a man, isn’t it natural that I’m weaker than you?

Rem frowned.

—You’re level one hundred sixty right now, correct?

—Yes. One hundred sixty,—I confirmed.

—I’m one hundred nineteen,—Rem said calmly.

—What?…—it slipped out of me on its own.

—One hundred nineteen. I’m forty-one levels below you,—she continued. —And yet you’re physically weaker than me. Much weaker.

She looked at me closely, like she was taking me apart piece by piece.

—What have you been spending your free attribute points on?

—Intelligence?

—Magic Power?

—Magic Defense? Even if you plan to master magical skills in the future, you should still spend some of your free points on physical reinforcement right now. From what I’ve seen of you in battle, you don’t have any offensive or defensive magic skills yet. You fight only with a sword. Spending all your free attribute points on magic boosts right now is stupid,—Rem said.

Free attribute points… Hearing that, I immediately opened my status window.

[Status]

Name: Alisar
Level: 160
Experience: 4,674,553,339 / 7,000,000,000
Rank: 5

HP: 245,090 / 245,090
MP: 80,840 / 80,840
Strength: 5,725
Defense: 3,769
Speed: 15,015
Intelligence: 2,550
Magic Power: 2,545
Magic Defense: 2,989
Free Attribute Points: 1,505,610

Skills:
Swordsman (Rank 3)
Berserk (Rank 2)
Poison Resistance (Rank 5)
Reinforced Stomach (Rank 2)

Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 4)
• Alchemy (Rank 3)

More than one and a half million free attribute points.

Damn! Why are there so many? And why haven’t I spent them before?

No… I should have seen this. I opened the status window.

Or did I?

Am I really that dumb that I never noticed?

No… that’s not it.

I just forgot about them. If I think about it, for the last few years I only opened the status window when I completed a Training Room skill quest and got rewarded with a huge amount of experience—just to check my level. I didn’t pay attention to anything else.

Tell Rem that? No. I’ve embarrassed myself enough already. Better to quietly distribute them without making a scene.

So… where do I put them?

I don’t need mana right now. I don’t have magical attacks anyway. So—physical stats.

[Strength +501,870]

[Defense +501,870]

[Speed +501,870]

Done.

A pleasant warmth spread through my body. Then a light tingling, like a weak electric current.

And… it’s getting stronger.

No.

No-no, this isn’t funny anymore.

Why does it hurt so much?

Hold on. There’s a girl in front of you. Hold on…

Damn it.

Every muscle, every part of my body—like millions of the thinnest needles stabbing from my skin down to my bones. The pain comes in waves, getting stronger and stronger.

Why does it… hurt so much…

Stop.

I need to drink a healing potion urgently…