Translator: Charlotte　Editor: Weasalopes

When I logged in it was just 6 am.
I put on all of my equipment before heading out to eat breakfast.
I summoned Zangetsu, Helix, and Obsidian and quickly headed towards Legias.
There were some pa.s.sive monsters on the way, but getting to Legias as quickly as possible came first.
I ignored them.

I arrived in Legias.
It looked just like it did the day before.
Mio"s and Fiona"s stalls were just starting business.
Perfect timing.
There were some players already waiting so I joined the queue.
Today"s menu was the same as the day before.

【Food】Horse Meat Sandwich　Satiety +35%　Grade C+　Rarity 3　Weight 0+
Slight increase to VIT for one hour.
Sliced horse meat pickled in fish sauce, vinegar, and various herbs, sandwiched between two pieces of bread.
A very filling dish.

The dish had a strange effect to it.
An increase to VIT, huh…
I was planning on doing some hunting, so it would be a good idea to wrap it up and save it for later…

Before I knew it, I had already finished the sandwich.
Oh well.
It was delicious, but I felt like it was lacking a "fatty" flavour.
It was kind of difficult to describe.
I guess when it came to horse meat you really couldn"t beat sashimi.

「Good morning. How was today"s food?」

「Good morning, it was pretty nice.」

Yuka came over to greet me.
Her face looked a little too excited.

「That was Rabid Horse Meat in that sandwich.」

「Oh, nice.」

I remembered the special effect it had.
So that"s why…

Reina took a break from customer service and b.u.t.ted into our conversation.

「How were the qualifiers?」

「Well, I somehow managed to pick up a victory.」

「Hey, nicely done!」

We continued chatting.
Yuka was mostly just listening, while Reina bombarded me with questions.
Fudo had a difficult look on his face, being left alone on store duty and all.

More reinforcements came.
The rest of the crew, headed by Fiona.

「Good morning.」

「「「Good morning.」」」

「Morning, Oh, Keith, how were the qualifiers?」

Already asking questions from the very beginning.
Well, there was nothing I could do about that.

「Your second match is today, right? Don"t bother him too much alright everyone?」

「What…」

At some point, Yuka and Mio had switched positions.
I didn"t notice them at all.

「Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to ask you, Reina.」

「Heya, what is it?」

「It"s about arrows.」

Reina taught me how to make arrows for a bit.
Ideally, the whole arrow shaft would be wooden, but the part near the tip would use a harder variant of wood joined to the rest of the shaft.
Although since that type of hard wood was expensive, those kinds of arrows weren"t very popular.

At the tip of the shaft you would have to cut a notch to fit the arrowhead in, and small cuts near the back to fit the feathers.
Reina made a few arrows in front of me.
She was just using glue and string to fix everything together.
I tried cutting small grooves into the shaft just like she taught me to and fixed the arrowhead to the tip.
She split the feathers in half before fixing them. Apparently, it was so the feathers wouldn"t interfere with the arrow"s rotations.
The process was pretty simple.

「We don"t have glue and string here in Legias, but you can get them in Remut!」

「Got it.」

I was going to go to Remut anyway.
I made a mental note to buy some before the match.

「Did you take the【Woodworking】skill?」

「Yeah, it was a necessary skill for a recent quest.」

「Weren"t you doing gla.s.s working quests?」

「Yeah, well, wait, how do you know that?」

「We production job players have a tight network, you know!」

Oh, I see.
Fay must"ve told her.
Well, it wasn"t a big deal anyway, it was fine.

Oops.
I realised I was preventing Reina from having breakfast.

「Thank you so much for teaching me, and sorry for delaying your breakfast.」

「No worries! Oh, and you have a match today, right? Do your best!」

「I will, thanks.」

I lined up the haul from the day before on a table.
The usual Evil Ant Stings and Evil Ant Sh.e.l.ls, along with Pheasant Eggs and Striped Racc.o.o.n Skins.
I kept some Obsidian Rocks and Bat Fangs to make arrows.
I kept some Pheasant Wings and Steppe Hawk Wings for the same reason.
Fiona gave me a pouch of coins after she finished her breakfast. It was an alright amount.
I didn"t bring that much that day, after all.

「I haven"t see any Rabid Horse Meat in a really long time.」

「Huh…」

「The sandwich you ate earlier was the last of it. I started selling it yesterday afternoon, but it was gone almost immediately.」

「Wow, really?」

「Yeah, well, it does have that effect after all, and the VIT boost stacks with strengthening spells, too. A really useful food item to have with you on your adventures.」

「Oh, yeah I guess it would sell out pretty quickly.」

Speaking of which…
Have they cleared the forest maze?

「How was the forest?」

「Ahh, nope, too difficult. We just couldn"t clear it. It was a nice place to gain some levels though.」

「Is that so…」

「Well, we are production job players after all. We can take it slow.」

We kept talking until the clock pa.s.sed 7:30.
Oh no.
I had my own match, but I wanted to watch other players fight too.
I left the place and quickly headed towards Remut.

I met a lot of players heading for Remut on the way, and some players hunting Wild Dogs in the plains.
Looked like there were some players who weren"t really interested in the tournament.
A good amount of them actually.
Well, thanks to them, there wouldn"t be any monsters interrupting the tournament.
The sky was clear of Steppe Hawks.
Nice.
I started feeling a little lonely.

I arrived in Remut without having to fight a single monster.
The time was a little past 8:30.
To my surprise, the tournament seemed to have already begun. The thunderous cheers shook the ground.
Looked like an exciting fight was going on.

I parked Zangetsu outside and headed in through an entrance reserved for partic.i.p.ants.
A staff member used【Identify】on me before letting me into the waiting room.
I leaned against the wall and watched the match from the waiting room.
Some of the staff gave me weird looks, but they didn"t interfere.
Sweet.
I get to enjoy the match.

A lot of the same fighting styles I saw the day before came up again.
I saw sparks fly as two dwarves fought each other.
They were like meat bullets.
They both had hatches and small shields.

The two dwarves charged at each other again and again.
The hatchets" edges were dulled by the repeated hits against their targets" shields.
It was really a fight fought using brute force.
The match was stopped at the ten-minute mark.
A tremendous cheer came from the audience.
They were probably selling alcohol to the crowd.

I saw the same female bard I saw the day before fight well, but she was ultimately defeated.
Her opponent was a female elf.
She tried to swing the fight in her favour using a lot of buff and debuff songs, but the elf had a high magic resistance.
She took a few【Wind Cutter】spells before she was defeated.
No matter how strong you are, there"s always a bigger fish out there.
That"s what I gained from the fight.

All of the matches were thoroughly entertaining.
Watching the match made me really feel like I was in the contestants" shoes. But as the matches progressed, I felt like the fights were getting less and less exciting.
I told myself it was just my imagination.

I was scheduled to fight at 10:30 am.
I put my hands on the crystal to recover all my HP and MP and stood ready.
Another player came out from the corner opposite to mine.
Judging from his equipment, he looked like another magician.
Very handsome, too.
They weren"t an elf. How confident.

My first opponent was a pyromancer, but what about this guy…
I used【Identify】on him.

???　Lv.7
Sorcerer　On Standby

It worked just like the first match.
But the contents were clearly different.

I waited for the referee standing in the centre to give the signal to start.
We did the normal formalities.

At the same time…
The two of us gave a bow.

「Start!」

「Meditate!」「Bless!」
『Meditate!』『Bless!』

We used the same skills at the same time.
Right afterwards, we both started chanting a spell.
The only difference was that I did it while charging at him.
I finished the preparations for my spell before he did, when I was right in the centre of the arena.

「Magical Enchant: Light!」

I expected an attack spell.
But no attack spell came.

『Water Shield!』

A wall of water burst out in front of me, blocking my path forward.
The shields that the spell could create were oval-shaped.
I noticed that when I was watching the fights from the day before.

Of course, I was unable to brake in time and I hit the wall at full speed.
Although by reflex, I stopped my feet a little, so the damage I took wasn"t that high.
But I still took some damage.
Ah…
That was frustrating. My loss no matter how you sliced it.

I ran up to him and thrust my rod at his throat.
He easily dodged it.
It was just the beginning, I expected him to dodge it.
I pushed the rod against the side of his head, preventing him from moving away.
I followed up with a kick.

A direct hit to the belly.
Just from the sensations in my leg, it didn"t do that much damage.
I saw his head start to go down towards the ground.
No headgear.

I let go of the rod and held his head in my right arm as it was going down.
I used my left hand to pin his right elbow in place.
I squeezed and applied pressure on his neck using my right arm.
A standing front choke.
If I lifted my position by even the slightest amount, his entire body weight would collapse and crush his windpipe. A simple but deadly technique.
Well, easier said than done.
I loosened my grip for a moment to deliver a knee strike to his belly.

『Gah!』

He sounded a little like Goki there. I tried my best to ignore that thought.
I changed the position of my arm to better apply pressure on his carotid artery.
His HP bar was steadily going down.
It didn"t look like he was going to give up.

Just one more push.

I used my whole body weight to drive his head to the ground.
I pushed his body into a sleeping position.
Of course, with my right arm wrapped firmly around his neck.
I had a better angle from which to apply pressure that way.
How about that?

The response I was looking for didn"t come.
Huh?

He fainted.

《Match set! Please stop fighting!》
《【Mental Reinforcement】Level Up!》

Oh.
I could gain experience from the fights.
I vaguely recalled that clause from when I read the tournament guidelines.

《You have advanced to the third round of the qualifiers! The third match will be tomorrow, 9:40 am, at the old training ground B.》

I got another info screen telling me the next day"s schedule.
I gave one last bow before leaving the arena.
I recovered all my HP and MP at the crystal and entered the waiting room.

I was glad I watched the fights yesterday.
I would"ve had no idea what【Water Shield】did if I didn"t.

No, seeing the spell and actually taking it head-on were two completely different things.
I took a lot more damage than I thought I would.
And I felt like my body was really heavy after I ran into the wall.
I really had to be more careful.
I didn"t want to leave any blind spots where I could get unexpectedly tripped.

Now that that was over, what should I do now…
Of course, I sat down to watch the other matches.
The new training grounds looked completely full, so I peeked into the old training grounds.
But… How do I explain it…
The grey markers here and there gave me a feeling of uneasiness.

I listened in on a conversation between a staff member and a guard and apparently, there were a lot of pickpockets about the place.
Looked like my【Discern】skill could identify more than just PK characters.
Of course, it all depended on the pickpocket"s level relative to mine.
Another reason to keep doing my best and raise my level.

The old training grounds were a lot less crowded than the day before.
I had no problems finding a seat.
There were more exciting matches.
Every match had something really interesting.
I sat there and enjoyed the matches for a long time. Way past when it was time for me to eat lunch.

I quickly ate a late lunch and went back to watch the matches.
The guys in the afternoon were even more fun to watch. All of them had unique fighting styles.

For example…
This one player, probably a fisherman.
It was the first time I saw a fisherman in person.
His equipment was really strange.
It was a very light set of armour, no, he might as well have been wearing normal, everyday, clothes to the fight.
He had one harpoon.

But my eyes were drawn to the thing he was carrying on his back.
A casting net.
The fisherman would close the distance and throw the net, before stabbing his opponent with the harpoon.
But that wasn"t all.

He took all sorts of attack magic during the fight, but it was like they had no effect on him.
What a manly fighting style.
I thought about what I would do if I had to fight him.
Hmm…
It was a difficult thought experiment, but it was fun just thinking about it.

Another example…
This one dwarf.
They looked like a fighter, holding a hatchet in each hand.
I mean, they were technically hatchets, but they were closer to axes in size.
The dwarf would charge in, swinging the two giants in his hands in all directions as he went. A strange fighting style, but an effective one nonetheless. The dwarf won that match.

A pretty brutal fighting style.
Sacrificing flexibility for brute force.
I suppose that was the main idea behind the style.
No, the dwarf"s opponent was fighting in a similar style. It was quite a sight, seeing their brute force cancel out.
There were some other contestants too, who tended to take things way too far.
I thought about what I would do if I had to fight them.
I couldn"t do anything but laugh silently at the idea.

I continued my visual training for the rest of the day.
No, not really.
I was just enjoying myself watching all the matches.
The time was 5 pm.
It was a little early, but I went around Remut looking for a stall to eat dinner at.
I just felt like moving for some reason.
It was a way to work out all the excitement from my system.
I decided to just go hunting.

I used【Call Monster】near the watchtower in front of the forest.
There weren"t any Rabid Horses.
As expected, they were probably just like Horned Rabbits.
I did manage to call a Stray Horse, so that was a nice consolation prize.
I got to work on defeating it.
With the rod, I could attack Stray Horses from horseback.
It felt great.

It was so fun, I completely lost track of time hunting.
When I looked up again, the sky was already a shade of red.
Oh well.
I recalled Zangetsu and Helix and summoned Volff and Goki.
I walked into the forest.

Hunting went just like always.
Very smoothly.

No, it went even better than usual. I felt strangely upbeat that day.
I kept hunting.

I had to apologise to all Evil Ants at some point.
I killed them using my standard tactic of twisting and pulling their necks off. How cruel.
I had to apologise to all Wild Pheasants too.
I killed each one I met by breaking their necks. How evil of me.
But most of all, I had to apologise to all b.l.o.o.d.y Woods, past and present.

They came over to become my sparring partners and all I did was throw them around until they broke before moving on to the next one.
I was really returning good with evil here.
Ah, there was a Striped Racc.o.o.n in the distance.
I approached it slowly, trying to get it to not run away.
I"m a kind human… Don"t run away…
Volff and Obsidian took it out as it was standing still, cautiously staring at me.

Huh…
I had no regrets.

At some point, it was already 10 pm.
I went a little too far.
I didn"t pick up any Healgra.s.s or Obsidian Rocks throughout the whole night.
Oh well. I had a match the next day, too. I headed towards Master"s house.

When I arrived at Master"s house it was 10:30 pm.
Looked like I went pretty deep into the forest that night.
But I managed to get back to Master"s house without any issues.
I used the lightning magic spell【Magnetic Compa.s.s】and just went straight south.
The clock in the corner of my vision told me it took about 30 minutes to reach Master"s house.
A pretty useful spell, great for saving time.
But it would really come in handy for exploration.

I recalled all my Summon Monsters and sat on my bed on the second floor.
I took a deep breath.
Watching the matches was alright, but I realised that I tended to get really into them. My blood was pumping for the whole night.
I regretted it a little.
I took off all of my equipment and got into bed before logging out.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv7
Job　Summoner Lv6
Bonus Points Remaining: 3

Skill Sets:
Staff Lv6　Punch Lv4　Kick Lv4　Joint Lock Lv4　Throw Lv4　Evade Lv4　Block Lv4　Summon Magic Lv7
Light Magic Lv3　Wind Magic Lv4　Earth Magic Lv4　Water Magic Lv4　Fire Magic Lv3　Dark Magic Lv3　Ice Magic Lv1　Lightning Magic Lv1　Tree Magic Lv1
Alchemy Lv4　Pharmacy Lv3　Gla.s.smaking Lv3　Woodworking Lv3
Cooperation Lv6　Appraise Lv6　Identify Lv6　Discern Lv1　Cold Resistance Lv3　Grab Lv5　Horsemanship Lv5　Precise Manipulation Lv6　Jump Lv2　Heat Resistance Lv3　Climb Lv3　Dual Wield Lv3　Mental Reinforcement Lv3（↑1）
Speedcasting Lv2

Equipment:
Kaya Wood Rod x2　Kaya Wood Tonfa x2　Snow Leopard Push Dagger x3　Wild Rabbit Breastplate+ Series　Snow Ape Armguard　Wild Horse Boots+　Snow Ape Leather Helmet　Rucksack　Item Box x2

Items:
Survival Knife　Woodworking Set

t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive

Monster Summons:
Volff　Wolf Lv6
Zangetsu　Horse Lv4
Helix　Hawk Lv4
Obsidian　Owl Lv4
Jean　Bat Lv4
Jericho Wood Golem Lv3
Goki　Demon Lv2