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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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At that moment, I thought about Luna, my party’s tank.
“Kyaak!”
A few days ago, during our first training, I saw her collapse and scream after clashing with another tank in the same position, a Hero with rank B.
It wasn’t strange.
For an ordinary woman, it was something that could easily happen if she wasn’t accustomed to strenuous activities like sports clubs or martial arts since her school days.
“However, the story changes a bit if you think of it as my lifeline.”
If Luna, who should be the wall in front, is clumsy, who will suffer the biggest damage?
It’s me.
It’s me and the other rear-guard members with weak durability and special roles.
Luna, along with the other users, had been pushed to the point of exhaustion for 8 hours a day, getting used to it to some extent.
“But they’re still far from handling real combat.”
I experienced a small war disguised as training and smiled bitterly.
The entry barrier is too high for casual gamers.
“How are you doing? Today too?”
Gregory smirked.
“Yeah, well. I need your help.”
I nodded.
Gregory gestured toward the apprentice knights standing beside him, who looked a bit young, and soon they brought me the light armor I was supposed to wear.
It’s called light armor, but it’s a chunk of metal from the world, perfectly replicating the weight and mass.
It couldn’t be light.
Still, I accepted the light armor without complaint and put it on.
“It seems you’ve become accustomed to wearing it as skillfully as a seasoned knight. And the fact that you’re already participating in our training shows that you’re a fast learner, Sir Yoon Si-hoo.”
Overreacting about just putting on some armor.
Ah.
It was a little sharp.
But it was praise, so I didn’t need to react sharply.
I replied with a smile.
Instead of the knights who trained before, a new group of knights took the field.
However, the priest in one of the two teams was me.
The priest who should have been in my original position was looking at me and the knights on the field with a beaming smile, as if it was good not to do strenuous training.
Before starting the practice, I gently stretched to loosen my body.
It’s the same as when you wake up, your body isn’t loose.
From muscles to joints.
I needed to gradually move them and gradually warm up my body.
“Huu-”
Taking a deep breath, I relaxed.
Continuing the thought from before, the idea briefly crossed my mind: Should I be the tank?
After all, if the tank, who should be everyone’s wall, is incompetent, the rear will be in danger, right?
But wouldn’t it be better for me, who has talent and ability, to be the tank and have Luna take the priest role?
I stood at the starting position where our team’s priest would be and faced forward.
“Ha ha… Bullshit.”
Beyond our team’s knights, what I saw were iron gorillas.
Various knights from 180 to 190 cm tall, their muscles pumped up by years of training.
“I’m going to kill you!”
Those muscular gorillas stared at me with eager eyes, licking their lips.
“There’s no way you can make me do this.”
Make Luna the priest?
As expected, no, it was even more intense than I expected. The pressure that a rear-guard member feels is considerable.
I imagined Luna being chased and hunted by excited gorillas.
Would that look like an AV production?
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The concept of “realism” in a game’s success is a double-edged sword.
You might think that high freedom would make users enjoy the game, but rather, games with high freedom or games that excessively focus on realism aren’t popular.
Why?
It’s because of this.
Kung!
Since it’s knights training, there aren’t any assassins.
But in front of me, a knight playing the role of a bruiser, who looks like I’m his enemy, is charging at me with veins popping in his eyes, and a knight from our side is fighting to protect me.
The distance is a bit far.
But just like when a speeding dump truck suddenly brakes nearby, you flinch in surprise because of the momentum, these human-made muscle gorillas are like dump trucks.
2 meters?
Even at that distance, the smell of sweat, the heat, and the momentum are all transmitted.
The feeling of being targeted is no joke either.
I would imagine myself getting squashed neatly if I got caught by those incredible muscles that could make even Marvel’s Thor take a step back.
This is a game, but not entertainment.
“What a stupid developer.”
They talk about freedom and realism, but games are mostly made by extracting fun elements from reality.
What if you stick on the difficult, painful, and unnecessary extra things from reality?
“They think it’s a god game if it’s just like real life. If that’s the case, why play the game? Don’t they know about vicarious satisfaction?”
I change my position.
I treat our team’s knights and the enemy knights as objects, not people, and think about the process of changing them.
Movement, tier difference between objects, opportunity cost and success rate.
“Simple calculations can’t encompass everything. A large part has to be judged instinctively.”
In my head, an instinctive calculator is hammering away.
“I’m tired.”
The weight of the light armor.
The intense movements.
The psychological stress of the pressure from the monstrous gorillas targeting me.
And my head, being overworked, constantly checking the situation and thinking.
20 minutes… or maybe 15 minutes passed?
The knight’s training was quickly draining my physical and mental stamina.
“Hup! Uut!”
The vanguard class knight who was protecting me, wielding a small shield and shortsword, was instantly flung back, and in his place, a berserker class knight with a giant two-handed sword and bloodshot eyes stepped forward.
A brutal and rough breath.
He had simple leather armor compared to other knights, but it made the berserker knight who took on the bruiser role feel menacing as his scarred muscles, red with heat, twitched.
Even though I thought I had a strong heart, my knees really buckled at that visual.
“Grrrrraaaa!”
Damn it. Is this really training?
Are you really keeping your sanity?
I create distance, but can I retreat faster than the speed of the lightened knight class’s charge?
Having lost even the last wall, I was quickly caught up by the bruiser.
If that sword touches me here, it’s game over for our team.
Even though he doesn’t look like it, the berserker seems to have his wits about him, smiling as if he knows he’s going to win.
In this training, if the priests who don’t have combat abilities get marked without interference, the training usually ends there.
I extended the staff that looked like a piece of firewood that the goddess Hespa had thrown down, like a spear.
I just thrust it out.
I didn’t even have time to properly load weight or add acceleration and extend it.
However, the staff is a hero’s weapon, so it’s incredibly durable.
Puuuk-!
The berserker, with his un-knight-like armor, charged at me with a mass exceeding 100kg, moving at a speed that was inhuman.
Eudeuk!
The tip of the staff, like a piece of firewood, pierced the berserker’s body.
However, it was pierced, but the problem was that it wasn’t piercing cotton candy.
It was good to hit the opponent, but it was enough to pierce his body just by pushing against him with that kind of mass and speed.
My wrist and elbow, where I was gripping the staff firmly, produced a strange sound, and pain seized me. The impact reverberated through my entire body.
“Damn it, I counterattacked so successfully, but why am I getting hurt more? What a crazy gorilla.”
In contrast, the berserker’s bloodshot eyes showed only surprise.
It wasn’t because he was in pain from my staff piercing him.
He thought it was over, but suddenly, the priest counterattacked, his attack missed, and he was pierced by the staff, so he was surprised.
I’ve watched it a few times, and these beasts don’t care about a hole or two in their body.
“They won’t die anyway, and they’ll get healed by the priest later.”
They’re quasi-humans who talk about things like this nonchalantly.
I gripped the staff I had pierced into him, loaded weight on it, and sat down.
The staff stuck in the berserker felt like I was pressing down on a steel rod stuck in concrete.
“Uuuuk!”
Eudeuk!
I felt a strange sensation of muscle fibers tearing and bones scraping in my fingertips.
While the berserker was momentarily frozen, I let go of the staff and stood up, kicking off the ground to create distance.
At the same time, I move my lips to cast a spell.
“Goddess, please heal me. Healing.”
A short phrase of incantation.
But just that was enough to activate Healing and envelop me.
The pain in my hand that had been about to rip apart from forcing the staff down disappears.
The twinge in my arm joints that had made strange noises also completely disappeared.
And a bit of focus.
Tuk.
I feel the grip I’ve been getting used to for a week in my hand.
It’s good that a hero’s weapon can be summoned anytime, anywhere.
In a casual game, the weapon you’re holding wouldn’t bounce off or anything, but in a game that pursues realism like this, the function of the weapon returning to your hand is really good.
The time I gained by holding the berserker was only 1 to 2 seconds, but it was enough time for our vanguard, who had been flung back, to mark the berserker again.
“Huu-”
When I was at a sufficient distance, I breathed.
And my gaze went to the situation.
Since I, the priest, was in danger for a moment, even for a few seconds, the eyes of our allies were directed towards me, and among those who were engaged in combat, there were casualties.
I think about the damaged objects and skill allocation in my head.
As soon as I made my decision, my lips moved, the spell activated, and the melee battle resumed.
This mock combat training continues until the priest is captured or a certain number of knights are defeated.
The melee battle continued for about 10 minutes afterward.
There was no winner.
It was because the battle continued for too long, and users started to gather for the upcoming training.
“…Ah- I’m really going to die.”
I threw the light armor to the side and sat down.
“Good work. You’ve really improved since the beginning. You’re able to keep up with our training after only a few days. Would you like some water?”
“Thank you. It might be easier for me to adapt because I’m a priest.”
“Ha ha… Don’t be so humble. Out of five priests who join the knights, four don’t last a month and go back to the church crying. It’s rare to find a bold and capable priest in actual combat.”
I took the water bottle, rinsed the saltiness out of my mouth, and poured all the water in the bottle down my throat.
After catching my breath, I handed the bottle back to Gregory.
“In that sense, I wonder if you should be called a hero. You’ve adapted to the level of veteran priests who belong to the Knights in less than a week. It’s amazing.”
“…I have to do this much because I’m going to catch the otherworldly being or whatever on the other side later.”
“Ha ha ha! Definitely! But if all heroes were like you, Sir Yoon Si-hoo, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched.”
Gregory, who had been laughing loudly at me, looked at the users approaching for training, then made a slightly awkward expression and said quietly.
“…But sometimes it would be nice to go back.”
I chuckled as I heard the usually straightforward knight trying to be subtle.
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