Chapter 41

Released:

[You can now advance your job!]

[Would you like to proceed with the advancement?]

After finishing my cooking and getting ready for bed in the dormitory, a message suddenly appeared in front of me. It had been quite a while since I last saw one.

Yeah, it was that same message window I’d seen maybe twice before, back when I went from just being a normal villager to becoming a really awesome villager.

What’s with this sudden job advancement now? I wonder what kind of lame job title they’ll give me this time.

Honestly, with the track record so far, I don’t expect anything great. The only thing I’m looking forward to is just how hilariously bad the new title will be.

“Okay. Advance .”

Marty happened to have gone back home for a visit, so I comfortably said my intention to advance out loud.

I was just about to end the night quietly for once, but of course, that wasn’t going to happen.

[You have agreed to the job advancement!]

[Advancement will now begin!]

[To advance your job, you need the titles ’50 Million Swings’ and ‘I Can Move This Far!’]

[Once you obtain the appropriate titles, the advancement will proceed immediately. Please make an effort to acquire the necessary titles.]

Huh? What’s this about?

So this time, instead of saying I already have the necessary titles, it’s telling me to work to acquire them?

Looking closely, “50 Million Swings” probably means I need to swing a sword that many times…

And “I Can Move This Far!’” seems like it’ll naturally unlock if I use some movement magic to travel to a certain place.

Well, I guess I have been slacking off in my training lately.

“But couldn’t it at least show me how many swings I’ve done so far?”

Honestly, even in games, if they told you to chop a certain number of trees or mine a certain number of stones, they would at least show you how far along you were.

Most of the time, when you receive a quest and start working toward a title, the count begins from that moment, so it might be zero at first. But this wasn’t even something that started with a quest in the first place, you idiots!

I must have swung a sword at least ten million times by now, even if it wasn’t fifty million.

If they didn’t show me my progress, how was I supposed to know how to earn that title?

No, more importantly, what kind of amazing job were they planning to give me that required such titles in the first place?

“Ah, crap, I shouldn’t get my hopes up.”

This bastard system had a habit of getting people’s hopes up only to shove them straight into a pit, so I absolutely couldn’t let myself expect anything.

Even with two job advancements under my belt, I still hadn’t moved past “villager”. At this rate, I could very well end up becoming the “really, ridiculously awesome villager”.

And honestly, what was even the point of advancing my job?

It wasn’t cool! I didn’t even know what kind of benefits it gave me!

They gave me a status window, but for some reason, I couldn’t see a single stat!

Ugh, seriously, I didn’t know anymore.

For now, I would just sleep on it and think later.

It’s not like I was about to go out right this moment and swing a sword fifty million times, anyway.

***

When Theo fell asleep, a new translucent window appeared before him.

[Upon this job advancement, the ‘Stat Window’ feature will be unlocked!]

[Progress for ’50 Million Swings’ can now be checked!]

[Progress for ‘I Can Move This Far!’ can now be checked!]

Theo was already fast asleep and didn’t see it, but as if to show that the system wasn’t that unfriendly, the message window kept blinking continuously.

And so, morning arrived.

“…Oh, what’s this? It’s actually letting me know about stuff like this.”

When Theo checked the notification window, he felt a rare surge of excitement, as if something inside him had been rekindled.

Before preparing for the Academy entrance, he had pushed himself much harder because he hadn’t known exactly what it would take to get in.

Now, after forging his sword and having one practice duel with Iris, he had mostly settled into just studying theory.

“First, let’s check the progress on the 50 Million Swings.”

[50 Million Swings]

[48,567,022 / 50,000,000]

“What? I’ve swung my sword way more than I thought.”

Theo had assumed he might’ve barely reached 10 million swings and thought he still had a long way to go. Seeing how much higher the count was than expected left him stunned.

But, of course, it made sense.

The swordsmanship training Theo had undergone with Duncan before entering the Academy was equivalent to the amount of training most people completed over several years.

In other words, what would take years of effort for most people, Theo had managed to accomplish in just a few months without much fuss.

He had achieved an incredible feat, though he was the only one unaware of it.

Anyone else who had witnessed Theo’s training would have questioned why he hadn’t already reached 50 million swings. That was how rigorous and intense Theo’s training had been.

“Hmm, so I’ve got about 1.5 million left. Guess I’ll give it a shot starting today. Oh, but before I go, I should check something else too. Let’s see how far I can move now.”

[I Can Move This Far!]

[150Km / 2000Km]

“This one… hmm, not much progress yet.”

In reality, Theo didn’t use movement magic all that often.

Most of the time, Estelle took care of their travels which explained the lack of progress.

“This… well, I should probably finish the swings first and take my time with this. No, wait. Would it be better to do it now? Then…”

Normally, he would have just walked to the nearby training grounds.

After all, whenever he used magic, it was hard to control his magical power, which made him feel a little nauseous. Besides, the furthest he’d tested it was moving from one end of his parents’ farmland to the other, so he wasn’t sure how far he could go.

“It’d be nice if I could make it to the training grounds.”

For now, he set the training grounds as his target and slowly began to envelop his body with magical power.

Magical power breathing, which he was now doing as naturally as breathing itself, made the magical power feel even more refined than before.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Compared to other spells, movement magic didn’t require fixed formulas or complicated incantations to memorize. Instead, it was common to use any chant that felt comfortable at the moment.

As the magic activated, the next moment, Theo was standing—

“Oh, I made it farther than I thought. Nice!”

—right inside the training grounds, where he had intended to go from the start.

Since the training grounds were open for use at any time, they were usually packed with students. But perhaps because it was the weekend, only one or two teams were using the area, and it was otherwise quiet.

“What the—? That guy just appeared out of nowhere!”

“Wait! Hey, isn’t that him? The one with the Crown Princess and the Saintess…!”

“Whoa, no way! I can’t believe I’m seeing someone so famous here!”

The students practicing in the training grounds were third-years. Theo’s reputation had already spread throughout the entire academy, so even they knew who he was.

“Should I ask for an autograph?”

“Ugh, he probably wouldn’t give one.”

“Honestly, if I were him, I wouldn’t either.”

The men were whispering among themselves as they glanced at Theo.

“Well, I’m not really someone impressive enough to be giving out autographs.”

Their excited whispering had grown so loud that it no longer resembled whispering at all.

“Ah! Oh no, he must’ve heard us…!”

“What do we do…?”

Theo, noticing they were seniors, added with a slightly flustered tone,

“Uh, it seems like you’re my seniors. It’s a pleasure to meet you. If you’d like, I can at least write down my name for you.”

Though Theo felt a bit awkward in this situation, he figured offering to write his name might help calm them down since they were so excited.

“…! Then I’ll have it on my hand; wait, no, I can’t go my whole life without washing my hand… I-I’ll go get some paper…!”

“Hey, wait for me…!”

With that, the three of them hurriedly dashed off to grab paper and disappeared in an instant. Seeing this, the other team also decided they wanted autographs and ran off to find paper as well.

“Hmm, I guess Iris and Estelle’s influence really is strong.”

Since he didn’t think he had built much of a reputation on his own, Theo simply assumed that the reason everyone wanted his autograph was because of his close relationship with Iris and Estelle.

Of course, while that was true, they had also heard rumors about Theo’s incredible achievements and overwhelming skills despite being a freshman, so they wanted to get his autograph and get closer to him as well.

“Phew, I guess I’ll just practice until they come back.”

Theo lifted the sword he had brought and began swinging it with a serious expression, completely absorbed in his training.

The surroundings were quiet, and only the pleasant sound of the wind created by the sword’s movements could be heard.

“Hmm, this feels nice.”

The sword fit perfectly in his hand since it had been custom-made for him, and the weight as he swung it felt just right.

And to think he had gotten something like this for a mere 1 million silver; or rather, since Iris and Estelle had discarded it, it was as if he had acquired it without spending even a single silver.

“Phew, let’s get through about 1.5 million swings in no time.”

After all, if what he thought was 10 million swings had turned out to be 48.5 million swings, then 1.5 million didn’t seem all that difficult to Theo.

For an ordinary person, swinging a sword 1.5 million times in a single day would leave them unable to move for an entire week, but for Theo, it was just as easy as eating porridge.

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