New Day, Working Harder

Shen came out of the house as the sun had already risen. He took a deep breath, no matter how long he had been, but this place was so refreshing.

The fresh air, the gentle breeze, and the serene atmosphere were to his liking. He never liked crowds anyway, he would avoid crowds if he could.

"Alright, let's find some food first," Shen started to search for the food. It was one of the preparations before he continued the training.

On the way to look for more berries, he ate the berries in his inventory to restore hunger. He did not look for the other fruits because berries were easier and safer to find.

"I need to learn to cook in this game so I can restore the hunger fully," Shen muttered as he harvested the berries.

He did not wander around as he returned to the village immediately, "It's been a day, maybe Master will wake up today…" he muttered hopefully.

Surely, Endurance and Agility were good, but Strength was what he needed now. He needed to deal more damage to hunting the spearhead fish. Increasing Strength was his chance.

Shen walked into the house and approached the statue, "Good Morning, Master," he greeted the statue.

Shen was hoping that Yosu would come alive, but that did not happen, "I have been doing the training as per your instruction, what should I do next?"

He waited for the response and his eyes gleamed immediately as the crack started to appear on the statue. Shen took two steps back.

Yosu observed Shen from top to bottom, "Good," the old man nodded his head and walked to the exit, "Follow me outside!"

Yosu did not take him to the backyard, meaning the next training did not involve any tools. At least, that was what Shen could read.

"Do you have a sword?" Yosu asked.

Shen nodded his head and took out the sword from the inventory. Yosu seized the sword from his hand. The old man was quick with the hand that Shen only noticed after the old man was holding his sword.

He looked at his hand and looked back at Yosu who observed his sword.

"What the heck with this sword. This is a crappy sword," Yosu remarked after getting a quick look at the sword, "Nah, it does not matter since you will not use to hunt the monster," The old man was swinging the sword for a while.

"Observe me, Runner!" Yosu raised his voice, but Shen never left his gaze on the old man.

The old man was satisfied with how attentive Shen was. He nodded his head and demonstrated… three simple strikes with a sword?

He slashed the sword downward then he slashed the sword horizontally, and then he ended it with a straight stab. That was a simple move, at least that was what Shen saw from his perspective.

Yosu then tossed the sword toward Shen. The latter caught the sword clumsily, "Repeat my strikes!" The old man ordered.

Shen held the sword with his two hands just like Yosu did. He was about to swing his sword, but the back of his head was slapped by Yosu, "Wrong! Your legs are too tight, loosen and open them a little bit."

Using his right foot, Yosu kicked Shen's ankle, "Your shoulders, raise your shoulders, that's too low!"

Shen's first impression of Yosu was a kind old man despite the scare. When it came to the training, the old man was strict. Not that he was complaining, it was just unexpected.

Shen swung the sword down, and he was about to slash the sword horizontally until he heard Yosu's voice, "Wrong! You put too much power into your first, you will lose the momentum for the second strike. Again!"

Shen repeated but it was still wrong, "Wrong! When I say don't put too much power, it does not mean you don't use your power in your strike. That's too weak! Again!"

Shen managed to get a good score in the first strike on the third try. However, the second strike was wrong again. It looked simple, but it was much harder than Shen thought it to be.

It took him half an hour before he could execute the three strikes without a problem. Beads of sweat flooded his face. There would always be problems in his swing.

He finished the first set, then when he started with the second set, his power would be off. Some time his stance would be wrong, and more errors were found as he continued.

It was only after he finished ten sets with no issue that Shen gained Yosu's approval, "Good, now you repeat that a thousand sets daily!"

"What!?" Shen was shocked to hear that he had to repeat this a thousand times daily. As if it was not enough, "Don't forget to run either, double the laps. 40 laps daily!"

Shen was rooted on the spot as he watched Yosu returned to the house. He felt that it was too much. Nevertheless, he had to listen to his teacher if he wanted to get out of this place.

Shen put the sword back to the inventory as he walked toward the entrance. He was going to start with the run first. He picked the weight and was about to start his run, but Yosu came out of the village and placed a bigger stone next to him, "You will carry this one for running from today onward!"

Sure the stone was not double in size as the current stone, but it was still bigger. He thought it was a few kilos heavier. However, when he reached the rope and tried to pull it on the back, his eyes widened because the weight was doubled for sure. Even though the size was slightly bigger than the one he used before, the weight was over twenty kilos, double the previous stone.

He did not have a problem carrying the stone but running while carrying the stone was another matter. Nonetheless, Shen still did it. It was not like he had another choice.