Chapter 55: A Brute

Grabbing the wooden sword midair, Sol didn't expect much but used [Analysis] to see what he was working with.

Practice Sword 

Common

Attack: 1-3 

Durability: 100/100

'Yeah, I doubted they would give me a real weapon.'

If Sol was given this sword and told to fight another C-Ranker, he could easily clobber them. While the attack damage was the worst he had ever seen on a weapon with his monstrous strength, sword passive and active skills, his damage would rival or maybe even surpass the average C-Ranker with a rare weapon. The problem is that he is fighting no C-Ranker.

Weaver stood confidently in front of Sol, waiting for his first move. Sol was unsure if it was cockiness or confidence, but there looked to be no worry of being overpowered by him.

'It doesn't matter, I guess, since I don't plan to escape.'

After hyping himself up, Sol brandished the wooden sword and ran towards Weaver with no skills besides [Intermediate Swordsmanship], just to test the waters.

Seeing the young man running at him, Weaver maintained his smile as he took out something else from his spatial ring. It was a human, and the moment it came out, it sprang forward to meet Sol's charge.

It approached frighteningly fast and met Sol's sword with its fist. The strength its fist carried almost rivaled Sol's, but after Sol put a bit more force into it, the human pulled back. Not expecting his opponent to suddenly pull back, Sol fell forward following the trajectory of his attack. This created an opening the human did not miss, and it sent a jab into his stomach, sending Sol flying back to the back of his cell.

"Gaaah!"

Gasping for a second before recovering, Sol got a better look at his opponent now that they have separated. A look of shock came over his face as he realized he wasn't fighting a human but some kind of wooden puppet. It reminded him of the wooden dolls sold at toy stores, the difference being this one is much bigger and dressed in the blue suit Weaver had the night of his abduction.

"Ohh? That was quick, I was expecting a bit more out of you."

Although Sol knew he was saying that to rile him up, he couldn't help but get angry and want to prove him wrong. He got back up and moved his wooden sword in front of his torso, gripping it tightly with both of his hands.

"Again." Sol said as he faced the puppet with fierce eyes.

The smile Weaver had grew slightly bigger, "That's the spirit~!"

…

Sol was lying on the ground, his wooden sword a foot away as the wooden puppet stood two feet away holding an uppercut pose. Just a few moments ago, Sol thought he had the puppet on the ropes, but then it swept its leg. Sol managed to successfully parry with [Counter], but while his sword was near the legs, the puppet threw an uppercut while balanced on one leg. It came fast and strong, smashing into Sol's jaw, sending him on his butt.

Weaver recalled the puppet into his spatial ring and waited for Sol to recover. Still reeling from the blow, Sol managed to at least sit up straight. He noticed the wooden puppet was gone and looked towards Weaver.

"Well… Gotta say, darling, you are awful at fighting."

Sol wanted to rebuke, but after getting his butt whooped for the past three hours, he found it hard to retort.

Weaver continued, no longer having his peppy tone, "You're strong, I give you that, all your stats look to be around early B-Rank though your skills are a bit behind. If that was all, I'd say you're a premium product, but goddamn. Your fighting experience is nonexistent. It's all or nothing with you."

Although Weaver was correct, Sol couldn't help but grumble, "It's not like anyone has taught me…"

Weaver immediately switched back to his upbeat tone, "That's why you have me, darling~!"

'Does he have multiple personalities or something? Switching on the dime like that…'

Unaware of Sol's thoughts, Weaver continued, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to whip you into shape in these next couple of days. Ohh~ I just can't wait to see how much you sell for; you might be our best product yet!"

'Shouldn't they know how much I'm worth based on my skills? Wait a minute, he said a while ago he assumed my stats to be around B-Rank. Did they not use [Analysis] on me?'

Realizing that didn't add up, Sol couldn't help but ask, "Have you not used [Analysis] on me yet?"

With a childish grin, Weaver shook his head, "Nope and we don't plan to."

"What? Why?"

Weaver looked around as if making sure no one was eavesdropping, but the action was pointless as it was just them in the enclosed room, "Well~, when we sold products before, the clients complained we showcased all their skills and abilities to hype up the price. Since when they bought it everyone in their circle knew all~ their abilities effectively lowering their value. So we implemented a new policy, no [Analysis]. Our description of you is based on what the guild records state and our assessments. I even came up with a fun term for it! Mystery Box!"

Seemingly proud of coming up with the name all by himself, Weaver gloated some more, "The name caught on quick so they even renamed the auction from Rising Talents Auction to Mystery Box Auction!"

In an attempt to dig up more information, Sol asked a follow up question, "Where is the auction even held? Never heard of it before."

"Jeez~ you really ask a lot of questions. Oh! How about this, to make training more fun let's make a deal. If by the end of the training session you win against the puppet, I'll answer all your questions. Deal?"

A chance to have all his questions answered appeared before Sol, and he wasn't going to let it escape him.

"Deal!"

"Hehe… Good luck then! See you tomorrow!"

Weaver twirled around and in a light skip arrived at the door, opened it in an excessive manner, and left. The door closed, and the sound of a heavy lock reverberated around the room.

No longer feeling the adrenaline after the training session, Sol's stomach started growling. Hoping Weaver was still nearby and could hear him, he tried to call out to him.

"Hey! When do I get to eat!"