While he was riding on the horse for some time, new vigor emerged and swept through his body. Before he could grasp the source of where that surge of vigor was coming from, he heard a message.
[You have leveled up.]
[Strength, Endurance and Agility has increased by 2.]
[After that repeated arduous training, you have succeeded in attaining a new skill.]
[The category of Horsemanship has been created.]
[In the list of possessed skills, Basic Horsemanship has been added.]
[It is possible that skills can continue to steadily develop and evolve over time.]
Strangers who had changed classes, regardless of Rank, would level up. However, for Sunhyuk, after changing classes to a Dragon Rider, it was a scenario he had never experienced before. Considering the amount of sweat he poured into training, this should have occurred much sooner. But, since it had not happened for some time, he was in a state of resignation to be honest.
In the meantime, hearing this level up message made him feel a little bit unsettled. But in that discomfit, a sense of ecstasy and joy could be felt. In a while, he finally checked his Status Page.
[Kim Sunhyuk]
[Level 2]
[Dragon Rider]
[Possessed Attribute]
Wind
[Strength 19 / Endurance 18 / Agility 21 ]
[Possessed Skills]
<< Dragon Taming >>
<< Dragon Riding >>
<< Charging >>
<< Basic Horsemanship >>
: Basic Horsemanship + Charging = Clumsy Charging
All of his stats had risen by 2. Including that, a category of basic horsemanship had been created, and in addition, a Clumsy Charging Skill had been newly acquired.
“Ah…”
Emotions swept over him. The level up he had given up on had become a reality. In this short moment, countless thoughts passed through his mind. As such, he looked back on the scene and what he had recently experienced.
The level up was definitely sweet. But the road that led up to there was too long. As such, Sunhyuk was dishearten.
In the end, grinding was the answer.
The conclusion was drawn out without much difficulty, and a Dragon Rider, compared to other soldiers, definitely needed much- a considerable amount more of grinding. Maybe the dragon also knew about this, so it wasn’t able to specify the date of their fateful meeting.
But still, at least he leveled up.
To have contact with a dragon, and now even leveling up, all of which he had already given up on. There was no reason to complain.
Sunhyuk belatedly laughed aloud.
“That, is that guy crazy? Look at him, he’s suddenly laughing by himself again!”
After muttering to himself for a while, now he was bizarrely laughing out loud. That impression of Sunhyuk was definitely not normal.
“But, don’t you think that his posture has changed suddenly? Although, still a bit clumsy, he is riding the horse with a nice rhythm.”
Clarke, who had deeply monitored Sunhyuk’s progression, recognized the change in an instant. Jonathan, also realizing the change, gaped with his eyes wide open.
“Is it because he’s a Stranger? How could a change be so sudden?”
It would be strange to call it admiration, but both men were of the same thought. The changes that occurred to the Strangers, were something that they could never adapt to.
However, little did they know, there was more that would surprise them. Sunhyuk, who was on the horse, suddenly took a charging posture, one he was never taught about.
“Surely, it can’t be.”
With his spear on his side, he lowered his stance and charged.
“Hey, hey! If you’re going to charge, aim it right! It’s in the wrong direction!”
“Look at the tip of your spear and charge! That’s the way to do it!”
The posture was correct, but the direction was wrong. If he were to charge in that state, he would scratch past the training scarecrows, so they screamed not knowing themselves if what they were yelling were words of encouragement or anger.
“Ahh, two strides! Turn your direction two strides over!”
Despite them screaming that, Clarke knew more than anyone else just how hard it was to change directions while in the midst of a charge. However, despite knowing that, due to the sudden change, he subconsciously remarked lamentably.
Unless the target moved towards the sharp end itself, the spear would not be able to penetrate it.
“Huh?”
But then, in that instant, something ridiculous happened.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhiiek.
The scarecrow, that was two strides to the right, suddenly was being pushed towards the spear by a strong wind.
Bang!
And a loud collision, a deafening sound that could not emerge from a simple charge exploded out. Despite watching this from afar, he was forced back due to the intense impact ripple.
After the dust and dirt had cleared away, the scene of the training ground slowly emerged.
The scarecrow was perfectly fine. Although he had definitely seen the scarecrow throwing itself towards the tip of the spear, the scarecrow was standing still.
“What was it? Did he miss?”
He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, but the scarecrow could not have moved initially in the first place. In the end, it must have been his eyes that mistook it.
“ Cap, Captain! The Stranger!”
Jonathan shouted urgently to Clark, causing him to turn and discover Sunhyuk lying face down on the ground. Normally, he would jump back up right away after falling, but it seemed that he wasn’t planning on doing so.
“Damn! Priest, call the priest!”
Clarke, seeing the white turned eyes of Sunhyuk, shook his head in fright.
“I specifically advised you to pay special attention to this Stranger.”
The hot-tempered Frederik growled. Someone that was fitting of the nickname Boar of the Battlefield. Clarke fidgeted around, as he tried to explain the situation as calmly as possible with all his focus.
“Then, are you saying that this was a simple accident while training, is that what you’re saying?”
Relievingly, Frederik relaxed his posture after receiving the report.
“From what I saw, that is correct. What was more surprising was that Sunhyuk’s charging power was stronger than the apprentice knights.”
However, even that was just temporary as Frederik became plainly disgruntled. As someone that had attained his title through hard work and perseverance, Clarke’s words had pricked against his pride.
“You may know as well, but the gap between the general soldiers and knights is so disparate like the boundary between humans and the supernatural.”
With his damaged pride, Frederik glanced over sharply at Clarke, who felt as if he was being dissected.
“Although apprentice knights are the ones that have not fully matured, they are also the ones that are stepping into the earlier realms of the supernatural. However, this Stranger had displayed as much strength as an Apprentice Knight. But the fact that this Stranger displayed as much strength as an Apprentice Knight is something I cannot believe. Can you claim responsibility for those words?”
If one were to defile the title of a knight, then it was tradition to offer one’s arm as reparation. Swallowing back the dry saliva, Clarke was hesitant, but did not revoke the words he had spoken.
“If you are willing, I can show you the evidence directly.”
“There is no reason for me not to bear witness.”
Frederik, standing up firmly, followed behind Clarke to the training grounds.
“It is here.”
Frederik’s face was full of surprise as he saw a large pit before him.
“If an enemy were to have been here…”
He could imagine the firm shields go flying, and all of the riders spears breaking like branches from this scene.
“This is preposterous. Why did this kind of guy receive the lowest Rank?”
“If you consider when he had first come here, it wasn’t strange at all. In addition, I can’t imagine him displaying this much power again on the battlefield.”
If he were to have tried and charged to some random place, then there is a high possibility of endangering his fellow Riders, who were also charging towards a specific objective. Plus, as someone that couldn’t control his own strength, he would become easy prey for the spearmen.
“In the end, the problem comes down to how we can utilize him.”
Frederik, who was deep in thought, commented in a low voice.
“For the time being, refrain from revealing anything regarding this event to anyone.”
From this comment, Clark momentarily opened his mouth before closing it.
Although he had clearly seen the scarecrow sucked towards him by the wind, considering that it was his own misunderstanding, he closed his mouth. He concluded that he was in the wrong and did not think much of it despite recognizing a hairline-like scratch beside the head of the scarecrow.
That kind of event was unrealistic.
“Go. Once the Stranger wakes up, inform me.”
“Yes, I understand.”
After looking back at the scene repeatedly with a troubled heart, he departed.
That Clarke. He had assumed that Clarke was foolishly exaggerating the scale compared against the title of a knight, but it seems that he was understating this event due to me.
Frederik, left alone, looked on again at the large pit as he gauged and estimated the scale of that charge.
With this much, this was at least the charge of a knight.
Frederik laughed at the thought that he might have attained quite a useful guy.
“By attempting to run for someone that can’t even walk properly, no wonder you caused an accident.”
Sunhyuk who regained consciousness was immediately rebuked. As someone that caused this accident due to being too excited from leveling up, he wasn’t feeling wronged at all.
“For now, concentrate on what you are ordered to do. Do not do anything unnecessary.”
Clarked cautioned him several times, before he had replied. However it seems that he wasn’t taking the warning to heart at all
He was looking at his palms.
What exactly was that?
At the moment prior to the impact, that strange sensation which covered his hands still remained vivid in his memory.
To elaborate, the moment he charged, he could feel the wind rushing around him, and at some point, it felt like the wind was spinning and concentrating at the sharp tip of his spear. And it sucked in the target which he thought was out of reach.
The target that he had given up on piercing showed a scratch left by his spear, one which he shouldn’t have been remotely close to in the first place. And, although the charge wasn’t successful result-wise, obviously the gap of two steps was an imposing difference.
That was not a simple illusion. After leaving the captain and checking, he could indeed confirm that there was a long torn mark next to the head of the scarecrow.
‘For now, it will be strenuous to manage this power, but I believe that you can overcome the great trials that lay ahead.’
The moment the tip of his spear had missed his target by a hair, he was pushed forward from the impact. As a result, he lost his balance, fell of the horse, and lost consciousness. It was as the dragon had stated. The power one could not control would end up hurting one’s body.
If things had gone wrong, his neck could have been broken. He might have died on the spot, but he felt pleasure and comfort as if there was a hole in his chest.
Help from the environment, could it really be referring to this?
The horse that was galloping quickly was one with the wind. To be able to find a way to utilize the wind attribute through as an absurd way as this, his mood couldn’t help but light up.
“So this is Basic Rank?”
Reminiscing back to the Instructor’s face as he assigned him the Basic Rank, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
Just wait. I will show you just how ignorant you were.
—
The greatness of a Dragon Rider did not end there.
“Do not be alarmed. Hyung has already reached Level 9.”
Jungtae whom he had coincidentally met before was bragging about his level.
“Ah, then can I ask regarding your status?”
Although he had some affinity with him after arriving to this world, he couldn’t help but be a bit cautious while asking. However, Jungtae, as if he was proud of his growth, revealed his Status window fully.
“My Strength 13, Endurance 13, and my Agility 14. Despite leveling up, it doesn’t rise much.”
But the Status Window that he was so proud of was not even close to his numbers, which was at a higher level.
“Hmm…”
Jungtae, who saw his ambiguous expression, began explaining.
“Ah, you may not know, but as you level up, only one of Strength, Endurance and Agility rise by 1, as raising stats is not easy at all.”
Seeing that his stats barely rose from leveling up, Sunhyuk was worried of what expression to make.
“Be strong, boy. You will raise yours up as well at some point.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you very much, Hyung.”
Even if they were to have become amiable, they were still in a world of survival of the fittest, so this sense of victory was in truth worthless.
“I’ll go, Hyung.”
“Alright, stay strong! And don’t be too dispirited!”
Although it wasn’t a pleasant conversation, at least he was able to attain some useful information. In that frame of mind, he began asking other Strangers and asked about their levels and Statuses. Even those that usually kept to themselves did not hesitate to reveal all to him, since they knew that he was a hopeless Dragon Rider.
No, perhaps it was that they felt a need to boast about their growth.
“I think I understand why Basic Rank soldiers receive such contemptuous treatment…”
After compiling the information he gathered, the average stats was much alike to that of Jungtae Hyung. Whenever you level up, only one of the three stats would increase, so having a stat increase of +6 was an astonishing event by itself.
“Do you remember the Noona that received the Advanced Rank in the training grounds?”
“Oh, the woman that changed classes to a magician, right?”
“Yes, that’s right Hyung. I heard a rumor about it from someone else.”
He had heard an interesting story from Soohong, the youngest of the Strangers.
“I heard that Noona has her stats increased by +4 every time she levels up?”
Aside from where the source of that information had originated from, if it was true, there was no difference from winning the lottery. The only problem was; that it would simply be a matter of time before she could receive the prize money.
“Well, it is quite incredible to have such a deposit that early.”
Sunhyuk smiled as he watched the wind slipping through his fingers.