章 18: Chased by the Previous Owner's Origin
'No doubt about it, he must know the previous Ramero...'
Ramero gazes at the person in a brown hooded robe with a clear frown on his face, he's trying desperately to picklock and open the jail cell's door. It seems he was the one that makes the commotion, and use that diversion of the guards to search for Ramero.
Although there are many problems in this Gladiator School, he's starting to like it here.
It's true that the matter with Champion of Tyranny is not clear yet, there's also the fact that he was going to be going to his first performance soon, and he still hasn't had the shield that Laughing Butcher suggested for him to prepare.
But the very fact that he got these kinds of problems in this environment soothes his soul.
Back in his home world he basically can't resolve everything using his physique, he doesn't have good genetics, battle instincts, and environment. Now he has it all, his body is sloppy but he knows that if developed this body would surpass his previous version in his home world.
Even winning against Laughing Butcher speaks of his talent, the system gives him this chance.
Knowing that, the sight of this unknown person wanting to break him out of the Gladiator School makes his blood boils, "Fuck off, I don't want anything to do with you!" he shouted which caught the person off guard.
"W-What do you mean by that...?" the person replied in confusion.
Ramero looks at him sternly before he said firmly, "I'm staying here, I like it here. Go away."
"I know that the things he did were bad to us, we don't deserve to be treated like that and get separated like this. But I really need you! You don't know this, but Merona, she needs our help! We ne-"
Before the person can even finish, Ramero cuts him, "I don't care, leave me alone"
It's clear to him that this unknown person was not going to leave him alone until he gets him out. Ramero decided to stand up and approach the door, he saw it was opened a little so he slammed it shuts again while looking at the person coldly.
Without saying anything, "Guards!! There's an intruder here!!" Ramero shouted.
Upon hearing this the person was ultimately flabbergasted as he didn't expect their meetings to end up like this, he gritted his teeth and looks at Ramero reluctantly. But before he can say anything, the sound of guards approaching can be heard from the side.
"I'll come for you again! Please, just listen to me then" the person said before he ran away.
Ramero looks at the person running to the other side with a frown, 'Whatever it is he's going through that involves the previous Ramero, I don't want any of it. Just let me live my life peacefully, I won't bother yours either' he thought before turning around and heading back to sleep.
Even though the person is trying to escape desperately, Ramero is already sleeping like a log.
Although the incident last night indicates that there's something bad going on, Ramero didn't seem to be bothered by it and keeps on doing his daily life as a Gladiator. In each passing day, he spent his time exercising and searching for his target.
Out of the 37 Gladiators, he aimed at those who is lower in terms of rank than him.
In order to get the shield following what Laughing Butcher suggested, Ramero needs to challenge someone, win, and demand a shield from them. But he doesn't know which Gladiator is which, so he decided to ask Silver Fists.
From Silver Fists, he was told to challenge a Gladiator called Needle Mantis.
Unlike the other middle-aged Gladiators that has an immense amount of experience with big and muscular bodies, Needle Mantis is one of the younger ones and he has a lean athletic build. It should be easy to fight Needle Mantis.
But there's a slight problem, Needle Mantis is a spear wielder.
Silver Fists told him that Needle Mantis is ranked low not because of his lacking battle skills, but because his opponents are always stronger than him. Usually, other Gladiators would just overpower him through strength by grabbing ahold of his spear.
It worked for them, but that will not work for Ramero that doesn't have that kind of strength.
Compared to Needle Mantis, he's probably stronger but not to the point of being overwhelmingly stronger. A brute tactic wouldn't work for him, Needle Mantis can chip him down with range since he only has a sword.
On top of that, Ramero also has never wielded a sword before. Knives are his things, not swords.
Ramero then decided that he would just try and get used to wielding a sword first before challenging Needle Mantis to the arena. It's not a bad idea since the other Main Quest he has was to master wielding a sword.
Learning to wield a sword is killing two birds with one stone, so Ramero puts some time into it.
During the night he sits up after finishing another set of exercises, he's still far from reaching level 10 but his stats points raised a bit naturally. It's good that he got free stats, that would push him closer to completing the Main Quest.
Sitting on the ground, Ramero decided to open his status windows.
[Status Window]
Name: Ramero Nil Elsher
Race: Human
Level: 9 (288/3,600 Exp)
Rank: Infant
Bloodline: Warrior's Descent
Active Skill(s): Front Kick
Passive Skill(s): -
Strength: 44 -> 56
Dexterity: 11 -> 15
Constitution: 34 -> 36
Willpower: 10
Attributable Stat Points: -
Loan Debt: 42,290 Points
Points: 0
'Still a long way to reach level 10, but I did become faster in doing the six sets of the main quest thanks to the increase in stats' Ramero thought while looking at the status window, his strength is by far his most prominent stats.
His stats are not balanced since his dexterity is very low, but his focus is not on fighting.
But while he was thinking of leveling up, he remembered that beating others would give him exp which will speed up his leveling process. 'I think I got an idea, but in order to do that I need to train my swordsmanship'
With that inside his mind, Ramero stands up and takes the sword he puts on the side.
Grabbing the sword by the hilt he can feel that it was very light, the glistening blade also looks sharp and well maintained. Despite Laughing Butcher's first impression, it seems he takes care of his swords properly.
Although he has zero clue about training with a sword, he decided to learn from the basics.
'Let's make my body used to swing a sword firmly, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm going to immediately become good at using a sword' Ramero thought, he grabs the sword with both hands and pointed it forward.
Like weapons and shields, the training dummies also can be owned by Gladiators.
Ramero learned that the hard way back then, but he'll just have to make do with swinging the sword without a target. Calming his breaths, he raises his sword above his head before swinging it down with full force.
Swish!
A sharp sound was created, and the blade cuts through the air perfectly.
But as he did that, something unexpected happen. A notification from the system appeared.
[Sword Mastery has been increased by 1%]
[Sword Mastery: 1%/100%]
Upon seeing this Ramero's body stopped to comprehend what he was seeing, he then shakes his head to snap out of his daze before his eyes widened. 'I can even see the numerical level of my mastery?! This is awesome!' Ramero thought excitedly.
Of course, he's not a fool, he knows that a swing will not always equal to 1% increase.
But he knows that the hardest part of weapon training is gauging how good you are and finding ways to keep on improving, most people wasted their lives doing the wrong ways to improve which will eventually lead them to give up.
It's a universal problem, but with this Ramero wouldn't be having that kind of problem.
Ramero can't help but smile while looking at the mastery shown by the system, he then keeps on swinging firmly to feel the sword in his hands. Over time, he started to put more strength into his swing.
[Sword Mastery has been increased by 1%]
[Sword Mastery has been increased by 1%]
[Sword Mastery has been increased by 1%]
Many messages from the system appeared showing his sword mastery improvement.
Each time they appeared Ramero's smile becomes wider as the dinging sounds were akin to music to his ears, he has never thought to live such a wonderful life of a warrior like this. Ramero is taking in every sensation he's feeling right now, savoring it to the fullest.
But his mastery stopped when it reaches 5%, it won't increase no matter how much tries.
Knowing that it was not improving his skills anymore he started to swing the sword horizontally, and even using a thrusting motion. As he expected, his sword mastery increases once again, it's very convenient to have this kind of feature in the system.
When noon came, Ramero pants heavily as the light sword now feels heavy.
Ramero wipes the sweat on his forehead before he looks at his sword mastery, the reap of his training for today. 'I already did every move I can think of, but I think I need some pointers from here on out...'
[Sword Mastery: 20%/100%]
Shrugging his shoulders, he decided that he would try his best while searching for a mentor.
A couple of days have passed since then, and Ramero has been living his very best life getting stronger and also training his swordsmanship. Before fighting Needle Mantis, he wanted to reach at least 30% Sword Mastery.
Many would find his days boring. But for Ramero, it's his dream life.
Despite the differences between him and Laughing Butcher, he decided to ask Laughing Butcher to train him in using swords. Surprisingly, Laughing Butcher agreed but he would not personally train him but gives him pointers here and there.
Ramero already tried learning alone but it's just not working.
Ever since Laughing Butcher has given him pointers to work on, his sword mastery started improving again and he's now at 24%. Pretty darn nearing his goals, it won't be long before he challenges Needle Mantis.
Not only that, but he also reached level 10 and he got a level 10 reward box from the system.
Although he was excited about it, the level 10 reward box is said to contain weapons and there's no inventory feature. Ramero was forced to keep the level 10 reward box unopened, he doesn't have anywhere to store the weapons he gets.
If the guards saw him with a new weapon, they would definitely be suspicious of him.
But during a night while training, Ramero heard the guards talking.
'So the performance would be in two days... I need to get my shield tomorrow and ask Silver Fists regarding the performance' Ramero thought while doing push-ups, he never wasted a moment of his time to keep on training or resting.
With the fuel from the nearing performance, his adrenaline comes to play.
[DING!]
[Congratulation! The host has completed the third Main Quest - Strong Body Strong Mind!]
[The host has obtained 2,000 Points, 2,000 Exp, Constitution of Sparta, and Rejuvenation!]
Ramero lies on the ground with sweat covering his entire body, but there's a smile on his face when he saw the messages from the system. It's easy to do 100 push-ups, squats, and a 10 km run. The hardest part is the 50 pull-ups.
Using a cylinder of steel on the ceiling, he's able to pull up inside the jail cell but it's hard.
Due to the small surface of the steel, it hurts his hands when doing pull-ups. But through determination, he managed to suffer through and was finally able to complete the third main quest of Strong Body Strong Mind.
But the exp and points are not important, it was the Constitution of Sparta that is important.
Opening his eyes glisten excitedly when he saw the next message given by the system, the golden letters are like the bright sunlight reflecting on his eyes. 'Let's see what this Constitution of Sparta is all about!'
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