Max Level Newbie - Chapter 14

Half a year had passed since Vulcan started learning magic from Berenere, a dark mage and necromancer.
It was true when Berenere said Vulcan is a genius. In this short amount of time, Vulcan mastered all of the basic magic fundamentals that Berenere organized for him.

Now Vulcan was training on high-level lightning and fire magic.
Through training, Vulcan completely mastered basic magic such as explosion and haste and also mid-level magic such as the Infinite Flame Sphere. However, the ones that were considered the main skills such as Thunder God’s Strike, Thunder God’s Might and Super-Heated Inferno could still only be activated with the help of the SYSTEM.

Vulcan still had difficulties and lacked the training to use high-level magic the way traditional mages do.
Berenere always complained about the rate which Vulcan learned magic.
Although Vulcan thought he was adapting to magic at an incredible pace, complaints were still endlessly being spewed out from Berenere’s mouth.

“You rascal! You should learn to stand your ground! You need to hold out there if you want to bring out the true power!”
“You are getting garbage mixed into the end result because you are not focusing when concentrating mana! If you call that lump of fire a Hellfire, then a little kid playing with matches should be called a Firestorm!”
“KULKULKUL, yeah that’s just great, just keep on going like that why don’t you. You keep on going like this, and you won’t be able to clear Act 1 even after one hundred years.”

Whenever Vulcan fell short of Berenere’s expectations or appeared to be losing focus, he criticized Vulcan. The psychological attacks were making Vulcan cringe big time and curse inside.
However, regardless of above, Berenere did not stop whipping Vulcan with his words.

Actually, unlike how he was acting, Berenere was surprised about how fast Vulcan was growing.
He figured the synergy of combining the power of player with a genius would be incredible, but this felt like it was above expectations.

Even the likes of geniuses were still people and ran into limits.
Rapid progress such as realizing ten things from a single lesson was for basic and middle levels. Once someone approaches the heights of once-in-a-lifetime kind, the sky-piercing rapid progress should be wearing off.
And when someone reaches the absolute peak level, the kind that happens once in a while in an era, even that worn-down growth rate comes to a complete stop.

Considering those problems, ones that at least progresses at a turtle’s pace while getting to hold enlightenment once in a blue moon could be considered the blessed ones.
There were so many people that ended up saying ‘I wanted to shatter the ceiling……’ in their dying breath after living their entire lives without any clues.
However, such did not apply to Vulcan.

Unlike other geniuses that spend their entire life searching aimlessly for the ‘answer,’ Vulcan was already in possession of the perfect answer.
In addition, although it wasn’t through proper understanding of the basis, Vulcan had, although incomplete, pretty good ‘guesses’ for basis of skills. Combined with Berenere’s top-notch guidance, Vulcan’s growth rate accelerated beyond imagination.

‘It took me 10 years to get this far… HULHUL.’

Berenere considered even the greatest geniuses of a century to be beneath his feet. Vulcan was completing something that took Berenere, the one that possesses devilish talents, 10 years to do. And Vulcan was doing this while also doing swordmanship training on the side!

“You rascal! We are showing you the answer-sheet and even giving you explanations, yet this is the best you can do!? I completed this in 100 days without a teacher!”

Although Berenere was saying that, he was hiding just how impressed he was with Vulcan.
Whenever Vulcan showed fiend-like growth-rate in masteries, Berenere scolded Vulcan to say he shouldn’t get cocky. Berenere also tried hard to hide his face when it was filled with awe.

‘When it comes to him, it looks like drilling him is the most efficient method! KULKUL……’

Berenere saw how Filder trained Vulcan during the early days, which was mostly having Vulcan roll on the ground and fight with his life on the line. This Spartan style grunt-works by Filder, which treated Vulcan like a maggot in a military training camp, made Berenere more certain about the direction of his training.
Berenere figured that Vulcan is the kind that would train hard by himself when left alone, but train even harder when pushed and nagged on for the effect. In other words, an oddball that does better the harsher he is treated.
Those conjectures of Berenere were right to some extent.

“Hellfire!”

WHARURURURURUK.

“Ku….uk, I succeeded.”

‘Already!’

“Hum. Well that’s nothing. Also, it is not a true success until you can do it without speaking. Work harder!”
“Elder, you are actually impressed right?”
“No way! Stop saying non-sense and go back to practicing!”

Vulcan smiled and stared at Berenere. It was to say that he knows.

“Hum.”
Berenere felt a chill flowing down on his back.

***

Unlike Berenere’s magic training, the swordsmanship training had substantially more of the schedule dedicated to sparring.
Over 90 percent of the time was spent on harsh sparring, and the training ended with supplementary explanations and questions-and-answers on mistakes.

“Honestly, you don’t have any peculiar talents for sword or staff techniques.”

Said a man who was gigantic enough to be believed if he claimed he was a troll or ogre.
It was after two hours of intense sparring, but he didn’t break a sweat and appeared to be comfortable. On the other hand, in front of the giant man was Vulcan, sitting exhausted and completely out of breathe.

“Ah of course, I’m saying you are ordinary in comparison to the residents of Asgard, not that you are average by any other standards. However, compared to other swordsmen that use energy blade techniques as the basis, your level of sword techniques can only be useful as supplementary skills for your magic.”

Even Vulcan agreed on this part.
Since getting past level 50, Vulcan started to consider himself more of a mage than a swordsman.
Sword techniques were just an aid to use magic more efficiently, not the main combat measures.
However, Vulcan could not just accept his comments. His pride was not allowing it.

“Although it is not enough to be a good swordsman, I believe it is enough for becoming a good magic swordsman.”
“Of course. In fact, you could become a great swordsman if you train hard. However, what you want is becoming stronger, not necessarily a great swordsman. It’s not like you are focused on blade techniques alone. What I’m saying is, there is no need for you to do well on everything that has to do with blades.”

Said the giant man who was leisurely swinging around a gigantic sword that ordinary people would not even be able to lift.

“Based on your combat style and affinity toward magic, ‘defensive sword techniques’ are not right for you. From now on, I will focus on teaching you just the ‘thrust’ and ‘slash’ attack techniques. When you need to block the opponent’s attack…… Hum… Just use magic to block or avoid. Or just don’t allow the situation to happen in the first place. And actually, I always have thought that when it comes to defense, magic is far superior to blades. Uh, do not tell Folken that I said this, ok? He might get really mad at me, haha.”
“He is not my teacher, and I have no reason to meet him anyway.”
“After all of your trainings are over, you probably will be meeting him a lot.”
“If that’s going to happen, I think it won’t be too late to think about it when the time comes.”
“Haha, you are right about that.”

Logweed the giant laughed innocently.

[Logweed, the Leader of Adventurers Alliance]
[??Lv]

‘Just when am I going to get to know these people’s levels?’

Vulcan was very curious about the level of Logweed.

***

Ever since Berenere the general store owner and Logweed the leader of Adventurers Alliance started to train Vulcan, the time spent learning from Filder decreased substantially.
In fact, just the two were enough.
One was a grand master in magic, and the other was considered as one of the twin-mountains along with Folken in blade and staff techniques.
The time spent learning from Filder decreased naturally as Vulcan trained under the two. There weren’t much to train with him other than asking some questions about enlightenment or something Vulcan didn’t want to ask Berenere who acts up a lot.
Instead, Filder changed his direction to providing Vulcan with information regarding things other than training.
Important information related to Asgard, useful tips, newly formed factions, and etc., the contents were far more detailed than the little booklet that he gave Vulcan in the beginning.

“So should I be most cautious about the demigods and those with dragon lineage?”
“Not necessarily. Overall, those two groups of people are most certainly the most powerful of all, but in the end there are other individuals who are just as powerful but belong to other groups. In addition, when it comes to demigods, they are here to prove themselves worthy of becoming true gods, so they wouldn’t do anything malicious or dishonorable. As for those with dragon lineage, they may pick fights due to their strong pride, but as long as you don’t start the fight, you don’t have to worry about having troubles with them.”
“Still, they are amazing. To think that these people are powerful enough to clear Act 1 easily right away when they first arrived on Asgard……”
“They should be able to do at least that much to have things like ‘god’ or ‘dragon’ in their clan title, don’t you think?”

Filder occasionally told Vulcan about clans that he might run into once he reaches Act 2.
Because Vulcan never saw other clans besides humans in Beloong city, information about these other clans intrigued him greatly.
They were the people that came to Asgard while being in possession of immense power already. To Vulcan, story about such people were shocking.
After all, they were strong enough to clear Act 1 right away and go straight to Act 2 from the start.

‘If that’s the case, just what are their levels? A minimum of 500 or above?’

Even for those with level 400, which are considered grand masters by the Beloong city’s standard, defeating the boss monster in Act 1 was still too much to handle, so it was difficult for Vulcan to even imagine how powerful these people must be.
Vulcan thought they must be so powerful that he should be sorry for even trying to compare himself to them.
Still, Vulcan did not think he would be weaker than them throughout his entire life.
Vulcan spent half of a year training hard, and through his blood and sweat, he became certain of his talent and tenacity.
He felt confident that he could beat even the demigods and dragon clan if he was just given enough time.

‘Wait, but for what purpose am I listening to these kind of things?’

Vulcan suddenly came to his senses and said to Filder.

“But you don’t need to explain to me about Act 2. I am planning on just clearing Act 1 and return to my home world. So let’s move on to a different topic, something that would be more helpful to me.”

Filder responded with a smile.

“You never know what may happen next in the world affairs, don’t you think? There will be times when knowing these may still come in handy. You never know. Maybe dragon clan will come to visit Beloong city? Or you might decide to challenge Act 2 to become stronger.”
“That will never happen.”
“Yes, still we don’t know what could happen in the future. HUHU.”

Filder said in a way that more than meets the eye. Vulcan stared at Filder with eyes full of suspicions.

‘What’s wrong with these people nowadays.’

Filder’s face looked as if he meant nothing by what he just said.
However, Vulcan felt that Filder is hoping for something from Vulcan.
It wasn’t just Filder.
Occasionally, both Berenere and Logweed were looking at Vulcan with expectations. Also, people called Mereham, Folken and Heywood visited often just to see Vulcan.
It was strange that these people were coming to visit Vulcan in the first place.
They were each in charge of Beloong city’s medical center, patrol and horse stables. It was odd that these people with busy lives were visiting a newbie’s training grounds when they didn’t appear to have any reason to.
‘It’s…… almost as if they are trying to send me to Act 2.’

Even though they were Vulcan’s ‘seniors’ who got to Asgard before he did and they were saying they just want to help a newbie adapt easier, amount of aid they showered Vulcan with were clearly excessive.

‘It’s as if they were training me for not just Act 1, but to make sure I’ll survive Act 2.’

Vulcan stared at Filder again.
Filder was still explaining things in sincere and whole-hearted manner.

‘Well, it is not that important.’

Regardless of the reason, Vulcan thought he should welcome any help in training.
If they want Vulcan to challenge Act 2, all he had to do was saying no.
And if Act 2 was not what they were intending him to do, then Vulcan just had to repay their good-will somehow as much as possible.
Vulcan’s head cleared after making the options easier.
He got rid of all the miscellaneous thoughts and focused in Filder’s words.

Vulcan grew day after day.

Years changed twice, and Vulcan’s masteries in Lightening and Fire reached S levels.

Around this time, Dokgo Hoo and Vulcan’s basic trainings came to conclusions.