<h4>Chapter 6: Basic sh</h4>


    Near the entrance to Amaterasu, light blue pixels were scattered across the ground as yers avatars were slowly disintegrating into nothingness.


    Red-eyed bunnies hopped across the wheat fields while yers chased after them with their wooden swords and wooden spears. There were even wooden arrows flying across the air, hitting both yers and a few bunnies.


    There were also madmen swinging their fists around, hoping to hit everything that was moving.


    Ambrose arrived at the entrance and saw the mess. There were also yers who avoided the mess and instead headed towards the forest, which loomed in the distance.


    However, it was clearly a more dangerous area than these wheat fields, where only innocent-looking animals resided.


    ''I can''t see that brown-haired yer anywhere. Did he also die?'' Ambrose looked across the wheat fields.


    At that moment, he saw a wooden sword on the ground. None of the yers had taken it for themselves yet.


    The wooden sword could be sold to merchants and earn a little bit of silver.


    Ambrose looked around, and there were yers standing on the sidelines, but most of them focused on the battles that were happening in the wheat fields.


    He focused his gaze on the wooden sword and took a deep breath. Then he lunged forward and ran as fast as he could.


    However, since he wasn''t used to running, it looked quite awkward at first.


    He was still approaching the wooden sword quickly.


    At that moment, a wooden arrow whooshed across the air and hit him in the back of the head.


    Ambrose tripped forward and crashed head-first on the ground.


    [You lost 18 HP!]


    [HP: 12/30]


    "Argh..." He rubbed the back of his numb head and looked in the direction where the arrow came from. There was a female archer cing another wooden arrow in the bowstring of her wooden bow.


    ''Archers seem to have a huge advantage in the early game.'' Ambrose thought and stood back up. ''They have the strongest starting weapon.''


    The female Archer looked at him and released her hand on the bowstring. Another wooden arrow flew quickly towards him.


    Ambrose dodged it, but it hit his shoulder instead of his chest.


    [You lost 8 HP!]


    [HP: 4/30]


    ''One more hit, and I am again dead!'' Ambrose nced at the wooden sword on the ground and quickly rushed towards it. Another arrow flew from the side, but it greatly missed the mark.


    The female archer clicked her tongue. "This is so hard to use!"


    Ambrose grabbed the wooden sword from the ground and ran straight back to the city of Amaterasu. He remembered the brown-haired yer''s words.


    Attacking fellow yers and NPCs inside the city was forbidden!


    Before the female archer had time to fire another arrow, Ambrose had already entered the city. He didn''t stay behind to linger at the entrance and instead ran down the main street.


    After the entrance was out of his sight, Ambrose stopped running and tried to catch his breath.


    "Ah... my stamina is at 10 points, yet I am already exhausted!" He leaned his back against the wall and breathed heavily. "At least... I got the wooden sword."


    He looked at the light wooden sword in his hand with a small smile.


    "I won''t be as helpless next time. I have to be careful of other yers; they only care about experience points currently. I should also try to be stronger quicker.


    "The longer I wait, the stronger other yers will be, and it will make things far too difficult."


    Ambrose looked at the wooden sword in his hand and thought about what he should do. He scratched the idea of going to the wheat fields, but he also didn''t want to go to the forest.


    ''Wait, leveling up isn''t the only way to be stronger. There are these dojos and fighting schools; can''t I go learn a few basic skills?''


    He turned his head towards the entrance of the bustling dojo. There were only NPCs training inside the dojo, and they happened to be training swordsmanship.


    Ambrose smiled and tossed the wooden sword back into his inventory, then headed straight to the dojo.


    After stepping through the entrance, he saw young men and women using wooden swords while sparring. None of them were very skilled, but they were better than most of the yers.


    "Hello, who are you, and why have youe here?"


    Arge shadow appeared in front of Ambrose.


    "Uh..." Ambrose lifted his gaze to look at the tall figure standing before him. "I am Ambrose, and I am here to... learn swordsmanship?"


    The tall figure narrowed his eyes and crossed his muscr arms. He scanned Ambrose''s arms, whichcked muscles, and his unathletic body. He wasn''t fat by any means, but he wasn''t fit either.


    "I am obligated to offer every newbie one-time training. However, it is up to you whether you learn anything from it.


    "To be an official pupil of my dojo, you need to be far stronger. Do you understand?"


    "Yeah..." Ambrose nodded and read between the lines. ''So, I am too low of a level to be taught more, but game developers made it so that the master of this dojo is required to teach one skill. It is up to the yer whether they can learn it.''


    "Follow me." The muscr figure said and walked to the corner of the yard. There was a wooden training dummy that had scratches across its torso.


    Ambrose followed behind him.


    "The skill is called "Basic sh". You raise the sword above your head, bend your knees, and sh diagonally."


    "Alright." Ambrose took out the wooden sword and saw the muscr figure step aside. He was clearly saying that he should try doing it against the wooden training dummy.


    Ambrose took a step forward and remembered the instructions.


    He raised the wooden sword over his head, bent his knees, and then shed it diagonally towards the training dummy''s chest.


    The wooden sword left a small scratch on the torso.


    [Basic sh: Completion Rate - 3%]


    ''Only three?'' Ambrose''s face bleached slightly.


    "No, no, no!" The muscr figure shook his head rapidly. "Have you not used a sword before? Twist your shoulder more, grab the sword harder, and hack it down with more power!"


    "I understand." Ambrose nodded, then moved the wooden sword over his head, twisted the shoulder more as he was instructed, bent the knees, and then grabbed the hilt of the sword as hard as he possibly could.


    And then,stly, he hacked the sword down diagonally with a powerful swing.


    The wooden sword shed across the training dummy''s chest, leaving a bigger sh mark this time around.


    "Haahh... haah..." Ambrose breathed heavily and nced at thepletion rate.


    [Basic sh: Completion Rate - 30%]


    ''That is better.'' Ambrose nced at the muscr man, who was still frowning. He still didn''t seem pleased.


    ''I guess I will have to do this better and try to reach 100%.'' Ambrose focused on the wooden sword and the training dummy. Then, did another sh, which was even more powerful this time.


    However, instantly afterwards, he did another sh.


    nk, nk, nk—a sound of a wooden sword smacking against a wooden dummy resounded across the training yard.


    After a while, Ambrose lowered his wooden sword, sweat falling from his forehead. He was quite surprised to see that he could also sweat in the game!


    At that moment, a notification appeared in front of him.


    [Basic sh: Completion Rate - 100%]


    [Basic sh Learned!]


    [You can now use Basic sh!]


    "Still quite poor, but passable." The muscr man said sternly. "You can use the ability in battle by saying the skill name out loud. Your training has ended; you may return once your swordsmanship has improved. Until then, these doors are closed for you!"


    Ambrose watched as the muscr man returned to teach other students of his.


    ''Well, this definitely didn''t increase my self-confidence.'' He turned his gaze back to his wooden sword. ''At least I have a skill now. I guess I can try returning to wheat fields now...''