Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Early in the morning.
As the golden sunlight shone through the fog of the sea, countless seabirds chased the snow-white waves with their wings.
A boy stood bare-chested in the waves near the beach. The skin on his body was slightly tanned and his arms were muscular and powerful. His muscles were strong and had obvious outlines. Although there was still a hint of childishness on his face, his athletic body was as good as any of the well-trained elite soldiers in the city guard.
Alvin raised his iron training sword and looked forward. His breathing was shallow and regular, as though it was following some kind of pattern. His body resonated with his breathing.
Although he was just standing still, the waves were consistently hitting his body, making him look like he had been doing strenuous exercises.
They were unlike the kinds of exercises that ordinary people did, such as running, jumping, or weightlifting. Each of these could only work on one part of the body. What Alvin was doing involved every inch of his skin, every muscle, and every cell from inside out.
Soon, he felt his pulse rate increase and his skin started to flush. Even though the seawater was cooling, warm water vapor began to form around him.
As he continued his training, the water vapor grew denser and nearly formed a cloud of fog. Alvin let go of a deep breath and put down his sword. He then went back to the beach and started to cool down.
When his body recovered, Alvin took out a weird-looking, dark green medicine from his bag. Unbothered by its color, Alvin chugged the whole bottle of liquid and started his routine basic sword training on the beach. Stab, slash, block, slit…
Although these movements were the normal ones for a sword, after years of practice, Alvin had made these moves look special in his own way.
It had been two years since his memories had awakened.
Alvin was 15 now and had grown into a handsome boy. He was tall and athletic, with tan skin from the long hours of exposure under the sun. His masculine body was very popular among the girls living near the beach.
He thought the girls would not tease him after some time, but he was wrong. The situation got worse in these past two years, and this troubled him a lot. That was why he had to train in the remote parts of the beach, where he would not be disturbed.
“Sigh, it’s a problem to be too popular!”
However, Alvin was not concerned with this right now. Because…
“Display body data.”
Name: Alvin Garriott
Attributes: Constitution 0.9 (1)
Strength: 0.86 (1)
Agility: 0.62 (1)
Intelligence: 0.9 (1)
Abilities: White Sail Sword Technique (Proficient, contains breathing techniques, sword techniques, and potions), Archery (Proficient), Writing (Proficient), Seafaring knowledge (Entry level), Pharmacology (Entry level)
Alvin had reached the pinnacle of an apprentice knight with systematic training in just two years, but he had not managed to reach the maximum value of 1 in any of his body data.
Nonetheless, there was a difference between theories and reality. In fact, Alvin’s body constitution was already comparable to most of the other apprentice knights in their pinnacle.
If he could get a bottle of the Black Ocean Potion that could aid in berserkerizing his body, he would qualify as a formal knight and finally become one of the Extraordinaries.
…
Other than peaking his body constitution, Alvin’s greatest change in these two years was the skill that made him proud, the White Sail Sword Technique.
He had managed to level it up to Proficient from Entry Level in just two years. He had accomplished more than what others would in their entire lives.
The difference in the two levels was the same as the difference between a well-trained warrior and a normal farmer. What was the most remarkable was that he now had the prerequisite for reaching Arcane in this sword technique and had a little special effect in it now.
However, this was not because Alvin’s awakened memory had suddenly made him very talented.
He had monitored every detail of his training through his Data Vision and had been able to correct all the minor mistakes he had made to perfect his moves.
The simple and repeated practice was the secret to his success.
It was the dream of many knights to have such a training attitude, as it was much more effective than having a master swordsman as their mentor.
Therefore, his Data Vision had played an important role in leading Alvin to his current state without any luxurious resources or mentorship.
What Alvin was upset about was that the Black Ocean Medicine he had spent so much effort to get was starting to lose its effect on him.
“I can only drink it as a sports drink now.”
The Black Ocean Medicine Alvin had been drinking was a subversion of the Black Ocean Potion. It was purely made of common ingredients. Hence, as Alvin’s body constitution improved, it would lose its effect eventually.
The only reason Alvin was still taking it was because he did not want to waste his effort from two years ago and he wanted to make full use of this medicine.
However, he had omitted the fact that what had kept him alive two years ago was not the medicine’s ingredients, it was those precious black pearls.
Where had the black pearls gone?
He looked at his stomach and smiled.
Alvin was pragmatic. He had no intention to keep the pearls as his own treasures. He deliberately sold the pearls on three separate occasions to jewelry stores.
Most of the Golden Lion Coins he had gotten from the black pearls had been converted to food in his stomach.
Eating was another essential step for an apprentice knight to grow fast, other than practicing sword techniques, breathing techniques, and supplementary medicines.
A strong body required the support of adequate nutrients. The saying “money is the fundamental of martial arts” was true even in this alternate world.
…
After finishing his daily routine of knight training, Alvin put on his clothes and headed back to the White Stone Apothecary.
Other than the rust that had started to form on the door and windows, the store hadn’t changed much compared to two years ago. Apparently, Alvin, the shop owner, had not invested much time in the outlook of the store. He was content with how the store looked now.
As the only worker in the store, Mr. Sanji seemed to know what was going to happen. He had been paying close attention to all the pharmacology knowledge Alvin had been passing on to him for the past two years, and now he was able to run the store alone.
In this era, there was a heavy price to pay for all kinds of knowledge. Even simple things like mathematics and reading required a huge sum of money, let alone advanced knowledge such as pharmacology. Alvin had literally given Sanji a brilliant future that would change his life forever.
Alvin still remembered the exaggerated response from Sanji when he had just begun to teach him. Sanji was so touched that he started crying. He almost pledged his life to Alvin.
Ring, ring…”
The bell at the door rang.
“Good morning, Mr. Alvin! Graham has just delivered two wild boar legs. Don’t forget to take them. It’s 80 Copper Livre. I’ve already paid him.”
Although Alvin had told him that teaching him was not a big deal, Sanji was more respectful to him now.
“Alright, got that.” Alvin had been placing orders on fresh beast meat from Graham and his hunter friends for the past two years, which was why Graham would visit the store to deliver the goods from time to time. Most of the time, only Sanji would be in the store to receive the orders.
“Hey, Sanji, any updates about the navy recruitment from the sailors yet?”
“Erm…”
Sanji was wringing his hands under the counter. He saw the determination in Alvin’s eyes and said slowly, “Mr. Alvin, are you really going to join the navy? My father has a friend who is a retired sailor. Although there is a shortage of manpower in the navy right now, being out there in the sea really isn’t as magnificent as you think it will be.”
Alvin didn’t respond.
Sanji did not dare to look into his eyes. He tried his best to discourage Alvin from making such a dangerous decision. “There are pirates, diseases, bad weather, and even horrendous sea monsters in the deep ocean. The death rate of the navy…”
Sanji’s voice got softer as he continued. He had no confidence in himself at all. Seeing that Alvin did not respond to what he had said, he knew that he could not talk Alvin out of the idea.
He passed a paper with lots of words on it to Alvin and said, “Mr. Alvin, please don’t tell my mom that I’ve told you this. She will kill me.”
Alvin looked at the paper and finally smiled.
“Haha, thank you, Sanji. You need to change your personality. Girls won’t like you if you are so squirmy.”
Alvin took the paper from Sanji and then passed him another paper that he had prepared.
“What’s this?”
Alvin winked and said, “It’s the treasure of the White Stone Apothecary. Take good care of it, Sanji!”
Sanji looked at the paper. It was the recipe for making Fish Booster. He was very touched. It felt good to be trusted and entrusted with responsibility.
He shouted at Alvin, who was already walking out of the store, “Rest assured, Mr. Alvin! I’m already engaged with Ms. Salon from the tailor shop!”
Alvin was surprised by the news and almost tripped over. He had been single and alone for two lives now.