"Also, I’m curious, how are you still Tier 1 Awakened?" they couldn’t help but ask. His stats were definitely superior than the usual Tier 1s. Not to mention, if he lived here his whole life, then he’d have far better access to cores than the rest of them.
"I just started recently," he said. "I was...indisposed to do any fighting here before that. I...couldn’t have cores before that, either."
"I see..."
Aaron wanted to ask more, but Ren slapped the back of his head. What if it were a personal question?
Finn smiled, grateful to him. He didn’t really know how to explain it. Should he say he just got here from another world? The best he could do was to be vague about it and let them fill up the details themselves.
Anyway, much of the day was spent on sparring, though Aaron was back to hunting monsters again.
They would rest for about an hour between battles, which was fine because there were plenty of snacks prepared inside, so they just stayed in the living room, enjoyed the Inn’s additional increase in recovery, and then headed out to spar.
The next battles were losses for Finn, which was not much of a surprise considering they didn’t get careless like Aaron did. They knew that, despite his low level, his combat senses weren’t bad at all.
That said, he really did fight well, despite losing.
Zachary was very quick and agile, and because most of Finn’s attacks were mid-range, he was quickly at a disadvantage when Zach entered his direct circle.
He did his best to keep him away, slowly learning some techniques, like pushing him away with the pole. But otherwise, he could only receive his hits. He managed to block, pull, and parry for a while until he gave up 10 minutes later.
He learned a lot about the weaknesses of the halberd, and he knew what he needed to train when using it as a weapon. He needed to improve his blocks, his pushes, and with the halberd, the best defense was also offense, but he needed power for that.
He wondered if he could pick recipes or ingredients so that the bonus stats he got would be those he needed the most?
Ren, on the other hand, focused more on agility and accuracy. Regardless of whether he was using his sword or his dagger, they always seemed to be in the right place.
This strategy and mind, combined with the strength of someone two tiers above him, Finn succumbed the fastest with him. It took less than five minutes, and he was down on the ground, panting.
"You can also do good with swords," Ren said as he helped him up.
"You think so?"
"Yes," he said. "Although you can also do well with mid-ranged— especially since you do prefer to keep your distance when fighting—you show some habits of short-ranged fighters.
"For example, when I get close, you would tend to parry instead of leveraging distance, and under pressure you’d react with snappy and short movements, which also works wel—l if you have the right weapon, that is."
Ren was quite knowledgeable about a lot of things. It was quite impressive.
Would it be weird to tell him he was using the halberd because it was all he had right now?
He was a chef, and he was most experienced with knives. But, at the same time, he was afraid of getting too close to beasts since he was afraid of injuring his hands. It was not a very good combination, and it was putting him in an awkward place as a fighter.
That said, he was really eyeing a sword, in the Hearth Market, though the good ones were still too expensive for him at this time. He also wanted to see what the growth equipment he’d receive for the 50-customer mission was, so he could adjust his purchases accordingly.
Anyway, for now, since his fighting was focused on stabbing monsters from behind a barrier, a mid-ranged weapon was fine.
...
The conversation was cut when they heard some exclamations from the side.
"Done!"
"Oh?"
The two young men were a bit surprised. "They’re making beds?" They hadn’t really noticed it before because they were so busy killing and fighting.
"Yeah, we wanted to add double-deckers to the room instead. This way the rooms would be friendlier for sharing and in cost. For those who don’t want to share, then they can simply not let anyone use the other bed."
"What if they want to stare at the ceiling? Not from the upper bunk." Ren asked, having a solemn expression on his face.
Zachary looked at him curiously. "Is it that important?" As someone with siblings and then as a mercenary who travelled around in groups, his sense of private space was practically non-existent.
Aaron, a bit snobbish (or at least he tries to be), also wondered about this.
Ren nodded, and Finn coughed. "Then...I’d leave one room as is. Ren’s solemn face immediately softened.
"Anyway, Ren, can you use the assessment tool on this bed?"
"Hmn?"
"I’d just like to see."
He was curious. It looked crude but also stable enough. He wondered whether something made by someone with supposed talent for [Carpentry] had anything special about it.
Sadly, his own assessment skill only worked on food-related items, and it didn’t count beds as food.
Ren nodded and placed the assessment tool—a card—on the surface, and text appeared on the surface.
It was such a useful tool. He took note to get one for himself someday.
"There’s a skill in the Hearth Market, you know, maybe you’d get lucky someday."
Finn was curious, but there was a task on hand.
[Crude Double Decker]
[Information: Crudely-made wooden double-decker bunk crafted from treated wood. Can passively increase regeneration by 0.5% when used.]
Finn sniffed.
Hey, if his staff member with just carpentry talent but no experience could make furniture with effect—no matter how tiny the effect was—he wondered what kind of furniture could be made by someone with [Advanced Carpentry]?