How to Live as a Genius Knight in a Fantasy World

3.

People always focus on the positive aspects when starting something new, yet often they don’t feel as satisfied as they had hoped.

Such was the life of a soldier.

When they were first selected as “successful candidates,” including Rohan, all six of them felt great joy and looked forward to a life as men with stable jobs.

But the reality of their lives as soldiers fell far short of their expectations.

“Damn it…”

Kenneth habitually spat curses as soon as he got up, and today was no exception.

“This sucks…”

Alun added a spoonful to that, while the remaining four, including Rohan, just mechanically put on their clothes with dead eyes.

It had already been three months since the “induction ceremony.”

The grueling running, which felt like it would end in a day, turned out to be just the beginning.

Although recognized as soldiers and receiving a monthly salary, they could not remove the “trainee” label until half a year had passed.

This meant that there was no dreaming of a comfortable duty as a security guard; they had to patrol the lakeside daily and roll around in the dust.

Fetching water every day remained unchanged.

Despite being in their growth years and exercising, their physical strength increased surprisingly quickly, but no one felt happy about that fact.

Still, today was a day of change in their monotonous daily routine.

Because for the first time, the words “learning combat skills” came from Charles’s mouth.

Given that the training schedule from Charles never changed, there was inevitably some anticipation.

Even the two who were complaining now were secretly looking forward to grabbing a spear last night, so it was clear that they had expectations.

Contrary to the recruits’ expectations, the morning schedule today was no different from usual: fetching water, running, and having lunch.

It was natural for the boys’ expressions to darken.

But as the afternoon approached, the words they had been waiting for from Charles finally came.

“Everyone, bring the spears you received last time.”

After learning weapon handling, they finally held the spear that had occasionally been polished.

“It’s not as heavy as I thought.”

Although it seemed like it might be difficult to hold due to its length, the spear was not too hard to handle with one hand, maybe because only the tip was made of metal.

Before swinging the spear, Charles conducted a brief theoretical education, showing how to hold it and how to put weight on the spear.

Following his instructions, when Haken held the spear and thrust forward, a “message” appeared in front of his eyes.

– Basic Spear Technique (N) / 0%

“Huh?”

Surprised by the phenomenon he had never experienced before, he almost dropped the spear, but having enjoyed various cultural activities of the 21st century, he knew very well what this phenomenon was.

“A status bar…?”

As he silently called out that name, a semi-transparent window appeared in the corner of his vision, like a game interface.

Unlike games, there were no detailed stats or minor abilities listed, just the Basic Spear Technique that had just appeared.

It was a screen that was nothing compared to game characters, but Rohan trembled with excitement from deep within his heart.

“Where the heck did this come from now!”

When he first opened his eyes in this unfamiliar world, how desperate he had been for miracles.

Naturally, he had shouted out all sorts of names like status bar, skill bar, interface, etc.

To the point where the villagers thought he had gone mad and needed to be restrained.

Of course, he only shouted when he was alone, after tasting his father’s fist again.

It felt like finding a lifeline in a world where there seemed to be no answer.

‘Isel Basic Spear Technique? So, this is the name of the spear technique I’m learning now. Is it at the normal grade? I don’t see any stats… Maybe the numbers represent proficiency?’

“Rohan! What are you doing!”

Having experienced what could be considered a turning point in his life and standing foolishly, Rohan snapped out of it at Charles’s shout.

“Why? Don’t you feel like swinging the spear already?”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he was very angry.

No, it was rather a voice that seemed to worry about Rohan, who had suddenly stopped.

‘This is all thanks to my usual efforts.’

“No! Just feeling a bit uncomfortable for a moment…”

“Is that so? Is it very uncomfortable?”

“No! I will work hard!”

Seemingly relieved by Rohan’s enthusiastic response, Charles resumed the training.

Rohan, too, once again loaded his weight onto the spear and began thrusting it forward.

He must have thrust the spear for about thirty minutes.

Despite the recruits who had been building their stamina for three months by running and rolling, repeating unfamiliar movements for a long time was tough.

It was only when their arms started to tremble that Charles gave them a break.

“They are following quite well. I should be able to teach them all the moves today.”

Charles, who had a stern expression, but inwardly felt differently.

Having trained several batches of recruits before, he could roughly gauge their aptitude with just an hour of spear practice.

“Especially that guy, he’s exceeding expectations this time too.”

His gaze lingered on Rohan for a moment and then dropped.

Even though it had been less than an hour of thrusting the spear, his speed at adapting was completely different from the other recruits.

Near the end, he displayed such a clean posture that it was hard to believe it was his first time holding a spear today, demonstrating his exceptional talent right away.

“It would be a waste for him to remain just a soldier.”

If he had been born into a noble family, he could have become a knight.

He entertained such thoughts, but Charles knew well that as someone born a commoner, rising higher with exceptional talent alone was impossible.

Without revealing such thoughts, Charles continued to teach the Isel Basic Spear Technique movements all day long.

“It should be enough by tomorrow.”

Starting with the most important thrust in spear combat, followed by five other movements.

The Isel Basic Spear Technique consisted of a total of six movements.

These were truly the most fundamental movements, but in practice, when using a spear, there was rarely a need to showcase individual skills, with most soldiers relying mainly on the thrusting motion, making it more than sufficient to handle a spear.

It was not only easy to teach but also guaranteed a certain level of effectiveness, making it an excellent spear technique.

On the other hand, Rohan was in a state of bewilderment.

“Is it supposed to be this easy to pick up?”

Although it was his first appearance today, the modern mindset honed by games and web novels accepted it without much resistance.

No, he felt more resigned to it due to the overwhelming shock of being dropped into another world.

What puzzled Rohan wasn’t the status window itself but the proficiency displayed next to the skills.

Having only swung the spear for half a day without even learning all the movements, his proficiency was already in the mid-30s.

If he learned the remaining movements tomorrow, he felt confident he could easily reach 80 percent.

There was a classic MMORPG where skill proficiency was crucial, but even in that game, skill progression wasn’t as rapid.

“Back then, even after using skills all day, it didn’t increase by 5%…”

Of course, the skills used in the game had quite a high rank, but there was a difference.

“Well, it might be because it’s a normal grade skill.”

In fact, he felt accustomed to swinging the spear swiftly with his body, so he didn’t need to feel uncomfortable about it.

“Anyway, this is quite helpful.”

Although he couldn’t be sure if the proficiency level affected the growth rate, it was certain that it provided more motivation during spear swinging practice.

As the numbers rose with time, it felt rewarding and fun.

“I wonder what will happen when I reach 100%.”

Eventually, on the first day of spear swinging, Rohan found it increasingly difficult to hold the spear and finally finished training before lying down on the bed.

It felt like he had just closed and opened his eyes for a short night had passed, and training recommenced.

Today, the morning was the usual physical training, and in the afternoon, there was spear technique training.

He learned new movements he hadn’t mastered before and swung the spear diligently until dinner.

“Now 70%…”

Perhaps due to the remarkable growth in proficiency, Charles now overtly expressed his amazement.

Clearly, there was a look of ‘Already this far?’ in his eyes.

Sometimes, even sighs escaped, showing how satisfied Rohan’s achievements were.

Understandably so, now there was hardly any difference between him and soldiers who had held a spear for over ten years.

His movements were both restrained and smooth, giving a sense of strong weight to his body.

Yet, despite such achievements, Rohan could not be satisfied.

No, he swung the spear even harder than others.

With proficiency rising so quickly, he wanted to reach 100% proficiency even faster.

However, just deciding wasn’t enough for things to go his way.

Because he had mastered all the spear techniques, from the third day onwards, the speed at which his proficiency increased noticeably slowed down.

“Ugh, even after swinging the spear all day, it’s only 4%…”

Although slightly frustrated by the clearly slowed growth, he forced himself to calm down.

“After all, time is abundant. There’s no war going on right now, no need to fight soldiers.”

Moreover, Rohan himself was only sixteen years old now.

Having lived as a modern person for over thirty years, and having grown up in a harsher environment here, his pure heart was nowhere to be found, but at least his body was young and not lacking in physical potential.

As proficiency accumulated daily, progress was slowing down, but to Rohan, who had been trained by numerous games, hard work was not unfamiliar.

Before a month had passed since he started learning spear techniques.

“Done!”

“What’s up?”

“Why are you like that all of a sudden? Have you finally gone crazy?”

“I, I need to go to the bathroom!”

After shouting suddenly while swinging the spear and running towards the bathroom, Rohan was met with looks as if he was a madman, but he didn’t care at all.

“I finally reached 100%!”

In the joy of achieving his goal, a new notification popped up in front of Rohan, frozen with the spear in his hand.

– Proficiency of the basic spear technique “Eizel” has reached 100%.

– Additional effects will be added to the skill, and one Ardan’s Feather will be provided.

“Additional effects? Ardan’s Feather?”

Rohan swiftly closed the notification window and opened the status window.

– Proficient Easel Basic Window Art (N) / 100% (10% increase in power for all attacks with the window)

The first thing that caught his eye was the prefix.

Feeling as if all his efforts had been rewarded with just three letters, ‘proficient,’ he couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

But more importantly were the letters inside the parentheses following ‘proficiency.’

As Rohan checked the content, his eyes widened abruptly.

‘10% increase in power for all attacks?’

10%.

While some might consider it a modest figure, anyone who has dabbled in AOS or RPG games would instantly realize how significant this boost was.

It was a figure that could turn the impossible kills into possible ones, and pierce through impenetrable armor.

The condition was also straightforward, making it hard to ask for anything better.

‘Wait, if N-grade is at this level, how about the grades above? And could additional abilities overlap?’

Of course, if it only applied when wielding different weapons like a sword and a window, it would be meaningless. But Rohan thought that there might be techniques with additional abilities beyond just weapons.

It felt like a ray of light piercing through the darkness of this otherworldly future.

‘But what about Ardan’s feather? What’s this? It seems like an item from the context…’

Even after shouting for his inventory or equipment window, there was no change.

“Rohan, are you done yet?”

“Just a little more!”

Perhaps sensing something amiss in Rohan’s sudden disappearance, Charles sent someone over.

Rohan, feeling rushed, frantically scanned through the status window, confirming the appearance of a feather-shaped icon on the top right with a x1 mark.

Pressing his finger in hopes of viewing more information and staring intently yielded no response.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Rohan shook his head.

‘Someday, there might be a use for this.’

There seemed to be no point in pondering further in the bathroom; the answer wouldn’t come that way.

With the acquired ‘proficient’ Easel Basic Window Art, Rohan confidently walked out of the restroom.