A Middle-Aged Man Becomes the Strongest in Another World: The Physical Specialized Awakener - Chapter 20

After securing a room at the inn Gashi recommended, I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild in Euron. The guild building stood tall near the central gate, four stories high and clearly in a prime location. It was easy to tell that adventurers were held in high regard in this town.

As I walked through the wide open entrance, the lobby looked like a bigger and upgraded version of the one in Tolson.

To the right was the reception counter, to the left a quest board, and about ten adventurer parties were lounging around the lobby. Everyone had a different vibe, some looked pretty skilled, even intimidating.

With a C-rank dungeon nearby, it made sense that C-rank parties were stationed here. Even that elite group “Fortuners” who participated in the big goblin extermination were supposed to be based in Euron. Luckily, no one seemed to be paying me much attention. Honestly, I preferred it that way, better than being picked on for being new.

I headed to the nearest open counter. “Excuse me, I’d like to sell some monster materials. Also, I’d like permission to access the guidebooks.”

The young receptionist didn’t look up at first, but when I addressed her, she glanced at me and said, almost like talking to herself, “You’re a new face.”

“Yes, this is my first time in Euron. I’m Soushi, E-rank.”

“E-rank, Soushi… Got it. What materials are you selling?”

I placed the Moon Wolf pelt on the counter. The sleepy look in her eyes changed slightly.

“This is… Moon Wolf fur? Where did you get this?”

“I ran into it on the road between Tolson and Euron and managed to take it down.”

“Do you have the magic stone?”

“Actually, instead of a magic stone, it dropped an orb. I’ve already used it, though.”

“Do you have the used orb casing?”

“Yes, here.”

Even after using a Skill Orb, it doesn’t disappear, it just loses its rainbow glow. What’s left is a clear, crystal-like sphere.

The receptionist took the casing, gave it a quick look, and nodded. “Confirmed,” she said, setting it on the counter. “We can buy both the pelt and the orb casing. Is that alright?”

“Yes, please.” Together, they earned me 800,000 rom. I had no clue if that was a lot or not, but it didn’t seem low at all. Probably because it was a rare monster. Either way, I wasn’t about to complain about a lucky windfall.

“The guidebooks are on the second floor. Feel free to browse. Also, a quick note, if you get multiple Skill Orbs from the same monster, you can’t stack the skill, so feel free to sell any extras. A Moon Wolf’s skill ‘Reversal’ is rare, so even just the orb would go for at least 10 million rom.” She gave me a measuring look as she said that. Up close, I noticed she was a striking beauty with short blue hair and a bit of an aloof attitude.

“I see. Thank you.” I thanked her and went upstairs to check the guidebooks.

Halfway up, the number “10 million rom?!” finally sank in.

That night, after dinner at the inn, I lay back on the bed in my room. It cost 13,000 rom per night, which made it more upscale than the place I stayed at in Tolson. The room was slightly bigger, and the bed noticeably softer.

Now, the big question. How should I structure my daily routine in this new town?

Ideally, I’d like to stick to my usual pattern, early morning training, dungeon diving, and more training in the remaining time. The issue is where to train. Euron is bigger than Tolson, and the gates are closed at dawn, so heading outside for a workout isn’t an option.

And swinging around a dark-metal training staff in the middle of the street would just make me look suspicious. That’s trouble I don’t need.

According to the guidebook, the Adventurer’s Guild here has its own training grounds, but as a new E-rank, I’m not sure if I’d even be allowed to use them. Well, I’ll check it out tomorrow. Hopefully, they let me in during the early morning hours too.

As for dungeons, there’s one F-class dungeon nearby, two E-class, two D-class, and one C-class in the area. Tomorrow, I’ll start with the F-class. I want to grab at least one skill there and then move on to the E-class dungeons.

Also, I still need to get a better handle on the ‘Reversal’ skill I just acquired. I had no idea it was worth 10 million rom, but that just confirms how powerful it must be. With that in mind, I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild first thing. The lobby was empty. The only person at the counter was the same cold, pretty receptionist from yesterday.

“Excuse me, am I allowed to use the training grounds here?” I asked her. As expected, she only glanced at me sideways and murmured, “Yes, feel free.”

“Is there any procedure I need to go through first?”

“Nope. You can use it whenever you like.”

“Even before sunrise?” That seemed to surprise her, this time she actually turned to face me. “What exactly are you using it for?”

“Training, of course. I usually start before dawn.”

She looked at me suspiciously but sighed, then stepped out from behind the counter. “I’ll show you.”

She led me to the back of the building, where there was an open area like a small training field. At one end, there was what looked like a prefab hut, probably a dismantling shed for monster materials.

“Larger monster parts sometimes get delivered here, but otherwise, this place is always open. If the guild’s closed, you can come in through that gate.” She pointed to a simple side gate that seemed to connect to a different street. Nice. This solved the training issue perfectly.

“Thank you. I’ll start right away.” I gave her a bow. She just said, “Go ahead,” and walked back inside. Cold, but professional.

I immediately began my usual training routine. I focused on physical conditioning and practicing my skills using my dark-metal staff. Then I tested out ‘Reversal’. As I expected, it’s an absurd skill, it lets me ignore inertia and move in ways that break the laws of physics.

Just doing side-to-side jumps felt weird. The way I shifted my weight was unnaturally smooth. That said, the effect still felt weak. I’d need to level it up to match how the Moon Wolf used it. What really surprised me was that the skill also affects weapon movement.

When I swung my mace and reversed direction, the heavy feeling was noticeably reduced. If I level this up, I might actually pull off some anime-level combo attacks someday.

After testing all the movements and getting used to how it feels in combat, I set off toward the dungeon for my next challenge.