Chapter 12: Prerequisites

"Of course, directly achieving a higher level of Frost Affinity is the best."

"The speed of learning Ice Spells will definitely increase significantly."

"Then... learning other types of magic, wouldn’t it be the same?"

Raine couldn’t help but flash a hint of joy in his eyes.

Because on the last page of the Basic Monster Atlas published by the Mill Town Adventurer Association Branch, it describes the Winter Wolf, a fierce ice-type monster with a Challenge Level as high as three.

The footnote below is in bold red letters—the gist is that Winter Wolf is not a basic monster, mainly intended to warn novice adventurers to avoid venturing into the snowfield, because there the weakest monster is the Winter Wolf.

However, in the brief description of the Winter Wolf’s characteristics, Raine remembers very clearly that it has a very high Frost Affinity and is adept at using Frozen Breath.

...

An hour later.

In the association’s backyard.

"Raine, you’re here early." Liya was organizing the training equipment like scarecrows and targets.

Since Liya is Tutor Humbert’s assistant, she’s one of the earliest to arrive every day.

As for Tutor Humbert, he won’t be in the association’s backyard until around nine-thirty.

"Good morning, Liya." Raine greeted with a smile.

During this time, Raine discovered a trick to practicing with a shield.

That is to spar with someone—when someone attacks, he blocks, the improvement speed is particularly fast.

Soon, as time passed, many young people arrived in the backyard one after another, joining in the practice.

A round-faced, honest-looking youth excitedly waved at Raine when he saw him.

His name is Robin, and he’s Raine’s sparring partner during this period.

About an hour after Raine and Robin began sparring with shield block and spear stabbing, Raine caught sight of a well-built young man stepping into the backyard.

The young man first spoke a few words with Liya before heading toward Tutor Humbert.

Since Humbert was not far from Raine’s position at the moment, he could hear their conversation clearly:

"Tutor Humbert, I’ve come from Dorne City, and I’ve heard of your extraordinary warhammer skills even back there. I wish to learn the techniques of warhammer from you."

"Certainly, young man, as long as you can lift that warhammer in the corner and ring the bell above it. Otherwise, even if you come from Dorne City, I can only say sorry to you."

Facing the young man’s words, Humbert calmly pointed to the heavy warhammer in the corner of the backyard.

"Of course, Miss Liya has explained everything clearly to me just now." The well-built young man slightly bowed to Humbert before turning toward the backyard corner.

Seeing this, including Robin who was sparring with Raine, everyone gradually stopped their actions.

The young people present frequently glanced at the corner.

"Raine, do you think he can succeed?" Robin couldn’t help but ask curiously.

"I don’t know." Raine shook his head.

The well-built young man gripped the hammer handle, took a deep breath, and quickly lifted the heavy, dusty metal warhammer.

He wore a slight smile, as if finding the weight was not as heavy as imagined.

But in the next instant, when he tried to raise the warhammer over his head to strike the bell two meters above, his expression drastically changed.

As observers, Raine, Robin, and the others could see clearly that when he lifted the warhammer to shoulder level, the young man’s neck veins bulged, and his face turned red.

The muscles in his arms were already trembling violently.

"Hah!"

He roared low, exerting force to lift the warhammer over his head, but unable to control his strength, he smashed it against the wall beside him before even swinging it.

"Such a pity! Even though his strength is far superior to mine, he still failed." Robin shook his head and said.

Raine nodded.

He knew that this seemingly simple assessment was actually not easy.

The difficulty lay in the second step.

Although he hadn’t planned to learn hammer skills, one day when there was hardly anyone around, he tried it out of curiosity.

Even with the Strong Lv1 support from Goblin Warrior, Raine found it quite strenuous to lift the warhammer over his head.

Under these circumstances, trying to gently tap the bell with the hammer, without damaging it or scraping the wall, was virtually impossible.

It could be rung, but it would either damage the bell or scrape the wall.

The young man’s face was slightly red as he bowed to Humbert and left quickly.

Though an unfamiliar young man’s appearance caused a short interlude, it didn’t affect Raine’s mood for training at all.

At night.

Inside a room on the second floor of the Oak Inn.

Raine sat at a book table, illuminated by an oil lamp, diligently studying an illustrated book.

It was filled with drawings accompanied by detailed descriptions, with a metallic cover on top, looking quite high-end.

It’s actually the Mill Town Adventurer Association-produced Atlas of Common Monsters surrounding Mill Town, which Raine bought for 2 silver coins.

Of course, it doesn’t include all monsters, just 13 common types.

Initially, Raine was somewhat reluctant.

But thinking it through, since he would encounter these monsters sooner or later, he might as well get familiar with them early on to facilitate planning for future improvements.

The first page illustrated goblins, not mentioning mutated individuals, but pointing out that in medium to large groups of goblins, there’s typically a Goblin Warrior.

The second page featured Kobold, and the third Giant Vampire Bat...

Raine was currently looking at the ninth page, with an illustration showing a humanoid boar holding a large wooden hammer.

"Valley of Dead Water Wild Boar People, a Steel-bristled Wild Boar People subspecies, migrated to Valley of Dead Water over a thousand years ago, slightly weaker than Steel-bristled Wild Boar People, Challenge Level one."

"Wild Boar People, truly strong indeed..."

Raine glanced at the boar-like creature’s rock-solid bulging muscles and showed a bit of envy.

If he could gain the Wild Boar Bloodline’s support, his power would immediately leap up two levels.

"It’s a pity, Challenge Level one is much higher than goblins."

Raine sighed, slightly shook his head.

You know, goblins’ Challenge Level is only one-eighth, like the small group of roughly 15 goblins; excluding mutated individuals, they have a Challenge Level of just about one-half.

Challenge Level one Wild Boar People’s combat power is thus imaginable.

Here’s a brief explanation of the Challenge Level concept - Challenge Level is a core metric for a monster’s strength.

Once, Challenge Level one represented the upper strength limit of a monster a standard four-person Adventurer Squad with proper cooperation could defeat without injury.

But in reality, squad composition and equipment differ, and some adventurer squads have three members, others five, or even six.

Hence, the above overly vague description is long outdated.

The current statement is straightforward and direct: a Challenge Level one monster is roughly equivalent to a fully armed Warrior Classes Level 1 individual.

Alternatively, putting the two together in a Beast Fighting Arena for a duel, it’s highly likely they’ll end in mutual destruction.

As for why the comparison is made with warriors rather than casters.

It’s not because warriors are stronger than casters, but because caster’s powers vary immensely based on the spells they master.

The strength of warriors is much more stable.