Pick Me Up! Chapter 17

#17

17. Building internal stability (5)

“Why didn’t you go out when the cook was called?”

“Me, me?”

“Yes, you. Are you right for Chloe?”

“yes…….”

“From now on, you cook.”

[Chef Recommendation List!]

[‘Chloe(★)’]

[Do you want to appoint ‘Chloe (★)’ as the restaurant’s chef? Existing chefs will be disqualified.]

[Yes / No]

That’s right, Issel.

Good job.

“Kee, wait. I’ll make it again!”

“You lie when you don’t even know how to?”

One notice deserves praise, but if it’s a lie that will be caught anyway, it’s better not to. The gazes of those in the audience, including Zena, grew cold.

The stare intensified when Chloe brought the potato dish. Chloe presented a variety of dishes that can be made with potatoes, such as potato salad topped with refreshing sauce, grilled potatoes with butter, crispy french fries, and hot stew.

“It’s delicious! Potatoes come in so many different flavors.”

“Because there were various seasonings…”

At Jenna’s praise, Chloe shyly lowered her head.

Dolph sat in a corner and said nothing. I said.

“Listen while eating. I won’t tell you twice. Do the same to the newcomers next time what you guys heard today. If you don’t want to see them die stupidly.”

I explained the basic rules of this world to the people gathered at the restaurant.

being a master. That we have to do our job to survive. The number of floors increases with each mission and can be released upon reaching the 100th floor.

I thought about it for a while, but he also told me about synthesis. It’s a fact that will come naturally anyway.

“Is that… true?”

“Believe it or not, you guys make the decision. Instead, you bear the responsibility yourself.”

Even though people were trembling with anxiety, it seemed that they somehow came to terms with it. At least there were no crazed or rampant ones.

“If you prepare hard enough, you can survive.

Jenna said in a lively voice.

“Are we doing something else?”

The young carpenter raised his hand.

“You and Chloe are carpenters and cooks respectively. You can help us in other ways.”

“I-I also work as a carpenter…”

“If your lies are exposed again, shall I recommend you as the first victim of synthesis? I think it will be a good textbook.”

Dolph kept his mouth shut.

It is true that non-combat jobs are more likely to survive than combat jobs, but this is not a place to be at ease. Seats are limited, and there is no guarantee that a hero with better skills will not be summoned. If he gets pushed out of his seat, there is only one thing waiting for him. Therefore, even non-combat workers had to constantly hone their skills.

[Master, do you want to close the connection?]

[Yes / No]

[Then goodbye!]

Amkena left the waiting room as if she was satisfied.

After the meal, the rooms of the lodging were distributed.

This time, I also decided to stay in this place rather than the original room.

There are signs that Amkena’s access time will increase.

I don’t know if the room is visible to the master or not, but there’s nothing wrong with being careful. She didn’t want to stand out much on the weird side.

“Anyway, I didn’t know that you would care about others.”

“How long have you met a person to judge?”

“Because I have a good eye for seeing like this.

“Anyway, this is the last time.”

Due to the pick me up system, it is not possible to climb all floors with a small number of people, so we only took minimal measures. If they don’t all die, I’ll tell the new recruits what to do on their own.

From the next day, the monotonous daily life changed little by little.

When I woke up at dawn, Chloe was peeling potatoes in the restaurant. Last night, he had cried so hard that his eyes were red. Not long after, Jenna came out. Except for the three of us, no one was in the lobby yet.

I sighed and headed to the training ground.

The level 2 training ground is exceptionally wide. If the training ground before was about the size of an auditorium, now it looked like a playground. The scarecrow made by weaving straw bales is replaced with a wooden scarecrow carved from wood. There was also a shooting range for archery, a sandy beach, and an obstacle course.

At the training ground, Aaron, who arrived earlier than us, was training. He was screaming in the air and throwing his spear. Jenna and I followed suit and joined the training.

I solved my lunch with baked potatoes at the training ground and continued training until dinner.

A few people arrived at the training ground, but none joined the training directly yet. I pretended to understand, but didn’t seem to realize it.

And in the evening, Master connected.

This connection interval is one day. Compared to the previous interval of at least 3 days, it was greatly reduced. Considering that the time in the waiting room is different from the time on Earth, it seemed that I logged on at times when I had free time, such as breakfast or lunch.

The target of Amkena this time was the newcomers, not us. Aaron couldn’t join the party today either. One did not return.

The next day, as expected, people gathered at the training ground.

“Teach me how to fight!”

The small-sized boy bent down.

I think the same thing happened a few days ago.

I looked at the new recruits at the training ground. All three were boys of the same age.

‘Yesterday, one person died, so seven people. 5 people minus the cook and carpenter. But only three people gathered.’

I don’t know where the two are.

“I’m tired of fighting Aaron, but I can change the mood.”

I threw a wooden sword one by one to the new recruits who were struggling.

“For now, all of you, go ahead.”

I couldn’t use a real sword against a newcomer, so I also picked up a suitable wooden sword.

The basic method of training the current weapon skills is to study the skills against the scarecrow and practice them on Aaron. In addition to simply blocking with a shield or slashing with a sword, high-difficulty movements such as spilling with a sword or parrying an attack were also mixed into the training.

Now is the time not only for one-on-one sparring, but also for many-on-one sparring.

In most situations anyway, I have to deal with multiple enemies. So far, I haven’t been able to do it because of lack of people, but I finally got a chance.

All three were excitedly beaten. On the way, I put Aaron in because it was boring, but it was the same.

[‘Han(★)”s ‘Lesser Swordsmanship’ has risen to Lv.4!]

Thanks to that, I raised my skill to the next level.

As if someone injected it directly into my head, I could gradually feel the flow of swordsmanship. This was also a feature of this world.

Several days passed again.

“going!”

A boy with a shaved head comes stabbing with a wooden sword.

lightly dodged. Then, two other boys swung their swords beside them. I swung my sword wide and slashed both wooden swords at the same time.

The opponent’s sword was slow enough to cause a yawn, but I was in the same situation a while ago. However, the gap widened. Each time my sword moved, one by one I was knocked out.

“As expected, my older brother is strong.”

said Gide, one of the trio of boys.

The trio of boys refers to three people gathered here. Gide, Hansson, and d!cka respectively. All were under the age of twenty. These kids called me hyungnim, as if I had heard bad things about Aaron.

“It’s because the level is high, dude.”

“A level?”

“You’ll find out soon.”

All three are level 2.

The difference in stats with me is at least 7 to 8. It is more than a child and an adult.

However, if it was simply the difference in power, it wouldn’t have been so overwhelming. I am also far superior in additional abilities such as body vision and reaction speed. Perhaps it is the effect of agility.

And above all, skill.

An unknown power is correcting my swordsmanship. The cause was, of course, the low-level swordsmanship I had learned. You can instinctively feel where to move your sword and shield, and where to move your legs and arms.

‘It’s absurd.’

If it were Earth, this kind of achievement would never have been achieved with such a short period of training.

On the other side of the training ground, Jenna is shooting an arrow while running. Every time the protest was pulled, a hole was punched in the humanoid target 30 meters away. That guy has already reached the lower archery level 5. The lower dagger skill was also at level 2.

On the other hand, Aaron is sluggish. Some time ago, he reached spearmanship level 2, but didn’t progress any further. He was the first to come to the training ground and the last to go back to his lodging, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t develop any missing skills.

The three people in front of me each gained level 1 swordsmanship.

When these guys first came, they looked like wilted bean sprouts, but now they are playing as if they are at home. Perhaps because we are similar in age, we even got along by saying that we were older brothers and sisters.

Well, it’s better than squatting like the others. A few days have passed, but the remaining two haven’t come to the training center yet. It seemed to be looking for an exit.

Again, in vain.

Now I don’t even care

Do it yourself.

A few days later, the free 10-year lottery was held once more.

I didn’t even have to step out this time. Aaron and the trio took care of it. In particular, Aaron volunteered to participate and greatly reduced the sacrifice of the first battle. Only one person died during the ‘weeding out’ process.

“There are more and more people.”

Jenna said while sucking on the candy.

Lollipops made by hardening sugar water, which Chloe made for Jenna who wanted a snack.

“There will be more in the future.”

I was laying my back on the sofa in the lobby.

Now I’m used to staying at the inn. If I don’t think I want to go to my room, it won’t appear when I open the door.

Jenna said after biting down on the remaining candy.

“By the way, Master, why don’t you go to the 5th floor? It seems like it’s been a while since you broke the 4th floor.”

I knew the words would come out.

It’s been quite some time since I cleared the 4th floor, the harpy and goblin section. So far, the main party, me, Jenna, and Aaron, have been smashing the 4th floor. Other sub-parties were staying on the 1st or 2nd floor.

‘Of course I won’t go.’

The difficulty level rises rapidly with each multiplier of 5 layers. It was a kind of boss stage concept.

If you’ve seen Amkena’s strategy, you know that it’s a dangerous act to drive us to the 5th floor like this. Regardless of level or equipment, the number of people was insufficient.

‘I need 2 more people.’

A maximum of five members per party.

Candidates to join our party are probably two of the three. Because he is young, he adapts quickly. There was also an eagerness to come. Gide laughed and said that this kind of life would be better than eating in the field.

We’ll see if that thought continues.

The tutorial for Pick Me Up is over, but

The actual tutorial isn’t over yet.

To the newcomer who came in today, Aaron said that as long as he keeps his mind straight, it’s no big deal, he can survive unconditionally.

So far. up to the 4th floor.

I know.

How demonic the difficulty becomes after that. Even if you go through weeding out and train again and again at the training center, how many times will you die in the future battle… … . Even I can’t guarantee 100% survival.

There were countless trap missions with extremely low success rates, such as survival missions, even on the 10th floor or lower.

I didn’t bother to tell Jenna about this.