Aldred rubbed his ass in pain before he did another swing with tears welling up inside his eyes. Apparently, Mary was told to train him up before going to Ruandeurtin.

She said that the place was a slaughterhouse where soldiers died every week. Many unwanted soldiers were sent there to die. It didn’t matter if they were weak or strong, the empire had no place to attack that place in the first place. It was just a distraction so the enemy would send the majority of their soldiers there.

That strategy made the other points much weaker and made it easier for the empire to attack.

“That’s smart. Who thought of that strategy?”

“The empress of course. The emperor is just a good-for-nothing man who inherits the throne because his parents couldn’t make any more babies. If not for that, the internal dispute between princes would remove him in no time.” Mary snorted. “The empire lay on her shoulder, but everyone praised the emperor.”

Aldred sat down on the grass. “I see. The empress must be so amazing.”

“Of course. She is the most amazing woman I have ever known. Her cold expression and nonchalant manner are so beautiful. No man is worthy to have her. No men! But women are allowed. Women like me.”

Mary blushed, then turned to the side as she looked at Aldred grinning.

“You’re a lesbian.”

“What’s a lesbian?”

“Lesbian is a female that liked other females sexually.”

Mary looked down and thought for a moment. “No. I only like the queen. The place inside my heart is only there for her. No other woman is allowed to stay in it.”

Aldred rolled his eyes.

“Why are you sitting down?! Continue your training!”

WHIP!_-.

“OW! It hurt!”

…

Aldred fell on the grass again. This time, he was so tired that he just looked at the sky in a daze.

[Swinging 12 KG sword for 210 times Completed. EXP reward: 210+ EXP]

[EXP: 210/240]

Aldred didn’t even notice the screen. He was so tired that his mind went blank.

Water poured onto his face, waking him up from his open-eyes slumber.

“Wake up! The enemy will kill you if you sleep on the battlefield,” Mary said.

“Does this empty plain of grassland look like a battlefield to you!?”

“Do you want to get whipped that bad?” Mary asked, staring at him.

Aldred looked down in fear. “No, mam.”

For a few days, Mary kept on training him with a strict routine. Morning: 100 swings, noon; 12KM run, evening: Conditioning by whipping the stomach

Aldred lifted his clothes in tears. “Please don’t do it too hard.”

Mary drew the blade over her head and swung it with all of her weight.

SLAP!

“OW!”

Thankfully, he could rest as much as he wanted at night. Throughout the training, his stats and exp had increased.

[Your strength increased by 1 point]

[Your strength increased by 1 point]

[Your vitality increased by 1 point]

[Your vitality increased by 1 point]

[Your dexterity increased by 1 point]

[Your dexterity increased by 1 point]

[You have level up]

[You have level up]

…

———

[Aldred]

Health Points: 40/40

Level: 10

Titles: Depressed boy

Power:

-Fireball: Lv. 1

Attributes:

-Strength: 8

Vitality: 8

-Intelligence: 2

-Dexterity: 4

Stat points: 16

Skill points: 16

———

[You’ve reached level 10. Awaiting reward…]

[Martial Art: Bone Breaking Fingers]

[Sword Art Offline]

[Magic Art: Flame Jet]

[Please choose only one]

Aldred lay on the floor of the carriage as he looked at the screen. ‘I get to choose a skill every ten levels up?’

[No.]

‘Why not?’ Aldred asked.

The system then explained that he would only get to choose some skills after getting the next grade; Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Adamantite, and Mythical. There were many more grades after that, but they were so far away to reach, that Aldred didn’t bother to look at them.

For now, he was a copper grade by the definition of this planet. The system had its own definition;

[Infinitesimal]

Which literally meant; extremely small, or a value close to reaching zero. If it was translated to human words then the system basically said he was so weak and tiny as dust.

“At least my PP is big, hahaha!”

[…]

“Aldred, do you want me to whip your head to help you sleep?”

“…” Aldred immediately went to sleep. Cih! Even his mother didn’t force him to sleep. If he woke up all night, then she would give him milk until morning. On the other hand, this lady wouldn’t be a good mother in the future.

He pitied her future children if she would ever have one.

Anyway, Aldred had long been thinking about having an epic adventure in a fantasy world back in his past life. Maybe falling into the world where mortals reside wasn’t so bad. He might as well level up and strengthen himself while exploring the world until his family return.

He also had that blessing where he could control the undead. Hehe. His father would be so shocked if he had thousands of undead army with him. Aldred couldn’t wait to give them the shock of their life.

Aldred ignored the reward screen and slept. He would choose tomorrow after he got his mind cleared.

The carriage continued its travel during the night. Mary wanted to drop the boy quickly. She didn’t care about him at all, in fact, she hated him for getting the empress’ attention. All her attention was supposed to be for her, not some random boy.

She regretted taking the boy to the throne hall. Maybe she should have just shooed him away at that time.

Now, all she wanted to do was quickly throw him away on the battlefield. Mary didn’t know why the empress wanted her to train him though.

She hesitated. She could do more to train him, and help him survive on the front line, but she didn’t want to. Yet, her feeling contradicted what the empress wanted. What if the boy was the secret weapon of the empress for rolling the empire to its knees, and for her to finally take control.

Could that be possible? A young annoying, dumb-looking boy became the sword of the empress?

She released the rope, and let the horses pull the carriage. She grabbed the small handle on the small wood before pulling it to the side. Inside the carriage, she saw the little boy was fast asleep. His body glowing with bright fairies flew around him. Not only that, beautiful plants and flowers grew from the floor, lighting up the room and wrapping the boy in warmth and comfort.

Mary was shocked. She had never seen this type of magic before. It was so beautiful like the paradise she had always dreamed of. She turned her gaze to the boy and noticed his leap in progress. “He entered the bronze stage?”

It was only yesterday that the boy didn’t have any stage yet, but now all of a sudden he has it? Was it these fairies’ doing?

She shook her head. She had always felt the boy’s progression was weirdly quick, but she didn’t think much about it, because a lot of young boys got stuck right before the bronze gate. Usually, only when someone reached the age of twenty years old could they break through the bronze stage.

Mary flinched when she heard Aldred groan as he rolled around on the floor. Saliva trickled from his mouth. He reached out both of his hands. “Mama, give me your breast milk.”

“…”