Kaizen was immersed in filtering out the iron impurities for some time. The translucent arrow on the bellows guided him as to how he should follow, so he raised the furnace temperature precisely as well.

Soon Therkara Ironstone stopped supervising Kaizen and went digging through the pile of weapons and tools. When she returned, worried about whether he was doing well, she was shocked when she checked his work.

Slack-jawed and with a trembling voice, Therkara asked:

“How are you so skilled with casting?”

Her skin was so pale that she finally resembled a ghost.

“You have experience in casting, don’t you? This must not be your first time.” She continued.

“No, this is my first time casting…”

Now Therkara looked as if she had seen a haunting. She lost her smith-master posture for a moment but tried to recover afterward.

“Khum… That’s really impressive, apprentice… A person without any experience is already better than I used to be. It feels like I’m dreaming. I would venture to say that you are descended from the dwarves but don’t have short fingers.”

“That would be a high compliment, but I wouldn’t go that far. I believe I am only learning from the best smith master there is.”

Therkara turned slightly red and smiled appreciatively.

Meanwhile, the molten iron inside the furnace was complete.

[You have just created ‘Cast Iron (5x)’].

[Bonus: Since this was your first casting as a blacksmith, you gained +500 XP.]

[Congratulations, you’ve just moved up to level 8!]

‘Great! Level 8!’ Kaizen celebrated.

At the same time, he opened his attribute screen to check his theory about persistence, and if he were in the real world, he would have pinched himself at the sight of those huge numbers.

‘Is this a dream?’

He tried not to go into euphoria. However, it was enough to look at his attributes again that his characteristic smile of excitement appeared on his face.

Normally, Kaizen was so unlucky in life that he avoided raising expectations, but for the first time after a long time, he felt he was doing well at something. So, he warned Therkara that he was going to buy some food, and when she allowed him to do this, he first withdrew from the Medullar Forge and then logged out.

Klaus Park got up from his bed in real life and looked at his watch. It was almost three o’clock on Sunday afternoon. It was still technically early.

“That was a dream, wasn’t it?” he wondered, remembering what he had seen earlier.

The feeling of waking up in his cozy bed after playing Rise Online was not much different from waking up after a long sleep.

“No, I shouldn’t anticipate anything. I’ll check it out…”

First, Klaus went to the bathroom to take care of his bodily needs, poured ice water over his head, and finally sat down in the chair in front of the computer where the NeuroGear’s network cable was connected.

He opened the Rise Online client and clicked on the AVATAR tab, where he would be able to access all his items that could be placed on the World Market. This place was a kind of exclusive site for selling and buying items between Rise Online players, and in the AVATAR tab, he could also access his character’s current stats screens.

[Attributes

Level: 8

HP: 130 | Vitality: 10

Intelligence: 15 | Luck: 6

Attack: 25 | Agility: 13

Charisma: 3

Defense: 9

Magic Resistance: 2 | MP: 55

PR: 120.]

There were no changes in the content of the attribute window after he left Rise Online, so it was not a dream. Klaus’ heart began to beat fast again.

“… It worked.”

The base stats of a level 1 human character are Strength 1, Speed 1, and Agility 1. Undoubtedly, the human race in Rise Online has always been considered the weakest in attributes, but also the most comfortable and versatile in the entire game.𝞸𝐕𝐋xt.𝗰𝒪𝔪

Normally, each player can raise a maximum of five stat points per level, depending on how he or she plays. In other words, the total number of stats for a level 8 character is 43 points at most.

However, with Kaizen, it was different from the start; after all, he skipped the soft part of the Early Game and took on one challenge after another. At the very first level, he used the advantage he had from his high PR against Elfire Waylan to the maximum. Thanks to this effort, he upgraded a few levels, increasing his Strength, Speed, and Agility attributes. Then he lost several levels, and when dying, he reached negative levels. After it, he got back to level 3 in a short time after killing monsters with attributes ten times higher than his, giving him many points from this effort as well.

​ Due to all this effort and momentum, the stats of the first Psych Class holder became frighteningly high. Adding up all attributes except HP, MP, and PR, Kaizen already had an immense total of 83 attribute points just three days after purchasing Rise Online.

Using simple math, Kaizen’s current stats were already higher than those of someone at level 15, which meant that he had an overwhelming advantage against players with the same level.

Furthermore, Kaizen’s points were incredibly well distributed. He had many points in Intelligence, Strength, Agility, and Vitality, something that was unusual.

For example, a player who has received the Mage Class will logically focus on increasing his Intelligence to be able to increase the power of his spells. Meanwhile, the Strength attribute will be underrated, since most Mages fight from the rear and the offensive power of their spells is much more important than their actual strength.

Obviously, some Mages choose to play as a Combat Mage, but patience is needed to follow this path. After all, Mages who don’t focus on increasing their Intelligence in the Early Game fall far behind those who do and can rarely catch up in power level.

Anyway, Klaus Park was relieved not to focus on this issue for the time being.

After he found out that increasing Intelligence increased the firepower of his Class Skills, he wanted that leaving <Telekinesis> with overwhelming strength would be super useful. To do that, it would require him to increase his Mana as well, since firepower is proportional to your Mana. However, focusing on that was out of his plans, at least for now, what he really needed was to get money.

Kaizen rubbed his eyes in front of the computer screen, but the 40 extra attribute points didn’t disappear. He was so happy that he began to tremble.

‘Staying at the negative level was not for nothing!’

All of Kaizen’s fights now had a meaning beyond his thirst for excitement and fun. Maybe he wasn’t as unlucky as he thought he was.

Is there a language in this world that could express the happiness he was feeling? He didn’t know the answer to that; he could only laugh.

“Puahahahahat~!”

The sound of Klaus Park’s laughter was proportional to the overwhelming happiness that squeezed his chest. He only stopped laughing when his stomach started to hurt and when someone knocked on his bedroom door.

“Big bro, are you okay?” It was Ard, Klaus’ younger brother.

Klaus got up from his chair, opened the door, and answered:

“Hehe! I’m fine, don’t worry about me… By the way, Ard, you don’t use your NeuroGear much, do you? I’ve made up my mind that I want to buy it for myself. Are you willing to sell it?”

The little boy’s eyes sparkled with excitement since he already wanted to sell the NeuroGear to buy a cat he saw at the nearby pet shop. However, Ard was also a Park, and he tried to hide his true intentions from his brother to make more money than he needed.

“Okay, I’m listening. What is your initial proposal?” Ard asked. He was only seven years old, but was already a very smart boy.

“I’ll give you $75.” Klaus offered.

“Deal done.” Ard accepted on the spot without giving his opponent in the negotiation a chance to back out.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https:///bpqq9u4gS8

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