A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War!

“Ugh… I’m so tired,” Jeff complained as we walked back. “I think I’ll go rest as soon as we get back.”

“You should rest first. I’ll practice my swordsmanship a bit before heading in,” Kaiyan said.

“Sure, just don’t push yourself too hard.”

As Jeff walked back into the barracks, rubbing his eyes as if exhausted, Kaiyan drew his sword, preparing to practice. The only difference from yesterday was that he held a shield in his left hand.

“I’ve been practicing my swordplay consistently, and it’s helped me acquire a new skill. Maybe if I swing my shield around blindly, I’ll get a new skill for that too?” Kaiyan wondered aloud.

Kaiyan’s goal now was to acquire a skill for shield mastery.

If the principle behind acquiring a new skill was simply through repetitive use, then a skill for the shield would eventually come.

Whooosh!

“Is this how you use it?” Kaiyan swung his sword and shield wildly in the air.

However, even after mindlessly swinging his shield for over an hour, Kaiyan still couldn’t acquire the skill he was hoping for.

“What’s the problem? Or does the skill for shield mastery not exist?” he thought aloud.

Kaiyan tried to think about what was different from yesterday, but he couldn’t understand what was causing the problem. Frustrated, he let out a sigh. “Ugh… it’s okay. It’s too early to be disappointed.”

Although Kaiyan couldn’t acquire the skill for the shield, there were still two things left to look forward to: leveling up and checking out the shop and mailbox that Riaka mentioned.

“Status window,” Kaiyan said.

Name: Kaiyan / Age: 15 / Occupation: Player / Title: None

Level: 3 / Strength: 7 / Agility: 7 / Stamina: 7 / Intelligence: 9 / Free Points: 4

Compared to when he first opened his status window yesterday, Kaiyan’s strength had increased by 1, and his level had gone up by an impressive 2.

“My strength probably increased thanks to the strength potion… and I remember that I can use my points to distribute them wherever I want. So, let’s add 4 points to my strength.” He thought

Kaiyan used all his points to increase his strength from 7 to 11.

As his strength increased by 4, Kaiyan felt the difference in his whole body compared to when it only increased by 1 yesterday.

“It feels light.” The sword in his right hand felt much lighter.

Kaiyan swung my sword a few times to practice, and even though he used only a little force, the sword moved quickly.

“Great. With this much strength, I won’t lose to The Gnoll in terms of power. Next up… open the shop window.”

Ding! [The shop can be used from level 10 onwards.]

Since Riaka, the beginner’s guide, had told Kaiyan that players could purchase items at the shop, he wanted to open it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use it yet because his level was too low.

“I wanted to check out the cool items for players, but they were nowhere to be found.” Kaiyan sighed and opened up the mailbox.

Ding! A notification popped up: [Mailbox: Player Awakening Reward, 24226 Dimension’s First Player Awakening Reward]

Kaiyan eyed the two mysterious items with curiosity. As soon as he touched them, they disappeared from the mailbox and landed in his storage.

“They’re both Player Awakening Rewards? What’s the difference?”

A small box materialized in his left hand, looking identical to the quest reward box from yesterday.

“Is this another one of those?” Kaiyan opened the box.

Ding! Another notification appeared: [Do you want to use the Random Skill Draw Ticket?]

“A Skill Draw Ticket? I could get skills from these boxes?” Kaiyan decided to take his chances and drew a skill.

Instead of an item, a small draw ticket materialized in his hand then fazed into it.

Ding! Another notification appeared: [You have acquired the scent of temptation (A).]

Kaiyan was taken aback. “What the hell? Let’s see what this thing can do.”

Kaiyan opened up the skill window and checked out the new skill. The name was strange, and the rank was A.

[Skills]

Active Skills:

-Scent of Temptation (A)

Passive Skills:

-Basic Swordsmanship (D)

Ding! Another notification appeared: [Scent of Temptation (A): Generates a scent that attracts the opposite sex to the user for a certain period of time.]

Kaiyan blinked. “What the Hell? What kind of trash skill is this?” Kaiyan felt his hope almost shatter.

“Well, there’s still one more reward box left. Maybe that one will be better.” Kaiyan touched the storage, trying to get his hopes up.

“Let’s give it a try.”

The next box in his hand had a different look, adorned with shiny jewels and a golden color. It was so pretty, he even considered selling it without opening it.

“Let’s open it anyway.” Kaiyan opened the box, eager to see what was inside.

Ding! Another notification appeared: [Do you want to use the Mythical Rank Random Skill Draw Ticket?]

Now, that sounded promising. Kaiyan’s heart raced as he chose to use it, hoping for something epic.

As expected, it was a skill selection ticket. The only difference was that a myth had been added in front of it.

Kaiyan wondered if this myth was the one he knew. Regardless, he decided to use it, hoping that the random skill selection ticket of myth-level quality would live up to its name.

The box started trembling suddenly as if it was about to break. Kaiyan nervously wrapped his hands around it and looked around, worried that someone might see him. Luckily, the surroundings were quiet because of the time of day.

“Phew… Is it normal for it to open like this?” Kaiyan muttered.

According to what he had heard from Rieka, reward boxes opened “immediately” depending on the user’s intention. However, the box in front of him was twitching as if it was going to explode, looking quite dangerous.

“Whoa…”

Kaiyan didn’t know if something was wrong. Quickly, he placed the box on the ground and took a step back slowly.

Pashuwooong.

At that moment, the box slowly opened, and the mist inside filled the surroundings. Kaiyan unconsciously covered his nose and mouth, but it seemed like a figment of his imagination without any harmful substances.

Finally, one notification appeared before his blurry vision.

Ding! [Kaiyan has obtained Limit Enhancement (SSS)]

“Huh? SSS grade?” Kaiyan was surprised.

Limit Enhancement. Just the name gave him a good feeling. No, putting that aside, if it was an SSS grade, it was the highest grade that Rieka mentioned.

With an excited heart that was difficult to calm down, Kaiyan called up the skill window.

Ding! [Limit Enhancement (SSS): Can be used once, increases the user’s level Limit]

“Increases the user’s level limit? Does it mean… it raises the level?” Kaiyan questioned, confused by the skill’s ambiguous explanation.

“Anyway, let’s try using it. It’s an SSS grade, so it should be good. Use Limit Enhancement.”

Ding! [Player’s level limit has increased from 99 to 299.]

” Level Limit?” Kaiyan muttered.

Although he used the skill, his level did not increase, nor did his strength become stronger. It seemed like the limit of the level that could be raised had increased, judging only by the voice that he heard.

“…It’s a useless skill right now. My level is only 3, but 299? Haah…” Kaiyan sighed.

Right now, the Limit Enhancement skill was no better than the garbage Scent of Temptation. He felt disappointed because if a skill related to a shield had come out, he would have found it more useful.

Of course, just by looking at the ranks of swordsmanship skills, Kaiyan knew how amazing SSS and A-ranked skills were. However, he was well aware that they were not skills that could be used right away on the battlefield.

“I’m risking my life every day hunting monsters for skills that are meant for the future. There’s no guarantee that I can stay alive to use them,” he thought to himself.

Giving up on any further thoughts about skills, he continued to swing his sword in the air. Tomorrow, he would have nothing to rely on but his swordsmanship skills on the battlefield.

***

It was the third day of Kaiyan’s awakening as a player.

Puhhhhh!

The sound of war horns echoed across the plains as usual.

Today, Kaiyan’s plan was to focus on hunting Gnolls rather than goblins.

“With the increased strength, it should be more than enough,” Kaiyan thought to himself.

His strength had increased from 7 to 11, and he was now equipped with armor that he had fitted the day before. Even when his strength was only 7, he could defeat a Gnoll if he remained calm. But with his increased strength and the new armor, there was no reason for him to lose to a Gnoll unless he made a foolish mistake.

“I’ll enter the central area before this war ends.”

The stronger monsters existed as one moved further into the monster horde toward the center. The outermost perimeter was filled with small monsters such as goblins and Gnolls, while the stronger monsters like orcs, elves, red orcs, trolls, minotaurs, and ogres were waiting further inside.

“My goal is to face the larger monsters,” Kaiyan thought to himself.

Before becoming a player, he could not even dream of facing a large monster. But now, something that seemed impossible had become a near-future reality.

“Ugh…let’s go.”

Following the soldiers who were running towards the monster horde as ordered by the commander, Kaiyan headed towards the outer area.

As soon as they arrived in the outer area, they were greeted by a familiar goblin running towards them, screaming.