Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 57: Class Upgrade

Robert corrected his footing again, nudged the butt of the spear lower, and made him repeat the same thrust until the movement stopped looking stiff. Before long, Martin realized the blacksmith knew far more about fighting than he had expected.

In the end, Martin focused on spear thrusts.

With Robert’s help, he tethered a link to a heavy block of metal and walked thirty meters away.

Then he started moving back and forth around that limit, forcing the mechanic to keep triggering whenever the distance stretched too far. Each time the block snapped back toward his shield, he practiced meeting it with a spear thrust timed to the pull, putting proper body movement and weight behind the strike.

The first attempt felt mistimed from the start. Martin thrust too early, mostly with his arms, and the tip struck with more force than a normal poke but nowhere near what he wanted.

[Damage dealt: 18]

Robert clicked his tongue. "Too eager. Let the pull finish more of the work. Sink your weight into it."

Martin adjusted his footing and tried again. "Too early... got it."

This time, he held his position longer and let the tether drag the metal deeper into his range before committing. The hit landed better, and the vibration that ran up the shaft told him the weapon had connected cleaner.

[Damage dealt: 26]

"Better," Robert said. "Now stop stabbing with just your arms. Thrust from the ground."

Martin inhaled, planted his feet, and tried a third time.

The tether tightened, and the metal block scraped forward. He waited half a beat longer, then drove the spear with his whole body behind it, shield tucked in, shoulders aligned, and weight flowing through the thrust instead of getting stuck in his upper body.

[Critical Strike!]

[Damage dealt: 39]

Martin’s eyes widened. "Okay... yeah. That felt different."

This time, the force had not died in his arms.

It had risen cleanly from his footing, traveled through his body, and driven straight into the thrust. For one sharp instant, the spear no longer felt awkward in his hands. It felt precise, fast, and brutally honest, like the weapon had finally stopped resisting him and shown him what it wanted.

A grin spread across Robert’s face. "There ye go. Feel that? That’s the difference between poking and piercing."

"So that’s what I was missing," Martin muttered.

Martin did feel it. The strike had gone through much cleaner, and the movement itself had felt tighter, sharper, and far more controlled.

He reset at once and tried again, wanting to chase that same sensation before it slipped away.

The next thrust came out even smoother.

[Critical Strike!]

[Damage dealt: 47]

A proper posture really could trigger critical strikes and push his damage higher.

Martin kept practicing after that, repeating the motion until sweat clung to his back and his hands felt fully used to the spear’s rhythm. When he finally lowered the weapon and rolled his shoulders, he noticed the sun had already climbed to its peak.

Almost at the same time, messages from his friends logging in appeared in the corner of his vision.

[NukEncore: Good afternoon, Martin!]

[Emperoar: Hi! Did you sleep well?]

[NukEncore: Always! Of course I slept well after our victory, but never mind that! I listened to my favorite podcast today, and guess what! Men can be absolutely disgusting!]

Aren’t you talking to a man right now?

[Emperoar: What happened?]

[NukEncore: A male singer with only one hit song wore a marriage ring to lure women into affairs. Can you imagine that? The audacity! What a bastard! I want to hear your opinion as a man!]

My opinion is that this guy found a pretty effective trick for luring in women willing to cheat. Are those women really upset because they slept with a single man instead of a married one, though? Seriously? Wait, why are you even mad about this?

It was oddly cute that NukEncore wanted to hear his opinion, but he had a feeling it would only annoy her. This might actually be one of the first things he and NukEncore openly disagreed on.

Was it really worth ruining their good mood over something that stupid?

Martin had a simple answer.

[Emperoar: So all the guy had to do was wear a fake marriage ring, and it worked? Not gonna lie, that’s a pretty effective trick. Maybe I should try it sometime.]

[NukEncore: Martin! You men really are all the same! I swear! Hmph! Deeply disappointing!]

A few seconds later, another message popped up.

[NukEncore: So when are we doing the dungeon?]

Martin’s lips curled into a wide smile.

He didn’t want to agree with NukEncore just to keep the peace, or just because she was a woman.

In the first place, he saw her as a precious and fun teammate, so he wanted to know how she saw him, too. Her reply told him that even if they disagreed on some things, she still saw him as a friend.

Considering he still hadn’t learned her real name the last time they met, even this small bit of progress felt like a huge win already.

[Emperoar: Gimme a few minutes. I’ll be back at the academy soon.]

Martin then turned off his system notifications so NukEncore would not steal his attention again.

He went back to drilling the same movements into his body, repeating each thrust until it felt cleaner than the last. By now, the spear no longer felt like a strange extra weapon in his hands. It was starting to feel like something he could truly use.

He kept at it until sweat clung to his skin and his muscles burned from the constant motion.

Then, just as he finished another thrust and started to lower the spear, a sudden notification flashed before his eyes.

Martin jolted so hard his shoulders tensed, and his eyes widened as if someone had shouted right beside his ear.

[You have received a Class Upgrade Quest.]

No way... did I just get my first evolution prompt?