Hhhh... Just Another Harsh Day Indeed
The training hall is so big. It consists of an arena on the center, hexagonal UFC style but with bigger walls made of chains, and bigger areas as well. Surrounding the arena is the training floor used for basic training. Racks of training weapons are placed on every corner of the hall. One rack consists of several weapons of one weapon type.
There are others who already train here. Some of them are doing basic fitness training, while others are doing combat drilling. I see two people sparring in the arena as well.
"Hey Jak, this is the Rama, the new-born that just awaken today." Enggar approaches the one that seems to be the instructor there. He has a rectangle, muscular face with bald hair, flat rectangular nose, protruding lips, sharp protruding eyes, and a beard surrounding his chin.
"Hhhh…. Another one" said the instructor.
"Rama, this is Jaka, your instructor here."
"Sir.." I said, awkwardly.
"I'll be leaving you here, Rama, there are other things that I need to do. We'll meet again later. Jaka, take good care of him okay. See ya guys!" Said Enggar waving his hand to me. He left the training hall immediately. I watch him leave, before turning my head to Jaka.
"So, you just awaken huh.. Lemme get you straight to the point. You'll begin the training with other rookies there. The training plan consists of basic fitness training, such as push-ups, sit-ups, et cetera, et cetera, you name it yourself for the first half of the day and the basic combat drill for the other half. We all started with unarmed combat. The training goes for 7 days straight and ends with sparring on day seven. The second week will be weapon combat training. You can choose your weapon of choice among 5 types of basic weapons we have. There are sword and shield, great sword, twin blades, hammer, and spear. Same as before, you'll be having a spar on day 14. Any questions?"
"Uhhh… No, Sir. I think that's clear enough already."
"Good, now go join the rookie trainee there. You'll begin by stretching and warming up first before proceeding to the fitness training."
"Yes, sir!"
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Jaka trained me harshly along with several other new-borns, some of them awaken before me, while some others after. The fitness training was already hard enough, not to mention the combat drills after. We began by perfecting our stance and posture, before proceeding to the attacks drill. Jab, straight, hook, uppercut, straight kick, side kick, all of them combined to make some combos. Then, the pairing drills, where one strike and others defend, either by dodging, parrying, or blocking.
After two days of training, I notice an increase in my Athletic skill, then after three days, my Combat skill increases. My exp bar also filled up which states 25/330. With those, it feels like my body feels slightly better, fitness training seems to be slightly easier, and my combat techniques feel a little bit more fluid than before. Damn, this mutation is legit. I wonder what would it feel like to be having a high point in these skills, not to mention the other two skills, Thinking & Observation, and Communication. Would I get a girlfriend easier with a high point in this skill? And then there's this leveling system. What will I become when I reach a higher level and thus high attributes points? Thoughts about this give me a little smirk on my lips.
"Hey, you! Focus on the God damn training will ya? Listen to me carefully! And what's that smirk I saw on your lips? Got a few points of increment in your skill huh?" Jaka shouts out to me as he can penetrate into my mind.
"Umm... No, Sir…"
"Don't lie to me! I can tell from your very face. Think how long have I been doing this, huh..? I know every new-borns similar characteristics when they got a few points of skill upgrades. Fine, I'll increase your training. Add 10 more reps to all your training!"
Well, shit... Just as I feel that this training will become easier, I made a mistake that makes the rest of the day become just as hard as before.
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After the rigorous training on day third, Jaka gathers all of us together. It seems he's gonna make an announcement.
"Listen up, rookies! You are new to this world, and thus perhaps there are things that you might not know. I train you harshly, that's to push your limit on training. With that, you will get a significant increment in your skills, which will benefit you accordingly. Alas, I'm unable to give each of you the specific portion of the training required to push your limits. You, of all people, should know how hard you should go. If you want to become more powerful quickly, increase your training accordingly, that will NOT waste your time. Understood?"
"YES, SIR!!" We all shouted in response to his lecture. After that, Jaka dismissed us all, so I go straight back to my quarter.
"Heyy!" I heard someone calling me out from behind, so I turn my head to the voice.
"You, yes you!" I saw two people, other rookies from my batch waving his hand to me before approaching me, one boy, and one girl. The boy has a round face, hair that looks like a tip of a rectangular brush, wide almond eyes, a small mouth with thin lips, and a medium-sized – slightly pointy nose. The girl has a heart-shaped face with round eyes, a slightly flat wide nose, medium-sized mouth with a slight protrusion on her lips, and wavy hair.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Nothing, it's just, we're kinda curious on how you can increase your skill?" Ask the boy.
"Well, I don't know exactly how it leveled up. Jaka said we just have to give it our best in each of our training sessions."
"Yeah, but we've already done our best, yet our Athletic skill still hasn't increased any point. Only the Combat skill" The girl said in response.
"Well, since this new world has a game-like system, perhaps it's due to your skill point that is higher than me. How much are your current Combat and Athletic skill?"
"My Combat skill is 13, and my Athletic is 20. How 'bout you Jan?" The boy answered.
"I'm 11 in combat, and 22 in Athletic."
"God damn! You were athletes or something? How could your athletic skill get so high early?"
"Hehhhe… I'm a captain of my high school football team, while my sister here is a member of the basketball team. How about you?"
"I'm only 11 in athletic, 16 in combat," I smirk awkwardly.
"Wow, your combat skill is higher than us. You fight a lot before?" Ask the boy.
"Well, I joined the MMA class... I'm not that good anyway. My Combat skill isn't as high as your Athletic one."
"Ohhh... Come on, don't be like that.. You got a basic combat experience, that's good. Since we train to be a hunter, I guess Combat has better value than Athletic. Anyway, we haven't introduced ourselves, my name is Arjuna, you can call me Juna, and this noisy girl right here is my sister, Anjani."
"Look who's talking! I'm Anjani by the way, you can call me Jani. What's your name?"
"I'm Rama," I answered, and we shake each other hands.
"Hey, Rama, what about we hang together, maybe make a small party or something? We can even go hunt together after this." Juna ask.
"Well, that would be great! It's good to have company."
"Nice! That settles it. We're buddies now." Said the boy enthusiastically.
"Yes, yes! We're buddies now, right Rama?"
"Ahhhahah.. Right.."
"Ok then, see ya tomorrow Rama! Let us train together."
"Kay.." I smile while waving my hands to them. They hastily leave to the barracks, though we're actually heading in the same direction. Perhaps it's necessary to prevent an awkward moment from happening.
After that, me, Juna, and Jani spent the rest of the training days together. We often hang out after training, sometimes in my room, sometimes in their rooms, wherever we feel like. It feels good to finally got some friends here, It helps me adapt to the new environment, and get rid of the lonely feelings. Like me, they're all alone now. The feelings of having friends now means more than just a hangout buddy, but more like a family. We got no one now, so we only have each other.
Three days have passed, we've finished the unarmed combat training. Tomorrow is the sparring session. Even though sparring always gets me excited, I feel like something bad will happen during the sparring session. I mean, this time, the reason we train is to prepare us as a monster hunter. We're really going to use what we got here in real life-death situation up there. Thus, sparring session wouldn't be just a regular fun sparring, but perhaps, a simulation to a life-death simulation. This bad thought occupies my mind throughout the day.
"Ramaa, what are you thinking?" Jani distracts me from the thoughts.
"Uhh... I just got sunk in the visualization of your story Jani. Ahahahahh..." I lied.
"Hmm... That explains your frowning face, you must be so scaredd.. Ahahaahhaahh.."
"Well, dammit Jani, but you got me on this one." I put up a pissed off face.
"Hahahhaa I don't know that you're so easy to get scared, Rama. Ahahahahahah" Juna replied.
"I'm not!! Okay, okayyy, it's my turn now right? I'll tell you a horror story so scary that you will piss off your pants!"
"Go ahead and try scaredy-boy, Ahahahahahahahhahah" Juna mocks me.
"Ghhhhh, fuck you two!"
Then, it's my turn to tell the story.
We were hanging out in Anjani's room this time. We were telling horror stories of the past. I don't know why but horror stories are always exciting. I can't wait to hang with them again tomorrow, they're so much fun. Well, at least I got a happy thought that can distract me from the bad thoughts of tomorrow. After hanging out, I and Juna leave for our own chamber to prepare ourselves for another exhausting day.
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My chamber is quite big. It's divided into two main sections, the bedroom, and the storage room. The storage room occupies ¾ of the total area, so I think it serves more to store equipment than it is for items I guess.
I went to the storage room to take my ration. As Enggar told me, the new-borns got 2 weeks' worth of rations and an initial 500 bits. We also got 2 pairs of clothing, which consists of a brown shirt, and a white shirt. I plan to spend the bits for laundry since I have yet to understand how to dry my clothing here. We're underground, remember?
Bits seem to be the new currency here. It doesn't have any physical form, it's totally digital that is stored in each of our HUD. The transfer of bit is also unique. It is done by choosing the transaction option in the drop-down menu of our HUD, select the target of the transaction, then we just need to enter the amounts of bits we want to send. The bits will be received by our target of the transaction, and the transaction will be complete.
After finishing my meal, I took a real' quick shower, as my body was so stiff it couldn't hold much longer. As I finished drying my body, I took-a-look at the mirror to see how I look after the harsh training with Jaka. My body is getting in shape quite fast. I could see my slightly protruding stomach is carved, leaving a flat stomach with a slight four-pack surfaced. I looked at my face, still not much of a difference. Oval face, medium-wide flat nose, slanted eyes, slightly thick-medium-protruding lips. My flat chin is covered with a medium-thick beard. My hair is kinda wavy. It's difficult to shape my hair which makes me resent it quite a bit.
I hit the bed right after that. I immediately closed my eyes. Thoughts of another hard day slithering me. I don't wanna sleep late. I wanna sleep as much as possible. Right now, the bed seems to be my only source of happiness. I love my bed. As I closed my eyes, my body was getting lighter, lighter, and lighter, my mind starts to blur, and I eventually fell asleep.