Ch 62: Training [5]
[April 16th, 2024], Training Center, Dragon Kingdom, Blue Star.
Evan was walking toward the rooms designated for individual practice. He entered the hallway where rooms were lined up on one side.
He took out his card, which he received from the attendant, and found the number 68 written on it. He started glancing at the room numbers to find the one assigned to him. After searching for a few minutes, he reached his allocated room.
He swiped his card in the gate system, and the gate opened as he walked inside. He found a decent-looking room with some dummies and a few types of wooden weapons set up along one of the walls.
"Well, this looks quite decent for the price. But since this is the only place I can train, I have to make do," Rey said as he walked toward the dummies and placed one in the center of the room.
He picked up one of the wooden swords and stood in front of the dummy. "Okay, here we go again," Rey told himself as he slashed the sword at the dummy. After slashing it, the sword made a little crackling sound, but there was no visible damage. However, the dummy shot toward the wall and slammed into it.
"Oo~~psie~~! It looks like these things can't stop my force of attack; these are too weak and lightweight to withstand my force. What to do now, hmm?" Rey started think as Aiden appeared in front of him, not saying anything and just staring at him to see what he would do to solve this problem. Aiden had the solution but wouldn't tell him until the end.
"Ah, yes, I have thing," said as he picked up the dummy from the ground, put it back in place, and picked up his sword again.
"Zero, can you help cover this dummy with some armor?"
[?????? Okay, if you say so,] Zero responded as her body particles started to emerge from his body, creeping through the floor and covering the dummy like a body.
The dummy was now covered in armor, looking completely different from before.
Rey didn't hesitate as he slashed the sword crudely again.
This time, dummy fell back a little but came back like a Roly-poly toy.
"Now that's better," he said as he ruthlessly attacked the dummy. Only after getting a little tired, did he stop and decide to check the proficiency level of the weapons.
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<Weapon mastery>
[1. Sword: F- (74%)
2. Dagger and Knives: F (12%)
3. Spear: F- (0%)
4. Shield: F- (0%)
5. Bow: F- (0%)
6. Great sword: F- (0%)
7. Hand to Hand: F (10%)
8. Gun: F- (0%)
9. Hammer: F- (0%)
10. Katana: F- (0%)]
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"Okay, the proficiency bar appeared. That's good now," Rey said as Aiden watched him train. Rey checked his proficiency level every five minutes as he trained, and his proficiency level reached
"Huh! What the hell was that?" Rey asked as he looked at Aiden and Victor, who were watching him from the side.
"Ahhhmmm~~! Well, kid, let me tell you a little thing. You suck at training."
"Huh! What did you say? But I thought it was really quick to get to the next stage in half an hour or less, maybe." He asked, but Victor just sighed as he came in front of him and explained.
"Kid, I think we should tell you that a normal candidate might take only a few minutes to cross this stage, which took you this long to handle."
"Yes, he told you right. I have seen many people train in their weapon mastery, and the time you took was already much worse than most I have seen, maybe the worst one," Aiden said as Rey stood in front of them with a blank face.
"Aaa! So, you mean that I am the trashiest king of the kings among them?" He asked as both didn't want to say but had to, so they nodded in unison.
Rey was completely demotivated, and even the sword fell from his hand as both started to panic. They could feel Zero's dangerous gaze from behind them.
"B-but don't worry, maybe you have talent in other things like magic, strategy, alchemy, botany, beast taming, soul manipulation, or anything else."
"Yes, right. And why do you fear when we three are here to make you strong?" "Do not worry, for I will not back down after what has been done. I know that I am not talented enough to rival your previous host, but I will strive to meet your expectations," he told them with a straight face. He then picked up his sword again and started attacking with double the effort.
His effort yielded significant results as his proficiency increased rapidly compared to before.
His training efforts bore fruit, as after a few minutes of, his sword showed remarkable improvement.
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Sword: F {2% → 85%)}
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Even Aiden and Victor were surprised to see the improvement as Rey may have touched the average candidate potential.
But what happened next made them sigh as Rey was lying on the ground trying to catch his breath, his body extremely tired. However, he recovered in a few minutes due to the abilities of Victor's relic.
Rey was happy to see the improvement, as anyone would be. After taking a break, he went on to train again, thinking to change his weapon after reaching
He checked the time and found that he still had three hours and eleven minutes left before the staff would come to ask if he wanted to extend his time or if he was just late.
Rey didn't think much about the time and started to train again. This time, however, it was harder to reach one hundred percent proficiency, progressing at a snail's pace. Aiden told him,
"Maybe what you're training now is just a crude way of handling the sword. The feeling you had before was a reminder that you must handle the sword in a more refined way. Increasing proficiency means getting better with the weapon. Do you really think that attacking randomly will let you upgrade in minor stages? If not, you might not even be able to cross into the major realm of
Rey thought about Aiden's words and realized they were true. The way he was using the blade was like a newbie trying to save his life from a monster.
As he stood in front of the dummy, he tried again and again, but his proficiency didn't increase. Just as he was about to give up, he started to feel that same feeling again.
This time, he didn't let it pass away like a sweet cold breeze but tried to grasp what he had to do as he raised his sword again. Something was different this time.
His eyes were closed, his breathing steady, his hands and feet firm, and his grip on the sword handle strong. Without opening his eyes, he struck down his sword on the dummy covered in Zero particles. She was alerted by the movement and raised the guards to higher levels.
Rey didn't open his eyes, expecting his attempt to fail again, but instead, he heard the thud of the dummy falling to the ground.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that the dummy and the armor of Zero were still intact but lying on the floor. If anyone asked why her armor was so good, the answer would be that it was a singularity rank relic of the same tier, what can you expect it to be if can't even guard such attack.
"Wow, didn't expect you to gain the lowest stage enlightenment twice, even though one was wasted. But congratulations on going beyond your simplicity," Victor said. Rey, still standing with his sword, looked at the notification popping up in front of him, showing his progress.
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Sword: F+(^) {88% → 00%)}
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After seeing the notification, Rey collapsed to the ground with a loud thud as if he had lost consciousness.
Aiden shouted, "Oi..."
-< To be continued >-
What happened to him? Did he fall asleep, or is there another reason?