The DDD Effect

As the days passed, Ashen once again understood why the coach was so highly regarded.

Just as he had in physical training, the coach had an uncanny ability to pinpoint each trainee's limits and then push them beyond. 

His sharp eyes missed nothing. Every flaw in their stance, every mistake in their grip, every inefficiency in their movement… he corrected them all with machine-like precision.

He moved so fast it was almost ghostly, appearing beside a struggling student in one instant and at the other end of the field in the next. 

No matter the distance, no matter the weapon, his voice always reached those who needed guidance. 

It was as if the entire training field was his domain, and within it, he was omnipresent.

At first, everyone was shocked. Then, they were bewildered. But after witnessing his inhuman abilities day after day, they became numb to it. There was no use questioning it anymore. Instead, they focused on what mattered… mastering their weapons.

And with the coach's guidance, their progress was undeniable.

Arrows that once missed their mark now struck the bullseye. Sloppy footwork became coordinated. Wild swings transformed into polished strikes.

The coach wasn't just a good teacher; he was the best teacher they could have ever asked for.

Now, two weeks into their weapons training and one month since their arrival in the tutorial city, Ashen had undergone a visible transformation.

Between relentless drills and repeated use of the Dream Dive devices, he was beginning to look less like an alcoholic gambler and more like an actual warrior.

Seraphine and Braun were no different. What once were complete novices, barely capable of hunting a single monster, had become respectable fighters.

And now, the three of them were heading to the forest's outskirts, their hard work about to be put to the test. They had just accepted their first mandatory mission from the mission hall.

 *

As they walked, tossing the occasional joke to ease their nerves, their borrowed gear clinked in the sunlight.

The equipment came from the mission hall, and if anything broke during their expedition, they'd have to pay for it. 

Of course, after completing enough missions, they could buy out their gear and even upgrade to better-quality equipment. The tutorial city had a wide variety of weapons and armor available, if they could afford it.

However, contribution points, or AP for short, were something they severely lacked. This was their very first mission, after all.

AP was the official currency of Seravelle, regulated by an alliance of all human factions. 

According to their history lessons, one of many mandatory classes they'd attended over the past month, this same alliance was responsible for the creation of the tutorial city and many other foundational systems on the continent.

Back to today's mission, it was pretty simple: gather herbs.

Specifically, they were searching for certain restorative plants… ones Ashen recognized as the key ingredients in the medical tonic they drank after every grueling physical training session.

It was supposed to be easy.

Until Braun, who had been keeping watch while Ashen and Seraphine harvested a patch of herbs, suddenly tensed.

"A small pack of hyenas, just ahead!"

At his warning, the two immediately dropped the herbs and grabbed their weapons.

The first hyena wasted no time, lunging toward the weakest-smelling target—Seraphine.

Yip!

Before its fangs could sink into her, an unstoppable force slammed into its side, sending it tumbling several meters across the ground.

Braun stood firm, his shield still outstretched from the brutal impact. Without hesitation, he surged forward, raising his short axe to finish the disoriented beast—

Whoosh!

A sharp sound cut through the air as Ashen's spear thrust forward, piercing the fallen hyena's skull before it could even yelp.

Seraphine wasted no time either. With a sharp crack of her whip, she lashed at the legs of the two remaining hyenas, sending them stumbling forward.

Braun didn't miss the opportunity. With surprising agility, he dashed toward his first victim and brought his axe down, decapitating it in one clean stroke.

As he reoriented himself from the heavy swing, the third beast recovered, regaining its footing with startling fluidity. Before Braun could react, it lunged at his exposed side, claws outstretched.

Clang!

He barely managed to raise his shield in time. The impact sent him staggering two steps back, but before the hyena could press its attack—

Thrust!

A wet gurgle escaped the beast as Ashen's spear impaled it midair.

From there, the fight got progressively easier.

Braun held the frontline, drawing the hyenas' attention. Ashen moved like a ghost, weaving through the chaos and striking with lethal precision. Seraphine used her whip with surprising finesse, controlling the battlefield by disrupting the enemies' movements.

With every kill, their teamwork sharpened. Steps became smoother, their strikes more synchronized, even their motions became more instinctive… everything flowed seamlessly as if they had trained together for years.

By the time the last hyena fell, they weren't just three individuals fighting alongside each other.

They resemble a well-oiled machine.

Ashen stood amid the beasts' corpses, momentarily stunned by how seamlessly they had worked together. Their coordination felt almost unnatural.

Braun's bewildered expression mirrored his own.

Meanwhile, Seraphine was already bouncing in excitement.

"We rock! I can't believe that was our first fight together!"

"...Yeah," Ashen answered absentmindedly, his mind lingering on a different thought.

How easily they all handled gore and death now.

It was unsettling but also inevitable. The Dream Dive Devices, or DDD as they were called, had done their job well.

Those things could simulate countless life-or-death situations, forcing trainees to fight or be torn apart. Hesitate once, and you'd get another chance. And another. Until hesitation was no longer an option.

After three weeks of repeated use, even the timidest trainee could kill without flinching.

"Let's gather those herbs fast. No matter how much better we've gotten at culling these wild beasts, I don't want to stay another minute in this damn forest," Braun said, shaking off the adrenaline.

"True," Ashen agreed with a nod.

They quickly gathered the required amount and started heading back. But the return trip was anything but peaceful.

Maybe it was the lingering scent of blood on them, or maybe they were just unlucky, but monsters obstructed their path at every turn.

Mutated monkeys hurled rocks from the treetops. Ambushing moles burst from the ground without warning, vanishing just as quickly. Every step demanded full awareness, their nerves stretched taut from the relentless tension.

Yet, despite the chaos, their coordination improved at a visible rate.

Ashen stepped up to call the shots on the fly, keeping them moving and adapting to each encounter. Braun grew bolder, throwing himself into danger to absorb damage and open up opportunities. 

And Seraphine, arguably the MVP, saved their lives more than once, whether by spotting a sneaking beast before it struck or holding back entire groups with her increasingly masterful whip strokes.

Through repeated brushes with death—sometimes even forced to retreat as more and more monsters swarmed them—they finally broke free.

Battered, exhausted, and sporting a few minor injuries, but alive.