Chapter 3.1 The Training

(the chapters under Chapter 3 will be about J's training, the main story will continue from chapter 4)

J laid down in the middle of the cave, panting hard. The number of bats inside the cave was currently 35, it had been 3 days since he was left in the cave and he had only managed to kill 5 bats. In the 3 days, J had discovered that the cave was a magical cave created to train assassins.

"Cave information"

Training cave of assassins

A magical cave created for the sole purpose of training high level assassins. Those who complete the training will no doubt become feared individuals.

Only privileged individuals are allowed access.

Level: 1

Kill all the bats in the cave

Trigger: stomp to activate the cave

Exit: 5 knocks on the cave boulder

Whenever he activated he could only barely manage to dodge the stalactites, he was occasionally hit by them. How was he even supposed to kill the moving bats whilst doing so... 3 more days had passed had the number of bats were 57. With regret, he knocked on the boulder 5 times, the boulder rumbled and slowly moved to reveal the exit of the cave. J slowly walked out, dragging his body behind, headed to his room avoiding the various glances and voices directed at him.

"Wasn't he supposed to be training? What is he doing out?"

"Probably got too tough for him. Why did the head even choose him?..."

"That waste of space..."

J paid no heed to the vicious comments and collapsed on his bed. Every once in a while he would get up and search for the Head but she was nowhere to be found. Whenever he tried to ask others, he was shunned and scorned. He was occasionally beaten up by young assassins. They'd always comment, 'Why did the Head choose you' 'You useless piece of crap' 'Get out of my sight' 'Die!' It became a routine that everyday, they will come to give him a beating, taking out their anger and frustration of their own training on him.

J tried to retaliate every time, but even though they were only recruits, they were still much stronger than him who had never done any training. This fueled J's anger, 'It wasn't my damn fault I was chosen...' With time, the only safe haven J could find, was the cave. It seems everyone was forbidden to go anywhere near it without the permission of the Head, so J practically lived in front of the cave for days.

He logged out and logged back in several times. He was stuck in this place, with nowhere to go except the cave. He could not find his master for help, he was sure she didn't want to see him, a failure. He was tired of being beaten up every single day, nothing turned out good for him since he started this game.

First he was betrayed, now he was being beaten everyday by his own Guild. He was angry, frustrated at his own weakness. But he couldn't even complete his cave training to become stronger! With no other options to him, he stood, resolved that he will definitely become stronger. Stronger than anyone. People will fear him at the mere sight of him, he will no longer bow to anyone.

Unnoticed by J, the Head of the guild left with a smile on her face, she was right afterall. The resolve he had on his face told her that J would succeed or die trying. But most of all, the glint in his eyes, he had the eyes of an assassin.

He knew if he entered the cave he would fail miserably. So he began training from the basics, throwing. In the chamber at the entrance of the cave, he marked a darkboard on the wall and stood ten steps away from the target, and he began throwing. Hours upon hours of just throwing, first overhand, then underhand, then from the side. He threw and threw until his arms were too tired to move, he would then rest. He repeated this for so many times that he had forgotten how long he had been doing it for. Occasionally a stat increase window would pop up, but he ignored every one of them. He had a clear goal now, and nothing was going to stop him. Days passed...

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

'Finally...' sweat poured from all over his body, he couldn't even feel his arms anymore. He had no idea how much time he spent just throwing his shurikens at the target. Finally, he could now stand 10 steps from the target and hit 10/10 bullseye in whatever throwing motion.

'This is harder than I thought...' An interesting thing that J noticed was that every time he logged out to, he fatigue was somehow transferred to his real life body. He didn't really understand, but he didn't care. He only logged out for necessities and focused on his training. He had no time to figure out other things, he needed to get stronger, fast. After some rest he got up, '10 steps done... now 20...'

Days drifted by as he began throwing from the new distance, he had forsaken his real life activities for days. 1 hour from real life was 3 hours game time, and it seems whatever he did in game was transferred to real life, even sleep. But J put off figuring out why later as he focused on his training. Even time he could accurately get 10/10 from the distance in whatever motion, he would increase it. Until his shurikens no longer reached the place. After he finished he rested a good long while, until he felt refreshed. 'It's time' He challenged the cave once more.

5 minutes later J came out of the cave. 'shit...' He couldn't hit a single bat. His face looked down, dejected. He had forgotten the most important part, he had to dodge while throwing. Throwing was already hard enough, but adding movement into it was even more difficult. J heaved a sigh and resolved himself to train again.

At first, from 10 steps he could run across the sideways and throw at the board. An hour passed and only about 20% of his throws reached the board. 'hm... this is harder than I thought...' He changed and started at 5 steps, it showed better results, and from then on he would increase 5 steps each time. Even though it took him longer, he never faltered, for the sake of his resolve, it didn't matter.

At first he would run sideways throwing, then he would switch hands and run the other way whilst throwing. When that was completed he would add occasional jumps, twists and turns, forwards, backwards, somersaults. 2 Months in-game had passed since J began his training. He had now perfected his training and once again challenged the cave.

10 days had passed since J entered the cave.

For 10 days he sat in the cave, until the bats accumulated to 100. He was that confident in his abilities. On the tenth day, he activated the cave and danced as his master did. No single movement was wasted, he would beautifully time his jumps, twists and turns to pick up shurikens he had thrown.

His jumps grew so powerful that it would take him a few metres off the ground. To an untrained pair of eyes it would look like dead bats were just falling out of the sky, his figure would shimmer, his arms so fast that they would appear still. 5 minutes later, only J stood in the middle of the cave.

*Ding!*

New Skill Learned!

Shadow Dance

A skill of movement learnt by high class assassins.

This movement takes years to train and years to master.

Class: Master

Using this movement in front of trained professionals may expose the fact that the user is an assassin.

*Ding!*

Training cave of assassins

Level 1: Kill all the bats in the cave.

Cleared!

All stats +5

Dexterity +20

Proceed to level 2?

Yes/No