[You have received a quest!]
Amidst the torrential rain, hugging my knees on the floor in a random alley, a screen of light pops up like a sore thumb.
Preparations
Preparations - 01 [+]
>Objective : Train while you can. Press the [+] symbol above when you have spare time.
>Time remaining : 719:59:42
>Difficulty : Fated
>Mission Difficulty : None
>Mission Failure Penalty : None.
Time...
Well, can't say I'm lacking it now... But I'm getting hungry, not sure if I want to train on an empty stomach.
Actually, it could help. Yeah, why not?
So it's with a shrug that I press on the plus symbol after 'Preparations'. Immediately a notification appears.
[Are you certain? Once started, you can only exit once specific conditions are cleared.]
[YES / NO]
It's getting questionable, but too late to care honestly. So I agree and press the big 'yes' button.
On the spot, everything vanishes into a blinding white light. The close wall up front, the rain, everything just disappears into this light. Forced to squint, I soon close my eyes where I can still see some of it through my eyelids.
After some time, I wheeze and open them. White. Pure white. As far as my eyes could perceive. Everything blends in like a different dimension. If not for the sort of reflective ground, I would've been lost beyond saving.
A loud sound then wakes my mind up, making me look above. A giant set of orange words appear.
[The training will commence...]
A couple meters away from me, a puff of smoke forms from the ground. I don't know how it got there, especially when this ground is so flawless, but it then grows much bigger.
Its shade becomes deeper, pitch black with a hue of dark blue.
After a few more seconds, it forms into a dark, smoky humanoid figure. It has no face, smooth in every way. It looks like a faceless robot almost. But then, its hand invites me in as the words change.
[The training has begun.]
Curious, I sneak a peek at its status.
[Training Puppet Lv.0]
Age : 0
Mortal Cultivation : Martial Trainee (Martial Initiate)
Mortal Title : Martial Artist
HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.15 / 0.15)
DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.15 / 0.15)
STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
Skill : Magnitude Blast - Lv.1
[Defeat the enemy or suffer the consequences of defeat.]
"Hey now... that's a gloomy thing to say..." I lower my gaze from the words high up, and see a figure already at my face. "Oh shi-" Its smoky hands grab my mouth and pull my lips apart. I'm bewildered by this attack, suddenly kicked to the ground. Being held by my cheeks from inside doesn't feel good I will say. But I surely didn't expect the hands to change grip. One held onto my palate and upper teeth, while the other did the opposite, grabbing onto my lower teeth and some of my tongue.
The puppet then used strength and threw me into a pit of suffering, pulling my mouth apart!
"Argh!!! Abugeugarh!!!!! Shto- FSHUCK!!!" I plead and beg before loud cracks strike me awake under the rain.
I'm left dazed, hot droplets falling from my eyes.
I gently caress my chin and mouth. I swear I felt it break...
A shiver runs throughout my body. Not comparable to the first death I experienced, but it can't be said to be pleasant either. These two events sure made me more aware of the gloom awaiting if I fail somewhere.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
The rush dies down and I slowly recover over the next minutes. If it doesn't impact my true self, then I shouldn't take it at face value. I have to dissociate myself... maybe that's how warriors did it in the past. When life threw you into battles right after battles, to fight properly, being overly scared surely wouldn't help one display their skills fully.
Surprising myself, I open my second status and notice a new tab. I can read previous... Finally, somewhere to look up older prompts. Once done with the recheck, I press on the plus symbol once again.
.
.
.
Hours later surely, when the sun creeps up slowly, ready to end the night, I'm left baffled. I don't even understand how I lost the first few times. The moment I focused and stopped panicking, the shadow became really easy to beat.
In the midst of my arrogance, another light pops up.
Preparations
Preparations - 02 [+]
>Objective : Train while you can. Press the [+] symbol above when you have spare time.
>Time remaining : 716:32:11
>Difficulty : Fated
>Mission Difficulty : None
>Mission Failure Penalty : None.
Frowning, I accept the challenge and soon find myself back into the white land.
Peeking at the shadow's status, my frown deepens.
[Training Puppet Lv.1]
Age : 0
Mortal Cultivation : Martial Trainee (Fifth Rate)
Mortal Title : Fifth Rate Martial Artist
HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.20 / 0.20)
DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.20 / 0.20)
STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
Skill : Magnitude Blast - Lv.2
My gaze doesn't move, fixated onto the enemy. A couple seconds later, it forms fully and rushes at me. Its sprint is slow, slower than I expected. My worries vanish as a simple jab is enough to end it. Or so I thought, the shadow ducking while keeping momentum, soon sliding right at my knees. "Shit!" By reflex I curse, trying to kick it away, but it only aides it.
The moment it grabs my kicking left foot, it pulls and crumbles my balance.
Falling on my butt, the difficulty spike sure as hell gets obvious. But the stats are still different, so another kick from my other leg seals the deal, passing right through its abdomen.
They are tough opponents on a martial level, but not so much power-wise. When I don't let them strike me that is.
Without much to do, and aware of it not taking much real time anyway, I focus up and move on to harder difficulties.
The next one is a Fourth Rate, which gives me a bit more trouble, before the third leveled puppet comes around.
[Training Puppet Lv.3]
Age : 0
Mortal Cultivation : Martial Rookie (Third Rate)
Mortal Title : Third Rate Martial Artist
HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.27 / 0.27)
DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (0.27 / 0.27)
STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ N
Skill : Magnitude Blast - Lv.4
As usual, my feet presses against the perfectly smooth ground, almost slipping, pouncing ahead. Taking the initiative seems to work better.
My hands attempt to grab the shadow and freeze. Expecting my fingers to wrap around its body, I find them much further away than expected. Instead, my wrists were taken hostage. A frown forms on my face, a pull of both of my arms not budging the opponent in the slightest. "What the..." Looking down, its feet are not buried, yet I can see tension near its legs. Unsure about it all, the moment I relent and let go of the pulling force, the tension near its legs vanish, the one on my left flying at my belly.
I widen my eyes and brace myself for impact. A powerful shockwave erupts when it lands perfectly. It spreads and covers my entire body, forcing it to tremor uncontrollably. A moment later I'm back beneath the true sky.
"I lost?" I could remember my teeth clattering due to the violent burst from my core, but not the rest.
I would even call this an instant defeat. A single move was enough to obliterate me... and its stats should be much lower than mine. Pondering on the matter, I can only blame their skill, 'Magnitude Blast'.
With an exhale, I scratch the itchiness on my thigh and spring up to my feet. Raising my head, my face clashes directly against the torrent from above. I drink some of the water and move on. Dragging my feet, the new clothes are obviously soaked.
Taking out the broken phone they gave me, I unlock it and go through the apps. There really isn't much. Just the basic stuff, except some weird apps I never saw before. Probably new stuff from the recent years. But why is this possibly much more recent model basically the same as my own phone? Did they not change anything? Don't tell me it's priced higher? Doesn't seem to run better either, but that's probably because it's worn.
I'll refrain from judging the capitalism of today with my standards of yesterday.
But now I'm a bit lost still. What do I even do?
Almost awaiting this, a notification arrives.
[Quest updated!]
I look again and widen my eyes.
Preparations
Preparations - 04 [+]
>Objective : Train while you can. Press the [+] symbol above when you have spare time.
>Time remaining : 714:58:07
>Difficulty : Fated
>Mission Difficulty : None
>Mission Failure Penalty : None.
>Managing to reach level 10 before the time runs out will grant a system upgrade : Space Ring Feature.
Haha... Isn't that bloody amazing? I imagine an old accent and joke about it. But the requirement is monstrous. The fourth level, if that is correct, is kicking my ass already. What about the tenth?
However, I now have a goal. Moving along, my hurry is felt from outside, passing through the streets before finding a bridge. It doesn't take me long to reach it and hide underneath. Luckily, I'm alone. But to be sure, I climb the bottom and hide into forgotten architectural foundations. They are wooden and rotten, clearly unnecessary. Maybe they originate from hundreds of years ago. I don't care either way.
Closing my eyes, whiteness blinds me again.