Groggy, I blinked at the clock glowing in the corner of my HUD. 7:17 AM. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee beckoned me as I dragged myself out of bed. In the small, cluttered kitchen, Nova was already munching on breakfast, crumbs dotting her plate. "Good morning," I mumbled, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"Morning," she replied, her words muffled by a mouthful of bread. "How'd you sleep?"

"Not well at all," I admitted, shaking my head. "Couldn't sleep."

"You have to adapt to it." She took another bite of her bread, "If you can fully adapt to it, you will gain a huge advantage in fights."

As if I don't have enough advantage already. I thought to myself as I replied, "I'm trying but it's hard."

She seemed to sense my thoughts, "You'll need all the advantages you can get soon."

More cryptic words again, I thought to myself but didn't voice it out. I just nodded.

She continued, "And you know, think on the bright side. Nobody will be able to sneak up on you."

I chuckled, "That's true."

I took a bite of the bread. It tasted strange, just like everything I'd eaten after the incident. Still, I didn't mind it. Although it was a strange taste, it wasn't entirely bad. It was still delicious and if anything, it was even more delicious than before.

After eating, Nova turned to me, "It's been around a week since we've last sparred. I wanna see your progress."

I shrugged, "Sure. We can go to Lil Betty's afterward for some sparring."

After breakfast, Nova and I headed to Little Betty's for our sparring session. The cool morning air was a welcome change from the stuffy interior of our apartment. As we walked, I could sense the tiniest vibrations in the ground, the distant hum of a motorbike, and even the soft rustling of leaves overhead. It was both a blessing and a curse, making me hyper-aware of everything around me.

While I liked the fact that I had something akin to a superpower now, I didn't like the constant annoyance it came with.

Once we arrived, Lil Betty was, as always, watching something on her HUD. She greeted us and talked to Nova excitedly, "Did you know that Raven had improved a lot recently? Especially her bladework."

Nova glanced at me, "Oh, really?" She grinned, "Then it'll be interesting."

I got shivered. It was NOT from excitement. Her grin scared me for some reason. We went upstairs to the dojo. She grabbed a katana. I grabbed a katana and a wakizashi. Nova raised her left eyebrow, "You know that two weapons don't necessarily give you an advantage, right?"

I nodded, "I learned that the hard way."

"Good. As long as you know."

Without saying anything more, she advanced. But her previously unobservable speed was somewhat visible to me. I could follow it and make the necessary movements to block it. Her katana slashed downward, a feint that shifted at the last moment to a side swipe. I felt my head heating up as I parried the attack with the katana and attacked with the wakizashi. She somehow attacked and defended with the same blade at the same time. I felt a strange sense of deja vu but due to my previous experience, I knew how to defend against that. I slightly leaned backward and the blade went over me. As I was just about to continue attacking, a sweeping kick came at my legs. Despite hearing it, I could not react fast enough and I was hit, which made me fall on my back.

"You've learned a lot, Raven. But not enough."

"Clearly. Let's continue."

Her blade arced towards my side. I stepped forward instead of backing up, narrowing the distance between us. My katana met hers in a high block, the impact resonating through my arms. With my wakizashi, I went for a quick, precise strike aimed at her exposed ribs. She twisted, her blade deflecting mine with almost preternatural ease, using the same blade for offense and defense. I could tell she was holding back, massively. Still, I didn't mind as it was giving me a ton of XP. The sad thing was I wasn't getting any Blade XP since Mind and Blade were on the same level.

Mind - 100XP

Mind - 100XP

Mind - 100XP

She advanced again, this time holding the katana with both hands. She struck quickly, leaving me no chance for a counterattack. Her strikes were fast, precise, and unpredictable. I was left reacting passively to everything she threw at me. She went for a low sweep with her katana, which I overstepped and struck back at her with a beautiful wakizashi strike. She parried it with her katana, which somehow was able to block it despite it having just attacked me moments before.

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I went on the attack. Using my Blade Dancer perk, I struck at her from all angles, which she deflected very easily. Still, even she couldn't retaliate during my barrage of attacks. As the fight grew longer, my stamina began to deteriorate rapidly. After about another 50 XP notifications, I finally achieved a level-up in Mind stat.

Mind level up.

Mind - 6

I felt like I was reborn. I could sense even more things now. I heard the air split as Nova's katana arced towards me. I felt like my reaction was faster, a lot faster. I was able to block with the katana. I pulled the katana down, which made her katana caught in the little guard of the katana, which pulled her down with it. I spun around, telegraphing my strike with the wakizashi. I struck but she somehow dodged! Again! I felt my instincts warning me so I ducked, which was the right move as her katana struck the place I was at. She attacked ferociously and I tried to fend off her attacks but to no avail. Despite how many times I defended, she didn't seem to get tired. I noticed that she wasn't even sweating while I was sweating up a storm.

My head heated up again as I thought of ways to defend. I couldn't. Soon, I was backed against the wall with nowhere to retreat. I admitted defeat.

I panted as I looked up at Nova, "How are you so good?"

Her expression didn't change but her eyes had a sense of nostalgia as she answered, "You'll get as good as me if you trained your whole life for this." She offered a hand to help me up. I took it, feeling the strength in her grip as she pulled me to my feet. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Raven," she said, a rare hint of care in her voice. "You're progressing faster than I expected."

I wiped the sweat from my brow, still catching my breath. "Thanks. I just... I don't think I'm strong enough," I probed her a little.

She replied bluntly, "You're not. But you're getting there."

I chuckled, "Ouch. Anyway, do you want to do anything fun?"

"Fun? I think our definitions of fun might differ, but what do you say I introduce you to advanced Web Weaving a little?"

I grinned, "Let's do it. How do we do it?"

She replied, "We can't do it here. No equipment. We'll have to do it in my room."

As I was about to reply, Lil' Betty's voice suddenly appeared behind me. "That was very good, bella Raven. I really want to spar with you after seeing that. Unfortunately, I'm not that good with a blade."

I comforted her, "It's okay. We can spar later if you want. I'll go easy on you."

"Really? You promised?"

"Yes, Betty. I promise."

I could see from the corner of my eyes that Nova was trying not to smile. I ached my eyebrows, asking her what. She replied with her look that I would find out soon. I paid it no mind and after saying farewell to Lil' Bella, we went for a huge lunch. We had a pretty good talk. We talked a lot about philosophy things. And by we, I meant me. I talked a lot and she just listened. After a huge lunch, we went back home for Nova to show me how advanced Web Weaving works.

Nova snatched a node from her drawer and powered it on. After she tinkered with it a little, a prompt appeared on my HUD.

MODEL-2067B1A is trying to connect to you. Accept?

Yes

No

I looked at Nova for answers.

She nodded so I chose Yes.

I was transported to a whole new world. The world around me dissolved like pixels and morphed into a strange vibrant digital landscape. The landscape was very vibrant with a multitude of colors and it seemed to stretch out into infinity.

The ground beneath my feet transformed into an intricate expanse of translucent hexagonal tiles, each one glowing softly with a pulsating bluish light. They were arranged in an endless grid, spreading out like a sea over the entire landscape. There were also many hexagonal tiles that built up vertically. They towered over everything like some futuristic skyscrapers.

I felt my head heat up for a moment before it stopped. I felt more... adapted to the digital world than before. I couldn't move, I couldn't turn. I could only marvel at the sight. A figure materialized before me. It was probably Nova. She had a long coat that almost reached the ground with purple neon lines all over it. She was wearing a vest inside the coat with a pair of jeans. She also had a mask that covered half of her face.

"Welcome to the Matrix Nexus." Her voice seemed to carry a strange harmonious echo which messed with my hearing a lot. "This is where we will be web weaving today."

I looked at Nova, "It's beautiful. So how do I move here?"

She laughed, "I'll teach you."

I blinked. Nova... laughed? What sorcery is this?!

She led me through a series of mental exercises, teaching me how to move and interact with the world. I felt like I was a kid again, learning to walk all over. I felt a sense of pain but I quickly locked the painful memory away. Well, it was quite different from learning how to walk since I was doing it in a world where the rules of physics could be bent or broken. With just a single thought, I could cross vast distances and I could manipulate the hexagonal tiles around me to form bridges and barriers. I reached out with my hand and slammed it into the ground, which produced ripples around me. I felt relieved. I've always wanted to do that, especially after watching superhero movies.

It was quite addicting. I was manipulating data. How? Why? I didn't know. And I didn't give a fuck. I was just... reveling in the moment. I could feel what kind of data I was manipulating and if I wanted, I could access all that data instantly.

Nova looked at me with amusement though her eyes didn't show it, "Hate to ruin your fun but you should learn some tricks here." She pointed at one of the towering skyscraper-like structures, "See that? That's called a data hub. These are access points and they store a lot of data, ranging from mundane to top-secret data. These things can have a range of defensive measures. Most of the time, it would be walls, turrets, and other... normal stuff. Some can have other harder defenses like mazes, and AI guardians, among many other things. You'll encounter them sooner or later. But let's go with the easiest thing for now. The walls. Follow me."

She led me towards the towering structure. We arrived in front of it in a flash and I looked up at it. Up close, it looked even bigger. She walked into it. I followed her. After I touched it, I found myself in front of a huge wall. It seemed to stretch up into infinity. I turned numbed. I'm supposed to get through this thing?! How the fuck am I supposed to do that?