In the night after Iris and her people went back home. Rei who was sleeping, slowly opened his eyes and found himself standing in the white empty space.

"Huh? Where am I?"

He asked himself and looked around the space.

"Oh, you finally awake."

A voice could be heard from behind, that made him to turn around and found Ray wearing an old worn armor with a sword on stuck on the ground.

"Houston? Wait...didn't I go to sleep?" Rei turned around to see him in that armor.

"Wait...why are we here?" Rei wondered, confused with this situation.

"Huh??" But soon he realized that he was wearing his old black school uniform and there's a sword sheated on his waist.

"Why am I...?" He was still confused.

"It's time for you to unsheathe that sword, so we can start training." Ray stated.

"Training??" Rei repeated him, he's even more puzzled than before.

"Yeah, training." Rei repeated once more.

"....???"

The two of them stare at each other and silence filled the space for a while.

"Wait, why do I need to train now? didn't you see how I fought those monster!" Rei exclaimed.

"Yeah I do, and watched them several times..." Ray replied while folding his arms and closing his eyes.

But once he open his eyes, "And I reach into conclusion that is....you are...incredibly weak." he spoke bluntly.

The words deeply stabbed Rei's chest, "Agh—?!"

"But...didn't I defeat those monsters alone?" Rei trying to retorted back to his comment.

"Well you did, but..."

"Your swing were clumsy."

"You couldn't calm your emotion."

"Not only that...your strength and stamina barely pass." Ray commented without pulling any punches with his comments.

Which damaged Rei's heart, mentally, "T-that's...true."

"Although, it was thanks to the memories I gave to you, you still haven't fully mastered your skill." Ray explained.

"Even you do manage to pull off something like that."

"You're still inexperienced on fighting and you haven't adapt to your own body and stamina even after several weeks."

"What would happens if another enemy with such high intellect appears?"

"If you continue to fought by using my memories like this...you will be dead next time." Rei concluded based on the experience and the memories he had.

Rei was reminded of the giant wolf that he fought before, 'That's true...if not for Houston...I will be dead.'

Rei couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal to that and just nodded, accepting Ray's words.

Ray looked at him and sighed, "It's not like I am blaming you, you were short of time before."

"But now...with a plenty of time, you can learn more and I will teach you." Ray spoke.

"What you need is experience from all kinds of things, such as smithing, battling, and meeting people."

"After all, our journey still hasn't over yet." Ray exclaimed it to soften the mood.

"Houston..." Rei muttered.

Then Ray lifted his sword, "Now, what you need now is...to experience on [how to fight another being beside monsters]."

"[Another being]? And which is?" Rei questioned while he curiously stared at Ray.

*CLINK*

Ray aimed his sword towards him, "[Human]..." then he spoke with serious tone.

"...?!" Rei was surprised when his sword suddenly being aimed towards him.

"Unlike monsters, that had same old attack pattern. Humans are different." Ray spoke.

"They can learn, they can deceive, they can scream or beg, but most of all...they can kill." Ray explained.

Rei gulped and looking straight into his eyes, that looks serious.

"Us, [Blacksmith], is considered as [Production type] job, with no specialized skill to fight and There are limits to how strong we can get."

"If we met someone who have a proper job for combat, we will lose or worst, we could die." Ray explained.

"So, before we met one, we need to learn and train even more harder than usual." Ray concluded it.

"But....how are we gonna do that?" Rei asked another question.

Ray's lips started to curve, turning into a smirk.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Of course, you need to fight another human, which is me." Ray stated.

"F-fight you!?" Rei slightly raised his voice in suprise.

Ray smiled as he slowly started walking around him. "Yeah, by fighting with me, you will gained an experience on how crafty and intelligence, a human can be."

Rei stared at him walking around, "I see...??" He was confused and somewhat curious, "Where did you get all of this knowledge?"

Ray stopped walkimg, "Of course, I learned this from my [master]."

And that piqued Rei's interest. "You have a [master]?"

Ray looked him, "I do...she was a particularly stubborn old woman, who keeps nagging if I did something wrong."

"Although she was strong and she was the only one who willingly taught me how to wield a sword."

When he talked about it, Rei could see the change of his tone and expression from him.

"I see...she sounds like a great teacher." Rei replied with a smile.

Ray just simply closed his eyes and smiled fondly.

"Yeah, she was..."

After that Ray quickly clapped his hands.

"Now then let's continue where we left off." As Ray went back to his postion.

"Like I said, you are going to train by fighting with me to experience on how to fight with human."

"Of course, I won't hold back even though its's you, since you need to experience it properly."

"So...make sure you treat this fight like your life depends on it." When Ray spoke those words.

The aura around him started to get cold, his mouth fell into flat lines while he focused his firm gaze on him.

"...?!"

Needless to say, it gives Rei chills.

However Ray decided to loosen the aura that he gave off and spoke once more.

"I shall explain this once."

"So, before you asked me why I choose this method...my master once told me."

[When someone had near-death experience or whenever they felt their life is at stake].

[Our body will start to change, to adapt the situation].

[Your senses will start to honed by itself to their peak. Then your hearing, your eyesight, and smell, even your thoughts will processed much more faster than normal].

"That's what she said, while she trained me." Ray explained again.

"My...sense?" Rei gulped, as he still disbelief by his words.

"Yes, after you went through this training, you can mantain those sense much more faster and more efficiently without relying on any skill." Ray added it.

"And to top of that, your [Battle Instinct] skill based on this training that I learn."

"So, to level it up faster, you need train like this more." Ray spoke while he smiled.

"So, do not hold back, and make sure to fight with everything you got, understood?" His smiled looks somewhat twisted.

Rei felt chill down to his spine after seeing that smile, "Y-yes sir!" And he found it, scary.

"Now then, before we start, is there any more question?" Ray asked him.

Rei raised his hand slowly, "U-um...sir, isn't this training is useless when you are not doing it in real world?" As he asked while being afraid for a moment.

"And...who said that it's useless?" Ray asked him back instead.

Rei looks confused by his question, "N-no one sir..." so he answered him that.

"Currently, we are within your [Mind Realm]." Ray spoke.

"[Mind Realm]?" Rei repeated.

"Yes, it is a realm that exists only in your mind, and within here, so everything that you do here will be recorded and stored in your memories."

"Right now, your actual body is sleeping, but your mind is awake."

"Basically, you are...right now, it is as like you are awake, yet you are also not." Ray explained.

"I see....somehow it sound like VR game" Rei muttered it very softly.

"VR—what?" Ray slightly narrowed his brows in confusion.

Rei widened his eyes at that. "W-wait, you could hear that?!"

"Of course, I have trained much more longer than you, so everything you said...no matter how soft it is, I could hear it very clearly."

"W-woah, that's amazing!" Rei's eyes was sparkling as he couldn't help but opened his jaw in awe.

"Well, you can do it after your training is done, so before we start, is there anything else you want to ask again?" Ray asked.

"N-nothing sir!" Rei replied.

"Alright, now...unsheathe your sword." Ray spoke while aiming his sword at him.

Rei nodded.

But...

After he unsheated his sword.

.

.

.

.

.

*SWOOSH*

Suddenly, Ray appeared right before him without a warning.

"—?!"

Ray was holding his sword on his right hand, then he swung it to his right side.

*TING*

Rei quickly anticipated his sword by blocking it.

'When did he—Ugh?!'

But the impact is enough to make him stepped back, and Rei barely could hold on.

'H-how heavy—?!'

Rei widened his eyes when he saw Ray's gaze towards him that was full of killing intent.

"What's wrong...is that all you got?" Ray spoke coldly, as the force from his sword is slowly getting stronger.

*TSSKKKKKK*

"Ugh—?!"

It forced Rei to stepped back once more as his cold sharp blade slowly getting close to his neck.

'I...need to get away from him!' Rei thought while gritted his teeth.

*TSSKKKKKK*

Then Rei shifted his blade's path, forcing Ray's sword to change course.

*SWOOSH*

After that, he quickly jumped back away from him.

"Dammit Houston! what was that all about!" Rei shouted in anger.

Ray calmly pulled his sword and stay in his stance, "You fool!" Then he cursed.

"Do you think an enemy would let you complain? If you weren't fast enough, your head would be lying on the ground!" Ray shouted at him.

Afterwards...

*SWOOSH*

Ray quickly ran forward, closing his distances with him.

"Never, let your guard down...when there's an enemy in front of you."

Then he swung his sword once more from another side.

"...?!"

*TING*

Rei deflected the strike once again, 'How fast?!'

But Ray didn't stop and continued to swing his sword relentlessly, to make him put his guard up more.

"Whether you got hurt..."

*TING*

"Or distracted..."

*TING*

"Or any other things!"

*TING*

"Your enemies would seize those opportunities to kill you."

When their swords clashed once more, their focus were on the weapons they had.

*SWOOSH*

Ray moved his right leg in a flash.

*BAM*

Then he kicked on the left side of his abdomen and send him fly away.

"Ack—?!"

Rei landed on white floor, "Ugh...."

Following that, he attempted to get back on his feet while holding the pain in his abdomen.

"Don't just focus on my sword...you need to keep your focus on everything." Ray began to spoke while he watched him attempting to stand.

"You need to know, that my sword isn't the only thing that can hurt you; my legs and hands here can also be used as weapons."

"You might think, it is ridiculous. But I saw what you did to that one poor wolf, when you crushed its head using bare hand."

"It was impressive, knowing that you did it instinctively using my memories."

Ray began to walk slowly towards him.

"So, make sure to engrave this in your mind."

*TAP*

As the sound of footsteps echoed around the space.

"In the battle, there's no right and wrong..."

*TAP*

"You must consider your body as a weapon..."

*TAP*

.

.

.

.

.

.

*TAP*

"By using your hands, it can be used to punch or grab on your enemies."

*TAP*

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*TAP*

"By using your legs, it can be used to kick or step on your enemies."

*TAP*

"While by using your head, it can also be used to hit your enemy's head to make them dizzy."

*TAP*

As Ray stood in front of him after he explained all of it.

"So, make sure to remember..."

Ray begin to lift his sword up, "Do not give mercy...to your enemy."

*SWOOSH*

Then swung his sword from downwards towards Rei who was still holding his pained side.

*TING*

But luckily, he managed to blocked it by using the back of his sword and holding the other side with his hand.

"U-ughhh—!!"

*TSSKKKKKK*

As the sound of the two swords colliding filled up the entire space.

Rei continued to hold on where he stand, but he doesn't want to give up.

"Ughhhh....AAAAAAAA!!!!"

Rei was able to push his blade further away while he stand up on his feet, by using all of his strength.

"How was...that!" Rei shouted at him, to show him that he can still fight.

But...

"Hmmm..." Ray looks more calm than he used to, while observing him.

"I guess that's all you can do." He muttered before he pulled his sword away.

"Huh?—"

In that moment, when Ray spoke those words.

*SHATTERS*

Ray swung his sword towards his, breaking Rei's sword in half.

"—?!" Rei was unable to respond, after when Ray struck his sword with his cheap sword, his sword started to fall apart.

"During a fight, you must to keep track of your weapon's durability."

Without loosing any momentum, Ray shifted his sword upward.

"Now then...time to wake up."

After that...

*STAB*

He thrust his sword into Rei's head.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Then, everything went black after that single stab.

******

"Uwaaah!!!" Rei suddenly opened his eyes and get up from the bed as he breathed heavily and drenched in sweat.

It was morning already, while he could feel the sunlight on his body as it filtered through the window next to his room.

Ray panted heavily, touched his face to check if there's a hole or something on him, "Did I just...die?" He muttered.

'That is correct.' A voice came out from his head, it was Ray who replied to his question.

'Now then, how does it feel to be dying for once?' Ray asked him jokingly.

Rei sighed, "Terrible..." he replied while his hands couldn't stop trembling while he tried to calm down.

'That's how it is, and you need to get used to it.' Ray replied.

'You need to remember this feeling, because in real fight...you might not notice, that your head would be falling off from your body.' Ray spoke to make him imagine if this were a real fight.

'Since the time in the mind realm is more faster than the reality, this would be your trump card to be able to learn faster and stronger.' Ray explained.

Rei laid his body back on the bed while looking up at the ceiling. "So...I guess I am gonna train like this everyday."

'Hmm? What are you saying?' Ray asked.

"Huh??"

'Huh??' The two of them were confused and somehow not on the same page.

'Do you think, this is over? We are just getting started.' Ray spoke.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Rei felt something bad going to happen.

'You still need to train your body in reality, do you think the training within your mind realm would be enough?' Ray explained.

"W-wait, I thought that the mind realm would help me to train more?' Rei spoke.

'Yeah, but that's only in the mind realm, while you did gain an experience, but there won't be any changes to your body.' Ray explained.

'The only thing that changes is the way you're thinking, not your physical body.' Ray exclaimed.

'Another reason for your lost, weren't just the experience, but also your physical strentgh.'

'That's why, you need to increased your stamina and strength, since they are below average.' Ray even commented him harshly despite that.

Rei couldn't argue with anything he just stated, because everything that he said was all the facts he needed to know.

'Now, there's no time to waste, my dear partner...I'll help you with your training, so we gonna do it together.'

When Ray said that, somehow, Rei could see his scary face in his mind when he spoke about his training.

"I-i'm still r-recovering, you know—" When Rei tried to escape.

'Nope, let's start the train now' His body suddenly couldn't move, as Ray suddenly take over.

"W-wait! N-no–!!" Rei who shouted began to move his body from the bed.

And after that, his hellish training begins.

To be continued...