CHAPTER 34

Dim, Cold, and Quiet.

The cold water filled the room and let out a muteness different from what the earlier empty space gave.

It somehow gave an unexplainable eerie feeling that gave Hirayon the chills. It was like getting trapped in a sure-death place with no way out. It made him wary, nervous, and, most of all, scared.

Hirayon turned his body and looked for anything that could explain his fear.

'What's happening?' he asked Oddi while trying to see in the dim water.

[You are currently in the middle of your training.] The monotonous voice answered, making Hirayon frown in annoyance.

'I did not ask for any training,' Hirayon pointed out.

[Grade A Training room has a unique feature that automatically creates an environment that will assist the trainee to surpass their limits by overcoming unexpected situations. You can simply say, 'Automatic Mode Off' to disable it.]

The child tilted his head and gave his situation a thought. The sudden start of the training bewildered him, but this Automatic Mode also made sense. Oddi has modified the room environment to suit his training needs and put him in a case he never considered. As he purchased the most expensive room, it will have helpful features that will save him a lot of time.

'But still...'

Hirayon pursed his lips, 'You should have informed me first that this room has this feature.'

[Your feedback will be noted. But as this is a surprise feature, it was designed to surprise the trainees. Would you like to disable this training and turn off the Automatic Mode?]

'There's a thing such as a Surprise feature? But what will happen to my body if I get injured here?' Hirayon asked, as he could already feel the level of difficulty the training he would be facing.'

[Any feeling of pain or exhaustion will be as close to what you would think. If you die inside the Opod, you will automatically log out and be allowed to log in again after 24 hours. If you die inside any training rooms, you will be revived immediately. You can also heal all wounds and replenish your energy anytime you want.]

Hirayon contemplated a bit and realized that the training wasn't too bad. 'Then, turn off the Automatic mode after this. I will let you know next time if I want something like this. For now, I want to continue with this training.'

[Understood. Training will then be continued in 3, 2, 1...]

Oddi finished counting, and an eerie silence once again enveloped Hirayon. He didn't detect any movement, so he wondered what kind of training the room gave him.

A few minutes passed, and nothing happened, so Hirayon decided to move. He swam in a direction and looked for something that could be his challenge. But there was nothing inside the room. When he swam up, he realized there was no remaining space for air. The room was filled with water up to the brim.

'Uhm Oddi, what am I supposed to do?' the child asked.

[...]

'Oddi?'

[...]

'You can't say?'

[Yes.]

Without any clue, Hirayon swam around until he heard something odd. When he stopped, he heard it more clearly, and it was the sound of popping. It was quiet and subtle, like a water bubble being popped.

Feeling odd, Hirayon listened carefully and slowly swam toward where the sound was coming from. On the way to the last popping sound he heard, he stopped and looked back. There was another popping sound not far from the direction he came from.

While contemplating what to do, he heard another distant pop, different from the first two directions. Then another on his back, and another, and a lot more in every direction.

Hirayon stilled, and his eyes warily followed the continuous popping sound that became faster every second. The subtle, almost nonexistent sound earlier became so loud that the child's hearing became numb.

It became deafening, bringing confusion and panic to Hirayon, who was already covering his ears with his hand, trying to lessen the loud popping.

The child thought his efforts were useless, so he aimlessly fired a water orb somewhere without thinking to try and stop whatever was making the popping sound. Alas, his efforts were futile as the sound did not stop, and it became so loud that Hirayon could feel his head and ear throbbing from the overwhelming sound.

Hirayon grumbled frustratingly while clutching his head. He then madly threw water orbs everywhere, but no matter how much he threw, nothing was being hit, and his orbs would just continue to travel until they lost their power and disappeared in the dim water.

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Desperate to stop the sound, Hirayon used half of his Aura and surrounded himself with Water Walls. He trapped himself inside a cube made out of Water Walls.

The child clutched his ears tightly and bore an extreme headache. He was still trying to think of a solution in such a situation, so it took him a few seconds to realize that the popping had stopped.

There was no sound when he looked up and removed his hands, which were covering his ears.

Unsure that his Water Wall had stopped the popping sounds, he removed the wall in front of him, and there he was proven right as the wave of popping sound attacked him.

Immediately creating another Water Wall, Hirayon finally felt relieved.

'I need to figure out what causes the popping sound,' Hirayon thought and calmed his breathing to try and ease his still throbbing head.

After a minute, he looked past through his Water Wall. Although it was difficult as the walls had swirling currents inside, Hirayon concentrated and focused on finding a space that wasn't blocked by the translucent currents.

Seeing a gap, Hirayon went closer and peeked toward it. When he did, he searched the dim waters. He carefully searched everywhere, not missing anything that could solve the mystery of the annoying popping sound. But even after that, he couldn't see anything different. The sea looked normal.

Confused, Hirayon ransacked his brain.

'This is an environment meant to train me. But train what specifically? This will not level up my Water Orb or Water Wall. This will also be useless to my Water Pool, and although it can be for Water Breathe, that was the first Innate Ability I got, and this is the ability I trained the most. I could even sleep underwater. Moreover, the popping sound being the challenge for Water Breathe needs to make more sense. So what could be it?'

The child closed his eyes and thought hard. Although Hirayon was considered a genius and was extremely smart. A six-year-old child lacks experience and thus still needs a lot of guidance.

This is why it is not surprising that Hirayon was having difficulty realizing the actual purpose and aim of this training. He even considered giving up because it was almost the time to log out.

'Savio said I should train and try to discover my next ability. But I couldn't even find the cause of the popping sou-'

Hirayon's thoughts stopped, and his eyes widened with realization.

'I am training to discover my next ability. So that means this environment was meant to help me uncover it. Since I can now use my Water Wall properly, that means I've passed the third phase of my rank. I am now approaching the next rank, Veteran Oddity. For its First Phase, I will learn a Basic Ability...'

The child smiled and remembered one of the books he had read in the library. It was a book explaining the ranking system, the three phases, and what abilities he could learn and use.

Hirayon quickly recalled the basic abilities that he had read.

'Which one is it? Enhanced senses, strength, speed, luck, dexterity, intuition... could it be?"

Although unsure, the child decided to give something a try. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He closed all his senses and slowly removed the Water Walls one by one. Every time he removed one, he would be faced with a loud popping sound, but he ignored it and blocked every sound.

When the last Water Wall was removed, the dim water rumbled with an explosive popping sound. And yet, Hirayon floated relaxedly as if he wasn't in the middle of a dark sea.

He gave an image of a free child sleeping comfortably amidst the chaos and was carried by the flow of small currents created by the popping sounds.

Hirayon couldn't hear or feel anything in a concentrated state with his five senses. And yet, his mind was telling him that he was being watched, pushing him to look at something. To look at a specific direction.

Hirayon's body turned and faced the direction his mind was pointing. When he opened his eyes, he finally saw it.

He saw large, black, translucent eyes looking back at him. It was located near the ceiling of the room. And when Hirayon looked down, he could see an outline of an extremely large hole surrounded by sharp teeth.

Looking at a larger scale, the child was floating inside an enormous transparent creature resembling a jellyfish without any tentacles or arms, just the bell.

The child unknowingly entered the large creature on his own by following the subtle popping sound he heard earlier. What he did not know was that was the creature's way of hunting food, by attracting other creatures by the sound and trapping them inside its bell.

'That's why I couldn't see any other creature. I was inside one. The popping sound might've been the creature trying to kill or digest me.' The child thought as he watched the large eyes follow him. There was still the loud popping sound, but Hirayon just covered his ears and followed what his instinct was telling him.

Although it was clear to him that the creature was trying to kill him, he could feel that it couldn't do anything else aside from that. After all, if it could, it would've done it earlier when he was aimlessly swimming around or panicking.

With that, Hirayon bit his lower lip and removed his hands from his ears. He then swam downwards toward the large hole. He swam in the middle of the sharp teeth and rushed outside the creature, and the moment he got out, the popping sound automatically stopped and was instead replaced by extreme silence.

He got out. He came back to the Deep Hushed Sea.

[You have completed the training. Environment: Deep Hushed Sea will return to the basic training room.]

Oddi's announcement rang inside Hirayon's head, and the water automatically subsided.

In just a few seconds, the water was gone, along with the creature that almost made Hirayon give up.

'What was that creature?' Hirayon asked.

[It was a transparent creature called Poppin Jelly. It hunts food by attracting the sea creatures using the popping sound.]

'Is it a monster?'

[No. It is a normal creature that can be seen deep underwater. It sometimes develops as an Auveast.]

Hirayon frowned. 'Would someone get a massive Poppin Jelly Auveast?'

[Yes. They are great in mass fishing other sea creatures as they don't immediately die and melt inside. They are also transparent, making them difficult to spot in the deep sea.]

'Are they usually that dangerous?'

[No, they are usually harmless. But the training was adjusted to match your needs to improve. The popping sound it made was twice louder compared to the sound the usual Poppin Jelly makes.]

After hearing that, Hirayon finally realized how great and helpful the training room was. He could train outside for hours but can do it faster here inside the Opod and reach better results.

'Thank you for explaining. But next time, I will tell you when I need to change the environment.'

[You are welcome, and I will take note of your instructions.]

Name: OWS59

Age: 6

Elements: Water, Blood

Title: Veteran Oddity

Money: 0 quea

Strength [Rate Unknown]

Stamina [Rate Unknown]

Aura [Rate Unknown]

BASIC ABILITIES

1. Enhanced Sight (Unknown)

2. Enhanced Stamina (Unknown)

3. Enhanced Memory (Unknown)

4. Intuition (Low)

INNATE ABILITIES

Water Element

1. Water Breathe (Low)

2. Water Pool (Unknown)

3. Water Orb (Unknown)

4. Water Wall (Unknown)

Blood Element

1. Blood Manipulation (Unknown)

Opod Assets

1. Training Room - Grade A Room 406

After checking his newly gained ability, Hirayon logged out by simply saying, 'Logging Out.' His body was enveloped with blue light, and when he opened his eyes, he was already back in his room.

R E H I L I Y A