Shed quickly got used to the second space, or rather, there wasn't much to get used to, except for the new setting surrounding him.

It seemed to him that there was nothing different about himself compared to the real world, and yet Ri had told him he wasn't there physically.

Shed instinctively touched various parts of his body, and, as confirmation, felt nothing different from his normal body.

Ri chuckled.

"Many people have the same reaction the first time they enter the second space; you're probably wondering why, even though you don't have your physical body here, it still feels as if you do, right?"

Shed nodded at the question.

"This happens because the second space perfectly simulates your physical body from the real world, and it was designed with the purpose of training the mind, spirit, and combat techniques without tiring or injuring the physical body…"

"But... does this mean I can't train my body here?"

Ri seemed pleased with Shed's insight, nodding as she smiled.

"That's right. In the future, besides training here, you'll also need to train your body in more conventional ways, maybe at a gym or somewhere else… but for now, your physical body, modified by us, is superior to your mind and spirit, so, first of all, it's better to train those two aspects, don't you think?"

"I suppose so…"

"First, do you have any idea how your predictive gaze might work?" Ri asked.

Shed shook his head in negation.

"But... I think I may have already used it, without meaning to," he then confessed.

Ri's eyes lit up.

Shed thought back to the moment when he had used the predictive gaze and then described the scene to Ri.

"Maybe it activates automatically when you're about to be hit by something," she suggested.

Right after Ri's words, a strange scene appeared before Shed's eyes.

Ri shot forward like a fierce storm toward Shed, stopping just in front of him, then struck with a fist aimed directly at the center of his face. It all happened in an instant.

Shed remained motionless, frozen by the sudden and inevitable chain of events.

However, right after being hit, Ri disappeared from his sight, reappearing at the spot where she had been at the beginning of the scene he had just witnessed.

'What the...?' he thought, bewildered.

He didn't understand right away what had happened, but somehow, what he had just witnessed felt familiar. The same thing had happened the day before when he managed to dodge that dark knight... had he just used his power?

The realization thrilled him, but only for a moment.

'Wait… if I used the predictive gaze, that means—'

He didn't even have time to finish the thought before a fist as hard as marble slammed directly into the center of his face, sending him hurtling against one of the room's walls. After the impact, a strangled cry escaped from Shed's throat as he fell to the ground.

The pain he felt from the impact was too real not to be real. What had just happened wasn't a result of his power but hard reality, or rather, not exactly real reality, since he was still in a virtual space, but painful all the same.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled at Ri.

"Did it not work?" Ri replied, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Did what work? My skill? Of course it worked! But even if I knew you were about to punch me right in the face, how was I supposed to dodge a punch like that?! It was undodgeable! Don't you think you went a little overboard?"

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Ri scratched her head, showing not a trace of remorse.

"Uh... well, so my idea did work, right? As they say… all's well that ends well, right?"

Shed looked at her with an expression that "furious" didn't quite cover.

He wanted to hit her back in retaliation, but he knew it was impossible, so he sighed deeply, trying to calm himself.

"I don't think this is the right context to use a saying like that…" he replied, with a hint of resignation.

"Anyway, if your skill activated, then it really does trigger automatically in situations where you're about to be hit by someone or something… but…"

Ri approached Shed calmly and extended her hand to help him up; Shed accepted her help. As soon as he was standing, Ri hit him again with another punch, this time much weaker and directed at his chest.

Shed's skill didn't activate.

"It didn't activate this time, did it?" she asked.

"No…"

"As I thought… it doesn't activate every time you're about to be hit, but only when what's about to hit you is dangerous or painful for you… or at least, I think that's the case."

Ri's words made a lot of sense, so much so that Shed nodded in agreement.

"Oh, almost forgot, how much Ka did you use to activate your power?"

Shed, curious himself, immediately checked, only to notice something rather puzzling, or at least it seemed puzzling to him.

"I used... zero Ka…?"

He said it slowly, unsure if it was rare for an ability not to use Ka.

Ri's silent, incredulous expression answered his question.

A laugh with a hint of madness escaped Ri's mouth, making Shed shiver a little.

"Incredible…" she then commented.

.

.

.

The training went on for quite a while.

Shed was pleasantly surprised to find that, even though he didn't think he knew how to fight, he had some basic techniques down. Of course, the knowledge of these techniques wasn't really his own doing but rather a result of the modifications the Sleter had made to him, so perhaps there wasn't anything truly satisfying about it.

Once training was over and they had returned to reality from the second space, Ri wanted to talk with Shed for a moment before letting him go.

"Shed, I'd like to discuss something fairly important with you…" Ri began.

Ri had a serious expression, though from her tone, Shed sensed it wasn't anything severe.

"What ambitions do you currently have regarding the Colosseum?" she asked.

Shed was taken aback by her question. He hadn't really thought about it yet… would he try to climb the rankings? Or would he look for a way to escape from there?

"From your expression, it seems you don't have any at the moment… that's why I'd like to tell you about some special rewards you can get if you reach Champion rank…"

Shed's attention sharpened, intrigued by her words.

"First of all, if you manage to become Champion rank and stay there for an entire month, on the first day of each following month, you'll be given memory fragments about your past."

Shed's eyes widened.

"Furthermore, if you manage to stay in the top three of the Champion rank for a whole year, you'll be given the chance to earn your freedom," Ri continued.

Shed was silent for a while, shocked by her words, words that sparked a flame of hope within him.

After a moment of initial shock, however, Shed returned to reality.

"Has anyone ever actually achieved this freedom you're talking about?" he asked in an ironic tone.

Ri shook her head.

The rewards Ri mentioned were certainly amazing, but to obtain them he would have to climb a mountain that seemed impossible to scale, a mountain that no one there had yet managed to conquer.

'But… trying doesn't cost anything… and who's to say what seems impossible today won't be achievable tomorrow?'

A small flame of hope remained in him.

"Well, it looks like my words have given you a bit of motivation…" she said finally, observing his expression closely.

.

.

.

What a heavy day. The training with Ri had lasted a long time, so Shed wasn't too surprised when he saw it was already six in the evening.

Shed's body wasn't tired, but his mind and something deeper within him certainly were. During his long training with Ri, he endured many painful blows; however, as Ri had said, his physical body suffered no repercussions.

His thought process, on the other hand, was completely burned out; even thinking about trivial things felt like a challenge.

That day, Shed managed to use his predictive gaze a total of seven times.

During training, he also learned another important truth about his power, beyond when it activated automatically: that while it didn't consume his Ka, it did drain his mental clarity and utilized the Ka in his surroundings.

Aside from this, though, he still didn't understand how to activate it voluntarily.

Thinking about it as he made his way home, Shed sighed, disappointed.

'As they say... drop by drop, the glass fills, I suppose.'

With that, Shed pushed all negative thoughts from his mind and continued on his way.

Soon arriving in front of his room, Shed paused a moment, considering whether to take a walk through the Colosseum's corridors to explore more, or to settle in, eat something, and stretch out in bed.

Shed massaged his temples and yawned.

"I guess that answers my question…"

In the end, mental fatigue, and perhaps a bit of foresight, won out. After all, he had another long training session with Ri the next day, and it was best to be well-rested.