After closing his eyes, Sunz’s body felt like it was falling for a moment… Then it suddenly hit a concrete wall.

*Crows sound*

Sunz still closes his eyes and thinks (There are birds now. How much power does he have in here?)

When Sunz opened his eyes, he saw that he was sitting on a fence inside of a huge graveyard, in the middle of the night.

Sunz: This is a dream not real. You have a clear vision of everything.

While talking to himself, Sunz feels something grabbing onto his right arm.

Sunz: What the?

When he held up his right arm, he noticed that he was wearing the butler outfit and there was a crow hanging upside down from there.

Sunz and the crow stare at each other for a moment before it releases its grip on Sunz’s arm and falls down. He quickly caught it when it started to fall.

Holding the crow with one hand he asks it: Why are you so fat?

Fat crow: *crow noise*

Sunz: Yeah… I don’t know where I was going with this.

Then he got pushed off the fence by Sword.

Sword: Have fun with your break?

Sunz: I think I did.

Sword: Good. I see that you’ve met Doodle.

Sunz: This crow? Was it your pet before you died?

Sword grabs Doodle from Sunz: No, it was one of the student's pet.

*throw Doodle into the void*

Sunz: What was that for?

Sword: Relax, I just returned it to the owner.

Sunz: I guess, can’t have distraction while training. Explain, why this is the training location and why I’m in this outfit?

Sword: You need to get used to moving in different outfits. Can’t wear that stay-at-home outfit every time.

Sunz: Got a point.

Sword: And for why we here *snap finger*

The ground beneath them started to shake and hundreds of corpses rose up from the ground.

“They will be your training dummies.”

Sunz: You really stress the infinite of dreams.

“Well explain the objective and the rule. But judging by the variety of these corpses, I guess we are training my ‘Elements’.”

Sword: Lightning, Water, Shockwave, Darkness, Light, Fire, Ice are your mastered ‘Elements’. Your goal is to reach a fragment of this…

*Sword summoned a sword in his hand then proceeded to gather ‘Darkness’ from the corpses until the blade turned pitch black. Then he stab the blade into the ground, spreading darkness across the whole graveyard*

*Right after that, Lightning strikes down at all of the corpses, and within a few seconds there are only Sunz and Sword standing in the graveyard*

Sunz: what the…?

Sword: Or we can see what miracle you can pull from this training.

Sunz was shocked after seeing what Sword could do: Question! How strong were you in your past life?

Sword: I think your world power ranking is different from mine. We don’t have time manipulation or dimension bending type of power, things were simple back then.

“If I have to guess, S-tier at most.”

Sunz: You are amazing!

Sword: Save your compliments for future events and summon your weapon.

Sunz *imagined a sword in his hand and successfully summoned it*

“Woah! I can do this now? I thought you were in control.”

Sword: I’m not, this is your mind. I can only influent or manipulate your dream if you allow me to. Unless you’re unconscious then it’s mine, temporary.

Sunz: ok… Does what happened to my body in my dream happen to me in real life?

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Sword: Part of it. The paralyzing you felt before was due to the intensity of the training. Dream is a place for you to train in conditions that real life can’t offer.

“All you have to do is keep the training moderate or you’ll die in your sleep.”

Sunz: You are saying this not to scare me but to warn me?

Sword: Precise! Now, enough with the talking and start.

Sunz: Wait a bit. Your light show didn’t really tell me my objective.

Sword:…True, hit the corpses with the right ‘Elements’ that's all.

*He then teleports to the fences and watches Sunz perform, with a tombstone in front of him*

“Start!”

Sunz suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left hand, then saw that there was a 1 engraved in his palm.

Sunz: Real-life Zombie mode. Can’t believe I'm playing the VR version first.

Corpses started rising from the ground and attacking Sunz, their speed was the same as an average human so Sunz was able to outspeed them. In the first wave, the corpses only have Lightning, Water, Fire and Ice.

Wave 1 ended smoothly, using his Lighting skill Sunz was able to keep a distance between each strike. What he noticed was, the Element disappeared when it struck a target.

Sunz *huff* *huff*

Sword: That was only Wave 1 and you're already tired.

Sunz: I’ve never fought 100 people all at once, that for a start and they spawn pretty slow. How about you up the difficulty?

Sword: Was going to have you fight all the waves but, since you asked nicely.

Sunz felt another sharp pain in his left hand. The number had gone up from 1 to 10.

Sword: Start!

Corpses start rising from the ground at a faster rate than Wave 1, combined with the fact that most of them now have 2 Elements. The only upside Sunz can think of was (At least there are no unknown Elements.)

After a while and hundreds of slayed corpses, the number of enemies is even more than before. Throughout the battle, Sunz figured out many ways to combine his ‘Elements’ to create an AoE attack, that help clearing many corpses at once.

But, with an infinite amount of information going through his head, in the middle of the battle... he just collapsed.

While Sunz is unconscious, Sword doesn’t stop the Wave and let it continue. Corpses started piling up on top of Sunz, which created a huge mound that continue to grow.

After a while, Sunz woke up in the darkness, feeling a lot of weight on his body.

Sunz (Really? He let this continue.) can’t move most of his body due to the weight, but his two hands can at least move a bit.

(This is so unfortunate, my face is directly in the dirt and I can barely move my body. This will be the best sleep position if I don’t have all this weight on my back.)

(Let's get out of this mess first… and the sword is gone, fantastic. Ok, simple. Just imagine the sword in your hand then apply Lightning to blast yourself out of here.)

…

After a bit of focusing Sunz felt the hilt in his hand and the blade buried in the ground. Then instantly Sunz was blasted out of the mound and stopped after his body was slammed into the invincible fences.

Sunz: That’s hurt… what the *looking at the towering corpse mound*

Suddenly, lightning strikes at the mound, and all of the corpses stop moving.

Sword sitting on the fence that Sunz slammed into: You got out unscathed.

Sunz: Not really, I have some bruises and got crushed by a mountain.

Sword: You did well, like really well on your first try. Until that moment.

Sunz *sigh*: Yeah, that’s going to be a huge problem.

Sword: We have to change the objective of this training. From seeing how long you can survive to how long can you fight before going unconscious.

Sunz; Yeah… I guess so. *stand up* Let’s go again.

Sword: With a bladeless sword?

Sunz: What are you talking about?

*looked at his sword and saw that there was nothing left except the hilt*

“You’re right, what happened?”

Sword: Hmm… when you blasted yourself out of the mound, the heat from your Element must have burned the blade.

Sunz has a disagreeing expression: That implies that I have mastered the Element on a higher level, which I think is bullshit.

Sword smirk: So you have a better assumption than the guy that has taught millions of lives how to use his own skill?

Sunz: No… but if what you said is right. Shouldn’t the hilt be gone too or at least damaged?

Sword (You are smart.): Well, let’s see if you can recreate it, then we’ll have the answer.

Sword snaps his finger and the mound instantly teleports outside of the graveyard.

“We will use this as time indication. To see how long can you fight until your brain stops working.”

Sunz:…Sure… but that “time” is wrong.

Sword: You are right *snap finger*, that’s about right.

Sunz: That, that is less than half of the original… I wasted so much time.

Sword: You didn’t waste any time, you just produced unwanted results. Now get back to training, this time I make sure you’ll instantly wake up after fainting.

*After 5 more runs*

Sword: Ok let’s stop there for now. Hmm?

Sunz: ow ow, head hurting, stop stop it!

Sword: On the next two runs you did a lot better, then you fell off on the last three. They are even worse than the first run.

Sunz: It seems I am nowhere near ready.

Sword: It seems so… Having some issues with your unexpected relationship?

Sunz: Can we not talk about that topic in a place designed for training?

Sword: Sometimes, when you are at your peak performance, every little detail can snowball you to the bottom. Example the last three rounds.

“So just tell me about what is on your mind and we will see if any of my past “experience” can help.”

Sunz: How much do you know?

Sword: How much do I know, enough.

“16 turning 17 boy meets an 18-year-old girl, who suddenly falls head over heels for him for the weirdest reasons. Through many events and interactions, the girl is shown to be obsessed with the boy. While the boy is still unsure about his feelings.”

…

Sunz: That is everything. Ok, I don’t know if you heard this or not but this is what has been ticking me off, she asked “If I’m not flat do you still like me?”.

“Like, how can she still ask that after we protected each other from nearly dying. With how much she is obsessed with me, the answer should be Yes already.”

Sword: Did you say this to her or was it your assumption of what she should’ve thought?

Sunz:… My assumption. What are you trying to say?

Sword: I mean, she may be obsessed with you but she does set her boundaries. The relationship contract that she forced you in, probably made her feel guilty. So, that stupid question was a way for her to know if you like her back.

Sunz: Does that mean I’m in the wrong?

Sword: Not yet, both of you are polar opposites, one is moving too fast while the other is stagnant. You have her answer now she needs your, Yes or No. After that, this dream/nightmare will be over.

Sunz: I mean-

Sword cut Sunz off: That is not our conversation. It’s for yourself and her.

Sunz takes a deep breath and thinks: Ok I got it. I made up my mind.

Sword: Good, now let's get back to training.

Sunz: I thought you were gonna release me.

Sword: I don’t half-ass training.

Sunz: What am I supposed to do with my thought? All you did was replace a question with another question.

Sword: Wrong, I gave you the answer to that question.

Sunz:…Hmm… I guess you’re right.

Sword: Now, those five rounds have given me what I need, to give you a Phase 2. This will be your key to winning the next round!