Chapter 33: A Warm Welcome

It was 8 in the morning when Sila got out of the life-supporting capsule. He got up and walked slowly around the room. Sila could walk normally now. But he could feel that his stamina was lower than before.

Sila warmed up and began to try a light workout. He performed push-ups. However, his body really wasn’t in good shape; just twenty times and he could hardly do any more push-ups already. Usually, he could perform three sets of push-ups, a hundred times per set.

His body was soaked with sweat when the door of his room opened. Doctor Panhathai went into the room.

“Wait! What are you doing, Sila?” exclaimed the doctor.

“I’m working out,” naively replied Sila.

“You can’t perform serious workout like this.” The doctor scolded.

“I usually perform much more serious workouts than this.”

“That’s when you are in a good condition. But now your body needs recovering. Please refrain yourself from heavy activities.”

“But I didn’t want to just lie down on the bed,” Sila argued.

The doctor sighed. It seemed Rashine’s plan worked a little too well. Sila who had no spirit in doing anything before now pushed himself too much.

“Then, I will give you a workout program later. You need to follow my instruction strictly if you want to recover soon.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, I will write it now. You should go and take a bath.” The doctor said while walking to the couch.

Sila went into the shower. Cold water was pouring on his head, making him refreshed. He was thinking about the game.

‘Now the important thing is finding Montra. But what will I do once I meet him?’

Before he had started playing, he thought he could easily find Montra since that guy seemed to be famous. Once he met Montra, he would ask him about his teacher and the reason why Montra had to cheat. He would also ask for a revenge duel. However, it wasn’t that simple once he entered the game.

Firstly, Montra was very difficult to find. Not only did he have to travel to the Main Continent, but he also had to encounter Heavenly Dragon Guild’s members that seemed to be everywhere.

Secondly, Sila hadn’t played any game before. He didn’t know that his avatar would be weak once he entered the game. He previously thought that since it was a virtual reality game, it would be just like him entering into another dimension with his current body. Based on the NPC’s explanation, he was aware that he wasn’t a match for Montra in the game. If it was about fighting ability in real life, he perceived that he would be slightly weaker than Montra. But if it was an in-game fight, there would be no way for him to win.

So, Sila thought he needed to change his courses of action. Since the flow of time inside the game was five-times faster than in real life, he would have time to train himself more than normal. He had wasted his time in the hospital for one month already; he could afford to wait for another month.

‘Well, next, I should go to the Underwater Palace for Qi of Little Turtle and get rid of Bomb Lurking Psychic. Then, I’ll train myself hard while finding clues about Montra.’

Once he had settled on what to do next, he calmed down. Of course, he still felt hatred towards Montra. But Sila wasn’t a stupid person. He was fully aware that he was inferior to Montra in all aspects, be it power or influence. Although his teacher taught him that the most important aspect of the fight was the mind, a certain level of fighting ability was also needed.

Sila’s teacher always taught him to be as calm as water, being good at controlling his own emotions. If Sila could do that, Sila would be more skillful than this. The funny thing was, Sila could only do that once his teacher was gone. Before, he was a fighter type focused only on the offensive. But once he lost to Montra, he was able to calm his mind in battle. Although he couldn’t do that all the time, it was still a good start for him.

Sila just hoped that his teacher would appear and see his current progress.

Humans were strange creatures. They usually didn’t appreciate things around them. They only realized the value once those things were gone. The teachings from his teacher that Sila hadn’t cared much about before, he now started to understand how important they were.

“Be as calm as water, hmm?” Sila used his hands to handle the water from the shower. He smiled. He really wasn’t very good at interpreting words. It seemed he would have to push himself to experience it for himself.

Sila turned off the shower and sighed. His journey would be a long one and he still didn’t know his destination. He didn’t know what he wanted and what he would do once he beats Montra. Would he be satisfied? He didn’t know. He just had to try it.

Sila wiped his body and wore new clothes that the nurse provided. He returned to the bedroom zone. Well, he was staying in a private patient room which had both a bedroom zone and bathroom within. When he thought about it, he realized he still hadn’t returned Rashane’s favor. This room cost was charged to Rashane.

There were three more persons in the patient room. One was Rashane that was having a conversation with the doctor. One was a nurse preparing some equipment. The last one was Varee sitting on a couch.

“Hi, Sila. Good timing. We’re talking about you,” greeted Rashane.

“What’s the matter, Uncle?”

“About you getting out of the hospital, of course.”

“When can I go out?” happily asked Sila.

“Your body has to be examined again. If there isn’t anything wrong, you will be able to leave the hospital in two or three days,” said the doctor. “Please come here. Let me examine your body.”

Sila went to the bed, and then the nurse took some kind of tool to inspect his body. She told him to move his hands and feet around. Sila was looking at Varee. She was smiling and seemed to have something to say. But her mobile phone was interrupting.

Varee picked up her call and walked outside to talk.

“Good, no problem at all. It will take only some more days for you to leave the hospital,” said the doctor.

“That’s good. By the way, where are you planning to live once you leave the hospital, Sila?” asked Rashane.

Sila was stunned. He had been raised in the dojo. But after the incident, his dojo was closed down and he heard that it was seized by a bank agent. Although he felt that there was something sinister behind it, he couldn’t do anything to prevent it.

“I don’t know, sir. Maybe I’ll find a job and rent a place.”

“I’ll help you, then.”

“Is that okay?” Sila felt bad as he was bothering Rashane in many ways already, including hospital fees.

“Come on. I know a lot of people. It should be easy.”

“In that case, thank you very much, sir.” Sila wasn’t stubborn as he was aware that he would have had a hard time finding a job in his condition.

“Then, I’ll come and pick you up three days later. During the time, you shouldn’t think or workout too hard. You are almost recovered; it will be bad if your wound opens.”

“Okay. I’ll keep staying online for three days then,” said Sila.

Rashane smiled. At least Sila had learned to rest. He agreed with Sila’s suggestion.

Sila picked up six nutrient pills and threw them into his mouth. “Let’s meet again in three days, sir.”

“Wait. It seems like Varee has something to tell you,” said Rashane.

Sila frowned. Does this girl even have to bother him both in the game and in real life?

“Don’t mind it, sir. If she has something to say, she can easily contact me in the game anyway.”

“Is that so? Well, let’s meet again in three days.”

Sila put his palms together and said goodbye to both Rashane and doctor. The life-supporting capsule was closed down to cover Sila’s body and made him sleep.

Meanwhile, Varee entered the room. She was shocked to see that Sila had already logged in.

“Dad, why didn’t you tell him that I have something to tell him?” Varee said.

Rashane was confused to see Varee being this panic. “Sila told me that you can just contact him once you are in the game.”

Varee’s face went pale. “Dad, we need to go back home immediately, or else it will be too late.”

***

Sila woke up in a cross-legged position. The pain coursed through his body immediately as he opened his eyes.

“Argh!” Sila spat blood from his mouth and instantly circulated Recovering Qi.

After fifteen minutes had passed, Sila felt better. He switched his power to Intermediate Qi and Unblemished Aqua. He checked his own body and discovered that the core of Bomb Lurking Psychic was bigger than before.

“It seems I need to hurry.”

Then, he spent his time in the room circulating his qi and playing with Lookhin. Until some time had passed and the naval announced that the ship would arrive at the Main Continent in fifteen minutes. Sila went outside.

The sea breeze passed him. Sila released Lookhin to fly around. He noticed that people were looking at him and began to whisper. But he didn’t care. These people must have seen him fight against Shueria.

The ship docked on the quay slowly. Although this place was called a city port, it wasn’t really a city. It was like a port at Beginning Island that the port is separated from the town. Well, there were many merchants setting up stalls to sell items to new arrivals, so this place became crowded. It was a big marketplace so people nicknamed it the city port.

Sila was ready to leave the ship. Strangely, no one had stepped out of the ship yet. They were all opening a path for Sila to leave. Sila frowned. These people sure were weird. He just displayed some fighting skills and now they were this scared of him?

Sila walked through the players slowly. However, even after Sila had stepped off the ship, no one moved. Sila looked around and felt that something wasn’t right.

There were no merchants or stalls here at all. Instead, there were a group of players in armor and group of players wearing magic robes. They spread around the port. Their numbers exceeded a thousand.

One man stepped forward. He was wearing light gorgeous armor. His hair was black and short. His body was full of muscles but his body wasn’t too big. In conclusion, he had a good shape and looked manly.

“You must be Sila,” said that man.

“And who are you?” asked Sila while he was looking around.

“I’m Cross, Shueria’s guild master, but everyone calls me the Sword Emperor.”

At the end of that speech, Sila had to look closely at this man. This man was very skillful. He could grasp this fact just by his stance that was ready to attack at any time.

Now, Sila focused his thoughts on a way to escape from this place. He finally knew why everyone on the ship had kept whispering. They must know about the Sword Emperor being here. No, maybe everyone in the game had known this.

Even in his best condition, he wouldn’t think that he could beat the Sword Emperor. Needless to say about his current condition where he had to keep using Unblemished Aqua all the time. The plan inside Sila head was to use Light of Forest to blind everyone here and focus all his qi into Qi of Little Bird to flee.

“Don’t you dare think about running away, though. Just for you, I even went out of my way to invite a special guest to come here,” said Cross.

Sila wanted to know more than ever whether psychic-type players were able to read people’s mind.

“You mean Varee?” wondered Sila as his only acquaintance in the Main Continent was Varee. She also had mentioned that she had something to tell him. Is it about her deciding to join the Royal Armament Guild?

Meanwhile, Cross felt furious inside. He wasn’t sure Sila was just making fun of him by mentioning Varee, knowing that he was in one-sided love with her, or not.

“It’s not Varee, but he is a person you’ll surely be happy to meet.”

Then, the area full of players in magic robes opened. One man was walking through them slowly.

This man was handsome. His skin was white, so as his slightly curly hair. His shape was good, not too fat and not too thin. He was wearing an elegant-looking tight magic robe. His mouth was smirking mockingly.

“It’s been a long time, Sila. It must be since you admitted to the hospital, mustn’t it?” said that man.

Sila’s face was contorted with rage. It was a given that he remembered this guy. Even if this man was crushed to specks of dust, Sila would still remember this man. Since this man was the sole reason for Sila to play this game.

“Montra!!!” Sila shouted out angrily.

It was ironic that once Sila decided to change his plan not to find Montra for the time being, Montra instead appeared before him.