"That's weird. I clearly heard him screaming…", Mornil muttered as he looked for Shiro around.

'Was I hallucinating…? Of course not! He was here to bury his mother…'

'The pile of dirt still looks fresh…', he looked at the dirt.

"Mornil tried looking for Shiro around the area, but to no avail, he could not find Shiro at all.

Mornil grew anxious. He was afraid Shiro was about to hurt himself or some sort, especially since he had lost his loved ones quite recently.

"Shiro!", Mornil yelled loudly again, slightly impatient this time. It was getting dark as time passed, and he knew Shiro must be hungry by now.

He waited for a response, but he had none.

"Shiro! Stop playing games with me! Let's go back and have dinner!", Mornil yelled again, this time using a different tactic. Perhaps if he said dinner, Shiro would come out from wherever he was hiding.

Of course, his yells did not get any response from Shiro.

Mornil knew it was of no use if he kept yelling into thin air. It would make him seem like a psychopath instead. Furthermore, everyone should be resting by now.

Yelling would not do anything but cause grumbles by his fellow neighbors.

'I'll look for him again in his hiding spot. Or my clinic…', Mornil thought to himself as he began running. His breath was already shallow due to the running from earlier, but Mornil pushed himself to run again. He could feel his legs aching a bit, but that did not slow him down at all.

"Please be okay, Shiro!", Mornil muttered again.

.

.

.

*SWOOSH*

Shiro's eyes opened in shock. He was breathing heavily as if he was running a marathon.

He looked around the place he was while cold sweat began trickling down his forehead.

He could see nothing but pitch-black darkness in front of him.

"Where- where is this?", Shiro mumbled softly. He felt fear creeping inside of him.

He swung his hands in the air, trying to find direction.

'Why can't I see anything? What happened to my eyes…?', he wondered, fearing that he might have gone blind due to the bright screen that appeared in front of him earlier.

As he tried to grasp his surroundings, suddenly, the sun, air, water, and land appeared. Shiro looked at all of it confusedly as he tried to hide his scared self. He was half happy – he regained his sight after all, and half surprised.

After a few minutes, Shiro found himself in a familiar setting. He was now by the seashore, the same place where he would normally hide at.

[First task: Learn to swim]

A similar window popped up in front of him. Out of the blue, a 3D hologram version of himself began swimming in the sea.

Then, Shiro went into autopilot mode and walked toward the sea. Having no control of his actions, Shiro found himself standing in the sea at knee-depth.

That's when Shiro realized he was supposed to learn how to swim. He looked at the 3D hologram once again and thought to himself.

'Swimming can't be that difficult.'

With that, he started his first attempt at swimming. Unfortunately, it was not as easy as he thought.

He had no coordination while moving his arms and legs, so he could feel himself sinking into the sea.

"Help!", Shiro yelled as he felt himself falling deeper and deeper into the sea.

Before he knew it, he was brought back to the land. He felt his feet hit the soft sand.

"What? Wasn't I about to die?", Shiro asked himself, looking here and there in confusion.

Then, a system notification popped up again.

[First Attempt: Failed. Please try again.]

Shiro looked at it in horror as his legs began walking towards the sea again.

"Wait! I- I have to do it again?", Shiro yelled, thinking someone would hear him.

Once again, he found himself standing in the sea at knee-depth.

[Learn basics]

A 3D hologram appeared in front of him and instead of swimming, he took a deep breath and went underwater. A stream of bubbles could be seen flowing out when the model exhaled.

Shiro watched the movements of the 3D hologram this time.

"I have to breathe underwater?", Shiro grumbled.

How was that even possible? He realized that all he had to do was hold his breath in the war. The bubbles were from the movement and exhaled air that the system set to show as an example.

Nonetheless, he did it. It was not easy for a beginner like him at all. The first time he did it, he only lasted for 2 seconds before gasping for air again.

[Instructions: Take a deep breath, hold it for a minute and start exhaling slowly underwater]

Shiro looked at the system notification closely. After understanding the instruction, he did it again.

This time, he managed to last for at least 5 seconds.

Slowly yet gradually, he was able to hold his breath for a minute and then exhaled at a regular yet slow pace

[System Notification: First Step, Complete]

[Instructions: Kick Your Legs]

The 3D hologram began showing the correct method of kicking his legs underwater.

Shiro, feeling slightly confident this time, did it after a glance.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his leg.

"AARGH!," Shiro yelped in pain as he felt himself sinking again.

Once again, he was brought back to the land.

[Second Attempt: Failed. Please try again.]

Shiro groaned as the whole process repeated itself again.

After 2 hours, Shiro finally mastered the basics of swimming. He was panting heavily on the sand.

[Basics of swimming: Completed.]

[Learn how to swim with no guidance.]

"Are you kidding me?", Shiro yelled in frustration. "Can't I catch a break?"

Shiro went into autopilot mode and walked towards the sea yet again. However, this time, there was no 3D hologram for him to refer to.

Shiro inhaled and jumped into the sea. He tried his best to do all the basics that he learned earlier. Although it was not really good, Shiro managed to finish swimming without drowning.

[Tutorial Mission List]

: Learn to swim [ Complete ]

: Learn to climb using a rope [ incomplete ]

: Learn to climb without a rope [ incomplete ]

: Learn Basic Self Defense [ incomplete ]

Shiro smiled in satisfaction.

*Ding*

[ Next task… ]