My body was shaken by something.

“ – up, Victus!” Somehow I heard a voice calling out to me.

The shake that I felt now increased, and the voice that called out to me became louder.

“Wake up! Victus!”

My eyes opened immediately because I remembered that we had a lookout shift. My body was raised, and my head bumped into something.

“Ouch!”

“Damn!”

I held my head with my hands.

‘It hurts!’

My sleepiness went away in an instant and I saw Rena glared at me while holding her forehead.

At that moment, I realized something. My head bumped with Rena’s.

Sweat began forming on my back. Slowly, I raised my right hand and said.

“Morning?”

“Tsk!” Rena clicked her tongue and got up, “It’s our turn, get up and meet me in front of the warehouse.”

My gaze followed Rena’s back as she walked away. I rubbed my eyes while getting up on my feet.

Rena exited the warehouse and slammed the door behind her.

Bam!

I strode over to the door of the warehouse and opened it.

Rena was waiting for me in front of the warehouse while crossing her arms. When she saw me exiting the warehouse, she looked at me.

“Victus, you know…” Rena seemed to be having a hard time speaking to me.

“What? Please just say it clearly.” I asked her.

I knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell me about the fact…

‘That I am weak.’

But her kindness wouldn't allow her to say it clearly.

Rena ruffled her red hair, making it untidy.

“Damn it, I wanted to say, I will train you before the boys at this time.”

At this time. I looked at the sky and it was still dark, the sun had yet to rise.

“I know, Rena.”

“You know?” She seemed to be surprised by my words.

“Yeah, I know that I am weak, so please don’t hold back on me. Train me hard.” I looked at Rena with a determined gaze.

She was surprised. Maybe because she never saw me like this.

“So that I can help you guys too.”

Rena smiled at my words. She bumped her fists with each other.

“Fine, I will train you for now, Victus.” She approached me and stopped in front of me.

She stretched her right hand, patting my shoulder.

Pat

“So, get stronger.”

I smiled back at her.

“I will.”

This was my determination.

‘I will get stronger Rena.’

***

Rena walked away to make a distance between us.

“To be honest, I don’t know the extent of your physical capability, Victus. You are never in a fight, no, you never fought back when you were punched and bullied. So, I was thinking…”

After we were around 10 meters apart, Rena stopped and turned to me with a big smile on her face.

The sun had yet to rise, the sky was dark. However, I could see Rena’s face clearly because of the dim light from the light bulb.

She now had the evilest smile on her face. It was the biggest smile that I ever saw on Rena’s face.

“How about we have a little spar so I can prepare the right training for you?”

‘Sparring right off the bat?’ I was surprised.

I gaped at Rena and asked with a stupid tone, “Spar?”

“Yeah, it’s a light spar. I won’t do anything though, just attack me and I will block and dodge. If you are tired, you are free to surrender, how about it?”

So she was thinking of testing my limit in the spar?

That was not bad at all. I nodded my head at Rena and answered.

“Sure. I don’t mind, please take care of me.”

“Of course…” Rena raised her hands in front of her in a boxing stance, “I will take care of you.”

As someone who never fought back before, I don’t know what to do, what next move I should make. I just copied Rena’s stance and then shot towards Rena with my full speed.

“Oho! Come, Victus!”

I would change.

I would no longer stay as a Loser.

To do that, I would train as hard as I could.

Rena was now right in front of me, she was in my range. So I sent a punch with my right hand, aiming at Rena’s body.

I hesitated a bit to send a punch on Rena’s face, hence I chose her stomach which was not guarded by her arms.

However, I realized something when I punched Rena. My punch was weak. It was slow, I could even see my hand move slowly towards Rena’s stomach.

On the other hand, Rena was fast. Maybe because it was her reflex or her experience fighting someone, she dodged my punch by side stepping to the left.

It was at that moment, Rena’s kick moved and hit my head.

I don’t understand what happened, but Rena’s surprised face was the last thing I saw before my eyes closed.

My consciousness was still there, however, I couldn’t open my eyes.

[The condition has been met.]

Then I heard a voice.

It was a monotonous voice that sounded like a girl, it rang inside my head. I hated it because it was similar to the first moment when God talked inside my head.

I couldn’t move my body, even a simple movement like opening my eyes were difficult.

[Activating the skill.]

At first, I was confused by what I heard, then something clicked inside my mind.

‘I was defeated by Rena.’

Yes, I was defeated. In a spar.

However, defeat was a defeat. It seemed that my skill didn’t care what kind of defeat I suffered.

[Loser’s Struggle has been activated.]

I could now open my eyes.

The scenery that I saw was not what I had expected. I was expecting Rena’s face or the clear sky of morning.

However, what greeted me was a blank space. There was nothing in front of me.

Looking around the space, I found a big tree behind me. Under the tree was a person, a brown-haired man with tanned skin stood calmly with his hands behind him.

I couldn’t see his face because he was looking at the tree. However, his clothes were a bit unfamiliar to me.

He was wearing some kind of gray sleeveless jacket. There was a tattoo on his upper left arm. The tattoo were words written in black, ‘WINNER’.

“So you have arrived.”

The man’s voice was deep, he greeted me as he turned towards me.