When the masters recovered from the 'spar', Eden started the lecture to the group once again explaining several things they needed to consider for the future. But before that, he fixed the damage he caused in the Vortex World.

“Let's see....revert to default state” muttered Eden changing the format of the world once again to what it used to be. The damaged ground was immediately restored. Seeing this, Eden went to the group, removed the defences he placed on them and said:

“I have three things to talk about to you guys right now. One is your performance, the second is about your former masters and the third and what to do later on. Let's keep this in order okay?”

The group nodded obediently to Eden seeing his awesome power that completely outmatched their former masters.

“Damn do you have to rub it in their we are not their masters anymore? Isn't that a bit wordy plus aren't you going to make us teach them later on either way?” complained Park in his old age patting his stomach where a spear was just impaled into it just a while ago.

“True....I DO plan on making you help them later on even though technically you guys already trained and graduated them....and saying former master is too troublesome to say....might as well let you be called their masters for now” replied Eden not really caring for all the trouble he called.

'Why is that everything goes to the flow in which the Grandmaster wants?' thought Miriel now reverting back to her formal impression of Eden.

“Eden would it kill you to actually follow through in anything you say?” said Jenny criticising Eden heavily.

Eden sighed and said, “What happened to the innocent little girl that would call me 'master' all the time sob” Eden faked tears and then let out a grin. He was completely toying with Jenny that was completely red by now.

“Because of that complaint, I'm going to talk about your performance” a twisted smile was let out as Jenny and Park shivered. The other four; Mel, Ron, Anna and Gen haven't recovered just and were still motionless on the ground.

Eden went to them and gathered a bright light that covered his hands and said, “Phoenix Down!” completely reviving them with a shock.

“Ahh! Cough!” Ron sprang back to life even though he just fainted due to the effects of this world they were in.

“Phoenix Down!”

“Cough! Damn that hurts!” said Mel who was revived next.

“Phoenix Down!”

“....cough” muttered Anna spitting out blood from her mouth.

“Phoenix Down! Burning Touch!”

Gen was the next to be revived and then immediately set on fire, “Ahhhhhhhhh!” His screams attracted pity from everyone. Eden still had a grudge on Gen opposing him openly like that. Gen suffering like this would act as a deterrent for the others to not oppose him later on in the future.

“....”

'For some reason...the Guildmaster seems to have revealed his true nature early to us...' everyone in the group thought at the same time remarkably.

A few minutes later when Eden was done dealing with Gen and making sure Mel and Jenny wouldn't complain later on, he started his talk to the group with the masters, except one that was still unconscious listening in.

“First of all....I have to compliment those guys since they made me go a bit serious even though both sides haven't actually used everything up in that fight. If we did, you guys wouldn't even be alive even with the effects of this world preventing you from dying hahaha” Eden started things off in a light note.

“I can say this, their power is the real deal. At the top of the crop in this world though it was due to my training that such a talentless bunch managed to live this far! Don't worry, you guys have some talent somewhere, more than these guys when I first met them” Eden then started to sort of compliment them and insult them at the same time.

Sain looked at his former....no, it's master now and thought, 'Master was considered talentless even though he's that strong?' The scene in which he created and wield countless weapons against Eden still stuck to his mind. Gen and the other master's evaluation in Sain's mind went straight up.

However more than that, Sain's evaluation of Eden who trained them to that point was even higher. He innocently wondered, 'I wonder what kind of amazing training they went through?'

Yes the training in which Eden put the masters through was indeed amazing. Even Anna who was youngest of the group, only 10 years older than the group was that strong already.

“Oh wait, the only talentless ones were Gen, Park, Mel and Jenny. I found Ron and Anna a while after I met those four. Unlike them, those two had a bit more talent compared to those four and only took a little while, a few years to catch up to them in terms of strength” said Eden stating the facts he forgot to give.

“Well there isn't much to talk about since you guys wouldn't get it even if I explain it to you. After a certain point, whether you have talent or not, strength is all that matters and those masters of your do have strength. Plus there are a number other factors that added up to make them what you see today. That's all I have to say about them. A mostly talentless bunch that gained strength thanks to my training.”

“Wait? That's all?! Don't you have more to say?!” said Gen who reawakened near the end to heard Eden's words.

“More or less” replied Eden without looking at Gen only observing the group, “Power, speed and techniques were all at a high level that it's hard to find a more balanced party out there. The only problem I have with you lot is that you don't have a true finishing move...no, all of your finishing moves are on the same level so you use them all and don't prefer one to the other.”

“What kind of ridiculous thing are you talking about now?” Mel sighed hearing Eden.

“Who's fault is it that we were rounded out in stats” said Park adding in his opinion.

“Right, I remember whenever there was something we couldn't do as well as the other, he would make us train until we could do both at the same level” said Ron.

“Hey hey, I did that so you guys wouldn't die so easily later on. It was for your benefit” said Eden complaining about people who are complaining about his teaching methods, “Besides, I plan on using a different method of teaching for the new recruits.”

'Why does it seem that Eden forgot about us....?' thought Sain and Lyndis to all of this.

Miriel and Serena thought, 'So....a different teaching method. I wonder what it will be.'

'I hope I don't turn out like that...' thought Raven.

'I'm bored....' thought Shadow to himself which was completely different to everyone else's thoughts.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Several minutes later of complaining....

“Cough...” Eden looked a bit embarrassed that he forgot about what he was going to do and argued with the masters for a while on his teaching methods in the past. As such to make sure the group doesn't remember the scene too well, he decided to give them a bit of a harsh shock.

“I'll put it very bluntly, you guys are no good.”

“?!”

Yes it was a large shock to the group since they at least considered themselves average and even a bit better compared to other players at their level. But even though, Eden stated that they were no good.

“You guys despite me lowering my level and skills to your level, couldn't manage to get one hit in” said Eden.

“....”

What Eden said was true, the six of them even cooperating didn't even get a hit in. Eden was toying with them till the end and defeated them all easily barely using magic as well only a few times. Compared to the spells Eden used against the masters, they only experienced the weakest of spells.

“Well it's understandable since you guys barely have any battle experience compared to me. Which one do you think will win, your 2 months or my 100 years?”

“?”

The group was now confused, what Eden said was confusing enough and now he made it even more confusing?

“How long you think I fought in this world? How many battles have I overcome? Compared to facing some brats, I can easily take on an army without much difficulties.”

“I see...” muttered Sain. It was due to their inexperience that they couldn't even land a hit in. The thoughts of it couldn't be helped wondered in his mind.

“However it was six against one so you guys are still no good. You didn't even need to consider it like a real battle, it could've been something like a game of tag at least. The rules said you needed to get a hit in and nothing else. You should've then fought for that goal and nothing more. That was where you failed.”

“....”

“There are many tasks that Independent Guilds get that are similar in nature to what I just said. Don't bother to do more than you are asked, it'll save a lot of time if you do.”

There was an awkward silence in the room now. Naturally as a person who couldn't read the mood, Eden asked:

“What's wrong with them?” to the masters.

The masters then collectively sighed at Eden.

“You just kicked them down where it hurts you know” said Jenny.

“How cruel” muttered Anna.

“This is why we can't deal with you” commented Ron as well.

“What? I have to call out all the faults first before I can train them up from that. Another thing is that they are stuck between being an individual fighting alone and a group fighting together” said Eden astonished that the group was down from just this.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about now?” asked Jenny sort of defending the group while trying to put down Eden.

“There are two types of people. Those who can fight alone and those who can only fight together with others. They are stuck in between and this is hindering them” explained Eden.

“Oh and what reason would they be like that?” asked Jenny.

“Mainly your fault along with those guys” Eden pointed at the other masters, “With the exception of Shadow, Lyndis and Raven who can essentially fight alone, the others are dependent on fighting with others.”

“Wait a second! Miriel and Serena are magic users so of course they have to fight with others protecting them! Sain can also fight alone as well!” said Gen quickly.

“But his skill set was incomplete as well as the other two as well. They lack a number of spells you should've taught them. You slacked off in training them leaving it to themselves for a long time before you gave them proper training” replied Eden.

“....”

“But don't worry, I'm going to fill in the gaps that you guys left out. Of course I can't really teach Raven and Shadow so Anna and Park will have to help me there. Teaching 4 people at once will be very difficult so I would need Ron to help out teaching Lyndis as well. As for the others....I can deal with them....well Mel can join in as well before Viv comes to help out.”

“That means we're left out in teaching them!” shouted Gen in anger again along with Jenny.

“Don't worry, I'm just going to make them train up their basics for a while at least. After that will be their own choice on how they will grow.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Okay back on track again....this time don't talk so I can actually finish explaining things” said Eden with a frown to the masters.

“Right.”

“Got it.”

“Sure.”

The masters more or less replied with little interest since they already let out everything they wanted to say and couldn't be bothered to retort Eden any more.

“First of all from what I said before. What is the difference between someone who fights alone and someone who fights with others?” Eden gave the group this question immediately.

“One fights alone while the other fights with others. Isn't there little differences besides having to cooperate with others?” said Lyndis without much thought.

“Not really. When you fight with other people, sure you need to work together with them to some level but it is still a lot more difference than fighting alone. In a group you don't need to work as hard as others can compensate any weaknesses you may have. The moment you are fighting alone, all you have is yourself and you need skills and experience in dealing a large range of things. One mistake when fighting alone often results in you dying.”

“I see but what is the point of this explanation?” asked Lyndis once again. It seems she was the only one in the group brave enough to be this rude to him.

“Hmm....well it heavily relates to you guys. You were trained by this lot on your own which means you have some experience on relying on yourself and fighting alone but immediately after the training you met up and fought together from there on and never fighting alone from there on. The balance between being able to fight alone and relying on other people is very stiff and you guys are on the crossroad of going on only one path instead of both.”

Sain was the next to talk to Eden, “But isn't it fine that we can rely on each other to fight?”

Eden then smiled to these words and said, “And then what happens when one of you dies? Didn't you fall apart quite quickly when one of your support dies? The thing I want to point out is that you need to rely on yourself enough that even if one of you dies, say Serena there who is the healer, the others can still fight and win even without her.

“....”

The group considered Eden's words to heart since he was actually correct. But then...

“Wait...how did you know what happened when we died?” asked Shadow.

“Oh I have a skill that let's me see anything around the city in a few kilometre radius” replied Eden without a care.

“Isn't that....an invasion of privacy...?” muttered Serena concerned about a number of things.

“Nah, I can only use it to see the parts outside the city. I have an entirely different skill to observe things in the city and another one to observe things in dungeons.”

'So you can pretty much see anywhere....' thought everyone at once.

Eden easily avoided the question and went to the next point.

“After a certain point, as long as you know how to not get in someone's way, you can pretty much hunt together with other people fine so those who have hunted alone for a while can easily adjust to party hunting while the opposite is not the same. Because of this, plus the fact that it seems some of your training is still unfinished, I'm going to have you to train for a while on your individual skills.”

“But won't that stop us from levelling?” asked Miriel since one of their main goals was levelling fast to 200 and explore the continent quickly. Joining an Independent Guild was only for the information they can provide for their search in the end. She did not expect that they needed to train even more when joining as well.

“In terms of ranks. Skills comes first, then stats and finally levels. All levels does is give you a very rough estimate of your battle level.”

“Battle Level?”

“Some term I made up. It's just a separate way to estimate things like how a person has a battle level of 100 means they are of the average strength of a level 100.”

“I see.”

“If you complete the Basic Training Centre, you would gain enough stats to be considered of a battle level of 30 at level 1. And if you have proper skills then this battle level can be increased even more. As such levels aren't that accurate after a certain point. The difference between a level 50 and level 100 is indeed large but the difference between a level 300 and a level 350 isn't that much compared to the first example” explained Eden like a proper person.

“....Is it me or is he actually explaining things properly...?” whispered Mel to her comrades, the other masters.

“Yeah...usually with us he just tell us that we needed to do something and never explained the purpose” whispered Jenny back.

“Increased teaching ability” muttered Anna.

“One time he threw me in lava telling me to survive and only later on I learnt that it was to train my fire form....I thought he was trying to kill me!” whispered Ron as well of his bad experience.

“You think you have it bad, he made me drink several potions with unknown effects and I was in agonising pain for a week without end” whispered Park.

“....”

Gen was the only one who kept quite even listening through all of this. The main reason was he was the one who suffered under the hands of Eden the most and he was beaten...no tortured for a bit just earlier so he dared not to badmouth Eden right now.

'Didn't Eden say once the most extreme training are the best training to improve himself and that he was taught that way....? If so, I can only blame those monsters that trained Eden since we suffered because of that....' thought Gen thinking back on when Eden told him of the roots of his training methods.

“Ignoring those five people who are badmouthing me....” Eden sent them a glared and continued, “Skills are something that will stay with you throughout the game. Stats and Levels may decrease but your actual 'skills' won't.”

Eden then took a breath in and out and let out a sinister aura to the group which frightened them.

“Now tell me the level of training you want? The super easy relaxing training will take over a year at most and will ensure you lot will reach level 200 at least by the end of it but not much in the skills department. The so-so moderate training will last for 6 months and you will get to around level 150 and will be above average in terms of skill among players. The hardcore difficult training will take 3 months and you will get to level 100 quite easily and will be considered experts at your classes.”

Eden continued to release more and more of his sinister aura out at the when he said the last sentence:

“Or will you take Hell Training that will last for a month with non stop training and become something on the level like your masters? I can assure you after that training, you will be at least 3 times stronger than you are now.”

There was a dangerous smile on his face right now that said that he would enjoy using the 'Hell Training' on the group very much.

“....”

The group was feeling like they were about to faint by just being near Eden right now.

“Tell me the choice and I will pound every skill and spell you would ever need to slay even the most power monsters and even Gods!” Eden was becoming more and more twisted by the second of the thought of 'training' the group.

“He-hey!”

“Damn, he's in a trance!”

“We have to stop him else they will suffer through 'Hell Training' like us!”

The masters quickly got in an agreement that Eden had to be stopped but they currently lacked the power to. They who were above level 700 and considered some of the finest and strongest forces in the continent believed they didn't have enough power to take down one person with six of them.

This only supported the fact that Eden was extremely strong on the broken scale. Perhaps roughly 2-5 people in the whole continent had the power to stop him at this moment.

“Damnit, do we have to bring the Emperor or something to stop him?!” one of the masters shouted.

Luckily for them and the group and not so for Eden, a person who was able to stop him appeared.

“Yaaaahoooooooooooo!!!”

That person literally flew in as if she was falling side ways and kicked Eden in the head at speeds that was invisible to the eyes of the group and only a blur to the eyes of the master.

BANG!

Eden's body was sent flying away twisting in the air and flipping over as he bounced on the ground several tens of metres away.

“....”

'WHAT?!'

Everyone was very confused at that moment since some blur came invading into this Vortex World that Eden had control over and sent him flying with a kick instantly. The figure that kicked Eden got up from the ground laughing at the trouble she caused and said:

“Yo Eden, I heard that you managed to finally get new recruits!” said this person excitingly. The person approached the group who were sitting on the ground with a bright smile.

She had long golden blonde hair, clear blue eyes and a face that could match Eden and was wearing a plain shirt and a dress that reached her ankles. However her beauty was very apparent to the point that even these plain and simple clothes made her look better.

“Nice to meet you all, I'm Alexandra another Guildmaster of this guild!” said Alexandra with a smile not taunted with malice like Eden.

“Alexandraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” a voice was fast approaching and a fist was thrown.

Bang!

Alexandra caught the fist on her side instantly as well with ease.

“Damn you're a brute beast in terms of strength as always!” complained Eden with a swollen head.

“And your was interesting as always with your schemes. Let me heal that for you” Alexandra then created a large amount of Holy Light and send it at Eden's head for she kicked it. Eden no longer having a large bump on his head calmed down now.

However the other masters were already gossiping about Eden.

“My god, if I was to get hit by that, I would die!”

“Eden's head must be extremely thick.”

“Yes indeed for it it's thickness took away any signs of compassion to his fellow being.”

Alexandra and Eden both heard all of this though they had completely different reactions.

“Hahaha, it seems that you still haven't disciplined those brats you took in so long ago enough!” said Alexandra in a humorous smile.

Eden sighed and replied complaining, “I trained them to the utmost limits and even made them widely recognised as some of the greatest beings in this Empire and let them do whatever they wanted later and this is how they treat me?”

“Isn't that because you threw them into too many dangerous situations?”

“Those 'dangerous' situations were nothing compared to the ones you caused me and Viv to experience in the past!”

“Still dangerous to the common person. And the ones you forced onto us were much more dangerous to begin with. Remember when you pissed off a tribe of Dragons?”

“I even held back compared to llyfr and Warlic from back then as well....” he said ignoring the last bit completely.

Eden's eyes told everyone he was remembering something from a very distance past and showed his long age. In the end Eden told Alexandra, “Now that I think about it, you're a lot more calm compared to in the past. Usually by now, half the city would be destroyed in your 'fun'.”

“The same could be said for you you know~”

“...True....we may have caused too much trouble back then exploring every corner of the continent and killing everything in sight.”

For some odd reason the group and the masters shivered hearing the last words that Eden said as if it wasn't as pleasant to those on the other end of their journey.

“Anyway, we're getting distracted again” said Eden cutting off the conversation with Alexandra, “Although I have MANY things to talk to all about, I can summarise it as you all need training to get stronger. Ah Alexandra, since your here, why don't you help me train them for a bit. I know a few of them use melee weapons and they need all the help to improve.”

“Sure why not. It'll be an interesting experience hahaha!”

“Geez....when did you pick up that habit of laughing at every moment now?”

“Oh, it was the time when we faced that immortal Demon Lord remember?”

“You mean Badigadi? Didn't I erase most of his body and killed him ending his immortal life?”

“Nah, he managed to stick together the rest of his body and regenerated it after a few years.”

Eden and Alexandra once again immediately got off course in their conversation. Every time Eden tried to say something important to the group about their future, he somehow manages to get into another conversation with Alexandra about the past which to the ears of the group sounded ridiculous!

'Demon Lord? Dragons? What kind of things are they talking about?!' someone thought.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

After a while with everyone leaving the vortex world; the masters went their separate way waiting to be called on to train the group later; Alexandra disappeared to do something and all that was left was Eden and the group sitting at the meeting place, which was located next to the stairs and the hatch to the Vortex World.

“Right now that all the other distractions are gone....” Eden was quite cross since every sentence or so, he was forced to side track in talking to the group, “Now I can talk about what is happening right now rather than the future.”

The group sat on the table together on two sides while Eden was sitting at the front of the table looking at the group from the left and right.

“First of all, the reward you guys got from clearing the trial to enter the guild. Hold out your right hands, I'm going to permanently engrave it on your body.”

“....”

The group held out their right hands to Eden. The first person Eden went to was Sain. Eden lightly tapped the skin on Sain's right hand and it shone with a bright light and then burnt in.

“Ahhh!” Sain let out a light scream to the sudden pain in his hand. In Sain's eyes, a message appeared before his mind.

Mark of the Serpent has been engraved

- Agility and Wisdom +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

A black coiled up serpent appeared on Sain's right hand that took up most of the space on his skin there. It was a pure black colour though they all thought it was due to it being burnt on.

The group wondered what this mark meant.

“Hmm...interesting, your the opposite type to Gen” muttered Eden while he moved onto the next person.

This time it was Raven's turn.

“....”

While silence, it was clear that Raven felt a sharp pain on his hand that was clear on his face. There, a mark that looked like a cross or diamond appeared. In front of Sain, the same message as Raven's appeared.

Mark of the Star has been engraved onto Party Member: Raven

- Strength and Vitality +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

The Star mark was of a yellow or gold colour quite different from Sain's one.

Then it was Shadow's turn.

“Ah.” Shadow only let out a small cry compared to Sain and Raven.

Mark of the Ripper has been engraved onto Party Member: Shadow

- Strength and Agility +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

On Shadow's right hand was a figure that had two scythes crossed it's body. It was quite a unique looking mark compared to Raven and Sain's though Sain's one was also quite unique as well. For some reason it was a dual colour of black and white.

“Wow! Me next!” said Lyndis excitingly. Eden let out a small smile and proceeded to make the mark on Lyndis' hand shine and burn onto her skin.

Mark of the Lion has been engraved onto Party Member: Lyndis

- Strength and Intelligence +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

The face of a Lion Beast creature appeared on Lyndis' hand. It was a burning red colour.

To this Eden commented:

“Oh, something that is similar to Alexandra's....” before cutting off in the middle of his sentence.

Then it was Miriel's turn.

“This better not hurt to much...” muttered Miriel, she had a poor tolerance of pain compared to the other.

“Don't worry...” Eden lightly tapped her hand and while making it shine, “It won't hurt a bit” he immediately burnt it onto her skin while she wasn't expecting it.

“Ow!”

Eden snickered seeing this reaction.

Mark of the Fairy has been engraved onto Party Member: Miriel

- Intelligence and Agility +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

The body of a small fairy appeared on he r hand. It was a light pink colour.

Finally it was Serena's turn who was looking quite hesitant. However Eden ignored this and immediately made her mark shine and burn onto her right hand as well ignoring her small cry in pain.

Marl of the Warrior has been engraved onto Party Member: Serena

- Strength and Wisdom +10

- Other effects will appear as you level up

For some odd reason that was even beyond Eden's knowledge, a warrior appeared on Serena's hand and was of a green colour.

“Interesting...” muttered Eden looking at it more closely, “How unusual for the warrior mark to appear on a non-melee person....I suppose it has to do with the nature of the person to begin with....”

“I'm sorry but what are you talking about?” asked Miriel not being about to endure her curiosity of Eden's words anymore.

“Ah right!” Eden reacted to Miriel's words and came back from his mind, “Those marks are something that every member of the guild save a few have. Even your masters have them.” Eden then took out several gloves and threw them at the group.

“Wear these, they have no defence but have high durability so you can hide those marks. I rather not have people questioning you lot on how you got those marks” explained Eden.

“Why would that be a problem?” asked Sain.

“Mainly because a number of people, a small number of powerful players learnt that these marks grants you benefits that would make anyone envy you. Well, you guys are around level 60~ so the bonuses aren't as apparent but you can think of those marks on your right hands as a growing type equipment.”

Growing type equipment! The most rarest and most powerful type of equipment you could have. Not only do you gain the benefit of not switching equipment as you level up, the weapons are also capable of growing stronger as well and with the majority of the time being top grade equipment in the end.

“Well don't think about it too much, I'll tell you some of the features of those marks later on” said Eden going onto the next topic.

“You guys are around level 60 but have a battle level of around 70-80 considering you defeated that Zolerd I threw at you from before.”

“!”

The group was shocked in many ways again. Eden, this person sent a level 100 named monster at them without a care.

“YOU did that?!” screamed Lyndis remembering how difficult they struggled facing it.

“More or less.”

“Didn't you think we would die facing it?” asked Shadow in a serious tone.

“If you died, then you wouldn't be here since I wouldn't have let you take the trial to enter my guild.”

There was some bad air between Eden and part of the group now. The Zolerd was something that the group feared and still do since they were lucky in defeating one last time.

“Be glad that I didn't bring in something impossible for you to beat like a death knight. I DO know your strength and weaknesses so I chose carefully on what kind of foe you needed to beat.”

Those were the only words Eden gave to the group not letting them complain.

“The next thing we going to talk about is your mana.”

“Our mana?”

The group was once again confused. Why is it that whenever Eden speaks, the group is more or less confused about a number of things.

“Haven't you noticed that your mana pools are much higher than it should be? Shadow and Raven's mana pools are around 400 which is the average mana pools of mages while Miriel and Serena's mana pools are tripe that amount and Sain's one is almost at 1000 mana while Lyndis has around 750 mana which is higher than normal magic users to begin with.”

The group thought about it.

'Now that you think about it....'

'It was unusually high to begin with and only grew higher as we went on....'

'I took the rapid increase of mana as the game helping out new players...to think I didn't notice it in the end.'

They mostly had thoughts of unexpected realisation since they took any benefits are granted and something that other players had as well. They did not know that many players would kill to get some of that increased mana growth. Mana after Fame was the hardest thing to increase for normal players. Items that increased mana recovery, mana costs and even increase in mana were the top priced items that easily costed thousands if not tens of thousands of gold per item. The even rarer permanent mana increase items sold for several hundreds of thousands of gold. That was hold valuable mana was in this game.

The more mana you had, the more skill you could use and the more skills you could use, the more effective you are in battle being able to deal more damage or heal more.

“To be honest, that was my fault as well. I wanted to see what would happen if a 'certain something' was planted on a person and you guys having at least double the mana growth rate is the result.”

“....”

“Hey don't look at me like that, in the end it indeed is something invaluable. Your masters got the alternate versions decades ago with their health growth rates at least doubling as well. Because of their insane health now, they won't die so easily.”

Eden continued to say:

“Well it's still nothing compared to the power of the original....though it's too dangerous to have something of that level in this world....”

Once more Eden went into his memories completely ignoring the group who were looking at him curious of what's happening in his mind.

“Right!” Eden clapped his hands once.

“I'm going make sure all of you have some basic training pounded in you. First thing's first you for you all to complete the Basic Training that's in this city!”

“What?!”

“Don't complain, most of you already started on it so it shouldn't take that long. Ah, Miriel and Serena don't have to complete it but it is highly recommended that you get through at least half of it for now. Also, I'm going to teach you some skills in which you can train while doing the basic training as well.”

Miriel raised her hand and asked, “Why do me and Serena need to do the training as well? Don't magic users usually train to increase their intelligence and wisdom as much as possible?”

“That is correct for normal players. I'm not training you all as normal players am I? The most important thing for any player is the ability to run away.”

“Run away?”

This conversation is getting more and more weird.

“Think about it, if you face something you can't beat then the first thing you have to do is run away. That way, you won't die and have to grind up levels and skill proficiencies again. The second thing is actual power to face those creatures since in many circumstances you won't be able to run.”

“Isn't that actually quite cowardly?” Lyndis pointed out.

“Of course not! With my luck, I had 0% of escaping against the foes I had to face so I was forced to kill them all in the end. It's a good thing if you want to train but horrible if you don't. I walked down a road once and for some reason I still had to face a strong boss monster that was over level 500 once hahahahaha.”

'Is this person for real....?'

The group simply could not take Eden that seriously anymore with his tone. While they know of his power, thing seems to switch quickly from being serious and not serious depending on when he wants to.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Moving along, Eden brought the group to the training area where Anna was. It was the place that seems deserted for the most part but most of the things in this place was removed like the various pieces of equipment used for training.

“Master” nodded Anna seeing the group.

Eden took out a small crystal from his pocket and crushed it in his hand saying, “Land Reshape!”

The entire training grounds glowed in a faint light and immediately changed to an appearance that would only be hell for the group. Think of a normal running course that has various layers to it. At the middle is the normal, perfectly normal stripe with nothing on it. The second layer has bumps up and down to make it harder to run along with some obsoletes to go through.

And the third and final layer was up in the air where you had to run while balancing on a thin beam and dodge various objects that are sent flying at you. Underneath was boiling water as well to save you from your death from falling but it would be extremely dangerous itself. Not to mention the track did not end there alone. There were walls, pit traps and other various things along this whole course even in the normal track.

“Miriel and Serena will start at the inner most course to build up mainly stamina, Raven and Sain will take on the middle course to grow your agility and stamina stats at the same time. Finally Lyndis and Shadow will take on the air bone course which will allow you to freely move around the battlefield later on.”

“....”

The group was non responsive seeing that Hell literally appeared in front of them.

“Guildmaster....” Sain started to say.

“Yes?”

“I don't recall wanting to do the Hell Training you mentioned before...”

“What? This is the super easy relaxing training course you know! Alexandra told be to go easy on you so you won't break so quickly” Eden 'reassured' the group.

'This is the easy one?! Also, we're already determined to break from the beginning?!'

“The main goal here is to improve stamina which is frankly the most important stat for fighting for a long time. Those on the outer course will need to get to 100 by the end, the middle course will need to get to 75 and the inner course needs to get to 50 by the end. Also, other stats will be more or less trained while we're at it as well.”

“Umm....won't our training be hinder if we do this all day?” asked Miriel.

“Well I'm not going to make you do this the entire time if you mean. At most you guys will be doing this around 2-3 hours a day. Another 4-5 hours will be personal training and the rest of the day you can do whatever you want” Eden explained.

With this schedule, the group would be training for 6-8 hours a day and will have half a day doing something else of their own will like hunting outside the city. It was actually very relaxing compared to the other training methods Eden could use to train them. The higher the difficulty in the training, the less and less time you would have in free time.

“Just as a reference, what would happen to us if you decided to give us 'Hell Training'?” asked Miriel.

“Hmm...” Eden thought about it deeply.

“First all off, since your basics aren't finished yet, you would still need to do the training courses except the outer course will be the easily one and there will be two more that are much more difficult. This will be done for half the day, 12 hours while the other 12 hours will be used to train your individual skills. For skills, you will learn around 4 or 5 and bring them along with every other skill or spell you have to the advance levels. You will keep on doing this with no end and no breaks for a month in one go. If you do this, even that Zolerd you had trouble with will be easy to deal with.”

“....”

'Somehow I feel grateful to be doing this level of training now.....'

“Anyway, since most of the day is gone, I'll just have you guys run for an hour and stop there as a warm up for tomorrow. Anna, please watch over them and make sure they don't stop no matter what” said Eden leaving the group under the care of Anna now.

“Understood” replied Anna.

Eden also left the following words for Anna, “Make sure they run with their armour on~”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the Beginning of the one hour run with Miriel and Serena...

Both Miriel and Serena chose a relatively moderate pace to begin with, with the intention of running this way for an hour in order to lower the amount of stress on them. However Anna had other plans for them.

“Too slow.”

For some reason there was a killer machine behind them now.

“What in the world is that?!” Miriel screamed seeing it.

“Training device....too slow and you die” Anna replied leaving the 2 metre tall machine with blades and other nasty stuff coming at the front to run behind the two.

“I thought this was suppose to be the relaxing one!”

“It is....relaxing run for your life course.”

“....”

Miriel had no energy to spare arguing with Anna right now and ran froward trying to get as much distance away from the killer machine that was moving behind the two. Serena did not complain at all but was having wild thoughts right now only wanting to survive.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!” Serena ran with all her might not even caring for Miriel at this stage.

One hour later....

“Huff.....huff.....huff....”

Serena was literally exhausted with no stamina left to spare. It was only a bit more until this 'training' finished.

“Damn, Serena run! It's near you!” shouted Miriel though she had no intention of even trying to save Serena for many reasons. There was simply no strength left in her as well to even try to save Serena even if she wanted to. If she did try, the likely outcome was that both of them would die at the same time to the killer machine.

Thud.

Serena collapsed on the ground not moving as the killer machine was about to chop her into pieces.

“Time's up.”

Whack!

Anna kicked away the killer machine saving Serena in time although the only reason was that the one hour was done. Both Miriel and Serena sprint for a full hour and gained some stats as a result in exchange for some of their sanity and mental well being.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the Beginning of the one hour run with Sain and Raven....

“Do you like frilly or Gothic?” asked Anna.

“What?” Sain blurted out hearing this strange question.

“The loser will be forced in one of these dresses” said Anna holding up something that only the girls would want to wear. It would be completely humiliating if Raven and Sain had to wear it.

“Master said something about a photo shoot at the end after training...the loser gets it.”

“....”

Both Sain and Raven burst with great speeds through the middle course not even caring for what happened next. Their entire focus was to win no matter what and no matter what methods they would have to use.

“Mana Bolt!”

Sain fired attacks at Raven all of a sudden while running. Raven blocked the attacks with his shield taking little damage but was slowed down along with the fact that he was wearing heavy armour as well.

“Sorry!” shouted Sain at Raven without looking back. The thought of being forced to wear either that frilly dress or Gothic style dress made Sain forget all about the minor friendship he had with Raven. This of course is natural since they were forced together and such a friendship was very shallow.

“Footwork! Ram!” Raven in turn sped up faster than Sain and hit him from behind which made Sain fall over rolling on the ground taking some damage.

You took 631 damage

Thankfully, Raven had no intentions of killing Sain so he lowered the power in which he hit Sain. Getting up, Sain chanted:

“Minor Heal”

And healed himself before running after Raven. Neither Anna nor Eden had said when this race would end but it would most likely be at the end of the hour. That means either Sain or Raven needed to be ahead of one another by that time when it ended.

After a hundred metres straight ahead...mind you that this training area was very big being hundreds of metres in total size in all direction at the edge of the city; Raven and Sain met their first challenge.

“A giant wall...?” muttered Sain.

There was a giant wall, 4 metres in height and had only a few bumps in which they could climb on. The problem was that those bumps were very bad and very few in number. Both of them looked at what was next after that...

“Running across beams over hot water, leaping over hurdles, sliding down and climbing over hills...what the hell, isn't this overdoing it?!” complained Sain. He dared not look at what Lyndis and Shadow had to deal with to his right and he tried to ignore the screams from his left. For some reason, this course was the safest of all...

However Anna destroyed even that feeling.

“Too slow....punishment.”

Sissssssssssssssss

A hot burning feeling was felt on his ass.

“AHHHHHHH!” Sain screamed in pain as something hot and pointy hit his behind. He looked back and saw Anna with two burning hot rods in her small hands.

“Too slow and....” she blushed cutting off her words at the end. Both Raven and Sain paled not wanting to know what would happen if they were too slow.

“No attacking each other okay....” muttered Sain.

“Yeah....” Raven replied.

The two would grow a strange friendship after this.

At the end of the hour 'run'...

“Ha....ha....ha....”

Both Sain and Raven were utterly exhausted to the brink that it would be normal for them to fall unconscious from the strain both their mind and body had to go through. Anna had disappeared to save Miriel and Serena from what seemed to be some sort of killer machine and as such she had to determine that they tied in the race they were forced into.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the Beginning of the one hour run with Lyndis and Shadow...

They were both balancing on top of logs that were suspended into the air. The logs themselves were quite thin and really only was wide enough for a third of their foot to touch not to mention there was no way to support themselves if their balance is off.

Shadow with his experience in climbing and balancing from before helped a lot while standing still on the logs. Lyndis also surprisingly managed to stand straight and still on the logs. This was due to her natural skills with physical activities in which she has a talent for much to the dismay to others are hate her. More than that Lyndis was said to have a near perfect balance all the time.

“Start...” Anna commanded pushing both of them forward at the same time.

“Wha?”

“Shit!”

Both of them did not expect to start like this at all, they both lose their balance due to the sudden push and fell down from 7 metres from the ground and into the boiling water below them.

Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The sound of them being boiled was heard.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” screamed Lyndis in pain from the boiling water. Shadow was the same panicking due to the pain. Then someone helped them along with way a bit.

“Move that way...” Anna once again pushed them to the direction in which they needed to go. The got out of the water quickly and stream was still rising from their bodies. In front of them was a ladder back up in the air where the next part would be.

And under the part was also boiling water as well. Lyndis looked at Anna and asked seriously:

“Why does there have to be boiling water?!”

Anna looked back at Lyndis and asked with a tilt of her head:

“You want lava instead?”

A shiver was felt by both Lyndis and Shadow since this person would actually do it. For some reason they could only think that Eden was responsible for all of this in the end and they cursed him inside their hearts. Then Anna reassured them.

“Don't worry....you were suppose to fall in the first part to get used to the water. The next parts are easier but the water will be hotter.”

“....”

Both of them felt like things would be very easy if they would commit suicide right now. But then Shadow asked:

“How come my health didn't decrease at all when I fell into the water, doesn't it usually decrease with damage?” Shadow was very confident in knowing whether something would deal damage or not and the water should certainly do so.

“Healing water will heal all damage taken....don't worry....” Anna gave a thumbs up to the two.

“....”

'I can't escape this at all can I....?'

At the end of the hour....

“No more....”

“I can't endure this much more....”

Both of them were completely red cooked in the boiling water and every part of their body hurt like hell. Their limbs were numb but they could still feel pain if the slightest pressure was placed on them. Not to mention that Anna forced them to go forward all the time during this hour once in a while meaning they would fall into the boiling water every so often by force.

However that only accounted for half the falls they had in this hour. The other half was due to the sheer difficulties of this 'running course' alone. Tricky conceptions were placed all over the place. Sometimes they would even have to dive into the boiling water to go forward in the course.

It was a living hell.

They didn't even notice that Anna stopped them from doing more since they were already down for the count.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Well how did you like the taste of the leisurely training I devised?” after the hour was up, Eden returned to the training grounds wanting to check up on the group.

What he saw was....two people utterly exhausted from running....two people with burn marks on their behinds and....two people who were as red as lobsters.

“Hmm...did you guys get pushed too far? I mean this is the lowest level of training I can give...”

“....”

The group thrown together by Anna after the hour could not even speak a word since they lacked the energy to do so.

“I even lowered the difficulty quite a bit to warm you up later as well....”

“....”

There was only hell in front of the group at this moment. Even in death, they cannot escape from this mad man known as Eden.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 8900~

- I really had too much fun on this chapter...Eden's true nature even slipped out while writing...

- While writing I was thinking of how to introduce Alexandra into the story....this was the only way I could think of.