“Welcome back you all” said Alena with a smile as Alice dropped them off. She took her child quickly to his room and gently put him down in his crate rocking it a bit.

“I'll be in the other room” Alice replied while quickly before heading to the other room to discuss some things with her privately. Sain wondered what Alice wanted to talk to Alice about that they did not need to know.

Alice nodded with understanding and then looked at the group realising their expressions to which she asked, “What's wrong” frowning seeing that they were not in a particularly good mood.

“....”

There was some silence until Sain spoke up as always. He would need to make sure the others would talk when he could not in the future.

“That Guild Quest we got...” Sain sighed thinking of it again. If there were any other ways, if they could have done something else on that matter then they would not be like this.

If there was another way that is.

They all knew that they lacked strength to change anything at all, playing into the palms of the ones that can actually do so. In that respect, nothing changed at all when Eden picked them up changing their lives for a second time in a casual matter.

In the end, they were being used by Eden again like puppets just when they were starting to feel that they were doing something at least.

“Anyway, we want to...talk to you about something after your business with Alice is done” Miriel said interrupting Sain seeing that this was not the best time when their feelings were not exactly in the right place.

Seeing Sain's depressed expression along side the similar dejected faces that the others, including Miriel processed as well, Alena nodded to this and believed that they needed some time to themselves right now.

“Understood, I'll give you some time to think over what you want to talk about then” she replied with a knowing tone as if Miriel and the others were children under her care. She was a bit too used to handling children that her tone ended up like that.

With a close of a door, the group was now alone with each other.

“11 more months eh?” Shadow spoked up lying on the sofa with a same tone as always though this one sounded more dejected than usual. Raven nodded in a similar mood as well. How much longer until they will be strong enough to decide their own fates they wondered.

The time period in which the group went from Lily City to Moonight Town and back them took roughly a week and a half. In this time, they had completed two quests, both C rank but one of them was a Guild Quest as well.

“It is impressive that we managed to do two quests of that level in such a short time...” Sain muttered as if that was to encourage them and himself.

With both quests done, the group did not return to Lily immediately but instead went to the Magitite Mines and spent the rest of a month to clear it out. The plague of the zombie attack was completely over with that which made them feel a bit better.

“We cleared out the mines as well...gone back in there” he let out a sad laugh.

“Don't ponder too much on it” Lyndis suggested, “Thinking too much right now is a bad thing...I know from experience” she sighed at the end.

“What do you know-screw it. Too tired to insult you right now” Miriel said the same, “Thinking right now is too much. Wonder how that town is doing.”

Moonight Town was quite damaged by the attack. More than half the buildings of the place were trashed and reconstruction went away smoothly at least. The important part was that the most important buildings, the food storage building and the wells were all fine. With some help, they will not starve as winter came.

“That major guy man...seems kind enough” Serena said relieving the others though this sunk a dagger in Sain right then.

“Y-Yeah...he seems like a nice person” he said trying to keep his tone even. It would be best not to speak more on this else the others may find out, “In all we gained around...10 levels from this?”

It was during this time in the mines that they levelled up a further three times increasing their levels to around the level 161 point. To be precise Sain, Miriel and Serena were level 162 each while Shadow was level 161 and Raven and Lyndis were both level 160.

“Yeah, impressive I might say” Shadow pointed out, “Well that's what two quests in a row does for you.”

“I wonder when our levelling will slow down...” Lyndis wondered.

“Around level 200 remember. It's common knowledge” Miriel spat back with a bit of shock that Lyndis did not even bother to remember that.

“In these 11 months we need to at least reach that level 200. If we can't then Eden will most probably kick us out of the Guild for good reasons” Sain said causing the others to be startled by his words.

There was some silence as these words sunk in.

“Wait, being kicked out?” asked Miriel. She had no heard any of this at all even from the others. Likewise Serena, Shadow and Raven were shocked at these words as well.

However Lyndis was not, as she was the other person Eden talked to this about. But at the same time, she held her words on this.

“Yeah...” Sain scratched his head and then said, “He told me around 6 months ago that at this rate would will be kicked out when we fail at something or don't become strong enough. He told me this to make sure we are prepared whether it is for the tasks ahead or the other outcome.”

Miriel's face turned ugly as she panicked though it turned back to normal quicker than you could blink as she banged the desk a bit with her hand.

“Damn damn damn damn!” Miriel repeatedly cursed, “If you told me this earlier than I could have prepared a course for us to do! We are lacking in so many areas here that's it's not funny. Whether it is skill proficiency, number of spells and even levels itself, we are lacking completely!”

“Wait...calm down” Sain reached out for Miriel who looked like she was about to storm out of the room, “The first two points are understandable but we still have 11 months to work on reaching level 200.”

“Yes but when we reach level 200, we can get out 2nd class advancement, possibly from our Masters that are back in Witchelm City. With a more advance class we can explore more powerful skills, spells and traits that we can gain” she rapidly said, “Plus with this net, we are less likely to be kicked out as well.”

“But...didn't they say that when we reach level 200, Eden will more or less treat us like a regular member of the Guild and not like this? Isn't that a bad thing to more difficult tasks while if we are weak?” asked Lyndis pointing that out. She thought of what Miriel said a lot so she in turn knew how to counter it her arguments.

Gaining levels is not everything, and in this case doing so too fast will bode ill to them all.

“Lyndis has a point” Shadow finally said, “There is no reasons to go too fast now. Remember when Eden said the foundations are everything when he....trained us? Is that the right word? Getting to level 200 quickly will only make it worse for us in the long end. Well if you want, you can do that alone and get kicked out by yourself.”

Shadow sneered at the possibility at the end. His relationship was more or less the same with Miriel. Which meant they hated each other's guts.

“Then what the hell should we do now?!” Miriel asked herself while clutching her head ignoring Shadow completely.

“Umm...” Serena went over and patted Miriel who fell onto a chair and said, “We should work on this together...and slowly” she added at the end.

Serena who was calm was more in line with Sain and those who wished to not rush this. Getting to level 200 was one thing but to sustain their above average strength compared to their level was another thing.

At best, at normal conditions they could most likely beat someone 10 levels or if they were lucky 20 levels above them. Though this was more as a group verse group situation was individuality.

With a tap of the door, it opened with Alice coming out though it seemed that she was listening in on the conversation that the group had...not that she had a choice on the matter.

“Serena is right” said Alice coming out of the room either finished with what she had to say with Alena or hearing the disturbance that she was making.

Looking over, the group listened to what Alice had to say. As the most senior member right now in their presence, they naturally looked at her for guidance.

“Eden taking in people early is common. I am one of the rare ones in the guild where he didn't have a hand in training them” she gestured at the tattoos on her arms, “Of those who had the same thoughts as you and went with it, getting to level 200 quickly with little notice to everything else, they have all failed in the end and were kicked out of the Guild” she said bluntly

“....”

Miriel could feel a sigh coming up. She was really that out of it that she tried to go with that option...though she was glad some of the others immediately tried to stop her in this.

“But of those who have slowed down and thought out their approach and slowly built themselves out, most of them were kicked out as well.”

“....”

“Though it doesn't matter which way you go if you are going to be kicked out, those who had made an effort and slowly built themselves ended up a lot better than the other kind. Plus most of them have made themselves known quite well in a good way.”

“Wait, there are people who were kicked out of this guild and were fine?” Lyndis asked in disbelief.

Eden didn't seem like the type of person to let anyone fine when he deemed them useless.

“Yes, though that encounter of one who tried to have you assassinated Miriel, was one of those the former who were too overconfident in their skills and never blamed themselves for his failures. Naturally he will be hostile to the guild until he was permanently eliminated” she said addressing that point.

Remembering what she heard of the incident and the report Eden gave in of that, Alice was surprised that the group did not even flinch at the sight of a person's jaw being ripped out. Were young people today that diluted to such violences...or was there something with them fundamentally?

Either way it did not matter though she found them interesting at least compared to other regular players that were really worthless.

Alice then let out a chuckle which was her amusement when the world finds out about them, they were too similar to child soldiers and the world did not want Eden of all people to be creating them since no one would be able to stop him.

But right now was not the time to be thinking of that and she needed to explain some things to them to at least comfort them, even a little bit.

“From what I heard” she continued, “Of those in the latter cases of leaving the guild, Eden made sure that them leaving did not affect them at all. Therefore even if you get kicked out but worked truly hard, Eden will make sure that nothing too bad happens to you. There are many cases where he actually brings them in for help at times. So don't worry about that too much....”

“But...” Miriel was still concern about another point, “Eden right now is taking care of us in the real world as well...which means if we are kicked out then....”

“I think mum won't let dad do anything bad happen to you there as well” said Alena coming into the room as well.

“Ah yes, you can take it from here Alena” Alice said leaving the building and the group alone with Alena this time.

“Geez she always leaves these kinds of things to me” Alena said with a slight sigh. She turned to the group and then asked, “So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Actually I was wondering where your sister and husband are, ever since we came here they never came back right?” asked Lyndis ignoring the other issue at hand for her other interests right now.

“Lyndis!” shouted Miriel in anger that the conversation would be drawn to something so useless.

“Now now” Alena tried calming Miriel down at least before proceeding to say, “Sis and my husband are both on a trip to Kallamore to see if they can find the source of the monster trouble over there that lasted for hundreds of years. A great deal of people went there from all cities as well.”

“Oh” Lyndis let out that sound seeming satisfied with the answer.

“Now what is troubling you all then?” asked Alena with a smile.

With that, Sain with some input from the others explained their current situation and what they could do about it. In the progress they made in a month, they had gained a total of 10 levels like that though without good quests along the way, it was unlikely for them to level that fast from now on.

According to what Eden said before, they had a total of 1 year to reach level 200 and now they had 11 more months to complete this though it was quite easy for them to get to gain 40 levels in that time.

“Basically we need to get stronger but without levelling up to quickly.”

And from what Alice said, doing so would only make it harder for them if they get to that point too early. While levels were important, skills and stats were even more so. However they had no clear way on increasing that without gaining levels rapidly as well.

It was a wall that was difficult to overcome. However this leads to a lot of time to spend on other matters like the development of skills and spells and achievement of new ones as well. But at the same time, practising the older skills and spells would be more and more difficult as it grows as it require more than practise and more of live combat to master.

“So...what should we do now? We need to level up but that isn't exactly high on out list now. Doing difficult quests will only accelerate it but at the same time we are limited that our skills are slowing down in growth” Sain asked with a sigh nearly coming out in the end.

“.....”

Alena seriously thought about it. This would affect their future after all.

“I see then...in that case I should teach you” she finally decided in the end.

Those word got a surprised reaction from the group.

“I am sure I can make you all stronger by 3-5 times by teaching you two particular skills each in a month period alone without you levelling even once! Plus with some extra training you can become even stronger than before!” said Alena with utter and complete confidence in her methods.

Her smile was brilliant, but too brilliant to the point that she was unable to see the shock on the group's faces.

“Huh?”

The group was dumbfound at her words. If a hundred level difference means a ten time difference between two people then a twenty level gap was equal to one being twice as strong as the other. But what Alena was proposing was something akin to a thirty and fifty level difference through training two skills along!

“Wait!” Miriel said, “What on earth can make us that much stronger?!”

Alena put up two fingers.

“One are foundation skills. That alone will grow with you and improve performance. That alone will make you twice as strong.”

The group nodded in agreement. Things like 'Mastery' skills count as foundation skills as they affect you all the way to the end. Blatantly, any skills that does so count as foundation skills as they are the groundwork of your character.

However such skills are hard to find most of the time due to their difficulties in training instead of their power at late game.

“The second are fighting styles for each of you. These are called 'Arts' and are a recent thing but can be considered a set of skills, they weren't really a large thing until mum taught some people the power behind them and now everyone wants one!” she said with some pride in her voice. Though really the real reason was that it was easy to get one now compared to before.

The so called 'Art' skill was one that was already a thing when the game began. However most of them were extremely hard to find and combined with most of the skills associated with them were weak with the exception of one or two.

As such learning associated skills in a set was frowned upon as it wasted time when you could be learning more powerful skills. But at the same time some people still learnt these weak skills and in the end, ended up stronger than their peers!

Seeing this, eventually after a certain even involving Alexandra killed many people at once with these 'weak' skills chained up together in an invincible dance of death people started recognising them.

And now, these 'Art' skills getting that much recognition from the media and forums are really popular with early and mid gamers though not many stick to them due to the difficulties training them.

“Anyway it's nearly night as well so you might as well turn in that other quest you lot have and stay for the night!” Alena said enthusiastically with a motherly smile to the group.

They could only awkwardly smile back at her. How could this kind and living natured person be the child of Eden and Alexandra? (Ignoring the fact she beat down a level 600+ person before in the past with her fists)

However they did not know that Eden and Alexandra both spoiled their children while planting in them powerful and inhumane techniques as they grew up casually making them much stronger than they appeared. As such they may sometimes look weak but in fact were very strong.

With a few words of goodbye for now the group left to meet with the blacksmith that once caused them to almost be chased out of the city to escape. They made sure they had their cloaks on to avoid people recognising them.

xXx

2 hours, a dozen confrontions and a death match stopped by guards later they made it to the blacksmith at last.

“Damn...those people are persistent even after a month” Shadow muttered that complaint to which the others agreed with him.

156 Low Grade Magitite Ores, 50 Medium Grade Magitite Ores, 12 High Grade Magitite Ores and 1 Pure Grade Magitite Crystal Ore.

A Low Grade averaged around a hundred gold coins each, Medium Grade would average around a ten thousand gold coins each, High Grade would do so for a hundred thousand gold coins each! The Pure Grade one would most likely surpass a million gold in price.

All of this would equal to over 10 million gold if they sold it little by little to keep demand as high as it could. If they sold it all at once they could get a similar price but to let the price point drop would mean that they would only get a little around a million gold.

How could the group let even one piece be taken from them?

Entering the black building which was extremely famous, they were greeted by a receptionist as the blacksmiths in here did not confronting too many people at once who would scream their requests.

It had been common practise to do so now that there are so many people in the game that most cities were too populated.

“We would like to hand in the quest involving the Magitite Ores” Sain said causing the receptionist and anyone else to flinch greatly at his words.

“Please come this way quickly! The Grandmaster will want to meet with you!” the receptionist said bringing them into a room where a dozen or so muscular men in tank tops sat and looked at them.

Serena felt like she wanted to run from this sight as it resembled a gang meet up in those T.V shows she watched before.

“So...” the man at the very back that seemed to have an overwhelming presence asked, “You have gotten the Magitite Ores then?”

“Yes” Sain replied, “156 Low Grade Magitite Ores, 50 Medium Grade Magitite Ores, 12 High Grade Magitite Ores and 1 Pure Grade Magitite Crystal Ore to be precise.”

Even the man with the overwhelming presence which Sain and the other immediately recognised as one of the great Grandmasters in the game. One of the three Grandmasters that mastered Blacksmithing!

It was due to this reason why this place was extremely popular. Along side this grandmaster were several advance level blacksmiths as well. Combined with this, the place would be visited by thousands of people each passing day with no end.

If not for the reference from Alena, the group would not be able to even get close to this place.

Ignoring the chatter from the other blacksmiths in the room with them the Grandmaster raised his hand and said, “I asked for only 50 low grade pieces for some of the younger ones to train with.”

“Well there was an opportunity and we really didn't have much choice else we would have left them back at the mines.”

The Grandmaster understood something at that time, “A Guild Quest...involving the mines?” he sighed.

“Someone modified the Magitite to spawn an near infinite number of zombies and they attacked a town” Sain explained also ignoring the other blacksmiths who were staring daggers at him and the group now.

“Never-mind that, there are other Magitite Mines out there...” the Grandmaster said, “Tell me you gained this much, you wish for something from me right?”

“I want you to personally forge some equipment for us” Sain said with a gentle smile on his face.

It was then the other blacksmiths could not hold back any longer and shouted insults to Sain.

“You fool! To make the greatest blacksmith in the continent to-!”

“You will have sullied our hands with your tone!”

“Such arrogance! Kill them and take the ores!”

“STOP!” the grandmaster shouted with a fury to his fellow blacksmiths. The shout was so loud and powerful that the group felt like they were about to be blown away with that alone.

“Do NOT insult my pride with your words” he said to the other blacksmiths. They all could not help but to turn their heads away from him in fright.

Looking at Sain and the others who did not look away however the grandmaster sighed.

“You lot, especially you” he pointed at Sain, “Are extremely arrogant. If not for the fact that you have brought more than I asked, if not for Alena referencing you here, if not for the fact that you are part of an Independent Guild and if not for the fact that you have the backing of three monsters I owe favours to, I would have had you killed you and exiled you from your safe life so far. I have no interest in facing three grandmasters along with many other monsters in that guild at once because of you lot.”

There was a slight chill from hearing those words but Sain ignored that. He would want to get onto his main point now.

“I can give you all of the low and even the medium grade Magitite ores to you if you want. That would be quite valuable alone right? In exchange for your services” he said to the grandmaster handing over several large bags of them.

“And what will you have me do with the rest?” the grandmaster asked.

Hearing that, Sain smiled and said, “From the Pure Grade one, I want you to make a spear for me. Use your best abilities since levels don't matter with that. As for the 12 High Grade ores, use 6 of them to make rings for us. Level 200 for those if you please. That leaves 6 left to which I want two of them to be daggers for protection around the level 160 point. Another short sword of the same level which leaves three left. Lyndis, Raven you want anything?”

A bit startled that she would have to speak all of a sudden...she then realised that she was quite fine with what she had so far.

“No need for me” she said shaking her head.

However Raven said, “Large Shield and smaller shield”

Sain nodded and then said to the grandmaster, “And use the last three pieces to make a two new shields for Raven here.”

“Halberd as well” Raven added.

Sain was honestly surprised right now. He did not know that Raven was thinking of using another weapon other than a spear. A Halberd like a spear has a point end so you could use it like that but it was similar to a two edged axe as well used for chopping. It was a good weapon to use with a large shield as well.

Looking at the Grandmaster Sain added onto the request, “Also a Halberd as well.”

It was at that time that Lyndis spoke up at Sain, “Wait wait wait, I don't get a new weapon as well?”

Puzzled Sain asked, “Why do you need a new one? Your sword is a perfectly good one and is quite powerful in that it allows you to use your sword skill twice as fast” questioning her a bit.

Lyndis pouted and then said, “Of course I want a new one if it is stronger! For a swordsman like me, getting a better weapon no matter what is something we all desire! Even Raven spoke up to get new equipment as well! Besides I bet Miriel and Serena would want new staffs as well...both of them are quite old” she pointed out in the end.

Sain looked at the two and saw that both of them were looking away trying to avoid the issue. He sighed and made a mental note to remember to get them new staffs later on.

“If that is all, then leave” the grandmaster coughed aloud drawing Sain's attention back to him.

It was then that Sain remembered something from before as well. To be precise it had to do with Raven again as well.

“Ah, and another favour as well” he quickly added.

The grandmaster raised his eyebrow and said, “Another favour? You are pushing your luck brat.” However was a look that he was humoured by them in his eyes which Sain could see. He knew that this person would do the favour and request if it was not too unreasonable.

Sain could only grin a bit to that and then asked, “Can you take Raven in later on for a bit to level his 'Repair' skill to the Intermediate Level and give him the blacksmithing skills?”

“And you couldn't possibly give this task to someone else?”

“Might as well while we're here” Sain shrugged.

Looking into Sain's eyes the grandmaster finally sighed and said, “That guild or yours is full of monster all the way. Anyway I'll take the extra ores as payment for your request. The rings and other weapons from the High Grade stuff will take a day each to forge. Your spear will take another week as well and another day to add in finishing touches. So twenty days in total to make all of this.”

Sain frowned and then asked, “Why does it take so long?”

The grandmaster chuckled and asked, “Why do you think Magitite Ores are so valuable?”

“Because they add on mana regeneration, magic resistance, lightning damage and increased mana capacity?”

“That and the fact that they are extremely difficult to handle. It is however simple for me to do all of this in a day, few hours if I wish but to use the most of my abilities would mean it will take much longer. That and my pride as a grandmaster will not allow me to forge anything less than my best.”

Hearing that, Sain and the other bowed a bit and thanked the grandmaster for his service. Taking the Magitite Ores from them, the group got another notification from the game.

You have completed the quest: Gather Magitite Ores

- You have levelled up!

With this, they gained another level as well and completely cleared out the quest log that they had. They can now three more quests at a time.

With that, the group left and before that Sain had to ask, “By the way, what did you mean by not wanting to face three grandmasters? I thought only Alexandra was one.”

The grandmaster chuckled and then said, “Oh Eden and Viv are grandmasters all right. But the kind that everyone wishes to avoid. Plus Eden is a dual grandmaster which makes him even more of a monster.”

Sain was slightly in shock but quickly remembered what Eden was and calmed down seeing that wasn't exactly the most shocking thing he found about his guildmasters...yet.

xXx

A bit afterwards Miriel realised something...

“Sain!” she immediately grabbed him by the collar, “Why the hell didn't you save some?! We could have gotten a lot of money on selling some Magitite Ores! Even the Low Grade ones!”

Sain seeing Miriel like this could only give her a wry smile and explained, “There were two reasons. The first was that if we sold even some without us telling them, they will find out. That would be a breach in trust. The second reason is that I suspect that that Grandmaster in Blacksmithing knows the number of ores that we have on us.”

“....”

“Still feel like it was a waste to give ALL of it to them...after all the work we did to get them” Miriel muttered.

“Well we are going to get top quality gear thanks to it now” Sain laughed.

“Still all of that gold...”

“I'll make sure to buy you a new staff within my limits okay? I'll even go with you to choose one” Sain promised her which made her look happy for a split second before he added, “Oh and Serena needs a new one as well right?”

“....Yeah...” Serena said looking away. She did not want to be glared at Miriel right now. It wasn't her fault that Sain was too dull in the head to know what he did wrong?!

xXx

The group returned to Alena and then explained what happened to went to sleep in her home as well....

The next morning...early in the morning they were gathered in one of the larger rooms where it was used as something similar to a dojo. Sain wondered how this could fit in here seeing that this room was quite large.

However that was not his point of interest right now. Right now Alena was wearing a tight set of clothes, naturally used for easy movements but he had a bit of trouble on where he should be looking.

*Glare*

But with the help of Miriel next to him, he was perfectly not distracted at all!

“First, today I want to teach you certain techniques that you all will find to be extremely useful. Dad used to say that this allowed him to be twice or trice as strong after training in that area for the first time. The previous day, I used a communication orb to contact your masters to give me a breakthrough on what kind of thing that would really boost your abilities.”

“And...?” asked Lyndis slightly impatient.

“They said to let you all figure it out yourself!” she said with a laugh.

“...Master....” Sain sighed with a headache.

The group felt like their masters which they haven't seen in over a year were probably sulking because they had not visited them at all. They could have not since they had other things to do in Lily City as well and Witchelm City was too far away.

“Don't worry, I have another way to find out what is most suited for your cultivation skills” Alena assured them.

She took out a box and from it some strange training gear. From what Sain could tell those were restraining tools meant to train the body's muscles in everyday life.

“Umm...”

As Alena continued to take out six sets of those restraining training tools, Sain and the others were quite shocked in seeing Alena handle those tools quite well.

“With this, your training will be twice as effective!” she said assuring them once again.

She quickly explained what she wanted them to do, “Along side gaining a cultivation skill and to the next stage, there is a need to train up your bodies as well! I heard that you have no gained many stats outside of levelling so I want to fix that~”

For some strange reason...no because of that reason, the group could see the image of Eden behind Alena...

Once again will they have to suffer through 'Hell Training'?

“This is not 'Hell Training', that would be too cruel, this is simply foundation training for you all” Alena quickly explained seeing the frightful faces the group were making. They still vividly remembered what Eden out them through under the name of training.

“So...you won't give us Hell Training that will pound every skill and spell you would ever need to slay even the most power monsters and even Gods?”

“What? Dad said that when he told you of Hell Training didn't he?” Alena were startled that something could proclaim that then remembered she was the daughter of two such people.

“Don't worry, don't worry. My training will be considered a breeze compared to whatever Dad made you do~” she assured them once again.

Alena further took out some rings that looked like bracelets. For some reason, Sain could feel a strange magical current going through that bracelet.

She excitedly said, “With this added on as well, training will be twice as effective!”

“Why does it seem like she repeated herself...?” Shadow mumbled to himself getting a sense of deja-vu.

Next she gave each of the group one of those restraining training tools and four of those bracelets and explained, “The restraining training tools will help in allowing you to use explosive power when attacking. Those bracelets are gravity bracelets that will cause your body to become heavier and will train your endurance more than anything else while rapidly increasing other stats.”

Miriel frowned hearing this and asked, “Are there not any tools to train on the magic side?”

“You could read a book but I think you already used that method to the limits...ah I can let you use this instead!”

Alena took away two of the gravity bracelets from Miriel and replaced them with two different ones.

“These are mana restraining bracelets! It will make it more difficult for you to use magic!” said Alena still enthusiastic of training someone at last. She passed on these bracelets to Sain, Lyndis and Serena as well though only taking two gravity bracelets from Serena and leaving Sain with his.

As the group equipped these training tools one by one with the help of Alena, the restraining training tools thankfully could be equipped under one's clothes without taking them off, she activated each of the tools on the group.

First she pulled something on the back area of the restraining training tool which made Sain's body clench up due to something tightening up.

Muscle Restraining Tool has been activated!

- Will become more difficult to move the body

- Has been set so you need at least 30 kg of force to move

- Will passively increase strength, agility and stamina gain when worn

“This might be too high for Miriel and Serena for now but you two don't have as much trouble with the gravity bracelets instead” Alena explained a bit before touching the bracelets and activating them on Sain.

Gravity Bracelets has been activated!

- Gravity placed on body will increase

- Has been set so you will increase in weight by 50%

- Will passively increase strength, agility and endurance gain when worn.

Magic Restraining Bracelets has been activated!

- Makes it more difficult to gather mana and use magic

- Has been set so you need twice the mana to use magic and lowers the magic strength of spells by half

- Will passively increase intelligence, wisdom and concentration gain when worn.

Bang!

“Ow!”

With that, Sain was now on the ground unable to move at all. The force on his entire body due to the gravity rings was bad enough but with the restraining tool as well, it made it so that he could not even support himself properly.

“Damn...can't even....move...” he muttered out since even moving his mouth was difficult due to the increased weight pressing down on his jaw. If he did not, he feared that his jaw might fall off else stretch a lot in the process.

“Ah!” “Damn!” “Eck!” “Wow!” “....”

After a few more moments he heard the others falling onto the ground as well. The only exception he could see was Raven though that was not surprising.

“Impressive that you can resist this much at the beginning” Alena praised Raven a bit on his efforts.

Right now everyone was a restraining tool that forced you to use 30 kg in force to even move. Gravity Bracelets that increased your weight to three times or two times for Miriel and Serena.

Furthermore for Sain, Lyndis, Miriel and Serena, they had to use four times their mana to use any type of magic and the power behind each of those spells were only a quarter of it's usual strength. However at the same time the amount of stats that they gain during this time will increase due to the training.

While the group were squirming on the ground with Raven eventually collapsing as well, Alena said, “This training will last for a week. First I suggest you take a day to get used to it and not move that much~”

“....”

“Also another thing is that you will all gain the stats from the training after you take them off. I have no intentions of letting you take them off until three months have passed as well” she added before leaving.

The group could not reject that idea since they really could not move now. They were crawling around on the ground shamefully like worms right now. And as such a day passed like this on the ground not being able to move properly.

xXx

Out of the game, the group was strangely enough taking a class where Eden was the teacher this time.

From what Alexandra said, Eden was a history teacher while Viv was a skills teacher for Royal Road related content. Along with the group, there were two dozen other people in the room with them and they were sitting near the back of the room.

“Now, today's lesson will account for the Independent Guild System implemented by Weed that has been around for the last 67 years in game or nearly 17 years in real life time. Made on the 55th year of the game since it had started, it long since been a core feature of the game now to be able to join one-”

The lecture continued with Eden talking reading off a book. Maria found this quite boring. Before when she and the rest of the group were collected and made to play Royal Road, they all dug of general information as much as they could.

Therefore they had researched all of this before and knew most of the facts at least. Maria was tempted to yawn but see that it was Eden who was teaching, she did not dare.

Therefore she started to look around to find that almost every guy in the room was staring intensely at Eden. She found this extremely gross. The one guy that did not outside the others was sitting next to her as well.

Looking at him, he wasn't too bad in terms of looks...at least a first. There were some flaws but who cares about that! The guy looked back at her and smiled to which she smiled back as well

Several more minutes in and with the class now in open discussion on some points of events that happened in the game, Maria decided to talk to the guy.

“Hey” she said.

“Hey” he replied back looking interested in her as well. Seeing this, she grinned and asked, “Want to talk about something more interesting than history?”

“Sure” the guy replied, “I'm guessing that you are here because you play Royal Road as well.”

“Naturally, why waste time on something that you don't need.”

“How long have you been playing? I've been it for 4 years in game and reached level 300 a while back.”

Maria thought of the average rate a player levels up and found that he was above average by around a year and then said, “2 years for me and reached level 160.”

The guy smiled and then said, “I guess it helps that I'm in an Independent Guild.”

Maria was slightly surprised. From what she learnt, being in one means you were part of the elite and even level 400 struggle to be in one for long. Anyone lower either is an exception or has connections to some people in it.

However this was the first Maria learnt that being in one help you level up faster.

“How so?” she asked.

“Well my guildmates helped me level up quickly. Because of that I also got good gear and skills as well. I can literally take down things that are 10 levels above me!” he said excitedly.

“Hmm...” she tried to look impressed but only could get out as amused. She and the rest of the group took out something that was level 200 when they were level 100 themselves...though that situation was an exception.

Now they can at most barely take something that is 50 levels ahead of them using 'Boost'.

“Say why don't you join the guild I'm in. I'm sure that I can power level you to 200 quickly” he said which caused her to only frown.

“Doesn't power levelling cause your natural stat growth to slow down?” she asked.

“Good equipment and good skills can fix that. Plus you can train later on so you can join now while you can” he laughed though Maria did not find it amusing.

“I can't” she simply said.

“Why not?”

“I'm already in an group so....”

“No way! You can ditch them for me because-”

Whack!

A folder hit the head of the guy at high speeds to the point it caused him to hold his head in pain.

“And you will what?” Eden asked glaring down on Maria and the guy those mostly the guy, “I don't recall allowing people to try to hit on girls in my class” he said coldly causing a shiver down Maria's spine.

“C-Chairm-man?!” the guy said.

“I believe your name was Michael or something like that and your in game name was Luke. What? You're embarrassed to use the name of a Hero from the last century in a galaxy far far away?”

“....”

Michael was stupefied hearing that and his thoughts were in pause trying to think of what reference Eden was referring to.

“Anyway to you lot. I heard Alena is going to train you. Her training method is more kind than mind but do take care not to get traumatised by her smile” he said with a sigh as if this happened before.

“?”

Maria and the rest of the group pondered on this point for a few seconds before Michael's brain started up again.

The guy named Michael apparently turned red at last seemingly now knowing what Eden meant and then muttered, “If this was in game then no one would dare insult me...”

“Ho?” Eden snorted coldly at him. This time the whole class was looking at them now.

“Then my elite guild-mates will take care of you! Plus I have a lot of money able to be used to take you out as well! My father will hear of this and-” he proclaim but Eden whacked Michael on the head with his folder at hand again.

When Michael tried to retort again, Eden started slapping him using the folders with a disinterested look on his face. The act of Eden doing that and Michael not even being able to respond made it look like a comedy skit.

Maria almost burst out laughing...someone unknown dare trying to take out Eden, that monster? Impossible. She could see that five other people were struggling to not laugh as well. What Eden was doing right now was a bit too funny for them.

“They are elite players parts of an Independent Guild! The Guild-master himself is level 700 as well! And we have influence that no common player could have!” he finally screamed.

“....”

There were some gapes of surprise from across the room. There were some mutters of to take note of him and others that saying that he he was only bragging. Other than that, Eden finally stopped hitting Michael with his folder and decided he side tracked too much.

“In that case let us return to the lesson now” Eden looked disinterested and went back to the lesson where the guy named Michael made smug look showing that he truly believe that he 'beat' Eden.

A level 700 player was nothing anyone normal would want to go against. However Eden had at least two dozen players and NPCs that were a hundred levels higher than that poor level 700 player under his thumbs.

Plus Eden played with six level 800 at once which were hers and the rest of the group's masters. She knew more than most at least that Eden was probably a player that was above level 900 or had several overpowered skills lined up together or both to do that.

“Ha” the guy named Michael let out that sound as Eden turned away. All of a sudden, Maria felt that Eden was about to snap this person into two. She could literally see the rage in Eden's eyes as he was about to move and finish him off in one go.

“Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooo!!!”

“Hmm?” Eden turned to the direction of the sound.

BANG!

And was blasted out of the classroom...which was on the second story. And in the steed of Eden was a blond haired woman with a face of a beauty swaying in the breeze. That woman looked around and asked one thing.

“Where's Eden? I need to talk to him about something about the conditions of the dorms for health reasons.”

That woman was Alexandra. Maria was shocked to see this scene in reality of all things...the lines between reality and the game was starting to blur to her right now as everyone else had their jaws dropped to it.

“You kicked him out of the window” Peter pointed out startled.

“Oh.”

“Wait didn't you just kick him through that window and this is the second floor?” Hina asked her.

“....”

The room was completely silent for a moment. Were they in the presence of murder?

“ALEXANDRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

There was a loud scream from outside the building. Maria wondered how Eden was even alive at this point but she remembered that Eden was a cyborg or something like that.

To summarise the events later on, Eden and Alexandra went with a chasing game where Eden looked like he was about to kill her and she escaped.

xXx

Later on, after class, Hina went over to inquire about some things with a grin that Maria could only call evil. She felt that this is the true face that she was hiding from Peter all along to make sure that she is just a cute girl in his eyes.

“What is it?” Maria asked with a grunt partly knowing what is going to happen.

“So...that kind of person is you're type” said Hina.

“Noooot at all!” retorted Maria without realising it. She panicked a bit when she realised that other people including that guy was looking at her now. She was too loud. Red in the face she quickly dragged Hina out of the room with her to a place they won't be overheard.

After cursing a few times Maria asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“Hmm?” Hina made a amused face and then Maria realised why.

“You still have a gruel from what? 7-8 months ago when I teased you a bit about you and Peter?” she inquired.

“More or less” Hina did not even try to deny it. As such Maria could only sigh since it was from so long ago.

“Anyway why don't you like him?” Hina asked with the same look on her face from the first statement that made her retort.

“Because” Maria started to explain, “He is the polar opposite of us.”

She could not even count the number of things that was wrong with him.

“First of all he is super arrogant, wants to process me for some reason other than I look...nice to him, he flaunts what is not his, brags about what he has no power over, average in looks at best; even Ian looks better than him and most importantly he is a dick.”

Hina raised her eyebrow and asked, “I thought the number one reason would be that he almost pissed Eden off.”

Maria shrugged, “If he was the opposite of this and that I liked him and he managed to piss Eden off, I would take his side instead of Eden's. I think Alexandra and Viv would approve of my decision as well.”

Seeing that this conversation needed to be ended quickly, Maria was tempted to say she wanted to meet with others to discuss whatever but instead said, “So anything changed with your relationship with Peter?”

“Pffft!”

Hina surprising made that same sound as before when she asked her this.

“Why did you have to bring that up again!?” Hina growled in a low tone looking to hit Maria.

“Because.”

“Because?”

“Because you brought up the topic first so I should naturally do the same for you” she grinned seeing this flustered look on Hina's face.

“N-Nothing c-changed at all!”

“Oh” Maria looked disappointed, “I thought you made some progress over the last 7 months at least.”

“How could I?! Everyone else was there and I didn't even get some alone time with him at all!”

At that moment, Maria felt some slight pity for Hina.

xXx

With the day passed and the group sort of used to the effects they were under now, they were at least able to hold a conversation while sitting upright instead of flat on the ground. They sat into a circle facing each other as they talked.

Sain began to speak first, “Now that we are used-”

“Not exactly used to but rather just barely scrapping by you mean” Lyndis interrupted which caused Miriel to glare at her for a bit.

Sain let out a cough to make sure they were paying attention to him for now at least.

“Yes, anyway now that we are more fine than before, we should move onto the next step which is to determine how hindered we are using this training method” he continued.

“Hmm? Aren't we hindered to around a quarter or more in our stats?” Shadow asked.

“Actually it's worse than that” Sain sighed, “With the gravity rings, most of us except Miriel and Serena are hindered by 4 times while they are only to 2 times. Adding onto the restraining tool on our bodies as well it becomes even harder to even move around as well.”

“That's true, I can't even move my arm up properly unless I use a certain amount of strength and when I do I have to make sure not to overshoot which makes controlling the movements of my body even worse” said Lyndis.

“But that means it is good training to further learn how to precisely control the movement of the body. I heard that the better one does this, the less stamina the use when moving and less strength needed to attack” Miriel further added to which the other nodded.

“Yes, but as a counter to this, we are like babies having to relearn how to walk and how to even move right now. It will take time but we should be able to stand up at least by today if we make the proper method to control our bodies.”

Lyndis joked a bit and said, “As long as we don't snap back when we try.”

“You mean that poor attempt to do so earlier?” remarked Miriel remembering that Lyndis shouted for help earlier when the restraining tool was about to snap her back in half...backwards.

The rest of the group had a small chuckle remembering that which caused Lyndis to go a bit red remembering it as well. Such an embarrassing sight was something she did not wished to show.

xXx

Another day passed making it the third day of their training. The first day they managed to lift themselves off the ground, the second day they managed to get up and now they were trying to walk.

All with that smile from Alena that was kind enough to be there...though it was starting to become unsettling as it only came when one of them was suffering.

“Fuue....” Sain let out a sigh seeing that he can now stand up properly without some part of his body snapping weirdly at all. To stand still was harder than to move as the restraining tool was forcing him to precisely use a proper amount of strength to counter the force that it was placing on him.

Seeing that every last one of the group was able to stand up and to a lesser extent walk around even with this pressure on them, Alena came in and made it harder for them.

To be precise she had several requests for them.

“Can you please deliver these to the local market and get these ingredients for dinner?”

“Can you please ask one of the guards about this incident?”

“Can you please go up to get this herb for tea that I have ran out of?”

She asked in this kind nature which made them sweat tears as each one of these requests were troublesome to the max. Everyday for the next four days she made them do this forcing them to walk around the city which was extremely difficult for them now.

They had to watch out for their strength failing, using too much strength in a step, moving improperly and even watching out for any sudden thing that might come to them.

Because of this constant stream of requests from her, the group could not help but to feel some unpleasant thing coming from behind Alena's smile as she gave them those requests. It would be like Eden smiling all innocently in front of them while asking for an 'easy' request from them.

Which was why they were more than thankful for Alena saying that such requests would not come anymore and that they were moving onto the next stage of the training...though the training devices were still on them all the way.

“Right” Alena said bringing into a room that was at some time before they realised it was connected to the dojo place in the building.

“This will be the place that you will gain a cultivation skill” she explained allowing the group to see this small cramped room that was no larger than a box that could barely fit a person sitting in there, “In this room you will not need to worry about food, water or sleep at all. This place will pour a certain energy type that you are most attuned with in you and you need to make sure it stays in your body.”

Alena started to explain the procedure that will allow them to get a new skill this way.

“After gathering the energy which should flow in naturally after a few hours, make sure to rotate it around your body to get the full effect. After that the skill should at least appear.”

“But...” Lyndis asked to ask nervous, “What if we fail?”

Alena shook her head and then said, “It is literally impossible to fail since the room will force any type of energy into you that stays with you. Even if you die, you still get the skill though a lesser version of that though you can train it up to the full version later on.”

With that the group looked at each other nervously and then Sain asked another question that was important, “Why is there only room for one?”

Alena tilted her head in confusion and then asked, “Who says that you all are going in at once?”

Looking at the room again they found that it was extremely small like a cube that only one person could fit in. They could definitely not all fit in at once, let alone two at a time as well. The group also found that they could feel something...off about that room as well...like it was about to suck them in.

Seeing the group slowly being drawn into the room in question, Alena clapped her hands to draw their attention away from it and to her again.

There had always been a problem of people losing themselves peering into this room from afar. Strangely enough when they are in the room itself and without anymore distractions, such things don't happen.

Alena believes this is due to everyone who goes in will focus on themselves which prevents themselves from being lose to the mysterious power of this room.

“In order to not allows you to disappear...or in this case die in the room, I want you all to listen carefully on what I am to explain to you now” said Alena in a stern attitude that was completely serious as she could be.

“This room is dangerous. Though I have no idea where it's origins lie, it has in the past been used as a training tool to focus the user's mind. Naturally this room takes it to the extreme where if you fail your mind will disappear into the void to be unrecoverable.”

The group nodded though Miriel asked, “Are there exceptions to this rule since you are allowing us to do this.”

“There are” Alena let out a slight sigh and said, “When your kind appear, we later found out that for some reason only your lot can come back...well after you die of course. Don't worry too much about it” Alena gave the group a bright smile hiding her concern of them.

“I see.”

“Nothing else? Then I guess I can let one of you in. Also another thing is that you are stuck there for at least a day” there was a bright smile on Alena's face as she said that.

“....”

The group would soon learn that that smile could be more frightening to become one of the ever lasting smiling devil of training.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 10200~

- Happy New Year~ Here's a chapter.

- Inspiration of the training method may have been influenced or inspired by other pieces of works...cough...credits to them at least.

- Not exactly the most interesting chapter in my opinion. Well I'm planning a eventual climax to the end of the volume either way.

- Anyway while this chapter was easy to pose (mostly dialogue), the next chapter is bombed with so many text boxes...I blame the fact that I have 6 MCs and need to write up on all of them.