Exiting the Capsule, Peter sighed thinking of what just happened. Eden just had to kill them and furthermore it seems that they weren't allowed to get back into the game for a good month and a half now which would mean 6 months would pass in game due to this.

This time was enough to level them up two or so dozen times, it was not a small figure at all.

But still, like Eden said, it was also important to study in school and not get draw too much into the game. He had heard stories where many people had their real life ruined because they were playing the game too much.

He could not blame them at this point. Royal Road was too real, too good to be true and so much more interesting than the real world. How else could it still be the greatest game to have existed for the last 30 or so years. Even when other VR games popped out, many fantasy ones, space ones and sci-fi ones, Royal Road still remained at the top.

The main reason was that there are explorations to find other continents and there has been results at least. Whether there was a continent as large as the one they started one remains a mystery but there were small pieces of land that could count as a small continent out there.

It was proof alone that this game was so much more complicated and unique than the other ones in both size, content and popularity. Even that Star Wars VR game only lasted a few years before having to be cut off due to a lack of interested players.

But there was really no point in thinking of it right now. He got up and went to where the others were gathered already to find them complaining on what happened already as well.

“Uggh....what the hell! He just says that and all of a sudden he kills us as well! Just because we just gained the ability to not lose a level when dying doesn't mean he can test it out so soon!” As usual or rather as expected, the one that was the loudest in complaining was Maria.

When she didn't like something, it seems that she was the one who voiced her opinion the loudest. While it got her point across easily, there was a strain on his mind after a constant supply of complaints.

“The main problem was that Eden had a point. We should have not played too much in the game...really, it's not like me to forget about something like that. I think we spent too much time on only Royal Road that it ended like this” said Hina.

Unlike Maria, she was much more calm and looked at things at a more objective based stance. Because of this, even though she was not as loud as Maria, she got her point across more easily than her. Plus did help that Peter preferred to listen to her when he could.

These two aside from him had the most say in what to do because of this. Ian lied on the side of talking about things but in the end don't care much on where to go, Grace was on the side to follow what the others say and Mark did not care about decisions altogether which mean the decisions went to himself, Maria and Hina.

As for himself, for some reason the others listened to him a lot for some reason. Overall he just expressed opinions on what could benefit them all equally. He would not favour one decision over another due to his relationship with him.

Noticing that Peter appeared at last, Hina said, “Ah, Peter you're finally here. Please tell this idiot that there is no point in complaining to either Alexandra or Viv about what happened.”

At the same time, Maria sent a glare to Hina and said to Peter, “Peter, please tell this fool that if we did complain to those two, there is a good chance that we may be able to get back in game earlier than the month and a half Eden said.”

The only thing Peter did was sigh and consider both sides first. On one hand, the possibility of getting back into the game early was pleasing at the very least. They just got to level 200 and got their new classes as well but on the other hand, Peter felt like they would be punished even more by Eden if they failed their re-tests for their subjects.

“First, I think we should think of passing those exams. After we are confident enough to pass them, we could ask one of those three to take the exams earlier and as such, get back into the game earlier as well” he said to them all.

“....”

The rest of the group was in deep thoughts to this. He was sure that they were thinking of all their choices here but in the end, really it was up to Maria and Hina since the other three seem fine on what they got.

“I guess it is fine then, I doubt Alexandra or Viv would let us in without great reason” Maria said in slight defeat.

Likewise Hina said, “I agree on us being able to pass those exams. Those exams were the whole reason we got this punishment to begin with.”

“Which means we have to study for those exams in the end” sighed Ian. It was clear to Peter that Ian did not like to do something like this, probably because he like Maria would prefer to be in game playing it instead of this.

“Anyway we need to make an outline on all that we need to know....” said Peter remembering that the school gave them revision stuff a while back though they never even touched it.

xXx

Meanwhile in the game itself...

Gen and the other masters were really worried now. It had been over half a day since the group had set off to clear that trial for their 2nd Class. By now they should have come back with the good news that they have passed and got new classes.

However they did not yet which worried them greatly.

“Did they perhaps died somewhere?” wondered Ron on one of the possibilities out there.

“They may have, freemen are more likely to die than us, natives after all” said Park agreeing to this.

There wasn't much else to talk on the matter as if they were discussing their demise then it would turn extremely depressing for them. Therefore they did not and simply waited and continued to wait.

Soon it was in the middle of the night and there were still no signs of them. Finally some of them decided to leave since there was no point waiting in Gen's home any longer.

“I guess we have to wait until morning to see if they come back. Due to recent events with the Imperial Order, no one can come in or out of any city in the Western Continent for a while at night for security reasons” said Gen with a sigh.

“Yeah ever since that battle in the Imperial Palace that got a large number of people riled up” agreed Jenny with a sigh as well.

Yes, ever since 3 months ago where there was a great battle in Imperial Palace itself that left it quite damaged, the Kingdom was on high alert for the enemy that appeared there. There were many rumours on what those four enemies may be but in the end, even the Kingdom does not know and it is simply said that it is the enemy that their Emperor, Weed needs to slay.

But what worried Gen the most was that Eden, Alexandra and Viv was there due to the recording on those 'T.Vs' that the freemen used. It showed the entire battle from start to finish where they battled against those strange and powerful knights and demons alike.

Even though the freemen numbered only 50, they were some of the strongest that could match himself and the others in a fight. And yet half of them died in the beginning of the first half of the battle like that.

And then that Golden Lion armoured man appeared. Even Eden could not land a hit on that person, what kind of monster was that?! Furthermore the first three enemies were revived as well and they disappeared like that without anyone stopping them.

Since then, the Kingdom had issue an order for everyone to search and find those beings. However even if they did, how many could even fight them. In all Gen could only think of several thousand freemen that could fight them for a while and even less that could possibly defeat them.

They were the current Emperor, the Empress, The Royal Court Magicians, The Royal Archer Captain, the Royal Monk Captain and so on that possessed great power on their own right. But in the end the ones with the greatest of chances were always those three.

“Did any of you guys leave yet? No? Good.”

All of a sudden the door was opened revealing a thin black haired person with a shadow was humour in his(?) face. It was Eden just as he was thinking of him.

“Eden?” asked Mel with a frown with her moving way back away from him. She was still scared like hell of him as usual.

Jenny on the other hand had the opposite reaction and from what Gen knew of her, had great respect to Eden as her teacher though there was still fear in her.

On the other hand Park had a co-worker relationship with Eden, Ron as well and Anna referred to Eden as her 'Master' after all as he was the one who picked her up. Gen could not remember what was the circumstances but Eden was also the one who suddenly placed Park and Ron into their team when it was still him, Mel and Jenny.

But right now, Gen was thinking of something else. Since Eden was here, it was impossible for him to not know what happened to their apprentices. He hoped he did not give them another unreasonable task again.

“Eden what happened to our apprentices?” he asked Eden to which Eden responded with, “Oh, I killed them.”

“....”

Normally either himself, Mel or Jenny would retort here but all three of them had their faces twitching and their bodies shaking not sure on what to do. The other three; Park, Ron and Anna simply accepted that fact though.

“And also, they won't be coming back to this world.”

“...Does that mean...?” Mel was pale now. The only reason Eden would say that was that he...[Deleted] them right?

However Eden shrugged and said with a smile, “Actually to be precise I'm banning from this world for 6 months.”

“Oh.”

Several of the masters let out a sigh of relief. Compared to Eden, they had almost no say in what would happen at all. Even though they were indeed powerful, they were still natives of this land and only had one life. Eden on the other hand was even more powerful than them by several times and furthermore was a freeman who had unlimited lives essentially.

Their standing was made quite clear with this fact alone.

“Also those six passed the Trial and got their 2nd Class so don't worry about that” Eden added like that and was about to leave. However Gen got up and quickly grabbed Eden by the arm and almost shouted, “Stop!” in a loud voice.

“....”

There was some shock, looks of amusement and even a look of worry as everyone stayed in place not moving at all.

“Grabbing me like this...Gen....” the pressure around Eden increased several fold in an instance as he turned to glare at Gen with his eyes changed to one of a dragon, “Do you wish to die?!”

The pressure alone made him want to kneel down and submit to his death but he did not. First Gen wanted to know a couple of things even it cost him his life as a cost.

“What exactly happened at the Imperial Palace?” he asked Eden. The next moment he felt like the air in front of his exploded as he was sent flying back into his house.

Bang!

He hit a bookshelf and broke it causing books to hit him several times on the head as a result.

“Why do you need to know?” Eden asked in a cold tone also looking at the others causing them to back down quickly, “There is nothing I need from you for now.”

“And that is exactly the problem here!” Gen shouted letting out years of emotion from here on, “You took us in, trained us and just let us be like that?! Why didn't you call us to battle with you three months ago?! What is going on right now? Why have you told us to not take part in the search for the enemy?!”

Gen was breathing heavily now. Not because he said too many things at once but rather because the pressure around him due to Eden increased once again. It seems that Eden was mad right now and that was a problem for the stake of his life.

“If I brought you guys there at the battle three months ago, you or least some of you would die. If you searched and found the enemy, some of you would for certain die. Even with the power of a fully realised 'Mark' which I gave you, it is possible you would not even be able to escape with that power. It is also possible that 'Mankai' would be ineffective against those four let alone the use of 'Awakening'.”

“Even so, is it fine for us to just stay here and do nothing?!” Gen asked once again.

“I took you all in all those years ago not out of any kind of emotion you expect of me to have but out of obligation. Obligation out of a favour from an old friend, obligation from even old enemies and others. Whether I use you and let you all die because of it is not for you to think but mine. Besides even without you, the search is going on, we have narrowed down the place the enemy might appear to the Western Continent or further west where they first appeared” said Eden at once leaving with that.

With Eden gone, Park patted Gen's shoulder and said, “At least you got everything out and did not die from that blurt of words. Though don't do that again else Eden might really kill you.”

Gen sighed and knew Park was right.

“But really what is he thinking of not using us?” wondered Mel.

“Perhaps we have a different use in mind” suggested Anna.

“Perhaps...well either way, one day Eden will use us but whether we can survive it...” Jenny said darkly. So far all the tasks they got fit into their abilities and sometimes tiptoed beyond it at times but nothing to the point they were completely helpless.

But things were really stirring up now.

There was a chance that they would be forced to move out whether they wanted to or not.

xXx

Outside...as Eden walked further away from Gen's house, he was stopped by a person by the side of the road. It was Alexandra.

“It's not like you to lash out on those brats and even those kids” she said, “Are you still emotional about Risene? You kept it well together before when Viv told us to meet him at the Ramen store and saw those kids.”

“Shut up....” Eden hit the wall and caused a large crack to appear. But the strange thing was that there was no sound from the impact, Eden was controlling the air around it to stop any sounds that goes through.

“Meeting Risene and ending it like that is really bad you know” said Alexandra leaning her back onto the wall, “After all you are quite stressed from trying to find that Warrior King guy.”

“That guy knows about llyfr!” Eden shouted, “And with that kinds of ability he can't be normal at all! There are literally no records of him anywhere which means...!”

“He's from the same place was llyfr eh” said Alexandra in an uncaring way.

“....”

“But that doesn't have anything to do with it right? It's that sword that caused you to become like this. What exactly is that sword? I felt a lot of Divine Power coming from that thing” she asked.

“I...don't know. What I saw were fragments of llyfr's memories when I looked at it” said Eden.

“Fragments?”

“Yeah...the fragment of llyfr in me...the fragment of the [Original Destroyer], every last Destroyer has a fragment of him, his power in us. Those brats and those kids and even the Demon Kings, Chaos Dragons and so on, from us 'Destroyers' who possess the [Fragment] of llyfr, they possess an even smaller fragment of our power as well though filtered once more, a drop of a drop of an endless ocean you see.”

“....”

Alexandra frowned, “I know about the Demon Kings and 'Marks' but are there really that many more that possess the power of [The End]?”

Eden shook his head, “Only those who have the [Fragment] have the power of [The End] that can completely destroy a God's [Origin]. Only llyfr and every last Destroyer has the power of [The End], even the ones that were not fully realised. Those who gained powers due to us don't.”

“And what does this have to do with those memories you were talking about?”

“Nothing. Just that the next battle will be even harder than the last. What is your progress in collecting those [Sun Authorities]?”

“I have four of them now and can completely control three of them so I don't destroy everything in sight when I try to use them at once.”

Eden let out a chuckle and said, “I thought [Sun Authorities] were suppose to be extremely powerful to the point that one can barely possess one.”

“They are, which is why I can only control three of them for now. It has only been what? 3 or 4 years since I got my first one? Those Sun Monsters that possessed the [Sun Authorities] spent decades and centuries on just trying to make sure they don't die from possessing it alone.”

“What happens when you try to use all twelve of them at once?” asked Eden.

“Hmm...no idea but it is most likely that my body in the mortal world and without the power of [Divinity] cannot endure it for long. Maybe for a couple of minutes I could use the power of someone over level 1000 and suppress even 'Mankai' but with my [Divinity] I could deter most of the burden onto my [Divine Wings], well back when I still had them.”

“Hmm...so you are able to temporary get back into your best state with that...didn't Viv say he was trying to make a contract with the strongest spirit or something?”

“Yeah, he's been trying to tap into the power of the [Tree of Life] or something. What about you? Have you found something that would equal [Magic King Drive] yet?”

Eden shook his head with a soft smile on his face and said, “Not at all. At best I could use [Elemental Resonance] to boost my elemental magic but nothing to the extent of [Magic King Drive]. That state was really a cheat mode now I think of it.”

Hearing that, Alexandra pouted and said, “That's what I've been saying for the last century or so!”

“Haha.”

“Anyway the real reason why you are so stressed you that you found the enemy's hideout right?”

“....”

Eden was momentarily stunned before saying, “How the hell did you know that?!”

“I have sources~ One by the name of a True Goddess~ Plus I have plenty of footage of you running away for dear life~” Alexandra smirked.

“Damn that Goddess!” Eden cursed.

“So how exactly was that dungeon? I wasn't allowed to see any details that may reveal it's actual location” she asked.

It was at that moment that Eden sighed and said, “That place a dungeon? It's more like a Fortress. Enemies at least level 800 at least along with traps in all as well. A combination of undying knights that can phase in and out of a physical state control the activation of traps which can't harm them due to that. Furthermore there are also High Class Demons of all types wandering around the place leading lesser demons with them. Something like a mere 50 or 100 of the top players aren't enough. Even with the three of us combined, we may not be able to breach it without our former power.”

“....”

“Plus there is a problem with those three we faced repeatedly. One of them is based off the King of Knights another from the King of Demons and the last though I'm not sure but from his swordsmanship alone is probably based off the greatest swordsman.”

Alexandra was in deep thought and said, “In that case why don't we bring Weed, Seoyoon and the Gemchis with us! That's already what? 500 people?”

“Eh but the strain of tele-”

“Plus if we add on some of the elite paladin and priests as well as exorcists out there who would love to help kill demons that's another 500 people from the top my head. Might as well take a thousand knights since they are usually all strong. Along with the 3000 or so other players who would want to help we have an elite army of 5000 easily!” she said with complete and utter confidence.

“You don't know where that place is located right?” asked Eden with his eyes narrowed.

“Nope! Don't care, just need to bring them all there right?” said Alexandra while casually patting him on the shoulder.

“The enemy location is on a floating island that they control. It's location is deep in the sky, high to the point that it makes the great mountains of the world seem short. How exactly do you expect me to teleport an army of 5000 up there? The mana costs alone is too extreme even for me.”

“In that case figure it out, I need to talk to people now~” Alexandra ran off without him leaving him with a task to transport 5000 people including himself and her and Viv up there. He sighed thinking about it.

However he in no case had any thoughts of not doing it.

“An army of 5000...if I draw up a teleportation connection and while using the highest grade mana stones...Weed won't like the costs at all. Hmm...considering all the factors and the fact that it is near impossible to draw that teleportation connection circle on that place without them knowing...all of this will take another year and a half to complete...” he muttered.

“I better get started then...damn so much gold and mana stones will be spent due to this. I wonder Weed can give me some pity money on this plan....”

xXx

Another two weeks has passed in real life. To summarise everything that happened till then, this conversation with Alexandra would do.

xXx

“Nope, can't get in the game for another month. Eden made it very clear that this was punishment for skipping out on your exams the first time” said Alexandra with her arms in a cross shape.

“What?! You allowed us to take the exams early and yet not get in the game early as well?!” Maria retorted seeing it as unreasonable.

“This is not unreasonable” said Alexandra reading Maria's mind, “But rather me giving you the chance to spend a month on something other than exams. Frankly you aren't missing that much in game. A good month is a way to get away from the game itself.”

“But what should we do then?” asked Peter, though he was sceptical that she would allow such a thing, he had at least some hope they would be able to get back into the game.

“Who know” said Alexandra shrugging, “Try and find something to do then, you can use the VR device in our classroom though if you are that bored.”

With that Alexandra left.

xXx

And so they were in this kind of situation where they had nothing to do. Peter sighed seeing that they would waste so much time here. If they slack off from one day, then they would waste even more time than before!

Never-ending training was the key to maintain a top shape!

As such was a words of that Weed that was greatly quoted to anyone who trained regularly. As such a whole generation of gamers lived by those words and became strong. And Peter intended to follow by these words even though there were a number of issues in the way right now.

“I guess the first thing would be to use that VR device that Alexandra left us then” said Peter thinking of trying to get something out of this.

Even though they couldn't get back in the game, didn't mean that they couldn't actually do nothing. A VR device was perfect to simulate some sort of training for them to do.

And in it, they could test things that they could not in the game itself.

As such the group started to leave from the infirmary where Alexandra usually worked at to their combat class. As a result, they met with a certain person that Maria sort of knew from a conversation before.

A certain bright looking person that had nothing wrong happen in his life appeared before them.

“Ah you're...!” that boy that was no older than the rest of them pointed at Maria and then paused for a few seconds, “I...don't recall your name.”

Maria moved up in front of the rest of the group and laughed saying, “I didn't get the chance to tell you my name before. Plus I haven't been in class for a while as well.”

“In that case why don't you introduce yourself to me? It is the privilege of guys to know the names of beautiful girls like you” the boy laughed a bit haughtily this time. As one who was talented enough to get into this academy and with a powerful family background, it was only natural for him to think above most others.

But the problem was that everyone else here was on an equal standing on him! Family connections meant nothing here since everyone was connected to other powerful figures. However those of his age usually had no such thing.

Because of this, he acted like this without much restraint in front of Maria and the others that watched behind her.

“My name is Maria. Nice to meet you Michael” said Maria.

“Oh” Michael was surprised at least, “I didn't think you remember though I didn't introduce myself back then.”

“Well you did make an impression trying to pick a fight with the chairman of all things.”

“Yeah....my father did tell me to never do that again in a desperate tone after all. I wonder what kinds of connections she has to even make my father” Michael was in deep thoughts for a second but then suddenly said, “So what level are you now? It has been three months and I have reached level 320 thanks to it! It really gets harder to level up later on.”

“I'm level 200 and just got my new class with my advancement. Plus I got a pretty good title out of it as well” said Maria in a happy tone though they were immediately killed before they even got to try out it.

“Oh a new title? Titles are really hard to get, you need to either do something for a long time without rest or do something that makes a big impression to get one. I worked really hard and only got two so-so titles that barely help me out” Michael laughed a bit about it.

“Oh but even if you work hard there is a good chance you won't be rewarded like with fame” said Maria in a sweet tone and asked, "Have things been good with that Independent guild of yours?”

Michael nodded and said, “We are still just a C rank one but we should be able to get to B rank when we get more good members and do more Guild Quests. The issue isn't finding those Guild Quests but because they are difficult that it takes the entire guild to make sure we don't fail a D rank one.”

Maria smiled hearing that masking the fact that she just thought that D rank was kinda low. The Guild quest that made them go through those Labs a while ago was D rank but the one to defend the Town was a C rank one. Both had similar difficulties in the strength of monster but the latter needed you to protect as well moving up the rank.

Plus the thing was that they had to complete these level of Guild Quests on their own without the help of the rest of the guild except for the latter one where they really had to.

“Oh you should really join, my guild is becoming a bigger deal now” said Michael once again, “You can even invite your friends, we are more than happy to accept new members no matter what.”

“Sorry but I am fine where I am currently. Plus won't I only get in your way?” Maria shyly let out a laugh upon hearing Michael's words.

“No, not at all!” Michael grasped Maria's hands for a few seconds but then suddenly said, “Oh I need to go now!” before running away.

“....”

The group simply stood there silent looking at Maria. She sighed and then said to the others, “I know...”

The first to speak was Ian of course, “You really had to act in front of him? Now there's going to be a damn misunderstanding thanks to this. And what's with acting like a shy and weak girl? You are the complete opposite of that!”

“Hey! It's rude to act like that in front of people! Plus there is a good chance that I can get good information off of him!” retorted Maria back in return.

“But playing with his emotions isn't nice is know. You even changed your personality to get in further” Hina made a motion with her hands of moving forward.

Grace also nodded and said, “Playing with others' feelings is....”

“Hey hey hey! Why am I suddenly made like a villain?! If Peter over there did that there would be no-”

Suddenly Maria got a glare from Hina which make her take a step back due to the pressure from it alone.

“T-That was a joke you now...” though there was a good chance that may happen in the future.

“Anyway” Maria still continued to talk, “It's not like I have to show my true self to everyone you know? It's okay to act a bit so I don't have too many enemies out there. Unlike some people I don't exactly want to be alone.”

“....”

The rest of the group was silent, even Peter was silent on this matter.

“What? To get along with most people, I need to act in a certain manner which they like. And unlike some people, I can't live completely ignoring other people as well.”

Peter let out a slight smile and said, “Well at least you act like yourself with us....”

“Yeah, how else would I act? I would be super tired if I did with you lot” she said before they all continued to walk to their combat classroom for the VR device.

xXx

While inside the VR space...the place was constructed to be a training area. Right now the group was quite literally in a box.

To the left and right were a total of six rooms that would be used by each of the members of the group alone. One one end of the box was an entrance to a group training room and on the other end was an entrance to a conference room for discussions.

“So, what are we doing?” asked Ian to Peter who was dressed as 'Sain' right now. This appearance was exactly like he was in game to his weapon as well. For some reason, Peter had changed their appearance to be the same as in game.

“We are here to train” said Peter.

“Train? More training?” asked Maria, though she knew training was important, actual experience was even more so. Plus the level of training that Peter desired from them was on another level itself.

“More or less, thankfully this place has allowed us to use our characters so our physical abilities in here is the same in game” Peter started to touch some buttons on a screen and a monster spawned all of a sudden.

With a quick stab, that monster died in one hit.

“Which means while we can't gain any stats, skill proficiency or experience, we can still train here” he further stated. Normally while training in game, at times they would be given messages from the game when they gained stats or increased their skills' levels which would often distract them but now there were no such messages.

“But what are we going to train?” asked Maria, “I don't think this place can replicate skills and spells.”

Peter nodded and said, “You're right but we says we are trying to train our 'skills' here. It is said that martial artists and those trained in combat have an advantage in game. All I'm doing is replicating that in this VR world” he started to smile at the rest of the group which made them shiver.

Any kind of training they did was so horribly difficult that they could cry but it was another thing when Peter assigned them training! The difference was that Peter knew their exact strengths and weaknesses and made sure to push their strengths to the limits and kicked away their weaknesses at the same time.

Cruel, ruthless and unforgiving was Peter when he decided to train them.

“Unfortunately I haven't gotten permission to increase the time speed in here so we can only work at normal speeds. This mean we only have a month of this in the end” said Peter, “We will split from individual training for the first week, group training in the second, individual again for the fourth and one last group training for the last week.”

For some reason, the rest of the group felt that the group training would be extremely difficult.

“I have enable you guys to spawn monsters if you wish as well but please make it so the monsters you spawn don't suddenly expand and destroy everything around here” Peter continued to instruct the rest of the group, “As for what to do, find something and do it, those individual rooms are customisable so you can make it into anything you want. If you wish to relax for the whole week, feel free as well. Since we are on break, we will log off here when we need to eat and sleep and otherwise. Also every seventh day, the last day of a week, we will take a break from this as well.”

Saying all of this, some of members of the group thought that Peter really become a leader-like figure now. He was naturally issuing orders to them and they accepted it quite well.

Compared to the beginning where he was more clumsy with his orders trying to not offend anyone, this one seemed more natural to them. And with this, their training started again.

xXx

Right now Peter was in his own individual training room. From what he gathered from the rest of them, they intended to train hard as well. This was good. Everyone would become stronger thanks to this.

He would not let them waste time that easily.

After all he would have to work with them for years to come at this rate. Anyone who gets too lazy will only be a hindrance to the rest of the group and every last one of them were at least above average in his mind.

“Only Maria and Hina are doing their usual stuff...with a sword and with a whip respectively. The others are doing something new each” he muttered thinking about it.

Ian took up a short bow, Mark took on throwing weapons and Grace was using unarm martial arts training now. All of them reverted their weakness in that area. Soon enough, it would be fine for them to act individually as they would be able to use almost all cards.

With the weakness of being unable to use both close and long range attacks, their abilities as a group would more than double at least with these extra cards.

As for Sain who was already skilled enough, in his mind, in both of them, he had something else in mind for his own training.

“Spawn set allies 1!” he commanded the VR space.

In front of him came, five figures that had default looks and all different classes. There was one swordsman, one mage, one priest, one archer and one thief. Along with himself as an anchor with lots of sub roles, it was a perfectly balanced party.

Naturally there was no need to think he would be working with the group alone in the future, there may be a need to command other types of people instead. As such...

“Spawn set enemies 1!” he commanded once again.

In front of him were an exact copy of his own party in here. Even the fact that there was a shaman in the enemy part as well. To him, their experience in dealing with other players was lacking to the extreme.

Even though they can take out bandits, they were poorly equipped and had numbers and focused on ambushes and quick battles. Players on the other hand had smaller numbers but much more powerful attack, defence and speed in every way; at least the ones that would attack them, the Pkers.

Plus the biggest thing was that he did not know how such players would react, which was why he was using this problem to simulate such things to gain experience like this instead.

“Okay, let us begin” he said to his NPC generated allies facing the enemy now.

xXx

Right now, Ian was in an archery range with a short bow and arrows at hand. He had decided than rather than train more in close combat, it was better to expand the ways he could attack. With sneak attacks dealing so much more damage most of the time, it would be foolish if he didn't try to shoot enemies from afar.

“Well time to test out my shooting skills...hopefully it isn't as bad as Hina's...” he said to himself. He remembered that Peter told him to never let Hina near a bow or any kind of throwing weapon ever.

Since it was one of those rare moments where he thought Peter was joking and yet was not, he followed that order to a T.

“The range on this thing should be only 20 metres or less...” He looked at the bow at hand. In terms of length, it was about a arm's length which was quite smaller than the bows that most archer used.

Plus another thing was that this one was designed to be compact. A light metal bow was a rare thing to see in game since the materials used would be hard to get or expensive to get and finding a bow smith that could make one was hard as well.

Even so, Ian wanted a compact bow to use since a too large one would only get in the way.

He drew the bow and held his breath and hands steady and aimed...

Ping!

The string made that sound she is shot the arrow. He missed naturally but was not that far off, only a couple of metres to the left compared to Peter being also killed by Hina when she tried when he was standing behind her.

How does she do that while defying the laws of physic? He did not know but for certain he was no Hina in shooting thankfully.

He drew the bow for a second time and shot, it was another miss and it went further away in the opposite direction and he was shooting a target only 10 metres away. It seems that the minute adjustments makes a big difference here...though he only moved the bow a few centimetres to where he felt it would work.

After sighing and remembering that he had a week to work on this is drew the bow and shot again. This time, he barely knocked off the side of the large target in front of him. Rather than stealth, this was much more difficult for him.

Stealth came naturally as part of his core nature as a being but this...is new and something that will take time. As such he continued to practise on his skills. As Peter said, training is really important here.

After this he would need to practise in a forest with live targets though...

xXx

Right now Mark was in a familiar place to him. Though it could be said that he spent a good month at this place at the beginning. Yes, it was the barrack again and the same training area that Park trained him in.

This was the place in which he felt the easiest to train in though there were no other people, he was more than fine with that. Most of the people there made even him want to kill them. That was how bad most of them were.

But that was not the point right now.

In fact, he did not know why he was thinking of this while holding throwing spears and throwing axes at hand.

As a tank, he had no need for long range tactics but that in turn restricted him to only be a tank. With some skills to combat enemies at close range at least, he got by well enough with support. But he would be helpless against flying enemies and the likes.

Carrying one smaller shield on his right arm and one larger tower shield as tall as him on his left, Mark knew that with the addition of an extra larger shield which was as heavy as his armour, his agility and thus speed would go down dramatically.

He knew that his agility was on par with everyone else, in fact his agility stat was no worse than Peter and Maria's in game and Hina and Grace had agility stats of a bit lower as well making the group all quite fast to begin with.

But the burden of equipment was enormous. With the exception of Ian of course with his super light equipment, everyone else wore equipment that were quite light, around at most a few kilos. In fact theoretically, Hina and Grace would be the fastest after Ian due to their light equipment loads.

Next was Peter and Maria with equipment that were a bit heavier and at the same time provided with more defence. Finally there was himself with the heaviest equipment with the best defence. In terms of pure weight, he carried around 30 kilos with his normal equipment which could be considered still light though only thanks to the high quality materials used to make it. With the addition of this Tower Shield now, that weight doubled to 60 kilos of equipment weight.

He would need to get used to the weight against enemies that require this Tower Shield to be used against. Namely large foes and boss monsters with high attack or AOE attacks.

But the real reason he was using all of his equipment right now was to test if he could throw weapons like this. Mark from some small experience knew he was a good shot, the question was now only how good.

He gripped the first weapon, the throwing axe, easy to use but a short range. He threw it and it pierce into the target which was a lump of armour standing there.

Bang!

He felt it was good that he was able to do that. Next was the throwing spear...shorter than his own spear itself it could also be used in really short range fights. He made similar motions as before and threw it.

Clang~

The throwing spear hit but was knocked off the armour. It seems that the power behind the throw was not enough...

“....”

Finally there were the throwing knives. The lightest of the three and had the least power but could be used the easiest and with multiple of them if trained to. There were certain advantages to this and he knew it.

He motioned his stance and threw the throwing knife casually.

Clang!

As expected it could not go through the armour completely but it unlike the throwing spear stuck on. From now on, he would only use throwing axes and throwing knives for this training. With this, he took off the Tower Shield happy to know he could perform while using it.

If his strength was high and his agility too, it would be useful to swing around a giant shield as a weapon he thought.

Now was the more serious practise he had planned...

“Spawn in enemy set 1” he said casually letting out his voice.

In front of him were five guard enemies no stronger than him. He held his actual spear in hand with a throwing axe in the other. He would need to incorporate these new weapons into his fighting style.

And so began his training as well.

xXx

Grace was not the type of person to stand out. In fact you could say she was the type to avoid attention like the cold.

Which was why it would be unexpected at the very least to see Grace right now trying to learn some martial arts of her own. She had chosen two of them, one was jujutsu, the more ancient form of judo and one more deadly and the other was taekwondo which was combat based off using one's lower body and well known to the world.

Against common beliefs, jujutsu was a fighting form used and honed in actual combat in the past. A soldier would use it with fists, kicks, weapons and so on to kill another. Because of this, it also included punches, kicks with grapples and choke holds though Grace was more interested in how to throw her enemies away from her.

Which was also why she wanted to learn at least the basics of taekwondo as well. While jujutsu was difficult for her due to her height and weight, at least at the beginning, taekwondo while having similar issues was more about attacking than defending which was a slight plus to the former.

Plus while in game, her stats affected things as well. Using 'Berserk Conversing' and 'Berserk Instincts', she could be able to fight without thinking of the forms she needed to use, as long as she practised in game as well.

But first were the forms.

Jujutsu moved to the advantage of the upper body while taekwondo did to the lower body. They were near polar opposite in this but there were at least some similar forms to use with both. She would need to practise harder with these to transfer form one style to another.

Or she could just make up a new fighting style that mixed both. There were indeed some martial arts that did so in the past and were taught to military people as well and used and proven.

Why couldn't she do something like that?

“No...I can't get ahead of myself...I need to focus on this task first” she said to herself.

She still had little confidences that her thoughts of doing so would work. Which was why she restricted herself so to the basics right now.

At least for self defence.

At least in case she was attacked again.

At least in preparation.

Her thoughts were aligned to this.

xXx

Right now, Maria was holding a sword in her hand and swinging it down at a moving target. Though it was a puppet and had no attacks, it was quite quick and dodged often against her. It was a good way to train.

“Haaa!”

She made a big swing and as a result placed a lot of power in it and...missed.

“Damn, my habit again...”

She had noticed compared to actual masters of the sword, they rarely used power but instead speed or a balance of both but never purely power alone. What was the point of an attack if it did not connect?

As such, she was trying to correct herself in using more speed based attacks than power based ones though she thought it was incorrect to think that she needed to change her fighting style. Maybe it was because of her class change, maybe it was because she didn't wish to fall behind the others and be a burden.

Everyone else had a irreplaceable in the group but she did not.

Even without her, Mark was there to tank, even without her Ian could fight in melee, even without her Hina could use magic and so on.

To be frank, Peter who was the average line of the team was more useful than her. Often pushing them in when there was an advantage and pulling them out when things got too rough. All she did was charge in and attack, that was all she knew to do in this game.

Therefore, to get stronger is the first thing to do.

After that is to make sure she was useful to the others.

At least in this game her actions was recognised. She could perhaps even be a hero though it was unlikely. At least she didn't want to do any wrongdoings or harm other intentionally. Killing others for no good reason was a big no to her, especially the innocent.

Therefore, she swung her sword down again.

“Ah.”

While in her thoughts she forgot about her power output.

BANG!

However she still hit and she hit even harder than before.

“Huh?”

She was a bit confused here since she actually didn't study the sword at all. Why was it that her sword that should be slower went faster? She tried again and missed completely this time. But the time after that she did it again.

“A sword that is slow yet fast? A sword that is fast yet slow?” she wondered.

For some reason when she made it go fast, he went slow and she could aim better and move her sword more smoothly as well.

She didn't know this was something that others trained for decades to achieve. A realm of master swordsman that could manipulate their actions completely in unpredictable ways!

“This looks interesting at least, might as well do this and see where it leads” she said not knowing that she was following the same path that Ron did years ago in his path of the sword.

xXx

Right now Hina was venting out her emotions on the targets that were running around. She had set it so a set number of targets would spawn for her to attack at.

“Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!”

She was currently thinking of her situation with Peter. Thanks to the effect of the 'Mark' in game, she was like a charmed girl towards him!

Her pride could not allow that and therefore she was taking it out on these targets that looked like Sain in game. She needed to rid of these emotions as fast as possible, it couldn't be that she actually fallen for him right?

Everything she said was inadmissible since she was not herself then.

Even the stuff she said to Maria on that matter in the real world as well! She was talking about Miriel not Hina here! Why should she hold emotions to that guy?! Just because he was kind! Just because he took care of her! Just because he always would consider her first!

She needed a way to take out her stress on what she did in game and this was the perfect way.

“Damn...”

She calmed down and looked at the damage she caused. There were countless virtual bodies of 'Sain' all around her now.

“Good thing that no one can know of this...”

“Oh Hina” said a voice entering.

“Hiiiiiii!!!” Hina could not believe that sound came out of her mouth.

“I needed to ask you some-....” Maria who just entered for reasons unknown to Hina walked in and saw what happened...or what was left of it.

“Are these all 'Sains'?” Maria asked pointing at one of the bodies on the ground.

“....”

“Did you get in a fight with him...or did he do something to anger you?” asked Maria a bit more concern now that Hina was not responding.

“Or...are you into 'that' kind of thing?” she finally asked.

“What k-kind of thing?” asked Hina with a shaking voice.

“BDSM” Maria stated bluntly. Hina could feel her face going red as she gripped her whip and attacked Maria like that.

“H-Hey!” shouted Maria blocking the attacks surprisingly with her sword, “Just because your love life with him isn't going anywhere, it doesn't mean you can take it on me!”

“Who the hell has a love life with him?!” retorted Hina though her actions said otherwise, especially when she was currently carefully trying not to harm the 'Sain' dummies that she attacked on the ground.

“Tch, acting Tsundere on me now as well?” said Maria in a slightly irritated tone, she did not know why the hell Hina didn't just wrap her arms around Peter and made it done with. She found someone she liked after all so she should be more true to her feelings.

“Shut up! Shut up!” Hina screamed, she did not know why she was losing control of herself here of all things and with Maria of all people as well.

After she chased Maria out, she realised she needed to apologise to her later on which made her angry again.

But first she needed to calm down and confirm herself.

“Just what do I want?” she asked herself in the end.

The game, the training and her relationships with others. What did she want? She sat there on the ground trying to think of answer.

But none came up.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9300~

- This chapter was so much easier to write compared to the last two. I didn't need to think on how things fell into place after all.

- And so the training that is endless continues...now that I think about it, it impossible to make these characters grow without training...even though I didn't want to write about more training...damn when there's nothing to do there is always training again..well at least with this I can explore some different paths with their new fighting styles.

- Now I have another 6 chapters to write for that epilogue I've prepared for this volume's end. It will be interesting if I get the pacing right.