Chapter 4

The Secret Class

I am walking in the middle of the road.

It has been two days since Lt. Kino injected me the drug and after two agonizing and distressing days of constantly trying to walk.

I am now walking in the middle of the road.

I walked towards the fountain and drank some of its water.

So far, I have successfully walk and bend my knees for the first time while trying to scoop some water. I burst into tears, laughing and crying at the same time. This is it. This was instantly the best moment of my life, followed only by discovering the existence of Virtual Reality that gave me so much hope and now I am living the dream.

My mother dropped the lunch he prepared for me when she saw me walking for the first time.

“K-Kira…, y-you can walk.” My mother stuttered since she was crying.

I turned around and walked towards her and hugged her tight. Even though we both knew that this was only virtual reality, we can’t help but be very happy.

“Yes Mother, I can walk.” I said.

“Your father needs to know this, let’s go get him.”

I walked alongside my mother and she was very excited. We have reached my father’s shop, it was small and old. My mother barged ahead of me into the door.

“Dear, I have good news.” She said while pointing at the door.

I opened the door and walked inside. My father dropped his hammer and approached me slowly.

“Dad, I am not a cripple anymore, or at least in this world.”

My father wrapped me with his big arms, crying and snorting like a baby.

My mother joined the fray.

I realized. This is what I want to protect the most, my family. I want to repay them for their kindness and loving heart and for not abandoning and throwing me out of their life. Most people discard useless thing without second thought and I am lucky they are not most people.

We talked and laugh for a while.

Ting…

Yunjee: Hey, we need to start your training. Meet me at the front of training center.

Yunjee was Jeehan's in-game name.

“Mother, father, duty calls. They need me to start training now.”

“Yes, dear. We understand. Oh, please invite the beautiful young lady and your boss to our house.”

I told my parents about the deal I made and that I need to work with them to repay what they have done to me.

“Who? Jeehan and Lt. Kino?”

“Yes. We want to say our thanks.”

I reluctantly nodded and said. “Okay, I’ll try.”

I met YunJee at the front of the training center. She was wearing simple clothes, perhaps trying not to stand out too much, nevertheless, she looked good.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“I am.”

We entered the training center and there was a bunch of young players hitting the scarecrow and in the other corner some are busy doing something.

Yunjee: They are Lt. Kino’s Platoon from the Academy. Try to ignore them. This will be our form of communication from this point. Grab a wooden stick and start hitting the scarecrow.

I followed her orders and started hitting the scarecrow. She immediately went to me and corrected my stance and posture.

You have increased your Strength by 1

You have increased your Agility by 1

You have increased your Dexterity by 1

I have gained some stats and continued hitting the scarecrow. Every time I messed up my posture Yunjee will whisper to me.

Yunjee: Square your shoulders. Your breathing is messed up.

After hitting the scarecrow a hundred times she stopped whispering at me which indicates I am not messing up anymore. I do not enjoy hitting the scarecrow but I do enjoy moving my body. She told me to stop for a while and head to other section, the Mind Sharpening section.

I did puzzles, mind games and quizzes.

You have increased your Intelligence by 1.

You have increased your Intelligence by 1.

You have increased your Intelligence by 1.

“Woah! He is finishing those puzzles so fast.” Said one of the bystander

“At that rate, he’ll finished this section in a week.” The other said.

This was boring. The puzzles are too easy and the mini games are so simple. But the intelligence I gain from completing them is not so bad. YunJee called me after an hour doing the puzzles to resume hitting the scarecrow.

“Hey, the guy in the fountain. That was you, right?” said one of the young man with unruly curtained hair.

Oh, I remembered this guy. I ignored him and continue hitting.

“Are you from the other platoon?”

Tell him you are not from the academy. YunJee whispered.

“I am not in the Academy.”

“Oh, really. So you are here for the stats? Such a waste that you are not in the Academy.” He said.

“Why is that?” I asked

“Your form and posture is good, you must be a martial arts practitioner. Anyway, my name is Ari. What’s yours?”

“Cripple. The name is Cripple.”

“Interesting name. See you later, Cripple.” He said as he left.

I continued hitting the scarecrow for another thousand times and Yunjee whispered to me again to go to the Mind sharpening section. Basically, what I do is hit, rest and think. A balanced training if you asked me. When I finished my fifth puzzle. A skinny, average guy approached me holding a chess board.

“Hi, My name is Rizzo. Can I interest you in this game?” he asked.

Whoa, a chessboard. Where did he get that? I thought. Since I was so bored doing easy puzzles, I accepted his offer. We set up the chessboard and its pieces and we started playing. Some of the players who saw us started to come and watch our game.

Oh damn, he is good. He was concentrating on his offense and carefully avoiding my traps. People with decent knowledge of the game would think I was losing. But I am sure he is sweating very hard in real life right now.

You have increased your Intelligence by 1.

We exchanged pieces and he continued his offense. I moved one of my piece to prepare for an attack which would win me the game in about 6 moves.

“I lost.” He said and admitted defeat.

“Oh, what happened?” asked one of the people at the back.

“Rizzo surrendered.” The others replied.

"I thought he was winning."

We played for three more games and I won every single one of them. He stood up, bowed to me and offered his hand.

“Thank you for the game.”

I shook his hand and went to hit the scarecrows.

You have increased your Strength by 1.

You have increased your Agility by 1.

You have increased your Dexterity by 1.

I just have to do all of this for another two weeks. After that, I can now venture outside the confines of this city.

A week has passed in Lost Earth and Yunjee left me at my own devices. All I ever do now is hit and rest for I have reached the maximum possible increase in intelligence the training center can offer.

When I finished my fourth week staying inside the city. YunJee whispered to me.

YunJee: Come and meet me at the west gate.

Cripple: Do I have to come now?

YunJee: I am your superior and you are not a civilian anymore, so yes.

I rushed towards the west gate and saw Yunjee waiting for me.

“Here, A present from Lt. Kino.” She handed me a rusty sword.

Copper Sword

Durability: 5/10

Damage: 2-3

Weight: 20

Description: A sword suitable for starting adventurers.

This is crap, I thought.

"Let's go." she said.

"Where to?"

"Outside, of course."

We went outside and walked towards the Birek mountain range.

“You haven’t told me anything about the quest.” I said while walking. “mam.” I added.

“YunJee. Call me YunJee. We will tell you about it when you’re ready.”

“No need. I think I have already grasped the nature of the quest."

She turned her head to look at me and said. “I doubt that.”

“Hmm. Let’s see, the quest has no definite form and ever changing, it doesn’t allow second takes and it is about a class.”

She stopped walking and faced me. “H-How did you know all of that?

“Ah Hah! So I was right that it was about a class? I was a bit sure of the nature of the quest but I didn’t know its objectives and you just have told me.”

Her cheeks turned red and it looked like she was about to cry.

Wow, she’s so beautiful even when she about to cry. I looked away to avoid her stare because it is making me nervous and anxious.

“How did you know the quest is ever changing? she asked.

“Because you are not telling me anything about it. A good preparation and sufficient information is needed to succeed in any undertaking. Sure, you guys are training me but you are withholding a vital information. It’s either you guys don’t trust me or you also have no idea."

“How did you figure it out the quest can only be taken once?”

“If the quest can be taken without limitation, I am sure one of the twelve members of the Spectre Division would have solved it already.”

“If the quest is constantly changing, then it is equally as hard as the first time you took it.” She said.

“That is true. But I was under the assumption that the quest could be a game changer in the war, or at least that’s what Lt. Kino’s sales pitch was, when he recruited me. The more people taking on the quest the higher the chance the enemy will get wind of it. Lt. Kino was carefully selecting his members, hence the small member count. If twelve people keep on trying the quest, then you guys don’t need me, especially a cripple like me.”

“Or Lt. Kino is just getting impatient for the lack of result of those twelve people.”

“I have consider that and that is why I baited you. I also thought that the quest’s objective is about a secret spell or some special sword. I was just teasing you when I said that it was about a class, because hidden classes are removed from the game, but now I am not so sure anymore.” I said.

She turned around and started walking again.

“Was the quest really hard?” I asked while following her.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because you are the twelfth member, are you not?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, since you seem to know everything.” she said in contempt.

Oh great, now she hates my guts. I better stop pissing her off.

Lt. Kino was sitting on his office, leisurely drinking his coffee when Jeehan entered his room.

“So how’s our thirteenth member?” asked Lt. Kino.

“I think, he is too smart for his own good, sir.” Jeehan answered.

“Oh ho, I smell something. What happened?”

“He had fully grasped the nature of the quest with so little information.”

“So he is that good, very well, I sure hope he might be the one.”

“But I am not here about that, sir.”

“Then what is it.”

“About his training, sir.”

“Why?”

“He seems to be too quick on learning everything I am teaching him. I taught and showed him an advance side stepping technique to test his potential and he learned it after a few tries. Even the most talented practitioner in our dojo would take three weeks or a month to learn that.”

“How long it took you to learn it?”

“Uhm. T-Two weeks, sir.” Jeehan stuttered.

“So even Jeehan, a martial arts prodigy took two weeks to learn a single move and young Kira learned it in a matter of hours?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I expected as much.”

“What do you mean sir? Was that an effect of the drug, sir?”

“The drug? You mean the one I injected to Young Kira? That drug was concoction of saline solution, vitamins and nutrients. The only thing it probably does to young Kira’s body was to prevent some nasty colds.” Laughed lt. Kino.

“You tricked him, sir?” Jeehan said while smiling. Somehow she felt being avenged by Lt. Kino.

“Oh my yes, the drug was a placebo. Young Kira doesn’t need any drug, what he needs is a little push, a nudge to the right direction. Why are you smiling? Are you that happy I tricked him?”

“Oh no, sir. I am not like that. Then, how did he do that, sir?”

“You know what they say about babies? They say a baby’s brain is like a sponge, soaking up every information and knowledge around them. Young Kira is like that. He has no real concept on how to move his body, you can say his 15 years in real world was like him being on his mother’s womb and entering the virtual reality was his birth. He was reborn on Lost Earth and he needs guidance for his development more than ever. He needs you, Jeehan.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lt. Kino was laughing and said "Also, Do not tell him I that I tricked him."

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