"Menu," the bald man spoke as a transparent window appeared in front of his eyes. Even though everything was blurred to everyone else, they could still tell why this man opened the menu this time, "Inventory."
After that, he used his hand to select two points on the screen and looked at Shane, "I'll lend you a sword-" he paused dramatically before frowning, "Do you even know how to use one?"
Shane's fingers curled up to form a fist as he glared at the man standing in front of his eyes. Even though he had to tilt his head up, the level of anger in his heart didn't falter. He could feel a burning sensation eating up his heart as he continued to stare.
'How dare this man underestimate me like this?! I'll show him who's the boss here!' This was what he had thought when he saw an amusing glance from the instructor.
But he was so wrong.
The moment he grabbed the sword, his entire body trembled as the weapon became heavier. He had to use two hands to lift it and point it toward the bald man. Even then, it shook all the way.
"You can't even lift the weapon, and you dare to fight?" One of the students spoke as he snickered, "If it were me, I'd have shown a good show."
"Right? How did he even manage to pass?"
A familiar female voice rang in their heads:
[System 28369's live stream is on]
[10456429 viewers are online]
[You have been given 5,000 crana]
[You have been given 655,421 crana]
[You have been given 584 crana]
[You have been given 96,544 crana]
[You have been given 5,00 crana]
Everyone's eyes widened after hearing that amount. After coming into this world, they had all learned about crana being the official virtual money with a symbol of C having a cross right in the middle. To rent a single house of two bedrooms, the systems would have to spend about ten thousand cranes in a month.
So they all knew the value of money, and they were so shocked after hearing this that they all stood stunned.
At the same time, the bald man spoke with an irritated voice, "Mute all."
Only then did the female robotic voice stop. The bald man rubbed his forehead in annoyance, "I hate when the system does it. I should stop using Livestreams."
The menu was still on that showed him comments from various people. He rolled his eyes after seeing them whine. He sighed and said, "Alright. I'll give you a good show today."
The man turned toward Shane and said, "Fight."
Shane gritted his teeth as he used up all of his muscle power. He remembered that his body had too much strength while running and killing those monsters. Then why couldn't he use his strength at all?
Where did that superhuman strength go?
As soon as he thought of it, he felt a wave of warm energy flooding straight from his heart to the entire body. His muscles were empowered as he felt the pain from lifting the heavy sword vanishing into thin air. After a few seconds, he lifted the whole sword without any difficulty.
His eyes widened. It turned out that he just had to think to use that superhuman strength. Huh.
Even the bald man was shocked after seeing such a huge development before they started to fight. This weapon was level ten, and only systems on the same level and above could lift it properly.
How could a newbie who had just started as a system lift this weapon with such ease?! This man couldn't lift it until a while ago, but how did this happen?!
A frown crossed the bald man's forehead before a glint appeared in his eyes. He opened his mouth, "Hah, interesting! Very interesting! Since you can lift it easily, attack. Here are the rules: if you can hit me even once, you win, but you only have one chance. I won't use any weapon and only act defensively. But if you can't land a hit on any part of my body within ten minutes, I win, and you'll have to become my host for the hardest world."
Shane looked at the instructor confusedly for a moment. He wanted to ask about systems and hosts, but he shook his head. This wasn't the time to ask questions. This person just threatened his sister. He would have to teach this instructor a lesson!
His grip on the sword increased as white knuckles appeared. He glared at the bald man and said, "Let's start."
The bald man also didn't say anything as he said, "Now that we have finalized everything," he raised his head and looked into Shane's eyes, "Go."
Shane's body rushed toward the instructor with the sword at an awkward angle. He didn't know how to fight. He was a damned basketball player and an expert in the IT field, but in this magical world, his skills were of no use. His eyes became focused as he swung the sword at the bald man.
The instructor folded his hands on his chest and easily evaded the attack by jumping to the side.
This was expected. Shane didn't lose his cool as he raised his sword again and slashed it toward the bald man's waist.
Swish!
The man dodged again. Shane could only hit the air as he gritted his teeth. Even though he was new to this, his speed wasn't slow. After his muscles were strengthened, he could move the heavy sword as if it were created out of wood. It was just that despite being fast enough, his movements were awkward.
He kept slashing air here and there, but he couldn't touch even the hair on the bald man's body.
The instructor smirked as he said, "How long are you going to continue this? You're obviously weak despite having superhuman strength. Give up."
"Never!" Shane's anger fueled that sentence, "I'll never give up!"
"Don't act like those protagonists in crazy system novels. You're not one," said the instructor as he easily dodged another attack. His hands behind his back as he mockingly looked at the young boy, "You're nothing but an ant for me. I can crush you in a minute."
"Can you just shut up?" Shane felt his chest getting heavy because of anger. The combination of anger and frustration turned him so mad that he really wanted to kill the man in front of him.
'Why's this person mocking me like this?!' he thought as he made another failed attempt at hitting the man.
Finally, the countdown that the instructor had started was close to ending. A warning tone blared by the passing second. The timing glowed in red on the screen that was visible to everyone.
[0:30]
[0:29]
[0:28]
[0:27]
[0:26]
A drop of sweat appeared on Shane's forehead. He glanced at the counter only to feel his heart gripped with anxiety.
What to do?
How to attack the instructor?!
As he was thinking about it, he heard the bald man's rough voice again, "What? Gave up already? I told you this fight is out of your league. It looks like I'm the declared winner."
Twenty seconds were remaining! The bald man wasn't the winner yet!
Shane's body was exhausted, but he could feel a burst of energy spreading throughout his body.