The following day, while most of the players were sleepily having their dinner in the cafeteria, Adam moved around the spinning training dummies in the training room.
The training dummies were made of thick wood, and they were holding wooden swords while spinning around as if they were in a dance.
Adam, using the new round shield, blocked the wooden swords and smashed the shortsword at one of the spinning training dummies.
Bang, bang, bang—the sound of a sword smacking against wood echoed across the training room.
"Whoo..." With sweat dripping down his face, he used dizzying footwork, dodging several wooden swords at the same time and then counter-attacking with the steel sword, which left a mark on the torsos of the training dummies.
"Why do you bother training?"
At this moment, a morbid voice came from the door.
Adam back-stepped, dodging the rest of the spinning swords, and then grabbed a towel from his inventory, cleaning his sweat while turning to look at the door.
Ramon leaned against the doorway, looking with a smirk at Adam.
"Why do I bother training?" Adam repeated the question and laughed while wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I don't mind giving you some advice."
"Hah, why would I need advice from a piss ant like you?" Ramon laughed and turned around in an attempt to leave.
"Did you know training in the game actually has an effect on your real body?" Adam asked with a smile.
"Huh?" Ramon frowned and turned back to Adam. "You mean, training here is the same as training in the real world? What nonsense are you spouting?"
"It is true." Adam said and tossed the towel back into the inventory. "Our bodies are currently in hibernation state, stopping us from starving to death.
"When we eat or sleep in here, our real body also gets nutrition and sleep at the same time. Same with the training. It has a bigger effect if you have Gold or Diamond VR Pod, but it still works even with Bronze VR Pod.
"Do you know how that works?"
Ramon shook his head.
"No one does," Adam chuckled. "Have you ever wondered who created this game?"
Ramon frowned. "No, and why would I care?"
"No one knows who created this game." Adam smiled. "That's why there is a big conspiracy that this game was actually created by the government to mind-control people, or, well, keep all the people who are prone to violence in here."
Ramon's expression turned thoughtful, as that sounded like a good possibility, as he, himself, would've been sent to asylum but was instead put here as an experiment.
"However, the company that creates the VR Pods, never added something that would allow the users to affect their real bodies in the virtual world, so it's something about this game that makes it happen.
"It's truly fascinating, ain't it?" Adam chuckled. "And improving the physique is one reason for my training, but there are also other reasons.
"When we level up, our stamina, agility, and stamina increase; that's true, but it doesn't magically improve our swordsmanship or ability to wield any weapons.
"You cannot learn any of the skills if you don't know how to use the weapon. You can learn the weakest skills with just a basic understanding of your weapon, but not any of the stronger skills.
"When you leave this tutorial and join guild, they will immediately put you into training course that might last few months to half a year. You'll be forced to learn until you know how to use the weapon, even with your eyes closed."
"Oh?" Ramon scoffed, pulled out his machete, and examined Adam with a critical eye. "I have been living in the streets for my whole life, and I haven't learned how to fight; I have learned how to kill my opponent, and that is the only thing that matters.
"You think you're better than me just because you've trained more? Foolishness!"
Adam put his shield in front of his body and pointed the sword at Ramon.
"Are you an orphan of the plague?"
"Yeah." Ramon went into a low-fighting stance, looking like a wild animal ready to pounce. "That's why I have lived a harsher life than you fucker could ever think about it.
"Looking at you, you must've been born with a silver spoon stuck in your ass, having a worry-free childhood, and you needed a hobby when living in that small mansion of yours became boring, so you picked up martial arts."
"Nope." Adam shook his head and slowly approached Ramon, ready to use the shield to block any attack thrown at him. "I am also an orphan of the plague."
Ramon's eyes flashed with surprise before he again scoffed. "You must've got a good family."
"I could've gotten worse." Adam shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I drew the shortest straw possible." Ramon's grip on the machete tightened. "The family I got was horrible. I could only last them a few months before I just ran off and instead lived in the streets. With that suffering, I became powerful."
"We'll see." Adam said and dashed forth, stabbing his sword forward towards Ramon.
"Raaah!" Ramon deflected the sword with a sloppy slash of his machete and then pounced at Adam like a wild animal and threw a kick.
Bang—Adam blocked the kick with the shield and held his ground even though his feet wanted to slide backwards.
Ramon used the shield like a springboard and jumped up, landing behind Adam.
He quickly turned around and slashed his machete towards the exposed neck.
However, at that moment, Adam quickly spun around and deflected the machete with his shield, then stabbed the sword deep into Ramon's waist.
The blood spewed out of Ramon's body, splattering across Adam's face and chest.
"Hah..." Ramon grabbed Adam's sword-wielding hand and spat blood towards his face.
Adam quickly bent his knees, dodging the blood, and then swung his shield upward, smashing it at Ramon's chin.
Ramon's head snapped back, and he stumbled backward, the sword slipping out of his waist.
The sudden blow to his chin left him dazed, and he slowly fell to the ground.
A holograph appeared above Ramon's head.
[Ramon - HP: 11/50]
"You have great fighting instincts, but you don't know how to defend." Adam slowly sheathed his sword and wiped the blood off his face. "You can't just risk getting hit and then hope your counter-attack is good enough to kill your opponent."
"Argh..." Ramon held his chin and stood up with his face red in anger. He only glared at Adam and then stormed out of the training room.
"This is why you'll need training..." Adam shrugged his shoulders and was also about to leave the training room, but then saw Muriel appearing at the doorway, writing something on her notepad.
"Did you enjoy the show?" Adam asked as he approached her.
"Yes, I did." Muriel answered with a rather serious tone and then said, "The second floor is open; the Adult Centipede Skeleton has been dealt with."
"Oh, that was quick." Adam nodded. "I'll suppose I'll go there then."
"Good luck." Muriel said, put her notepad away, and then walked away with her heels clicking on the floor.
At that moment, Adam heard sounds coming from the first floor of the mall.
As he looked out of the door, he saw that the first floor of the tutorial's door shone, and another group of players arrived at the Safe Area.
They all looked exhausted and injured, as if they had been suffering some big setbacks.
The number of players was also fewer than Adam's group.
'They must've had quite a hard time with the boss.' Adam thought and then looked towards the second floor's door.
The players of his group were already swarming through, most already having a destination—the black castle.