Leon steadied himself for the third time today, shaking off the sting of the dummy's strikes.
"Alright, let's try this again," he muttered, resolve hardening in his chest.
The dummy would obviously counter-attack whatever he threw at it, meaning that he: either needed to outsmart it (somehow), or grow stronger than it was while in a match, something which seemed almost impossible as you can't just become more powerful for no reason, right?
~FWISH~
He dashed and tried to punch its face, then it would counter with a punch to the stomach, which he would avoid by taking a step to the side, then riposte.
And this is how they kept exchanging blows.
[Dummy wins!]
[Do you wish to try again?]
[Y/N]
But somehow, no matter how much Leon tried…
~BAM~
[Dummy wins!]
[Do you wish to try again?]
At some point, the dummy would ALWAYS overpower him, simply because he made a mistake, or because it predicted his movements even though they were perfect, then kicked him away.
A single blow from the dummy was enough to end the fight, and it was telling Leon that if this was a real battle, then he would have surely died right there and then.
This [Training] section was showing all the students who participated that dying in a fight is really is, but most importantly, that they are extremely weak right now.
~SLAM, CRASH~
'Ah…fuck…' Leon scratched his head as he was punched yet again.
[Dummy wins!]
[Do you wish to try again?]
Leon squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.
"Here we go again," he muttered, eyes narrowing on the wooden figure before him.
~CREAK~
He lunged, fists swinging, but the dummy sidestepped, its movements fluid and precise, then before he even realized he felt a rush of air as it countered with a powerful jab to his side.
~THUD~
Leon stumbled, the wind knocked from his lungs.
[Dummy wins!]
"OH COME ON-"
[Dummy wins!]
[Dummy wins…]
[Dummy…]
When four hours had passed, and the room was almost completely empty, only a few people still fighting their respective dummies, Leon felt that he couldn't keep going anymore, sweat pouring from all over his body, and a massive amount of blood coming out as well.
[You should rest,] even EGO knew he wouldn't win today.
And even though Leon wanted to try one more time, attempting to click on 'Y' to restart the fight…
[Participant is too injured to keep going, please try again tomorrow.]
The area wouldn't let him fight anymore, and the dummy figure wasn't coming back to life no matter what he tried.
'Alright…' Leon admitted defeat and left the zone, which immediately closed, as to not let him come back.
[Your movements have definitely increased, Host!] EGO nodded.
'Thanks, only took getting my ass beat 50 times.'
Leon took some food from the cafeteria which was pretty empty compared to normal since it was close to midnight, and then he went back to his room.
And so, Leon slept, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.
But tomorrow was in fact NOT a better day.
***
(3 days later)
"…" Leon opened his eyes, knowing that the routine of pain and suffering would have to keep going today too.
[Get up, Host, today is a wonderful day to finally beat that dummy!]
Leon dragged himself out of bed, the sheets tangled around his legs.
"Another day, another beat down," he muttered, shuffling toward the bathroom.
[So negative!]
"Shut up," he grumbled, splashing cold water on his face…
Leon dressed quickly, his muscles still sore from yesterday's training, but he knew he needed to keep going.
[You've improved, Host. Yesterday's defeats were merely a stepping stone!] EGO chirped, but Leon only grunted in response.
After a hasty breakfast, he headed back to the training room.
The people that were constantly here were yet again present, and Leon actually started recognizing them by their faces, which should be the same case for them between 'training buddies'.
Actually, many things changed during those three days.
First, there had been an announcement on their third day that from now on, the top 5 best attempts in the [Training] section would be displayed.
Of course, this meant being broadcasted across all the facility for everyone to see, and Leon actually ended up being in the ranking every time as he kept improving.
[It is definitely a hint given by the elites,] EGO informed Leon, [They are already beginning to tell people they should focus on it.]
'Right,' it did make sense as this resulted in many more people coming over to try and defeat their dummies and get into the ranking, as well as the quest.
Yet somehow… not a single person had actually defeated a dummy yet.
This was absolutely baffling.
And so on the fourth day, another announcement came.
[The first person to defeat a 'Dummy' will have their fight shown to everyone in the facility!]
It seemed like they were encouraging people to try, yet not giving a big enough reward for the others to do it simply because of the prospect of being rewarded.
Leon did notice though that the hundred people that were constantly there had improved a lot, actually able to face their own dummies for a while, even though they do fail in the end.
And of course, the 'Devourer' was no exception.
[Today is the day, I'm telling you!] EGO said, a determined look on his face.
"Oh, hey there Leon," Dan waved at Leon.
"What's up," Leon nodded.
"Nothing much, you told us to defeat these things and oh man are they difficult to even harm…" Dan sighed, "I summon my fox, but it just ends up killing it with a single strike, although I did notice I can control the fox better than before."
"Amazing, keep going, and you'll get it!" Leon smiled.
"Appreciate it, Alice and Noah are also working hard, they are doing better than me though… I saw Noah actually manage to crack his dummy's arm, though it regenerated as soon as he lost the fight," Dan shrugged, then went toward an empty zone and entered it to fight again.
Leon had not seen his three companions for these entire three days as it was too difficult with this many people in the crowd, and the timing just never was right, but it felt great to know they followed his advice.
[Back to us, now!]
'Right…' Leon mumbled as he approached a zone and entered it.
[Fight engaged!]
This time, he would make sure to teach that goddamned annoying piece of wood a lesson that would shatter it in a million pieces.
The more Leon fought, the better his movements and aura control became, so he couldn't deny this [Training] was useful.
But now that he was almost as the same level as that thing, he really wanted to end it.
[FIGHT!]